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I love underground, independent hip-hop. I don't think it gets its proper due. There's just something about listening to talented, hungry emcees over unpolished beats that you don't find in much mainstream music. There's that certain aesthetic, the DIY hustle, that shines through the music. People keep telling me I'll grow out of it, but it hasn't happened yet.

In high school I spent a lot of time buying used tapes at one of Portland's classic record stores, 2nd Avenue Records. Most of the store was vinyl, but they had this old wooden cabinet in the middle of the store and you could pull out these giant, heavy drawers full of cover-less, beat-up tapes for $2 each. I loved digging through those drawers, and sometimes I'd spend my lunch money on some new music. After grabbing a tape or two, I'd occasionally wander over to the hip-hop vinyl section and peak through. But it was a pointless mission since I didn't have a record player.

However, I was a bit of a computer nerd, and I did have a 2400 baud modem attached to my dad's PC. Around 1995, I found myself on a "BBS" (google it) message board emailing with a young emcee and producer in Florida who was accumulating heavy amounts of obscure, independent hip-hop vinyl. He volunteered to fill up any blank tape I sent him with the best hip-hop he had, and it was too good of a deal to pass up. I'd send him two tapes at a time, and get them back a month or two later, packed full of all kinds of independent hip-hop, b-sides and remixes. Stuff from all over the country. It was an education, and I can't thank that dude enough for being so generous. He's now a fairly well-known producer and emcee in New York, who has worked with many of the artists he dubbed onto those tapes. When I moved to New York in 96, I started hitting Fat Beats, Footwork, and other spots, not just for the latest wax, but also some of those classic joints from those mixes. Over the years I've tracked many of them down - but there's still a few that elude me.

The first mixtape I made for internet distribution in 2007 was collection of 90s independent, underground hip-hop vinyl. Honestly, I don't have a copy of that mix anymore - I'd looked on old hard drives, CDs, everywhere - I can't find it. So I thought I'd take it back with a similar theme, and play an hour of independent hip-hop vinyl - it's not strictly 90s releases, but most of these joints are at least 10 years old (I can't believe it's 2012...). A LOT of records got left off this tape - those that made the mix are some favorites and obscurities that hopefully not everyone has heard before. I tried not to play too many records that appear on my past tapes, and I also tried to span the country geographically.

So for the backpacker, underground heads like me that hear this, hopefully you enjoy.

-- DJ Ian Head

Tracklisting:

Rhymefest "How We Chill Pt. 1" (CHICAGO)
It was hard not to put the b-side, "How We Chill Pt. 2," featuring Juice, on here, but the original is basically just as dope. Ridiculous amount of Chicago references (even Upski) over a sick beat. One of my all-time favorite 12 inches, I remember finding it in the Discorama basement stacks on West 4th back in 97.

Encore "Defined by the Dollar" (BAY AREA)
This was one of Stones Throw's first releases - I remember for awhile I only associated Stones Throw with high quality 12 inches and some dude named Peanut Butter Wolf.

Pumpkinhead "Dynamic (Remix)" (NYC)
The Natural Resource singles are all-time favorites, but I thought this more obscure 12inch from Pumpkinhead was a classic posse cut over a dope Miles Davis loop.

Kutfather "Neva Scared" (SAN DIEGO / SEATTLE)
I remember first hearing this on Deena B's Soundbox show on KBOO (Portland heads know...). An early Jake-One banger!

Elusive ft. Grouch and PSC "The CMA" (BAY AREA)
I was big into the Legends in the late 90s. Elusive was a underrated producer - all his shit was like 80bpm max, just crazy soundscapes. I ordered from P-Minus who ran ATAK Distribution, the best place to mail-order underground west coast hip-hop. Unfortunate that Grouch and PSC have been now.

Mr. Lif "Enter the Colossus" (BOSTON)
This was such a great record...man. Lif is such a beast! Flows + voice + politics + rawness.

Aceyalone and Self-Jupiter "When the Sun took the Day Off and the Moon Stood Still" (LA)
Hard to figure out what Acey track to drop but figured I'd go with this one, something a little more out there but dope. Evidence of why these cats are pioneers and legends.

Source of Labor "Q. R." (SEATTLE)
I bought this record off SOL emcee Wordsayer in 1995 at the first POH-HOP (Portland Oregon Hip-Hop Festival) after they had come down from Seattle to perform. I didn't own a record player but was so impressed with their show I asked him if he had a tape and he said no, just this vinyl, so I copped it for five bucks. No regrets.

Mass Influence "LIFE to the Emcee" (ATLANTA)
This was one of two singles they released from their album, which was also magnificent. Don't sleep.

[interlude]

Sleestackz "Ruination" (ATLANTA)
Another piece of dopeness from deep in the undergrounds.

Mr. Complex "Why Don't Cha" (DJ Spinna Instrumental) (NYC)
I showed up one day at Fat Beats with six bucks. I wanted to get the freshest new DJ Spinna beats, with the dopest emcee(s). I pulled one Spinna-produced 12inch and this Mr. Complex 12inch off the wall and told DJ Eclipse, who was at the counter, which should I spend my six bucks on? He pushed the Mr. Complex towards me.

Danja Mowf "Questions" (VIRGINIA)
Some sick creative shit from VA.

K-Otix "Intro" (TEXAS)
These guys had these crazy lush beats, like hard drums with Rhodes samples - or possibly live keyboard playing, not sure which. Dope emcees too. Classic EP.

Munk with the Funk "Exersize" (PHILADELPHIA)
This is just straight 90s underground shit. I'm pretty sure I finally found this in basement crate at Cue Records in Philly. I love the radio edits.

Smut Peddlers "One by One" (Instrumental) (NYC)
That bassline...

L.A.W. "Styles Bug" (SAN DIEGO)
I didn't realize this existed on vinyl until it turned up in a bargain bin in LA. Super slept-on group that had several dope cuts.

T-Love ft. Chali 2na "Wannabeez" (LA)
T-Love's first EP was great when it dropped, it was this breath of fresh air - the music, artwork, beats, guests. Just fun to listen to.

Network Reps "Simplistic" (NYC)
Really dig this record. My favorite part is the chorus, with DJ Spinna and Sean J Period singing. It just feels good.

Unspoken Heard "Mid-Atlantic" (DC AREA)
Another classic EP - I always thought these cats were super under-rated. I don't know if it was because they were from DC or what that they didn't get as much exposure as they should. The Asheru and Blue Black LP is also essential listening.

Arsonists "The Session" (NYC)
Kind of symbolizes the Bobbito Fondle 'Em Records era. I remember how much I loved to walk up 9th street and bug out in Footwork in the late 90s, digging through crates and checking for new t-shirts.

The Cuf "Sacramento" (SACRAMENTO)
Some raw stuff from a part of Cali many people ignore.

Atmosphere "Sound is Vibration" (MINNEAPOLIS)
I can't stand Slug's voice 90% of the time, and this EP is the only Atmosphere I own. But the other 10% he'll just destroy shit. Really dug the back-and-forth vibe between the emcees on this one.

The Nonce "Mixtapes" (LA)
I remember watching this video late one night on Portland rap godfather Cool Nutz's public access hip-hop show, and not believing how dope it was. One of my all-time favorite cuts, I own the promo blue-vinyl version and the regular version with the classic cover art.

wub wrote:


In case you forget why we're here...

Early this year I headed down into south London. It was the Thursday before January’s DMZ: Mala and Loefah had been at Transition cutting for their dance. But initiated by the prospect of a feature in Dummy magazine, I began a long interview with the pair of them. It had been a long time since I’d interviewed Loefah. My first and only interview with Mala happened even longer ago, for Deuce magazine around 2003/4, when “Pathwayz” came out on Big Apple. For a collective that have had such a profound and positive effect on my life, I admit I had always wanted to revisit them in interview, just once, to do the weight of their achievements justice – but only when the time felt right. That January evening the opportunity arose: this is that interview. I’d like to publicly thank Loefah and Mala for making it possible.

Blackdown: 2006’s was an amazing year, where dubstep broke out of its borders and went global. Where have you DJed this year?

Mala: America: New York and Baltimore Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Scotland, Wales. I haven’t been to Sweden or Danmark yet.

Loefah: I had a booking in Denmark but it was around the time of the bomb scare last year. I spent a lot of time on the roof of Gatwick airport carpark. They weren’t letting anyone inside the terminal building until last minute. I waited for six hours before they went “your flight’s been cancelled mate.”

B: What gigs have been highs and lows?

L: The lows are blatantly when they haven’t got the soundsystem set up right. When you get there any everything’s wrong, usually the soundsystem.

M: It’s always the soundsystem I will moan about. You always look forward to going away, seeing new things and meeting new people. For me the highlights are the people I’ve met. Learning about their cultures, what you have in common with people miles away from you. What I always find funny is that people talk about “you’re from England or London so you’re a certain way, and someone else who lives in another part of the world is another way.” But I don’t see that because I’ve found that there’s people who live thousands of miles away from me that I have more in common with than my own next door neighbour. That’s why I find the categorisation of music nuts as well. “World Music” sections in shops… at the end of the day it’s all music.

B: I came into music because I love the music but I’ve come to love the culture and what you learn about other cultures through music just as much as the music itself. Like Pinch’s “Qawwali”. How many people in dubstep knew what a “Qawaali” was before Pinch sampled that?

M: Yeah that is a deep thing. Like Portugal, walking around Lisbon, it’s nuts. The architecture is all old but it’s covered in graffiti and posters for dances. It’s a mad contrast of history and now. I find these places fascinating. I just feel truly grateful for the moments I’ve been having.

L: Crenshaw is in LA. It’s like, Boyz in Da Hood area. Morgan from Spacek is in the studio next to me but is out in LA mixing his album. He rang me and goes “I went to the shop today to get a juice and boys came up to him, some local kids from the area. He thought they were coming on top but nah, they asked him ‘are you that guy from London?’” Word had got round that he was in the studio. They said to him, “if you’re from London, do you know about dubstep?” He replied “yeah, Loefah is in the next studio to me in London” and they went nuts!” Out there, apparently, dubstep’s the new underground hip hop.

B: That’s the interesting thing: you take dubstep out of London and stick it in the Bay Area and does it come out a bit hyphy? Or Brazil and does it come out a bit Baille Funk? Every person that hears one of your gigs in Portugal goes away and says, “now I’ve also got some Moroccan music, I wonder how that would sound.”

L: It’s kinda like the Kode9 theory: the virus.

M: Music does that. It’s down to you as an individual to be as expressive and creative as an individual with your influences and your ideas. Just because you’re from somewhere or you do a certain thing doesn’t mean that’s how you’re always going to sound or stick to. It’s important to always try and do what comes natural, not box or limit yourself. You talk about that theory [that environment influences music] but then that should happen in every home because everyone’s home is different. Everyone’s quite individual.

B: Mala, your music writing always seems very natural and organic [more heart than head, say]. Do you ever go against that natural flow, say to yourself “I’m not going in that direction” and make yourself go the other way?

M: Not looking at other people’s music doesn’t make me think I am or aren’t going to do that [musical direction], but listening to music I’ve finished or half finished, I think ‘nah, that’s not what I’m on.’

L: Now I do consciously do what you said. Not always but I have done this year. I’ve been writing beats, put an element in and then thought ‘nah it’s not about that.’ I’ve limited myself – ‘I can’t use this, I can’t use that’ – until I’m down to an 808 kit and a sub. Yeah, it’s a mad one. As soon as I heard someone else’s dubstep track with an element that I had in a loop, if someone came with that track before me I’d be like ‘fuck, I can’t do anything like that, ever again.’ For examples arpeggiated sequences [a Skream trademark since “Request Line”]. My synth in the studio I can make the sickest arpeggiated sequences ever, they sound amazing. But I can never have them in my beats, ever.

