Orbitfold's "Departmend of June" Is a 90s Summer Anthem
Orbitfold is the musical project of Vytautas Jančauskas inspired by UK garage and IDM. Vytautas was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and moved to Munich, Germany, after completing his PhD in computer science. Orbitfold's latest jam "Department of June" is everything you hoped for. It's dreamy, nostalgic, appealingly sentimental, dance-floor-ready and rich with sonic details. We asked Vytautas to tell us about the creative process behind the track and about his journey in music.
Vytautas Jančauskas
I started working on music when I was around sixteen years old using cracked software from a pirated software CD that I bought. At the time we did not have many other options as we didn't even have an internet connection for the longest time.
I started with Rebirth old versions of Fruity Loops and then got interested in trackers. I have done a lot of tracks using Jeskola Buzz and whatever free samples I could find on the internet when my dad let me look for them at work. I kept dabbling using various bits of software for a relatively long time until I lost interest and started doing other things such as my education in computer science for which I worked towards a PhD.
I was always passionate about the slightly weirder side of electronic music and this was a time when IDM was popular. So I was really into artists like Future Sound of London, Orbital, The Orb and Autechre. In the early days I did a lot of stuff inspired by acid and electro.
Since making music was always in the back of my mind I have slowly resumed it over the last 5 years. I have sort of gravitated towards more UK Garage inspired things since I find the genre not limiting when it comes to the rhythm and I really love sparse snappy percussion and swing.
I don't have a particular recipe when working on a track and just go with what feels right at the moment. For this particular track I developed a basic harmonic structure and just kept on adding synths until the track felt finished. I am a big fan of the organic acid sound of the late 90s hence the bubbly bass synth (an SH-101 emulation) and the acidy synth lead. To top it off I usually look for a simple vocal sample that would enhance the mood and try to work it in harmonically and melodically. I like it slightly cheesy on purpose and hence worked in some pop cliches like the trancy lead sound and the various vocal bits. At the same time I like to keep things slightly off and unpleasant and to this end apply something that would make things drift out of tune a bit, such as tape emulation with wow and flutter pushed a bit too far or some randomness in the tuning of the synths.
I started with Rebirth old versions of Fruity Loops and then got interested in trackers. I have done a lot of tracks using Jeskola Buzz and whatever free samples I could find on the internet when my dad let me look for them at work. I kept dabbling using various bits of software for a relatively long time until I lost interest and started doing other things such as my education in computer science for which I worked towards a PhD.
I was always passionate about the slightly weirder side of electronic music and this was a time when IDM was popular. So I was really into artists like Future Sound of London, Orbital, The Orb and Autechre. In the early days I did a lot of stuff inspired by acid and electro.
Since making music was always in the back of my mind I have slowly resumed it over the last 5 years. I have sort of gravitated towards more UK Garage inspired things since I find the genre not limiting when it comes to the rhythm and I really love sparse snappy percussion and swing.
I don't have a particular recipe when working on a track and just go with what feels right at the moment. For this particular track I developed a basic harmonic structure and just kept on adding synths until the track felt finished. I am a big fan of the organic acid sound of the late 90s hence the bubbly bass synth (an SH-101 emulation) and the acidy synth lead. To top it off I usually look for a simple vocal sample that would enhance the mood and try to work it in harmonically and melodically. I like it slightly cheesy on purpose and hence worked in some pop cliches like the trancy lead sound and the various vocal bits. At the same time I like to keep things slightly off and unpleasant and to this end apply something that would make things drift out of tune a bit, such as tape emulation with wow and flutter pushed a bit too far or some randomness in the tuning of the synths.