The following MakeItGood x FatKidOnFire feature has been a long, long time coming. One of our goals/ ambitions with the MIG x FKOF series is to push the sounds of the young up-and-coming producers, labels and DJs in dubstep – but also (try to) feature the more established artists in the genre (and bass music as a whole). We first started talking to Tristan and Dre from Truth back when we were finalising the artists we were going to feature in MIG x FKOF 100. These two NZ producers (New Zealand bringing the bassweight as per usual) have set the stakes for what is possible with a few releases from the best labels in 140bpm-led bass music. With singles out on Black Box, Tempa, Deep Medi, Wheel & Deal and an LP out on Aquatic Lab, Truth have toured the world and played events like DMZ in London and Club Love in NYC. So it’s safe to say Truth are possibly the biggest artists to ever feature in the MIG x FKOF series. Timings didn’t allow for the feature to occur during the #100 celebrations (as the guys were moving from NZ to America at the time) – but Tristan hit us up last week saying they had a bit of time and wanted to finally sort the feature…
Who and what is Truth?
Truth is Dre and Tristan from New Zealand, music producers, DJs… We travel to a lot of crazy places, play a lot of crazy gigs and release a bunch of music on a variety of labels. What is Truth? That’s a whole other question. Truth is portrayed as ‘the facts’, something which is unalterably right, rock solid and unable to be argued against. But in reality, Truth is the opposite, there are many sides to the Truth. Everybody has their own Truths, some of which can be mutually exclusive. On a more sinister level, Truth is what we are constantly told to believe by everyone else: religions, governments, corporations, family, ‘common sense’… It all adds up to layer upon layer of bullsh!t which we all have to wade through. We have to accept the fact that what we consider ‘Truth’ is anything but. You can be a sheep and follow the lies, or you can choose your own path.
Dubstep and New Zealand. There’s a complete madness with the number of brilliant producers coming out of NZ (and that area of the world as a whole) – what’s up with that?!
It’s pretty crazy isn’t it, especially for such a small place (4 million people spread out over 2 islands bigger than the UK)? New Zealand has had a very strong bass-music tradition for a long time now. We like to think it all started when Bob Marley visited NZ in the early 80s. That visit had a profound influence on the roots/ reggae scene in New Zealand, ever since and to this day NZ has had a very strong reggae culture. A lot of kids of our generation grew up with that music being played by their parents. In the early 90s the rave/ hardcore scene took a big hold on NZ, and especially the more broken beat/ darker sound. Ed Rush was touring NZ years before he ever hit Australia. That sh!t evolved, heavily influenced by the UK… And from the mid-90s Christchurch (our home town) was one of “the” places for international DnB DJs to come tour. As teenagers the two of us saw so many influential artists like Ed Rush & Optical, Konflict, Bad Company, Shy FX, Grooverider, Roni Size… And we’re talking BIG parties with real soundsystems where you felt totally immersed in the sound. Partly a result of all that, and the visionary promoters throwing the shows, a lot of producers emerged in that scene, and also in other electronic genres like house. Those cats like Concord Dawn, The Upbeats, State of Mind, Bulletproof etc managed to get a foothold in the international DnB scene which is pretty inspiring for a bunch of people in NZ… And more and more people have been making music ever since.. Over the past 2/3 years things have really gone nuts with so much new talent emerging, maybe it’s something in the water. Also, it must have something to do with the extreme isolation of New Zealand as well. There are literally 4 cities you can regularly tour to without flying 3.5 hours to Australia. So as a producer, you can get quite a name for yourself, and still play very few shows. It means less distractions and more time to focus on making music. For example, when we signed ‘The Fatman’, it was over a year before we played our first show as Truth. You’d probably find the same thing if you talked to Perverse right now… Blowing up all over the place, very talented, but I bet they are playing very few shows at home. You can also guarantee they are in the studio every single night honing their sound and probably working a fulltime job too! Also, in an isolated place like NZ, there is also a need and support for a local bunch of producers to make their name, with a reasonably receptive audience, but an audience with very high standards and expectations too.
How did you both get into mixing and producing dubstep? How would you describe your production style?
As far as production style is concerned, thats a pretty subjective question, it’s really in the eye of the beholder… To us we make dancefloor music, quite often heavy and dark with a focus on the bassline. We like cinematic atmospherics and bad 70/ 80s horror sounds. But at the end of the day, any artist creates their thing – and once it’s made, it’s the person experiencing the art who gives it context and meaning. Some people say our music is minimal, others think it’s heavy as FKOF, some people have claimed we are leading the battle against brostep, others think our music is dark and twisted and a lot of people say we have a very diverse sound as far as style, but with distinctive production values. We got into dubstep about 5 or 6 years ago. We had already been making and releasing music and running a pretty successful night in NZ. One day our friend one day brought Mala round to Dre’s place to chill for the day. They ended up talking music and playing each other beats. Mala left a CD of the first few Deep Medi releases which were coming out soon. The next day we got together (there were three of us back then, but now two), Dre played us the CD and we thought that it would be fun to have a go making something around that tempo… Especially as we had a massive sample collection of sounds which simply didn’t work in a DnB context. Straight away, making dubstep caught hold of us. It was fun, tons of space to play with, less “rules”. Never having listened to dubstep before we had no preconceptions as to what it should sound like, just absolute freedom. Those first 2/3 days we made a bunch of tunes including ‘The Fatman’ and ‘Stolen Children‘… Both of which ended up being our first release as Truth, and our first release with Deep Medi.
