We recently connected with Danielle Redoute and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Danielle, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
We had different musical backgrounds when we met in 2013. I had 10+ years training in classical piano/ musical theatre and Brandon had a bootleg copy of FL studio. We believed we had everything we would need to explore making music together, except the knowledge of how to make music, together. We didn’t know anyone in the industry for hands on training so, naturally we took to YouTube in search of any information about music production. As painstaking as it was to filter through hours upon hours of, sometimes inaccurate content, we truly believe it became an essential skill for learning. The biggest obstacle one can face when learning is the discipline it requires to understand what’s being taught. Just because two pianists can read and perform the same piece of sheet music does not make them equally talented musicians. The most effective way to learn efficiently and remove obstacles is to turn learning about your passion into a daily ritual instead of a never ending checklist.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
In 2016, we decided to make the move to Detroit in order to better understand the community we were part of. We began throwing community events, hiring all the local talent we could find, and building relationships with those willing to share their knowledge. Through the years, we learned the history from the storytellers, the hardships from the artists, and the challenges from the industry leaders. This led us to create “Detroit Techno Family”- a collective of dreamers, doers, and believers working together to create sustainable opportunities for creatives in the community. Like when the COVID pandemic threatened the creative output of our community, we opened our studio to all Detroit artists who lost access to the public resources they depended on to create. Overtime, it wasn’t just artists and promoters seeking to join the collective, but fans and friends, too. The collective doesn’t just exist in Detroit, either. You can find Detroit Techno Family members everywhere from Portland, Maine to Havana, Cuba, and beyond. It is the growing input from our community that helps to guide us in our mission, which has most recently led us to launch a fully independent record label offering everything from education to distribution for both emerging and established artists worldwide.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
There are obviously many things rewarding about self expression, especially when it leads to the obvious, like financial stability. But, for us it is the sometimes unintended impact that our work has on others that’s often the true blessing. Recently, at our monthly Temple Bar residency in downtown Detroit we encountered a young Mexican American woman who made sure to let us know that even though the political discourse in the country has made it difficult for her to feel safe going out in the community, she truly felt welcome at our event, and she was overwhelmingly grateful. We can’t think of a better reward than that.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
The connection between fans and artists is a two way street built on constant communication and visibility. But, too often we hear artists complaining about the lack of compensation from distribution platforms, or fans complaining about the lack of transparency from their favorite artists. Here’s the truth: most people do not know about the complicated nature of businesses exploiting the creative space. However, they do know how to get to a website that lets creatives keep their profits, if the artist they want to support provides that opportunity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Deeperwatersdetroit.com
- Instagram: @deeperdetroit
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@deeperwatersdetroit