B: Your sound Loefah, has been built by reduction, it’s the path that got you to “Horror Show” and so on, and your sound is quite minimal. So if you’re down to an 808 kit, what do you do next?

M: Do you think they’re really minimal though?

B: Each element varies a lot but the number of actual elements in Loefah tracks is low, which makes them feel minimal.

M: Loefah beats are deep.

B: I’m not saying they’re not…

L: Nah I’d agree they’re minimal. I’ve got this minimalist style and it minimalist in the truest form: it’s reductionist, taking away elements but…

M: I don’t really think about it that much.

L: I do a bit… I’ll tell you what, I tell you what I can’t do. I’ve tried to write things away from halfstep in the last few months. Not 4/4 but a bit more uptempo, and I can’t do it. I mean I can, I write a loop and bang my head to it, but it’s dry. It’s so not me. Influences man, I personally have got really lost in it.

M: You can have good influences and bad influences.

L: I’ve had a weird year musically. That’s the way I feel. I haven’t liked a lot of stuff I’ve done, to be honest, not 100%. I took a step backwards for a little while. What I needed to do was to stop writing beats for a bit. Consciously I paused for two weeks but if you take into account when I wasn’t finishing things, I dunno, three or four months? Maybe longer. But when I decided I had to get away I didn’t listen to dubstep or write beats and I went and started to enjoy being a music listener again and did it intensely, catching up, finding out about new stuff which I didn’t even know was going on, getting old stuff out I used to love. Just remembering my influences. And remembering what I’m about, musically. I can listen to a country and western tune, a hip hop tune and maybe even a rock tune and they’ll all have something which makes me like them. They’ll have some kind of common denominator.

B: I don’t think people realise sometimes how much music production makes you over analyse music sometimes. You can’t detach from it.

L: I had to though, it was driving me mad. You’re in the studio and even before you’ve turned your computer on, it’s like it’s an enemy of yours, staring at you. It feels like it’s conquering you. There’s a balance too. I got too anal this year into EQing and shit and forgetting to do the rest of the track. I’d spend two days working on a snare and be like ‘the track’s done now, because the snare sounds sick.’ I think being a good producer is knowing when to leave a sound alone, not keep going and going. If you look that music that gets over-produced, prog rock or whatever, it’s dry. It’s boring. A lot of house, a lot of drum & bass: it’s the same thing. Drum & bass: amazingly produced. Great mixdowns using fantastic pre-amps. But where’s the soul? Where’s the groove?

M: That’s what I’m fundamentally dealing with.

B: I think this is what’s good about a lot of tracks you both have made, is that people can engage with them emotionally, not just because they’re well made. But Loefah, I always got the impression that the fact that struggling with your own music had pushed you to higher levels, from the times of “Jungle Infiltrator” to “Horror Show” to “Mud” and beyond…

L: I think it did. But then it got to the point that is like when you mix paint too much and it all turns brown. I had to step back and say, “alright, do I need to know any more about a snare?”

People often talk to me about “the Loefah sound” but I’ve been trying to get my head around what that actually is. Because it’s not always clear, when it’s your own thing.

B: I always find with producers that they find they’re making what seems to them like very different tracks, but that’s because they’re comparing one of their tracks with another and looking at the differences. Whereas to other listeners, who might compare (say) a rock track with several of yours, they see the similarities in your tracks.

L: That’s why it’s about stepping back and looking at your own stuff like that. I’ve been listening to a lot of other DJs’ dubstep steps, more so than I would have. Really in depth. You look at what DJs play what tunes and what tunes they play at a time in a set, and why. You get an idea of what they see music and your music within their own context. It’s all guess work but it does help me.




B: How do you feel the DMZ parties are going? They seem consistently busy…

L: I suppose that’s what they are: consistent, so far.

B: A lot of people would have said “OK we’ve got a really popular night, let’s make it monthly or weekly.” Why haven’t you?

M: Because this is how it feels right.

L: if you do something too much, it gets boring.

M: The workload is a factor and time is something that in this day and age a lot of people seem to be chasing.

L: On a completely selfish level, if we were to go monthly, I’d have no time in the studio. I’m struggling to get in there as it is.

M: I like it how it is, it’s just right.

L: There’s other dubstep nights all over the place, there’s no need for us to monopolise.

B: To me I like it because it’s a focal point for new music, a high point. People make an effort to write and present new music.

L: [South London dubplate cutting house] Transition was open today [Thursday], even though it’s closed, specially to let people cut for DMZ on Saturday. Clue Kid and Cotti were there with 100 tracks to cut.

M: It’s the same reason now as it was then. We love hearing weighty tracks on a weighty system and just sharing that with people. With it being New Year I had a kind of reflective moment and I honestly can’t believe things are moving how they’ve moved. You don’t plan for anything like this. DMZ’s a nice atmosphere. It’s fun to be doing these parties.

B: What I enjoy is the balance between all the different types of people. I see people in there from all races and classes, all parts of town, people I haven’t seen in raves in ages.

M: So do I. That’s the thing I love, same when you go away to DJ, you just meet different people. There’s so many people in the world and we’re all so different but at the same time, we’re the same.

L: The maddest thing ever was New York. When I played there I really thought it would be a hard set. Because a lot of sets abroad, even now, you can play to a room of people standing still… but they’re loving it. In Portugal they wouldn’t call for the reload but when we reloaded it, they went nuts.

M: In Portugal they delayed the start, so we went on at about 12. All of a sudden we realised it was ram in there, at least a thousand people. We played our music and yeah, people aren’t necessarily skanking out: but they don’t walk away either.

L: I was expecting this stand still crowd in New York. I got the shock of my life. The room was packed and you’d have the tune in the mix for ten seconds and they’d react: they knew the tune. You know Joe Nice’s “5” thing? They all had pieces of paper with “5” on them. “Qawwali” was the biggest tune out there. I didn’t play it, but all the other DJs did, and it got three reloads. Sick. I’ve never seen a reaction to it like that.

B: “Qawwali” has a life of its own. People in different scenes love it. People that don’t like dubstep like “Qawwali”.

L: This is why I mention New York. They get it and they love it – but on their own terms. The tracks that are big out there are the tracks that they decide are big, not the tracks that come over from London. “This fits our vibe.” And I like that.

M: That’s what it’s about. Let them think for themselves. We’re not trying to force feed or lay false impression down. We do our thing and let people take it how they take it.

L: New York was amazing. So inspiring to have that reaction. It’s legendary… New York man! I still haven’t come down off my cloud. No jokes, it was amazing.

B: I still am delighted that after all these years of struggle this music has generated enough momentum to break out of its borders.

L: When we were in New York, Pokes and I were staying with Dave Q, the Dubwar promoter, who lives on this apartment building in North Brooklyn. It’s got a flat roof with a roof garden for all of them. We went up there to smoke a cigarette because we couldn’t get any weed and have a beer. All we could see was this Manhattan skyline. You could see the Brooklyn bridge and it was this skyline that you’ve seen in so many movies, depicted in drawings and comic books, t-shirts, everywhere. And there it was in front of you. We kind of looked at each other and were like… I’ve been knocking about with Pokes, doing not a lot, smoking weed and having a giggle, for years. We exchanged glances and it was like “how are we here? How did this happen? Our music has got us to this place that we’ve dreamed of.” It was a mad experience.

B: It’s right though, because you guys have worked for it.

M: People say stuff about your music but you can’t really see it that way but the things that it gives back… are just deep.

L: It proper humbles you.

M: It’s too much to put into words really.

B: It must be mad to be accepted in New York, a city that has had such an influence on the music we’ve all listened to.

L: Me and Pokes, when we were 19, we worked in this bar. We used to sit in my room, before or after work, and sit listening to hip hop, jungle too, but a lot of hip hop and just smoke weed and dream about going to New York one day. “One day we’ll go, we’ll have it up in New York, we’ll paint a train.” Then suddenly we were there and it was just incredible.

B: Didn’t King Tubby’s son just turn up at your New York gig Mala, because he liked your music?

M: Yeah. But that’s the thing that shocks me, it’s the people you bump into, talking to, that you can relate to.

L: Apparently Hank Shocklee came down to our gig in New York. He rang Dave Q for guestlist - and Dave Q doesn’t know Hank Shocklee. But Hank Shocklee knows dubstep. He’s in it. The Bomb Squad, man! Rah.



B: So can you explain a bit about how you managed to get to where you are now?

M: I don’t think I had just an initial hunger for anything, I just like building beats.

L: We’ve always done music together, that’s been our link. We used to make jungle mixtapes and never get nowhere.

M: We were never trying to get anywhere, we were just doing our thing.

B: But you always seem to be reaching out to achieve things.

M: Well if that’s what’s going on, it’s not something I consciously do.

L: No but you’re good at them things. When opportunities arrive, Mala will clock it.

B: Like for example at some point you must have first wanted to take music seriously. So how did you go about making the first step?

M: What I did was: bought a good pair of monitors. When I decided I wanted to make a beat, of a certain standard, then I got some monitors so I could tell exactly what is going on with the frequencies. I kinda new what I was after, because that was just natural. You find your program which works best for you, which at the time for me was Reason. And just went deep in it, played it like it was Streetfighter. That’s how I saw it, that making music was like a computer game. And you’ve got all these things that you’ll be twisting up. You start with silence and at the end of the time that you’re looking to go deep in it, you end up with five minutes of some’tin that just come from no where.




B: How do you fight off distractions – playing computer games, going out – to write music?

L: I don’t. when I’m writing a beat I’ve got bare other things going on. Playing computer, on the internet. If I just have me and the computer, I can’t get nothing done. Mala’s different though. If you get him on any computer game… there’s nuff times we’d be playing computer games at home, lean, we’d both be playing. Then I’d get too lean and just watch and Mala would be like “I’ll have another game.” I’d fall asleep, I’d wake up and it would be 6 in the morning and Mala would still be there: focused.

M: I can push through sleep mate.

B: Being able to live off lack of sleep has got to be a key asset to be a producer.

M: It’s a key asset to dying young as well I swear.

L: I’ve definitely found that the best time for me to write music is from about 3am to 6am. My proper going in gets done then.

M: Do you know when I mix down? For the final mixdown I will go asleep, and go into in first thing in the morning when my ears are fresh at just a moderate level. Then you can hear that everything should be where it should be.

L: My mixdowns always happen last thing. I need a deadline like going to Transition. That’s what makes me finish a track.

M: A kick up the arse. Haha…

B: To me dubstep is right to be listened to at night. It’s not daytime music. It’s also great to drive to.

L: Our agent Rebecca told us she was on the phone to grime’s JME. They were taking about how you’d describe grime music. He was saying “grime’s like going down the park, having a sandwich and seeing your mates play football.” And she said “I kinda see it like driving around in a car, late night in London.” And JME was like: “nar nar, that’s dubstep.”

That isn’t dubstep for me so much these days but the old days for us, the Hatcha years, the Youngsta years, Rinse, that was car music. Mala’s car. Coki’s car. Do you remember them early, early days, when we used to just block up in your car?

M: Yeah, many a time we’d listen to Rinse sets. 2003.

L: Park on the road, build a spliff, listen to Rinse. There’s only certain spots we could get it around south London.

B: How did the initial link with Hatcha come about?

M: I’ve known Hatcha for years man. I remember hearing Hatcha play, when Forward>> did a thing at Fabric in 2002.

B: The Tru Playaz night?

M: Yeah. I went with Coki. I remember Hatcha was playing there and I’d heard Hatcha play a few sets at garage raves and he was always deep because he’d play different record from what mainstream garage heads were playing. He’d always have a sound. I knew him from then. I don’t even know why… we were just writing these beats but it was only when we went and checked Hatcha in 2003 that he said come down Forward>>. Some of the beats we were making weren’t too far away from the beats we heard. So I played some beats to Hatcha and he was like “I could play this man.” It was a track that me and Coki had done in February 2003. He played it once and that was that. After that he played “Pathwayz”, “Mawo Dub” and “Indian Dub” and that was that. Hatcha heard some’tin, I’m not sure what he heard. But he introduced some’tin to a few heads.

