My Story so far

I am INFEKT, a producer from Germany. I grew up in a suburb of a small city called Bayreuth and hardly anyone liked my music there. I was first introduced to music production by my Dad in 2010. He showed me a program he read about in a magazine – FL Studio. At that point I had no idea what I was doing or what to do with it, since a lot of the music I was listening to was made with real Instruments.

Introduction to Dubstep

I was introduced to the Dubstep genre in 2010 by a friend from a city about an hour away from where I used to live (Nürnberg). He showed me some of the music that was uploaded on UKF such as Datsik, Flux Pavilion, Doctor P and so on. As it happens with many things, I wasn’t into it that much right away, but I was curious. I went home and started digging a little deeper, slowly developing a taste for the genre and eventually getting obsessed with the darker, robotic side of it.

Now that I was into a genre that people produce on a computer, I revisited FL Studio and started getting serious about learning how to use it. At the time there weren’t a lot of resources available online for the genre that I wanted to make and I didn’t know anyone in the scene, so I had to mostly piece things together and experiment with the tools that came with the software.

I soon felt like I wanted to put my music out there somewhere and since a lot of my favorite artists were using Soundcloud, that’s where I decided to upload my creations and show my progress. My goal was never really to become a famous or rich artist, because then I wouldn’t have chosen such an unpopular genre. I just wanted to create something that I enjoyed listening to before and I always had a lot of fun doing that.

The Monsters

Around the time I started uploading my music on Soundcloud, I also discovered a sort of sub-genre of Dubstep that didn’t have a name at the time but the people at the forefront of it were a crew called the “Monsters”. The members were Shiverz, Subfiltronik, AD, Akira and a few others. From that moment my new goal was to make music like them, show them my tracks and maybe even become a part of the team one day, so I learned what tools they used to make music, tried to find more information and to implement their music style into my productions. I found out that they used a program called Reason and so I installed it and learned how to use it while continuing to upload my progress on my Soundcloud.

Introduction to DJing

At this point I was also curious about DJing and presenting a selection of tracks to a crowd, get them to feel the energy of the music through a big speaker system. I was too young to go to clubs, but I got a tiny controller for my birthday and started playing with it, without really expecting any outcome.

When I was 17 I was at the point where I had some followers on my Soundcloud and a few people were starting to notice me. I had made a few friends in the scene, got better at producing and I had a steady output of new music. In 2013 an online friend of mine, Tobi TJ invited me to play at a show he was putting on for his birthday in Cologne. Cologne was a 5 hour train ride away from where I lived, so it was a real sign of trust from my mom to let me go there. I had never played on a professional DJ setup at that point, so I looked at the manual of those devices before the show to figure out the controls and I needed some help from TJ, but it was a great time and it only fueled my love for the genre and inspired me to keep going.

The demand for me to play at shows was growing and I remember I was very proud and excited the first time I left the country for a show. I took a train to Belgium after a friend invited me to play at a small show he had organized and it turned out to be another amazing experience. After that the ball was rolling, I was getting more offers to play at shows until I was eventually invited to play at a show with some of my idols from the Monsters crew. I played in front of AD and Shiverz in Belgium and they were so impressed, they invited me to become part of their team. I had reached my goal!

Being part of the crew, I felt more inspired than ever before to make music and learn new techniques, to remix their songs and to work with them. My output on Soundcloud was steady, pretty much one track per week. I also started to get record label contracts and started releasing EPs on official music platforms. I was still going to school, so I spent most of my free time after school making music. Suddenly some of the people from school started being interested in what I do as they noticed that I was traveling further away, but there were still not many who actually had an understanding for that kind of music, so most of my friends were living far away from me.

Becoming a full-time Musician

When I finished Gymnasium in Germany, (which is kind of like High School in America) I started an apprenticeship as a programmer – a web developer to be more specific. I spent two years learning about programming, but as there were more promoters asking me to play at their shows, I found that I didn’t have as much time and energy after working in front of screens all day to make music, so I decided to drop out of the apprenticeship and focus fully on music. This was pretty risky, because I wasn’t making a lot of money at the time, so I’m lucky that it ended up working out for me as it did.

My Wife

At one of my shows in Montreal, Canada I met the person who is now my wife, so I would like to take a moment at this point to appreciate how far music has taken me and that it enabled me to meet the person that changed me and my view on life in such a major way. Without her and the way she believed in me I would never have had the courage and confidence to drop my apprenticeship in order to fully focus on my music career. Most of the things I’ve achieved now – in music, but also with where I’m at as a person – wouldn’t have been possible without her encouragement, her ideas and her way of thinking.

America

As the years went by, the Dubstep scene in America started to get much bigger than it was in Europe, so the ultimate goal was to get a Visa for the US and start touring there. Disciple’s management was interested in taking me under their wing after a successful release on their record label (Orgalorg) and they helped me massively with the process of getting the Visa. The US visa paved my path for the future, I moved to America and started to tour there. My first tour was with Oolacile and MVRDA, with more shows in a row than I ever could have dreamed of. After that I was invited to join the east coast part of 12th Planet’s bus tour with Shlump and Gentlemen’s Club, followed by another US tour with Samplifire and MVRDA. Between those tours I also played at festivals like EDC, came back to Europe for smaller tours and also played multiple shows in Australia. Looking back at where I came from, I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would have these opportunities one day.

Disciple

Since I am managed by Disciple, I also have been continuing to release music with them on their sub-label called Disciple Round Table. Disciple is a family that consists of artists that are all professional and eager to work, so I’m very proud to be part of the team now. They have grown to be my friends and I’m always happy to see them when playing shows and to work with them.

Patreon

Since 2017 I have also been giving production lessons and exclusive music as well as some insight into my life via my Patreon page. Together we’ve been building a community of producers and people that are passionate about Dubstep and I’ve been able to pay my bills and make a living during difficult times thanks to their support. So here I would like to say thank you to each of you who is a member now or was a member at some point – your support is what’s making me feel more secure financially and allows me to keep going, while meeting and connecting with some great people.

Thank you

I would also like to acknowledge the fact that all of these things were possible most of all because of you – the people who supported me from the start as well as the people that have been supporting me along the way. Thank you.

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I hope this story will inspire you to start or continue your own journey with music. It’s a beautiful thing that can help you in your life situation and brings passionate people together.

Much Love,
Christian / INFEKT