Mugasha Aux

Hi, we are Simon Lee and Alvin. You can soon catch the best of our weekly radio show called Radio KUL on Mugasha. Next week we'll be celebrating our 100th episode with a very special show, and we hope you'll be able to hear it on Mugasha. Till then, here's an interview with a DJ/producer who will guestmix on our show soon, Mark Sixma aka M6.

Mark Sixma aka M6 has been fuel-ing the music scene since 2005. His music are favourite features on Radio KUL and we think he’s an amazing act to watch over the new few years. His remix for Temple One’s “String Theory” and original productions “Origin” and “Opus Sectrum” have catapulted him onto the mainstream tracklists of trance universe this year and have earned him the attention of contemporary music lovers too. These days, he’s busy globe trotting the world and churning out more releases for some of the world’s most prolific dance record labels.

In this interview, we speak to him about his classical musical influences shaped some of this year’s biggest anthems.

Mark Sixma

You’ve been hailed as one of the young faces to look out for this year in the trance scene. What do you think the new breed of fresh talent have to offer?
Most of all some fresh ideas! There’s a change going on in international dance music at the moment. A lot of DJs are experimenting with different styles, which I think is a good thing. I’m not a big fan of repeating things that have been done ever so often.

The story of M6 sounds so familiar. Dabbled with music while growing up, inspired by a trance record, and decided to venture into producing. But you’ve succeeded light years ahead of others through the quality and response of your releases. Is there anyone or anything you credit this to, and really, what’s your secret!
As a rule of thumb I produce music that I myself find enjoyable. If you’re having fun producing a record, it will turn out a lot better than when you try to create a hit record. Like everyone else in music I’ve been influenced by a lot of people and music. Special credits go out to Paul Moelands (Re:locate) who showed me the way around Fruity Loops and my dad for explaining me some of the technical side of producing.

You’re a social psychology graduate by day. Will this be your chosen line of work or have you ventured full time into music?
My social psychology degree is my backup plan, in case I’m not able to continue making music for whatever reason. Music has always been my biggest passion, so hopefully I won’t have to use my degree in the future! Hahaha.

Massive response for “Opus Sectrum.” Tell us about the making of this tune.
I listen to a lot of different styles of music apart from trance. Classical music has always been amongst my favorites and I wanted to combine the two in a track. So I started writing a classical melody, which resulted in the string break you hear in the track. For the uplifting part I used the same chords in an arpeggiated synth. That’s pretty much it!

We realise that there’s a lot of strings involved in your music. Do you have classical music background?
Yes, I’ve studied classical piano for quite a few years. I’ve played pieces by a lot of great composers like Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and my personal favorite: Chopin. Of course this helps a lot with creating my own string pieces.

Briefly tell us about your weapons of choice in your production studio.
As a sequencer I use Cubase (recently upgrade from SX 2 to Studio 5) rewired to FL Studio. Allthough I own a Virus Rack Classic hardware synth my studio purely runs on software. Some synths that I use a lot are Omnisphere, V-station, Z3ta+ and Nexus. I use Yamaha An1x as my MIDI keyboard.

We personally love “Origin” so much. When we heard it, you got our attention. Tell us more about how this track came about.
This is my first (of many) collabs with Willem van Hanegem. The first time we were together in his studio we had a few good ideas, but couldn’t really finish up a track. We knew we wanted to create an anthem-like record with big super saw sounds, but just couldn’t find the right melody. A week later we were working in my studio, Willem was twisting some knobs and I was playing my keyboard a bit and suddenly everything fell into place, “Origin” was born.

It’s been only a few years but M6 has put out so much amazing music already. Which of these so far are your favourite and why?
That’s a tough one hahaha! I really like “Fade 2 Black.” I spin it at almost every gig and it never fails to deliver! It was also my first release at my current label Armada and the support on it has been absolutely massive. I’m also very happy with “Origin.” It seems that even people who don’t really like to listen to trance still enjoy that track a lot. It’s not my most original work, but I like the energy it can bring to a crowd. Than of course there’s “Destination 6.” The track that opened a lot of doors for me after Armin van Buuren selected it as Tune of the Week on A State Of Trance. One of the best days of my life for sure!

Describe M6’s music in 3 words.
Melodic, energetic, fresh!

Who are your picks for this year’s DJ Mag 100 poll?
I’m not a big fan of polls like this, so I won’t be voting. I do wish all the hardworking DJ’s good luck!

Trance music has of course evolved. BPMs are dropping and the scene is more active than ever. Do you produce based on what’s currently out there, or do you take your own direction?
It’s basically a mix. No one can deny being influenced by what they hear on a regular basis, that’s only natural. Even the great classical composers were influenced by others, but they would always make it a little differently. That’s what I’m trying to do as well!

What kind of influences do you think we’ll hear next on upcoming trance releases.
That’s hard to say… You know what would be cool? Remixing some old TV show theme songs, like Ghostbusters. That might work hahaha.

What’s next for M6? Any releases or live shows coming up?
The next M6 E.P. is finished and is set for release in October. Also my remix with Re:locate for Heatbeat’s new track will be out soon on Armada. And my second collaboration with Willem van Hanegem will be out this summer as well! I’m also preparing for some gigs in the UK and Brazil.

And lastly, a quick message for fans around the world reading this!
Your enthusiastic messages really mean a great deal to me! If you keep it up, I will too!