How long have you both been producing and Djing?
Since about roughly 1998.
How do you go about building your tunes? Is there a process behind each one? What software do you use?
We pretty much always start a new track when we get together in the studio, as you never know when inspiration is going to strike. Give it a couple of hours to see if there is something we can work with. Must tunes start with the drums so we have a rhythmic backbone for the track. We usually get a rough beat together pretty quickly so we have something to work with… But we don’t initially spend too long fine-tuning as we want to keep it fresh and get the ideas flowing. From there, there are a number of ways to take things, could be the bassline next, could be putting some samples together, or creating musical elements from synths or it might be a vocal we want to work with. Once again, this is the creative phase where the bulk of the musical ideas are composed so for us it’s important to work relatively quickly and get our ideas out. Often one person will be operating the machine playing ideas/riffs whatever while the other is like “keep that”, “record that” …”that sucks” or whatever… Often in the case of a ‘good’ tune (i.e., tracks we like later down the track), the musical ideas will come together in a few hours, and then be finalised or polished over the coming days or weeks.
You’ve had a long list of releases on some of the most respected record labels in dubstep. What’s your favourite from your back catalogue and why?
We’ve said this before… Each of our tracks is a ‘favourite’ for its own reason. We wouldn’t finish and put out a track we weren’t proud of. Having said this there are some tunes which are particularly close to our hearts! ‘The Fatman’ and ‘Stolen Children’ equally since they were our first release, that’s always going to be something special! Also since it got pretty big in the scene when they came out, which did great things for our name and opened a few doors for us. Our debut album ‘Puppets’, for similar reasons… We worked on the album for 18 months straight, and when it came out the response was really good. Great reviews in print and blogs. Lots of people feeling the tunes. It was nominated for the Dubstep Forum Album of the year. Our only regret was that we didn’t release more of the album on vinyl, but that was out of our hands. This year, we’ve been blessed with a release on Tempa, which has always been a dream of ours and a relationship we’re going to continue… Of course the second album ‘Love’s Shadow’ has been a labour of love, especially as we’ve given it out for free to the fans! Something personal and direct from us.
Turntables or CDJs for when you play out?
Turntables.
What’s been your best gig and if you could DJ alongside anyone, who would it be?
That’s a hard one. We have played so many awesome gigs over the past few years. There are a couple that come to mind from the recent tour – one was headlining Razmatazz in Barcelona, Spain – on a huge sound sysytem to almost 3,000 packed in the club. The other was the Deep Medi Boat party at Outlook Festival which I played alongside Mala and VIVEK – which was pure vibes on a boat in Croatia. In the USA, playing at the Deep Medi night in Denver for the 5 year Sub.Mission birthday was really special. The album release party in San Francisco at our residency (Deep, Dark & Dangerous) was also pretty amazing, people down there really feeling the vibes on a Tuesday night! And finally, going back to New Zealand for a couple of album release gigs was dope… The people there came out in support, and really know the music!
Who are your top 5 dubstep producers at the moment; and why? Any labels you’re feeling?
All the new guys are killing it right now… here are 6!
The future of dubstep. Do you think the ‘deep and dark’ side of things has been overdone yet? If so, what’s next?
The ‘Deep and Dark’ side of things has always been there since the beginning of dubstep and has always been a major element of the sound as far as we’re concerned. Clearly to us, the current resurgence of that sound stems from the over-saturation of ‘Brostep’ as a bit of a backlash against it. Many of the dope new producers have very few (if any) tunes even released, so it will be really interesting to see where they take their sound. Right now some of what is coming out is sounding a little bit formulaic. The next step within the deep/dark side of things is a bit more innovation coming in… More interesting beat structures and edits would be part of that, but also changes in the overall aesthetic of the sound being produced, still keeping the tension there, but innovating in the mix maybe, bringing different elements to the fore etc etc… If you look outside the dubstep genre, really good producers are doing a lot of cool stuff and working outside the box with sound, but often taking an influence from dubstep… And we think that’s going to bleed back into dubstep as a whole. But really, who knows? There’s always going to be a need and demand for darker music in any genre… It’s the alternative to the mass produced poppy bullsh!t our lives are constantly saturated with.
You’ve just put out a free album. What inspired the very generous gift?! Any other forthcoming releases we can look forward to?
