Electronic music production in 2014 can be a lonelier pursuit than ever. Making dance music has never been the most sociable activity, but that doesn’t have to be the case. London producers Andrew Consoli and Marc Langsman (who told us about his day job as digital innovations manager at Universal Music in a Job Envy feature last year) are launching a new initiative. Priced at £20, BeatCamp offers producers the chance to get together in a structured environment and work towards a specific goal: creating a track in a day. It’s a very simple idea, which you can read all about here. We had a quick chat with Marc to find out what it’s all about…
Attack: What prompted you to come up with the idea?
BeatCamp: For most of us, electronic music production can be a solitary activity. Affordable computing power and the internet have completely changed the game – we can write, record and publish a whole album without ever leaving our house or speaking to another human being. That’s quite amazing when you think about it! The flip side is that we can easily miss out on that spark which is ignited when musicians, producers, programmers and writers collaborate in a studio and vibe off each other.
So what was the inspiration for BeatCamp? There’s a little in common with CDR…
You’re absolutely right. We love going to events where we meet and hang out with like-minded producers. We actually first met at LEME 2013 and we’ve found events like CDR to be an amazing opportunity to get inspired and meet new and familiar faces. We’re always chatting to other producers thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we made stuff together?’
There’s a big movement for hack days at the moment and we want to bring that ethic to the process of making electronic music. The traditional record producer brings together different people to make a great track or album. We think that by bringing an amazing production community together it will spark some kick-ass music and forge close working relationships.
We also know that one of the biggest challenges for producers is finishing tracks. I’ve had coaching from Mike Monday on this specific area and Andrew is a real Getting Things Done machine. By giving producers the right supportive environment, a deadline and group accountability then we’re creating ideal conditions to make a finished track.
How can you explain what’s going to happen on the day?
We’re kicking off with an introductory briefing session to break the ice and set the scene before letting everyone loose making music. Producers are paired up in advance and each will be given their own workspace to focus on writing a complete track by the end of the day. We’ll be standing by with suggested schedules, time checks, surprise pick-me-ups, motivational support and high fives! We’re finishing off with a group playback session and celebratory beers.
How are you going to pair people up? I guess some kind of shared musical taste is quite important?
Before the event everyone will receive a short questionnaire to guide our ‘beat dating’ process. An overlap of musical appreciation can definitely be beneficial although being open to new ideas and a shared goal of wanting to make a great record may be the most important aspects. Daft Punk’s recent collaborations show how shared influences can come together beautifully. In contrast there’s areally unexpected video diarising a collaboration between Skrillex and The Doors. The Doors are clearly shocked by Skrillex’s style and even the whole concept of electronic beats initially but they quickly work together to end up with a really surprising track.
How about production methods? What about pairing people who only work with samples with people who only work with synths, or mixing things up in that kind of way?
Exactly. We think that mixing things up is one of the most exciting aspects because that’s where so much magic happens.
Are you going to take part yourselves?
Our mission is to make this the best possible event for all the producers who attend. There are so many things that go into making an event run smoothly and we’ll be working hard to ensure everything goes to plan. If anyone needs technical, creative or motivational support we’ll be on hand. We also have a runner to fetch drinks and gourmet coffee for all the producers at BeatCamp so that should make things a little easier. Saying that, it is pretty difficult to prise either of us off anything that makes a beat so we’ll be standing by in case anyone needs an extra buddy!
The first BeatCamp takes place downstairs at Mother, London on Saturday May 17th.
