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Nocturne

Origin: None

Just a simple guy with a dream and a love for electronic music.

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The very first time I was introduced to any sort of electronic music was in 1999 with the hit classic, you guessed it, “Sandstorm” by Darude (shout out to my older brother Jason for that one). I was six years old. Since then, I’ve been exposed to all kinds of electronic music through different ways. Dance Dance Revolution, I’m not even slightly ashamed to admit, was one of those sources and a huge one at that. However, I hadn’t really plunged head first into EDM up until ninth grade, which seems so far away but was only six years ago. That being said, I only very recently started producing my own music and learning how to DJ. I don’t mean two years ago recent, I mean maybe six months ago recent.

My name is Nocturne (Zach Fizet). I could write a very long and boring story about how music has shaped my life and how it influences me on a daily basis, but I will do my best to keep it short and sweet. A very long time ago, maybe around the time I was seven years old, I started taking piano lessons from a close friend of my family. Fast forward two or so years, I then started taking drum lessons from another close friend of my family. By the time I was ten years old, I had already learned some key components to making almost any kind of music. Then in tenth grade, I picked up the guitar. I hadn’t really started playing around with any sort of electronic music producing tools until senior year when a friend of mine introduced me to VirtualDJ. VirtualDJ opened up what seemed like a whole new world of music to me. Most of my early music productions are terrible bootlegs of songs like “One” by Swedish House Mafia and “Monster” by Meg and Dia (DotEXE Remix), all created through the use of VirtualDJ. Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2014. I did what any sensible, single, explorative person would do on Valentine’s Day: I went out and bought a Macbook Pro and a Numark Mixtrack Pro II. Since then, I’ve been making up sets and learning how to produce music (thank God for YouTube) in my spare time, which is not ever quite as abundant as I would like. Six months ago, I sure as hell would not have thought I would have landed this amazing opportunity.

Hometown: Youngstown, Ohio
Currently Living: Charlotte, North Carolina
Origin Of Name: I got my name from a few different sources. I picked it originally because I play a ton of League of Legends and one of my favorite characters from that game is named Nocturne. He’s this cool shadowy looking dude who kind of jumps from out of the darkness and absolutely destroys people. I also used to work a lot of night shifts and my sleeping schedule was all out of whack which, as a side effect, kind of turned me nocturnal. So Nocturne seemed fitting.
Weapon of Choice: My favorite “Rule of Dada:” Art should be loud as fuck.
Source of Power: The biggest one for me here: deadmau5. The first time I heard “Strobe” seemed almost like a life changing event, the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I know that sounds completely comical, but “Strobe” was one of the very first tracks I really fell in love with. Other very big influences in my music and sets are artists like: Skrillex, Dillon Francis, Martin Garrix, Armin van Buuren, Dada Life, Above & Beyond, Porter Robinson, Seven Lions and more.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Just go for it. Even if you don’t think you could possible win, do it. Because if you asked me when I submitted my stuff into the contest and asked me if I thought I was going to be a winner I would’ve told you “hell no.”

Was there one particular moment in the recording or mixing process for your Discovery Project entry that made you feel like you were creating something pretty damn special?
I feel like when I started to connect tracks together in my mix I really started to feel like this was a solid piece I was putting together. It’s mostly a collection of my favorite tracks so it was really fun for me to find a way to make them all flow together into one cohesive piece.

What do your parents think of what you are doing?
Apparently they didn’t even know about it until I told them “Hey I’m going to California in a couple of weeks to play a show.” Guess they missed the memo.

What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ? Or, what would people be surprised to find out about the profession?
It’s really not as easy and as simple as it seems. I have a friend who really likes to get on my nerves by saying “you just plug in your shit and press play.” I know he does it on purpose just to get me all worked up but it’s really so much more than just hitting a play button.

How does what you do for a living affect you on a day-today basis? How, if at all, does it affect your friends and family?
Right now, I work as a barista at Starbucks. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really like my job, but it’s pretty draining at times. It makes it difficult to sit down and start writing or making a new mix when all I want to do when I get off of work is sleep. It’s part of the reason why writing music takes ages for me, but I still try to dedicate some time (typically after midnight) to doing something musically.

What is your ultimate career dream?
I have a few goals: play at all the big name festivals (EDC, Tomorrowland, Tomorrowworld, Ultra), be able to take on producing/DJing full time and travel all over with it, and just be able to hang out with my favorite artists and talk about music or whatever else. I know that’s probably not a “huge” goal, but man, that would be a dream come true.

Are you impulsive with your work or do you have a sketch in mind before you start?
When I DJ there’s definitely a set track list in mind. I go into a mix with a list of tracks and start smashing them together, seeing what flows and what doesn’t. Then I go from there and build on top of it, cut out what doesn’t work and practice getting everything right every time. Going into the studio is much more impulsive. I’ll get an idea or something in my head, write it down, leave it alone for a few hours, come back, tweak it, leave that alone for another couple of hours, add more, go back and tweak what I have. I’m really picky about everything during the whole process which makes it quite time consuming.

What should everyone just shut the fuck up about?
Being a “real” DJ. I’m sure not everyone could jump behind a couple turntables and pump out some jams. I know I sure as hell couldn’t. But that’s really beside the point. Everyone has a style. Whether it’s preformed using turntables, CDJs, a controller or whatever else doesn’t really matter as long as you do what you love and do what you enjoy. I know people get upset about features like quantizing and beat sync, among other things, but how to go about doing it shouldn’t be a huge deal. The whole bickering bullshit between genres about what’s better or too “mainstream” is another thing people should stop fighting about. Whether it’s Big room house, electro house, deep house, dubstep, trance, dnb or trap, everyone dances to their own beat. Enjoy your particular taste and let other people enjoy theirs.

When you look at electronic music and the surrounding culture, what worries you about the future, what do you wish would change or that you could change? What are your weaknesses?
I think my biggest weaknesses are my lack of confidence and my modesty. Someone might say “Hey man, that mix you made last week was really good!” And my response is typically, “Eh it was okay I guess.” I’m extremely critical of myself and the things I do and I try my hardest to always give my absolute best, but when I feel like I could’ve done better with something, I’m the first to admit that.

Is success physical or internal? What does it mean to you?
To me, success is both physical and internal. To me, being successful is being able to spend your life doing the thing you love and being able to support yourself and your loved ones through that.

Do you have a favorite all-time mixed CD or series?
Armin van Buuren has been doing ASOT for as long as I can remember and that’s really helped me discover tons of amazing artists. Monstercat also puts out some fantastic mix albums every few months and they really have a stacked roster full of extremely talented artists. Seriously, those guys are fucking fantastic.

Winning Mix:

Winning Track:


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