While only in his early twenties, Dutchman Sam Feldt has become quite the deep house tastemaker of his day. With amazing remix work as well as solid hits like the early 2015 release ‘Show Me Love’, which proved to be his definite claim to fame, he’s one of the DJs to watch when it comes to a new sound flooding the scene.
Sam Feldt is definitely not a stranger to the house music scene. After working behind the scenes as a producer for a long time, perfecting his musical talents, he decides to show the world what he’s capable of by uploading his first tunes by the end of summer ‘13. Within a year Sam signs with Spinnin’ Records and releases his first track on the label.
It doesn’t take long for the young producer to get censed by international dance media as part of a new exciting wave of melodic deep house. With almost two million plays on SoundCloud and 250.000 plays in one week as well as a #1 Hypem spot for his remix of the Sander van Doorn & Firebeatz release ‘Guitar Track’, Sam can surely be seen as the rookie of the year 2014.
You’ve had a very quick rise to fame. You only signed to Spinnin’ Records in 2014 and now here you are playing at Coachella. What’s the secret to your success?
I think the most important thing is just making music that is true and close to my heart. I tried getting signed to Spinnin’ for years by making big room tracks and I never got a response from them. When I let that all go though and decided to make tracks that I liked, instead of looking at the Beatport Top 20, that’s when I finally got signed. And from there, it just all started to come together. I think that people can tell from my music that I’m genuinely making stuff that I like, which is important.
Your first gig was when you were twelve, correct?
Around that time yeah, I was like 11 or 12.
What was the gig? Who’d you do it for?
I don’t remember specifically my first because I was doing a lot of different parties. It was a lot of children’s parties for like my friends. When they had a birthday I would come set up, bring my speakers and play for some of my friends. I don’t know which the first one was but they were all the same basically.
When you have a monster track like “Show Me Love,” is it difficult to produce after that, knowing that you have so much to live up to?
I wouldn’t say I feel any pressure. Sure, there are expectations, but the most important thing to me is being able to give music to my fans. If it’s a hit, great. And if it’s not a hit then that’s fine, too. I just put out a new EP, for instance. It’s got 6 tracks and they’re not all radio hits, but I don’t care to be honest. I’m just glad that I can give my music to my fans. Whether it’s 1 million people listening or 10 people listening, I’m happy. There’s no pressure, it’s all good.
You used to own a web design company and you have a university degree in marketing. How have those two things helped you in your music career?
They both help a lot. For example, a lot of the artwork I’ll do myself, or at least help out with. I have a say in all the branding, too. I work closely with my manager on that. Overall I’m just really involved in the process of creating everything for the Sam Feldt project. Obviously I’m most focused on the music, but in the back of my mind I’ve always got the marketing aspect.
Is it hard to combine producing with your normal, social life or do you get a lot of support from the people around you? What do your parents & friends say about the music you make?
‘I have been producing progressive house music for quite some time now under another alias, so I’m quite used to combining the dj-ing and producing with my “normal life”. The reason why I started producing and mixing melodic deep house as well, was my personal love for the genre. I had been listening to it for around 2 years without really thinking about making it myself, until I decided to start the Sam Feldt project a couple of months back. All my friends and family are really supportive of what I’m doing because they all seem to like the type of music I’m making, so that’s a big plus!’
What would you like to accomplish with your music?
‘The main reason behind starting the Sam Feldt mixes in the first place was being able to share the music I love with the world, and I think that is still the main reason I am doing all of this. Sometimes, a track just “hits” you and sparks an emotion inside. I am looking to produce and mix these kind of tracks that are able to really move you and share these tracks with the world. I get really happy when I get a comment from someone telling me that my music made their life a bit happier. I guess that could be called an accomplishment :-)’
What software do you use for producing?
‘I’m using a combination of Ableton and FL Studio for my productions. My mixes are mostly recorded live.’
When did you first discover your love for music, and specifically for making music?
‘I come from a really musical background, with my dad being a lead guitarist in a rock band and I have always been surrounded with all types of music when I was little, so I guess that all started really young. I played the piano for about 8 years and then moved my creative efforts to the computer where I started playing with different software like FL Studio. I also had a drive-in show with which I used to play children’s parties and stuff, when I was about 13 years old, so I guess DJ’ing in some way has always been in my blood.’
What are your plans towards the future and where would you like to see yourself in 5 years, where do you see this project going?
I never expected this whole thing to grow so quickly so it’s hard to predict where I’ll be in 5 years from now (or even a couple of months). My philosophy has always been to “go with the flow” so that’s what I’m planning on doing for the coming months as well. I’ll see what comes my way 😉
https://soundcloud.com/samfeldt/sam-feldt-zomerkriebels-mixtape
What inspired/inspires you to make music and do you ever have issues with continuing to be motivated to create music?
Haha, I wish. Every time I hear a good song, I am already thinking about how this would sound great with the “Sam Feldt” touch and making it into a bootleg in my head already, so I’m really constantly inspired by all types of music all around me. I listen to almost every genre, which I really think is important if you want to stay inspired.
Since you started as a DJ was it difficult moving to producing?
At the beginning it was because I wasn’t feeling the music that I was playing so I also really didn’t like producing it. So when I switched to Sam Feldt it became a lot easier because when your heart is into it and you really feel the music that you’re making and playing it’s also a lot of fun and when something is fun something becomes easy. And I didn’t have a lot of experience and I made my first track “Alien” with Fruity Loops. I sent it to Spinnin’ Records after half a year, but I thought Spinnin’ would never sign me because it was my first real track and it’s also not EDM. So then a friend of mine convinced me to send it over and they really liked it so that’s how I got signed.
How many tracks did you make before you had your first signed track?
I cannot give you the track number but I think I started amateur producing around 30. I used to do a lot of hardstyle, hardcore, jumpstyle, which were pretty popular back then. So there were all these songs but I just never really got around to finishing a track or really got to that level where I want to release it. Maybe even fifty projects.
Do you struggle producing on the road?
Yeah, it’s a b*tch. You’re not in the mood, you’re tired, you don’t sleep, your ears are ringing, and you’re in an airplane. I can’t think of a worse situation to be in to produce music. So yeah like a lot of my tracks get produced back home. Sometimes I work on ideas when in the hotel room when I have a couple days off, but still I finish them back home.
As the Tropical/Deep/melodic sound keeps getting bigger how do you see it evolving?
I feel like dance music in general is now leaning towards a more melodic sound, with even producers like Martin Garrix & Tiesto now experimenting and having success with it. I feel like tropical house or melodic deep house rides on that wave perfectly and I feel like radio playlists, mainstage festival lineups and music stores worldwide will be dominated by the melodic sound by next year or even this year already.
You used to produce a much different sound, Do you plan on branching out to any other genres in the immediate future?
I feel like because I have been putting out a really diverse sound as Sam Feldt so far, I’m not really limited to a specific genre. I think that I can now release tracks ranging from 100 bpm to 128 bpm and my fans will still love them because they don’t love the music because it’s a specific genre: they love it because it has that Sam Feldt feeling or touch. That is really cool and I am looking forward to sharing my new stuff with the world, which will be really diverse in both tempo’s and genre.
Do you have any tips for starting producers?
Start simple. It’s by taking small steps that you learn. Start with making edits and maybe a mashup by adding a vocal to an existing track, so that you learn how to do the basics and then gradually start making your own bootlegs and originals.