Unless you’ve been living in a windowless bunker with no technology for the last three years, you’ll know that Dutch sensation Martin Garrix has sufficiently secured his spot as one of the most talked-about, highly sought after producers currently in the game. Along with veterans like Tiësto, Calvin Harris, Avicii and others, Martin Garrix has become a recognizable face for the entire, global EDM movement.
Ever since his breakout hit “Animals,” Garrix has expanded his reach and influence within the community, working diligently to perfect his craft and climb ever upwards in the charts. Now at 18 years of age, holding DJ Mag‘s #4 spot in their Top 100 DJs, he continues to headline the biggest festivals in the world like the upcoming Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
It was never the intention to chase a career in the music industry, that kind of happened as a surprise. I had all these melodies. But they always stayed on my guitar, and if I wanted to show someone, I had to get the guitar and play it to them.
With his humble beginnings cemented in flamenco guitar and Fruity Loops doodling, Martin Garrix had never considered a real career in the music industry until catching Tiësto’s set at the 2004 Summer Olympics. As is most likely the case for the rest of us, witnessing a live DJ set is what changed everything.
He played trance music, and that was such a new thing, I liked it so much that I bought a shitty DJ set.
At ten years old, Garrix began DJing for weddings and small events under the guise DJ Marty. Soon after, he enrolled himself in Herman Brood Academie, an arts school. With his newly acquired production skills and passion for the industry, he was quickly signed to Spinnin’ Records.
I went to the Herman Brood because I wanted to learn more about production, not because I was like, ‘I’m going to make my money with music.’ But when Spinnin’ Records found me and offered me a contract, we started working together, and that was the first time I was like, ‘F***, this could be serious.’
The rest is history. Because of his rapid rise to fame over the last several years, Martijn has now reached a position to shell out his own advice to aspiring producers and DJs who haven’t yet made it. In a recent interview with the Miami New Times, he made a few points that upcoming artists should heed. First is about dedication and hard work. He revealed that one of his biggest mistakes when starting out was only making a track a month to send to labels. Instead of spending his time working on new music and progressing his production knowledge, he would often delegate his effort toward sending out tracks and writing emails. He urges smalltime artists to focus on improving their craft and spending as much time in the studio as possible. If this kind of hard work is put in, he says, the labels will find you.
As a tribute to this mentality, Martijn has spent almost all of the new year working on music to premiere at Ultra. Aside from one show in January, he has been holed up in the studio, coming to Spinnin’ with 35 tracks at a time to see what fits and what should be changed. He plans on debuting at least five new songs at the festival in a couple weeks, including his previously hinted at collaboration with Usher. Another will be “Forbidden Voices,” the track that he released upon reaching 10 million likes on Facebook. The unveiling of this song was accompanied by a fantastic music video, which features endearing footage from Martijn’s younger days. Take a peek at the beginnings of Martin Garrix below, and make sure to be there when he throws down at Ultra later this month.
Image Source: Tomorrowland
Source: MiamiNewTimes
