Interview with: Hard Liner
"It was very cool to live and write music during the popularity of Hard Bass. I'm happy that I was a part of it all!"
When you think about Hardbass and Metalshade then Hard Liner is one of the names you have to know about. Hard Liner dates back to the early day of Hard Bass and is one of the second generation producers of the genre.
In this interview Hard Liner is sharing a bit of his knowledge in Hardbass music. You get more insight in how bamboo donk's get manipulated into brutal Metalshade donk's. And Hard Liner takes us on a trip down to the memory lane of Hardbass. Including a special guestmix by Hard Liner for TRI poloski Records!
Roman aka Hard Liner
Can you tell us something about yourself as an artist?
"My name is Roman and I am Hard Liner. I have been interested in music since early childhood, and I have always been passionate about music. and I was lucky that my parents instilled in me a taste for good music. They listened to bands like Rammstein, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and many other rock bands popular in the 90s."
Did rock music influence you in the way you create Hardbass?
"Rock music has an incredible energy, which most likely left an imprint on my formation as an artist. Those who have heard my music and are familiar with my work understand that my tracks have their own unique energy. I never wanted to be a rock musician, because when I got a little older, I realized that I like electronic music."
How did you get in touch with Hardbass?
"This meeting was unforgettable. I think it was 2003. My friends gave me a CD with music that was brought to Russia by some DJ or musician, this CD was copied to their computer. Everyone in the city had a copy of this CD, and then I heard the magical sound of Donk Bass. Then everyone enjoyed the sound, and I was one of those people. In addition to several tracks with Hard Bass, there were tracks with hard house and tracks in the genre of hard dance on this disc. It was since then that I realized that this is exactly the genre that conquered my ears and heart. It was only 4 years later that I found out that these were Klubbheads tracks."
Hard Liner guestmix for TRI poloski Records
You told us it isn't possible to share a tracklist of your guestmix. Why is that?
"After a sufficient development of the Internet and piracy in Russia, musicians eventually stopped releasing their music on CDs, and in order to look for new music, people like me had to study local networks. I remember that in every house, district, city there was a local network and people opened access to their folders with music on this local network, I remember that I used the DC++ program and was looking for new music on the local network. It was only the beginning of the development of a full-fledged Internet, and the Russian social network VKontakte was not yet as developed as it is now, and it was problematic to find good tracks there. It was a transitional period when piracy hit CDs hard, but there was still no replacement for CDs. In my guest mix there are a couple of tracks whose performers are unknown, and they were found a long time ago in the provider’s local network, but at the moment these tracks still sound decent."
When did you start producing and who tought you to produce Hardbass?
"It was the end of 2006, then I attended a Hard Bass forum, the name of which I can no longer remember. It was there that I downloaded my first donk bass in the form of a WAV sample and started practicing in FL Studio 6. I didn't have any teachers, but I received advice on producing from guys like Sin Project. I used their techniques actively in my tracks of that time. I studied everything myself, read various articles on the Internet on sound engineering and writing music."
How did Sin Project help you to create Hardbass?
"I talked to these guys quite a bit. They helped me see my mistakes in tracks, mistakes in mixing or mastering, there were tips on equalization, gave valuable tips on how to improve my creativity, make it fresh and unique and shared their knowledge on this with their points of view. They helped me a lot at the start, literally a few tips solved my global problems and I was able to write full-fledged tracks, after that moment I began to form as a musician."
Sin Project - Drugs.
Click the image and check out one of Sin Project's most populair tracks.
Original release date: Hard Bass Power PT5 2008.
Spotify release date: 23 september, 2022.
Where is the name Hard Liner coming from?
"Hard Liner is a word formation from the words hard and line + the letter R. When I first started writing Hard Bass, I didn't have a name yet. I composed tracks and saved them on my computer, but when I got the Internet, and I wanted people to hear my music, and I wanted to become recognizable, then I realized what I needed to come up with a name.
One day, when I was writing a new track, I noticed an equalizer line in the sequencer, it was an equalizer with frequency visualization in the form of lines, the equalizer failed, and instead of the usual display of equalizer lines, I saw something that went beyond the equalizer visualizer and the frequency lines in the equalizer were all over the sequencer and monitor screen, and then I came up with the idea of a name similar to a hard line + the letter R, so that the name acquired the meaning of a noun. That's how I came up with this name. And since then I have also been trying to go beyond what is allowed, trying to show the world my Hard Bass."
Where are you from and what do you do for a living in your personal life?
"I can say that I have lived in Russia for most of my life, lived in Cherepovets for 20 years, where I studied and grew up, it was there that my first performances as a hard bass artist took place, then I moved to Moscow and lived there for another 6 years, and now I live in different countries of the world. I am an IT specialist, I have a remote job, and from here I have the opportunity to travel around the world. And someday I hope to visit Europe."
What do you listen to besides Hard Bass?
"I listen to various music, mainly genres: Drum and Bass, Neurofunk, Liquid Funk, Intelligent Drum and Bass, Dubstep, Hard House, Hard Dance. Sometimes I like to listen to Pop-Music and Metalcore. And I also like to listen to silence."
Where do you draw inspiration from in your tracks?
"For me, inspiration is like a battery. When inspiration runs out, I need to do different things, for example, take a walk, play a computer game or just watch a movie. I am inspired by almost everything that can give me pleasure. I draw inspiration from everything that surrounds me: people, movies, nature, games, travel. But most of all I draw inspiration from music that I like and that other musicians write, so when I heard an amazing technique in one of the tracks, it cheered me up so much that I wanted to create my own vision of this technique, and a whole track will appear from this technique."
