FM PRO TECH 10
BAKKIS returns to R-TRYBE Records with Emphasize, a hypnotic melodic house cut that balances delicate vocals and an infectious arpeggio with steadily building dancefloor tension. Released today, 14 August, the two-track EP pairs the original with a more driving, peak-time remix from Dutch producer Dennis de Laat.
The release marks BAKKIS’ first individual founder single for R-TRYBE, the producer-focused label and community he established alongside Huxley and Ramin Rezaie. Built around education, honest feedback and collaboration, the platform supports artists long before their music reaches the traditional A&R stage.
For this FM PRO TECH 10, BAKKIS breaks down the production behind Emphasize, explains why he gave de Laat complete freedom with the remix and discusses how technology can strengthen artist development without replacing human taste, mentorship or real-world creative connection.
It’s easy to keep adding layers until you’ve polished all the personality out of the music. — BAKKIS
Q1. Emphasize is built around a hypnotic arpeggio, delicate vocals and a gradual sense of tension. What came first when you started the track?
The arpeggio came first. I was playing around in the studio and first came up with the arp melody, then found the sound, and pretty quickly it became the foundation for everything else. It had this hypnotic quality where I could listen to it repeating for a long time without getting tired of it, which is normally a good sign.
From there it was really about building around it without taking too much attention away from that central idea. The vocal came later and added another layer of emotion and atmosphere, but the arp was definitely the starting point and shaped the direction of the whole track.
Q2. There is a balance between atmosphere and dancefloor energy in the original. How did you stop the melodic side from becoming too polished or predictable?
I tried not to overdevelop the melodic elements. Once the main ideas were doing what they needed to do, it became more about subtle changes, automation and creating tension around them. I don’t want everything sitting perfectly in its place because sometimes those little imperfections are what give a record character. It’s very easy with melodic music to keep adding layers until suddenly you’ve polished all the personality out of it. There are actually quite a lot of elements going on at certain points in Emphasize, but it comes down to how they’re mixed. Some elements are given the focus, while others are just there to add vibe, texture and emotion.
Q3. This is the first founder release on R-TRYBE. Why did Emphasize feel like the right record to mark that moment?
We actually did a founder EP as the very first release on R-TRYBE, which featured all of us, so that was the true starting point for the label. This is the first individual founder single release, with two more to follow from Huxley and Ramin Rezaie. Emphasize felt like a natural fit for my first solo founder release.
It represents a side of my sound that I really like, and it also follows naturally from the more melodic direction of my track on that original founder EP. It also felt like the right time to bring the founders back into the release schedule individually.
We’ve spent a lot of time building the label around the artists and community, and now we’re showing a bit more of our own identities as artists as well. Emphasize is my part of that, with Huxley and Ramin following with their own releases.
Q4. Dennis de Laat keeps the core identity of the track but pushes it into a more driving, peak-time direction. What did you want a remix to add rather than simply change?
The remix actually came about really organically. Dennis is a good friend of mine, and when he heard the original he really liked it and asked if he could have a go at remixing it. I sent him the stems without giving him too much direction because I wanted to hear where he would take it.
When he sent his version back, I loved what he’d done. He kept the core identity of Emphasize, but brought his own sound and interpretation to it in a really natural way. It’s also my first ever release with Dennis, which makes it feel even more special. That’s really what I want from a remix.
I don’t want to tell someone how to reinterpret my track. Give them the parts they connect with and let them take it somewhere I probably wouldn’t have taken it myself.
Q5. FM PRO TECH Q: The arpeggio carries so much of the track’s identity. How did you approach sound selection, layering and arrangement around it so the production could keep evolving without losing that central hook?
The notes and the melody actually came first. Once I had that, I went into Diva and started building a sound around the idea until I found something that had the character I was after. Because the melody is such a central part of the track, getting that sound right was really important.
The main sound stays mostly the same throughout the track, but there is also a second, very subtle arp layer underneath it. It’s not really something that’s meant to stand out on its own, it’s more there to add a little extra texture and depth to the main sound. A lot of the movement comes from filter automation.
Opening and closing the filter at different points lets the arp build tension, come forward or sit further back without losing the identity of the hook. From there, it was really about arranging everything else around it and giving it enough space.
The arp is already doing a lot of the work, so I didn’t feel the need to overcomplicate it. The elements around it evolve while the arp remains the thread that holds the track together.
Q6. R-TRYBE was built around education, feedback and collaboration as much as releasing records. What did you feel was missing from the traditional label model?
I think what was missing was everything that happens before a track is ready to be signed. With a traditional label, the relationship often starts when an artist already has a finished record, but there’s a whole journey before you get to that point. A lot of artists also struggle to even get their music heard.
You can spend months working on a track, send it to labels and sometimes never know if anyone actually listened to it. Often there’s no reply or feedback, so the track just ends up sitting in this kind of limbo. I understand why that happens because labels receive an enormous amount of music, but from an artist’s perspective it can be frustrating.
