ZARDONIC
FEDERICO AUGUSTO ÁGREDA ÁLVAREZ (ZARDONIC)
Known at a glance by his imposing stage mask, Italian-Venezuelan synthesist Zardonic has pioneered the blend between Drum & Bass and Metal since his beginnings in 2004.
Whether you consider such a fusion brilliance or blasphemy, the results speak for themselves: Singles peaking at number 1 on Beatport’s Drum & Bass chart, headlining tours across 40 countries, over 100 million global streams, silver creator award on YouTube, contributing to videogame scores like Superhot:MCD and Redout 2, and even appearing as a playable character in Warlocks vs. Shadows.
Top metal and electronic artists from Bullet For My Valentine to Fear Factory vie for a slot in his remix inbox, and his latest genre-defying album Superstars dropped July 2023.
INTERVIEW WITH ZARDONIC
What was your point of entry into loving synthesizers and music production?
At a very young age, I would listen to a lot of progressive rock, jazz, and classical music from my dad’s car. He always had an ear for great music. I was always drawn to synthesizers, but I had no idea they were synthesizers. I was like, “What are those pianos that make all different sounds?” I loved that a keyboard could produce sounds that were different from any acoustic instrument, or anything you might hear in nature.
I grew up with a specific branch of electronic music that was happening back in the day in Spain called Música Mákina. It was not exactly techno, trance, or industrial, but it had elements of all those — lots of sawtooth leads. It was so epic!
Slowly I started discovering software to make music and how to use it. “If you click this, you get that sound.” That was the beginning of the never-ending rabbit hole. I started with a bunch of projects in black metal, industrial, trip-hop, whatever. Somehow, I settled into drum-and-bass because I really liked its fast-paced nature. I also thought it was really good to mix it with metal, which is one of the main things I’m known for now.
And some remixes for metal and pop-metal bands helped put you on the map, in fact.
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve done a bunch of official remixes for metal and electronic artists alike. It’s been well received, surprisingly so in my opinion. I didn’t think I would be, but it did well enough for me call myself a music professional, at least!
Was metal a first love musically?
I remember being scared of it when I was a kid! [Laughs.] My parents were scared of it. It was all that “Satanic panic” stuff in the 1990s. It’s not like metal didn’t earn that reputation, though. A lot of the bands in Europe during that time were just saying the most shocking things possible because that was the way you pissed off the establishment. I think a lot of those lyrics haven’t aged well. Then again, there was something liberating about the extreme nature of it. It reminds me of that episode of Black Mirror where everyone has a social credit score [S3 E1, “Nosedive”] and the protagonist goes so low that she loses her friends, she can’t even enter public places, and she winds up in jail. But then, her and the guy in the other cell just start shouting the rudest, most offensive things because there are no f***s left to give. Metal is sort of like that — a box where you don’t have to lose yourself to what society expects of you.
Transgressive music as a way to call out hypocrisy goes back a long way. It has an element of theatrics, too!
Indeed! And that’s one of the reasons why I wear this little guy! [Shows mask.] These days it’s a bit of a love-hate relationship because while I believe in suffering for art, I also want to be comfortable onstage. People ask me, “Are you sweating your ass off in that thing?” The answer is yes. I suppose it has become part of my brand, so to speak, so I wear it in the set up to a point. Then I take it off and I think I get better musically because I have more freedom. But the theatrics as you call them do go back a long way. Daft Punk were very uncomfortable in early versions of their robot helmets. But they looked amazing. So did artists going back to Kiss and Alice Cooper in their getups.
Where have you played or been recently that excited you?
I’ve done plenty of shows in Europe and Asia in 2023 and 2024, but this past spring, one of the things I remember most fondly is Superbooth, which is this huge synth convention in Berlin. I went with Paul Whittington and the guys from PWM and Hyperactive Audiotechnik, who distribute his products in Germany. I was doing demos of their Malevolent synth there, which is a favorite of mine, and we did an afterparty at Berlin’s Void Club and it was amazing! Being that said, I really want to tour the U.S. though, but now the cost of an O-1 artist visa is just insane. Still, promoters don’t give up. Some of them are talking to sponsors to see if we can make
something happen that makes sense for all of us. Gotta stay optimistic!
In your studio, what are some of your favorite hardware synths?
You know, all of us synth people go through binge and purge cycles. I’m currently in a purging phase, simplifying!
