We caught up with Tropical House music producer Nate VanDeusen who released his latest hit ‘Summer Dreams’ on September 13th via Nate VanDeusen Music. Right now, the New York based artist boasts over 125 million streams across platforms with ‘Summer Dreams’ already at over 18K streams on Spotify. Nate’s music has also been featured on popular YouTube channels like Tropical House Records and WaveMusic, while he’s also received support from BBC Radio Wales as well as Mixmag.
In the interview, Nate reveals how his sound has taken shape, what he’s songwriting process entails as well as what to expect in future. Stream ‘Summer Dreams’ while reading the interview below:
How has your musical background helped shape your sound?
From a young age I was always very interested in new sounds. At first, when I was just getting into music, everything was new to me so I jumped from genre to genre, experiencing all of the unique instruments and sound design that different genres bring. From classic Led Zeppelin to early 90s Red Hot Chili Peppers, Classical orchestral music to Post hardcore screamo, everything I heard I wanted to try to replicate in my own productions, mainly just to see if I could. Once I really started listening to electronic music, it just stuck with me because of the endless possibilities of making new sounds that electronic synths and computers brought. I have always incorporated organic, natural instruments such as self recorded guitar or piano into my productions to balance out the more experimental electronic synths and sounds but I always find the limitless directions that electronic music can take music in fascinating.
Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when putting music together?
99% of the time I start with an acoustic guitar. Whether I am starting something from scratch with whatever chord progression catches my ear, or if I am collaborating with a topline singer, I will always pull out my acoustic guitar and start strumming some chords to get inspiration to get a song off the ground. From there, it is just a matter of finding the right balance of sounds to make something that really speaks to me.
What are or were some of the challenges for you in producing or performing while keeping true to your vision of your music.
I am very much a DIY musician and person in general, so I do struggle with giving up creative control sometimes. Evident in my latest release ‘Summer Dreams’ which I wrote, performed, sang, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered all myself (and even created the artwork and promo animations myself haha), I do often choose to work entirely solo on releases. However, I very much appreciate the advantages that collaborating with other artists bring, both creatively and in order to bring your music to new audience ears. So in 2024 I have been working a lot more with other artists and learning to give up some of the total creative control in order to collaborate with other musicians. Honestly, it has resulted in some of my best work yet, so I do plan to keep releasing some of my 100% solo music as well as collaborating in 2025 and moving forward.
Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?
I am definitely a behind the scenes musician. I do like performing live, and I plan to do so more in the future, but creating music will always be my main love. Being in the studio and creating a new song that gets me excited about being a musician all over again, that is what I truly live for.
Is there any “non-musical” ingredient that is essential to crafting your sound?
Keeping a clear mind, which comes from a good balance of working on music and clearing my mind afterwards. My wife and two kids really help me with that, after 8 hours in the studio writing, recording, and producing, I can feel rather uninspired and seeing them and playing or cooking dinner together really helps me take my mind off of music for the night before jumping back in the next morning, fresh and ready for new ideas. So I would say they are pretty essential to me continuing with music.
Breakdown the news for us: what can we expect from you in the near future?
I can’t stop writing new music! And I continue to meet other talented musicians that want to write even more music together as well. So it’s safe to say that I will be releasing new music, at least 1-2 new songs per month, for the foreseeable future…in fact I already have my next 15 singles scheduled for release, which is crazy! But I am definitely not complaining, this is what I love to do and I hope that I will be able to keep releasing new music for you all for years to come.
Stream / Download Nate VanDeusen – ‘Summer Dreams’
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