Childhood Memories with Luis Miranda

Claudio Capo
Interview with Luis Miranda

By day, Luis MIranda is a high-achieving marketing executive driven by analysis and order. By night, a chart-topping techno DJ and producer, driven by creativity and chaos. Luis Miranda is dichotomy personified. He is an introverted extrovert, who creates underground techno music that is perfectly formulated for the masses.

Born in Madrid, the global citizen has lived in London, Singapore, and now resides in Los Angeles.

Luis’ passion and appreciation for music run deep into his core. A classically trained musician and pianist from the Madrid Royal Conservatory, he began DJing at the wild age of 13, after sneaking into clubs in Spain and becoming obsessed with techno-pop and acid house.

Enamoured by the DJs he saw, Luis had to learn the art form and taught himself by watching them night after night.

His impeccable technique is visible in both his performances and productions, with a vibrant techno style made of a combination of groovy, raw, and hard-hitting sounds.

While Luis believes in techno’s power to uplift and brings light to the world, the DJ/producer studied Ninjutsu, and thus gravitates to techno’s roots in the dark shadows of warehouses, where he creates mind-altering experiences and shakes audiences’ temporal lobes and feet with his new and old school influences.

The sky’s the limit for the multi-faceted artist. Luis has new releases scheduled in 2022 with top labels like Octopus, Codex and KD Raw, and looks forward to bringing his powerful sets to music-lovers worldwide!

But now, let’s go back in time with this master.

Connect with Luis Miranda on Soundcloud | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify

Thanks for chatting with us Luis. I love the next single “My Mind” on KD RAW – can you tell us how collaboration with Orly Gal happened?

Thanks for having me. I’ve known Orly since I arrived in LA 10 years ago, we have supported each other’s careers and have played together a few times too, so last year we decided to sit in the studio and crystalize that friendship into a track. We found an interesting common ground within our styles and worked back and forth on it. “My Mind” was born from a mutual desire to relieve our minds from the pandemic effect. I have had released on KD Raw before and Kaiserdisco loved the result of our collaboration in the studio.

Pre-order the VA here: https://www.beatport.com/release/master-cuts-vol5/3668926

Can you tell us a little more about your release plans this year?

After “My Mind” I have several exciting releases coming up:

I’m very excited about all that is planned so far, plus some additional surprises.

This feature is all about your past and how it influences you as a musician. So first up, can we ask if you had a musical background growing up, or was this a passion?

One of my uncles was an orchestral music director, so naturally, I was influenced by him and my parents decided to put me into music classes when I was still young. I ended up studying music, harmony, and piano at the Madrid Real Conservatory. Little did I know them, but later in my artist career, all that musical knowledge would be very handy. I can say it was the combination of background and passion that made me the artist I’m today.

Do you have one track that really takes you back to a particular time or a moment from your childhood?

MC Hammer – U can’t touch this

It takes me on my first trip to the US in Dec 1990. We were visiting my aunt in Tampa for Christmas, and she gifted me with the cassette of the Mc Hammer album (she also gifted me with the one from Vanilla Ice but I always preferred mister Hammer)

What type of music did you enjoy in your younger days?

I grew up listening to a lot of Beatles and Rock n’ roll because of my parents. And thanks to the radio stations the pop hits from Madonna, Guns n’ Roses, Michael Jackson were part of my everyday listening diet.  But, I also listened to lots of classical music and jazz when I studied music and piano, and my first rides with electronic music were with acid house, Front 242, Depeche, Prodigy, and Technopop.

Has this changed?

Yes, it has evolved, expanded, and collided. Nowadays I listened to Flamenco, Salsa, Jazz, Urban Global Music (HipHop x Latin x Trap). I’m very open and always looking to discover new genres and artists,  not locking myself into a genre or subgenre but jumping from one genre to another genre based on the songs and artists that I like. 

As a DJ you must play both to keep current but add your personal style and find opportunities to educate and inject more of your underground taste and self into the dancefloor.

Within electronic music, I’ve evolved when I started with acid house, then to EBM and hard trance, then house and hard house, techno, electro, melodic house, and for the last 5 years focus on techno. Part of that journey was personal curiosity and part based on the audience changes and trends. As a DJ you must play both to keep current but add your personal style and find opportunities to educate and inject more of your underground taste and self into the dancefloor.

Or do you still listen back to that music now?

Sometimes for sure, music is timeless and tied to emotional moments and memories so it’s always great to enjoy it, plus digital streaming platforms made it easier even though I have a big collection of cassettes recordings from old clubs from back in the day.

What were your favourite places to hang out with friends when younger? Was this revolved around music or other interests?

Clubs were my favourite places and the firsts where I listened to electronic music.

For me, nightlife has been always about music (and the adventures with your friends of course), so I went to clubs and parties to enjoy the music, I even have to convince my friends by telling them about fake drinks deals to make them go to electronic parties.

Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

Apart from my parents and Magic Johnson, probably Martial Arts, they tough me respect, sacrifice, focus, a be a warrior in life.

And music-wise?

Difficult to pick only one, I would say probably Michael Jackson, and as a DJ; Cristian Varela.

Ultimately how did you end up making dance music and becoming a DJ?

I was 13 the first time got into a club and experienced acid house. Those sounds that hadn’t ever listened to before blew my mind. The same night I fell in love with that figure that was touching vinyl with his hands, playing songs, turning knobs, and he was controlling people’s reactions by doing that. It was magical and mysterious at the same time. I started to go to clubs and raves and stand up behind the DJ booth night after night, trying to analyze what they were doing and then replicate things at home. (At home I had a turntable with pitch and another one without pitch). Back in those days, I remember I used to go to bed listening to cassette recordings from clubs to understand the mixing, transitions, etc until… . Then the following years I played a lot as a DJ in Madrid and went through many styles from acid house to EBM (not EDM), hard trance, goa, and then riding the wave of house, hard house, electro, deep house, and techno

In regards to production, I always wanted to create my own music but back in the day I didn’t put in the necessary time to learn and you know, life happens… . Fast forward to 2017, I was living in Los Angeles when I couldn’t resist that voice in my head reminding me of what I really love and telling me that life goes by fast. So, then I decided it’s never too late in life and started learning Ableton. It was not easy making time for music production after a full-time job, but I’ve been very satisfied so far. I’m enjoying the journey a lot and I’m also meeting inspiring people and making friends through it.

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, Analytic Trail, Octopus, Unrilis, Phobiq, Odd, Loose, Unity and Transmit among others.

Create a playlist with 1 to 5 tracks that have defined your childhood

Thank you!

Exit mobile version