ALL EYES ON: CHRIS DECECIO

For our next All Eyes On instalment, we sat with Chris Dececio, a musician and producer based in Bristol, UK.

As an electronic music specialist and mix engineer, Chris has enjoyed huge success with commercial and media music, including multiple nominations for both US and UK Production Music Awards.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m from Bristol, UK. Been here most of my life. I’ve been tempted to move to London at times but the music scene and chilled vibe in Bristol has always kept me here. I’ve always loved music and I’ve never seen myself doing anything else.

I had my first success with music when I was doing Drum & Bass and had a few spins on BBC Radio 1. I later got into Trance and House and managed to get quite a bit of support from the likes of Dave Pearce and Judge Jules on Radio 1. One of my tracks reached No.1 on the US Billboard Dance Airplay chart and was the 3rd most played dance record in the US that year. That led to doing quite a few remixes and DJ gigs which suited me as I love to travel and see the world!

I got into doing music for sync around 15 years ago and I’ve stuck with it ever since. I really like the variety of styles – although I do tend to stay in my lane of electronic tracks. I also love writing bespoke music to picture when I get the chance. Music really comes to life when it’s attached to picture.

2. How would you describe your music taste growing up and has it evolved over time?

I was influenced by the music that my dad was listening to when I was young. He was into modern music and especially electronic stuff or music with big basslines. I got into underground rave/hardcore when I was a young teenager. Going through my teens I ended up loving heavy metal and I learned to play the guitar and I was in a few bands. I still enjoy throwing down some guitar licks on some of my tracks. I then got into House & Trance, then back into Jungle/D&B. I’ve always felt like Jungle/D&B represents me best. I’ve always loved Hip Hop and Reggae as well. I just love breakbeats and basslines.

3. What made you want to pursue a career in music - did you have any particular inspiration, role models or influences growing up?

I can’t think of anything or anyone that made me want to get into music, apart from my dad being a big music lover. I’ve always just felt at one with music and it transcends my mind like nothing else – apart from maybe dark chocolate ;)

4. What was one of the earliest projects you remember working on and what was something important you learnt from it?

I guess the earliest projects would have been the bands I was in as a teenager. I learnt that it makes teamwork to make the dream work and if you have a group of people all working towards the same goal you can get there quicker.

5. What do you like the most about the UK electronic, dance & D&B scene in the UK?

I like that we’re not trying to follow any rules and we’re just doing whatever we think sounds good. The sound we’re doing is authentic and we’re setting trends rather than just following them.

6. What makes the UK music scene unique?

The UK is a melting pot of loads of different cultures and styles from all over the world.  D&B started in London and Bristol and came from mashing up Reggae tracks with double time breakbeats and the sound has evolved from there. Our cultural mix is unique in the UK and we’re pioneers when it comes to bass music.

7. During your career, have you ever faced any challenges when producing and creating music? What advice would you give to others to overcome these challenges?

If you're working on music full-time it can be a challenge to stay motivated and inspired. Don't feel guilty about taking days off here and there to top up your inspiration bank. Get out into nature and soak up some wisdom from it. Listen to music in different environments and try to keep your ear to the ground with current trends. Try to get out and meet new musical people. Half of the battle with being successful in music is having a really good network of successful music business contacts. A lot of music biz still happens in the big cities so make sure you get into them to meet new like-minded people every now and again.

8. What would be your dream project to work on?

I’d love to score music for a big Hollywood movie and I’d love for that to involve recording a live orchestra. Although any film score that I do would be mostly electronic.

9. What are you most excited about in your career and for the future of dance & electronic music?

We’re in a transformative time with artificial intelligence potentially becoming very disruptive. I think some people will be happy to listen to or use music created by AI, but there will always be people that want to hear music created by human minds. I think as artists we should embrace AI and use it to boost our productivity without removing our creativity.

Check out some of Chris' tracks: