We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dylan Cruse. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dylan below.

Hi Dylan, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I was first exposed to electronic music production in high school when I got my first MIDI keyboard. I didn’t have any legitimate music production software at the time, but the keyboard I got came with a basic program that allowed me to play with some different sounds. I didn’t write any music with the keyboard but I had a ton of fun just messing around with all of the different noises.

Fast forward a couple years and my roommate in college mentioned he used to DJ at small basement raves and had toyed around with making music using this program called Ableton. I decided to check it out and I was immediately hooked. I remember everyone on my dorm floor going out on the weekends and I would just stay in my room watching YouTube tutorials on how to make Skrillex growls. I still have some of the songs I made during that era, they’re absolutely terrible. I kept at it for a few years though, I had no idea what I was doing but still just really enjoyed messing around in Ableton. I started my first alias (Bluz Cruz) and released my music on Soundcloud but never managed to get any actual gigs (which was a good thing, I had no idea how to DJ back then.)

One summer I ended up taking a course on Ableton through an online music production school, which has since shutdown after being accused of fraud. It did help my production quite a bit, however being the lazy college student that I was I definitely didn’t get the most out of the course. I’m not even sure I finished it actually, they tried to give me homework for the course and I was not about it at the time.

I was originally in college at the University of Kansas to get a degree in… I wasn’t really sure what. Psychology maybe? That was an easy class for me in high school so I figured why not. I also really liked Spanish so I thought about majoring in that and trying to work as a translator for the United Nations. However I ultimately decided not to do any of that and left KU to go to school at a little Audio Engineering college in Kansas City. There I took courses on music theory, music production, recording, mixing and mastering, the whole shebang. Unfortunately though, I was still a lazy college student and wasn’t very hip on all the homework they were giving me. I decided Audio Engineering school wasn’t for me either and ended up going back to KU to finish a degree.

Around that time I was also briefly an intern at a recording studio in Lenexa, KS. However I was, still, a lazy college student and was more interested in smoking weed over my lunch break than actually learning anything. Tech N9ne did come in once though and I got to talk to him for a little bit. I asked him if he wanted to use the computer in the lobby and while his eyes were darting back and forth he responded with “Nah man, I got computers in my head.”

My senior year of college was probably the worst year of my life. I was hit with some insane health problems and had to undergo a series of surgeries while trying to finish my degree. The stress of graduating and having to find a job in the real world, on top of the stress from the surgeries, on top of even more stress from personal conflicts I was dealing with at the time sent my mental health down the drain. I got shingles on my chest and lost a ton of weight. I developed an addiction to anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers (on top of the already excessive amounts of weed and alcohol) which also did not help with my mental state. I was probably the worst version of myself at this point. My friends all started to hate me and I probably hated myself too. But in the end it was all necessary and I don’t regret any of it. I’m not sure what finally snapped me out of it, but after I came back to reality I was no longer a lazy college student. I ended up making the Dean’s List the last semester and graduated with a degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences.

At some point in between the surgeries music slipped my mind. After a few years of working my first job out of college, I started feeling really unsatisfied with my life again. I decided to go back to school and get a degree in IT since I had always loved computers. I worked a basic IT job for a while and then ended up becoming a Software Engineer (which I still do full time.) But even after all of that I still wasn’t happy. At some point I ended up making a list of all the things I would do with my life if money wasn’t an issue, and music was at the top of the list. So I just figured “Well? What are you waiting for?” and picked up Ableton again.

That was about 4 years ago now. I started putting out music under Bluz Cruz again and started playing at open decks in Kansas City to see if I could get some real gigs out of it. I went to a show at Aura one night and saw Jayden Young (DJ Acrylik) and Kardal Hart (Savage Habits) perform. Afterwards I reached out to Jayden and asked if he’d be willing to meet and talk about how he got started DJing in the area. We had a Zoom call and he just let me pick his brain for about an hour. It turns out that he was the perfect person for me to reach out to; that call helped me immensely and both Jayden and Kardal have become some of my best friends. I helped them set up a local music festival they were part of organizing (formerly 420 Fest, now called Backyard Fest) and in exchange they booked me as the opener for their birthday party show that year. And thus I got my first paid gig as a DJ.

During that call with Jayden he mentioned I should check out The Levee because this local production company Impakt would host open decks there. So I followed Impakt on Facebook and ended up being able to sign up for one of their open decks. I went down there one Thursday night and got to play my set for Alfredo Martinez (performs under the name Human Penguin and was the talent buyer for Impakt) and apparently I did a pretty good job because he ended up booking me to close out Aura one night after G-Rex performed there.

If you don’t know some venues will have their headliner perform during the most popular time slot (usually around 12 to 1:30) and then bring in someone to perform after them for the gremlins who stay until close. So my first time playing at a “real” show at a real venue with a real crowd was me playing AFTER this massive touring artist with millions of streams. Words cannot express how I felt that night. The club was still completely packed after G-Rex played his set. I was like a kid who got pulled up to compete in the Olympics. I was shaking so bad I don’t know how I managed to perform at all, but apparently I did alright. I ended up playing for about an hour and a half when really I had only prepared for an hour or so, so for the last half hour I was just winging it. Apparently nobody could tell though because I continued to get bookings after that.

At another open deck night at The Levee, I ended up meeting Greg Nail (performs under the name Reign as well as a couple other aliases.) He was a massive help at getting me to take my music production more seriously. It was something about his attitude and mindset that really had an influence on me and got me to start thinking about things differently. Also because of Greg I ended up connecting with Matthias Seyss (Kozmoz) on Facebook. One day I saw Kozmoz make a post looking for potential students to take on for membership so I reached out to him and we started working together. This is where my music production skills really leveled up. I wasn’t a lazy college student anymore and I was working 1 on 1 with an artist with millions of streams who does this for a living.

Apart from leveling up my production skills, Kozmoz taught me about the incredibly important concept of branding. Everything surrounding your project should have some sort of cohesive theme, down to the name. The way your music sounds, what your project looks like, what you post, it should all tie together. After his teachings finally set in I realized it was time to drop Bluz Cruz and come up with a brand that was a little more powerful. And thus Hydrosonix was born.

So while it would have been nice to start sooner, I think I started at exactly the right time. Other people’s support and advice have helped me immensely, and I probably wouldn’t have met those people if I had started sooner. If I hadn’t waited until after college to go to Aura that one night, I probably wouldn’t have met Jayden and Kardal which is really where it all started for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My artist name is Hydrosonix and I am an electronic music producer and DJ who focuses on EDM (more specifically dubstep and other heavy bass genres.) I am also the Label Manager and A&R for Recall Records, a music label focusing on narrative-driven bass music. I’ve been involved with this scene for about 13 years now and was first exposed to electronic music in my early teens.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Getting to see something I created have a positive impact on somebody. One of my friends told me her face hurt from smiling so much after one of my performances, I can’t remember the last time I was that happy and it makes me so satisfied to be able to create that feeling for somebody else. I love giving people the opportunity to forget about their lives for a bit and just enjoy the moment.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Never be afraid to ask people for help, most people love getting to talk about their craft. As long as you’re able to support them in some way in return they’ll likely be willing to teach you a couple tricks. Additionally your support is one of your strongest resources in the beginning. All the biggest opportunities in my career have come from me supporting other people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hydrosonix.io/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydrosonix
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hydrosonix
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/hydrosonix
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hydrosonix
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hydrosonix

Image Credits

Shot By Ed / Edward Wong