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Features
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Joining Activa on his inspiring path
Reported by Frani Heyns
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Submitted 13-05-09 20:39
His friends know him as Rob Stevenson, his fans call him Activa. The man with the big smile has risen to fame in an incredibly short period. With a list of legendary tracks, all masterfully produced, his name is sitting in just about every big name’s record box and he has worked with the best in the industry. But riding the sweet wave of success today is the result of backbreaking hours in studio and the sheer determination to give nothing but his ultimate best.
With his versatile talent and unmistakable drive, he has turned into one of the world’s most sought-after producers. John Askew describes his productions as ‘in a league of their own, standing out a mile from a sea of tunes that all sound the same’. He has been signed by Spinnin, Discover, High Contrast, Black Hole, Enhanced, Somatic Sense and Vandit Records, and also runs Conspiracy Records with partners Jon O’ Bir and Kev Ribbens.
Despite a tight schedule and long hours in studio, Activa granted us a few moments to get under the skin of the man who proudly carries the title of Paul van Dyk’s producer for 2009.
Let’s start right at the beginning. When did you have your first taste of electronic dance music and how did things develop from there?
It was a long time ago. I think I must have been about eight or nine. It wasn’t really a taste of electronic dance music as such, it was more an encounter with electronic pop music. I’m not really sure what I had been listening to beforehand, but some of the first electronic music I listened to was Jean Michel Jarre. I borrowed one of his tapes to listen to from school.
It wasn’t long after that I was messing around linking a keyboard up to a PC and live tapes from Uprising started circulating round my friends. After a brief fling with hardcore I quickly moved on to the old Ministry annuals and eventually the first Clubber’s Guide CD, which is one of the first times I heard Greece 2000. One Gatecrasher Black CD later and I was pretty much hooked on trance.
You have pushed out a number of blinding productions under different names, including Solar Movement, Mekk, Substate, Force One, Aira Force, CMR, Eluna and Activa. Please describe the sound of each briefly and which one would you rate as Rob Stevenson’s favourite?
To be honest most of the names came about after dealing with different labels rather than trying to do different styles. Activa, Solar Movement and Force One are pretty much the same and only really exist to allow me to release on more than one label in a shorter space of time. I have tried to keep the Solar Movement stuff trancier than the more pumping Activa tracks, but they definitely cross over. Mekk was a project that was specifically started so I could release harder, darker tracks on Discover Dark. That has now turned into a techno project and will be dipping into tech trance depending on my mood. CMR and Substate are both with Matt and Chris Kidd. CMR is older hard trance and Substate is techier sounding trance.
The only aliases that still exist though are Activa, Mekk (now Mekk V due to some complications with the name) and Solar Movement.
You’ve worked closely with a list of big names in the studio, helping them to engineer and produce albums, singles and remixes. One of them is Jon O’ Bir. Tell us more about the production of his first artist album, From Within.
From Within came about after a conversation with Jon where we both agreed that it would be fun to do an album project and try and help boost his name and backup his DJing, while increasing my profile as a production engineer in the process. We’re in a scene now where we have to have productions to back up our DJing and sometimes people who have never DJed before can get big gigs due to some relatively big tracks. We both decided it would be a good idea to get some Jon O’Bir material down as we had a blank canvas. Due to my lack of experience as an engineer, a lot of his tracks are very ‘Activa’, but it was something we both felt we had to do. That ‘Activa’-sounding production is hopefully starting to disappear with Jon, but as we work so closely with DJing, production and the label and have a very similar taste in music anyway, it’s quite hard. I think the fact that I have just about stopped all my engineering for other people will help as that production sound will begin to disappear.
Your name now appears in the record boxes of top producers and DJs around the world, with releases on Spinnin (Liquid), Discover, High Contrast, Black Hole, Enhanced, Somatic Sense and Vandit Records. What was the turning point in your career, that specific moment when you realised that you were living your passion and making a success of it?
