Tell us who you are and what you do?
Hi, my name is Lukas aka Funky Notes. I’m 25 years old and a Producer, DJ and spare time MC from Basel, Switzerland. I make beats, scratch, mix, rap freestyle and do a little writing too.

How did you come up with your name?
Back in 2004, when I started DJing, I called myself DJ Funky Fingaz (and still do)...this is pretty much self-explanatory. Then, when I started making beats I had to come up with something new, people may recognize, so I gave myself the alias Funky Notes.  I had numerous aka's and nicknames over the years but that Funky-stuff kept sticking...by the way, it’s Funky in the meaning of cool / funk-type of music and not smelly!

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Tell us about your studio set-up/space
I’m working at home so the equipment I have has been purchased over the past 10 years or so. My main 'instrument' is the MPC 1000, which I purchased about 2 years ago and using since for maybe 1 1/2 years. I’m trying to do as much with it as I possibly can (including some mixing and so on). I do also have my DJ set-up (1x Technics MK 2 / Vestax PMC 05 as well as 06 Pro mixer / 1x Vestax PDX 2000 turntable), my computer runs Cubase SX and I also have an AKAI MPD 24. Everything is connected to my old Kenwood-amp with tape deck and really shitty speakers (definitely need new ones!!). I also have 1700 records (all kind of genres).

How did you become a music producer?
Well, I’ve been listening to rap music ever since i was 8 years old, so I always had the bap in my ears. When I started DJing I really thought that was it, but after I got into freestyle-rapping, I knew I wanted to make these beats, making me feel how I felt at that time. It probably was a Madlib-beat that made me want to become a producer myself, creating music. I have a friend, who is music engineer and producer, he introduced me to Cubase and making beats in general. He was and still is my mentor, whose knowledge is incredible. After about a year of making beats on the MPD and Cubase (we’re talking about end of 2010) I decided to make a step forward and get some new equipment. I purchased a second hand AKAI MPC 1000 and started making beats analog maybe one and a half years ago. On the MPC I had no help at all, I taught myself.

Who are your biggest influences?
I guess I have to say that Madlib inspired me most to become a beat maker. The music he’s doing has always been speaking to me and it really develops feelings within me like no other (ok maybe Dilla). Other influences are J Dilla, Kev Brown, 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, Khrysis, OhNo...the list goes on! But creativity-wise I’m inspired by everything. Things I feel, things I see and hear, people around me, daily situations, pretty much everything around me! It’s hard to explain but if something hits me, I just sit down and make music!

Tell us about the video on Youtube you are part of..

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Well, actually the beat “Never Knew” is my submission for the Hot Record Societé - a project from my fellow Soundclouder Art Vandelay. http://hotrecordsociete.bandcamp.com/
After this instrumental compilation dropped, I already had a nice feedback on the track. One day I got a message from a dude called Adam Shomsky, who already had numerous youtube videos at that time, also with a good amount of views. He asked me if he could use the track for a future skateboard video and I said of course, as I submitted the track to a compilation and it wasn’t meant for any rapping/other projects. I guess it was over night of maybe the 2nd day the clip was online, when the views exploded drastically. I think it was like 700,000 clicks within the first 2 weeks...it was really incredible and I received a lot of recognition and positive feedback for it. It was really cool. In the meantime, I had some other requests from video makers who wanted to use beats I made. They are all over the web but none of them had that crazy amount of recognition.

What encourages you to carry on with music?
Actually there isn’t really something in particular. Because I make music to be heard, it’s every listen a beat I created gets. I guess I could say to make a fortune of it one day but that would be a lie...I love music and I make music for the love of it - that’s the driving force. And seeing my own progression over the 2,5 years I’ve been making beats!

What do you think about the music industry and independent hip hop at the moment? Where do you think things are going in the next few years?
The music industry is fucked up as usual (that’s nothing new, check what Ike did to Tina, check how Ray Charles got backstabbed by his own band-members see how 50 got rejected by a major label). But Rap-music in general is freaking crazy right now. Me as a European kid, found it extra hard to find fresh music I liked (at least prior to the Youtube-era). As I always say, it’s all about digging. There’s a crazy amount of good music being released every day, all over the world. Look at cats like Kev Brown, Oddisee, Planet Asia and so on...they are releasing great music every single year, why would someone say, that Hip-Hop is dead or in an ugly situation...it’s blooming!! You just have to scratch the surface and you will find tons of good music being released within the last few years! 

What have you been listening to recently?
Besides artists like the ones above and hundreds of others I really like soul music, jazz, funk, blues. I also really love to just check my incoming tab on Soundcloud...there are so many good bedroom-producers, semi-pro music makers and spare-time rappers...you can’t ignore that! But honestly, I listen to a whole lot of my own stuff...I always like putting my own music on my MP3 in order to hear that stuff on a daily basis...this might sound a little narcissistic right now, but i like that I am able to hear the mistakes I make, and what I can change, and improve all that stuff!

Biggest personal music achievement?
My biggest musical achievement is not released now but all recorded. I will be part of a friend’s album, appearing in some weeks. I didn’t even produce for it, but I’m rapping on it, which is a huge honor for me, as I do not consider myself to be a rapper. :) Production-wise, I would have to go with the Curtis Beat Tape and my own first EP...Funky’s Week.

Tell us about your EP -

Funky's Week -> http://funkynotes.bandcamp.com
Funky’s Week was more of a brain-fart in the beginning! It was Sunday, the 1st of July, I was making a beat and named it “Sunday Bump”, I sat on the couch, watching some TV after uploading the track to SC and I just said to myself: “Hey, why not make a beat tomorrow again...and the day after...and in the end, I call it something with week...?!” That was it...then I just made a beat a day for the forthcoming 6 days as well. It was not planned at all until then! But it was also a huge self-imposed burden. It’s not that easy, coming home from work and just sitting down making quality music every day. But it was a nice experience and I’d do it again! Huge respect to Ta-Ku at this point for his 50 days for Dilla project...I cannot even imagine!

What is your next big project, any big plans coming up?
I got a whole bunch of stuff going on in my hometown/country. Working on 3 albums/EPs for friends and myself, I’m hopefully involved in the next pragmatic-theory project and otherwise I just try to keep my name out there and keep making music with likeminded humans (plain and simple).

Any last words?
Thank you Conflict and thank you reader/listener! Stay YOU!