Author Interview: rtofvnt

This week in our series of interviews of AudioJungle authors, we meet…

rtofvnt (or “rt of venture”, Maciej Legowicz, “Matt”)

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

My real name is Maciej Legowicz – a Polish name – but I’ve lived more than five years in the UK, and I am always being refer as Matthew by my British friends, as it is something they can pronounce.

My strange AudioJungle nickname has got some background. Do you guys remember the best home computer ever made – apart from the ZX Spectrum – called the Amiga? Ever heard of Amiga scene? A proper bunch of geeks. We had groups – ours was called Venture. We did some demos etc. and my nick name was just “rt”. So, thats how it happened – I’m rt of venture – in short: rtofvnt.

As was mentioned, I come from Poland – you’ve heard about this country … vodka, good looking girls etc. -  but I moved with my wife and daughter to the United Kingdom around September 2004, where I live and work. My everyday job is web design and development. It can sometimes be boring, especially when your boss changes his mind every three days. I would really like to be a full time musician … give me some time please.

2. How long have you been composing music and what got you started producing?

Mmm … as long as I remember I always had something that made sounds, and sometimes other noises. My first instrument was a two-octave small keyboard thing – my father bought it for me in East Germany back in the eighties. It was monophonic and had one sound. But at that time it was awesome.

Next was the unbeatable Amiga computer – I had the CDTV. At the time I was helping local small bands to program their workstations. I realized that composing and making music on synthesizers is far better than on computers. Even now with all the fantastic DAWs I still miss that sometimes.

Then it came time for groove boxes – do you remember the MC 303 by Roland? By today standards it’s nothing impressive, but for me that was the best instrument – it had everything you needed to make some techno stuff in one box. From that time (the middle of the nineties), I start gigging in local clubs. Later on I had something a little bit bigger – the Roland JX305. To be honest with you, I’m still looking for an opportunity to get one of those if it’s cheap.

At that time a friend of mine worked for a local TV station, and needed some tunes for adverts and reportages. So I started composing some music commercially. I also started a family by accident (you know what I mean). For a while I had to put away my instruments and all that music business. However, I always had that bug in my brain that has been pushing me towards something that makes sounds.

Slowly I went to computers. It is OK. It is good. It is a tool. But it doesn’t have that “something”. Have you seen those guys with laptops gigging? It’s like watching a guy who’s checking emails. Am I right?

That is the reason why I’m saving for a workstation, or at least something with a sequencer and sampler – maybe an Akai MPC or something like that. Believe me, once I’ve got this stuff you will notice a difference.

3. Do you play any instruments? Do you have any formal music training?

I learned some rules about chords and scales from my neighbor when I was about 12 years old. He used to have a Casio keyboard, and showed me how you can build up chords and that kind of things – that’s the mathematical part of music.

Later on, when I was serving in national military services, I had the opportunity to learn to play brass instruments – trumpet, horn and that kind of funny stuff.  And you know what? I did it. I haven’t played those instruments for ages now, but give me half hour and I’ll be back on track.

4. Could you describe to us your home studio and the equipment and software you typically use to produce audio?

At the moment my home “studio” is build around a PC with an Emu 0404 sound card. The PC needs to be upgraded – I wish it was a Mac, but the prices in this part of the world still like twice as high as PCs. Maybe one day I’ll win the lottery, or start selling my work for a considerable amount of money.

As reference monitors I’m using Edirol 15DA system – they are not perfect solution, but they’re good enough to have an idea of how the final material will sound. I’ve also got a Korg R3 synthesizer. It’s based on the Radias, but with only two channels of polyphony. However, it is a great piece of equipment, and I recommend it. I also bought a Yamaha PSR275 keyboard for my daughter, and you wouldn’t believe how good the Grand Piano sounds.

As a MIDI controller I use an Emu X-board 49. You can’t get anything better for the price, and it’s got 16 rotary dials to fiddle around sound.

I used to work mainly in FL Studio, but I’m recently considering producing with Ableton Live. This is because Korg’s latest virtual M1 and Wavestation have been losing synchronization at render. I’m using generic instruments from Ableton because I can’t afford commercial VST instruments at the moment.

I use some free VST synthesizers like Protoplasma and Pandemonium. The only problem with them is that they are badly written and use a hell lot of CPU power – but they sound surprisingly good. I tend not to use samples.

