Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Martin Wave. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Martin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As someone who’s, at this point, worked on countless projects with artists, brands, for movies, shows and games over the years, the thing that I keep coming back to is the need to express myself in some way. When you’re asked to make music for something and you’re essentially limited to a pretty narrow brief, your own expression naturally becomes limited. That’s important, of course, because you are adding something to someone else’s vision, and it can be a good container for creativity. But in the industry we measure success in a way that often leads creatives away from personal expression and instead we’re focusing on always helping others. But music producers are all artists too in their own way, and depending on how you work and who you are, you can apply different levels of creative expressions onto other’s projects.

I was stuck for a long time in a place where I felt I was just doing exactly what other people were looking for. Musical chameleon. Constantly making songs to be pitched to artists and movie trailers, just grinding it out in the studio, always in with new people to make music. I had the ambition to release more music of my own, but that constantly took the backseat due to the workload and simply my inability to work on stuff where I had to push myself, rather than someone else pushing me.

One day I sat down with my manager and simply told him that I need to stop doing songwriting sessions because I just couldn’t do it anymore. And that was a huge turning point for me. I started saying no to pretty much all sessions, and only saying yes to things where I felt “YES, this is something I want to do!” That took care of big chunk of the problem for me which was aimlessness, doing just to do. The other part, which was the lack of self-expression, I started addressing both by making music for myself again (under my producer name Martin Wave), but also the project I started with my wife, Grace & Moji.

I believe firmly that if you put your love and energy into something, your surroundings will shape themself to allow that thing to exist and grow bigger. Because I stopped feeding energy into something that was making me unhappy and instead made myself available only to the things that brought me joy and positive outcomes, I got more of that in other areas like client work as well. I think that the easiest way to get to the point you want to be is to follow the excitement. It means that there’s something there that should be explored.

Martin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi! My name is Martin Wave. I am a Swedish music producer, composer, artist and songwriter living in Los Angeles. I work across multiple industries such as music, brands, movies and games and have a lot of fun doing so! I got started with music at a very young age, started making music on the computer at age 10 (24 years ago!) and pursued it professionally at age 22 when I got a job at the Swedish music production house Plan8, making music for TV commercials.

I grew up experimenting with a ton of different genres, making tracks and songs ranging from dance music, electronic beats, indie and pop to orchestral/traditional/scoring, death metal and even some jazz. Scoring to picture was something that came quite naturally the moment I started doing it, and it’s still something I love doing. But I think the main reason as to why I am able to do so many different things is that I’ve just worked really hard, being exposed to different ways of working and slowly got better and better. I didn’t really have a mentor growing up so getting feedback from online forums, from artists and people I work with, has been absolutely crucial. And then just an undying passion to create and make it sound good, and new ways to make weird sounds.

I love working on bigger projects like a video game score or a full length album, because I love the sense of completion that comes from that. But I also just love making music that comes from the heart, regardless if you can place it in a movie, with an artist or not. I think developing that side of myself has been a huge benefit, where I get to stay in touch with WHY I love making music and why my way of making music is unique. It makes your instincts better because you create more from an experiential point of view rather than a technical or “producery” one where it’s more about sounds and mix. I’ve been stuck in the technical and while it’s great to have those skills, they translate better when you combine them with a deeper understanding of the emotional content.

It’s always hard to say what sets me apart, but clients seem to think I often have a good, unique perspective, I’m very fast and usually get there within 1 or 2 revisions. I’m also very good at the musical dramaturgy for a project, making music sync with visuals and going from mood to explosions. I love drama and telling a story through the music and it’s by far my favorite thing about making music. I think it all comes from an early love for music that is very experiential, like dance music and movie scores, but also metal and embracing the darkness.

Some client work in the recent years include the 2021 Apple MacBook Pro announcement spot, doing campaign work for brands/shows/movies like Star Wars, Marvel, Call of Duty, 2K Games and more. I recently scored a really cool video game called Bramble: The Mountain King that goes very dark and very nordic, and I am just wrapping up an album that I produced for the artist Paloma Faith. I produced a big kpop song called ‘Hot Sauce’ with the group NCT DREAM and seeing them perform it live in LA was crazy. I’m also releasing music with my wife as the duo Grace & Moji, and I’m starting to line up releases for my own project, Martin Wave.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

So, outside of loving, for example, scoring a video game, I have a strong sense of purpose in my own music. I’m a person who went on a big inner journey after I moved to LA. I started having much deeper experiences and started seeing the world around me in a different way. Especially after meeting my wife Grace and growing together. I feel that both together and in my own (unreleased) project I get to express these concepts of personal growth, healing and understanding yourself and your place is this world. It’s cool to be able to channel my own experiences though the music and create from the heart in a way that can hopefully impact others. And also to help other artists channel their own unique creative extremes rather than just making stuff to fit in. When I think of projects that make me the most excited, those are the ones that come to mind.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Being Swedish there is a lot to unlearn. In Sweden we like to think that you shouldn’t be too much, make too much money, show yourself too much etc. In Scandinavia, it’s called the law of jante. Imagine that small town mentality of “who do you think you are” (or more accurately “who do I think I am”) but apply it to an entire culture.

When you have a feeling that you should do something bigger with your life than what’s currently around you, there can be a lot of friction. Breaking through those fears and programs running the show is an absolute must and the only way to do it is to do it. Moving to LA was a huge breakthrough for me and I owe it to my manager who brought it up. It’s funny that sometimes you just need permission. I still constantly work on all of my shortcomings, facing new parts of it. Swedishness can be a very uptight mentality where things need to be in a certain way and never too much. New things can be scary. I have definitely broken that part of me quite a bit, but there’s always more to it. It’s hard to just let go. Letting go is definitely the ultimate lesson in life, and even learning what letting go even means is huge.

Contact Info:

• Website: martinwave.com
• Instagram: @martinwave
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/martin-wave-95b552241
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/martinwavemusic