Name: Len Faki
Occupation: Producer, DJ, label founder at Figure
Nationality: Turkish-German
Current release: Len Faki's Fusion is out via Figure.

If you enjoyed this Len Faki  interview and would like to find out more about his music, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud. We also recommend our earlier Len Faki interview which goes into even more depth on the concepts behind the album.



What makes a club track good for you after so many years as a DJ, producer and label founder? Time and again it seems to me that two tracks are almost identical - and yet one grabs you while the other leaves you almost cold.

That is indeed a very interesting question and there is probably no definitive or rational answer to it.

Of course there are pieces where you already know in advance that you'll get a magical response. But there are also those that move a crowd much more the first time you play them than you would have expected. Sometimes it would seem to me, as you described, that two tracks are equal, that you could even play them one after the other and it would work. And then, one of them always hits the spot while the other one is just quite okay but doesn't have that spark. Of course, I've tried this out a lot and often.

There were times when I would have said it's the sound which makes the difference. But then this simple and no more than solidly produced track comes along and still turns out to be a winner … this is clearly an exception but it does exist.

Especially in a club context, I think the right interplay of several tracks creates the moment, or leads to it. But yes, it will remain a mystery, especially once you're comparing subtle details. But I think that's ultimately a good thing. How boring it would be if we had a sure recipe for a really good, cool club track – you'd lose quite a bit of that magic.

I keep noticing sounds and ideas on Fusion that refer to the past, but interpret it from a modern perspective. How did you approach this - in terms of hardware, software, and production?

I sold all my hardware a few years ago and decided to work only "in the box" from then on. I found that very liberating at the time. But as I started work on Fusion, the desire to include some hardware influences returned.

Arthur Robert, a friend who has also released some great EPs on my label Figure, was there to help me. So I mainly used the Moog One and the Prophet 6 and some Digitone gear. One of my first synths was the Jupiter-8, which I sometimes miss (I hope mine from back then is still in good hands). I really wanted to include it, though, probably for nostalgic reasons, and borrowed one from a dear friend.

As far as software goes, I'm a big fan of the Arturia Collection. Especially the Oberheim SEM is a great piece of software and we became really close during the album process. The Roland Cloud was also a big and important part as well as Ableton's own sound generator Operator and the Wavetable, which I also liked to work with a lot. From Native Instruments, especially the FM8 was used a few times.

Something that had been on my to do list for a while was the audio effect rack chains in Ableton. I find it super exciting how far you can go with sound design and modulations. I can't even sum it up in a few sentences. It feels like a whole universe of possibilities and it was so much fun to lose myself in it for days and nights on end, tinkering with the racks and learning so much. These are super nice memories. (laughs)

You used terms like "experimentation", "fusion", and "DNA" to describe the creative process - terms from science. How do you see the connection between music and science, between the magical part of producing and the technical and the more rational side of things?

Well, basically I would say one can be proven and understood and the other is unfathomable magic. I am a dreamer in the studio. Producing is a very emotional process for me. I don't approach it with logic. On the contrary, I often like the irrational and sometimes put together elements that "supposedly" don't fit together.

If a sound has too much reverb, for example, I don't care as long as I have the feeling that everything is good and in flow. This often results in these magical moments when producing a piece, the step from human to machine - a harmony - and in the best case the intended expression of the human through the machines.

What were some of the "DNA" experiments you did? Were there things in terms of production that you wanted to try out specifically?

Yes absolutely. During the two years I spent on production, there were always long phases in which I questioned my knowledge, my processes and skills, developed them further and thought about them in new ways. Familiar but also new elements were used.

Making music with MIDI is wonderful, and Live's MIDI editor offers a lot of flexibility in creating musical sequences that fits very well with my way of working to give fresh and free rein to ideas.

In terms of hardware, sequencers were my go-to-tools for a very long time and I like their approach to programming patterns. The many Max For Live sequencers were something I had been wanting to get into for a very long time and finally had the opportunity to do so. It was really refreshing. I've become a total fan of the MDD Snake in particular. It's based on the René Eurorack module from Make Noise and offers a nice analogue workflow for sequencing patterns in Live. This resulted in some of the music you can find on Fusion.

"Probability" was also on my mind a lot. I find some of the results extremely exciting when you use it in a controlled and conscious way. Be it in sequencing or through controlled modulations of parameters. If you combine it with other midi effects, you can end up with wild and unexpected rhythms. It was used generously in the piece "Yantra".

If you compare your approach today with that of, for example, a track like "Rainbow Delta", which is not so far away from Fusion in terms of feeling, where do you see similarities and differences?

Yes, in a way I can agree with you. For my first Ostgut Ton release I wanted to unite the Berghain and the Panorama Bar with one piece. “Rainbow Delta” was the outcome of these considerations and I was super happy that it was played by both techno and house DJs.



However, my approach has evolved considerably in the meantime. Back then I was still working with Logic and when I later switched to Ableton Live, my way of thinking, approach and possibilities changed completely.

From the moment I switched to Ableton Live, I was able to realise sketches and ideas much faster and was in the flow of creating much faster. You can say that in this process I have also become more open and more willing to experiment with my productions and allow much more movement within the pieces.

My first big "aha" experience in this context was with a simple method that can still be fun today: Take a two or four bar drum loop and put the same clip on a track 10 times. Then you change the loop start points in each clip a little and enter different follow actions as desired.

Add a simple beat repeater to the channel and you have a variety of new ideas and implementation possibilities from a static drum loop. And you don't need a single external device or plug-in to do it.

It was this kind of simple things, which made things click for me back then. It matched my way of working better, and the additional integration of the Max For Live devices created a large, diverse space. If I may say so, there's some really wicked, high-quality shit which reward deep listening.

After a big project as Fusion, a certain emptiness can set in. What is your current situation - and where do you think the journey will take you next?

Over the years I have developed a great passion for editing and often remixing tracks that I play in my sets. I like to do that as a balance to stay productive. But I can still switch off and get into this almost meditative state with a clear head, similar to what others might experience when cooking or knitting.

A nice side effect is that I've accumulated an enormous amount of grooves and samples, be it high hats, percussion or other drums and sounds. You can say that I have built up a considerable library of my own, which on the one hand continues to grow and on the other hand also fertilises my own productions. It was not intended this way, but this library, which has been growing for many years, means that I have actually created a sound of my own from scratch.

But this is just a small insight. Out of this passion a new label project has developed called "Hardspace". It's detached from Len Faki, and will start in September. I believe that there has never been anything comparable in this form.

I know that this does not sound like peace or emptiness. It is also very time consuming. On the other hand, it makes me happy to spend a big part of my life doing something I am passionate about. And that is music, and making music.

And yes ... sometimes I also feel like a restless seeker.