ROZHOVOR: Discofield Blog

Discofield introduces himself

Hi Discofield, introduce yourself briefly to our readers

Hi, my name is Jan Pardus and I come from Heřmanův Městec.

I'm known everywhere by my nickname Discofield, which was coined around 2003 when someone said the term "discofield" in a pub as a joke.

It was a period when, after phases of grunge, rock and hip hop, I started listening to jazz and started playing guitar. Like any musician, I found my role model, and that was John Scofield. I was so obsessed that I actually didn’t listen to anything else for a few years and even knew many of his solos by heart. I liked the nickname and my friends started using it in the form of Disco, even Disco in a good mood. Plus the domain was free, so it really was the obvious choice!

My whole life has actually been pretty much about music. My dad plays guitar and piano, and he’s always had a nose for good music. So music like Faith No More, Pink Floyd, Paco de Lucia - but also jazz like Weather Report, Miles Davis was the order of the day for us (note by Fred Brooker: we're just the same blood type). When I was a kid, I remember my brother and I used to laugh at my dad for listening to Bowie. It wasn’t until many years later that I too fell for Bowie 🙂

After I started playing guitar, thanks to my friends I was able to play in the rehearsal room, which was in Arnošt Löwit's huge villa with a beautiful garden. It was close to our house, just as the saying goes, "When you live in Heřmaňák, everything is close by."

I remember that time very fondly!

After a while, my brother, my friend and I formed the band Nebula. Like music, computer games have always been a part of my life. I think the game Music 2000 for the PS1 probably helped me to compose music on the PC, where I just composed sample patterns for myself and there were some simple visuals to do. Later on I became more interested in the process of composing music. I started with a PC, Ableton, Solton keys, and we had this disc at home for playing music, kind of like an iPod, and it had a microphone so I could experiment with sounds.

By the time I started composing music, I was mainly friends with people 10 years older than me.

I wasn’t making money then, but the guys already had their own businesses, so I would give them a CD for their birthday with a happy birthday track, mostly singing songs like "You are one year older and you can't take it back". My first song outside of birthdays was called Hole in my head, where I recorded the sound of running water from a tap and to that I sang "There is a hole in my head, it’s easy". It was a great success with my friends, but they said I'll probably never compose anything better...

In 2008, I did the sound for the O2 Christmas website, which probably kick-started me to pursue music more fully. Around 2011 I created a few albums for music banks (still use those tracks to fill in the blanks in various shows...), then I did projects for a long time through various freelance web portals.

And I got into soundtracks for various indie mobile games, which really appealed to me, so I created a studio in my garage and now I'm mainly into computer games. And that's where I'm gradually growing into the ground. 😄

Which productions are the most interesting from your point of view?

In terms of completed projects, I really enjoyed working on the Flying Tank game by Hexage, where I created all the sounds, which I think was really good. There are a lot of different explosions, weapons, aliens in the game - so I recorded a lot of demolition sounds. It was fun because I got a lot of creative freedom.

As far as music goes, for example, the recently released Amber Falcon by Troglodyte Studios, for which I composed some hilarious loops. Now I have some game projects in the works, such as Universe Has No Favorites.

As you already know, I love the indie gaming world, so I love working with small teams and exploring new stories. So far I've been lucky enough that it’s always been a joy and I've really enjoyed it. I compose music a lot. I think of my compositions as a little life diary where I write down all the periods of my life in the form of a sound painting.

What software and hardware do you use to create?

When I switched from PC to Mac in 2011, I have never been able to go back. My main DAW is Logic Pro, which is the best for my style of work. But I've tried many other programs in the past and Logic just won out, so I'm not looking for anything new.

I use a lot of plugins and virtual instruments from different companies. I think I like what Native Instruments does the most, so I have a lot of software and hardware from them (MIDI keys, sound card or their Maschine). I record sound effects on a Tascam Portacapture X6 Multitrack Recorder and use a top of the line Rode NTG5 microphone.

What's coming out from you in the near future?

A few games are still in development, but I might be appearing in 3 more indie games in about half a year.

I'm not really the social type (X, Instagram, etc), I don’t really enjoy creating that content, but I've found it’s really important to at least share successes, so I have and use those socks.

If anyone is interested in my life journey and wisdom, just google: "discofield".

Why did you decide to join HMC GAMES?

Fred Brooker put me in front of a fait accompli, there was no other option 🙂