This week’s Global Vibe Radio guest is Devotion and AudioCode Records boss Fernanda Martins.
The Brazilian artist is known for her track selection and infectious mixing skills, both of which have garnered her performances throughout South America and Europe and with good reason.
We sat down with Fernanda for an in-depth interview to talk about her home in Bercelona, her relationship with Devotion partner Lucas Freire and what is coming up in her world as we continue through 2019.
Read on for the interview, and full track listing at the end of the article!
Hey Fernanda – let’s start by chatting a bit about Barcelona. You’ve been living in the city for several years. Which nightlife locations can you particularly recommend and which restaurant should one have visited?
Barcelona is a great city to visit and I must say it is the perfect one to live.
There is a great offer of activities and the nightlife can please every taste. I would recommend places like Input, Razzmatazz, City Hall or Moog Club. I’m a vegetarian and the city offers a lot to people who have a veggie diet. I would recommend Rasoterra, Gree Spot and Terresa Carles.
Barcelona is also the city where Sonar takes place every year. How important are such events for you to exchange with other artists, labels, and people of the music scene?
Besides everything Barcelona has to offer, yes, you have Sonar Festival and all the extra events and meeting that take place in the Sonar week. Particularly, its one of the greats moments to be in the City. It is very important to put all people from the industry together. During Sonar week you can enjoy different music concepts and artist acts and we usually meet colleagues and partners from all around the globe to share good moments, experiences and of course, to plot some new business and future collabs.
If you are not in Spain you are almost permanently on tour. Which countries and cities do you especially love?
There are so many! Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, many cities in Germany, Slovenia & Croatia in general, Prague and Brno CZ,
Naples ITA, Amsterdam NL, Sofia in Bulgaria, Bogota COL, Sao Paulo BRA, and a huge etc.
It seems you love different genres of techno. Where does techno start for you and where does it end? Or don’t you like limitations as such at all?
It’s true; I love different genres of Techno. But one thing is to enjoy and another one is to play music. I’m used to listening to many more types of techno than I really put into my own sets. And, even thinking that I don’t want to limit myself when it comes to playing music, of course, I feel more comfortable with a specific kind of Techno. In general, I enjoy mixing tunes with lots of energy and that let me free to play and create a lot while mixing. I do not limit myself on BPMs, but I always try to put in my sets tunes with strong drums and bass lines; you know, that kind of stuff that gives you strength to be pumping up on the dance floor per hours.
How do you prepare a mix like the latest podcast for 6AM? How does it differ from a live mix in a club?
Yes, for me it’s very different when I prepare a podcast than when I prepare my tracks for a gig. When it comes for a gig, I leave a bunch of options in my playlist. It will always depend on many factors to decide what I’m really going to do in the gig: the artist before and after, how long it’s going to be the session, in which kind of place I’m going to play (club or festival), my set time … and most importantly how do I feel the crowd. So, sometimes I have something more or less in mind but during the set, everything can change. For the podcasts, in one hour, I try to put some of my favorite tracks of the moment into it. I enjoy myself putting my favs one after other, alone … in the studio.
What is it that inspires you most these days?
I can say nowadays I try to listen to so many different kinds of music, not only techno or electronic. And I think, in terms of music, it is from where most part of my inspiration comes from. And, also to get motivated and have some fresh air in my mind, I try to expend some hours per week looking for music from unknown (for me) artists.
You and Lucas Freire seem to have a great working relationship, which manifests itself in the label Devotion. What are you planning for the label?
More than work relation, we’re a couple for 12 years now. We have 3 labels together: AudioCode Records (For the more extreme and fast kind of Hardtechno), Devotion (for Techno), and we are now coming back with Hardwork (intentionally to fill the gap in between Devotion and AudioCode).
For Devotion, now on April 15th, we going to release our 63th reference, featuring talent from our home country Brazil, mister Anders. We release every 3 weeks and we already have releases planed until the end of the year.
In the first week of May, we release the first DVL, a sub-label of Devotion that will be out every 3 months in vinyl. DVL01 will bring tracks from Lucas Freire, Andres Gil (Colombia) and Vegim, and a remix by Dykkon from Madrid. 3 of the 4 tracks that will be out in the release you can listen in the podcast.
There are also some showcase parties to come; the first one will be made in Barcelona together with the release on DVL01, in May.
If there was one piece of advice you could give to yourself when you were starting out producing music, what would it be?
Be patient, to see the real good results of producing takes a while. It is like everything else you can do in your life; as much you expend time on it as better you going to become. And very important, always listen to the advice and tips from other producers, even if they don’t make the exact music you are trying to. You can learn new things every day, from everyone.
What else is on the pipeline for 2019? Any exciting gigs you’re looking forward to?
Well, as every year, excited for the summer festivals! This year I already have festivals confirmed in Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Portugal. But I really excited for my Asian debut! In May I will play in Bangkok in Thailand and in June in Tokyo, Japan.
GVR Track Listing:
Gabriel D’Or & Bordoy – B004 ( Selected Records)
Tibiza – Doubtful Existence (OneWay)
Rèdacs – Subsequent (SUB_tl)
Bily – Altered Ego (Binary Cells)
Clip – Grip (P.E.A.R.L.RMX) (Stale)
Drop-E – AoL (Vertical Spectrum RMX)(Devotion Records)
Juan Trujillo – Granizo (Selected Records)
Lucas Freire – Burla (Devotion Records)
Carlos Rios – Police State (Gary Beck Edit) (Proper Techno Tunes)
Deano – Morse (Kaiser)
Fran Navaez & Avox25 – Exciter (Devotion Records)
T-Dok – Passengers (Copyright Control)
Yan Cook – Unexplored (ARTS)
Drop-E – Avenger (SUB_tl)
Vegim – Smut (Devotion Records)
Andres Gil – Scene (Dykkon RMX) (Devotion Records)
Kaiser – Solitude (Invite RMX) (Monocode Records)
Connect with Fernanda Martins: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud
