Bassrush

Known by the US government as Jake Stanczak, Kill The Noise has been quite busy zipping around the world on his Alt Classic Tour. From his days as a pioneering D&B artist under the alias of Ewun, Jake is comfortably living life to the fullest as a modern day music maker with his next level commitment to crafting compelling bass music.

Fans have come to expect something different from KTN, namely his push away from being coined a dubstep artist to broader non-genre specific offerings. Always one to speak his mind, KTN caught up with us ahead of his much anticipated performance at the Bassrush takeover of the Exchange in Los Angeles on September 29. We chat in depth about production techniques, touring, and the arrival of his son, baby Ezra.

The crowd really doesn’t get much better than Los Angeles. I always feels like I’m playing stuff for my friends!

How’s the summer tour been treating you?
It’s been great! Been doing a lot of international traveling, just got back from doing some touring in Japan and Europe, and now this week headed off to China and Korea for the first time ever, so really excited about that stuff for sure.

You did such a good job on the “Rip N Dip” remix! On the cloud you’ve noted that the cello featured in the intro was played by Ryan Knot. Are you planning on using more recordings like that opposed to samples?
Thanks! For the supporting strings in the mix I actually used a scoring suite for Kontakt that sounded convincing enough to me to work, but the solo was really difficult to make convincing enough to keep, so I found Ryan Knot who was stoked to replay and the results were perfect. I’ve always tried to incorporate some live elements in every song. It doesn’t always happen but quite a few songs I’ve put out have some live audio recording in there somewhere, whether it’s guitar, piano, brass, drums or vocal stuff. This was the first time I’ve ever worked with a string player.

Can you tell us what ended up coming from your speakers while in the studio with Feed Me?
Yes, this summer I also spent some time in the UK with him working in his new studio. We are always messing around with something. At the moment we’ve got a few different ideas kicking around—nothing we’re ready to announce. As always it will be something different as we like to challenge ourselves to step outside our comfort zone whenever we work on a project together!

When putting together your ALT Classic LP did you have your heart set on getting certain remixers for specific tracks?
That came together very organically; half the guys are friends of mine. Regardless of that, all the people I asked are producers who are mainstays in my DJ set. I reached out asked if they were interested and let them choose! Thankfully everyone for the most part chose a different song and everyone finished their remixes quickly. Honestly, the music part of the project came together really quickly, which was shocking to me considering there were 17 songs on the record!

What are some of the latest and greatest plugins or virtual instruments you’ve been experimenting with?My friend Madsonik turned me onto a couple scoring suites for Native Instruments Kontakt made by a company called CineSamples. That’s what I used on the Getter remix. Aside from that, the last time I was in the studio with Mat Zo he showed me this Melda convolution plugin that is really cool, too. Not an instrument, but still a lot of fun to mess around with especially on drums.

Do you and Craze have any special projects coming on Slow Roast?
We just put a new record out from our man Sober Rob. He’s seriously one of the most creative producers I’ve met in recent memory. I’m expecting this year to be a great year for the guy. You can check out his EP out on Slow Roast Recs now!

What’s been the best part of 2016 so far?
The best part of 2016 happened right at the top of the year, the birth of my son Ezra! That’s the best part of my, actually. (Laughs) I feel blessed this year, not much to complain about. I haven’t really been getting much sleep­, but that’s not completely abnormal for me anyway.

We can’t wait to welcome you back to your home base: Los Angeles! What do you have in store for your show at the Exchange?
I’m so stoked to come play a show at the Exchange, man. I’ve been to some Bassrush shows to see some friends play so I already know it’s gonna be crazy. We got a lot of surprises we’re cooking up for the show and leading up to the show as well. As always, Los Angeles is the place I tend to test out most of the stuff I’m working on­. The crowd really doesn’t get much better than this city; always feels like I’m playing stuff for my friends! Looking forward to seeing you soon!