Interview with Moscow-based DJ and Music producer Mujuice

Moscow-based musician Roman Litvinov, aka Mujuice, is one of those rare artists that can flawlessly do it all. He creates techno, frosty acid house, emotionally powerful symphonic compositions or incredibly catchy heartbroken pop songs.

Mujuice, who holds a degree in graphic design, refuses to be labelled as a strictly electronic producer, believing that contemporary artists should use all available resources. Blurring the lines between genres, he borrows elements from acoustic jazz and pseudo-symphonic music but he also uses clicks’n’cuts, microsampling and glitch tech. 

See our exclusive interview with the multi-talented artist below:

Set the tone for us. Why the arts?

Arts. Everything else I like rather illegal or impossible.

Which comes first when you’re producing – the sound or the idea?

One out of two. The devices structure the work, but the moment before that, you still choose the device. So the concept is always earlier.

Does your material feature any collaborations?

There is few with Zhenya Borzykh from СБПЧ – a beloved singer from Moscow. I wanted to work with her for a long time, but only now I gathered my strength and gained courage, even though we had known each other for ages.

What’s on your current playlist?

Right now I thinking which lecture on Freud’s “Mourning and Melancholia” to download 

Tell us about the chemistry you have with your fans on stage.

It is always a collective experience, blah blah blah. I depend on them, they are on me … 

In fact, everything participates in this, both place and time and people. We are all in this formula, the chemical formula

What techniques do you experiment with to get your original sound?

Anything. I try not to go in cycles, to change input devices, equipment, to jump from synthetic to acoustics and back, etc.

Take us through a day in the recording studio.

I get up at 6 in the morning, drink tea, answered letters and sat down for several hours to do something random and meditative. Then I have breakfast and then in touch with everything in working mode. That is, in the morning I’m more likely to do composer and creative work, and in the afternoon I’m probably in the office mode of a producer for various commercial projects.

Was there a specific moment in your life where you thought, “this is what I want to do”?

I think that you can do anything, but the music captivated me to a greater extent. You just do something and that’s it, this type of moment is not chronological, but logical. This moment is in fact integrated into you. I was impressed by some moments in culture and counterculture, and I wanted to be part of it. But in general, from childhood, it seemed obvious to me that I would do something like that. So this is just a form of interaction, the least destructive for me.

What do you keep close by while you’re playing a set?

sparkling wine and towel

Any emerging artists on your radar?

https://music.apple.com/ru/album/kisloty-people/1475003839?i=1475003843

What gets your creative juices flowing?

Tweaking knobs, patching modules or any equipment interaction can turn out productive.

Random events can trigger the process. Any hiss, any noise, any microtone. 

So my duty is just to be around and ready to press the record button.

Take us through your collection of gear, tech or software that accompanies your creative expression.

Perform with Ableton, write in Reaper. I love Reaper very much. I am a huge fan of automation scripts and code. I’m trying to optimize everything and the ripper gives such an opportunity. It brings the feeling that you are working with music without the intermediary

Any side projects you’re working on?

I do some amount of commercials and stuff. Music, sound fx’s, ost etc.

How have you refined your craft since you entered the industry?

Some sanity and professionalism are gained simply by repeating some kind of thing. Work on the bugs. But with all this, it’s interesting to carry with you throughout your career-specific extraordinary solutions and cultivate them

Breakdown the news for us: what can we expect from you this year?

IDK. Will see

Follow Mujuice:

Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | Apple Music | Spotify | Website