Which track do you concider as your best Hardbass track and which is your worst?
"As strange as it may sound, but my worst track is my very first track: Hard Liner - Pump of Party. The worst, because I wrote it somehow, not knowing any techniques of writing music, not knowing anything about how to write a real Hard Bass.
My best track that I think at the moment is Hard Liner - Religion. There are a lot of techniques from other areas of music in it, plus it was written with a rather interesting technique, when I was picking up instruments in this track, I never listened to how these instruments sound together, I never listened at the stage of creating a bass line to how a sawtooth bass sounds together with a donk bass, and when I gathered the instruments into a single track, pressed play and then I realized that this would be one of my most powerful tracks. I'm really proud of it."
Hard Liner - Religion (2022) - Click the image to take a listen.
What do you concider as the golden era of Hard bass?
"I believe that the Golden Era of Hard Bass is the period from 2003 to 2008. It was then that many Hard Bass musicians released their tracks on CDs and aimed to develop this genre as much as possible. I loved collecting CDs with Hard Bass. And it was then that Hard Bass got its due development as a genre, and even after so many years, if you listen to the tracks of 2005-2006, they will tear up the dance floor as if for the first time. It was a unique time. I hope the second golden era of Hard Bass is ahead and we will see a new round of development of this genre, but in a new format and form."
Hard Bass Power PT5 (2008)
There are many good old school Hardbass tracks hidden inside this album. Click the image to and get blown away by the sound of the oldschool Hardbass.
Can you tell us what is the difference between the Old-School Hard Bass and the current style of Hard Bass?
"Old-School Hard Bass is Kick, Hi-Hats, Donk-Bass, Effects, maybe a little Synths or Vocals. The recipe for Old School Hard Bass is simple. But the simplicity of the Hard Bass recipe does not make it a simple genre. I think that the current style of Hard Hass has borrowed a lot from various other genres, for example, some elements from EDM, someone adds bass from electronics. I’m a drum and bass fan, I like to add some reese-bass from drum and bass to some of my tracks. I don't think this is something bad, on the contrary, development is good, everything needs to be developed and music is no exception, and the more interesting music we listen to, the more interesting our music will become."
Can you tell us the difference between Hardbass and Metalshade?
"This is a very interesting question, because I saw how the Metalshade genre was born, it directly originated from the Hard Bass. And I've also seen how many musicians, Metalshade fans, have developed both genres, and there aren't that many differences in these genres, mostly Metalshade experiments with bass and tries to make interesting moves in the arrangement.
There are tracks that are overloaded with this. It's hard to listen to such tracks. A musician who has been composing electronic music for a long time will be able to hear that Metalshade has distortion on the donk bass, plus adding a gloomy atmosphere to the track. But I do not recommend beginners to get carried away with distortion, otherwise you can get ordinary noise instead of music.
As for the Hard Bass, everything is a little different here. The sound of the donk bass is cleaner, less distorted."
What was it like to be a Hard Bass producer in the time that hardbass was popular in Russia?
"It was unforgettable, there were many communities where people shared their demo tracks, showed their achievements, submitted projects for review, it was an interesting time, there was a lot of competition among musicians, everyone wanted to do something unique. I think a lot of musicians wanted to stay in the history of Hard Bass, as people who developed this genre. I met many people who were interested in Hard Bass and they all saw this genre in their own way, hence it was unique and unforgettable. It was very cool to live and write music during the popularity of Hard Bass in Russia. I'm happy that I was a part of it all."
Who is your favorite Hardbass artist?
"I can't say about one person, and I can't say just about the Hard Bass. I like the music of many musicians. I can only name the names of people who write something unique with signs of hard bass, but these people do not write pure hard bass. I urge you not to pass by these people, and if you see this name in someone's playlist, then be sure to pay attention to this musician and listen to their tracks: Callum Higby, Gerald Le Funk, LINK, Joey Bunt, ALRT, Max Wolf, JTS."
For the Dutch audience: are there any “underground” hardbass producers that they should know about?
"There is one producer I would like to mention, he has always been with unique ideas and a fresh look at electronic music: Bass Slav. A guy from St. Petersburg, he writes tracks not as often as we would like, but his ideas will always stay relevant."
Bass Slav - Bamboo Blaster (2021). Click the image to play the track.
Which artists do you think that deserve more publicity in the Hardbass scene?
"I think that all artists who write interesting and unique music deserve fame. And this applies not only to hard bass, anyone who tries to bring a unique and cool sound to this world should be heard. And here I would like to encourage all concerned people to share the music that you like with friends, parents, colleagues and pets. And especially if it's a Hard Bass musician.
Unique musicians:
BLYATSQUAD: Fresh ideas for a combination of Hardcore and Hard Bass.
Bass Slav: A unique vision of Old School Hard Bass with a fresh look of modernity.
Battery!: Each track has something new, interesting moves in the arrangement.
Ley o’Lantern: A representative of the new school, powerful ideas, good rhythm."
Can we expect new music from you in the future?
"DEFINITELY YES!"
Follow Hard Liner and stay updated about new releases.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/hard_liner/
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6yRaorPJrYGD3toqbCgTAr?si=uatfaniCQ9ui9CkqpM4aEw
Is there something that you would like to mention or share?
"The Hard Bass Community deserves to be known, popular, and through joint efforts people will be able to achieve unprecedented results, I hope someday I will see how Hard Bass sets a musical trend."