Unoccupied, Loud and last but not least his civic name: Eitan Reiter is known under many different monikers. If serious Psytrance, if dreamy Chill Out tunes, if delicious Nu School / Techno tracks: This dude is probably one of the most diverse and therefore interesting characters of our scene at the moment. Not a huge surprise therefore that he told quite some interesting things in this interview I just had with him!

Roberdo: Hey Eitan, thanks for participating this interview! Lets start with the basics: Who are you, where are you from?

Eitan: Eitan Reiter, born in Israel, and living here, at least in this interview's date.

Roberdo: You are a very multi-faced musician. With which style did you start off?

Eitan: I think it was when I was playing with old trackers (Impulse Tracker and such), not even professional sequencing programs. I first made Rap beats (I used to like the 90's rap, Wu Tang Clan and many more, as a kid), and sadly I was also rapping on my beats :-) - sounded real bad I must say!

From there I got into electronic music (influenced by bands like The Prodigy), and straight to Psytrance (probably because of Infected Mushroom, which was my 100-people-known neighborhood band back than).

Roberdo: What was your biggest personal success when you started producing music?

Eitan: I had many, I guess. My goals change all the time, so my definition of success changes with them. It started with wanting to release one track, than improving my production skills, than a whole album, which I didn't even think I would ever want when I started.

Last November I preformed in front of 45,000 people in Sao Paulo in the main stage in high peak time. It was said to be the biggest rave in Brazil for 2009. And now I am releasing my 5th Album, this time on my own. I have released many compilation tracks of all kinds, produced original soundtracks for films, and more... Music has become my life - I had no choice, it chose me :-)

Roberdo: Do you have a so called "real life job" or are you living only as a musician?

Eitan: Music is a real job if you want it to be. I have this joke I always use, when new producers ask me about which programs I am using for music I always say: "Hotmail and Skype", instead of Cubase, Logic or whatever they expect to hear.

Music isn't just sitting in the studio these days. You are your own composer, producer, sound engineer / technician, public relations agent, sometimes booking agent also...

In the world of wide web, which is today's Internet generation being good at music is half the job. You have to promote yourself as well.

Roberdo: Is it easy to live as a musician? What are the biggest challenges for you, both in a creative and a monetary respect?

Sometimes the pressure you have as a musician can effect your creativity, and that is really tough. But as long as you remember that music is one of the best things this world has to offer and that you are lucky to be a part of it, you can make it through anything

What I do to live a sane life is to listen to a lot of music, enjoy many bands I like and get back to the roots of what music was and is still for me, before it was a job! Taking vacations from time to time is always important also

About the money, I think it's one if the toughest businesses out there, but if you are hard working and focused on your self (and not others) - you just might make it ;-) I know there are a lot of suffering artists out there, but never forget there are some who made it BIG !

Roberdo: You have experience both as a dance and a Chill Out producer - what are the main differences? Of course I do not mean the music but the way of producing, the gigs, the factors for a successful career etc.?

Eitan: Dancefloor is more like supplying a product. It's making music for a certain crowd and purpose. When I started with Trance / Techno, I was part of that crowd - so I guess I made it for myself, and got lucky cause others liked it.

Chill Out and Electronica came latter as a result of me needing to relax in the studio, I was at a point of craving for studio time, and wanting to try new ideas, but didn't always want to hear the 4/4 kick drum. I must say that different beats really do open your mind melodically. The non dance music, for a FACT, made me a better dance producer in a way!

About the gigs, I am known for my dance stuff for a much longer time than my down tempo, therefore I have much more performing work in that area at the moment. But these days I'm starting to perform more my Downtempo stuff as well. I also get some jobs in producing movie soundtracks that takes me away from the dance floor stuff, and I do find it very interesting and fun.

Roberdo: What is your personal favourite production from all the stuff you did and why?

Eitan: Soooo many, but I will mention two.

The first is Ups and Downs- It's a minimal tech track of mine, which in my eyes isn't even finished or produced the best way it can be. But it made me love it, because people just couldn't stop loving it. It was one of my only pieces that came out under my own name. People know Ups and Downs before they knew Eitan Reiter. I love it because of it.

The second is Unoccupied-  Everyday life- It's a song I made with Nadav Katz (Cuts) as part of our project name Unoccupied (We released an album by the same name @ Aleph Zero). I just can't think of a piece of mine that touches me more, even today!

Roberdo: And what musicians do you admire at the moment, which records did you like recently and why?

Eitan: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach. Their new album, it's just amazing and perfect for these times.

Massive Attack - Heligoland. Their new album, I'm big fan of them anyway, not their best IMO but still perfect. There are so many albums and artists I like from 10 years ago, 50 years ago, this year and even classical, it could fill another interview. Like I said - Music is my life

Roberdo: Finally- what are your current projects, which productions are growing in your hard discs and where can we see resp. hear you live this summer?

Eitan: First of all, there is the Chillout / Electronica / Downtempo personal project and "Places I Miss That I Haven't Been To" is the debut album but only the beginning for me. This album involves a LOT of musicians, recordings of instrument players and singers and a whole bunch of acoustic fun mixed with Electronica. There is an EP of the track "Smile" from that album, coming soon on Aleph Zero Records, and it will involve some massive remixes from J.Viewz, Bluetech, Perfect Stranger and a another surprise ! So stay tuned . . .

I just released a 3rd album with Kobi Toledano, my partner in our psytrance project LOUD, called "Free from Conceptual Thoughts". Lots of effort, thought and experience put into it and if you are part of the Psytrance world you will probably get a chance to cheek us out where ever you are from the world, as we'll be touring a lot.

I also got back to giving more time to my Minimal Techno productions. BIG, and I mean B I G, surprises soon!

Roberdo: Thanks a lot for this interview!

Eitan: THANK YOU ! My pleasure.

www.myspace.com/eitanreiter