Who is Rinzen?

Rinzen aka Michael Sundius has become a fast rising star in the global electronic music scene with releases on deadmau5’s iconic mau5trap imprint as well as dancefloor destroyers on labels such as Yoshitoshi, Chapter 24 Records and Desert Hearts Black. With festival slots at Ultra, EDC, and Desert Hearts Rinzen’s rapid ascent is testament to his unique sound and consistently high quality output.

We caught up with the man behind the cinematic soundscapes, lush organic house textures and dark evocative techno to discover the secret behind his success.

How do I improve my workflow and consistently finish music?

Eliminate Distractions

Rinzen has managed to get his music signed to some the most globally renowned labels. In order to have a consistent output he identifies minimising distractions as a critical part of his workflow process. He aims to ‘eliminate distractions’ by separating out his creative routine from his daily life.

For him this is having his own separate studio space with the act of travelling to this new location helping to put his brain in the ‘right space’ creatively. Whilst he acknowledges this is not possible for every bedroom producer, he advises that emerging producers try to compartmentalise their days by implementing strict hours within which they work.

This means you can get ‘2-3 hours a day of deep work done’ where your ‘phone should be at the back of the room and the wi-fi is off’. This is possible whatever situation you are in and not only produces better results but also allows you to ‘shut off your creative brain and wind down’ after your session is finished by having a clear end point.

For wider reading around how to optimise your productivity Rinzen read Cal Newport’s excellent ‘Deep Work’ a book that comes highly recommended by MYT.

How do I network and get my tracks signed to the right labels?

Build A Tribe Around You

Rinzen puts part of his success down to finding the right labels and making connections with the right people.

He aims to connect with labels that ‘have a community or infrastructure in place that supports artists’. He cites ‘Desert Hearts Black’ as a prime example because it has enabled him to make friends with whom he now tours (or more recently shares live streams with in our post Covid world).

Not only this, being part of a like-minded ‘tribe’ of people pushes his creativity as he will often ‘see something from artists within the group that  will inspire him’. Furthermore, ideas and projects are shared within the community sparking greater creativity and innovation as each peer pushes each other.

Building a tribe of like-minded people around you is crucially important if you want to make progress in the industry so be prepared to network, share ideas and collaborate.

How do I make my tracks stand out from the crowd?

Make music from the heart

In a saturated market with many tracks simply emulating other dance floor hits, electronic music is in danger of becoming overly homogeneous. Rinzen has some straight forward but insightful advice for approaching your own creativity.

He claims artists should try only to  ‘write music that represents and channels their own identity’. Whilst taking a dose of inspiration from other dance floor tracks is fine (Rinzen cites Jon Hopkins mighty ‘Open Eye Signal’ as an influence on his Yoshitoshi smash ‘Lotus Eater’).

The tracks that truly ‘resonate’ with him and therefore end up getting finished are the ones which draw on his diverse range of influences from the film scores of Hans Zimmer and John Williams through to literature and other art forms. Not only that but importantly ‘these are the tracks that end up getting signed’.

He expands on this idea, ‘nothing is created in a vacuum but our most interesting ideas are a synthesis of our influences presented through our lense’. Adding that ‘If you just draw influences from house and techno then this is too narrow’.

Instead he advocates pooling from a much broader palette; this can introduce ‘crazy ideas from outside of the language of house and techno’. This exploratory approach is something Rinzen explores with concept EP’s such as ‘Forbidden Worlds’ providing sonic soundscapes to futuristic narratives and otherworldly places.

How do I make my music sound interesting, engaging and organic?

Get Creative With Audio

In order to keep listeners hooked and engaged with his tracks Rinzen often jams out numerous riffs and fills from his hardware units (predominantly his Sub37 and Prophet 6) then slots these into the track during the more ‘sparse’ sections to provide ‘ear candy and interest’.

He will often develop ’20-30 patches from the same basic sound or tweaked preset’. These sounds all retain the same sonic DNA , they ‘exist in the same world’ and therefore sit harmoniously within one production.

Once the sounds are ‘printed to audio’ this also allows him to get creative and subtly modify audio with tricks such as ‘pitch bend’ or slamming the samples into giant cavernous reverbs like the ‘Eventide Black Hole’. Having all these variations gives him multiple options when it comes to the arrangement phase.

He then tries to think ‘like a listener’ using the melody sparingly, keeping the listener waiting and ‘anticipating’ the return of the melodic hook whilst ‘waking up the listener again’ by using subtle detunes and modulation every so often.

This keeps everything fresh and avoids ‘exhausting the listener’.

How do I know when my track is finished?

Step back from your art

Rinzens final piece of advice is that you ‘have to step back when you make art’. This is necessary otherwise you will ‘never finish it, you will never say it is done and you will be afraid to make the changes you need to make to it’. He gives the example of his own process when sometimes he will write a ‘great bridge’ for a track but it just doesn’t fit. He says simply that you ‘have to be prepared to do what serves the purpose of the song best’. Whilst in the initial stages of production a level of ‘frenzied’ excitement and an ‘emotional state’ is good so that you can ‘idea vomit’ to see which ideas ‘will stick’. During arrangement and mixdown Rinzen advises that a ‘calm scientific approach’ is best allowing you to make more level headed decisions about the direction of your track as a whole. If you find yourself stuck in a rut during this phase or constantly changing the project, he advises that you take a break or work on something else, revisiting it later with ‘fresh ears’. Often he says once producers finish something we are ‘infatuated with it’ and some distance is then needed to give the ‘objectivity and distance’ needed to complete the track successfully. He goes on to add that if the problems persists don’t be afraid to ‘refill you creative energy by seeing some amazing art, connecting with people or going for a vacation’. These experiences are vital to keeping you healthy and creative.

How can we help you here at MYT?

If you want to find out more about Rinzen’s approach to making organic house and melodic techno check out his excellent MYT Masterclass.

Alternatively, check out the superb MYT Mastery Organic House course for a complete workflow system on how to create tracks with texture and emotion.