Manuel Tur: the studio is my natural habitat

Today we are pleased to welcome another talent, Manuel Tur!

Manuel Tur was born and raised in Essen, Germany. He released his debut EP at the age of sixteen and has gone on to release on labels such as Freerange and Running Back. He released his debut LP entitled 0201, to widespread critical acclaim - DJ Mag crowned it Album of the Month, IDJ called it a 'majestic debut' and gave it 10/10 to name a few.

We talked to the electronic music gem about his path in the industry and new remix of Pantone by André Hommen. Find out more below!
— Hey Manuel, great to speak with you today. How's 2022 been for you so far?
— Hi there, nice to talk to you. On a personal level and all world craziness aside, 2022 has been going quite well for me. I've released a few new tracks and EPs on labels like Drumpoet, Freerange, Compost and Isolate, as well as starting my own new label Spaced Repetitions.
— There may be some readers that aren't as familiar with you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
— I'm a German-based music producer who has been releasing records for 20 years. I'm probably best known for my deep house work under my own name in the late 2000s and early 2010s. During that time I played many gigs, both live and as a DJ, but eventually had to step back from extensive touring for health reasons. The studio is my natural habitat, and I've been fortunate to work with a number of interesting and creative artists since then, both as a technical and creative collaborator. Since the pandemic, I've started writing and releasing more music under my own name again. In total, I've probably produced and released close to a dozen albums, a hundred singles and EPs, and an estimated 150-200 remixes under various projects, but I lost track at some point.
— You were born and raised in Essen, Germany. What was the music scene like when you were growing up there?
— Essen used to be a very lively place for house music in the 1990s, and I certainly benefited from that. Local clubs, DJs and record stores certainly helped to keep me informed at an early age when the internet was still very limited.
— We're here to talk about your forthcoming release, which is part of the second installment of André Hommens More Than This remix series. After the success of the album and first set of remixes featuring Robag Wruhme and Jonathan Kaspar, it must've felt like an honor to be asked to be a part of this project?
— I was fortunate enough to partner with André in writing and producing his album, so it was only natural to contribute a remix of one of my own personal favourite tracks from the LP. It's great that all these talented remixers have joined the project and are delivering their vision of the music.
— What was your inspiration behind your remix on the EP?
— The track "Pantone", which I remixed for this EP, has a mysterious and almost romantic quality to it that I think fits very well with my stripped-down, deep and bass-heavy personal style. I guess that was the main idea behind my approach of the remix.
— Did you have a brief you were given for the remix or is it completely your own take?
— No, it's really the way I imagined the track from my personal point of view. The remix was not commissioned, it just unfolded that way.
— What brought you and André together for this collaboration?
— André and I have known each other for quite a while now. We first met in the local club scene where we both grew up in the early 2010s. As mentioned before, we have already worked together on this album and also on most of his previous releases, so it seemed logical for me to do a remix.
— What was your creative process like for this? Was it affected by the pandemic at all?
— The work on the remix was affected by the pandemic in that I used the first months of the lockdown to learn a few new music programs. In this case, I learned Cubase, a DAW I had never really used before, so this is the first track I did entirely in Cubase. I used the computer as a sampler for the parts of the original track and then added drums from an Elektron Analog Rytm and bass and FX from a Roland SH-09. It's always exciting to use software or hardware that you've just got access to and don't know inside out yet - I like that a lot.
— Where can we expect to see you for the rest of this year?
— I have quite a bunch of new original music lined up for the next couple of months and I am working on new material for various different projects, so just stay tuned. :)