Q: Circle Tone is an interesting name for a producer, especially in a country like ours! What prompted you to come up with the name? Please share the story behind it!
So, Circle Tone isn’t the first name I’ve had since the start, I used to be called Mello then Marshmello came out and that became unusable, so I spent a lotta time thinking about what represents me, and what my philosophy is, I was 15 so, of course, I knew a lot about world philosophy (jk), and settled on the idea that whatever goes around, comes around, and from every bad thing, a good thing can emerge and vice versa. This gave way to more thought about life being closer to a circle rather than a straight line, friend circles, network circles, karmic circles, and stuff like that, you know? From 15 to 17 the word kept coming up more and more, so I grew attached to it, I wanted new ways to use it, one day I was on an anagram maker website and I was just typing in random stuff, and I typed in “electronic” and I think the 4th word it spat out was “circle tone”, and that was it, I pretty much stuck to it ever since, and ever since that point I’ve learned about more things that make me feel even more confident in the name, did you know that the world is made of sinewaves at the most basic level, everything we see, hear, touch or feel is a sinewave at the fundamental scale, and if u fold a sinewave over itself, you get a circle, a whole. So yeah, that’s the story behind it, of course, it used to be awkward introducing myself to people early on, but now that I’ve showcased what I can do, it has become easier, and the name Circle’s stuck.
Q: What pushed you to have a career in Hip-Hop music while growing up? While rapping is still easier to explain, how did you explain to your family about your passion and career choice?
Short answer, my brother likes hip-hop, and my parents never really had that sorta hold on me, to begin with, to need to explain it to them, once I was 18, I moved outta my house using the money I made from music and that’s all there was to it, they couldn’t stop me if they tried cause I owed them nothing, I didn’t need them to survive anymore and once a parent realises their kid is self-sufficient, they’re helpless and will accept any bit of information you give them. So yea they don’t have a problem with it, even if they did, they never mention it.
What pushed me to a career in hip-hop, there were many genres of music I use to hear. I listened to Daft Punk, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, MF Doom, Quazimodo, and The Neptunes earlier on, got into electronic music cause of that, not really focusing on hip hop, then 2012 October came around, Good Kid Mad City changed things for me, it really did, a friend of mine used to follow hip -hop a lot put me onto it and it was one of those records that have always stayed in my playlist ever since, but that also didn’t completely get me into hip-hop, but it sure as hell made sure I was paying attention. In 2015 is when the real push came, To Pimp A Butterfly came around and in no small words, it changed my life, I was at a very dark place in ‘15, we were poor as fuck, I was failing pre-boards, my friends had been stealing shit from me, it was bad. And I felt alone. But, then I heard How much a dollar cost, I, Free, mortal man, Alright, These walls, and Institutionalised, and suddenly I felt heard, Stuff that Kendrick was saying got through to me, it told me shit wasn’t as bad as it could be, it told me that even though I was poor in Lucknow, that’s still something, at least I’m not homeless yet, at least I have tools, at least I have SOMETHING I’m halfway decent at, and it was my responsibility to get myself out of that situation, it was one of those defining moments of my life that I still remember vividly, I was laying in bed with my mum( we used to sleep in the same room cause we didn’t have bedrooms to go round and no one wants to sleep outside ) and I was looking out the window at the rain falling and thunderclouds and that was playing and I didn’t feel alone anymore at all. Yea, that album was the one that really pushed me into hip-hop.
Q: From Dhanji [Ahmedabad] to Pasha Bhai [Banagalore] to Lil Kabeer [Delhi], you have collaborated with artists with unique sounds from all over the country. Very few artists have your level of versatility. Does change and challenging yourself attract you more than stability?
Yes it does, to be honest, people have family, friends, dreams, and hopes, I have nothing to lose so I just spend my time trying to find people who I can really help and push.
Q: Thaltej Blues is one of your favourite works by you. The music which you produced with Niel CK has a lot going on with heavy jazz and blues influences. How did the project come to fruition? Please take us through it!
