Part 1

Name: Steve Pacheco
Nationality: American
Occupation: Producer, composer
Recent release: Steve Pacheco's Fades is out via Fluid Audio / Facture.
Recommendations: Two artists I would recommend to your readers would be the abstract painter Kevin Tolman as well as the multidisciplinary artist Gary Edward Blum.

If you enjoyed this interview with Steve Pacheco and would like to find out more, visit him on Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

My journey playing with sound started in 2010. Since I am self-taught, I had no background or understanding of music at all. So, my burning curiosity is what fueled me for the first 2-3 years. Just playing with various sound sources like guitar, kalimba, various bells, and learning what effects did what. I was just so taken by the process, that I wasn’t very critical of anything I did in those early years.

I have a wide range of influences, but I would say my foundation is really between punk and hip hop. Those two splinter off in an interesting way in that with hip hop, I dug into the past, heavily influenced by the music being sampled—jazz, funk/breakbeats, soul, and even early electronic music. It was fascinating to me how something new was created from existing material, and I was excited whenever I found a song that one of my favorite artists had sampled. With punk, I followed the influence it had on future genres like post punk, indie, and math rock.

I have always loved how powerful and emotive music is. From an early age, I loved the images it filled my mind with, and the feelings in my body. In my younger years, I was more influenced by adrenalin, but as I matured I became more intrigued by emotion and memory. How music can make you recall certain memories, or inspire a feeling within me that has a certain familiarity.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I am drawn to emotion and nostalgia. Not everything I listen to touches on those two elements, but the music I find most powerful is music that gives me a certain feeling in my gut.

There seems to be this balance of beauty and sadness, that really strikes a chord with me. Since this has had such a profound effect on me as a listener, my goal is to create music that touches those who listen in a similar way.

I can’t say that I have cracked the code to finding that sweetspot of beauty and heartbreak, but I do hope the music I make touches people in even the smallest way.  

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I view my development as artist as a personal journey that influences my life as much as my life influences it. I feel so inspired by all things music and sound—the process itself, but also the design of various instruments, even the design of the interfaces for music software, which makes sense as I am a designer by profession.

I would say my biggest challenge is not having the time to put into music as I would like. Not only to make music, but to learn as much as I can. I feel like my personal voice is just following what inspires me, but at the same time I honestly don’t put too much thought into that.

I think this is what I mean when I say it is more of a personal journey. I expect that I will grow as an artist as I grow as an individual.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

My biggest influence as a kid was skateboarding. Through that lens, I was introduced to punk, and the visual language of skate magazines. Worn out cassette tapes, weathered stamp-like graphics of ads and skate products, to the actual scratches on my skateboard (and body), my senses were bombarded with an exciting sense of movement and aggression.

It is no coincidence one of my favorite artists in my early design education was Robert Rauschenberg. The raw nature of his work was a more refined embodiment of that aesthetic, and perhaps influenced it. I feel like this really informed my creative process and the embrace of working intuitively and instinctively.

Even as a professional in my design work, I shy away from working in a calculated way and favor chance and happy accidents. I approach music in a very similar way, perhaps throwing even more caution to the wind.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

My exposure to the creative process was through visual art and graphic design. I prefer to work in a more stream of consciousness way, opening myself to those happy accidents that I wouldn’t have otherwise thought of. By creating small loops, resampling them, cutting out parts I like and resampling and so on. The final piece is always so far off from the original idea or loop. I like it that way.

I feel like the times I stick to the original loop, the results seem to be less interesting. I almost don’t want the final piece to feel like something I thought of or created, but a result of the process itself. I think in a way that also allows me to be more receptive to how it feels, almost like I am listening to something someone else made.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I feel like my viewpoint is more rooted in the personal / emotional realm. I make ambient music because there is something inside me that is driven to do so. It brings me balance, and fulfills that need to create in a way my job doesn’t.

As a listener, this music has given so much to me. I am so grateful for that, and want to contribute. It means so much to me to think that something I created has the potential to touch someone in ways that the music of others has touched me.
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Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

This may be a strange answer, but I would say a lot of curiosity and the internet. There’s so many amazing people sharing their knowledge, on blogs, forums, Twitter, YouTube, even Instagram.

I remember starting out and reading an interview with an ambient artist. Granular synthesis was mentioned, and at the time I had no idea what that was. After a google search, several links later I was beginning my journey with methods I still use to this day. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to stumble across it had I never read that interview. Things like this have happened countless times.

Even reading gear reviews, sometimes something intriguing is mentioned that sets off a rabbit hole of researching yielding lots of vital and useful info.  Without access to these sites, and the generosity of information, I would have never gotten to the point where I am making the songs that I make.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

A typical day starts out with an early morning walk with my wife and our two silver labs, Lobo and Scout. Once we get back, we make coffee, feed the dogs, and get situated for the work day. My wife and I both work from home, so we have developed quite the routine that works really well for us. Once we are in our own office spaces, work begins.

As I mentioned before, I am a visual designer. When I am in the stage of a project where I need to quiet my mind in order to creatively find a solution, I like to pluck away at my guitar or even open a piano VST in Ableton Live. If I happen upon something I like, I will record it. It is quite convenient in that way! Nowadays, it is in those small moments where 30 or so minutes of loop making are the origins of most of my tracks.

Near the end of the work day, we take the dogs out for their evening walk, we all eat dinner and spend some time together. On the nights that I plan to do my creative work, I will usually head upstairs around 9, and work on music for a few hours.