Who are you and what do you do?

Hi, I’m echoes, a producer and live hardware performer from the south of France, active in the underground electronic scene.

I began as a DJ, focusing on building immersive and instinctive sets, treating the dancefloor as a space to shape rather than just fill. 

In 2024, I transitioned into live hardware performance, which marked a turning point in my approach. It allowed me to create and transform sound in real time, with a much more direct and physical connection to the music. Since then, my hardware stuff has become an extension of my creative identity.

My sound is rooted in Mental Tekno, primal and hypnotic techno, with a strong experimental dimension. I’m drawn to textures that feel raw, unstable, and emotionally charged. 

Music is central to my daily life. I’ve been working on it every day for the past five years, constantly developing my sound through composition and experimentation.

At its core, my work explores the tension between the organic and the industrial. Each pattern and each track becomes a form of personal introspection, translated into sound.

What first drew you to electronic music? 

What first drew me to electronic music goes back a long way. I’ve always been into video games,movies and computers, and I think that’s where it started. Digital sound textures and fictional universes always resonated with me in a very natural way, even before I was fully aware of it.

When I eventually started diving into electronic music, it wasn’t really a phase, it became something that surrounded everything else I was doing. I spent a lot of time digging for tracks, purely out of passion, just exploring this endless universe of sound.

At some point, listening wasn’t enough anymore. I felt the need to shape my own universe, to tell my own story. And electronic music felt like the most open language for that. There are no lyrics forcing an interpretation, no fixed codes you have to follow. It’s a space where imagination leads.

That freedom of the pioneers and avant-garde artists who pushed electronic music forward attracted me. They broke conventions, reshaped the rules, or completely removed them. That idea really stayed with me.

For me, making music today is about offering that same space. A place where people can project their own images, their own emotions, and travel somewhere else for a moment. A kind of inner world built through sound.

You’re known for your dark and experimental techno performances. What have been your most influential inspirations?

My influences have evolved a lot since my early beginnings. Today, my sound research is mainly guided by what I hear in my everyday environment, and how I can translate it into textures and musical energy. There is also a strong connection to fictional universes that have left a lasting mark on me.

I am particularly influenced by science fiction, especially through soundtracks like Blade Runner, and the entire world and sound design that comes with them. On the other side, dark fantasy also plays a major role, especially the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, which strongly shapes the way I imagine sound design and sculpt my sounds.

On the artist side, several have been important in my development.

I’m thinking of Enko, L’art Cène, Kaoslog, and Yakh, and many more of course. They’ve marked different stages of my journey, while my approach itself remains very instinctive and personal.

What can you tell us about your workflow? How do you make the music you make?

My workflow is in constant motion. I don’t really see it as a fixed process, but more as an ongoing exploration of sound.

It starts outside the studio. I often go out with a microphone and “hunt” for sounds in real life, recording textures from everyday environments. These recordings then become raw material that I reshape in my DAW, or sometimes I leave them almost untouched if they already carry something interesting.

I also use my hardware machines heavily, not only in live performance but more and more inside my production work as well. What used to be purely live tools has now become fully integrated into my studio workflow. 

My setup is built around an Elektron Analog Rytm MKII, Elektron Digitakt, a Sherman Filterbank V2, and a Jomox T-Resonator. I also work with acoustic instruments that I deliberately detour from their original function, pushing them into new sound territories through processing and resampling.

The T-Resonator in particular has become central in my setup. Originally designed as a multi-effect unit, I now treat it as a synthesis instrument in its own right, almost like a “premium” sound generator for my music. Its feedback-driven behavior allows me to sculpt evolving, unstable textures that are at the core of my sound.

No-input techniques and feedback-based synthesis are also a big part of my approach, where both acoustic and electronic sources become raw material to be reshaped. I enjoy breaking instruments away from their intended role and pushing them into unexpected sound spaces.

Effects are one of the main tools I use to sculpt sound. In many cases, they are what define the transformation itself. A simple impact, a small transient, or even a basic noise can become the starting point of a full synth or texture once it passes through my processing chain.

Most of the time, my synth sounds don’t start as synth sounds at all. They begin as something simple, completely reshaped through processing, feedback, and modulation until they become something new.

In a way, my workflow is about transformation rather than creation from scratch, constantly pushing sound from one state into another.

How do you use Noise Engineering plugins in your setup?

I’ve been using Noise Engineering plugins since the very beginning of my production journey. Ruina was actually the first distortion I ever used in DAW-based music, because it gave me exactly the kind of grain I was looking for at the time: something raw, abrasive, and immediate.

As I started to understand its philosophy and how to integrate it into my music on a larger scale, I was able to reach much more subtle and unique textures. The modulation possibilities built into the plugin opened a lot of creative doors for me.

Ruina  became a key tool in my workflow. I use it for feedback processing, to texture synths, distort kicks, or give them more body, and even to transform simple transients into percussive elements. It’s a very versatile tool that I apply across almost all of my sound design.

I also use Basimilus Iteritas as a kind of drum and FX toolbox, especially for tonal percussion and synthesized rhythmic layers. It allows me to quickly generate both percussive and harmonic material that I can then reshape further.

Sinc + Virt Vereor, on the other hand, is something I use more for leads and synth layering, adding depth and movement to my sound design.

Over time, I’ve worked with some NE Hardware tools, including Ruina Versio, Basimilus Iteritas, and Imitor Versio. I also plan to reintegrate them into a modular setup once I expand my current hardware system.

Mostly, Noise Engineering plugins often act as the finishing touch that brings everything together and pushes the sound into its final form.

Where can people find your work?

Most of my work is available on SoundCloud, where you can find the core of my productions. I have a lot of new tracks scheduled for release this year, pushing further into a more defined and immersive artistic direction.

I’m also developing my universe on Instagram, where I’ll soon be sharing tutorials, studio session excerpts, and insights into my creative process. You can already find recaps of my live acts and performances there.