Name: Olivier Mateu aka Rodriguez Jr.
Nationality: French
Occupation: Producer, DJ
Current release: Rodriguez Jr.'s Feathers & Bones is out on his newly founded personal label by the same name.
Recommendations: I’m going to share with you two of my favorites which paradoxically are also two of the simplest ones:

1. The Roland SH101 - an inevitable piece of equipment. It’s extremely basic but has a lot of character and usability which makes it the perfect music instrument in my opinion.
2. Logic Pro EFM1, which is once again very basic FM synth based on two sine waves and which is featured in a lot of my tracks such as "Mistral."

If you enjoyed this Rodriguez Jr. interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and twitter.

For an even deeper look into his thoughts on music, we recommend our earlier Rodriguez Jr. interview which also features his partner Liset Alea.



The views of society towards technology are subject to constant change. How would you describe yours?

Visions change, but the proposition remains the same. Technology brings us face to face with our own humanity and our ability to project ourselves into our vision of the future and aspirational dreams.

As far as I’m concerned, my vision of the future resembles more poetry than science fiction. I imagine that no matter what happens, tradition will always co-exist alongside innovation.

I was always more of a Blade Runner boy than a Star Trek fan.

What are currently your creative goals and how are technologies helping you reach them?

This is something I have a hard time putting words to. Since I was a kid, I have always had this sort of urgency in me and I’ve always known that synthesizers would allow me to fabricate the sounds that were seemingly coming from somewhere deep within me, removed from an acoustic realm.

How and for what reasons has your music set-up evolved over the years and what are currently some of the most important pieces of gear and software for you?

My set-up has not evolved so much in fact over the past years. I continue being interested in innovations but the base of my rig remains the same.

Finally, the most important pieces of equipment are those which I have had for the longest time such as the Roland SH101 or the Jupiter 6. I know them so well that I do not have to think when I use them, as if they were directly wired to me.

You can hear this combo in many of my tracks, such as ‘Amplify’ or my remix of Re.you feat Stereo MCs “Relocate.”



Have there been technologies which have profoundly influenced, changed or questioned the way you make music?

Generally, I think that the synthesizer has been the most pivotal technology in my life, ever since I first heard Jean-Michel Jarre on the radio as a child in the 80s.

From my point of view, the three key factors which have driven music technology over the past decades are mobility, affordability, and (easy) usability. How important are these for your own work – and did I miss any?

Those are important marketing factors indeed. But I would like to see more manufacturer focusing on the reliability and relevance of their products: there are so much poorly engineered and manufactured gadgets on the market.

Technology is usually associated with innovation and progress. Are these also important considerations for your music? What is the relation between innotative tools and "innovative music"?

Even though innovative tools help artists pushing boundaries, innovative music is about creativity.

One can still create innovative music with a guitar or any other classical instrument -  Nils Frahm is a perfect example.

[Read our Nils Frahm interview]

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 and the relevance of limitations in your set-up and process?

I limit myself as far as my tools are concerned because I don’t want to lose myself in the plethora of possibilities. I need to create a palette, a frame.

For the rest, Sophie is right, there are virtually no limitations with electronic music in terms of textures and sounds and as I said earlier. It’s the only instrument that allows us to materialize the sounds that come from deep within and which are not bound by the law of physics.

The choice in creative tools can be overwhelming. Are there ways to deal with- and embrace this wealth and channel it to support your creative goals?

After some years, I learned to remove myself from the world of gadgets and unnecessary toys which only hinder my creative process.

The sound sculpting capacities of current music technology are remarkable. So is the abundance of high-quality and ready-to-use samples. Which of these do you prefer and what does your process of working with them look like?

I have a preference for pure synthesis, subtractive or additive, because its the shortest path between an idea and the realization of a sound. I use sampling as a tool of sound design, for example to add layers of texture and grain.

My samples are mostly loaded into an AKAI S3000XL and a KURZWEIL K2500 hardware samplers because their limitations protect me from getting lost in endless folders of samples.

Abundance is great, but it can also be a terrible trap.

Within a digital working environment, it is possible to compile huge archives of ideas for later use. Tell me a bit about your strategies of building such an archive and how you put these ideas and sketches to use.

I have the fortune of traveling a lot and this is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I collect sounds and ideas inside folders which I later access in the creative process.

They’re like little seeds that can sprout new ideas for me and avoid a creative block in the studio.

In many of our 15 Questions interviews, artists have emphasised the happy accidents as a result of human imperfections and unreliable machines. What's your view on this and how does an element of surprise enter your productions?

I strongly agree, I love exploring the accidents because they open new doors.

It’s one of the reasons why I so love working with the ARP-2600, its very layout is a never-ending source of accidents and unexpected turns. Its age also adds to the charm and character. Mine is from 1971.

Production tools can already suggest compositional ideas on their own. How much of your music is based on concepts and ideas you had before entering the studio, how much of it is triggered by equipment, software and apps?

I believe that technology gives us the options but creativity must be guided and reined in by the human being.

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?

It’s going to be fun and I’m really keen to collaborate with AI. I’m sure it will be a rich collaborator and that the technology will be be able to identify and even conceptualize happiness, sadness, and other emotions.

But it will never be able to feel them.

Technology has continually taken on more steps of the compositional process and "creative" tasks. From your point of view, where does "technology" end and "creativity" begin?

Each artist has a different threshold. Art is the only purpose; whichever paths take you there.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in tools/instruments you would like to see and hear?  

Ever since the 60s we’ve basically visited every form of synthesis possible, and I don’t think there will be any revolutionary discoveries in that domain.

So I think the efforts should be oriented towards the interface and the connection between the instrument and the artist.