L: Youngsta too, but the initial thing was Hatcha.

M: Like everything in life though, I’m the type of person that things in life you have to work for, one way or another. I aint really a person to ride on a next man’s back. So I wasn’t going to give someone music and do nothing else. That’s not my nature. My nature’s is to do more shit. I guess that’s how things started moving. We were getting beats played but not enough were coming out, so we decided to start a label to put our beats out.

L: Dubstep is what taught me to do think like that. If you want something in life, you have to go and get it. You can’t just wait for it or expect it to happen.

B: To me, it’s finding the strength to get up and go do it, that is the hard bit.

L: Mala was making his tunes for Hatcha, and he knew Hatcha. We used to link up on a production level, we’d link as friends and by the end of the night we’d get on a beat.

M: We’d always be talking about beats.

L: Playing each other the beats we’ve just written. I remember Mala was doing what he called “broken dub house” and it was live, man. I liked it. In my head I was going to bring back 1994 jungle. I was going to write this cross between ‘94 jungle and Metalheadz b-sides. Then I went to Forward>> with Mala when “Mawo Dub” got played and I had such a person connection with rave scene when I was younger, it used to be very important to me on a level that was probably a bit too serious, and I felt something in Forward>> that night that I hadn’t felt in years. It just felt like the Blue Note again.

B: Lots of people who helped start Forward>>, had wanted that Metalheadz/Blue Note vibe again.

L: But with Forward>> it wasn’t the music so much. I remember what blew me away the first few Forwards>> were [Wiley’s] Devil mixes. I think Youngsta was playing and I was just blown away. Then I was listening more to Mala’s stuff and it was then that it became known as, in my head anyway, “138 shit.” I was writing at 145-155bpm. That was then when it became music to be played at Forward>> but I still didn’t know it was called “dubstep.”

B: To me it seems like to a lot of people dubstep has filled a hole where jungle used to be. People have come over from drum & bass saying “this is what I’ve been waiting for.”

M: That was me as well. Loving jungle and then loosing interest… you just needed something else.

L: Something happened to drum & bass: it was Bad Company, though it wasn’t their fault. They come along with a new style that was fresh, and everyone jumped on their style. That was the start of formula drum & bass. The trend was: ‘everyone writes in this style.’

B: Everyone was waiting for that jungle replacement, which is why the DMZ night is so key…

L: The thing I love more than anything about DMZ is when you walk up the stairs you walk through into the main arena, that is what it was like at a rave. You got hit by this wall of bass and loads of sweaty people who didn’t actually give a fuck about the fact that you’ve walked in the door. They’re not looking at you. You find your spot, you get your drink, big bass, crashing beats and that’s the dance.

B: 2006 was a mad year for dubstep, unlike any other. What do you guys hope for, for the next few years?

L: I still don’t think about the future.

M: Nah, not like that. I just want to finish some beats. You know when you’ll get a drink that you love? And you’ll just rinse that drink out for weeks. Every day you’ll go and buy it. Eventually you’ll get sick of it and I love music so much I don’t want to get sick of writing it.

L: At the same time I feel with writing music I’m just scratching the surface.

M: Blatantly.

L: It’s a rabbit hole.

B: Kode said something that’s haunted me for ages, that’s music’s like a drug, and like all drugs eventually its effects ware off. I don’t want to believe it.

L: I don’t believe it. I think if music’s a drug it’s an opiate. Heroin addicts say that once you’ve taken it once, the devil’s on your back for the rest of your life. That’s music isn’t it? Once you’ve got it, it’s there, in your ear, talking to you, telling you what to do.

B: It definitely feels like an addiction to me. But I’d rather be addicted to music than anything else.

L: It’s not an addiction, it’s just part of life.

M: Standard. It’s not even something I can think about: not having music.

L: It’s breakfast. It’s sitting up in bed, a cup of tea. It’s the standard things in the day. It’s always there. It’s birdsong.

B: Birdsong is a better way of putting it than an opiate, for me.

L: Can you imagine no music? I can’t. If I was in the desert I’d be beating on the sand. Or humming. Singing at the top of my voice because no one else is about.

M: It’s part of life, it always is, from when you’re in the womb, hearing certain frequencies and shit.

L: Kode9 told me that when you get that big bass, no gnarl to it, it makes you feel cool, feel nice, because it reminds you of the womb and your mum’s heartbeat.

M: This is why I think a lot of people like house, that four beat, is like a heartbeat. That shit is infectious mate.

L: 140bpm is supposed to be a good speed to write at because it’s double resting heartbeat. Benga told me that.

M: Benga’s deep.

L: But it doesn’t apply to me because I’m kind of writing at 70 bpm. I am! My hats are at 140 bpm though…

B: What are your thoughts on a Digital Mystikz album, Mala?

M: The way I try and work is if something happens, it happens. And now, it’s not happening. I’m not trying to put that thought into my head, try and get something done by a certain time. Because I just can’t work like that. I’m not writing nothing off but I don’t think it’s important for me to do.

L: It would be rude not to though. Nah it would! [Joking] Actually there is a Mala album coming. It’s coming out on Loefah Bootlegs Volume 1 ahahah…

B: I think you’re right not to force it Mala, but I do think an album would reach people that don’t normally buy 12”s.

M: …

L: But then those people might not reach Mala, and they reach him now when he plays.

M: It’s not something I’m thinking about it. And I don’t think about it because then it becomes tricky. Haha simple.

B: How does DMZ the label work?

L: [Smiling] It comes down to paper, scissor, stone between the three of us usually.

M: It is what it is really.

L: We have a meeting and sort it out.

M: The whole dubplate thing means you can see tunes doing certain things and then you can tell from that. And that’s the interesting thing about it because although the people don’t dictate, it’s ultimately what the people talk about that builds the music up. But we’re not trying to confine ourselves to any one sound.

L: I think you know when a certain track’s right for the label, because I’ve said ‘no’ to tracks of mine going on DMZ, when I don’t feel like they’re good enough. But there’s no definite sound to the label. I just want the beats to be my favourite, the ones I like myself.

M: Everything should be quality control.




B: It’s a shame Coki wasn’t about…

L: … he’s here man [smiles].

B: That’s what it’s like in clubs with him! You won’t see him but he will be there somewhere - no one will have noticed him. But everyone will notice his track smashing the club to bits. And what about Pokes, you seem to have known him for a long time?

M: I’ve known Pokes years.

B: He seems like the fourth member of DMZ…

L: It ain’t even four members, it’s one member. We form like Voltron, like Wu Tang. We go away and I’ll play a Loefah gig and Mala will play a Mystikz gig and it’s alright. But when we come together and do our thing, it’s bad. Captain Planet, man: our powers combine.

B: Pokes seems to be a master of jokes. His banter on the Dubstep forum is second to none.

M: I’ve known him years, yeah, and he is one of the funniest people I know, without a doubt. He has me in stitches. If he were here it would be a different interview, he brings in that type of energy.

L: Every time I see him, he makes me laugh. You know “funny guys,” sometimes it’s like “give it a rest mate.” But Pokes doesn’t even try.

M: And that’s what he does in the dance.

L: I’d describe his humour as sadistic. Please quote me on that, because he’ll like that. But no, he’s really quick witted, you can’t leave yourself open.

B: He’s key to the DMZ night because he conveys that everyone – DJs and ravers – are all in it together and it’s a positive vibe.

L: Exactly he’s the communication. Everyone talks about bloody lyrics, right, but he’s actually having a conversation with people. Not just “listen to me.”

M: Through Pokes, there’s people that name dances, from his sayings. I saw something talking about “doing a Churchill” and that’s what Pokes talked about in DMZ Leeds, because everyone’s nodding their heads like the Churchill Insurance dog. “When this one comes in, all you lot will be doing the Churchill…”

B: My favourite is “redeye jedi.”

L: Yeah that’s an old one, that’s a jungle lyric.

B: It’s one thing to work with an MC you like, but it’s deeper to work with someone you’ve known for years.

M: This is the whole DMZ thing. It’s natural. Mans is just rolling like when we were at college and shit.

L: When we first got into dubstep, Pokes wasn’t in it.

M: The first time he came in, was when we did [Rephlex’s] Grime party at The End.

L: And we had to hassle him! “Come on bruv, just host it for us, please. Don’t chat, just intro it.” And he was like “It’s strange but I just don’t think you should chat to this music.” We really had to twist his arm.

B: It could have been so different.

L: I think Pokes is a big, big part of DMZ. Because it needs a vocal aspect. But I think it’s not that lyrically driven. If you want lyrically driven, go to a grime rave. We have our thing which isn’t lyrically driven. It’s not better or worse, it’s just not that.

M: Strickly good vibes. You’re coming into our house man.

B: People probably don’t realise, but wasn’t your first ever DJ set was at The End Mala?

M: It was.

B: That’s a pretty amazing place to have your first DJ set.

M: When they asked me, I looked at it like an opportunity. I was like: I’ve always loved DJing but I’ve never really wanted to be a DJ, but the reason why is because I’m totally deaf in my left ear. So I’ve always thought that if I’ve got to DJ in a big place I’m not going to be able to do it, even if I could mix in a bedroom. But I had decks when I was younger, I’ve been buying records for years but I wasn’t looking to DJ. So when Rephlex asked, I thought even if it only happens once, it’s an experience, so I’ll do it. Later I thought to myself, ‘shit what am I going to play?’ And then I thought, I might as well cut loads of dubs, because I had music so I might as well cut it. And that for me was when the step was made where it’s like not just like a couple of my beats in people’s sets but now you’re gonna hear my sound. This is my sound. We both played that night and so this was the first night that the DMZ sound got showcased. I remember it not being that busy compared to the first party, which I’m actually quite glad about, because I was shitting myself.

B: Fair enough, it’s The End!!!!

M: I’ve seen big DJs in there, so to play there was just… rah. It’s one of those things where you know you’re alive because you’ve stepped into something that you’re fearing. But you go and do it anyway. Plus the fact that people might not dance to my sound was quite daunting but after playing a few times and people don’t always dance, you realise that perhaps people don’t always dance to the music that I’m making but people aren’t leaving. But it started changing the perspective on what my music might be for. I don’t think I necessarily make beats for the dancefloor. I make beats for a dance, a big system.

B: I think it’s the next challenge for dubstep, now it’s popular, that producers can write beats that don’t have to be the biggest beat every time or the most rewound tune. Like the risks taken for Devil mixes, you don’t have to play them all the set, but just some of the set.

L: You are right though. When we played Leeds, the room was packed but it was like being at Slammin’ Vinyl. Birds in bikini’s a guy on stage with white gloves and glowsticks.

B: Gasmask?

L: It was different, it was “a rave.”

B: Did bits of the roof fall off onto the decks due to your bass this time?

L: No they had a canopy. So yeah, something dawned on me that I didn’t want this, I’m not trying to create rave again, me personally with my sound or where I want to take my sound.

B: This is why I think you guys get it right by using good soundsystems because it means tracks don’t have to be the fastest or the hardest, because you can feel them properly. I mean, look how well your “Cray’s Cray” remix has done Mala? And that’s not the fastest or the hardest.

L: That’s the baddest dubstep tune written. It’s sick mate.

M: I worked hard on that. Because it was a remix, the way I approached it was different, because you’re writing for somebody. I remember it being a really different process, but I enjoyed it.

B: It’s nice to hear vocal tunes in dubstep.

L: Nah. Not all vocals but certain vocal tunes. But that track does it… that track’s the one.