I think that’s one reason our live track feedback sessions are so popular. They bring the human element back into the process. Someone is actually listening to your music, reacting to it and giving you something useful to take away, even if the track isn’t ready for release.
More broadly, we wanted R-TRYBE to be somewhere producers can develop, get honest feedback, learn, collaborate and build a network. The label then becomes part of that journey rather than the starting point, and if someone develops through R-TRYBE and goes on to release somewhere else, that’s also a success for us, and we actually have a lot of members releasing music on other labels.
Q7. Members can submit music, receive structured critique and take part in a community voting process before the final label selection. How do you balance collective feedback with maintaining a clear curatorial identity?
The community feedback and voting are really valuable to us, but they don’t replace the final A&R decision. We still have to make sure that anything we release feels right for R-TRYBE and that it’s something we genuinely believe in. R-TRYBE is naturally quite broad when it comes to genres. We’ve never wanted to be a label that’s defined by one very specific subgenre or sound, and I think that reflects the community as well.
There are producers coming from different sides of house and electronic music, so for us the identity of the label is more about the quality and character of the music than everything fitting into one narrow lane.
What I really like about the voting process is that it gives us another perspective. Sometimes a track gets a much stronger reaction from the community than you might have expected, and that tells you something. These are producers and DJs who are passionate about the music, so their reaction matters.
At the same time, we still have to look at the bigger picture. A track can do really well in a vote but might need more development before it’s ready for release, so it’s not always just a yes or no. We spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to make that process work, and I think we’ve found a really good balance now. The community has a genuine voice and influence on what we’re doing, while we can still make the final decisions around quality and the overall direction of the label.
Q8. The writing retreats bring producers together for focused studio sessions and workshops. What changes creatively when artists move from an online community into the same physical space?
For me, the biggest thing is being surrounded by people who share the same passion for music. There’s something really powerful about spending several days with other producers and the coaches, where everyone is focused on music and pushing themselves creatively. It’s not necessarily about everyone directly collaborating on tracks.
A lot of it is about feeding off the energy of the moment. You’re hearing what other people are working on, exchanging ideas, getting feedback from the coaches and seeing everyone around you being productive.
That can give you a huge amount of inspiration, motivation and confidence. Our last retreat was incredibly prolific. People absolutely smashed it in the studio, and one producer managed to make six tracks during the retreat. I’ve attended production retreats myself, so I know personally how powerful that environment can be when you remove the everyday distractions and immerse yourself in music for several days.
Then there’s the social side. You build genuine relationships with people who share the same passion, and sometimes those connections become friendships that last for years, or even for life. An online community can start those relationships, but meeting in person takes them to another level.
Q9. You founded R-TRYBE alongside Huxley and Ramin Rezaie. How do the three of you divide creative judgement, mentoring and label decisions without making the process overly complicated?
I think the main reason it works so well is that we have a lot of mutual respect for each other. We share the same vision for what we want R-TRYBE to become and, probably even more importantly, the same values around how we want to build it. We all bring different strengths, experiences and opinions to the table, but there’s a lot of trust between us.
We don’t need to have all three of us involved in every small decision, and when something does need a discussion, we’re very open with each other and listen to each other’s point of view. Of course, we don’t agree on absolutely everything, particularly when it comes to music because taste is always subjective, but we’ve never had any real conflicts between us.
I think having that shared vision makes it much easier to disagree on something without it becoming complicated. We’ve worked together really well from the beginning, and I think we’ve naturally found a good balance. We know each other’s strengths, we trust each other’s judgement, and ultimately we all want the same thing for R-TRYBE.
Q10. FM PRO TECH Q: With producer communities now able to exchange projects, feedback and knowledge almost instantly online, what role do you think technology should play in artist development without replacing the value of human taste, mentorship and real-world collaboration?
Technology is an incredible tool for artist development, and in many ways it’s what makes a community like R-TRYBE possible. Producers from completely different parts of the world can share music, exchange knowledge, get feedback and build relationships almost instantly.But what I’ve noticed is that some of the most powerful moments happen when you bring more of the human element into it.
We see that when a lot of the Trybers get together physically, like at our R-TRYBE event at Brighton Music Conference where several of our members DJed together on the lineup, and especially at our retreats. There’s a completely different energy when people who have been speaking online suddenly meet face to face and spend time together around music.
We also see it somewhere between online and physical interaction with things like our live track feedback sessions on video, our virtual hangouts and Trybecast, where we bring in guests and members can interact with them and ask questions directly.
You’re still using technology, but there’s a real person on the other side reacting, sharing their experience and having a conversation with you. That feels very different from simply uploading a track or watching another tutorial.So for me, technology should be used to bring people closer together rather than replace that interaction.
It can remove geographical barriers and make knowledge and feedback much more accessible, but human taste, mentorship and real relationships are still incredibly important in developing as an artist.I think the sweet spot is combining the two.
Use technology to keep people connected wherever they are in the world, and then create as many opportunities as possible for those connections to become more human, whether that’s face to face or through real-time interaction online.
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