Name: Gabriel Cassina aka ACIDBOY aka Regal
Nationality: Spanish
Occupation: Producer, DJ
Current release: Acidboy's new single "Ruido," featuring AEREA, is out via Involve. It is the second single taken off his upcoming full-length album The Final Chapter, slated for release November 22nd 2024.
Recommendations: In terms of a painting, it may sound a bit cliché, but one of the paintings that has impressed me most in my life is “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso. Not because of the color, as it's basically black and white, and not because of the technique, but mainly for the size and how it manages to capture you fully. You stand there watching it and don’t realize how many details it has and how much time is passing, you get lost in it. Trust me, you can see it in pictures, but once you see it in person you will be impressed.

And in regards to books, a book that I absolutely love is The Perfume by Patrick Süskind. The amazing thing is that the author only describes the scents of places, things, people. He never describes how something looks, but just how it smells. It’s something unique that I’ve never experienced with any other book, so I can really recommend that to everyone.
 
If you enjoyed this interview with ACIDBOY aka Regal and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, and tiktok. 



What was the first time you were consciously impressed by technology – in and outside of music?

I guess it probably was when I was around five years old, in 1994, at my cousin's place. He used to play videogames on the PC and it was the first time I actually saw a PC in real life, so I was very impressed.

A few years later my father arrived home with a portable PC as he was working in the technology industry and when I saw this slim thing doing crazy things and a whole world to discover behind the screen that was probably the second time I was impressed about technology.

Later on, during my teenage years, I was kind of a nerd (or at least tried to be) to understand how technology worked. I then discovered the program Virtual DJ, which was the moment I got definitely hooked and wanted to know more about how you can make music using technology.

Tell me about some of your early productions that you're still proud of – and why.

I'm not really proud of my early productions as I would change a ton of things, of elements, the way they are arranged. Sometimes I’m not even proud of my recent ones, as I always think it could be better in some way.

But, if I have to pick one, it would probably be “Acid Is The Answer.”



I still like how it sounds and I made it in just one night in my room, just with the PC, without any analog software. It somehow has everything it needs and is one of the very few tracks I wouldn’t really change.

When it comes to arranging, sound design, performing, composing, etc – what are currently concrete topics and aspects that interest you and where you want to improve or simply challenge yourself?

When it comes to sound design, I always try to do different things – I mean – there are plenty of ways to reach the same goal and what you’re looking for in a track. But I'm also a guy who likes to work fast, so I'm always looking for plug-ins or the quickest way to get the sound FX that I'm looking for.

Instead, when it comes to performing on stage, my way of deejaying is layering multiple tracks on 3-4 channels, so I’m always looking for new combinations of tracks to layer and create new mixes that are unique.

It’s funny to be challenged during every DJ set. Not only the crowd doesn’t know what’s coming next and will be surprised … even I will be.

Do you keep up with recent developments in terms of gear and software? If not, why not? If so, what are you looking for?

I used to buy a lot of gear and still have it in my studio. But recently I seem to be more into plug-ins.

They're cheaper, especially when you want to try out a lot of new things, and as I said before, for the way I personally produce, they're way more intuitive and easy to use. So you don’t have to read a manual before you start producing but can jump into it right away.

Jean-Michel Jarre maintained that, despite the advances in virtual technology, we are still "analogue animals made out of blood and bones who need buttons and knobs to touch.” In how far is this statement true or false for your own music?  

I think he's right. It doesn't really apply to my daily music production routine, but to be honest, from time to time I really enjoy turning on my machines and playing around in the studio.

But usually I do that when I’m bored or my creativity is blocked. Sometimes jamming around helps to come up with new ideas. But then I get back to my laptop and continue there.

What are examples of production tools/instruments that you bought for a specific purpose?

I think the most characteristic ones are all the TB303 clones that I just own to make acid basslines.

The first one I got was the Roland Aira TB3, then I have the Behringer TD3, then the modified Behringer TD3 inspired by the Devilfish modification. The other ones I have are the TT303 and the MAM MB33.

[Read our feature on the Roland 303]

Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility with electronic music to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that?

