Can you introduce yourself?
I am a French-Canadian music producer and composer. I come from both Brazilian and French backgrounds, and I've been based in the Netherlands since 2015.
How did you get into making music? How did it all start?
When I was five years old, I watched a movie called Amadeus, which is about the life of Mozart. The film features some really beautiful excerpts from his work, and I found it incredibly inspiring. After watching it with my parents, I told them I wanted to be like Mozart. That’s when they got me into piano lessons, and I started playing and composing music from a very young age.
Were your parents musically inclined? What kind of music did they play at home?
Even before I was born, I was exposed to music. My mother used to sing in a choir while she was pregnant with me. Actually, that's where my name comes from—during some of their rehearsals, they were performing Carmina Burana, and my father liked the name Carmina. My mother preferred the name Carmen, which I think was a good call.
My father was a big music enthusiast. He would always have music playing, especially during breakfast. We listened to a wide variety of genres: classical, Brazilian, New Age, and French music. It was a nice mix of different styles.
You mentioned you’ve been playing piano since you were young. Did you play in a band, or mostly by yourself?
I mostly played by myself because I couldn’t find anyone to form a band with. I went to an all-girls school from the ages of five to sixteen, and I didn’t meet many other musicians. I studied in the piano department there, and I didn’t really reach out beyond that and played mostly by myself.
The piano is a great instrument to play solo! What kind of music were you playing at that age?
I played a lot of classical music. I was especially drawn to the Impressionist period, with composers like Maurice Ravel. He was my favourite composer.
So, you played a lot of classical music. By then, were you already thinking about composing or producing your own music?
Yes, I was already composing simple tunes when I was around six or seven years old. However, my teacher—a nun—wasn’t very encouraging when it came to composing. She was more focused on making sure we played existing music pieces. But on my own, I would often improvise and just mess around on the piano, which was really fun for me.
You’ve been involved in music for a long time. What more did you do during your school years?
I continued piano lessons until I was eighteen. I followed a classical curriculum, and on the side, I worked on small projects, making beats in FruityLoops and Reason (software).
At that time, I couldn’t really rely on the internet to teach me, so I tried everything out on my own. My work was pretty basic—I was just experimenting and having fun.
How would you describe the music you make now?
It’s a mix of electronic and contemporary classical music. For me, it feels like playful, nerdy electronica because it has a sense of humor and requires a lot of focus to listen to. There isn’t much repetition, and things develop quickly. It’s not exactly casual listening, but it might be for some people.
Do you produce everything yourself? Do you have a routine or process?
Yes, I produce everything myself. I don’t really have a routine, except during the mixing and mastering stages. Before that, I mostly just try different things. I like experimenting regularly
because there’s so much, I haven’t done yet—whether it’s composing in a new way or using new tools or instruments. I’ll develop something, then usually have doubts, so I pause, work on something else, come back, improve it, pause again, and keep going until it feels finished.
When do you know a track is done?
For my last (and first) record, I knew the tracks were done when they all sounded good together, in the context of the other tracks I had finished. In the meantime, I may have improved my skills, which I could apply to each track.
Once all the tracks were done, and I updated them based on each other, I compared them to reference tracks. When they held up well, I moved on to the mixing and mastering process.
I’ve listened to your music, especially your latest album (Happy Child). To me, it feels like an alternative reality—a large soundscape with surreal sounds that somehow fit together. What makes them fit?
It’s the sound. The sound signature and design tie everything together. There are different arrangement styles on the album, but they all share a common signature within the sound world that connects them.
What’s that signature?
It’s the brightness—a mix of synthesized and acoustic sounds that are generally bright. I use wind instruments, my voice, and some mallet instruments. There’s a kind of childlike vibe in the music. I don’t know how, but that’s where I tend to go when I’m just messing around and experimenting.
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