ISTS students met with Yann DAKTA (ISTS 2008), author, composer and producer, on Tuesday February 18, 2020, as part of the Mardis de l'ISTS program.
His passion for music got him started at an early age, with the ambition of one day having his own production and studio. After completing his studies at ISTS, he started with Dancehall instrumental productions, then Rap. He co-founded three studios, one for mixing and two for recording, with his partner Rednose. Their credits include PNL's "Jusqu'au dernier gramme".
Following the broadcast of a video showing some of his productions, Yann DAKTA made a demo, showing the entire Pro Tools session for the track "Elvira " by Maes. His musical influences are as varied as Soul, Reggae, Dancehall, Hip-hop and Variété.
The first questions were technical: his work as a composer, how he uses instruments and microphones in his productions today, analog sounds... For him, music is really "case by case". When he started out, he tended to overload his productions, whereas now he seeks to purify them. "Composing is always about questioning yourself: what's being done today and what was done 5 years ago is different, not the same sounds".
The students then moved on to more practical matters concerning remuneration, managers, how to approach artists or send out his productions, and the French Rap market. It's important to get artists into studios, and it took a long time to get in touch with Maes and PNL. He went on to talk about the process of setting up a studio, pointing out that the most complicated part is finding premises that won't inconvenience anyone.
He also looks back on his time at the school, where courses, practice and the program have given him an enormous advantage in terms of understanding music differently and being able to renew himself. As far as composition is concerned, he can receive specific requests from composers, but more often than not he gives free rein to his desires. In the future, Yann DAKTA would like to open up internationally and export his productions.
