In this week’s MEET THE ARTIST series we talk with Canadian trance producer Edwin ‘Yelow’ Tsui. A fast rising breakthrough producer based out of Calgary, Alberta. With over a decade of event hosting & club DJing experience (having opened for acts such as Paul van Dyk, Aly & Fila, Gabriel & Dresden, Mark Sixma, Vini Vici and more), he set his sights on music production in 2017 by co-founding the Soundcation Trance Retreat with Dennis Sheperd.
His latest release with Dj Melodie “Crystal Clear” is out now on all digital platforms. Stream/buy here https://InToneNation.lnk.to/CrystalClear
1. How did you start making music and what were your early inspirations?
I started taking production seriously in late 2017, after hosting a production-based ‘Trance Retreat’ in Bali with Dennis Sheperd. I was inspired by the talented instructors at the retreat including Mark Sixma, Protoculture, Dennis Sheperd, and Sied van Riel - it was so exciting and interesting to take a look at the behind-the-scenes on how music was produced! Aside from learning as the Soundcation / Trance Retreat organizer, I also signed up for Sonic Academy, watched plenty of YouTube videos, and took 1-on-1 lessons to supplement my personal development.
Early inspirations stem from my discovery of A State of Trance in early 2005 and include Armin Van Buuren, Menno de Jong, and Sean Tyas!
2. Where do you see Trance music in 5 years?
I think trance will have a bit of a return to its roots with longer, slower developing tracks - the pandemic allowed many artists to explore music outside of clubs or festival sets. Sound design will also evolve significantly (you can already see it happening with the similarities between melodic techno and progressive trance!).
3. Is this your first collaboration together? What was the process like?
‘Crystal Clear’ is indeed our first collaboration together! We first met on a Trance Retreat I hosted in Phuket, Thailand, back in February 2019 and we became good friends and kept in touch. At one point DJ Melodie mentioned to me that she had a vocal she wanted to develop into a track, and we came up with a few initial concepts. I worked on the main project in Ableton, we bounced ideas and parts back and forth and also worked over Zoom! It took us a while to get it to a state we were both happy with, but with the guidance of JES and the Intonenation Axiom team, we’re really happy with the final product.
4. What was your inspiration for “Crystal Clear”?
I’m typically an uplifting trance producer so naturally, I had to go for a trancey, arp style main melody for the climax, but we wanted to have a very groovy, catchy bassline that would be effective and accessible for both DJ Melodie and myself to play out for a more commercial crowd. For the baseline, we drew on some inspiration from our shared Asian backgrounds with some inspiration from music that is popular with Vietnamese crowds (to which we have both played extensively!).
5. What’s is next for you in 2021?
It's been a very productive year for me with a recent Beatport top 10 remix of Sunlounger which was released on FSOE in June, and aside from Crystal Clear, I’ve got releases lined up on FSOE, Deep in Thought, AVA White, Magic Island! I’ve been working closely with Roger Shah and helping him run his Magic Island label and we’ve collaborated on several tracks which I think will be very well received by the broader trance community! As travel resumes in parts of the world I'm also looking forward to hosting Soundcation Trance Retreats once again with our first one in October before ADE!
Follow Yellow:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djyelow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djyelow
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dj_yelow