It was only in April 2008 that I became self employed on a full-time basis. Up until then my attitude was that I had not actually succeeded in the music industry until I was doing music as a full-time career.
My attitude has changed though, I have realised that just because I am doing music as a job, doesn’t mean I have actually succeeded. I think it is this attitude that keeps me driven to work as hard as I can and not become complacent.
Tell us more about Conspiracy Records. When did you launch the label and what was the initial idea behind it?
Myself, Jon and Jon’s brother, Kev launched it in 2005. The initial idea was to get hold of music from relatively unknown and new producers and try and give them a foot in the door. That idea is still going but now we have been able to release tracks from better-known artists too. We have helped to bring people like Peter Martijn Wijnia, Anguilla Project and Tom Colontonio into the scene which is quite nice.
The creative process is different for every artist. Would you say the initial idea for an original track starts with something you see or hear, or is it a thought that gradually develops over time?
It really depends to be honest. Sometimes a track can pop into my head while I’m watching a film or doing something where I can’t get to my studio or a keyboard to test it out. If I can remember the track they usually turn out okay. Remember on Vandit and This World on Discover were both tracks where I wasn’t anywhere near a keyboard or studio when I thought of it.
Other tracks can be sat on my hard drive as a groove or a quick melody idea and take months to finish. Some don’t get finished. I find I am spending more time on tracks now, which I suppose is a good thing. There was a point I got a bit overexcited and was making track and remix after track and remix and even agreed to do things like remix swaps. And having those remixes come back when you least expect them, can be hard to get into.
There’s nothing worse than having to do a remix that you agreed to do months and months earlier when you’re already pretty busy. I still need to develop my work evaluation skills. Now and again I’ll still take on tracks that I really shouldn’t.
What, according to you, are the most important elements that set brilliant productions apart from ordinary tracks?
I suppose in my opinion the production quality of the track is the most important thing. A brilliant track for me doesn’t have to have a big riff or really anything particularly memorable. A perfect example would be Armin’s Sunburn. It’s a blinding track, absolutely superb production, but doesn’t have a big riff. If you tried to sing it to someone who didn’t know what it was, you’d have trouble!
Too many trance tracks now have big memorable riffs or some horrible vocal just to try and connect with a more and more commercial crowd. Don’t get me wrong – I like tracks with big riffs and I like certain vocal tracks, but there still has to be a good production behind them.
Even though you are primarily known as a producer, you are also a fantastic DJ. Please tell us more about your residency at Digital Society.
I was booked to play at the very first Digital Society and even on their first night you could tell that they had their finger on exactly what the more underground trance crowd wanted. Not long after that they asked me if I wanted to become a bi-monthly resident, playing every other month, which I agreed to straight away.
As I play quite pumping and driving trance as well as techier trance, I was usually on quite late on a night. From the feedback I got, it seemed that I was getting known with the DS crowd for giving it lift at the end and going all out and someone that the DS regulars actually looked forward to. It was nice to hear that as the DS crowd is probably the best I’ve played to and to get good feedback was cool. Then came the chance to do a Live As CD and immediately chose to contact the DS crew to see if it could be done there. Everything went well and the mix was immortalised on CD.
Tell us more about other events you have played at and which one particularly stands out for you?
To be honest my DJing has only really picked up this year. I have played at nights like Passion and Gatecrasher, but they were never main room gigs. The gigs I’ve been playing recently have been huge in comparison. Probably the best and the night that particularly stands out, was the most recent visit to Brno in the Czech Republic. Great night and a fantastic crowd. And I could travel and see Czech a little!
If you have the choice of playing at any club or event in the world, where would it be?
Probably Amnesia in Ibiza. I love the island and the club and have had many really good nights there. A close second would be the old Republic in Sheffield (which is now gone) before it got refitted and turned into Gatecrasher 1. It was an amazing club before they attempted to go upmarket and put carpets everywhere.
Who have been your biggest influences over the years?
