Name: Omar El Assry aka FNX Omar
Occupation: Producer
Nationality: Moroccan
Recent release: FNX Omar's new single "The Place," featuring Mr. V is out via Get Physical.
Recommendations: I recommend Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One by Raphaëlle Giordano.

If you enjoyed this FNX Omar interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, Soundcloud, and Facebook.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Often, the impulse to create comes from the nostalgia of specific musical moments - dark, buzzing dancefloors; hip-hop and breakbeat classics;

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

It depends on the project. For my original creations, I like to let the music guide me, and I take lots of chances, overlaying many sounds and then tidying up until I have captured the core of the idea.

For remixes, I often have an idea of the arrangement by listening to the original, and I work in a more structured fashion.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Early versions have a big role to play. Often, I’ve made almost entire tracks and then changed them significantly.

It’s those early ideas and mood boards that allow me, with the benefit of time, to capture the essence of my idea and turn it into a finished track.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I keep things simple. Caffè macchiato, croissant, a bit of reading or checking emails and I’m ready to go.

What do you start with? And, to quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I always feel that I’ve created the idea.

I like to start with the rhythm - after all, it is the most important thing. After I have an irresistible groove, then it’s time to move to vocals, melodies and other instruments.
 
Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

It’s a bit of both. Initially you have to follow your inspiration. But once the ‘core’ of the idea is there, you need to be stricter with your production.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Of course, this happens. But over many, many years of producing I’ve gotten to a stage where I know what I set out to create.

I do like to save alternative ideas separately and come back to them later.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Of course. My music is deeply spiritual and meditative, and always has been.

It has to do with the state of mind I like to be in when I’m creating and I like to reflect that in the finished track.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

It’s super important for me to let a piece rest after it’s finished, I never like to rush these things.

When I’m not working under a deadline, I like to allow weeks or even months between ‘finished’ and ‘final’ versions.

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“

In electronic music we have the advantage of not needing to perform everything in one go, and we can zoom in and spend hours fine-tuning a drum sound or an 8-bar loop.

I like to work on my rhythmic elements as long as possible until they sound perfect to my taste.

Even recording a solo song is usually a collaborative process. Tell me about the importance of trust between the participants, personal relationships between musicians and engineers and the freedom to perform and try things – rather than gear, technique or “chops” - for creating a great song.

Trust is important, but in collaborations of any kind it’s a dialogue involving back-and-forth exchanges of opinions and thoughts.

The most important thing is for everyone to be invested in the quality of the music, that’s paramount.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?

These things go hand in hand. I personally like to be involved in all aspects, and undoubtedly in electronic music, mixing and mastering do play an important role.

There’s no point producing a beautiful composition if it sounds terrible on a large club soundsystem.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I don’t feel this sense of emptiness - that’s the beauty of the house music world.

As soon as songs are released (sometimes even before!) my other DJ friends and peers are playing them in their DJ sets around the world, and you get to see how this moves people. There's beauty in that.

Music is a language, but like any language, it can lead to misunderstandings. In which way has your own work – or perhaps the work of artists you like or admire - been misunderstood? How do you deal with this?

I think that the interpretation of music is unique to each listener, and you have to let them have that enjoyment without the artist narrating it.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

There’s a joy and a freedom of the soul that comes with enjoying and making music that is incomparable to any other task or feeling.