So, Dhanji had come to my house here in bangalore, September of last year, and i’d been dying to make something really fun, so one afternoon he was on a call in the living room and idk, i just kinda zoned in and did it, it really wasn’t as complicated tbh, but it was fun though, it came very naturally, it was literally the first track i made that day, was finished within like 4 hours (the skeleton of it without the sax), i wrote a proper sax solo on the whole track and yea, after that it was just a matter of structuring and spending time with it to help really finalise it, Dhanji is a great friend to have in these sorta situations, he has a very clear vision in terms of what he likes, and that makes people like me who tend to really go into the micro, stay in line with the macro, so yea, but i’ll say if you liked thaltej blues, you’re not prepped for what we have in the album, this one’s gonna be a landmark project for every musician working in india today and i mean that on no uncertain terms.
Q: The samples you used in your debut album “Eureka”, especially in Hukum ka Ikka meshed so well with the theme and tonality presented by Vichar. What is your process for selecting samples and melodies? How much input a rapper has in that process?
Vichaar is a close friend of mine, he’s one of the first people I really committed to conceiving a project with, and you know, for me, a lot of the process comes very on the spot, at the time I and Vichaar were sharing a flat in Ahmedabad to make the whole thing and before I’d moved we didn’t really have any proper ideas, we just kinda fucked around and found out you know, once we had a theme going poetically and sonically, what I started doing unconsciously was setting a sonic palette, for newer producers I’d say the biggest thing is getting familiar, and I mean familiar to the point of finding samples funny whenever they’re used in a movie, cause what it does is, it frees you, then you don’t have to think about what goes with what, you just have it in your head and all ur doing in the program is executing.
Q: Your experimental project “Fuck it, I’ll win next year” sees you humming melodies off the dome on a ukulele with sarcastic undertones. Do you plan to revisit that single in the future and work on it with a different perspective? Popular stand-up acts like Bo Burnham and Aadar Malik have found real success in that zone!
Yea, actually that’s exactly where I’m going with most of my solo work, the only reason they’re on Spotify right now is cause these days I don’t really care too much about putting unfinished tracks out, I’d much rather they be out there in the world rather than sitting on my HDD “unfinished”, my plan is to properly orchestrate all of these tracks in live performances whenever I make it big, hopefully soon though haha.
Q: How did Pilot [Mixtape] with DLT Mob come about? Please take us through it!
Pilot is the first part of DLT’s 2023 release plan, we’re basically committing to the idea of the Indian hip-hop scene, along with our own lives, being a huge sitcom. Hence the name, Pilot. Agaahi Raahi, AKX, Paras, Adam, Afeef, Vyshnav (fka karim poocha) and I all live in Bangalore at the moment and we’d been making tracks regularly for a while, what ended up happening was, in the past couple of months we gathered a whole backlog of tracks that we wanted to put out in a mixtape, that’s where Pilot really took shape, AKX is an excellent curator and the Pilot tracklist is His brainchild with inputs from all of us. All of us in DLT mob like to put out tracks as quickly as possible with the maximum amount of effort we can put in the moment, we usually only give tracks a day or two before putting them out for all to see, I think Lonekat put it best when talking to us, Ek Chull hai, gaane nikalne ki, and yea, it’s true, that’s our process, just pure unfiltered obscene gluttony in music.
Q: Diversity in India’s hip-hop scene is a big issue with there being a large discrepancy in the ratio between male and female emcees. When we shift the lens to production, the discrepancy is even appalling with female producers barely being in the limelight. What do you think can be done to solve this gender disparity?
