Page 20 - Zone Magazine Issue 018

GARY TUOHY
GARY TUOHY
GARY TUOHY
H aving caught up with Dublin’s rising male producer Mr. Gary Tuohy it was clear to see that his passion for music was present from a young age paying adoration to his family, for their influence upon his career. Self-taught DJ from a young age Gary was determined to
create a name for himself upon the Irish music scene, learning to spin records from a young age taking musical references from some of the biggest names in the dance industry including legend Mr. Tony De Vit, Sasha & Mauro Picotto.
From his first gig at 16 years old Gary has played an array of home and international clubs and venues since, playing different genres ranging but not limited to Funk, Soul, Deep, Tech and Disco.
In 2014, Gary had a huge advancement in his production career breaking on to the music scene with his first track and E.P. signing to Swedish Label Deeptown Music, 'Nothing But Your Fool', Which featured remixes from early 90's heavy weights K-Klass and Husky. The track climbed to No.2 on the Most Downloaded Tracks, on Traxsource after just one week.
Since, Gary has been working in collaboration with some of the industry's biggest names and labels with an array of labels under his belt such as Deeptown Music, Let There Be House, Good For You, and Miniature.
What interested you to get involved in the music industry?
I always had a strong interest in music since I was very young, there was always music on at home, my nanny was a piano teacher, my uncle was a sound engineer for RTE and my other uncle was in a band. My brother first got a set of 1210s when he was 18 and they were kept in a room built out of converted garage were we all spent most of are weekends partying, it was like our areas youth Centre, everyone was always there Monday to Sunday. I used to sneak in during the day when nobody was there and practice , I didn't really know what I was doing but as I became able to mix I started DJ'ing to all of them when they were drunk at the weekends for hours on end . It was all really great music back then, Tony De Vit, Sasha, Rachel Auburn, Lisa Lashes, Tidy Boys, Mauro Picotto etc. It's were my inspiration and track style and layouts stem from, kind of like an inbuilt preset in my head.
When was your first gig and where did you play?
My first gig was when I was 16. It was in a tiny pub called Zagloba just off Parnell street, Dublin. It had a small curtain at the back of the pub that led into a tiny room, imagine being on a bus downstairs with no seats driver cabin etc, it was tiny. They had a set of 1210s and a Numark 2 Channel mixer. I remember getting the bus into town carrying my record bag with about 60/70 of my best records that weighed a tonne, I had to walk for twenty minutes to get there. When I played the place went nuts, the promoters were watching me from the minute I put my headphones on. They were very impressed at my style, which was chopping and changing the tracks quickly, taking a track and cutting in an out with acapellas or filtering in top lines across the breaks, that's why I brought so many
records with me as I change over very fast, the records back them sometimes went on for 8-10 minutes, and would get a bit boring after a while, I always changed over about 2/3 bars after the main break, it was my sweet spot. A very memorable day, I still have the poster on my door in my room.
When did you begin to produce?
I always kind of liked messing around weather it would be while mixing, cutting in and out of tracks or looping things up on traktor and creating something new. This was all before I even knew about any workstations. It was around 2013, I first bought a copy of Ableton. I used to sit in bed every night for weeks looking up tutorials on the run around of the basics and how to build a set. Its funny when other producers ask me how I go about creating certain sounds and effects on Ableton in comparison to the "right way" they use, and I turn around and tell them I've never even used that plug-in or function, they look astounded. I think for me its a case of, if it works why change it, I mean if it sounds good and the production elements and frequency's and modulation are correct well then, perfect. A lot of people are afraid to be different and step away from the norm. A lot of my best sounds sometimes come from my mistakes believe it or not, a slipped key here or wrong plug-in there.
What is your favorite label at the moment?
That's the million-dollar question. I couldn't just throw my finger on one that's the thing. About five years ago I would have said Defected, but now as the years have gone on my style has kind of drifted. I'd have to say Jay Vegas's Hot Stuff label is just unreal, smack on my style, not far behind would be Scott Diaz's label Grand Plans, subtle strings and chords and really nice use of so many different instruments.
What advice can you give to the younger generation of DJs and producers?
Where to start here, I constantly find myself on the wrong side of budding and upcoming producers. Why? A lot of producers out of Ireland in particular will make a track put it up and ask for feedback, great. That's brilliant, I absolutely love seeing new producers making music, but feedback from your sister's eyebrow technician doesn't really let you know where you stand production value wise. Is she going to be able to tell you that you need to side chain your bass and kick at a lower ratio? Don't get me wrong moral support is great, but I think as a producer 80% of your feedback should be from established people in the industry. If somebody asks me for feedback, I'm going to be 100% truthful, and I think producers really need to be, others wise the road to success is just that much harder. There is an infinite amount of room for good producers and music on this planet, so let's help each other to get to the top of our game quicker. Ill make this really simple and it's my philosophy, "Don't make music that they want to hear, make music that you want to here". Yes tech-house may be very relevant at the moment but do you actually like making it. You'll gain more respect doing your own thing, and trust me your time will come around when your genre is in the lime light, music is constantly changing.
20 ZONE-MAGAZINE.COM