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Mark Instinct, a now very well known producer from Calgery, Canada – Descibes his musical history as almost non-existant, although he had started mixing at about 16 and was already a full on music lover he didn’t begin to venture into production until four or five years later on, i pestered Mark on Soundcloud about a week or so back for an interview.

“I have always really been in to metal, punk rock and hip hop, which was mainly what i listened to when I was an adolescent, but electronic music of all forms was always in my cd player“.

Although he may not have had any instrumental background, he was renowned for his tight mixing styles and pristine beat-matching and with his earlier bookings being alongside such heavy hitters as Noisia and Pendulum there was no suprise at spreading word of his talent traveling throughout Western Canada.

Mark Instinct – Detonate by MARK_INSTINCT

“Once i got a bit older and could differentiate between genres i got a little more picky on what i really was into. I started to frequent raves and other dance music events and it kinda just grew on me. Drum and Bass was what i really loved and spent a lot of time following“.

In 2005 he was enrolled into an internship for basic sound recording. “It was more aimed at film post production and radio post, but i learned enough that i could apply the technique i was learning to electronic music, Since then I have just spent a lot of time focusing on my sound. It was about the same time I started getting into production that it was the same time i started to really feel Dubstep a lot more, so i used dubstep as a practice point for applying what i have learned in a practical environment. From there it just evolved into where I am today.“

MARK INSTINCT FEAT. MESSINIAN – GIRLS GIRLS – Rottun Recordings by MARK_INSTINCT

In 2009 the attention of Dubline, Aufect Recordings and Rotten brought about the releases of “Invader” and “Badman Sound” seeing his music into the Vinyl bags of some of the worlds top Dj’s, then later in mid 2010 he released “destroyed” and the seriously heavy “15 Karat Ep” (if you haven’t heard it you are no longer my friend) alongside other releases hitting the top charts on Juno, Chemical and probably a tonne of other online stores.

Mark currently has a release due on Trilbass Records titled “killa” out in February, Five tunes on Subhuman, three of which solo – “Grimey” “Strawberry” and “187″ and not to forget two collaborations with Bare “Lifted” and “Freeze Frame” – Watch out for these large numbers over the next month or two!

Can you remember the first time you heard dubstep?

It was a few years ago, I went to a local club night and someone was doing a Dubstep weekly. So i decided to go and check it out. I didn’t really like it at first. But i started hearing more of the heavier side come out in earlier works of ‘Bar 9′ and ‘Reso’, that sound was so close to drum and bass which i had been playing for a few years prior to the early dubstep coming out into the limelight.

MARK INSTINCT – GET LOUD – Rottun Recordings by MARK_INSTINCT

In a sentence, what is it you love about dubstep?

The vibe that it brings at a party, it’s like a fucking rock concert.

What influences you whilst producing and how do you start writing a new tune?

Alot of it really depends, sometimes a cool riff from a totally different genre, cool samples ive found, new patches i’ve made, sometimes i just get melody ideas and use that as a start point.

MARK INSTINCT – DESTROYED – Rottun Recordings by MARK_INSTINCT

What soft/hardware you use?

Right now im running Cubase 4 on a Mac Pro, My computer is stacked to the tits with ram and processing so i can hack big sessions. Big fan of all the native instruments soft synths I use a lot of those products in my tunes, as well all the rob pappen instruments are great for that old sound. Sylenth I’ve used a little bit. But i have been using a micro korg a fair bit for resampling and the tone quality in general from that I really dig. I like the old hip hop sounds so a lot of that comes from older hardware synths. Other than those, ive built up a few processing chains in the past few years i’ve been working on tunes. Alot of my “sound” comes from the after processing. Sometimes its hardware sometimes its just software. But you need the both of them. I swap between DAW’s alot as well just for other things sometimes ableton has a cool effect i want or Logic has a cool instrument or something so I use a fair bit of everything if i can.

What do you get up to when you aren’t busy producing?

I like lots of things, going to movies, chillin out with friends, hanging with my gf, anything that can create a good balance between music lifestyle and regular lifestyle. I help promote our music scene locally as well that takes up some of my non production time, we have a really great community of djs and promoters in Calgary so its great to be able to put time into the local community and push it to new levels.

Are there any producers you want to collaborate with?

Noisia. I would love to do a tune with them.

MARK INSTINCT – THE DON – Rottun Recordings by MARK_INSTINCT

Where do you see dubstep going in the future?

I think i see it going where most music goes… it evolves. Dubstep itself is really catchy, it is in that that same bpm range as most popular music is. I have had this talk with a lot of people, and i always get the same reaction of “oh it will sell out and britney spears is going to ruin dubstep” I think it’s great to have that sound in the mainstream light. I think that dubstep will become a more socially acceptable form of electronic music, more so than drum and bass or trance. Because its popular music. Same speed, same ideas, it’s like the rock and roll of electronic music, and you can hear it. It’s in all the newer sounds of music thats coming out. It’s just the right tempo for the average top 40 club goer to get down to and not take it in as “rave” music. I think the future holds more concert vibes for this music and with that i think it will just grow into something far bigger than anyone could have thought.

Trillbass & Dan Wall – Killa (Mark Instinct Remix) by MARK_INSTINCT

Top 5 Tunes at the moment?

Adroa – Clone
Bare – Droid
This new tune I did called “Strawbrry”
MOB – Lifted
Muffler – Move

Are there any artists you’ve picked up on that we should watch out for in the rest of the year?

Yes Trowa made a big impression for me in 2010. They have a really dope sound and its definitely one i will be keeping up on in 2011. As well another fellow from Kelowna, BC by the name of “ADROA” will be making some waves in 2011, Dillon Francis is on to some crazy shit as well.

Mark Instinct – 15 Karat by MARK_INSTINCT

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Buy the Get Loud Ep

Large up!
-Odge.