Created over the span of two years, Balance 032 marks a creative high point in the career of Madrid-based artist Henry Saiz, and this marks his third appearance for the hallowed compilation series. Spread over an expansive three discs, it has given him the space to curate a truly stunning odyssey of creative expression, one influenced by everything from AI to his recent ADHD diagnosis.
As ever, he has gone above and beyond to ensure that the mix is crammed full of exclusive, unreleased material, with nearly 75% of the music included, both from himself, and many of his favourite producers and collaborators, from unknowns through to household names like Röyksopp.
“Since I’ve done two Balance compilations already, I didn’t want to repeat myself” he says. “My first, ‘Balance 19’, was very important for my career and I knew people would be comparing it with this new one, so I put a lot of effort into it to make it more attractive and to be able to gain more control in the final product sound-wise.” – Henry Saiz
Created in Ableton, which he uses for his DJ sets due to its unlimited creative functionality and precision (“I get bored easily with CDJs”), the mix makes great use of many effects, layerings, and production techniques to enhance the beautiful sounds that lie within. Part 1 takes a freestyle approach to find a sweet spot between home listening and club warm-up vibes, all woven together through a narrative about the connection between the past, the future, the reinterpretation of old concepts, and AI.
“I used a lot of AI techniques to add creativity to the songs, from cloning vocals to generate atmospheres, to creating grooves using text-to-music always like a tool in order to add to, and not to replace human creativity. Ideally, we will work with AI as a co-pilot also in the studio to make boring technical process faster and focus more on what really matters: ideas to bring our human experience into the music form.” – Henry Saiz.
Pre-order link for Balance 032 & Buy link for ‘Kickboxer’: https://linktr.ee/balance_music