Hertz Collision’s name evokes concepts of precision and reaction between powerful sounds: that’s what Francesco Profeti and Pietro Franchini have put in their long-lasting collaboration as a duo. Their collaboration was born in 2009, when the two got together with a project inspired by their professional background in sound engineering and graphic design.

They have prepared for Monument an exclusive podcast, encapsulating some of their favourite sounds and crafting a balanced flow of powerful yet precise techno beats. Enjoy the music, and check the interview below:

In 2014 Francesco and Pietro began releasing music on labels like Tono Limited, Serial Number 849, Concrete Music, Dynamic Reflection, starting off a globally recognised career as DJs and producers.

Their latest work is Leskin (2018), out on “Ear to Ground” and already a great success: their tracks have been played and supported by artists of the like of Ben Sims, Oliver Deutschmann, Peter van Hoesen, Truncate, Juho Kusti and many more.

We had the pleasure of having a chat with the guys: this is what they told us about their views on techno, their inspiration and upcoming projects.

Enjoy their interview and podcast!

1) You guys are originally from Florence (Italy) and have been playing music since 2009. You played in Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands so far. How would you describe the techno scene of the places where you played? Would you say it differs from one country to the other or would you say that techno is a global language?

Techno music is definitely a global language, like it is for music in general. For example, an event, or just a club night can really become a meeting point for people of different countries, backgrounds and cultures; it’s a global occurence uniting people, leaving behind their differences. Let’s say though that the clubbing scene differs from one country to the other, the techno movement is not supported or lived in the same way everywhere, and above all, for people organising events, there are indeed differences with regards to restrictions or possibilities of each country. Talking about Florence, the majority of clubs closes around 4.30 am, meanwhile in Berlin you can party for two days non-stop. Anyway, the feeling of friendship and the love for the scene are the same, that’s what we felt for example from the Manufaktor crew, the Radion crew, or from Mario Berger (New Faces, Tresor) and Synoid’s team too!

2) Your project as Hertz Collision looks at mixing graphic design, sound design, music production and DJing. How did this originate? Is graphic design a passion or the professional background of yours? Do you see these worlds interrelated?

It’s simply the combination of our jobs: Pietro is a graphic designer and I am a sound engineer. These two worlds are always interrelated when we create something to promote our music like demos, or graphics for vinyl cover (when possible) or creative for social media.

3) Can you name a few artists inspiring you or whose productions and type of sound is a reference of yours?

Alexander Kowalsky (Progress 2002) for making us love this genre, also Oscar Mulero, Ben Sims, The Advent and all the Sandwell District crew for making us getting in touch with this music.

Regarding the sound, producers like Exium, Ben Klock, Function, Vril, Shifted, Wrong Assessment, Kwartz, Reeko, Polar Inertia (just to name a few) truly inspired us.

4) Apart from other artists and their music, what inspires you as musicians?

We don’t have a precise answer for this question. You know, daily life inspires us and influences our ideas and our will to make music, but not always. Sometimes, it’s just feeling that deep force, a strong need to create a new track.

5) Your techno is powerful and very dancefloor-friendly, yet very clean. It reminds me of the Pole Group kind of techno. Would you agree with this definition? Do you look at a specific type of sound and flow when you mix or you prefer letting things happen?

You want to make us blush (laugh). We really thank you for this comparison. We can say without doubts that one of us (Francesco) is more focused on dynamic stuff and always searching for the perfect beat, while the other one (Pietro) prefers creating the perfect “tunnel” with trippy tools. So, the combination of these two points of view make people dancing, focused and at the same time, allow them to take a breath too.

6) Do you also play solo or have separate projects?

Like we said, we complete each other in our work. Before Hertz Collision, we used to have different projects, each one on his own. When we realised that we could collaborate and put all of these energies together, we paused these first projects to put our forces together for Hertz Collision.

7) Your last EP is from this year and out on the London label “Ear to Ground”, well known for hard-hitting techno. How do you choose or get chosen by the label you want to work with?

We mainly search for projects that we like and that could be in line with our sound and our way of working.

8) Your previous release was on UNCAGE, label by Norman Methner and Marco Faraone. With this latter you have released Solar Shade, can you tell us a bit more about this collaboration?

As Marco said in a past interview, this one is a really friendly collaboration, we first became friends and then we released a track, Plagede, for the first Uncage V/A. Then, we continued to share our vision with him, also to get his feedback and he really supported us every time. That’s why we decided to put our ideas together and team up for a studio session resulting in these four tracks.

9) Upcoming projects?

We will collaborate with Wrong Assessment’s label AWRY, with our friend and super manager Fabio Venezia and his Voxnox Record.

10) Upcoming gigs?

We are working on something in Berlin, Barcelona and Madrid, but it’s all under costruction!

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Photo: Ihor Malytskyi