M: The vocal, for me, created in inspiration to piece everything around it, even though the vocal isn’t used throughout the track. All I used from the original was the vocal and the trumpet. Everything else I played, like the melodica, the keys.

L: It’s not just a scene tune, it’s a really, really good piece of music.

B: It’s one of those important tunes, because it appeals to people beyond the core dubsteppers.

M: I don’t like one type of person. The whole “dubstep” thing, I don’t think in that box.

L: Dubstep is a box now. It didn’t used to be a box, but it is now.

M: But that’s just natural because we put everything in boxes, man. But I just keep trying to fight that.

B: And as long as people keep doing that there’ll still be enough different spaces to grow into. It definitely needs to be pushed though.

L: I think it’s going to break. I think there’ll probably be a split somewhere along the line.

M: I don’t really see it as splits because even though you say there’s scene or whatever, everyone’s still doing their own thing.

L: Yeah but I can still see there being a definite shift in the music. But literally only in my crystal ball, it’s not like it’s definitely going to happen…

M: It’s natural.

L: I could see it splitting into two different things.

M: Just do your thing and enjoy your shit. Serious. Don’t worry about the rest of the world.

• Long pads/different patches
• Click noise with long delay
• gradually opening filter/reverb on the perc
• Single stab synth notes, soft
• Have vinyl crackle generator linked to sidechain whenever the perc hits, then bus both the perc and vinyl together with reverb to glue them together - light compression

-One top splashy/character layer
-One punchy mid snare
-SOMETIMES a third 'air' or reverb snare with no attack just for more depth

This also depends on the breaks you have going on. If my beat is particularly breakbeat-orientated then I'll try to use the breaks' snares to do these jobs. Often then just one choice snare hit will beef the beat out enough.

The key is sound selection, transposing, enveloping, EQ, and controlling peaks. Oh and REFERENCE!

it is all down to sample choice but if your wanting to go for that knife party vibe get 3 snares eq each snare out then eq as a hole compress as a hole that either add another compressor or a transient shaper. You just have to find samples that work at 200 hz pitching helps aswell so the frequencies all hit at 200hz

Try tuning the layered snares. Also if you are overlapping your snares with a loop, tuning the loop with the snare will help. Don't be limited with just snare samples. use tom and kick samples in the snare. Distortion (sometimes clipping) sometimes sounds good. Playing with the release time of each sample will help. Bus your layered snares to a compressor squash it then slowly bring the squashed snare into the mix. This also works with kicks.

and think about overall balance.. if the surrounding hits/elements are softer, then the snares will appear to hit harder, many times its just things being out of balance, making an already hard hitting snare sound weak and drowned out

Quite a few of them atm are just woody percussive sounds from films, but then we are talking slightly minimal dubstep/garage music so its not exactly Pendulum style mixdowns. Usually a bit of saturation or bitcrushing maybe sorts out most of the bite, if theres nothing of value going on down around the 200 spot I might layer something, usually theres a little bit there to get hold of with an eq and you can force almost a sine kick style thud out of it with an eq spike if it really needs the welly, I keep my boosts a bit on the wider side as Im not looking for that tom drum style hollow explosion of low end that seems quite popular.

• saturate or overdrive layers to make them thicker.
• Compress with some attack to bring out the transient.
• EQ to boost the fundamental and higher frequencies. remove mud.
• use transient shapers/envelopers to boost attack
• use clipping to increase loudness.
• Use claps/white noise/punch effects/sidesticks/toms for different elements.
• group together and compress/EQ whole thing together.
• use volume fades on the elements to make them sit together.
• pitch the elements up and down to fit.

you can then do this sort of stuff on the group - i think grouping them is vital to get coherancy via EQ and compression.

I do this normally but for some reason it doesn't ever seem to have a lot of impact. It may be because i always reach for the ableton eq8 whenever i eq anything. Would buying a better vst eq help with this? Because ive noticed that if i duplicate the ableton eq it seems to carry on cutting more of the same frequencies and usually end up using about 3 at a time to completely remove a certain frequency.

using the HPF/LPF or bell curve? if its the HPF/LPF then you need to understand there's not really such a thing as a brickwall filter (though there is a "brickwall" filter on izotope ozone 5... I found it has a shit tonne of artifacts and I dont like it at all) most HPF/LPF on eqs are 6/12/24db per octave and so wont remove everything. Sometimes it is best NOT to remove everything. 12db/octave is actually quite a lot whilst it may not seem like it when you have the sample soloed. Similarly if theres any ringy stuff you want to notch out with a bell filter you do not need to take as much out as you might think as you might not even hear what's bugging you when everything else is playing over the top of it. I think the ableton EQ8's bell has a maximum or +/-15db... should be absolutely plenty for pulling enough out of a ringy frequency without killing the sample.

(Edit - EQ8 isnt the worst eq ever, there are freeware ones that can be much better though... Dont get/buy another EQ because of the reason you asked, -10db is -10db whatever EQ you use. Get/buy another because it SOUNDS/PERFORMS better)

Do it in context, of both the whole snare AND the context of the rest of the track. You will probably find you need to remove MUCH less than you thought you did resulting in a more natural sounding snare. If you hardlimit your bands by putting 48db/octave filters on every layer its going to sound shitty and sterile and really polarised - it will sound like a load of different frequency bands hamfisted together, because that is what you have done. Only remove what you need to. Similarly only compress what you need to... Dont compress for the hell of it you need a reason to do so. Dont do ANYTHING unless you have a reason to do so, every time you do something you should think to yourself "why am I doing this?" "what is my goal in applying compression here?" etc. Think about what you want to do, then think what process you can apply to achieve it.

Which kind of brings me on to another point - you do not necessarily have to use a completely different sample, you can layer the sample with itself. For example you want to add more punch to a sample. Duplicate the channel and boost the piss out of 200hz and a nice frequency in the high mids (go fishing with your EQ and find a nice spot with nice presence) and compress the snot out of it (around 10db GR is usually a good starting point) with a slow attack, fast-medium release. It will sound like absolute dog shit on its own but if you bring the volume fader all the way down and slowly blend it in with the original sample you now have a dedicated fader for "more punch", whilst retaining the natural tone of the original sample. It can sound much better than simply boosting 200hz and compressing a little bit the original sample which can sound unnatural. Works for kicks too... mult it and boost the shit out of the bottom end and you've got a fader for more oomph... or mult it and suck out the low end, nuke it with compression and you can control how much "tick" you have on your kick and so on... It can really help make your snare/kicks/whatever the fuck you like (you can use this approach when mixing a vocal... sound design on basses... anything!) get the sound you want whilst sounding more cohesive because you've only layered it with a processed version of itself, rather than a more obvious 200hz snare layered with a clappy/white noisy/wet tissue snare etcetc.

This even further reinforces the fact that you NEED to start with a good sample in the first place. Pick a good one that has a nice tone, a little weight on the low end (the 200hz peak... can be anywhere from 150hz to 300hz depending what sound you're going for) but relatively flat frequency response on the mids/highs (if you look on a frequency analyser you're looking for something with not a lot of obvious spikes or notches and tapers off gently as you get to the highs). A good, solid sample. You can always EQ a little more mid in to help flatten it out if need be - then go from there with your multing. Go crazy with it if you like, mult for low end punch, mult for high end punch, mult for sustain (more tail end) mult for crazy shit like stereo imaging, chorus, distortion whatever the fuck you like, get creative. Its all in parallel to the original sample so you can just blend it in to taste all from one, maybe 2 quality initial samples.

There are PLENTY of these in Vengeance essential house 1 2 3, electro essentials 1 and 2 and electroshock 1 and 2. Plenty of nice punchy kicks and snares with some nice mid range on them if you look through them, you just have to listen to them IN CONTEXT to get the right sample. You may think a sample sounds a bit noisy on the tail or a bit ringy etc but until you get the rest of your musical elements around that sample there may be other elements that mask that frequency anyways - and if you've EQd the living piss out of it then it's now going to LACK that frequency band when you throw everything else in with it. I tend not to spend too long on my kick and snare at the start of making a tune now - get something that vaguely resembles what you are going for, WRITE THE TUNE and then see how the samples are at the end. You might end up choosing a completely different sample, or you might just find it needs a little EQ to fit it in better, or a little more punch which you can add by multing etcetc. No point spending fucking hours EQing a soloed snare drum to find suddenly you've lost your idea/vibe and all you have is a useless snare drum loop and no music. I am so bad for doing this and I know countless others suffer the same problem, and I've started to drag myself kicking and screaming out of that mindset because I know its not going to get the job done. At the end of it all nobody cares about your perfect (if there were ever such a thing without context) snare drum if your tune sucks/is nonexistant.

• Snare w/ peak controller
• synth w/ ParaEQ2
• ParaEQ2 set with a tight notch drop triggered by the snare peak

• Get yourself a kick drum and put 2 x Peak Controllers (or equivalent on it)
• Get a synth/pad patch that you like, duplicate it and EQ them so that they play different frequencies of each other.
• Assign one peak controller to the volume duck on each synth/pad channel
• Adjust the Peak Controllers so that they have different Attack/Release values for each
• When the kick triggers, the synths/pads should now drop out/in at different speeds to one another
• Bus both the synths/pad channels back together, bit of light compression to tie them together, reverb to taste

hutyluty wrote:What happened to you starting a label?

If you have been to a club in the past couple of years, chances are you have heard one of Lazy Rich’s massive electro tracks destroying the dancefloor. The Lazy Rich signature sound is recognized from it’s aggressively crunchy basslines, huge chord stabs, and bouncy beats, to it’s funky synth lines, complex edits, and huge anthem-like build-ups. The UK native now resides in Vancouver BC and spends most of his time managing his record label Big Fish Recordings, writing new original tracks and remixes, playing shows all around the globe, and even writing his own software, Label Engine (http://www.label-engine.com), which designed to help labels simplify the daunting tasks of accounting, royalty payouts, and track promotion. We were lucky enough to catch up with Rich a midst his busy schedule for some tips and tricks for all the producers out there.


5 Production tips from Lazy Rich

1. Sample packs are a great way to easily bring new ideas and depth into your track, but it’s very important that you know how to use them properly. I try to always change any samples I use before putting them in a track, even if it’s something as simple as pitch shifting or adding a delay.

2. Try to make sure that your track is always changing and evolving to keep the listener interested. I try to make sure that something changes every four bars, and I use uplifters and downlifters to build up to those change points and make them an interesting event.

3. I find a lot of drum loop samples found in sample packs to be too busy, a great way to make them more usable is to run a simple gate over them, this way only the loudest sounds from the sample will be included.

4. Never underestimate the importance of taking regular breaks in the studio – your ears get tired after prolonged exposure to the same music. I often find that if I’m struggling with a track, leaving it and then returning the next morning makes a huge amount of difference.

5. You should always start with the biggest and most powerful part of the track, as this is the focal point for any listener, and is the point in the track when the crowd should have their hands in the air! When starting a remix I have a very particular order that I do things in – first off I lay out all the elements contained in the sample pack and pick out those that I think will be useful. I will then work a short breakdown, adding new chords or melodies onto any vocals, followed by a build. Once the build is successful, this then gives me the perfect opportunity for taking a step back and thinking ‘what comes next’, as it gives you a reference with which to write your bassline, even if none of the elements from the sample pack are used at that point in the track.

The Lightning Round…

Favorite VST Instrument at the moment? Bit old now, but I’m really enjoying Sylenth for chords and adding some depth with background arps.

Favorite VST effect at the moment? Character which is included with the TC Powercore is a must for getting the most out of your bass synths.

Favorite Sound Library? Toby Emerson Essential FX of course, use it in EVERY track!

DAW of choice? Cuabse 5

Do you use any hardware? If so favorite gear? None, hardware scares me!

