“Dude, you have to listen to this guy! Not that he’s from the same city as I am, he’s really really good, doesn’t sound like anything you’ve listened until now”. That was the first time I heard of Mihai Pol, as recommended by Răzvan, one of my friends from Brașov, an adrenaline junkie as well as an excellent promoter. And, boy, he was right: a sound as warm as a late summer breeze, with just enough energy to keep you dancing while keeping contact with the smiles that grow inside you, hard to label, impossible to forget. Don’t have to take our word on that, just listen to his episode for the Introspections, a mix built exclusively with his own tracks, remixes and edits, recorded more than 3 years ago.

https://soundcloud.com/halfisenough/introspections-with-mihai-pol

Fast forward into the present time and we can see him traveling around Europe’s undeground venues, with stops here and there to music festivals like Sunwaves, yet staying true to his producer side, releasing recently for Otaku or Synesthesia, and preparing an LP for Lokomotiv later this autumn.

Introduced with this kind of music by his cousin, when he was only 16 years old, Mihai had a crush with it from the first listen: “I can’t forget the first one I’ve listened to, “Travel” by TC Studio, it was my favorite track back then.

 

So he took the sinuous path of producing in the electronic undeground, drawing inspiration from the mountains surrounding his hometown and from the good vibes created by the close friends around him. “Nature, my friends, symphony and of course the artists that I like from this genre of music are my maine sources of inspiration. I live in Brașov, a beautiful city right in the center of Romania, surrounded by mountains, so I’m very close to nature.  Also my friends were very close to me, I wouldn’t be here without them.”

I like to make people dance and feel good, but I also try to tell a story, so it’s something in between.

Mihai’s productions follow a recipe, yet somehow the recipe is getting better with each track. As he says: “I always start with the kick, other drums, bass and sounds after, but I’m going back and forth so I can add a sound there, then go put a percussive sound, then add another bass and so on. Usually there are 3 stages: choose the drums/sounds/bass that will fit in the mix, arrange all of them to make the track and final touches.”. The result: amazingly colored house music, perfectly fit into the nature or maybe some small undeground venues where music has softer accents, as his tracks’ energy comes more from the dynamics of bass and drums.

Thanks to the years spent in an IT & C university, coding and programming languages are his confort zone so Ableton, as a main piece of his studio setup, has no more secrets. A Push2 and an Akai APC make his life easier in front of the computer as for the composing part he receives support from a small piano and a Roland TR8 drum machine. “Currently I’m working to sound proof and treat my new studio cause I have some problems with my neighbours, so in few weeks I will have a really good sounding room. That will be a huge step for me.”, he describes a bit the chaos around his studio, being renovated.

Upgrade the tools because of the firmware upgrades inside the artist, right? “I think that every artist should aim for better, no matter what. I try to learn something new every week: music theory, sound engieneering… trying to find new ways to improve my sound. Usualy there are these moments when I learn something really important, they come like a revelation and my whole way of making music is changing. I also need to implement new ideas from time to time, just to be more productive.”

This is Mihai Pol, with his dreams, inspirations and material tools. His roots, let’s say. We asked Mihai Pol also to reveal a few tracks that had made a permanent mark into his musical personality right from the beginning.