Name: Porya Hatami
Occupation: Producer, sound artist
Nationality: Iranian
Recent release: Porya Hatami teams up with David Newman and Ian Hawgood for their sophomore album as Monogoto, Partial Deletion of Everything (Vol. 2), out now via Polar Seas.
Recommendations on the topic of sound: There are some books that I recommend: Adorno's collection of essays on music; Jazz and Justice, Racism and the Political Economy of the Music - Gerald Horne; Noise, The Political Economy of Music - Jacques Attali; Music and Crisis of the Modern Subject - Michael Klein
Also, these two anthologies are great for discovering some great books and authors on the subject: the sound studies reader - edited by Jonathan Sterne; Audio Culture readings In modern Music - Edited by Christoph Cox and Daniel Warner

[Read our David Newman interview]
[Read our Ian Hawgood interview]

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Porya Hatami and would like to find out more about his work, visit his official website. He is also on twitter, and Soundcloud.

Over the course of his career, Porya Hatami has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Arovane, Philippe Petit, and Lee Norris.

[Read our Arovane interview]
[Read our Philippe Petit interview]
[Read our Lee Norris interview]



What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and working with sound? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage when it comes to your way of working with sound?

Something that I like to explore in my work is the relationship between form and content and how they correspond to each other. The sound or my approach is changing for each project based on the subject.

For me it's the concept of the album that dictates the form or direction, decisions I make, and sounds that I’d like to use. The subject compels me to decide if I want to use field recordings, noise, traditional instruments, or if the album should be tonal/melodic or more abstract.

Therefore, I don't want to have my voice or signature sound, the first thing that I focus on when I start a new work is to think about this relationship and figure out what kind of approach is more suitable to deliver what I have in mind.

What are the sounds that you find yourself most drawn to? Are there sounds you reject – if so, for what reasons?

Every sound is interesting to me. One of the reasons that I'm drawn into this kind of music is my fascination with sound in general. Any sound can be a source of inspiration.

The possibility of capturing a simple sound and processing it, bending it and turning it into something completely different or recycle sounds and find a new purpose for them is amazing.

As creative goals and technical abilities change, so does the need for different tools of expression, from instruments via software tools and recording equipment. Can you describe this path for you personally starting from your first studio/first instruments and equipment? What motivated some of the choices you made in terms of instruments/tools/equipment over the years?

My setup is simple: A computer, a recorder, and a few pieces of hardware synths. There have been some small changes in the software I use but my goal has always been finding a simple setup that I know very well so I can do anything I want with it.

For instance, I started working with VCV rack a few years ago. It’s a free and open-source virtual modular synth and since then most of the sounds I create are coming from that piece of software. I'm also slowly building a simple DAW-less setup that I can make music on without the use of a computer.

Where do you find the sounds you're working with? How do you collect and organise them?

Everywhere. I have a huge library of sounds. I record everything, synth patches, field recordings, etc. I started extracting sounds from videos a few years ago, sound from news, footage, archives, etc.

I used some of them in my album with AGF but I’m still gathering more and I’m thinking about how I can implement them in my work more creatively.

The possibilities of modern production tools have allowed artists to realise ever more refined or extreme sounds. Is there a sound you would personally like to create but haven't been able to yet?

I don't think so. To be honest sometimes I think modern production tools can affect my creativity in a negative way.

Of course, there are tools that really make life easier, like audio restoration applications. However, there is also a huge wave of AI-based tools that try to automate every part of the creative process which can be really counterproductive.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and composition?

Well, our perception of sound is spatiotemporal which means there is a fundamental relationship between sound, space, and time. There are different aspects to this relationship.

The more obvious one is that time and space are basically extensions or properties of sound, and every sound we hear is already positioned in space. So to use the old architecture analogy, part of composing could be seen as a practice of positioning sound in space.

A more interesting topic is geometry and how different geometrical patterns can be implemented in the structure of a composition, for example rhythm and its relationship to those patterns.

The idea of acoustic ecology has drawn a lot of attention to the question of how much we are affected by the sound surrounding us. What's your take on this and on acoustic ecology as a movement in general?

I am more interested in the historical aspect of it. How different periods in history had different soundscapes and how that impacted the people living during that period.

People living in our times are all familiar with certain sounds such as cars, plains, and drones. Regardless of where we live, we are familiar with these sounds but that's not the case for people who lived a few centuries ago so the sounds we hear daily is part of our subjectivity.

The question of how much the soundscape in the different periods in history is responsible for the art that is made in that time and how much of it translated into literature or other artworks of the era is very fascinating to me.

We can listen to a pop song or open our window and simply take in the noises of the environment. Without going into the semantics of 'music vs field recordings', in which way are these experiences different and / or connected, do you feel?

The differences are in our response to them. I think how we experience these sounds is directly based on our worldview, education, or political views. One can respond negatively to a pop song but love the noise or vice versa .If you see pop music as a product of culture industry, then it has a huge effect on how you experience the music and whether you enjoy it or not.

Same goes for noise. Noise might be annoying for somebody but for someone else it might be a pure joy. I grab my recorder every time I hear a weird noise where others might respond by shutting it off immediately.