Mateo Hall, or better known under his bass-music moniker- “Sytrux”, is no stranger to the idea of delivering a healthy dose of smiles, laughter, and of course; BASS. We are still buzzing over his conversation with us, but for now; enjoy!
Question 1: With a recent birthday, and now you are 23, what can we expect this year that differs from the past years in your career?
Answer 1: Yeah, 23 has kinda hit me hard. I think I was hung up on this thing early on where I wanted to be the next big thing while I was “young”. Of course, life hits you and I had some other things that made me put music on the back burner, but in the place right now where I can put music as my first priority! I’m excited this year to give music my full, undivided attention and hope to bring people the best music I can possibly give!
Question 2: In the couple of videos and photos you have uploaded on Twitter, you seem to have quite the studio set-up. Can you break down what we are looking at? Do you have a favorite piece of equipment you own?
Answer 2: Thanks! It’s taken years to save up and upgrade to the point of what I have in the studio now. I actually just bought my dream studio desk a few months ago! It has tons of space, 2 tiers, and plenty of room for rack gear! For my computer, I use a 15” MacBook Pro with a 9th gen i9 and very little memory. I try my best to keep it all on an external Incase anything ever happens to my Mac. For monitors, I use (2) Adam A7X. They’ve been nothing but amazing since the day I got them! I used KRK’s for almost 6 years and have only had the Adams about a year now so I’m still getting used to them. The other things I have are an Apollo twin as my audio interface, a Novation LaunchKey as my midi keyboard, a pair of DT-770 headphones, a blue USB microphone, and a Maschine Mikro III as my drum machine. Very rarely do I ever use my drum machine or keyboard though because I can’t play piano and I do all of my drums within Ableton haha.
I do want to say that when I started out, I think I tried to buy as much production and DJ gear as I possibly could. As I got older though, I realized you don’t really need a huge set-up to make good music so I got down to the gear I really wanted and will stay with that for a while!
Question 3: What made you want to make the sample pack video? Did it originate as a comedic skit or did it slowly turn into that as you went forward with it? (view “Sample Pack” here: Sample Pack Video )
Answer 3: Haha, the sample pack video! I honestly was just sitting in my studio with hella writer’s block and tried being productive by making my own sample pack. It was always something I wanted to do but as I started recording stuff, it was just kinda cheesy. Kinda like those videos of people recording pots and pans to make snare so I just started grabbing random stuff and recorded myself sampling things with my mic. It took maybe an hour or so to just kinda wing the idea of the video and edit it but a lot of people thought it was funny so I was glad to see that people have the same kinda humor I had with creating it!
Question 4: In addition to your recent original track “Lost” with Akame that dropped on your birthday, what else can the world look forward to in the works from Sytrux?
Answer 4: Lost was definitely one of the weirdest songs I’ve made! But yeah it was a great time making it with the buddies Akame and took about a year to get released. As far as what’s to come, I don’t know. I usually make music on a whim or if I’m really really inspired. I think nowadays a lot of music starts to follow a trend and I’ve definitely been guilty of falling into that, but I’m trying to make new stuff that people have never heard before. I’ve only ever made remixes or edits prior to 2020 so originals if definitely something I want to work more on releasing! Ohh and I am starting up a mix series this month where I throw a bunch of stuff I’m working on together as well as some ID’s from homies so be on the lookout for that too!
Question 5: Who has been or what has been your biggest inspirations to create Sytrux?
Answer 5: Some of my biggest inspirations definitely have to be Skrillex, Joyryde, UZ, Boombox Cartel, Rickyxsan, Oski, and Flume just to name a few!
Question 6: Do you have any dream collaborations you would like to mention? What about the dream festival bookings?
Answer 6: Yes! Probably one of the biggest dream collabs would be Skrillex, of course, Rickyxsan, my buddy Crankdat, and Troyboi! Dream festivals though I’m not too sure of. I’ve never been to an EDM festival besides a few local ones that I got booked for. I’ve always wanted to play Ultra since I was pretty young so that and probably Coachella would have to be up there.
Question 7: What does Ohio bring to the “EDM table” that you believe no other state does? What are some big no-no’s you would like to bring to light?
Answer 7: I grew up in a small town in North East Ohio called Ashtabula. It used to be a pretty busy place when I was really young but really fell to almost nothing but a Walmart and local businesses. So as soon as I graduated high school, I left and went to Ohio University for 2 years for music production then moved to Columbus, Ohio where I currently live. The scene here is pretty unique and very supportive! Honestly, it’s hard sometimes to be inspired here because it’s usually cold and gloomy, but there are definitely some rising producers and DJ’s making their way from Ohio that find inspiration from other places or just from some of the shows that come through the city. With the rise in popularity of Lost Lands, of course, Ohio being where it’s held, I see a lot more people seeing that it’s very possible to play shows like this if you work your butt off. As for no-no’s, I think honestly as long as you put in the work and truly believe in your vision, you can do anything you want. One thing that I see a lot of lately is people who get jealous that somebody gets a following or gets a show that they didn’t and they immediately start blaming this and that. I’m all about you doing your own things, helping others grow, and supporting your friends with everything they do! It’s so much easier to be kind to each other and be happy for somebody’s success than to take it another way. Spread the love!
Question 8: What are some tips and tricks you can touch-on for some other up and coming artists that you feel don’t get enough talk-time?
Answer 8: Probably would have to say that you have to ask yourself how much time you’re willing to put into music. Unless you’re ridiculously gifted, it takes hours and hours and hours of learning to get to a point where you feel somewhat comfortable with what you’re making. This just happened to me in the last year or so and I’ve been doing it for about 5 years now. The game for music and success in the music industry is always changing so I’d definitely have to say that originality is something that truly stands out nowadays. Music isn’t a rush, so take your time, learn what you really want to accomplish, and don’t be afraid to ask others for help with stuff you’re stuck on. I’m all about helping people as much as I can so I hope one day I’m in a place where I can start a school or something to help young producers because I learned a lot about what I know from countless YouTube videos and mistakes I made just deep-diving into Ableton!
Question 9: With the rise in bass music’s undying interest in house music; where do you see the two genres going in the near future? Do you think house music will reciprocate the fusion soon?
Answer 9: Well first, I have to say that I’m a lover of a wide variety of music. From Rap to metal, to classic rock, to all kinds of EDM sub-genres! I think, even if I’m not a huge fan of a certain genre, I appreciate the art in creating it. But as for bass music and house, those are probably two of the biggest ones I’ve been hooked on the longest! I think they both have their own time and place but it depends on the mood and Skrillex is definitely a good example of this. He’s done a ton of different bass songs as well as house songs that are all classics now and they all have their own time and place of when to be played and where. I don’t really see them clashing too much, other than literally what bass-house is already.
Question 10: Who in your area and or region deserves some extra spotlight? Be sure to give them a healthy shout-out!
Answer 10: Arbetter, Arbetter, Arbetter! I’ve only known the dude for about a year, but he’s been the homie that’s been nothing but supportive and hard working. He randomly messaged me on Instagram and mentioned that he was also in Columbus. We both made plans to meet and cook up some stuff together and that’s when we made the Red Light Remix! Since then, we’ve become really close friends and have worked on a ton of music together. The dude’s already crushing some big goals and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for him this year!
