Nationality: Nicolas Masseyeff
Occupation: Producer, DJ
Nationality: French
Current Release: Nicolas Masseyeff's Endless LP is out via Systematic.
Recommendations: I would recommend the art of my brother Yann Masseyeff. He inspired my Endless LP artwork - it’s his work actually …
And regarding music it will be one of my all time favorite tracks «At Les» by Innerzone Orchestra … it’s a re-interpretation of a classic Carl Craig track, and I really like the flow of this song …

If you enjoyed this interview with Nicolas Masseyeff and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, 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?

I bought my first vinyl in 1989. That's when I discovered electronic music …

I fell in love with a few styles right from the beginning. I was mostly impressed and attracted by Detroit Techno and New York & Chicago House. These were my main influences.

Later on I also discovered artists like Steve Reich and John Cage and in 1998 I bought my first synths and samplers, and started to learn how to make music.

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?

Usually when I listen to music I can’t really describe the effects on me.

But some tracks touch my soul, and technically some of them are incredible … so I try to understand how it was built … Sometimes they give me ideas, sometimes not.

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 would say that for me, I have to stay simple and simply understand myself. I do what I like with my perception and my tastes, trying to progress in terms of achievements and choices.

Over the years I attained a certain level of maturity with my music, I create my tracks differently these days than at the beginning of my career. We evolve technically and musically whilst trying to keep as much as possible our musical integrity, and maintaining my sound.

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.

I like a lot of different music, I'm really eclectic in my choices, as well as in my DJ sets. The music I play is so rich in various sounds and styles ... so I always try to remain in this movement.

I’m work on the sounds I like for hours and shape them to my ear and my tastes ... sometimes being influenced by songs from other artists and sometimes building the image that I have in my head.

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”?

For me music is something beautiful that can be timeless. With innovation or perfection, I am more into the feelings, emotions, messages that music provides.

I just want to listen to good music, and do what I can do and let myself go in front of the instruments … without thinking too much …

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?

In my studio there are few synths like a Sub 37, a Prophet 12, and a OB-6, and everything is turning around those 3 with Logic or Ableton.

There is not so much a strategy in place. I just play with them, making some sounds and start the process of creativity … it has to be spontaneous always.

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

On a normal day I take my son to school, and then I have two choices to start my day.

I can either go to play golf with some friends, or to the studio and start a creative day for almost 9 hours. There are some days for creation, and some days for mixing, usually I love to start the day with hard tasks like mixing or mastering because my ears are still fresh … creativity then follows later in the day.

Usually I stay in the studio for lunch and work … and when it’s time to pick up my son from school, I shut down everything till the next day.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

I never forget that I create dance music. It's a style in its own right, where different styles have been born over time ... but for me the main idea is to make people dance to it.

The sounds I like, the melodies that come to me ... I don't necessarily have recipes, I do things with my heart. Sometimes it's fast, sometimes it takes a lot longer … but the important thing is to have fun while creating.

It's often the tracks where I had a blast that people remember ....

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

For me it ’s really difficult to work with people in general. I need to have a good relationship with the person, you need to have a kind of good connection, to discuss, play around with your thoughts regarding the sounds and melodies …

So mainly all my collaborations or works are with friends.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I never thought about intellectualising my music, and I also don't think I reinvented electronic music with my achievements.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

I have created tracks when someone died in my family. With the sadness I had to to lay down my feelings that night ... the melodies came to me very quickly ... like a kind of therapy.

I don't know, but creating in pain may have allowed me to accept the departure of those deceased ... and especially today connects me to them when I listen to them again or replay them ...

It's like a kind of link to eternity even when I will no longer be there.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Science can be helpful to create new ways to produce music, with a different approach which can be really creative. And in another way music is full of science, with the wealth of sounds at one's disposal.

For a long time many artists have tried to understand the connection between the two fields … and I respect it a lot. The link is strong … but I never really think about it …

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing 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?

To this day I make music because it gives me a well-being that few other things in my life give me ... and I made the choice many years ago to make it my job. To this day, it's part of my daily life, just like a cup of coffee in the morning ... it's essential to my life, and often my music reflects my mood and my feelings.

I usually try to make a range of different tracks every time I get in my studio, like if you were cooking in your kitchen …

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

We all have a different perception of listening to and creating music, that's what makes the magic of this art … but often the music is affiliated with emotions. It is that which makes us respond to it, I think.