Paul van Dyk without a doubt has been the biggest influence. Not only through his own productions, but probably more importantly from a producer’s view, through Vandit. I had been trying to get on Vandit for about two years before Remember. Solar Movement – Under the Sun was very close, but didn’t quite make it on.
My mood also has a big influence as it does with most people. Sometimes I’m in a techno mood and other times I’m in an uplifting trance mood.
You have worked with the cream of the crop in the dance industry. Who is the most inspirational DJ/producer you’ve met so far?
I would have to say probably John Askew. His views on things are just plain crazy at times and I really do question just how sane he is. But for inspiration, I think craziness helps. I often get feedback from John on my productions and his comments often push me.
List your five favourite tracks at the moment.
Cressida – Onyric (Stoneface & Terminal Remix)
Neal Scarborough – Tiberium (Original Mix)
Activa vs. Chris & Matt Kidd – U.R. (Stoneface & Terminal Remix)
Gary Maguire – One Way (Original Mix)
Tydi – Mind Games (Max Savietto Dub Edit)
As one of the best producers in the industry at the moment, with a long list of tracks under the belt, most of your time is probably spent in studio. But when you do get the chance, what do you do to relax?
I like mountain biking. There is a forest not far from me that has some great trails and good downhill sections. They can be a little hairy at times, but it’s a good laugh. I try to go as much as I can. It’s nice to get out of the studio and get some fresh air.
I also like to catch up with NBA games. They’re shown on TV pretty late on a Tuesday, so I record the show and chill out on a Wednesday and watch them. I like to play basketball too, but as the facilities near me are so bad, I don’t play that often. I used to play a lot in school and really want to get playing a lot more.
If you had the chance to compose a piece of music with any musician in history, who would it be and why?
A guy called Paul Haslinger. He did the score for Underworld (the film about vampires and werewolves) and there is a short piece of music called Eternity And A Day which I’m pretty much obsessed with. It’s a kind of mixture of ambient and classical music and the strings section in it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. He is pretty recent as music goes though.
What advice do you have for aspiring producers?
If you really want to produce as a job, invest in learning everything you can and invest in some good equipment. A lot of people say it doesn’t matter what you use as long as you can use it well and to an extent I can agree. However, I have recently switched to a Mac and Logic Pro and I have never felt so unrestricted in what I can do. I have always seemed to be held back when I had a PC due to the PC not being powerful enough to cope with the amount of channels I wanted to use, or software playing up and drivers needing to be re-installed etc.
I think it is also important to look at hardware still. Hardware synths still outperform softsyths in my opinion – the sounds are higher quality and a lot fuller. Overall if you’re willing to put in the time, effort and money into something, you will get out of it what you want.
Your success has been phenomenal – earning you words of praise from the likes of John Askew, Jon O’ Bir, Matt Hardwick and Simon Patterson. And in his recent interview with DJ Mag, Paul van Dyk named you as his producer of 2009. Where to from here?
I’m still going to try and work as hard as I can, creating music I want to make. I am under no illusion that this genre will last forever and would love to get into music production for film and television. There is a massive amount of work to be put into doing something like that, but I would love the challenge and I think it would be a lot more of a stable career path. And I’ll still stick with what I enjoy most, producing music.
Photos courtesy of Fresh DJ Management. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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Other Features By Frani Heyns:
Finding the passion with Ben Alonzi
Put your hands in the air for Glyn Waters
Shifting gears with Corderoy
Perfectly Adam White
Getting Crafty with Sly One: Part 2
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Alan-Banks on 14th May 2009 12:04.07
An amazing producer and a great guy. He deserves all his success. Well done Rob
From: Jurrane on 15th May 2009 07:57.55
Easily the best producer of the past 12 months. Rob's gone from strength to strength in recent years and everything I hear from him is phenomenal. Many congrats mate: you absolutely deserve it. 
From: DJ Vale on 23rd May 2009 14:32.09
Top geezah - met him at a Digital Society party with Mat Lock...albeit I didn't have a clue who he was until Lock told me haha
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