Balance Selections 211: Weird Sounding Dude

Weird Sounding Dude is a Bangalore-based music producer/DJ. Drawing his influences from the likes of James Holden, Extrawelt, and Nathan Fake. Weird Sounding Dude’s trademark chuggy grooves, squelchy rhythms, and winding melodies are sure to satisfy his listeners but there are always a few surprises along the way.

Weird Sounding Dude has made his name in the underground scene by performing at the finest clubs and festivals, along with having releases on some of the most prestigious record labels in the dance music industry such as Anjunadeep, Sudbeat, The Soundgarden, Hoomidaas, Kindisch, Plattenbank, Meanwhile, Mango Alley, onedotsixtwo, among many others.

It’s safe to say that, Weird Sounding Dude’s musical expedition has slowly started to take shape with no intention of slowing down.

Balance Selections 211: Weird Sounding Dude

Tracklisting:

1. Guy J – Main Synth (Weird Sounding Dude Intro Mix)
2. Fourthstate – Wondershot (Framewerk Reprise)
3. STEREO MUNK & Zawar K – Dancing Lanterns (Original Mix)
4. Che Jose – Freedom (Mass Digital remix)
5. Stan Seba – Such A Sweetheart (Original Mix)
6. David Orin, Hannah Noelle – Let Me Sleep feat. Hannah Noelle (Original Mix)
7. GMJ & Dimuth K – ID
8. Weird Sounding Dude – ID
9. VieL – Confession Amoureuse (Weird Sounding Dude Remix)
10. Dofamine – Walk (Original Mix)
11. Jelly For The Babies, Ignacio Corazza – My Heart Is Heavy (Weird Sounding Dude Remix)
12. Hakan Ozurun – Purple Void (Oliver & Tom Remix)
13. Wassu & Warung – ID
14. Kasper Koman – The Observer (Original Mix)
15. Weird Sounding Dude – ID
16. Simos Tagias – ID
17. Ric Niels & George Alhabel – Mentalism (Not Demure Remix)
18. Alan Cerra – Henkere (Aman Anand ‘Deep Space’ Remix)
19. Jamie Stevens – Storm Front (Original Mix)
20. Kasey Taylor & Karl Pilbrow – ID
21. Liam Sieker – Soft Serenade (Fabri Lopez Remix)
22. Weird Sounding Dude – ID
23. Ethereal (Domingo + Eric Lune Remix)

Balance Selections Q+A

Name: Abhijith Hegde
Location: Bangalore, India
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Alias/Producer name: Weird Sounding Dude
Labels affiliated with: Anjunadeep, The Soundgarden, Sudbeat, Hoomidaas, Souksonic, Juicebox Music, Manual Music.

My last 3 releases:

Weird Sounding Dude – Lost In Moment EP

Jelly For The Babies, Ignacio Corazza – My Heart Is Heavy (Weird Sounding Dude Remix)

VieL – Confession Amoureuse (Weird Sounding Dude Remix)

What music did you listen to as a child?

I was born in Bangalore, India, and coming from a non-musical background, my early days of childhood mainly consisted of music from regional movies and iconic musicians like Mohammed Rafi, R. D. Burman, Lata Mangeshkar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle to name a few. It was during my teen years I discovered Nirvana, Rammstien, Metallica, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, Guns n’s Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and so on.

It was around my mid 20’s when I discovered electronic music.

When was the first time that you realised that you liked electronic music?

It all started for me when I accidentally heard Armin Van Buuren’s ASOT episode while browsing through local radio stations when I was heading back home from work. It was my first time listening to a DJ set and I was quite blown away hearing so many different songs seamlessly fused into one another. Infatuated with the idea, I went on to pursue my skills in the field of DJ’ing and post that in the path of a self-taught Music Producer. There have been times when everything seemed like a dead-end, but I am grateful for the way everything has been turning out so far, and to be able to receive so much love and support from my peers in the scene.

When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?

I think my first ever clubbing experience was at Submerge Supernova which was I guess back in 2012, I had such an amazing time listening to so many talented DJ’s who were part of that line-up. Life’s come a full circle now and I am glad to be managed by the Submerge crew.

Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?

Oh, there are so many to mention, I am going to name a handful of acts who have inspired me at various stages of my musical journey Tiesto, Khruangbin, John Digweed, deadmau5, Tony McGuinness, Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, Guy J, Eli Nissan, Lost Desert, Armen Miran, Khen, and Jamie Stevens. Also, special mention to my fellow Indian peers who are doing some amazing productions at the moment and pushing our scene Aman Anand, Vridan, Haen, Greenage, FILM, Praveen Achary, Greg Tomaz, Rudra, Pal-E, and the list goes on & on. I’m glad to be amidst such talented people and be part of the ever-growing scene in India.

What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?

Chicola – Could Heaven Be

What is your current production and DJ set up like?

I have a very humble setup at home. My main DAW is Ableton with Nectar Impact GX-49 MIDI keyboard, Akai LPD 8 which I use for arrangements and for recording automation. Audient iD4 is the audio interface I use which is paired to my Yamaha HS5 studio monitors and that’s my setup. Some of my favorite stock instruments that I use a lot from Ableton are wavetable, operator, and analog, in terms of third-party plugins at times I use Serum from Xfer Records, U-he’s Diva, and Native Instruments Reaktor. For processing I main really on plugins from Fab Filter, Valhalla, and Sound Toys, the stock effects from Ableton are great too especially max for live.

I prefer to DJ on the CDJ’s the more the merrier ;). I would love to play on vinyl someday though once I have a decent collection.

What releases do you have on the horizon?

My most recent releases were remixes for The Purr, Deep Down Music, and Where The Shadow Ends. I’ve got an EP release coming on Meanwhile Horizons soon and also have remixes lined up for later this year for Sound Avenue, Juicebox Music, Clubsonica Recordings, Mango Alley, and Stripped Recordings. There are a few other releases also in the pipeline, which are probably too soon to reveal now.

Where can we hear you perform?

There are some exciting shows getting lined up for the next couple of months which will be announced soon, on my socials. ‘sinetone’ is my monthly podcast that airs on Proton Radio every second Monday of the month, but in case one wishes to have a re-run of my show you can head over to my mixcloud page for the same. I also do a bi-monthly show ’Orbis’ which is once again a collaboration with Proton Radio that is exclusive for Spotify.

Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?

For this mix, I have had the opportunity to play some unreleased gems from my friends for which I am super thankful to them for sharing their tracks with me, the mix also includes some of my current favorite tracks at the moment with recent and upcoming releases and edits from myself. I have recorded the mix using Traktor 3 from Native Instruments which was mapped to an Akai LPD 8, I wanted to make this mix super special, so it took a couple of days for me to finalize the tracklist.

My Recommendations

The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:

Ezequiel Arias – Modern Memory (Extended Mix)

If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:

It is quite a difficult task to pick one, for me, all my releases are extra special, but if I had to choose one, I would probably pick ‘Hyper Dream’ which came out on Anjunadeep.