Well, first of all, I think this problem really really stems from our society in India, The first thing we need to solve is boxing in women, In America this problem was present as well, people tend to undermine women cause all they’ve seen are Men, and I’m not a person who will shy away from critiquing larger artists, so I’ll say this, people like raja kumari, DeeMc, etc really need to put out experimental and game-changing albums, warna fir next generation motivate hi kaise hogi, The high rollers always play it safe, relying on marketing and their artist teams to do the heavy lifting in making the project popular. That’s just the wrong way of looking at this art that we do, We NEED great female acts that re-define the genre for a lotta Indian people, uske bina I don’t see the system changing, But I also see hope, People like Pho, people like Putti, people like Reble, I’m counting on this artist to really change it for the better, I see massive talent, What we need is to put female artists like these in the spotlight, cause I know if they’re given the chance and the time from more producers, they will change everything. Once the artists start getting recognition, there will be an influx of female producers as well, cause in the end that’s how everyone starts.
To solve the discrepancy in the production realm, it’s an even more complex topic, to be a producer, you HAVE to network, and because it’s largely a “bro” oriented community here in India, it makes it hard to for female producers to reach out or even be comfortable networking, I think one of the Largest changes that I’m seeing these days to counter this very issue is places like J-block popping up, community-driven collectives where anyone can walk in and leave with a track, where you aren’t judged for being of any gender, caste, religion, and are solely seen as a person with skill, This is how we solve the gender disparity. Not to say that women need a community to push them, it’s much more about giving women a safer space to be comfortable collaborating. Personally, I think the production discrepancy is also a global problem, women are objectified, pushed to be singers, and only given attention based on looks and not on skill, but yeah, times are changing for the better, people like Nahre sol (amazing pianist and producer), TOKIMONSTA, WondaGurl, etc are an inspiration to women all across the globe, so yeah I can definitely see a new influx of female producers pretty soon. Hopefully, we can get rid of the gender norms women are forced into.
Q: How have you developed creatively as an artist over the years? Apart from production, you also direct, edit, and shoot music videos as well. What other creative avenues would you like to explore in the future? Or should I ask if there is anything that you aren’t good at?
I started off making house music, much like anyone who started producing in 2012, creatively I’ve seen myself be more and more okay with making mistakes, making music has changed for me, I used to want to make music that just sounds good, these days I make music like time capsules, no matter how popular a track gets, for me it’s a memory of a time that I look fondly on, my discography is my auto-biography. I really really wanna do a lotta stage design and choreography for my shows, also wanna learn Blender and stuff to get into 3d and Game design as a whole, really wanted to do that since I was a kid. There are things I’m absolutely trash at, like mathS, I just cannot do the math for real, and I have a hard time keeping track of numbers, besides that I’m really bad at playing the guitar, and I have huge anxiety issues as well, but I’m working on getting decent on all of the above haha.
Q: Music producers in general get fewer followers for their work in hip-hop. Add to the fact that you are a producer in a heavy rapper’s prominent hip-hop scene in India, how do you motivate yourself daily? What drives you?
I’m driven by a will to change how we do music in India, it’s one of the top problems the country has, India focused on film more and Pakistan got to focus on music more, its one of the reasons they’re just straight up better than most of the music we hear coming outta India and it’s nothing to scoff at either. I have a dream of putting India on the global scene, and we’re already seeing the fruits of people with the same aspirations rn, Diljit Dosanjh Just performed at Coachella right now and yeah, stuff like that fills me with joy, it means there’s a chance, And because there is, I know for a fact that there’s some kid in some rundown neighbourhood with the right idea and all I want to do is find that kid and let them do whatever the fuck they want with the network and skills that I have right now, That’s all for real, I just want the Indian story to be out there. Also, people might not recognise producers right now, but I know once India’s Illmatic comes out, they’ll know, and we’ll get our fruits And it will be glorious.
Q: Would you like to share any tips and tricks for the budding music producers who will be reading this?
Keep at it, don’t let anything stop you, and get a job, but don’t ever feel like you can’t do it, you can, all you gotta do is stay in it. That’s about it. We want you, and even if you don’t have the best mix, even if you just have the default fl studio drums, even if you produce on a phone, we want you and your ideas. You got this.
Follow and listen to Circle Tone on Spotify
