Conversations with Luis Miranda

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Miranda. 

Hi Luis, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My music journey started in Madrid the first time I went to a club when I was 13 (sorry mom!) and got hooked on acid house and the role of the DJ, while in parallel I was learning classical music and piano in Madrid’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Then the following years I spent a lot of time learning how to play with vinyl while skipping classes to spend hours in record shops. I played a lot as a DJ in Madrid, my hometown but after college, I put my professional music career in second place, as a hobby for a while, during a time when I was focused on building a daytime career in advertising and marketing that took me to live in London and Singapore for a while. 

Fast forward to five years ago here in LA, when I couldn’t resist the call of electronic music again, and I decided to quit my full-time job in the advertising and marketing industry and become a freelancer so I could invest more time again into music and start producing my own music – taking classes, watching tutorials, messing with Ableton, and learning from friends. 

Since then, it’s been an amazing journey making techno and many new friends around the world, playing in clubs like FabriK (MAD), Privilege (IBZ), Baum (BOG), Vertigo (CR) including festivals like Burning Man, and releasing music in top techno labels like Tronic, KD Raw, JAM, Codex, Odd, and many others… 

Especially rewarding is when you see big artists like Carl Cox, Amelie Lens, and Richie Hawtin playing your music for thousands of people and seeing the reactions from the crowds, that gives me goosebumps. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There’s no shortage of challenges in the journey of a DJ/producer, for me, the first one has been associated with the lack of time, as trying to keep up and grow an artist career and a business career at the same time is very time-consuming. This hit me harder when I decided to learn music production as I invested a lot of hours after work trying to learn by myself. 

Be ready to sacrifice things as you can’t have it all, but it will be worth it. 

A second big challenge for me has been not to fall into the paradox of choice. Nowadays we all have access to thousands of synthesizers, plugins, and sounds, it is very easy to get lost in an endless loop of choices. Having clarity on what you want and locking in on a specific group of tools and sounds for each production has been key for me. I love solving problems, and I see creating a new song as a creative problem around expressing your emotions and feelings, and a joyful experience to turn inspiration into magic. 

So far, I’ve learned four key lessons: 

1) It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You have to enjoy the ride and not look for fast success. Be consistent, trust your effort, have fun and make friends. 

2) There’s no “one way,” but rather “your way.” You have to listen, learn, steal, and use what works for you, without limiting your potential based on the industry standards or how others produce. 

3) You need a support network. The techno world has brought into my life amazingly talented people that have inspired me and supported me locally in LA, as well as globally. Without a network of friends and good relationships, it is difficult to go far, invest in authentic relationships and take care of them. 

4) It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. A lot of people told me I was crazy for quitting my job and starting music production. Forget about the societal stereotypes and just go for what you feel 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One of the things that I think has defined my art the most is the symbiotic duality that rules my life – a mix of order and chaos, analytical and creative; I view the world with a lens of balance maybe because I’m a Libra. That’s also reflected in my professional life. By day I’m a strategist in the advertising and marketing world, by night I’m a DJ and music producer. Both sides complement and help each other, and it’s been like that for quite a while. 

Artistically, that duality has translated into many influences and styles that have shaped my personal taste. I like to make my musical influences quite visible in my productions, that’s part of my creative personality and I’ve done quite a lot of that during the past year, especially with the electronic music I used to listen to in the early 90s. 

Another element that defines my music comes from being a DJ before becoming a producer. That makes me focus on the dance floor most of the time when I produce. I imagine myself in a club and follow my instinct in order to judge the punch of a new track. My criteria are simple, as DJ I would buy and play that track then it’s good to go. 

Last but not least, I think people can perceive in my music a diverse range of my influences I grew up with like the techno and rave sounds of the 90s, something that inject a unique flavor to my original techno tracks. 

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
The thing I like the most about LA is that its multicultural diversity that’s is also reflected in its cultural offering (art/food/entertainment/music…) 

My biggest con about LA is divided between the high cost of housing and the traffic. 

I live in Marina del Rey because I love being close to the ocean and it’s a quiet neighborhood but it’s one of those that suffer of high housing costs as well. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.djluismiranda.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/luismiranda
• SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/luismiranda
• Other: https://www.beatport.com/artist/luis-miranda/652091

Image Credits
Dean Paul