Let's go back for a moment to 2001 when your song "Aviation" came out as the third release on the well known Fokuz Recordings label. Can you tell us a little bit of how that came about? Was this your first record release?

I started out making tunes on an Amiga in 1992, and got some breakbeat piano hardcore tunes signed in 1994 under the name Vibena. However, this was total luck and being in the right place at the right time. I knew basically zero about production, and by the time my tunes came out in 1995 the scene had evolved into stompy happy hardcore which wasn’t my sort of thing. I was much more interested in the atmospheric Drum & Bass sound by this point, and I was sending loads of terrible demos to Good Looking Records from 1995 onwards. I had no idea what I was doing and had very limited kit, but I kept persevering and making glacially slow progress.

Chronicle - Aviation took six months to make in 1998-1999, during which time I got some feedback on early versions from Blu Mar Ten and Blame. When it was done I heard Blame drop it at a big Logical Progression night in London. Unfortunately Aviation’s production sounded extremely lacking, especially as he mixed into it from Seba - Predator which sounded so much louder and punchier! You can listen to that mix here. I was extremely disappointed with how Aviation sounded, and I struggled to make another tune. However, I was on an atmospheric Drum & Bass email group which was the closest thing we had to social media back then and Jeroen Vrolijk, (Fokuz Recordings co-founder and one half of Drum Origins), got in touch and wanted to sign the tune. Because there was no b-side, Fokuz put out Aviation as a double-A side in 2001 with Orion’s Requiem on the flip. I desperately wanted to improve, so in 2002 I did a music tech course as a mature student, then got a job on Computer Music mag in 2005. There I made a load of studio videos with artists, and it was this that helped me improve my productions because I learned from their techniques. From 2010 I was putting liquid tunes out regularly as Tim Cant, and in 2023 I finally started making full-on atmospheric Drum & Bass again as Chronicle.

Lately you have been able to get your music released under the Chronicle alias on some great labels such as Curvature, Okbron, and Spatial. Can we expect to hear more of these deeper productions in the future?

There is at least one more EP coming on Spatial. I would like to continue on Spatial for as long as possible, it’s in a class of its own in my opinion. I find coming up with interesting ideas challenging and I wouldn’t want to release anything I didn’t really like, so keeping up the quality is the main concern for me. Hopefully as long as I can keep making music I like there will be releases.

Can you tell readers what other music you make outside of the Drum and Bass genre for people that aren't aware?

I still make breakbeat hardcore under the name Vibena, and more recently I started a bizarre side project called Nibblers With Attitude. When YouTube became popular in about 2006 I became intrigued with videos of cute baby animals, and the Nibblers project combines my interests in fuzzy critters and dance music. The tracks are all non-ironic songs about adorable domestic pets, and I use a session vocalist who does an amazing job with the material. Making these super-sincere tunes about hamsters and stuff really makes me laugh loads! I don’t think there’s a market for it sadly, but I enjoy it a lot and want to do a bunch more tunes in this style. I think this should help to keep me fresh when it comes to doing my more "normal" music because it's so different and gets me thinking in different ways. That’s my justification anyway!

You have been offering one-to-one music production tuition to help others reach their goals and improve their work. What details do you want to let people know if they would like to take advantage of this service?

Yes, I feel like struggling for so long myself has given me a good perspective on what it’s like to have difficulties with music production! Most clients will send me a clip of a project they’re working on and we’ll discuss what they want to improve, and I’ll stream to them over Zoom and help them out in real time. I find it to be a very effective way to solve people’s problems as I can get very specific in a way that’s not possible with “one size fits all” advice. If you’re interested in checking the service out you can find it at Book Tim Cant. I also have a YouTube channel with lots of tutorials videos at www.youtube.com/@TimCant.

In the past you have done some collaborative work. What is your current view on doing collaborations? Are there any artists currently making music that you would like to possibly collaborate with?

I haven’t done any collabs for a while. I really obsess about stuff and often want to abandon projects because I’m not feeling them any more. So I find it easier to take my time and work on projects alone at the moment. Spatial have a compilation coming out for their 50th release, Space Time Continuum, that features a track from KMC who is a legit hero of mine, so if I had to pick anyone it would be him! Aural Imbalance is another artist I have been a fan of for decades, and Ghosts of MIDI and Reviver are on there too and they’re both excellent.

ASC presents Space Time Continuum

What do you consider to be a few of the most important things you've learned over the years that you've spent making music?

The main thing which I mention quite a bit on my YouTube channel is having a decent monitoring setup and referencing with recent tracks that are similar to yours. Like I say, I don’t hold much stock in “one size fits all” advice but I think this approach is useful for most people. It certainly helped me tons. I find focusing on the fundamentals helps me. I try not to get involved in making ear candy at the start of a tune and try to get the elements that make the track danceable sorted first. You have to put yourself out there if you really want to get involved in a scene. I hate social media, but recently I started making an effort to post to Instagram and since then I feel like people are more likely to reach out to me. It helps if you can take constructive criticism. Personally I hate getting feedback, but it's worth the pain if the advice is useful.

Is there any particular song that you've made that you're really proud of or holds some special meaning for you, maybe just a bit more than others?

I do have a few faves. Tim Cant - Heaven was written during a time I was extremely miserable, but it’s actually one of the more inventive things I’ve done and it came out on Spearhead which was exciting as I’d been a fan of the label for ages. Tim Cant - Daisy Age is cool, it's pretty straightforward but it captured the pastoral vibe I was aiming for, so that felt satisfying in a different way. I was also very happy with Chronicle - Crystal Clear because it's probably the closest I’ve got to the classic golden age Good Looking Records sound, and I like how the big movie sample works in the breakdown.

Tough final question for you here, if you had to pick one to keep which would it be, cats or guinea pigs?

That is a tough question! Since I started using Instagram again I have been seeing a lot of guinea pigs and they’re beautiful, so I’m going to go with that. The algorithm must be right, right?

Any closing thoughts or shout outs?

Yeah check out Space Time Continuum, but more importantly when it comes to full vocals or art, make your own stuff, or pay someone to make it. Don’t use AI, it’s bad for the environment, it pollutes culture and it disenfranchises workers. Solidarity between artists is only going to become more important in the future. Finally, big up DNB Universe!

Keep tabs on Tim Cant at the following links