Producer you are digging at the moment? R3hab

How long have you been producing for? 5 years now

Biggest mistake beginners make? Not comparing their tracks using a variety of different speakers – just because it sounds ok in your studio doesn’t mean it’s going to work in a club.

Since 2005 Oli Cash of Far Too Loud has been cranking out hit after hit and its a rare occasion when you can’t find one of his productions in the Beatport top 100 charts. With club bangers like “Megaloud” to massive anthem remixes such as “Innocent” by 30hz it’s no wonder that he has earned multiple nominations for awards such as Beatports “Best Breaks Artist” and “Best Track”. Oli has even remixed some of the giants in the EDM world such as The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, and the Crystal Method to name a few. When a DJ throws on a Far Too Loud track you can be certain of one thing: ridiculous edits, massive electro basslines, and face melting beats are soon to follow. We caught up with Oli who has generously donated some of his time for an interview and to give some production tips to help out all the producers out there.

Production tips from Far Too Loud

1. FREQUENCY CONTENT: It’s well known that you want to aim for an evenly balanced frequency spectrum in your mixes. When adding a sound to a track I always consider where it will fit in the frequency spectrum and if there are any other sounds it will compete with. Before applying EQ I’ll play about with the octaves different sounds play in to make sure they can all be heard clearly. I’ll often use EQ automation to keep the mix full but clean. For example, if a track drops with just a bass sound and drums, then the bass sound (most often in my productions) will have an even frequency content over the spectrum so that it sounds big and full, however if a lead sound comes in later on, I’ll automate an EQ on the bass channel to allow space in the frequency spectrum for it.

2. PANORAMA/WIDTH: I rarely touch the channel pan pots when mixing my tracks as I don’t think it works well in clubs to have a sound permanently louder in one channel (although I will automate the pan pot or use autopan sometimes). Instead I’ll sometimes give a sound width by somehow varying the L signal from the R. There are loads of ways in which this can be done, the simplest of which is to apply a small delay to one channel. Many synths allow you to pan unison voices which is a technique I like to use often. Once I have made a sound “wide”, I may use some kind of processing on the S (side) signal to further control the width (check this link if you’re not familiar with mid/side processing – http://www.bluecataudio.com/Tutorials/T ... rocessing/). This may be simple gain adjustment for overall width control or perhaps I’ll use DMGAudio Equality (http://dmgaudio.com/products_equality.php) to EQ the S signal such that some frequencies (generally higher ones) are wider than others (generally lower ones). I think it’s important to have a good balance of wide and narrow or mono sounds so the whole panorama is filled. If I have a lead sound and a pad sound playing together, I’ll generally make one wider and one narrower or mono and sometimes play about with switching which is the wide one and pick what I think sounds best. With bass sounds I sometimes like to layer a mono sound with low and low-mid frequency energy with a wider sound with more high frequency energy to create a sound which fills the panorama. Note that it will help a lot in judging panorama and width if you set up your speakers and listening position properly (read this for more info positioning – http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb06/a ... diosos.htm).

3. DEPTH: The depth of a sound is generally controlled by adding reverb, although you could use some sort of modulation or delay too. I have acoustic treatment in my studio which deadens the sound in the room – this is invaluable for listening to reverb tails. If you don’t have a treated room, use some trusted headphones to check your reverb settings. I apply reverb to nearly all elements in my tracks, even if only a little, and use a number of different reverbs in one track to give a range of depths to the different sounds. Even if I am going for an overall very dry, up-front sound, I still like to use very short reverbs, delays or chorus to give a sense of space.

4. SIDE-CHAIN COMPRESSION. Side-chain compression from the kick drum is a well-known about technique, but I have become obsessed with LFOTool from Xfer Records for this (http://xferrecords.com/products/lfo-tool). The reason is that it allows me to easily tailor the release curve for each individual sound. I can go for a quick release, so that the sound is ducked only for the “click” of the kick drum, or a long release which can completely remove the sound for the duration of the kick, or anywhere in between. I’ll spend a bit of time with each sound playing about to get the release curve sounding right and sometimes, particularly with basses, split the frequency spectrum with EQs on parallel channels and apply a different release curve to each band. LFOTool also has a filter which you can control with the LFO which can be useful for fitting a sound in the mix.

5. GAIN. On many tracks in my sessions you’ll see Sonalksis Free G (http://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.htm) in the last plug-in slot. It’s simply a really nice software fader and I’ll automate it throughout the track on many sounds to make sure the mix is always well balanced and that the prominent sounds have space. I use Free G so that I can still adjust the overall level of the sound with the channel fader without having to adjust the gain automation.

The Lightning Round…

Favorite VST Instrument at the moment? FXPansion DCAM Synth Squad

Favorite VST effect at the moment? It’s a bit more than an effect, but I need to mention NI Kore…it’s so essential to my work flow.

Favorite Sound Library? Tough to pick a fave, but here’s a cool one I discovered a while back – http://www.drivenmachinedrums.com/

DAW of choice? Cuabse 6

Do you use any hardware? I have a MIDI controller (Novation Impulse 49), a sound card (Focusrite Saffire 24 DSP), and some speakers (KRK VXT8s) which are all nice, but apart from that it’s just a computer.

Producer you are digging at the moment? Culprate

How long have you been producing for? 8 years I think

Biggest mistake beginners make? Not investing in some decent ear plugs and wearing them at gigs.

wub wrote:

hutyluty wrote:What happened to you starting a label?

Moved countries so wasn't able to dedicate as much time to the planning of it as I would've liked, so it's been put on hold until I'm more settled in Spain and can focus properly on it.

Skream interview – Unpublished

This is the full length q&a interview with Skream which was used for the feature published in ATM Magazine, June 2006. This unedited version of the q&a session I did with Skream is previously unpublished.

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So when, how and why did you start making music?
Skream: I was about 13 and some boys I was rolling with they started making tunes, and it was like ‘rah they’re making music!’ It was on a Playstation I think, and I always DJed from when I was 11 and it was like just that next step, and it seemed so easy on that and it was just wanting to do your own stuff. Wanting to imitate the tunes you’d wanna get and make your own stuff.
Big Apple was also a big part of it, obviously. My brother used to work there and I got in there, met Hatcha, and he was spinning that dark 2step thing. And it just took me. I was on that commercial sort of garage, like most people were, but it was twist and difference in the sound. It was just mad. The whole music thing has always been the thing for me, it’s a cool thing to be involved in and the people involved in music always seemed like cool sort of guys. It’s a good way to make a living… well no it’s a good career choice if you can get in there, you know?
I was listening to El-B, Horsepower, Artwork, and it just felt like it was for me man. It was something I molded into and it was when I was at school. I wasn’t interested in school one little bit, I was a little fucker (laughs). But that was something I could concentrate on, and go off and be in my own little zone.

So what music where you listening to when you were growing up before you started making tunes?
S: What age? (laughs)

I don’t know, albums or tracks you remember from before getting the Garage bug?
S: When I was about ten I was an East 17 fan! (laughs) And I’ll admit it mate. It wasn’t until I got introduced to record shops and things like that. I was into Garage, the 2step thing, the whole 4/4 thing. Garage was attractive when I was young and going out. And then you start hearing things, like for me the early El-B stuff and Artwork, I always mention them cos they were so important for me. I heard them and I had a different feeling towards the music, it was the shit. You thought ‘yeah this is for me’. They were the tunes. I don’t really remember much of the music I was listening to before I started going out and brocking out!

Because your brother was involved with Jungle back then did you ever really listen to any of the stuff he was doing or listening to?
S: Nah, he’s 9 years older than me. I remember going on his decks and rocking the needle when I was about 8. And the stuff just sounded mad at the time! Like ‘tchk, tchk, tchk’ and the amens and it didn’t really do anything for me. But listening back to it now it’s like I can appreciate it and see the whole point of it.

Your early productions, around 02-03, alongside those of Benga are credited as influential in the development of the sound that has become Dubstep, linking it from darker to 2step to a more unified sound. What were you thinking about back then when you made those tracks? What was going through your head? Did you just want to make music like you were saying earlier on?
S: It was like what we wanted to hear. It was always on the darker sort of tip at the time, whatever we listened to was always dark. Like dark techno, dark house, it was just the thing we was into. Everything. And we started doing it and where we’d thought we needed a 30 grand studio we instead decided let’s see what we can do on this budget equipment. It was mad how we met – we met playing tunes down the phone to each other, through his brother, Benga’s brother. Hatcha also had a lot to do with it, because we were listening a lot to what he was doing. And looking back on it now I thought it sounded a lot like what I was listening to but listening to it now, it sounds nothing like it! I think the whole minimal thing was a big factor – we just concentrated on beats and bass really. It was bass really that was the thing for us. We were always trying to clock the different ways to make bass. Like the wah wah effect, LFO and like the whole thing when you first find out about cut off filters you know? And you’re like ‘rahhh that’s how you do it!’ I couldn’t tell you what we were thinking, I think it was really just wanting to make shit that was as dark as possible and spacey too and different. I listen back to that stuff now, and I’m quite… not proud of myself, but for the time it was different. Not the mixdown, or production quality of it obviously. That wasn’t the highest because we’d just started, and it didn’t matter. At the time anyways people were just looking for something new, and I think that’s what mattered the most.

Where you just working on some bust up old PC then?
S: Yeah at first it was a bust up PC! (laughs) It was bad, it hurt mate. Windows 98 or something like that. It was constantly crashing, all the fucking time. You were always praying that when you bounced a track it wouldn’t crash. I always forgot to save too, so you prayed it just went through. Apart from that, it’s always been Fruity Loops… I got a Mac indoors, so I’m just waiting for the whole revamp and then I’m gonna move to the Mac.

You’ve already talked on it but would you say the fact that you were in Croydon, working at Big Apple, etc… was influential to your ‘musical’ development?
S: Yeah. Artwork and Menta, those guys doing tunes upstairs in Big Apple, like ‘Sounds of the Future’ and the stuff before that. They were always kinda underground Garage, so that’s what was there and that’s what was in front of ya so you took from it. Horsepower is also one of my biggest influences. I was always into sampling out of films, I loved the eeriness you could get out of sampling strings and shit. Their sampling technique was second to none you know? And that too was just sort of there, so it was what we were focused on so we carried on doing what we were doing and everyone else was doing their own thing, so you’d think ‘let me try and do that’. And you’d end up doing something totally different, that was your own but inspired by someone else’s stuff.

From those early days, your music has moved on quite a lot. Your tunes are varied, stuff’s more musical, there are influences, styles and echoes from other genres everywhere. What was it for you that made you wanna change your productions, change the way you made your music? I guess what made you want to stop making beats and bass and start making music in a sense…
S: It’s just a step up in production really. A big factor was Digital Myztiks. Mala, Coki and Loefah as well. At the time I was going out and the scene was shit, the scene was really shit, in 2002/3. I was young, well too young, but I was going out, fucking clubs, whatever you know? And they started coming through and I’d hear their tracks in sets and I’d be like ‘yeah fucking hell!’ So by that point I knew I had to give myself a kick up the arse. Mala brought this whole music thing… not music but a more musical sort of side to it, like little hooks and shit like that. That’s what people want, hooks. Beats and bass can only go so far. You ended up getting sick of it.

There’s only so far stuff like that will go, like with early hip hop and simple funk loops recycled over and over.
S: Yeah that’s it, it’s just musical progression as well. It’s inevitable. Especially with production, you get bored with yourself, so you need to move on. It was the whole movement too, but Myztiks were a big kick up the arse. If they hadn’t come about the time they had, I don’t think things would be the same as they are today. Them boys put a lot of graft in since they come through.