Okay, what would be a keeper even if you’re purging?
I don’t know if you can see it in the Zoom window, but there’s a desktop version of the new Prophet-10 right here. I’ve always been such a huge fan of Dave Smith, God rest his soul. I actually got to meet him a couple of Superbooth shows ago. To me, he was the closest thing to God on this planet in terms of synths, but also electronics in general. Is there anything more important to modern music production and performance than MIDI, which he basically invented? I don’t think so.
There’s also the Uno Synth Pro by IK Multimedia, which I love because it packs so much power in a small package. But then there’s the Waldorf Quantum. I’m guilty of … well, it just became too much because you know what they say — jack of all trades, master of none. It can be a blessing and a curse, because on the one hand I’m so into this world now, but on the other, that means I don’t always have the time to do as deep a dive as I’d like into something like the Quantum. With all the mixes and remixes and writing I’m doing, I think I had time to get three good original patches out of it. On my Virus TI, I’ve done a hundred, my Sequential Pro-2 as well.
You’re talking about downsizing, so are you moving to mainly a software setup?
In terms of soft synths, I think we’ve come really far in terms of the sound. And there are benefits like polyphony you couldn’t get on the original hardware, and being able to load as many instances as your computer can handle. But there’s still a certain charm that comes with working with actual hardware. It’s a bit more esoteric. However much I downsize, I want to have my [hardware] synths centered in front of me. Not the computer. When I’m here in the studio, I realize I’m mainly looking at the computer. Sometimes I don’t even remember all these wonderful synths are here, and that’s a shame and a hazard of how we set up our studios these days. When I was working on the Become album, I was hardware-centric. I would reach for the synths because they were right there. I could hit record, tweak a release, sweep a filter, make a riser, whatever tiny thing it was, it was all in real time.
How did you first come across Polyverse plug-ins? What did you like about them?
It was ages ago. I saw the Manipulator release because of Infected Mushroom. I have a lot of respect for them and of course they are very connected with Polyverse. So I figured I’d give Manipulator a spin. I got instantly addicted! I did every little thing possible with it. I recorded a bunch of loops using just my voice through Manipulator with the smear parameter maxed out and then pitching it down. I used some on my own tracks and some for sample packs I was doing for people.
Have you tried the most recent plug-in, Filterverse?
I love that thing!
It’s nice to have it as a filter, and for all intents and purposes, that’s what it is. But it can be so much more! I saved this patch — I was just fiddling around feeding it a regular sawtooth lead. My mind was blown by what came out of it. It didn’t sound like a sawtooth lead anymore. It was something totally different.
Zardonic - Pure Power
You have also composed for video games like Superhot and Redout 2. How is that process different from composing your own music or remixing bands?
I think it’s precisely that it’s not so linear. I love the freedom that gives me in video games. I get to essentially tell a story in sound. Whereas with a drum-and-bass track, there’s a specific structure that serves a specific DJ format. You can play with that a little bit, but it can still get boring. Especially since modern drum-and-bass is focusing so much on dry sounds. Then, you have the loudness war. In games, you might have strings and brass and vocals and pads and leads all cutting in and out, or all going at the same time. You can’t crush that kind of master the same way you would a hot club master.
Zardonic - Takeover (ft The Qemists)
Has video game work affected your own tracks destined for the club?
I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate more dynamics, so yes. Especially with masters coming in so hot, I think it’s important to hear as many individual details as you can. But again, people expect it to be loud, so there’s less room to be creative. With soundtrack work, it’s about telling a story, and it doesn’t need that much gain all the time.
Zardonic ft Reebz - Bitter
What advice would you give you your younger self, when you were starting out?
The first thing I’d tell him would be, buy Bitcoin! [Laughs.] If I’d started with that 20 years ago, I’d be sitting on a mountain of cash and could be a temperamental artist who takes two years to make an album!
More practically, I’m grateful to make a living doing music. And I know that if I get sick of something, like doing DJ sets, if I think “I just want to stay home and make records,” eventually I’ll get sick of that. I’ll be telling myself, “I’ve got to get out on the road again!” I can say what I wouldn’t tell my younger self: Get a job. I’ve tried that. I’m a nice person until someone tries to tell me what to do. I can’t have a boss. I guess it goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning of the interview.
Which is?
The transgressiveness of metal, of electronic music, of rock and roll, of art in general! Be a rebel. Especially these days we need it more than ever!