----- Please introduce yourself.

I am DoubleLift, involved in composition, songwriting, and sound design.

----- I understand you are currently majoring in mathematics as a university student. How do you position music production in your life?

Music and university life are completely unrelated. I don't want to say, "I'm a university student who makes music." I just want to do music. I don't plan to mention anything other than music in my introduction; it became short because of that. It's more about the desire to create and listen to music. It's my aesthetic perspective.

----- Could you tell me what inspired you to start composing?

In high school, I used to listen to UNISON SQUARE GARDEN a lot, and I thought, "I want to do that too," so I initially started creating band-like music. However, I didn't want to form an actual band. I don't have much cooperation with others; I didn't want to work with people, so there weren't many options. At first, I made music using GarageBand on an iPad. I gave that iPad to my mother, so I don't know if those songs are still there.

----- I was surprised to hear that you were making band music at first. It seems different from your current style. How did your style change over time?

I started doing DTM (Desktop Music) around the time I entered university, coincidentally because a friend I often hung out with was into DTM. Under their influence, I started listening to SoundCloud, and my compositions transitioned from band-like music to Future Bass and similar styles. Around 2021, when I got into doujin music, I started listening to artists like Twinfield, PSYQUI, eleline△, and MEGALEX. Twinfield and Ujico*/Snail's House, in particular, inspired me to start creating Future Bass and similar genres.

DoubleLiftさん

----- Could you tell me what you're conscious of in sound design and what influences you?

I've always been fascinated by mysterious atmospheres, so my journey into sound design started with my love for sounds like water and reversed audio. The sound effects from The Legend of Zelda were particularly inspiring in this regard.

I also loved sounds like rain. Even now, when it rains, I think, "Oh!" I like the visual aspect of rain too, like raindrops on vinyl umbrellas or raindrops on windows.

However, it's not that I intentionally make water-like sounds just because I love rain. In sound design, I experiment and create various sounds, some of which might be chosen or discarded. It might be by chance that watery sounds survived this process.

I don't really like synthesizer sounds just played as is. I prefer to process them with effects like reverb and granular synthesis, or manipulate them by reversing them. Synthesizer sounds, when used standalone with effects, tend to sound sterile. So, I often blend them with sounds from live instruments. I have a high-quality keyboard instrument called KeyScape that I use for sampling live instrument sounds. Using such samples gives the music a natural, organic feel.

----- Did you ever think about playing musical instruments yourself?

When it comes to recording music by playing instruments yourself... that's the most natural way, right? Lately, I've been practicing the ukulele.

When I was in high school, I went on a school trip to Okinawa. During that trip, I bought a ukulele at an instrument store on Kokusai Street without spending a single yen on souvenirs. I wasn't playing it back then, but I always wanted to. Finally, I dug it out recently and started practicing. I love the tropical vibe too.

----- You mentioned deciding on the adoption or rejection of experimentally created sounds. Do you create a large number of sounds in advance and then select from them for your music production?

It's a divisive topic. I use random generation for sound design. Some people might not think highly of it because it may not be considered a skill, but... I believe effort matters. I don't necessarily seek skill; I just want to create good music, so I often use random generation. Sounds created with granular synthesis, for example, are not always precise and targeted. Among the sounds created through various effects, I record those that are watery or not too sterile. I use these recorded sounds as the basis to compose music; that has been my approach so far.

----- Could you tell me about your favorite pieces among your works so far?

I quite like "Fractal," which I provided to NextLight. Also, I like all the tracks from the EP "Reflection" that I provided to tueks. When I listen to them now, I see parts where I could have done better, but I still like the compositions.

後半では、DoubleLiftさんの作曲に対する心境の変化が明らかに。

I don't constantly want to listen to intense club music anymore.

----- Could you share some artists who have influenced you and your favorite songs?

Artists like "ていぬ-ファネル," "lalanoi-empty," "KAIRUI-幽霊," "Anomalie-Métropole," "Voljume-Café Mañana," and tracks like "UNISON SQUARE GARDEN-オリオンをなぞる" have influenced me. Thanks to the influence of UNISON SQUARE GARDEN, I pay a lot of attention to melodies. I particularly take inspiration from their catchiness and the way they mix unusual sounds within the melodic structures.

----- Do you have any plans for the future, anything you want to pursue?

Until now, I created music with a focus on club culture, aiming for good and powerful sounds. For the vocal album I plan to create next, I want to emphasize lyrics and the world-building, aiming to make relaxing music with calm tones.

When I'm tired, I often feel like listening to relaxing tunes. I don't constantly want to listen to intense club music anymore. I prefer songs that become my emotional anchor, so that's what I want to create in the future.

Lately, I've been feeling tired of the club scene. I've even lost the desire to DJ proactively. It might sound critical, but I've realized there's a certain vanity in DJing apart from enjoying the music. It feels good when I'm energizing the crowd with tracks I didn't create, but when it comes to showing respect to the original artists while DJing, I'm not always sure if I truly embody that. I dislike the idea of becoming proficient in playing songs I didn't create.

In the future, I want to focus on production and prioritize live performances over DJing.

----- In the vocal album, do you write the lyrics yourself?

Yes, I write all the lyrics myself. I have never entrusted anyone else with writing lyrics for my songs.

When it comes to creating lyrics, I usually decide on a theme first, then create the music and melodies. I think about melodies and how certain vocalizations can make the song sound pleasant. Sometimes, while arranging in DTM (desktop music) software, I simultaneously think about the melodies. From there, I insert words related to the theme and expand it into sentences.

During this process, I often feel that Japanese is a beautiful language. I might be biased because I am a Japanese person using my native language, but there's something about it. Japanese lacks more vowels than "a, i, u, e, o," so pronunciation is very clear, and it harmonizes well with melodies. Even as a listener, I find Japanese lyrics to be beautiful. However, recently, the jazz singers I've been listening to a lot are all singing in English, so I have come to appreciate the unique qualities of English as well.

----- Changing the topic, could you tell us about what you are conscious of in your client work?

Especially in the beginning, I was doing client work without much consideration. However, there was a situation where I was told, "The bass and kicks are too strong," just because I made a track for a corporate project's background music with the same intensity as my usual club culture tracks. Since then, I've become more aware of adapting my music to the specific context. I might have lacked imagination at that time, and looking back, I understand why they said that.

For the EP/Reflection that I provided for tueks, I was conscious of the context to some extent. Particularly, since the speakers allowed strong bass to come through, I approached it with the consciousness of creating club music. Also, since the EP had a longer duration, around 20 minutes, and I didn't want listeners to get tired of the same style, I introduced variations in musical styles across all five tracks. In terms of the EP's composition, I aimed for a calm ending, thinking that a gentler beginning and ending would be nice. I structured it so that when you listen to the tracks in sequence, it feels like a natural flow.

Additionally, as the speakers were quite powerful, I decided to be a bit conscious of the transients in the sound design. For example, for the drop in the first track, I thought a machine-gun-like attack would suit it well.

Reflection-EPは、ワイヤレススピーカーex-01のために書き下ろして頂き、コンテストや展示の際に使用している。

-----2023年10月。公園にて。