ADDIKTION
When I am not designing audio for games, I produce Electronic Dance Music under the name ADDIKTION.
My sound is originally influenced by late 90's iconic UK Big Beat bands like The Prodigy or The Chemical Brothers, as well as Noisia or Knife Party, to name the most influential acts.
The result is a high energy, bass-heavy synthethic soundscape with a dark and futuristic touch. I like to explore psychoacoustics in my sound design to create powerful feelings with music, designed to be best experienced with large sound systems with subwoofers.
Most of my tracks have 2 different drops, with the 2nd one usually more intense. Be sure to check them out!
2024 Releases | Another Day, Mind The Gap, Everybody Make Some Noise and Impossible are out now! Stay tuned for more!
ADDIKTION - Spektrum EP | 2024
Here is my newest batch of music, called Spektrum EP. It is an ongoing project: I release new tracks when they are ready.
This EP showcases a variety of styles I have explored over the last couple of years. The name refers to this range of styles and the use of full spectrum in the sound and visuals. The new 3D logo is a prism (generates a spectrum), as well as the A of ADDIKTION. 💫
It takes me a large amount of time to complete one track, with only a few hours a month of free time to spend on music production, on top of a busy job in the games industry.
My music process goes from conceptual writing to final production, with recording, mixing, mastering, cover art design and worldwide digital release planning. If music was my job I would certainly not do it all on my own, but as a hobby I learn from the challenge and journey of doing it all by myself, no matter how long and difficult it can be!
I use my music as a 'creative laboratory'🧪to explore and experiment with new instruments, tools and techniques, that I end up applying to my game audio work. I learn a lot in this process and it keeps me nerdy and excited with audio. 💙
Mind The Gap
In a dark near future, a high-speed international 'clubbing train' is arriving within the London tube network. 🚇
The audience is entering the 'EDM festival carriage', which is about to travel through London and stop at key tube stations, with the iconic 'Mind The Gap' voice recording and doors sounds captured in the London tube. 🎤
In the drops, the drums and sounds should evocate speed, power, as well as locomotive mechanical patterns. 🚅
The technical concept was to use exclusively rising-pitch patterns, and see what this could generate. 🧪It naturally gave a sense of rising intensity and speed, which felt great to combine with reverb automations to play with the spatial dimensions too.
Then I designed the heavy bass as a low foundation that slightly moves down in pitch, whereas everything else, higher in the spectrum, moves up.
There is a sort of hallucination/hypnotic effect where low/high, fast/slow, up/down, close/far, small/large are stimulated simultaneously and always shifting. 💫
Everybody Make Some Noise
A more straightforward track, with a festival-oriented style.
Powerful synth chords, melodic leads and heavy hitting drums, the classic EDM party cocktail ! 🔊
For this track I started with a quiet melody (the one with a bit of an asian pluck instrument vibe). Then I 'Frankensteined' it into various classic EDM treatments thoughout the track (quiet pluck, heavy supersaw chords, saw basslead, stabs, ... ).
I think this experiment showed me how effective (and common, as a result) this approach is. 🧪
Impossible
This is an older track I started drafting back in 2017! Not long after 'Shake It' was finished.
It started from the concept of creating a powerful loop based on rythmic patterns only, rather than a main melody.
Essentially every sound behaves more like a drum machine rather than an musical instrument. There is an idea of sounding a bit like a weapon.
Then I expanded the minimal loop (the first section in the first drop) into something more complex, powerful and evolutive. It was an experiment as to how using different timbres for a same sequence could bring variety. 👨🔬🧪
Turned out to be pretty hard work! 🤣 Hence the name of the track.
Another Day
I released this track for my 40th birthday. It is a trancy one, I have always loved that genre.
It started with the calm pad melody, and then the punchy drums and bass. I was happy with the contrast between the rythmic energic elements and the moody melodic and vocal ones.
This is one of the most recent tracks and it was fairly quickly done in comparison to all the others, as I had a bit more time to complete it closer to the moment I started it. I find it very difficult to finish a track I started years ago as it's 'impossible' to get back in the same mood.
ADDIKTION - Shake It | 2017 | Featured in WipEout Omega Collection - Sony PS4
Shake It marked my evolution from Bass Music to EDM.
An exclusive edit of the track was selected to feature on the soundtrack and trailers of the PS4 game WipEout Omega!
As a massive fan of the WipEout Franchise, it was the highest honour and achievement to be part of this. 💝🚀
Many more tracks were made in that phase of my life and I may release some of them in Spektrum. 'Shake It' was the only one I released at the time. A lot of it is due to focusing on growing my career as a Sound Supervisor and lacking time to finish my personal compositions.
ADDIKTION - Cyborg Destiny (EP) | 2013
The first EP with 4 tracks, named Cyborg Destiny, is an intense Bass Music production.
This genre is expressed through crazy sound design and signal processing. It is a bass-heavy, powerful mix of hard hitting drums and evolving, morphing timbres going through a hell of filters and distortions :)
The result is a dark, explosive, sci-fi soundscape.
Cyborg Destiny - The destiny of the first sentient hyper-intelligent Cyborg.
From its DNA synthesis and mechanical conception, to its shocking discovery of humanity's crimes and realities, triggering the inevitable decision to fight against its Creator to restore balance in a world that became too dark to be acceptable for a True Intelligence.
This track (and video) is obviously a hommage to many sci-fi movies and animes, which I am sure you will recognize.
Lunar Weapon Project - As the name suggests, the concept of a weapon project on the Moon... and its consequences.
Recordings from NASA and US presidents were used, suggesting the installation and inauguration of the weapon on the Moon, pretending to be there for the well-being of Humanity and Peace in the world. The weapon (obviously) ends up being misused and triggers massive energy blast waves (represented by the drops).
The tracks evolves from a slow BPM, Dubstep-like 'bass hell' to a full-on DnB style heavy drop!
If you want to listen to the 2 other tracks of this EP, please check out my Soundcloud profile.
Be prepared for some fairly intense and explicit content!