Marcus D

Marcus D

 

 

Tell us about your music, yourself and Melancholy Hopeful

I’m a music producer from Seattle, WA, and I dabble in a wide array of genres. Everything from my first love of jazz and hip hop, and the combination of the two, all the way to classical, orchestral, and video game music. My latest project, Melancholy Hopeful, is a full-length album released under the popular Japanese jazz-hip hop label, Hydeout/Tribe. It’s predominantly hip hop, with overlaying tones of jazz and orchestral influences, and features some well-known US underground acts including One Be Lo, Substantial, Cise Star, Shing02, Vitamin D and a host of other talented artists.

 

How did you get into music?

 

 

Funny story…when I was pretty young, about 6 or 7, I was (and still am) really into the early Final Fantasy series. One of the first games I played on my own was Final Fantasy II (IV) for Super Nintendo, and I remember the music very vividly. I’d heard one of the songs (specifically the Theme of Love, for all my video game nerds out there), and went downstairs and played it on my family’s old, dusty heirloom of a piano. My mom came into the room and was like, “…where did you learn that?” to which I responded, “from my game”. So from that point on, piano lessons and music as a whole became a huge and pivotal part of my life.

 

 

How did you come to use FL Studio?

A fellow Seattle producer introduced me to it around 2003. I grew up on the cusp of the digital production age and didn’t have the money to buy hardware, so naturally software was my go-to move. From the very beginning people were advising me against “Fruity Loops”, and telling me how it was just a loop-based program inferior to DAWs like Acid or Cubase. Now I’m not saying I’d yell “I told you so” in their faces if I saw them again, but it’d be interesting to see how far along they are in their musical careers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell us about your production environment & toys?

 

My studio is like the Bat Cave: dark, productive, and filled with all kinds of cool weapons. I also have a butler that brings me Capri Suns if I get thirsty while I’m working. I have a lot of equipment, but I base everything around FL. It’s my central hub and everything else works around it. I have a Fantom X that I use to play live keys etc. which I import into FL and an MPC2500 that I sometimes use to sequence drums. Tannoy speakers, Sennheiser HD headphones, and several crates of old vinyl make my cipher complete.

 

Do you have any links you would like to share?

 

If you’d like to check out any of my albums or music, you can do so here:

My website

MarcusD @ Facebook

MarcusD @ Twitter

 

 

 

 

Marcus