I totally agree. Regular instruments are limited, like a trumpet or a classic guitar. You can do what you can do with them, but nothing more.

On the contrary, electronic music instruments have an infinite number of combinations that allow you to create and generate new sounds, new textures and basically anything you can think of, including rhythmic elements.

That’s probably why there are more and more tracks being produced only with electronic instruments in recent years.

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, tell me about the production process for your current release, please.

Each track of my latest album released as ACIDBOY had a different process. Some tracks like “Decadance” or “Make Regal Great Again” were made in 1-2 days. I guess I was quite inspired on those days. Other tracks like “Automatic Control” or “Broken Dreams Club” took me more than a year to finish as I was stuck and didn’t really know how to continue with the production.

I believe that every track has a different creative process and it really depends on how inspired I am on a certain day. Also, sometimes I finish a track and then after a few weeks I listen to it again and I change everything, so it’s also really important to me to re-listen to the tracks after a while to be sure I am happy with the final result.

But sometimes you wouldn’t be able to recognize a track when you’ve listened to the first draft and then to the final one.

What does your own way of working with sound look like? Do you find using presets lazy?

Absolutely not. To be honest, I always start from presets and then I start modifying whatever I need or want, in order to modify the sound I have in mind and give it a personal touch.

I'm not the kind of nerd that likes to play around with waves and oscillators to create a sound from scratch, it takes a lot of time and I really like to work fast in the studio.

So using presets is a good starting point, and then you can make the sound yours by adding all the nuances that you’re looking for.

What were some of your most positive collaboration experiences? How did this "human element" enhance your solo approach? Did you record via filesharing or in the same room and if so, what did the recording process look like?

I have actually done several collabs this year that are still unreleased. Most of them are non-techno stuff which is a bit more leftfield. Regarding the collab that is featured on my latest album, with the duo AEREA, we haven’t been in the studio together but worked via filesharing, even though we all live in the same city.



To be honest, when I produce I like to be alone, by myself, so I can take the time to develop my ideas. Sometimes I’m so focused that I lose track of how much time is passing, so if I have people around I feel like there's too much noise in my head and I cannot concentrate properly.

It’s a different thing when I have to record vocals though: In that case I like to be in the studio with the vocalist and record everything with them, but then the production and arrangement process I prefer to do alone.

Maybe just the final touches are something that I like to do with more people in the studio, as four or more ears hear better than two.

To some, the advent of AI and 'intelligent' composing tools offers potential for machines to contribute to the creative process. What are your hopes, fears, expectations and possible concrete plans in this regard?

I think AI is developing super fast and some stuff is pretty interesting and can be used to enhance human production. I actually use a few AI tools in the studio, but just as a support to my own ideas as it can save a lot of time and speed up the production process.

However, I think that for vocalists it’s way more problematic as the voice clone AI is becoming extremely realistic and depending on how it's used it could be dangerous as it could replace humans or copy voices of vocalists without them knowing or having the possibility to prohibit it.

Have you used AI or generative music tools for your own productions? If so, in which way and what did they add?

As said, I use a few tools sometimes. I have a synth in which I can describe a sound just with some words and it generates the sound automatically. But to be honest it’s not working so well, especially as probably sometimes my descriptions aren’t so accurate. But that’s a starting point to producing my own sound that saves a lot of time and energy.

I also have another plug-in that is connected to my microphone where I can just “sing“ a melody and it creates the MIDI notes for me on my preferred scale. This is quite helpful because I don’t have a music school background and it takes me very long to find the notes and note sequences that I have in my mind on a keyboard.

Also, sometimes I use ChatGPT for some tips to arrange melodies or sequences, so that I don’t have to resarch it on Google and read many articles, which would interrupt my creative flow.

What is a production related question that you would like to ask yourself – and what's your answer to it?

I'm not sure to be honest, I think it could be interesting to ask “how can you bring the ideas that you have in your mind to a DAW, especially having 0 knowledge of music theory?“

But unfortunately I don't have an answer to that. I just feel the music and transform my environment into an fictitious scenario in which I imagine the track, like being in a certain club or on a stage design in a certain way. And then I imagine how I would vibe to that track.