A track that influenced you and why

I'd say Thank U Mum by St Germain. More generally, all of St Germain's music was my gateway into electronic music, and deep house in particular. I still listen to that track today. I've always loved the blend of organic sounds (electric pianos, synthesizers, voices) and electronic rhythms, club basses. I discovered it when I was around 15 years old and it was a revelation for me.

Who is Hustache?

My name is Thomas Hustache, and I'm from Orléans, France. I studied engineering in Toulouse and have been working in Berlin for three years now for a French company. I do Python development for machine learning projects.

I have an "80% contract", so I work four days a week, which leaves me three days off to make music. For now, music is still a side project, but since I've been in Berlin, I've been trying to take it more seriously.

How long have you been making music? What motivated you to start?

When I was nine, my parents enrolled me in a music school where I learned music theory and piano for about three years. Then I quit and started getting interested in electronic music and buying vinyls around the age of 16-17. It was also around this time that I started DJing. Then when I was 20, I installed Ableton and started taking piano lessons again.

The real turning point was earlier, around 16-17, with a friend named Anatole, aka Parea (his artist name). He already owned 200-300 house and techno vinyls at that time. I'll always remember watching him mixing in his garage. It blew me away. I thought, "What is this music!" I had never heard that before. That's where it all started. I then began to attend parties and started listening to a lot of house, including all of its subgenres.

Nowadays, I am less into Djing to focus exclusively on production and also learning jazz piano. I want to move toward a more live approach, playing my tracks on stage with my keyboards, which I think fits me better now.

What musical genres do you play most?

I mainly produce deep house, with a fairly slow tempo of 123-124 BPM. I like it when there's space to hear the chord progressions, synths, and warm groovy basslines. If we had to define the subgenre, we could say deep house/electro/minimal.

On the other hand, I listen to and buy a wide variety of music: jazz, classical, downtempo, a bit of pop/rock, and more experimental forms of music. Of course, I always try to stay up-to-date with new house releases.

What equipment do you use for mixing and production?

• DJing: two Audio-Technica LP120 turntables, an Allen & Heath mixing console, and I also have two Pioneer CDJ-850s.
• Production: an Elektron Digitakt drum machine, an M-Audio 49-key MIDI keyboard, a Moog Subsequent 37 analog synth, an 88-key digital piano connected via MIDI, Yamaha HS8 monitoring speakers, and my computer with Ableton.

In the beginning (2017-2018), I only had my monitoring speakers and the MIDI keyboard. In 2020, I bought the 88-key digital piano, then last summer the Digitakt, and this summer the analog synth. Little by little, I've expanded my setup based on the sounds I was looking for.

...and how about software?

I've always worked with Ableton: I find the software incredibly powerful and I love the interface.

VSTs I use:

• The Arturia Collection, especially their electric pianos.
• Albino (Rob Papen) for some melodic, acid-like leads.
• Diva (U-he) for the bass, it's fantastic!

I also use Ableton's native synths a lot, like Operator or Analog, which sound really great.

Is there anything you would like to be simplified in music?

When it comes to composing, I think there are three major difficulties:

1. Harmonic difficulty: finding interesting chords and melodies.
2. Sound design difficulty: once you find the chords and melodies, making them interesting with original synths.
3. Arrangement: arranging a track is just as hard as the sound design part, and it's been a roadblock for a long time.

I don't know if these steps can be simplified, but you can get better at each of them by spending time composing, taking lessons, and collaborating with other musicians to learn from them.

On the DJing side, building a collection is hard. It takes time, and sometimes you find a track you love but it's difficult to find others in the same style.

How do you discover new music?

• Vinyl stores and the Discogs website.
• Soundcloud: I listen to a lot of DJ sets, which helps me discover new DJs and tracks.
• Spotify: their recommendation algorithm works really well!
• Talking about music with friends!
• The parties in Berlin are also a huge source of inspiration for me, I'm always discovering incredible things.

Who are your three favorite artists/DJs right now?

• Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, a Berlin-based electro-jazz trio. I love how they mix jazz harmony with very electronic sounds.
• Pierre Marty, who performs live with his machines. I really like his minimalist/electro/deep house style.
• Pocket Club, another French producer who is probably my biggest source of inspiration right now.

What's a piece of advice you have for those who are starting out or want to get into DJing?

Go to parties to immerse yourself in the culture, understand how tracks are built, and how DJs mix. Go to vinyl stores, dig through the new arrivals, be curious, and don't hesitate to ask salespeople for advice. Use SoundCloud to listen to a lot of sets!

For production, my best advice is to learn an instrument with a professional. It's essential for developing a good understanding of musical concepts. The same goes for learning the software, take lessons with competent people. It's true that there are a lot of useful resources on YouTube now (and I also learned a lot from that platform), but I'm convinced it will never replace personalized guidance from a professional.