Artist interview #3
Daniel tajna
Q: Who are you? Where are you from? And where are you going?
A: Daniel Quintana, I am a Venezuelan techno producer based in Montreal. I release my music under Daniel Tajna.
Q: What brought you to music production? Why are you loving it?
A: It started because I was Djing 3-4 times a week in several clubs and festivals, and I wanted to go beyond by playing my own music in my sets.
Q: For how long have you been producing? And what are the main pieces of your setup?
A: I have been producing music for 8 years.
A: I can work with only the stacked Ableton Live plugins, other than that it’s pretty amazing to work using the Ableton Push 2 and an analog synth. In my case the Moog subsequent 37.
Q: How do you see (and go through) the technical sides of production and especially the Mixdown stage?
A: There are 2 ways of producing music, 1. with a plan, using reference tracks, following models. The second way, it is no plan, going with the flow, I find this method is funnier to work, but you can easily lose your track, ending up confused after a while, not finishing the track. So that’s why I try to approach my production and mixdown using a combination of the 2 methods. I allow myself a time for going with the flow and nourish creativity and then I bring some reference tracks to compare my sound to the one of the references.
Q: What’s your latest release? And do you have any upcoming projects?
A: For me it’s been a while without any official release, last one was in 2019 on beatport under the recognized Montreal’s label, NoiseFloor Records.
I just decided to stop releasing official music, I am taking a time for myself, currently I am developing other skills that are not exactly related to electronic music, but I haven’t stopped developing my own vision and ideas and in order to forge my own signature, my own sound. There are other unreleased tracks that I sent to some DJs from Montreal, and they have been playing them in their sets.
I have no pressure on releasing any music. The moment will come by itself.
Q: Anything else you would like to share, maybe for people beginning music production out there?
A: Everything is about putting the time, go work, even without any inspiration, just take the time to be humble and learn. Go for the art, no for the marketing. Make music for yourself, not for others. Enjoy the process and have no expectation about the results. Everyone has a different time for things to happen, maybe yours will be in a year or perhaps in 20 years. Don’t dream about anything, just live every single day like if you are already in that dream. Put love on your work, enjoy and have fun making mistakes, because in the end, fame and other things will pass, but the beautiful emotions in the studio will last in your memory.