Carlos Barajas, the man behind Wave 5 in Motion is not much into written interviews but rather he answers questions spontaneously through Google hangout. Here’s my initial questions and he answered the rest during our conversation.

Electronic Dance Music Composer, Producer & Computer Musician.

How/why did you become a musician/producer?

I’ve never thought about this, good question. I was introduced to electronic music at a very young age (thanks dad), ever since been into the electronic dance music scene. Producing my own music just naturally came to me. Never did I imagine or called myself a producer, I produce because I find it interesting and fun, it’s something I really love doing.

What’s the main reason why you created Google communities devoted to electronic music?
I love the electronic community and I felt that google+ could use a place for electronic musicians who have original music to share, can now share their content via this community.

Can you cite your main influences and how they shaped your way of making electronic dance music?
Magik Series and In Search Of Sunrise Series 1-5

Have you played a live set and how’s the EDM scene in California these days?

No live sets, yet. A buddy of mine and I figured out that the crowd in the Central Valley of California are not into the “Trance” scene. The EDM scene is growing, and I do see more and more EDM event’s being held more frequent, that’s good thing, I think.

Is there a plan for an album?

No plans for an album, yet,  all in good time. Maybe an EP.

How do you make clear crisp recordings. What’s the process?

I’m not going into details on this subject, but I will say this, give each track space and room to breath, spacial balance, EQ, compression then add sweeteners like reverbs or delays.

Where can listeners reach you other than the obvious?

For now, Google+ is the best place to reach me.

“One interesting about the electronic music community is they way they support and stick to each other” noted Carlos Barajas who is a 23 year old music producer/artist who is also majoring in music. He formed Google communities devoted to electronic music and its artists. Having friends with electronic musicians since 2006, I agree with his statement.

He told me about this one discussion he had with a musician  in a band. The guy made it clear that real music involves only the guitars, bass and drums which are thought of as ‘real instruments.’ Carlos defended the idea that electronic music is still an art and is still real music only it makes use of electronic equipment and computers. And there are electronic musicians who even go to school to study music and theory. Which brings us back to the argument: is real music only involve playing 4 chord patterns, shouting your lungs calling it art because it is emotional? Or could it be the combination of both emotion and discipline? Yes?

” I picked up a copy of Tiesto when I was around 15 and that got me started into music.” He further stated. In return mentioned that Tiesto has this big fat sound that dominated his earlier records and you can hear this in Wave5 In Motion which is his current project . He replied that he also thinks that Tiesto’s sound has evolved and it more or less sound sterile compared to his early albums. He noted that Armin Van Buuren(who is also one of his influences) has maintained the kind of sound he had since 2005. I noted that in my opinion, Tiesto is more of a rock star. I mean you can see that when he greets his thousands of fans in the arena. Armin van Burren on the other hand seems to be just concerned about crafting his style. But that is just my opinion.

We both agreed on the fact that electronic music has come a long way. The arena used to belong to the band musicians-the hair rockers and pop singers. Now electronic musicians have taken a huge bite out of the pie.The mainstream now realized that EDM is a marketable kind of music style. However, he stated that the kind you hear mainstream is not really what electronic music is all about.  He also noted that most of the newbies in EDM got into dubstep first. But it is not the kind that really showcases what dubstep is. He recommended I take a listen to Submotion Orchestra to get the feel of what Dubstep is about. And I did and I kind of agree with him on this, especially after comparing it to others in the genre.

Carlos wants to see the electronic music community expanding and getting more artists to interact with each other. I think that interaction is always amazing because it brings out something new. While writing this, my other friend Layne who writes acoustic music has just collaborated with an electronic musician. And like what Carlos said, EDM is a form of art like any other.

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