Emily Tan has done it again. A few weeks ago she emailed me about Maro Music. I had never heard of him, but quickly learned a lot about this DJ/producer. You can tell he is inspired by rap/hip hop and mentions names like Wu-Tang and Public Enemy on his Facebook page. Oh, and he’s from Warsaw, Poland. I’ve spent a lot of time in Poland, so an interview just made sense. The more I listen to him the more I like, and it is my pleasure to introduce you to Maro Music.
You are originally from Poland. I spent quite a bit of time in Poland. Drank a LOT of vodka while there. Where in Poland are you from and what are some of your favorite memories of living there?
I traveled a big chunk of the world in my life and there are some amazing things in Poland that I always will be happy to go back to. If anyone asks me what to do or see in Poland, I always will point to the amazing food and nature. Poland is not the biggest country in Europe, but we have access to the sea, mountains, woodlands and lakes. Our food culture is very diverse and we know how to cook amazing dishes from all these regions. The second thing is the cities; there are a lot of historical places and a lot things to see.
You did the music for the new Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicle, Jaguar’s first all-electric vehicle. That’s amazing! Tell me more about that and how you got connected with Jaguar?
I produced the music and sound design for the aftermovie of the premiere of the Jaguar I-PACE, which took place in Geneva in last month. This is the first electric car from Jaguar. After, the music will be used for all the world premieres of that car. To make it, I was approached by a director I’ve worked with many times before as a sound designer, mixer and music producer. This time, I acquired a team to work with me and some parts were orchestrated specially for this project.
Tell me more about Addicted To Music studios.
Addicted To Music studios was built to fulfill all of my needs in terms of music production, sound post-production and sound mixing. The studio, actually studios, are located in the most modern TV production facility in Warsaw, Poland. We share the same building with programs like, “The Voice: Poland,” “Dancing With The Stars,” “Wheel of Fortune,” just to name a few. We have two control rooms and a comfy, small, live room where we can record vocals, voice overs or small instruments. The studio is equipped with state-of-the-art professional audio hardware and software that’s perfectly calibrated in a 5.1 and 2.1 monitoring system. Studio 1 is my second home where I do all my productions. Studio 2 is more of a project studio where the projects are prepared or worked on before hitting the big stage.
I didn’t spend much time in Warsaw, but I have a lot of memories of walking those crowded streets. There are a lot of nightclubs in Warsaw. Where do you like to play?
In Warsaw, you will find between 200 and 350 clubs, depending on the season. The place I like to play really depends on the party that’s going on. There are some big clubs here as well as really small pubs that host DJ nights and gather huge crowds outside of them. I enjoy both.
You are working on a new album titled Pierogi Style coming this spring. “Shake Di Bom” was the first single from that release and “Insane” is out now. Are you going to release any more singles or just jump straight to the album launch?
The video for “Insane” is out now. I’ll be releasing one or two more singles before the official album release this autumn.
I love that video. Where did you film that and do you know all of the people in the video?
Thank you! The video was filmed in New York City at the Hilton Times Square Hotel as well as in several clubs around NYC and Warsaw. The guy in the video is my friend from Poland who’s living in NY and the girls are friends he works with.
Your work is great… I love the use of vocals and foreign languages throughout. I am getting a rap vibe in some of your stuff. Who are some of your influencers and where do you find inspiration for a new song?
Thanks again! I really get inspired by different things, not just music. It can be something that someone said, or a situation I was in. As for music inspiration, I’m also all around the place. I can listen to Wu-Tang Clan, Björk and Atari Teenage Riot at the same time and follow it up with Kendrick Lamar or Cardi B! (Laughs.)
Emily Tan is your press agent. She is the best! How long have you been working with her?
Soon it will be a year since we work together and we’ve done a lot of nice things that have expanded awareness of what I do, especially in the United States.
There are a lot of great restaurants in Warsaw. Where do you like to eat?
The Warsaw food scene is booming and there are really interesting places that you can visit. If you are looking for Thai food, check out Tuk Tuk or THAISTY. If you like to have a pizza or some Italian food, my first places to go will be Viaduct Pizza Powiśle or Bella Napoli. If you would like to try real Polish food, go to Restauracja Dom Polski or U Fukiera. We have also Michelin starred restaurants in Warsaw as well as food trucks, so everyone will find something.
I use Bose noise cancelling headphones. What headphones are you using? Do you use different headphones on the road and onstage?
I have Bose too! This is my third model and I travel a lot so they simply wore out. Throughout all these years, I did not find headphones that I would really fall in love with for sets. I’m still in the search. Sometimes I use my Bose. I had the classic Sony for some time and I tried a few other models, on ear, over ear, in ear… Sometimes I even can use my iPhone headphones if the venue does not require a heavy isolation. If someone has an amazing breakthrough model, let me know!
You do a lot of remixes, too. How do you decide what tracks to remix and do you need permission from the artist to produce a remix of his or her original work?
Sometimes the artists come to me for a remix and sometimes when I really love it, I just ask them if they’d be interested for me to do a remix. If they answer is negative, I’ll do a bootleg anyway. (Laughs.)
What’s next for MARO MUSIC?
I’m just finishing an album for Warner Music for an artist called Dziarma. At the same time I’m working on my album and producing a few other singles. I have also a few local and global advertising campaigns coming. Making remixes and DJ mixes is a constant task and I’m preparing for DJ gigs during the summer season. There are also a few huge projects that will emerge this year but I’ve signed non disclosure agreements, so I can’t talk about those just yet.
Thank you for doing this. In all of the interviews I do, I always give the artist the last word. Go!
Thanks a lot! Look out for my new singles, DJ mixes and shows. I hope you can follow my eclectic style and drop in from time-to-time on my socials to check out my new stuff and say hi.
About Maro Music:
Maro Music, (Marek Walaszek) is a prolific Polish DJ, producer and sound engineer. For more than 15 years, he has DJ’d at major nightlife venues throughout Europe and Asia. As a music producer and sound engineer, Maro Music has worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop, reggae and electronic music, including Agallah, Dominique Young Unique, Wu-Tang Clan, Sizzla, Redman, Bang La Decks, DJ Kazzanova and others. Sought after by the biggest international brands – Coca-Cola, Absolute Vodka and BMW among them – to create music for their advertising campaigns, Maro Music has proven his skill in the recording studio time and time again. His studio and record label, Addicted To Music studios, maintains a heavy schedule crafting original productions and doing mixing and mastering work for internationally recognized artists. The studio regularly produces Polish artists for Warner Brothers as well as for the bigger Polish record labels. Marek Walaszek is in high demand on the lecture circuit, widely sought by universities to speak about music production. He has served as a judge for the Audio Engineering Society’s modern music and sound engineering contest at the annual AES conventions in New York City, Berlin, Hungary and Warsaw. Maro Music has released music as the producer for MXF alongside DJ Frodo. Maro Music’s solo mixes have landed him consistently in the “top 5” charts on Mixcloud. In 2011, Walaszek founded Bettermaker, an award-winning, critically acclaimed manufacturer of professional-grade mixing and mastering hardware and software built for professional musicians and audio engineers. Bettermaker is used by a who’s who of studio professionals, including the GRAMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated mix engineers, Dave Pensado, Jimmy Douglass, Luca Pretolesi and Greg Wells. Artists like KO:YU and DJ Kazzanova also use Bettermaker products to achieve a supreme quality of sound.
Connect with Maro Music:
Website: http://maromusic.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maromusic1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaroMusic
