We caught up with Italian DJ & producer Thomas Deil who just released his new EP “Mars 2020” last month which already reached over 1 million streams on Spotify. Read along to find out what he had to say about his favourite plugins, personal milestones and collaborations.
Your latest EP “Mars 2020” was released on the renowned EDM label Tribal Trap. How did you connect with them?
I know Stan Wittenberg since a lot and I’ve always sent him music submissions in the past years. He’s one of those who is always scouting for young and new talents personally. Releasing on his label has been a goal of mine.
Could you sum up some personal milestones in your artist development?
I think that the biggest “achievement” happened back in 2016 when both YVES V and Timmy Trumpet supported me on their radio shows and live gigs. That helped me a lot. Then in 2017 I reached over a million plays on Soundcloud. I also remember the date 23/06/2017 when for the first time, at the age of 17, I played at Tusev tek Barv (Slovenia) in front of over 10.000 people, sharing the main stage with artists like Juicy M, Zonderling and Lil Jon. That was pretty much surreal to me.
In 2018 I reached over 5 million plays on Soundcloud and in 2019 I reached 100.000 streams on Spotify with my song “Iron”. In 2020 I’ve reached 1 million overall streams on Spotify and just as of late the Mars 2020 EP reached over 1 million streams by itself on Spotify. Now I’m looking for the first ever million on a single song on Spotify. I’ll get it. 🙂
When you start a new track – what are the first steps?
Great question, it really depends but I usually start with the drop. It’s just the easiest way for me. I would say: Drop – Breaks – Voice (when needed).
Name 3 plugins you can’t live without and tell us why!
First of all Serum, it’s life, ideal for a detailed sound-design and for specific sounds.
Then the whole Fabfilter family, especially “Fabfilter Pro-Q 3”, it’s a top-quality plugin for dynamic eq, I use it every time.
Last but not least, “Scaler”, it really helps me studying brand new original melodies/ideas and music theory. It’s so easy to use!
Many electronic music acts are able to achieve good streaming numbers, but have a hard time growing their social media following. What is your concept/strategy that got you to over 100k followers on Instagram?
I’ve been building my brand presence since 2012, with the new arrival of Instagram. I knew that it would be the biggest social network replacing Facebook so I entirely shifted my content focus to the platform. So I started at the right time I guess.
What makes a DJ set special to you?
The crowd. That’s it.
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How would you describe the perfect form of musical collaboration?
When it comes to singer/producer collabs, I think that both parts should express themselves artistically, and then review everything together re-creating the best mood.
In the end it all boils down displaying your emotions.
Finally I think that each song should be a fit into the “musical story” of an artist. I don’t like producers who keep releasing songs randomly. But that’s my opinion!
How important are data insights for your (strategic) decisions?
Data Insights help a lot for to let you understand all the dynamics of a musical project, where to improve, and how to interact more with fans and also with those who are not your fans yet. It’s a must.
What’s next for Thomas Deil?
Well.. I’m still planning the next trip, maybe Saturn? Jupiter? Who knows..
In the meantime I’m chilling here on Mars, it’s funny. See you soon.
FOLLOW THOMAS DEIL:
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