Mix Mag Article

Today I had an interview with an up n coming producer by the name of Divided By Zero. He released his ‘You Can’t Be Serious’ EP late last year and is on the verge of releasing his new EP. I sat down and had a chat with the lad about his music, what/who inspires him and of course Dubstep.

Welcome to the studio, do you want to start off by telling us your name, age etc…

Well, my name is Chris Gray, I go by the name Divided By Zero for my production though. I’m 17 years old and I make all kinds of heavy electronic music!.

Hahaha… How did you come about this name ‘Divided By Zero’?

Funny story, I was in maths and my teacher was ranting on about how he hates it when people ask him to divide something by zero, at the time I was looking for a name and it was 3 syllables so I thought, why not!? Worked out in the end though!

3 Syllables? What does that have to do with this?

Well if you look at most producers they all have 3 syllables in their name, not to sure why but they just do, look at ‘Zangola’ ‘Knife Party’ ‘Kill The Noise’ KOAN Sound’ They all have 3 syllables, it’s an un written rule!

I see! So will you be releasing any new EP’s soon? It’s been a good 2 months since we’ve last heard from you!

Yeah, I’m working on a brand new EP with vocals from the band ‘No More Adventures’ as well as collaborations with ‘Zangola’ and other artists, it’s exciting stuff.

When did you first hear Dubstep?

It must have been about 2/3 years ago now, with classics from Cookie Monsta and Borgore, Excision, all the old school producers that built the foundations for how we know it today!

When did you start producing and what inspired you?

I actually only started producing around last April(ish) when me and my friend decided we'd invest in FL Studio, so we were making beats and throwing in a bass, eventually he stopped, and I basically carried on in secret, later installing Ableton, downloading VSTs, and as summer came by I came out of the 'Production Closet' as ‘Divided By Zero’ and here I am now.

Which artists have influenced you?

Everybody will hate me for saying this but I would say Skrillex has influenced my music the most I just think he is an all-round talented individual, but I can't forget artists like Boy Kid Cloud, Knife Party, High Rankin, Rednek, KOAN Sound. The list could go on for days! But you can certainly hear their influences in my work.

What does your studio setup consist of?

Haha studio!? I have a tiny room in my house, dedicated to the producing… I'm running on an iMac and a MacBook Pro for when I’m out and about, with an Akai LPD8 MIDI Controller, through Ableton and I use a fair amount of VSTs but mainly NI Massive and FM8.

What’s your opinion on dubstep becoming mainstream?

Mixed reviews from me sir. On one hand we've got loads of little poser kids coming and swarming the genre, in a sense ruining the community of it. You can go on Youtube and see on a random video a comment saying 'Sometimes I like to sit in the corner and pretend to be a carrot' and 80% of the time they're Dubstep listeners, 20% of the time they're part-time carrots. However from a producing point of view this can mean big things, with a genre becoming mainstream it opens lots of doors for the already famous, and the up and coming.

How would you describe your music to someone that hasn’t heard it before?

Haha! Well I really don't know how to answer this. A friend of mine says it makes him want to kill people! Not sure if that's a compliment or not. On a serious note I'd say its heavy electro, Dubstep, house elements, brostep if you want to be picky about it.

Your first EP ‘For God Sakes’ was quite heavy, what vibe are you going for on your new EP?

Haha it was very heavy. On my new EP I'm going for more of a chilled out approach to it. With elements from all over the scene. From Glitch to filth to electro house. I believe there is something for everyone on this EP, there are soft songs, and there are some that are anything but soft!