And did you ever study music at all? Like chords, etc…?
S: I done a course, with Plasticman. A music tech course, basically I started and the paperwork got under me. I was gutted, because I was good at it. In the class I was one of the better ones at using the computer and shit like that, it was a basic course but I learnt a lot from it in certain aspects, so I was quite gutted when I couldn’t go back. From that point I pushed myself to learn, just looking at music scores, and MIDI sheets, and looking at how notes are used, shit like chord progressions etc… it’s the feeling I like, getting feelings through your music you know? The way tracks make you feel, the way they make you move, that’s the stuff I really like. When you listen to tunes and you get the shiver! That’s it, that’s the stuff I really enjoy. But yeah I done the course, it was only for 8-9 months. I learnt a fair bit about mixdowns, and shit I was stuck on like kicks and bass clashing. And all it is, is learning to pull the mid out. Simple things like that, but they really helped me. To be honest, out of everyone who did that course I never heard of anyone doing something out of it really. Where as I came out early and built on it, which I think was something that done me a favour in the end. It was good to go on me own and teach myself what to do.

I think coming from a background of fucking around with tunes, beats and bass and learning by yourself, it’s always important at some point to get some knowledge in, about things like chords and shit like that. It helps you progress like you said…
S: Yeah I could show you the chords, but I couldn’t tell you what they mean! One regret though is that I wished I’d learnt to play the piano properly. I’m gonna do it though, I’m gonna get some lessons. I could have had them at school… but when you’re at school it’s always the geeks that do that shit and I just wasn’t up for it, but now I’m gutted to be honest. Benga did it, and he was always telling me to get on it and learn. He took lessons for a few years, and if you listen to the music in his tracks, it’s bad, it’s real you know?

Well as you said you’re still using Fruity, what would you say are 3 good and 3 bad things about it?
S: 3 good things… it’s easy to get ideas down. I think the drum sequencer in it is the bollocks, it’s what you want for making drums, and I think the whole way it helps to introduce you to making music is cool. The layout, it’s all quite easy to learn. Bad things… it don’t bounce in 24 bits. It can fuck certain VSTs coming into it. The whole buffer thing is not that good, it’ll crackle up a lot of sounds from some VSTs. What’s another bad thing? Recording! Recording into it… I don’t think you can record into it. I record in Soundforge and then put it into FL. I’ll probably say that now and I’ll have someone on the internet saying that you can do it! (laughs) Ok so what’s another bad thing… the CPU thing is quite shit too. I think it’s to do with the buffer again, it just ain’t too good. The 24 bit thing is also definitely a bad thing.

How do you get round that?
S: I just bounce stuff as 16 bit until I get into Logic. And apparently things are going to 64 bit now, which should be good! Massive step. I can use Logic – I’ve got the last version for the PC, but I can’t use it properly cos there is something wrong with my MIDI and all that, so I don’t really use it for much. I was mixing down in it at one point, but I’ve got shit loads of VST effects so I just end up mixing down in FL still.

That’s fair enough… I read somewhere Loefah saying you could wonders with the program like no one else, so do you know anyone else who can make that program do shit it shouldn’t?
S: Apparently Concord Dawn use FL… have you heard of them? Well they was at one point anyways, because it was a big thing that they were using FL I think.

Yeah I know of them, they’re big in dnb. I never knew they used FL though, that’s fuckin funny.
S: Yeah, Benga was another one but he don’t use it anymore, he’s on Logic now. I’m the last one. Plasticman uses it as well too. But I can’t comment on that now you know?

And is it true that you’ve…
S: Yeah…

Done something like…
S: Yeah…

1500 tracks?
S: Yeah. I think it’s about 3000 .flp files, last time I checked. And that’s in addition to about another 1000 .flp files that are on my old PC. But it’s not finished tracks, it’s more ideas mainly. 4 of those might lead to one track, you know?

Still that’s a 1000 tracks!
S: Yeah. There’s about 4000 of those files on my computers. Easily. I don’t even count them no more because I get pissed off with myself, I think ‘fuck me where’s the tunes!’ My recent tracks folder, where I save my tunes, I think there’s about 300 in there, and then I’ve got another folder, from 2003 to 2004, and that’s got another few hundred finished tracks in there. It’s cos I don’t work you know what I mean? That’s what I do, I sit at home and work… it’s not like I don’t sit at home and lounge about! (laughs) Because I do a bit of that, but I spend most of my time in front of the computer so it’s normal that I end up with so much music.

How influential/important would you say Grime has been for you then?
S: It hasn’t. Request Line done a lot better because MCs in that scene liked that, and they’re the ones who control that scene, not the DJs. In the dubstep scene the tune was going down well, and it was ‘right where does it go from there?’ And then Skepta and that lot were battering it, I have to big them up on that. Maxximus out of Roll Deep was battering it too. At the same time I think it didn’t help Skepta, but he blew up at the same time as the track blew up. So it sort of helped both of us. That’s the only thing I’d really say that grime has done for me. The whole 8-bar thing I went off it, that’s what actually pushed me to push Dubstep more, because the shit was selling. I’m not gonna mention no track names, but certain tunes blew the whole thing up. When that whole 8-bar phase started the music was shit man, it was cut and paste bootlegs, from hearing well produced tracks by Artwork to hearing them beats and these tunes were going off and you’re sitting there thinking, ‘I’m doing better tunes than these!’ And it pissed you off because the tunes were shit man, the whole record sales from 01 to 04, to now that killed it big time. It was shit production and the whole crowd got more moody, with loads of MCs… The thing now is both scenes kinda get lumped together and people will say ‘oh you’re doing Grime/Dubstep’, and they put it together but if you say that to certain people in the scene, they’ll say it has nothing to do with it. And if you chat to certain guys in the Grime scene they’ll also say it’s nothing to do with each other.

Yeah it’s ironic that Grime blew up before Dubstep, because Dubstep came just before Grime…
S: Yeah but I think that’s a good thing. Because we’re kinda blowing up and getting a lot of attention, and like sales are really going well. There may have been a few odd Grime track I’ve liked but that’s really it. The way I look at it is, whether or not you write this, in my eyes they wanna do big british Hip Hop, so what are they doing new? They wanna be big off another genre. And then a lot of the production, people don’t put as much heart into it… about four of the top producers in the Grime scene have got engineers, and in my eyes I don’t look at that as the way it should really be. You would never think the big producers in hip hop have got engineers. In this small sort of scene certain things get overrated and it’s like you hear some of them vocal tunes in the club and it’s like… I listen out for sound quite a lot you know, and it’s really thin and the vocal’s loud, I’m not really a vocal person, unless it’s singing and soulful. I think with Grime it went from instrumentals to vocals, and when you get to that vocal barrier you’ve got so much to compete with…

Do you agree when people say there is an energy thing with Grime, the way you get energy across with the vocals?
S: I can see why people like it, there’s energy. I don’t mind working with vocals… I’m not anti-vocal, it’s just most of the time people saying shit like ‘I got a gun, I’ll hit your mum’ etc… The one thing that will end that Grime scene for me is the crowd, and you need a crowd to support your music. When the crowd is 80% young fellas, hoods up, smoking weed, not drinking just smoking all night, and standing in crews around, it’s like you’re scared to dance… not scared to dance, but you’re intimidated all night. It’s the look as well, it’s like a new hip hop! Not necessarily hip hop scene, I won’t say that…

Yeah but you can kind of apply that to hip hop in certain contexts…
S: I can’t stand that.

With hip hop that stuff isn’t the average, but in Grime a lot of people think it is the average night out.
S: Yeah that’s it. So then the only place you can get a decent crowd is somewhere like Fabric, where you get the more uptown, students sort of people.

Then you get the split between what Grime MCs spout about and a crowd supporting them who are miles away from what the people on stage represent.
S: Yeah they wouldn’t be road… they’re not from the streets… but they’re helping the scene, they’re buying the shit. That’s the difference with the Dubstep thing. If you go out to a night, no one cares what they got on, no one cares how they shocking out, no one really cares, not in a bad way but everyone’s cool. The whole time we’ve had Dubstep nights there’s never been a fight, never. There was once, and that was the second ever FWD and it was all to do with the mic, you know?

You’ve already mentioned Mala and Coki, but over the last few years who else would you say has influenced you sound wise?
S: In the scene?

In or out of the scene for that matter
S: Out of the scene, I’ve got too many to mention. From House to Techno, everything. There’s always something I like in every music I hear. Apart from… Trance, euphoric Trance and Grunge or Metal. They’re the only things I can’t quite get my head round, I might have to do ketamine or something you know? (laughs) The whole Trance thing I can’t get my head round. I love House… I wouldn’t say I love DnB, but I can go out and appreciate it, once in a while it’s cool. Influence wise… everyone in the scene really. Not so much that people influence me, it’s just that you all vibe off each other. The whole thing I like is that at the moment there’s no competition, it’s not like that. Our scene is the best, because it’s one big family, really… Everyone who’s been there since the beginning, since 2000 to now, is a unit. Because no one’s tried to get better ahead of no one else, and no one’s tried to outdo each other in a nasty way. Everyone’s sharing the limelight.
I met Steve, Kode 9, I met him through dubplate.net… I was asking how I could get Soundforge and he went ‘here’s Soundforge and a lot of other programs’. So from there you’ve made a sort of friend, and you go out and you talk and you become mates. Every single person, producer and DJ wise, I’m cool with. I look at them as friends, if I see them out I’ll go and chill with them and have a beer. It may happen, sooner or later, because more people are going to get involved. But for the main unit, between all of us we’re always together in a way. When we go out, everyone will always end up talking to everyone one else. Not like we only hang together, but you’ll end up chatting to someone different throughout the night. There’s no fighting between labels, or saying you can’t come to my night, none of that bullshit. Everyone is dope. Distance, Vex’d…

Yeah it really seems like a close knit community of music makers… everyone’s collaborating as well.
S: Yeah I’ve done bits with Distance, Loefah, I should be doing something with Mala soon, I’m looking forward to that. The whole remix thing is good like that too, that’s how it happened back in the days with Jungle for example. Everyone used to remix for each other, and that’s the way things build. If a lot of people are competing it’s never going to work.

Especially if you compete for something that’s not really there in the first place.
S: Totally. You look at DMZ, now they’re bringing everyone in with their nights. Everyone is being brought together under the same roof.

So what tunes by other people are you feeling recently?
S: Ironsoul, you heard them? Ironsoul, a track called Kalawanji. Quest is another one. He’s one to watch out for. Hard Food, The Mirage. Cyclops by Distance, Mud by Loefah. Umm… That tune by Steve (hums the melody)…

9 Samurai?
S: Yeah that one. Bruv all the tunes I’m really feeling at the moment to be honest. I’m feeling everyone who’s doing stuff. What is coming out is well produced music in my eyes. People aren’t spending half hour in the studio, doing two loops and then that’s a tune. Everyone is putting effort into it, and the graft is always going to show. It’s the way of life. If you work hard you eventually get there.

Yeah I was talking to someone recently about that. It seems there are elements of making music, like spending days on just one thing, like a day on hi hats or something like that. It’s got lost for a lot of music production today. People just churn things out. And with Dubstep and some of the tunes you hear people can relate to it because you can tell there’s been time and effort spent into it.
S: You can tell every bit of music, everyone, it’s all a good tune. It’s going off for a reason. That’s why with the grime thing, you can have not very good tracks and an MC will do a lyric over it and that tune will blow up. But everyone’s grafting hard, that’s the only way to put it. Everyone’s putting so much effort. That’s why when you go out to DMZ or FWD everyone is so happy. Cos they’ve grafted and you’re looking at what you’ve created and realising the work pays off. If you work all day on something, go out, play it and it goes off you’ll have a big grin. I’m like that, you’ll see me like that behind the decks.

Going back to your own stuff, you’ve got Skreamizm vol 2 about to drop, and then is the album still planned for later this year?
S: Yeah.

