In Profile: A Made Up Sound

Compromise is not a word that Dave Huismans is familiar with. The Dutch producer’s recording history is a masterful journey in progression of sounds and hacked up beats that in their own (very odd) way always make for low end heavy, powerful grooves. It’s no mean feat to maintain one’s progression when working in this way; there’s plenty of temptation out there to release music for the sake of it. But Huismans has kept his output fresh through his dual production aliases – releasing both as 2562 and A Made Up Sound - by keeping tight control on what sees the light of day. At the moment you’ll more commonly find him playing out under the latter moniker and self-releasing the majority of his tracks on his eponymous label alongside records on trusted Dutch imprints Clone and Delsin. The latest material to come out of the AMUS studio this year is the double header 'Ahead / Endgame' (A Made Up Sound 00X) – a sonically hard hitting, inventive and a pleasingly challenging experience to listen to. That’s what you get from having this smart control and vision for your music, so we spoke to the Netherlands based innovator, offering up a profile of what makes A Made Up Sound what it is today ahead of his date with Room Two this Saturday. A Made Up Sound 00X - Ahead What was your main motivation to start A Made Up Sound? To have a little home base where I can put out tracks independently. Are you only going to solely release your own work, is there an interest in doing some A&R and supporting other artists through the label? No, I consider it a personal series of records rather than a fully fledged label, hence just my artist name with a catalogue number on every release. How would you define the sound of the label? To me it’s all techno with a twist. Maybe a quite big twist sometimes. But I’m the worst at describing my own music. It’s my take on electronic music on the 12” format and that’s it. A Made Up Sound 003 - Crisis How have you found it? Liberating? Or is there admin you find frustrating? I think it is the purest way of presenting one’s music. It’s nice that across the releases it gradually becomes something more substantial than individual 12”-es, in a way that is more loose and less consciously planned than an album, but enables you to take similar musical liberties. A Made Up Sound 004 - Demons (Reprise) What’s your take on how the label should be promoted – you seem to keep the promo low key? Promotion is a bit awkward because it is my own music and I don’t like to shout about it. So I usually send a new release only to a handful of befriended DJ’s and a few publications to let people know it’s out there. Beyond that the music should promote itself. What development would you say has there been in the sound of the label and tracks? Some have commented they have become stranger with every release. If that is true it was neither deliberate, nor a goal in itself. The point is to avoid repeating myself while keeping it personal. Change and stay the same, if you will. A Made Up Sound 005 - Take the Plunge (Beat Mix) How do you translate the idea of the label into A Made Up Sound’s DJ sets? My DJ sets in clubs aren’t necessarily a representation of what I do with the label, but they will give you a sense of what I value in dance music and where I come from musically. I’ve been buying records for half of my life and they all have informed what I do in some way or another, whether it’s house or techno or other stuff. I do enjoy testing out new tracks before releasing them, it’s always exciting to see how they translate to a sound system and to people who don’t know what it is yet. What’ve been your personal highlights of the label and why? I guess the old cliché applies: that’s like asking me to pick my favourite child… Let’s choose the latest, 00X. It certainly is the most uncompromising one and I am really pleased so many people are open to it. A Made Up Sound 00X - Endgame