Wehbba: I don’t really focus on having a particular sound or style, I just try to be as honest and true to my ideas as possible.

Renowned producer and DJ Wehbba continues to redefine boundaries with his innovative approach to electronic music. From his recent collaboration with Push on the electrifying track “Hologram” to the launch of his multidisciplinary label HIFN, Wehbba is carving out a space where music and art collide. In this exclusive interview, he shares the inspirations behind his creative process, the philosophy driving his projects, and a glimpse into what the future holds for his ever-evolving sound.

Sonic Infusion just dropped with your track “Hologram” alongside Push – what inspired this collaboration, and how did it come about?

I’ve always been a fan of Mike’s music since my early days as a raver. It was the heyday of Trance and Universal Nation was a huge rave anthem in Brazil in the late 90s, but it was just when he released Strange world that I had already started DJing and that was my first record from him, he always had a very classy an trippy approach to the more melodic stuff, which is very rare, and that has influenced me a whole lot throughout my career. I think it was towards the end of 2023 that we started talking about making some stuff together on IG, I’m really sure who approached who at first, but the important thing is that it happened and now we have 2 bangers together, and I’m happy, haha.

What elements from your own musical background do you feel made the strongest mark on Sonic Infusion?

I think the intricate sound design and the fat techno groove, which took a lot of effort to get right, since there’s a whole lot going on in the track. It’s not easy to keep the beat and bass hitting this hard with so many synths doing all kinds of stuff on top. Most sounds have many layers going on since we’re both kinda of detail freaks, every time we’d send the project back and forth a whole bunch of new channels would pop up, but in the end it worked out I we think.

This is your first release with Arcane Records – how did joining Eli Brown’s label influence your creative direction?

I’ve been a fan of what Eli’s been doing with the label, and had the pleasure of sharing the stage with him either at his own events or stuff like Awakenings, so it was only natural it would eventually happen. When me and Mike started working on the tracks we didn’t have any label in mind, so that didn’t really influence our creative direction, but when it was time to think of a good home for the tracks Arcane was pretty unanimous between us as being the right choice.

Creative Process and Artistic Vision: With your Live Station project, you explore hardware-only setups. How do you decide which setups or pieces of equipment best suit your live performance?

I do a lot of research daily on music technology, and everything that triggers my interest goes in my notes, but it took me about a year to come up with the base of the setup I currently use. It incurs a lot of trial and error, and a lot of practice, to know what works and what doesn’t, to help me achieve the kind of performance I want to be doing. I was never into working with computers on stage, so that makes things a bit more challenging, but equally more fun for me. I am very happy with the current setup I have, and hopefully gonna be doing more Live Station shows in 2025, as I was really focused on developing my new label HIFN in 2024.

You’ve released across iconic labels like Drumcode, Kompakt, and now Arcane. How do you stay true to your style across these diverse platforms?

I just make music regardless of which platform it will land on. And the music I make will probably always sound a certain way, that can be linked back to me, because I don’t really use samples, so because I create most of the sounds In my tracks, they tend to have a certain character that probably won’t vary that much, since they come out of the same brain and same ears. I don’t really focus on having a particular sound or style, I just try to be as honest and try to my ideas as possible.

Collaborations and Partnerships: You’ve collaborated with artists like Laurent Garnier, ANNA, and Adam Beyer. What do you look for in a collaborative partner?

I look for people that inspire me. Either personally or musically, it just has to click. And making music with other people is one of the most beautiful things you can do, it’s incredibly rewarding even if the tracks are never released, the experience itself always has something to teach me, and it’s the best thing to take you out of a creative rut. Working with Push remotely was extremely fluid and I am looking forward to working together in person in the near future.

Who is one dream collaborator that you haven’t worked with yet, and why?

I’ve been really fortunate to work with some of the most influential artists for me throughout my career, so I can really complain! But if I have to pick one I guess that would have to be Richie Hawtin, for the sheer fact that he’s a huge technology freak and so passionate about the music and what he does! Also, the first time I met him on an airport bus while boarding a plane, right after saying hello we were already talking about gear, that’s my kind of people, haha.

You launched HIFN as a multidisciplinary label. How will it differ from your work with Arcane or Drumcode in terms of collaboration?

HIFN is my own platform, and its main goal is to approach different art forms within a single platform, not solely music. The focus is not exactly music for the dance floor, but rather the lifestyle and experience of being immersed in different kinds of art, like writing, painting, visual media, but also bringing people together under the electronic music culture realm. Each release features 2 tracks, so far mostly techno, dance floor oriented, but also a third piece, called “wordscape”, featuring a soundscape made with elements from the other 2 tracks and a kind of text that represents the vibe of that release, and the text can be a poem, a short story, a single phrase or haiku, anything goes. And for each release there is an associated launch event, in different parts of the world, where I invite people to experience the release in different settings, giving everyone full access into the production process, and inviting like minded and partner artists to showcase their work in those events, which are filmed and then made available for the HIFN community members on Patreon. And the community is the place where members can share ideas and concepts of their own so we can all keep finding new and interesting ways of developing our culture, completely detached from the promotional/social media focused reality most fans are exposed to on a daily basis.

Life Beyond the Studio: Your journey from vinyl DJ to renowned producer spans decades – how do you keep growing and challenging yourself?

Making and playing music is a privilege. And since I am so fortunate to do that for a living for so many years, I just have to honor that, and my way to do it is to keep studying and pushing myself to explore new ideas and techniques in every single project, as well as trying to find new ways of expressing myself and my vision to the world.

Looking Ahead: Can you share anything about the upcoming releases on HIFN, and what they represent for the label?

The next HIFN release will be in January, not the easiest month to have a record out, but I want to have an early start, there’s a lot of great projects coming up on the label, including a weekend long launch event for HIFN003 in Brazil at the end of January, which I’m dying to talk about as soon as I put the word out about the EP. The record celebrates a particular side of rave culture, and I have tried to explore some radically different ideas on both tracks, which seem to be working really well on my sets lately. I will also open the label for demos on the first half of 2025, so hopefully we’ll have more likeminded art explorers joining the HIFN family after the summer, and I just can’t wait!