How has it been putting this album together? You’ve done 12”s and EPs, but especially because you’ve got so much music you’re sitting on, how did you approach it?
S: The thing is, with the album in my eyes the key is not to concentrate on it too much. Because a while back, like february or march, I was thinking to myself, ‘I need to do album tracks, I need to do them’ and I think it was my brother and Chef said ‘don’t think about the album, just build the tracks and concentrate on that’. And they were right, if you focus on doing it you’re trying to do stuff you don’t want to do, or that your body is not telling you to do almost.

So it has been a natural process almost then for you?
S: Yeah to be honest it’s done but there’s four alternate tracklisting for it man! Basically what I wanna do is I don’t want to bang a lot of new stuff, because it’s my first album. There’s no point, I’ve got a lot of old stuff that people want and I like. You might as well put it out, because if you put everything new, people will pick that album up and think, ‘oh alright’.
The way I look at it is you’ve got to show people what you’ve done. If you do an album of new stuff everything will be slightly similar, because you’ve done it all at the same time. But I’m putting stuff on there I’ve done in 2004, one or two bits, and then stuff from early 05 as well because it’s what people want. And you’ve got to give it to them. I know it’s what you do on 12”s, but I’ve got some really different stuff, like some more breakbeat stuff, at 150, jazzy sort of stuff, real well concentrated on the drums, where I wanted it to sound like a real drummer. Things like that where I spend so much time on and I’m happy with it I can’t leave it out. How can I not, I spent 3, 4 days putting the drums together. Putting them slightly out so it sounds real. So there’s tracks like that, then stuff people want too, cos it’s going on vinyl as well. It’s a mad one, it’s hard putting an album together because you got to think of everyone else and yourself…

It seems you got the right approach though.
S: I can do a second album which would be all new, but this is my first one so I want to do it right.

Pace yourself.
S: Yeah there’s no need to rush. Also putting all new stuff out now, kinda deletes the old stuff, not deletes but renders it old so people might dismiss it. You can hear the differences between old and new, so I don’t want to outdo myself. And also if I put too much new stuff on what will I do when I play out? I’ve been getting stuff ready this week for once the album drops, so I’ve got stuff ready for future 12”s. I can’t just concentrate on the album. I’ve got a week left to hand it in so I’ve now got to look after that. You’ve got to keep yourself comfortable for afterwards. It’s basically done, it’s just the tracklisting that needs finalising.
I’ve got the dates today. Skreamizm 2 is dropping in August now because of a delay at the plant, and then the album a month or two later. I think Tempa has been wanting to avoid the end of summer, as it’s shit for sales. You can still put it out a month later and do the same or better.

I was listening to the Stella Sessions the other day and heard the Horsepower remix of ‘Traitor’ – how did that happen?
S: I’ve known them boys for ages. I’ve known Benny Ill for 4-5 years, I used to go in their studio when they were building tracks and sit at the back. I love their music, and I asked him to do a remix because I’ve done him one. It’s as easy as that. I really feel that they’re owed more, cos their engineering skills… I feel they are owed a lot more. Benny Ill, I think he’s amazing. He’s just the engineer from heaven, and it was a natural thing. I love their tracks so why not get a mix of one mine from them? You know? I was really happy when he brought it cos you hear the first sound and you think Horsepower. And they haven’t had to follow the trends of the sound, they can just come in and do their own thing. And it’ll still get recognition. So I feel happy to have a mix by him of one of my tracks, and to have done one in return.

You also going to be travelling soon – how does that feel?
S: Blinding mate. Last year, 2 bookings in a year was good, but this year… it’s all blown up! It’s been chaos the last couple of months. This year I’ve been to Belgium, Germany, Amsterdam, played in Leeds, London obviously, Bristol… Leeds and Bristol are good, Bristol got a really good scene, they’ve got a little family, like Croydon but their own thing, it’s like another family you can link with. Manchester’s got its own thing happening with Mark One, it’s more on the grime tip but he does dubstep stuff.
But yeah I got America and Canada in the same trip coming up. I’m doing New York, Montreal and Toronto and then I come back and I go to Germany again, I go to Berlin, to play in a techno club. Then Switzerland, Denmark, I think I may also be going out to Melbourne for the Red Bull Music Academy with Zinc, so…

Oh yeah that’s another thing I forgot, Zinc did a remix of Request Line didn’t he?
S: Yeah. I’m returning the favour as well soon, I’m going to do a remix of Flim, featuring Slarta John. The Horsepower remix of Flim was bad as well. I’m not sure this can be printed, but it’s definitely happening. I think it should be cool mentioning it. Zinc is a proper, proper safe guy.

I remember he played at FWD time ago…
S: Yeah the lock-in! He done 2 till 3. But yeah he’s a really cool, down to earth guy. He’s been giving me studio time to record as well. He’s just a good sort of… it’s good that guys like that take time to help you out, I mean he’s a big guy in the game of dnb, he’s been about for years, Sharp Shooter bruv…

He’s been around over 10 years…
S: That’s it. It’s not that he’s an inspiration, but what he’s doing that’s what I see myself doing in the future. Bingo is like a proper company you know?

Out of all the dnb people he’s one of the ones I’m the least surprised to see doing different shit… Like you said earlier about a lot of dnb people coming to the sound, I’d never think of Zinc has coming to it, because he’s always doing different shit, playing with different tempos… I interviewed him when Faster came out, and he’s always been the dnb guy you’re not surprised to hear has gone and made a tune that sounds fuck all like his other tunes. I’ve got this track by him…
S: The one that changes tempo? Like a jazz thing?

Yeah that’s the one!
S: That’s a bad tune!

You could play that in a dubstep set and no one would bat an eye lid, and he released that a few years ago on a dnb EP.
S: But that’s it, at dnb clubs they expect the same thing all the time innit?

I heard the remix on his podcast, and I’d forgot about it. It’s nice to hear after hearing all the remixes within the Dubstep community.
S: I like it, I like how he’s used the halfstep for it. A lot of dnb heads are doing halfstep dnb now, people like Amit and others.

Chase and Status as well. They do a lot of halfstep dnb with hip hop samples over the top.
S: Yeah they’re good man. They used to do a lot of breaky stuff too, that tune they did, ‘Wise Up’, was bad. I really rate them. They come in and done that ‘K Point’, that tune’s ruff, they changed it and I rate them cos they went and now they’re big.

Actually you mentioning the techno club, did you hear about Request Line being played by Techno DJs?
S: Yeah Ricardo Villalobos is it? I’m not sure. I was surprised. I didn’t realise… took me a little while to clock. I’ve never heard of the DJ, but when other people were telling me that he’s big in minimal techno, I was like ‘rahh’. It’s a weird one to be honest.

Do you feel that Dubstep is linked to London, intrinsically, and that the global expansion may harm it, or that it’s inevitable and bound to be good?
S: You know I really don’t know. It’s like, a lot of people associate it with Croydon. But I suppose it was just the sound and the timing of it. But it all links back to fucking stuff that’s been done before in a way. It’s like people said Grime was East London and Dubstep from South London. I’m not sure if where it’s from really matters. I think it’s just, in the early days, what was coming before it. All the 2step producers were coming from Croydon. So I was feeling what they were doing and also what I was doing, and I’m not sure if London really matters anymore. Because you’ve got people building tracks all over the place, New York, Germany…

If London really mattered you wouldn’t be flying out to places…
S: Yeah everyone would be coming to London. The sound came from London… but after that. Garage was from Chicago, but the whole 2step thing was big in London and it came from that. I don’t give a fuck what anyone says, Dubstep and Grime both evolved from Garage, without a shadow of a doubt. And anyone who says different is a fucking idiot. Because that is where it came from. Everyone really was into Garage and went from there. Or came from dnb to Garage and then Garage sort of ended and that was there. So I don’t really think London has a lot to do with it as such, someone might disagree, but in my eyes it hasn’t really had that much… music is music at the end of the day, regardless of where it’s from. Right now shit’s becoming good in Australia for example. You can’t just keep hold of it, you got to let it develop. It is from Croydon no doubt, the whole dubby element, that was brought into Garage by El-B and Horsepower for sure. And it was more like Reggae influences, people talking patois in the sample, but at the same time there were other people in West and East London doing their own thing… I don’t know but you know what I mean…

I remember the other question I wanted to ask you now… the Sunship remix, is that ever going to come out?
S: Yeah I spoke to Warrior Queen and she said it’s her favourite mix of the tune, which I’m fuckin chuffed about! I begged to do that mix, well I didn’t beg but I went to Martin Clark and I told him I thought the tune was ‘rahhh’ and within a week he got me the parts! And I nearly had a seizure! (laughs) But then there was a bit of bad communication, because I done two mixes of the track and I was chuffed, the second one every one’s heard. And I done it nearly 2 years ago now, the first time I played it was that night in Croydon where there was 2 people in the club – literally 2 people and us. It was Dubsessions. Anyways every time I play it I get a little tingle, and I always get a good reception, people go off for it. It’s her man, she’s ruff, the whole lyric is dope. To do that tune, it made me feel a bit respected in a way, it was like a step for me to take and that tune is never really brought up, people always mention Request Line, but I feel that tune got more respect in a way. 1Xtra played it a lot, and it’s one of my favourite tracks I’ve ever done. It’s definitely coming out on Casual, because she said it was her favourite mix. I only met her 2, 3 months ago. She didn’t even know it was me, I went up to her and she gave me a bit of screw face and her manager told her who I was and she was all good! And now I’ve done another new thing with her, and that’s going down well too. ‘I Scream’ it’s called. It’s funny cos I can’t give it people, everyone’s on me for it, and I wanna give it out but I can’t because it’s an album exclusive – at first I didn’t even want anyone knowing about it, but then as a DJ you have to play something like that, so I thought fuck it. But yeah I’m feeling her. She’s bad, she should be getting a lot more props too I think. She’s not that well known I think, she’s underground dance music, the beats she goes on aren’t really commercial.

The only other stuff I’d heard her on was the Razor X stuff.
S: The distorted bashment stuff? The first time I saw her was Borderland up town. It was distorted like mad, and there was crazy strobes in the place, it was fucked. I was with Kode actually, we’d done a show together and we went straight there. But yeah she’s rough man, she’s really cool.

How was the last year for you then?
S: It’s been blinding man. You see the shit pick up but you don’t realise it until it’s picked up. I feel – I hate it but it’s Request Line that has brought me out into the open. To think it’s that tune that has come up like that, when there is the other 1000 tunes before it, is what bugs me. But that’s just the way it is innit?

Best moment of the last year?
S: Every time I first heard Request Line played out. I was shocked man. I had seen tunes go off before, but everyone in the dance is always going crazy for it. And I’ve been studying the formula to that tune since then you know? It’s a strange one. I done it, and I actually look back on it and it’s mad. I done that tune nearly 2 years ago, christmas 04, and I’d started it off as a grime tune, but then I thought no and it ended up what it was. And the B side, ‘I’, I done that two days later. But yeah Request Line was the highlight really. Seeing DMZ blow up is another big one. Seeing the whole shit just move. Seeing Steve going off to play everywhere. The whole thing. It was more the end of 05 and the start of this year that really is amazing for me. Since we done that Breezeblock thing it’s really gone from there and it’s building up and it’s mad because it hasn’t stopped. And we’re all thinking ‘it’s gonna die down soon’ and it’s now summer 06 and we are all like still riding this wave. We’re playing at the BBC festival now this summer as well – the one at the Isle of Wight. It’s gonna be a messy one. Just all the shit like record sales as well, they’ve been going really well. Start of last year it was good to sell 500, and where we’ve all come off the back of garage, where sales were really high, it’s now getting back to nearer that level of sales. And that’s been a big highlight. We need the vinyl man. I don’t like this whole CDJ generation if I’m honest.
The digital download thing you’ve got to get with, but I wish it’d never have happened. Because if it keeps going like that people are going to end up making music as a hobby you know? Because music is so easy to get now. Some guy building tunes in Alaska can put his music out there, but to me the whole music is built around vinyl, that’s how it starts you know? And then it gets to CD. The thing is the whole playing mp3s I can’t understand. Because if you go out and play, you want your set to sound quality, and people play shit bitrate mp3s and I can’t understand it. The digital download thing is here and you can’t really fight it, you’ve got to roll with it. You can still get your money with it by doing it legally. I can’t see why people share because the whole point of having a track is the exclusivity of it. So I can’t understand why people share tunes, it’s like being in a playground and swapping cards again you know?

