The beauty of dance music is that it stretches to every part of the world. Though places like the US, The Netherlands, and Australia are big hubs for emerging DJs, every once in a while a great producer comes from a country not as well known for dance music. Jakarta’s Louis Tan, aka LTN, started producing trance almost 20 years ago. In 2012, he caught the attention of major artists like Solarstone and Dash Berlin, who both named him an artist to watch. Since then, he’s had a number of Beatport Top 10 trance hits and countless remixes. Next week, LTN will release his debut album, People I’ll Never Forget, a project almost two and a half years in the making. We had a chance to speak with LTN to learn more about this phenomenal producer.
Who are some of your favorite trance producers right now?
ilan Bluestone and Beat Service. They are steady and always produce great tracks.
What drew you to trance at such a young age?
Armin van Buuren and OceanLab are the influences that made me love trance music. Their early tunes such as ‘Burned With Desire’, ‘Sky Falls Down’, ‘Satellite’ and ‘Sound of Goodbye’ are my favourite tracks of all time.
You’re originally from Jakarta, where dance music is still developing. Are there any producers from Southeast Asia that we should keep an eye on in the future?
Yes for sure. Jacqueline is a new rising star producer from my city whom everyone should keep an eye on. Also, this producer named Attila Syah is a great young talent that you should keep an eye on too.
Was it hard producing electronic music in an area that didn’t have access to lots of dance music like the Netherlands or the US?
Yes, it was a bit hard for me as I had to promote everything by myself for the most part and find the right network and the right people to gain access to great labels. But the important thing is I can share my music to everyone regardless the popularity.
Is there a track on the album that means the most to you?
‘Live as One’ is the track that means the most to me.
How many demos did you have for the album before you started selecting the final tracks?
I did about 30-35 tracks and it took me nearly two and a half years to prepare everything.
What’s the significance behind your album title, People I’ll Never Forget?
It’s about all the people such as my family, my fans and everyone who has always supported me, believed in me and encouraged me every time I was in a struggle during my career. Without them, I’m nothing.
Was there ever a moment when you thought you should split the album into multiple EPs, or did you always want to create an album?
Yes, I was thinking of doing a number of small EPs, but in the end an album was the best solution as I’d done so many projects already anyway.
Was there anyone you turned to for advice while you were producing the album?
I produced my entire album, but during the process of selecting tracks and making adjustments, Enhanced helped me a lot, so I have to say big thanks to Will Holland.
Now that you have a debut album under your belt, what does the future hold for you?
The future for me is to plan my second album, maybe 😀
