The combination of techno and big room isn’t something you tend to hear within dance music tracks, but Big Room Techno Pioneer Maddix, born Pablo Rindt, has been blending these sounds for over three years now.
The Dutch producer, who’s mastered his craft to the extent that he has his own production plugin ‘Maddix Rumble,’ is paving the way for the most adventurous and risk-taking producers who don’t want their sound to be put in a box.
“Ever since the first release in my new sound ‘Ecstasy,’ I have been working on the transition to my current techno sound,” said Maddix in a press release. “I gained a lot of new techno fans, while my former EDM fans followed and evolved with me.”
Maddix has built a sustaining relationship with the popular Dutch producer Hardwell, who signed Maddix to his label, Revealed Recordings with full faith in his new sound.
Now, Maddix has launched his own label, EXTATIC as part of the Revealed Recordings family. With this label came his formerly mentioned plugin that can turn a standard kick sample into a bass-filled, hard-hitting techno rumble kick.
The Netherlands dweller sat with EDM Maniac at Ultra Miami 2023 to chat about his debut imprint, unique production plugin, and his newly evolved sound:
EDM Maniac: As a producer who dips his toes in trance, techno, and big room, what are your thoughts on this resurgence of blending techno and trance?
Maddix: I think it’s amazing! I started it with my sound, catering more towards techno, like three years ago.
I’ve been remaking trance songs with a techno kick, so I’m happy to see that it’s picking up and doing so well. It’s awesome. DJs are picking up my songs too, and it’s just awesome.
Music will always keep on evolving and keep coming back. I look back at 20 years and grab elements from those songs and incorporate them into something new. It just keeps on evolving.
EDM Maniac: What moved you to make this transition into techno, and how has the process of finding your new sound been?
Maddix: I started in 2019 because my taste changed a bit. I was going to [more] techno parties and not really to the parties of the music [I was making at that time] and I just thought to myself “Why am I making music that I’m not buying tickets to?”
So, I just went into the studio and started making the music that I wanted to make without expectations. It can be difficult because so many fans expect you to keep on producing one thing and you cater to them.
I showed my manager the first song, and he was like “Yo, this is insane. Let’s go!” and I started building from there. I remember putting the first techno kick in a track like “This is kind of weird” but it worked.
I’m still evolving, you know? Some of my tracks are categorized as hard techno, some as techno, some as trance, even. Like, Beatport doesn’t know how to categorize it because each track is influenced by all of it *laughs*
People don’t like change for some reason, but they just need some time to adjust.
EDM Maniac: You’ve just announced your brand new label, EXTATIC. What kind of impact do you hope your new imprint will have on dance music culture?
Maddix: With the label, I want to give different producers the opportunity to release new music.
I know a lot of people see what I’m doing with big room techno and all these different influences, and it inspires them to do it as well. I’m just really happy that I can provide a place for them to release that kind of music and start building a community.
We’ll see where it goes after that, but for me, it’s really cool to be able to support these producers and maybe help them with some mixing, mastering, and possibly playing those tracks [in my sets].
EDM Maniac: In your latest track with Hardwell and Timmy Trumpet “Revolution,” the vocal says “Techno is the true meaning of trance.” What makes you believe this?
Maddix: The funny thing is my manager wrote the lyrics *laughs* but it was written during COVID and we just finished the track one year ago.
It was written during a time when the kids weren’t really able to party, you know? No songs of hope, and that’s what the lyrics were written for. It’s also a reference to the new sound that I’m doing, blending everything together.
And techno is the new trance! It’s kind of a metaphor, too. Getting in a trance. I feel like that’s what techno can do. Put you in a trance.
EDM Maniac: You have your own plugin now called “Maddix Rumble.” Can you walk us through its elements and how aspiring producers can find/use it?
Maddix: The plugin was made together with Revealed Recordings and when they asked me about it, I came up with the idea to create a plugin with techno kickdrums.
They’re quite specific and can be difficult to make because you need a lot of processors and stuff, so with this plugin, I wanted to make it as simple as possible [for producers].
The number one question I get is “How do you get your techno kickdrums to sound like this?” So, I thought it was a good idea to create something like this. The plugin is very easy to use, and for any aspiring producer seeing this, if you make something within the genre of techno, check it out!
It’s super useful and I’ve been using it now for about a month on every single track I’ve been producing. They can find it on the Revealed Recording website. And the most important thing to remember is to be yourself and make whatever you like.
In the end, that’s what I ended up doing and what helped me go big.
Featured images from Maddix’s Instagram
