Daniel Miller, Studio Master
His impressive career spans more than 35 years, and it began in the musically vibrant atmosphere that London was in the 1970s. Miller had just returned from DJ’ing in Switzerland to find England at the height of punk rock. Despite his early infatuation with the genre, he quickly came to realize that punk was nothing more than “sped up pop rock – sometimes with great lyrics.”
Musically, punk wasn’t exciting Miller anymore, and with the emergence of cheaper synthesizers, a new door opened. Before buying his first one, Miller played around with a friend’s synthesizer. In his own words, it was a liberating experience: “With the synthesizer, it was much more about a direct connection between your head and the tape. And, I really liked that idea.”
Armed with his new-found love for synthesizers, Miller went on to record the single ‘Warm Leatherette’ under the name ‘The Normal’. The track influenced a generation marking a point in time when synthesizers became more than electronic music, but an instrument of production and influence on modern music.
In order to release his single, Miller had to create his own record label – Mute Records – that he operated out of his London flat. The newly founded label’s turning point came in 1979 as Fad Gadget was discovered and signed by Miller; which proved to be a gift that kept on giving, as Miller saw Depeche Mode perform for the first time during a warm up session for Fad Gadget.
Daniel Miller, Studio Master
Since the start of his career, Miller has been an influential player on the electronic music scene. His label has signed artists that would go on to define the genre for years to come.
Being a proud advocate of Dynaudio speakers (he has used BM15s for as long as he can remember, and still uses them in his London and Berlin studios), we simply couldn’t resist the chance to interview the man himself. You can watch the full interview with Daniel Miller in the video above where he’s testing out our new LYD monitors.
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