Input Music Network : Input Meets... Memento

We had the opportunity to speak with Memento and ask him a few questions. Here is what he had to say:

Given name and alias name :

My real name is Tim - but I decided to choose "Memento" as artist name. It was not assigned and I found it cool but it has nothing to do with the movie (some people think so:)

Age:20

Place of birth:

I was born in Hannover and moved to Stralsund when I was 5. It's a nice little town in the north of Germany.

Where you live currently:

I still live in Stralsund.

What Genre/s of music do you listen to?

When I was a young boy I loved Numetal and Crossover - I was the biggest fan of Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. That changed slowly in the late 2000's when I discovered Depeche Mode. Electronic music which I hated before got more and more interesting.
The biggest change was 2011, when I heared the new genre "Melodic Dubstep". It impressed me in several ways - the melodies, the beats, the deep basses and the atmosphere. It was and is perfect for me. I'm still open for different genres, like classic or some pop songs, but I live for Melodic Dubstep and Chillstep (the smoother and slower version of Melodic Dubstep).

What Genre/s of music do you don't listen to?

I usually don't like HipHop so much and German Folk Songs. But that's nothing compared to the bigroom tracks which are currently in the charts. It's not my world ;)

Which are your favourite artists?

My favourite artists are Blackmill, Phaeleh (pronounce "fella"), Moby, Depeche Mode, the old harder Linkin Park, Hans Zimmer and James Horner.

First album you bought ?

That's funny - my first album was a Hiphop-album, and I loved it. It was by "Fettes Brot" ("fat bread"), a famous German band and it's name was "An Tagen wie diesen" (Days like these). I was young, I loved the fat bass and it was "cool" to have it!

Have you ever been to the UK?

No, sadly not. But I would love to see the beautiful coasts and London!

Have you ever performed live?

No, that's not possible for me, because I create my tracks on the computer. It wouldn't be such an exciting experience, when I go the stage, plug in my pc and press start while screaming "hands in the air" ;)
As long as I produce music in that way, I will never perform live. In that way I often take a look to my idol "Blackmill" which makes his music in that way too - and nevertheless he is successful with that.

When did you start making music?

Like so many people I had my first experiences with creating music in the age of 7 or 8 with playing "Music 2000" for the Playstation One.
Then with 14, I discovered the Music Maker by Magix and I loved the loops and the easy way to create cool tracks. I even uploaded these tracks on my old youtube channel, and they were all similar in their sound, thanks to the ~30 loops in the free version, haha.
The big turn was in the age of 17 in 2011 when I (as said before) discovered Blackmill and the Melodic Dubstep on YouTube. There was one young guy, two years older. His artist name was Sacred and he was new in that genre. He used "FL Studio" and his channel on YouTube was growing fast. His music was awesome for a newbie! That idea - "making music of that genre, free, without loops" - burned into my mind and I decided to learn how to use FL.
It's not as easy to use as some people think, but everyone can learn to handle it. You just need time, patience and interest. So I needed about 14 month of practicing. Only then I decided to upload my first test track on youtube. My channel was opened on the 29.01.2013 - and I was really scared. What will people think about that track? But the resonance was really good and so I decided to keep producing. Now it is a big part of my life and a great hobby!

Do you play any instrument?

The answer is...yes and no. When you mean real physical instruments, no! I started playing keyboard in my childhood in school but after a short time I lost sight of it.
On the other hand I "play" a virtual instrument, my DAW "FL Studio". Personally I see it not as a "real" instrument and I would love to learn playing piano in the future, but hey, I can create music in every way I want!

What is the name of your first song?

My first uploaded song was a test track to see how people think about my style. The great title of that track is "First try". My first full track was released only two days later, I just needed 2 hours to create it! It's name was "Forest" and it sounds disastrous and repetetive. You want to hurt your ears? ;) Sorry, it is deleted due to copyright issues (I used a copyrighted picture).

Do you have family and friends who support you?

My family, friends and community are my main supporters. Long time I was very unsure with my music. I had good resonance but I needed some time to tell my family and friends about my hobby. They were really enthusiastic and that helped me a lot! It's a great way to gain "energy" for producing new songs.
Another great fact is that I got to know a lot of other musicians in the nice chillstep community. The support, help, the collaborations and the critics of course are so important for any musician! I'm very happy how it turned out and that I even met new people just for chatting.

Do any of them play music and have you played in any bands ect. with friends?

Some friends play instruments like guitar in a band, but nobody in my family plays an instrument. I'm not "playing" in a band because I think it's too early for that.

Do you set yourself targets to reach musically? E.g play so many gigs a month or write/record so many songs a month?

I have a lot of targets. There is the music - I want to improve my mixing and mastering as far as possible. In my dreams my future tracks sound like Phaeleh's tracks. His sound quality is incredible!
Then there is my channel. Of course I want to keep growing and to reach more people. I'm not that guy who says "I need 1000 subscribers!" but my channel will probably reach that number in the future, and of course that makes me incredible happy! I never expected more then 10 people who listen to my music and now I have over 700. For me it's so surreal!
Finally I have a big dream - to become featured at the biggest youtube promo-channel for electronic music "Suicidesheep". That would be an honor. Or to make a collaboration with Blackmill! Or or or..