A Conversation With – Rafael Cerato

The Aix-en-Provence/Marseille based Rafael Cerato is known for blending emotional and percussive sounds with Rolling and powerful basslines, adding his pure house and old-school unfluences. Releasing selectively on respected labels such as Diynamic Music, Systematic Recordings and Stil Vor Talent, Rafael Cerato also runs his own label and events Ritual. He has now just released his first mini album “Picture” on Diynamic Music and a second studio album called “My Reality” on Systematic Recordings scheduled for release in June 2024 too. We also had the chance to catch-up with Rafael, to talk his career etc, read below:

Hey Rafael, welcome to Dance Rebels! How are you? Please introduce yourself too; where are you from, and what do you do in dance music as a profession? Hey guys! Thanks for having me :) My name is Rafael Cerato, a French producer of electronic music since almost 20 years now. Im also DJ, and running my own label and events Ritual.

What motivated you to pursue a career in dance music? What sacrifices in life have you had to make to enable you to pursue your career too? I’m a musician since 25 years and I became a huge fan of electronic music 20 years ago when artists like Daft Punk, Laurent Garnier etc was bringing this music into a next level. I was studying finance and got many traditional jobs but my only wish was to spread my music all over the world as a truly passionate.

If you could give one piece of advice to any artist wanting to become a DJ/producer full-time, what would it be? To be patient, working hard every days, trying to find their own identities and to make this job for the good reasons: passion and dedication. 

You’ve just released your 6-track mini-album ‘Picture’ through Solomun’s ‘Diynamic Records’, tell us about this release; what inspired you to do a mini-album? How many hours has it taken to produce in the studio? It was a real pleasure to make this release happening because it’s the most famous serie of releases on Diynamic. And I released 13 tracks on the label over the last years so it’s always something special for me to have new tracks coming on the label. The Diynamic team, Solomun and I, decided to choose these 6 tracks to build my Picture EP, it was a long work to propose many options to the label and they decided to pack these 6 ones all together. And I am really thankful for their unstoppable support and professionalism, specially Toby, Pete, Axel and Mladen.

Do you feel album’s are an important part of an artists career? Or do you prefer regular EP’s? Also, what would you pick out as your favourite track on your ‘Picture’ release too, why? Album concepts are always specials because they show the spectrum sound of an artist in time. And there is always a special story behind over all the tracks. Regular EP’s are also super nice but it’s a different work, all artists has their own point of view regarding their work, so it’s just my opinion. I like all tracks from the album, but regarding the crowd reaction over the Solomun shows and mine, I would say Sporadic is the one. But each track has a different vibe, so depends of the club, the crowd, the timing..

When you are in the studio making new tunes, where do you draw your inspiration from as you are diverse in sound design; you’re capable of producing peak-time rammers, but also groovy retro vibes too! Also, what is your go-to piece of software for music production? I’m following my inspiration while keeping my own identity. That’s the most important thing, also trying to experiment new vibes. I’m fan of different kind of music, so I find my inspiration in every styles. Always focusing on emotions and feelings. I started to produce with reason and fruity loops then I moved to ableton many years ago and still working with this one. It’s giving me a lot of different possibilities but all producers has their own skills and tastes.

You have a very good relationship with Solomun’s ‘Diynamic’ imprint which dates back 2014 when you debut on ‘Four To The Floor 01’ via ‘Constellation’, when you re-listen to this release, how beneficial has it been for your career? And how have ‘Diynamic’ helped your development too? Yes 10 years ago, time is flying… it was a dream for me to release on the label because I’m a long-time fan of Diynamic and it was a really good move for my career because I realized that we can reach our dreams with hard work. It was a big let motiv! 

Now, you’ve had 6 different releases on ‘Diynamic Music’, do you feel a part of the ‘Diynamic’ crew? Also, how much support and advice for further development as an artist has Solomun helped with too? Yes I can say that the label took a really important space in my catalogue and yes I feel part of the team of course. Even more after played b2b with Solomun in ibiza last September. And I can’t wait to play for the label again and again. Always such a big pleasure for me. Solomun helped me a lot while playing my music since many years now and spreading it everywhere.

When do you have planned for the Summer of 2024? Will you be making more releases on Solomun’s label? Also, do you feel it’s important an artist has their own recognisable ‘sound’ too? I have my second LP coming in June on Marc Romboy’s Systematic Recordings called « My Reality ». And I’m also working on new tracks for Diynamic as always :) let’s see if something new will see the light soon! Beside that, I have a really busy calendar regarding shows all over the world.

Finally, if you could remix ANY Diynamic Records released tune, what would it be, and why? It’s a super hard question haha because I am a really long fan of the label but if I need to choose one, I would say David August tracks or old Solomun track « Somebody Story ». Classics!