How do you feel about 06 and the future?
S: It’s been an amazing year, from Breezeblock to DMZ first birthday to FWD at the End, Tunrmills on July 1st and the whole thing. For me 2006 has been the year I’ve been waiting for. We’ve all been sitting around waiting, and some people have left the scene because it’s not like it is now. And I think it’s a good thing we’ve waited, because if it came out too early it might have ended too early, but I can’t see it do that now. Dubstep has put its foot down properly, it’s a genre now. It’s what it is, people are starting to recognise that and not say ‘oh it’s like dnb’ or ‘it’s like garage’, that’s why I like seeing magazines getting interested, tunes reviewed, shit like that. It feels good. 06 has been the year for everyone, everyone has been brought through, all the ones who’ve been grafting and I can only see it getting better man.

JTMMusicuk wrote:you sound like your in pieces nowaysj

Show me a band that thinks it's 'all about the music,' and I'll show you a band with 14 listens on Spotify. It's just never that simple; the notes and lyrics rarely exist in isolation.

"It's all about the music..."

No, it isn't. It's a saying that needs to be deleted; a purist attitude that will kill a career. Because the most successful artists frequently go way beyond the music, in fact, they sometimes gain success in spite of their crappy and forgettable songs. This is about a package that includes looks, a connection to a scene, location, religion, or subculture, not to mention a certain celebrity factor. Guns n' Roses wrote some of the greatest music of all time, but they also excited dirty sexuality, self-abusive indulgence, and everything your parents fucking hated. They lived this life, it was dangerous.

Other, more modern examples aren't hard to find. Adele lacks the supermodel look but that's the point: she has emotional resonance, she has deeply-emotional music and a connection with all the inadequate-feeling non-supermodels. John Mayer has looks, the celebrity factor, and songs that excite female fantasies better than a Hollywood chick-flick. What we're talking about is packages that contain an important musical component, not music in isolation. Even purist genres like classical and jazz go way beyond the virtuosities.

It's not just fans, it's everyone that has any emotional connection to a group. If you hate Insane Clown Posse, the Juggalos, and everything that goes with that scene, then you're bolstering the cause and the band. Because Juggalo superfans are not only defined by their subcultural attitudes, but also the adverse reaction they get from mainstream society and authorities. Indeed, the Juggalos have been now classified as a 'loosely organized hybrid gang' by the FBI, up there with the Bloods, Crips, and Aryan Brotherhood.

There's a sullied and complicated story here. But from the standpoint of building a cult-like following, you couldn't ask for anything better. Because the world has now granted the Juggalos the highest form of 'otherness' and outcast (albeit voluntary) identity possible. Which brings us to last Friday, when ICP emcees Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope opened a legal defense fund to help Juggalos that are facing discrimination because of alleged gang affiliations. Everyone's in this together, they're going to fight the man, the Feds, and the overbearing US Government.

'Us against them' has never been so perfectly captured in a bottle. It's dangerous, scary to authorities, attacked, and intensely bonding to members. It's not mainstream, it may never be, and that's also the point.

This isn't the first time that a band has created an entire scene or even subculture. But it seems that the 'everything else' is so frequently missed by discovery apps and tech-driven musical ideas. Because algorithms don't create stars, at best, they can spark something bigger. This is about inspiring the rawest of emotions, the most deep-rooted anger, longings for the most misguided love affairs and fixations we can't shake loose. Not to mention psychological needs for association, identity, and definition from other groups. It's what good music marketing and real fan bonding is all about, and what 'discovery' and technology usually isn't.

t wasn’t until the spring of 2000 when someone handed me a black and green CD that I experienced a sound that truly confused me. Having spent the previous ten years subsisting on a diet of mostly progressive house and trance, it had become my natural instinct to categorize everything I heard as “club”music” or, well, not. That CD was Progression Sessions 3 and the tune I kept going back to again and again was Blu Mar Ten’s ‘Santur’. 12 years later I am still buying their music and their music is still surprising me. Today we look into what got them there.

Blu Mar Ten 101



Blu Mar Ten are Chris Marigold, Leo Wyndham and Michael Tognarelli, a three piece [primarily] drum and bass outfit from London. Switch on the radio and you may well hear BBC Radio 1’s Annie Nightingale playing Blu Mar Ten. Head to the right club and you’ll find the likes of Doc Scott, John B, Ed Rush, Marcus Intalex, SPY and Marky dropping their tracks. Hit up your local record shop or mp3 portal and you’ll find their work on a string of tier one imprints including LTJ Bukem’s Good Looking Records, London Elektricity’s Hospital Records, Ninja Tune, 720 Recordings, Friction’s Shogun Audio, and Renegade Hardware.

While mostly recognized for their drum and bass work, Blu Mar Ten have also recorded breaks for Rennie Pilgrem’s label TCR, as well as 2-step garage, tech-house and more left-field down-tempo for the likes of Big Chill. With three albums under their belt, and new album Love is the Devil coming out at the end of the month, it’s not surprising that Chris, Leo and Michael have been in high demand as remix artists for the likes of Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Terry Lee Brown and Joey Negro. Dance Dance Revolution fans will also have experienced the thrill of throwing themselves around to the sounds of Camden’s finest.



As DJ’s you’ll find them playing across the globe. In the UK you may well run into them at the iconic Fabric unless they are taking to the road with the Hospital Records crew. The last couple of months alone have seen them playing in Vancouver, Germany, Italy and Russia. So, If you have been within 500 miles of drum and bass in the last 15 years, you know Blu Mar Ten.

The following interview with Blu Mar Ten’s Chris Marigold took place over the course of a couple of weeks as the lads were finishing up work on their new album “Love is the Devil”, while playing a string of DJ sets from the West Coast to the Eastern Block.

Prior to the formation of Blu Mar Ten in the mid 90’s you were busy DJing on pirate radio and at raves around the U.K. Fast forward 15 years and you recently tweeted, “I finally had to give up on vinyl after the last few gigs. Battling just to mix properly these days…” So, what are you mixing on now?

After 20-odd years of mixing on vinyl I’ve started mixing with CDs as my last few gigs were just a nightmare. It’s a bit of a shame as it’s much less involved than mixing with records. With vinyl you always feel like you’re slightly out of control whereas CDs are a much more sedate experience. Much less frantic. I also noticed how much harder it is to keep your eyes on the crowd when there’s a screen in front of you, even the little one on CDJs. I was always so used to just looking at the crowd and I never really needed to look at the equipment but now I understand why so many people who play CDs and laptops always seem to be staring into the kit. You have to make a conscious effort to drag your eyes away from the screens because they demand to be looked at. I might start covering them up…

Have you noticed the response from the crowd changing since you swapped to CDJs?



No not at all, but I think that’s to do with the way you play rather than the technology you play on. If you’re engaged with the crowd and you really enjoy what you do then who cares what machines you use. You only need to look at [DJ] Marky for proof of that – he uses a laptop but none of his audiences look disconnected.

Blu Mar Ten’s productions are anything but simple DJ tools and require a good deal of thought and feeling if the DJ is to do them justice in their set. How do you approach your own music as a DJ and what advice do you have for DJs looking to amp their game by incorporating more intricate productions?

The thing about drum & bass is that it’s become club music in a mostly abstract sense. If you think about the number of times you listen to a track that you like 99% of those times it will be at home, on a PC, in your car, on your iPod or phone etc. You may hear it once or twice in a club but probably no more than that so the idea that it’s dance music or club music is a bit weird because it really isn’t, except theoretically.So, if you extend that logic it’s a bit odd to write music that’s ‘easy to mix’ or a ‘dj tool’ because most people listening to it aren’t DJs and will never hear it in a club and they really have no interest in listening to 90 seconds of drums for an introduction, reasonably so.

If you look at d&b production forums they’re full of people offering advice on optimising music for playback ‘on a big rig’, but we came to the realisation that it’s completely absurd to compromise your music in that way. It’s much better to try and write music that touches people when they listen to it in their everyday lives rather than compromise and make some sound engineer or DJ’s life easier. You may say “why bother writing drum & bass at all?”, which would be a fair question. The answer is that we like the form and also the challenge of trying to create something unusual in what has become quite a rigid genre. If DJs want to play our music they’ll find a way to do it if they’re any good. It doesn’t really bother us if they don’t because we don’t write music for DJs, we write music for people.

Can a DJ make it long term in this industry if they don’t get in the driver’s seat and create that direct musical relationship with the listener through their own productions?

Well firstly you have to define ‘make it’. What does that even mean any more? Secondly, mixing two records that sound more or less identical and are made by other people isn’t really much of a skill anymore is it. It’s pretty low on the wow-factor scale. It’s hard enough trying to get people interested in you when you’ve spent tens of thousands of hours creating music these days. If you don’t even do that I think you can more or less assume you’re of interest to hardly anyone. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it’s true.

You recently published an article about the three principals that you often consider when producing a new track. The first was the concept of ’Call & Response’ where you talked about:

“Sounds as if they’re in conversation with each other, so when one sound ‘calls’ another ‘responds’ to it. This can happen tonally, rhythmically or texturally…. Call & response routine is a very human thing to do and If something appears to be more human then humans respond much better to it.”

Do you have any advice as to how a DJ can begin thinking about and working on the call and response technique?



I think the age of DJs who don’t really understand music is pretty much over. I always prefer listening to sets by artists as they’re more likely to treat their set as an extended track, with definite sections or movements, know how to use colour and shade and have a decent sense of how to move from A to B to C all the way to Z, much like they would if they were writing music.

Can that musical sense be worked on? That’s tricky. You either have an innate musical sense or you develop it through actually writing music. I don’t know if you can boil it down to a simple set of rules that someone can learn.
I once started a discussion on a forum about people mixing out of tune and it was soon full of people asking ‘how can I mix in tune? what’s the key to learning that?’. What do you say to people like that? If you can’t naturally hear if something’s out of tune then you should probably stay well away from music.

That aside, assuming you’re not totally unmusical, you can think about how your set works on micro and macro levels. At a micro level; How does each tune act and react with the tunes either side of it in terms of it’s texture, it’s rhythm and its melodic or harmonic content? What are the common musical themes and how can you manipulate them so you tie them together and make something slightly new out of both at the same time? While you’re doing that you need to have a sense of an overall direction at the macro level. You may want to start with a very high level of energy and move towards a slower more considered atmosphere, then ramp it up again etc etc… So your clusters of tunes need to work together towards the final goal not just in relation to each other. You need to try and tell a story with your set much like you would do if you were writing a track. I could go on about this for thousands of words but there’s probably not much point. The best advice I can give is that people should start making music if they want to understand music.

While production gear is more affordable now than it has ever been, the cost can still be somewhat prohibitive. Based on your experience, what’s the bare minimum a beginner can get by on?



It really doesn’t matter. We use Cubase 4 but i’m not interested in telling people what to buy because too often it gets interpreted as some sort of rule or must-have requirement. People can use anything. It’s much better if they find their own solutions and see what happens. If people read producers saying ‘you must have this and you must have that’ then they end up getting the same stuff and sounding the same as everyone else. Go on eBay and find some stuff you’ve never heard of and buy that.

wub wrote:No, it isn't. It's a saying that needs to be deleted; a purist attitude that will kill a career.