5. Could you tell us a bit about how you typically compose and then produce your audio? Describe your creative process.

I like to start with just a piano sound. I play, play and play, and sometimes some really nice chords or melodies start taking shape. When I feel like ‘that’s it’, I start choosing some sounds. I try to find some pads etc. I find bass most problematic. I blame my speakers – they are not, as I mentioned earlier, perfect, and very tricky to come up with proper balance and EQ.

When I’ve got a few patterns, I go to arrangement. That’s the longest part. It sometimes takes days or even infinitive amount of time, which means they are never finished. I’ve got at least 30 waiting, unfinished projects to be completed.

The last part as you may suspect is mastering – or whatever you can achieve using software. I used to have the opportunity to work on TC Finalizer – that’s one of the things I would like to have in my set up.

6. What genre of music do you enjoy producing for and why?

Sometimes when I start to work on something for AudioJungle it changes “shape”, and starts to sound like minimal house / techno / IDM. Listen at http://soundcloud.com/rt-of-venture.

Sometimes I do it on purpose – just like that. I find some sound, sample, or phrase, then start to create something rhythmical based on it, finding some interesting electronic drum sounds, and there you go. I believe that one day I’ll be able to take all that stuff and start doing it not only for myself but for others as I used to.

7. What kind of things inspire you to create music? Do you have any musical influences?

When it comes to working on stuff for AudioJungle, I find inspiration in the music of other composers on the site. And often I switch on the TV, but not to watch – just listen. Every 20 minutes you’ve got an advert block, and I just listen to the background music.

I like the new minimal / electronic aspects of the productions. In the first place you may think, “It’s so simple, I can do it as well.” But very often you finish with something that is weird. OK, it sounds unusual, but let face it – the average Joe Doe likes to hear things that the ear can easily absorb.

8. What genres of music do you listen to in your spare time? Do you have any favorite bands or artists?

In my spare time I listen to two completely different genres: classical, baroque, Handel, Bach etc.; and minimal techno, house. When I was younger I used to listen rock bands like Queen, Electric Light Orchestra and that kind of stuff. Oh, I nearly forgot: J.M. Jarre and Kraftwerk – those guys rock for me as well.

9. What is your advice to other AudioJungle authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio of audio?

It’s quite difficult to answer this question – I don’t have recipe for it. Just create. Work, and polish ideas. There are some things you may think will be “sellable”, but no one is interested. And you’ll be surprised by other things that are bought very often.

10. What do you do to market your AudioJungle files?

To be completely honest, I’m not doing very much. Even better: I wasn’t even aware for first few months that I’ve sold some of my very first sounds. It is just that I’m quite busy – everyday work and family eats most of my time.

11. What are your three favorite tracks in your AudioJungle portfolio and why do you like them?

I do like one of the latest – Logo Designer Pack 6 (Piano) -  because of the piano.

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Another one – Mystique – has an Oriental climate. I would really like to create more this kind of thing. The only problem is that I’ve noticed that it doesn’t sound good on small cheap headphones.

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And my favorite – but hasn’t been sold once yet – Memories. Simplicity and beauty – you’ll find those two things in this one.

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12. Apart from yourself, who is your favorite AudioJungle author and why do you like them?

I may say that Leto guy is one of my favorite – I like the variety in his material. And that’s something that encourages the commercial use of practically any piece in his portfolio.

13. If you could change anything about AudioJungle, what would it be?

AudioJungle seems perfect to me. It’s become a little bit “overweight”. The only thing that may be annoying is the time waiting for approval.

14. Could you tell us about some of your audio projects outside of AudioJungle? What have been some of your biggest audio successes so far?

As I was mentioned before, I used to gig a lot. And all of that time was one big success – you do what you really like to do, people like it … and you get paid a bit. Isn’t it perfect? I never found enough time to go that way – living from music. I would like to, but I don’t think it is time for me yet.

15. When you aren’t busy creating music, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Websites … I know, it’s mental – working at that and then coming back to the subject after work, but I like it. I’m nearly ready with one template and I’ll try if my ideas for web design find some customers in Themeforest.

I’ve got also couple of blogs: one about web design and stuff (csselite.pl) and one about music and technology. But to be honest with you, I’m don’t find time to keep updating them, even once per month. I’m trying to do too many things at once, and that’s not good. I need to work on my “concentration”. Any advice? Drop me a line.

View / listen to rtofvnt’s AudioJungle portfolio.