In 2010, Seth Haley, a creative director in New York finally gained traction with his synth wave project Com Truise. Called one of the best musical artist to code to, the Com Truise project has become popular with both engineers and the general public for its 80s style, synthetic, and rich beats.

We met Com Truise in San Francisco and discovered a strong connection in the habits, routines, and interests that help both create great music and durable code, includingFocusing on the most important thing to get one in the day from 5:00AM to 1:00PM without interruption from email, social media, or the internet.How simple the music actually is despite sounding complexCompleting the body of a new tracks in one sitting by surrounding himself with silence.

We covered many topics, including:

Early beginnings working as an art director in NYCSneaking as a drum and bass DJ back in the day 1:45Where “Com Truise” came fromDowntempo vs synth wave music 5:00Inspiration behind the music from Neon Indian, Prince, Michael Jackson, and others 5:30How the first mix tapes started with Block Rocking Beats by the Chemical Brothers, a casio keyboard, 8:00Starting “Elite Radio” online radio station 9:30Finding success in music 10:30Waking up at 5:00AM to get stuff done 11:30Probiotics, coconut water, and coffee to charge the batteries 12:00Sitting for 20 minutes in the backyard 13:00How focusing on producing a track from start to finish in one sitting helps to him to focus and get things done 17:00Gear that he uses 18:00How the space around him influences the output of his music 18:30Impact that music blogs in early 2010s influenced music discovery and 20:00How posting authentic content over instagram is more valuable than explicit promotional content and twitter 22:00Overstimulation of content 23:00

When Seth isn’t on the road or producing music, he’s actually an avid fan and learner of grilling and baking.