We simply felt that after putting out music on a ton of labels, all of which we’re very proud of, it was time to do something direct for our fans… We’ve been planning a second album for a while, and when it came down to working out label details, we decided to go a different route. There are a lot of people all over the world who have supported us in various ways, and a lot of people who buy all our releases, so the album is a way of thanking them. It also means people don’t have to feel bad if they want to share the music with their friends, it’s not ‘stealing’ if the music was free to start with… And when you say ‘free’, you have to realize that the album definitely is not free as far as we’re concerned, we have put countless weeks, days and hours into producing and testing those tracks, and coming up with an album we’re really happy with. So if anything, we hope people will just pay it forward by introducing new people to the music. We’ve got a bunch of exciting music coming out in the near future including a 4 track EP on L.A.-based SMOG. That release is called ‘Evil in the Woods’ [see image/ link above] and is a diverse release musically. There is an EP we have produced with Dutty Ranks which is being released on vinyl on Boka… it’s exciting for us as it explores the style of collaboration we have done with Dutty even further. We’ve also signed a number of the dubplates which Youngsta has been pushing recently… Can’t make any announcement as to label quite yet.
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
This mix is pretty much packed full of dubs, there’s a lot of fresh Truth material, including some fresh new signings which are coming out sometime on some dope labes. There is a lot of music by up & coming producers as well… We get sent a ton of really dope music by people, so a mix like this is a great opportunity to play that music and have it heard.
Have you got any advice to new DJs or producers looking to get their music heard or signed?
Finish as many tunes as you can as the last 10% is the hardest and it’s a real skill to have. A/B reference without copying other people’s music – i.e. find a track you like the sound of, and make your tune sound like that (as far as mixdown is concerned, but don’t copy the actual musical ideas). If you send tunes out, make sure you are REALLY happy with them. Be realistic that the person listening to the music is also probably listening to 100 other tunes, so you really need to make your tunes stand out if possible! Very likely the person listening is going to skip through the intro and head straight to the drop. Make it personal, and if you feel you have to email a million people at once, don’t include all the email addresses in the “to” field; learn how to use BCC… Some of those contacts might not want their details shared with all of your other contacts. Sometimes you have to forge your own path too… Not all successful producers made it big by sending out tunes to other DJs and having their stuff signed to labels. If you can be innovative and smart with getting music out there, that can have even more impact.
3 people (dead or alive) you’d chill with (and why)?
Dre:
Tristan:
In your opinion, the best dubstep producer out there is…?
It’s a tough one, we’re really feeling the productions of all the new guys mentioned above, but there are guys like Kryptic Minds, Mala, Icicle and J:Kenzo that have been smashing it for a few years now.
In your opinion, the best dubstep track ever made is…?
Dre: It’s a really tough one… But as far as classics go for me the ones that really got me into it were:
Tristan: So many great tunes, but these three are classics:
So there you have it. A long, detailed and definitely well-thought out interview – and, unsurprisingly, the mix is as brilliant as Tristan and Dre’s responses to my questions. And just look at the dubs inside…
Track list:
1. Truth & Yayne – I Belong [dub]
2. SP:MC – Receptors [dub]
3. Ben Verse – Different Way [Crunch dub]
4. Badklaat ft. Beezy – Calling [dub]
5. Truth – Gaza (Andrew VC remix) [Defy dub]
6. Truth – Triads [dub]
7. FNC – Imprinted [dub]
8. District – Kraken [dub]
9. Truth & Yayne – Surveillance Society [dub]
10. Truth – Spook (Olie Bassweight remix) [Defy dub]
11. Collision – Politics [dub]
12. Kaiju – Close Break VIP [dub]
13. J:Kenzo – Invaderz (Truth remix) [dub]
— Ben Verse – Tiger Foot [Crunch dub]
14. Sleeper – Dawn of the Replicants [Chestplate dub]
15. Truth & Crushington – Death Row [Defy]
16. Ben Verse ft. Darrison – Sativa Soldier [dub]
17. Truth – Iron Lung [dub]
18. Truth ft. Yayne – Raindancer (Babyon System remix) [Defy dub]
19. Truth ft. Yayne – Raindancer (J:Kenzo remix) [Truth free]
— Dubtek – Carnivorous [dub]
20. Strago – 4117 [??]
21. Truth & Dutty Ranks – Weave [BOKA dub]
22. DyAD – Losing Touch [dub]
23. Content – HDR830 [dub]
24. Cyntel & Hex – Jesters [??]
25. ARtroniks – Onset [??]
26. Von D – Try Me [dub]
27. Boot – Dreaming Again [dub]
28. Dubfreq ft. Fanton Mojah – Hail Di King [??]
29. Sleeper – Shook [??]
30. Truth – Born Enemies [dub]
31. Truth – Spook (Biome remix) [Defy dub]
32. Truth – Subconcious [dub]
33. Pistonsbeneath – Black Sleep [Mindstep dub]
34. Truth – Talking to Myself [SMOG dub]
35. Truth – All Over [SMOG dub]
36. Truth – Devil’s Hands [dub]
37. Truth - Eternal [dub]
Here more of Truth via the links below: ‘Devil’s Hands’: http://soundcloud.com/truthdubstep/truth-devils-hands-dubplate
The Weeknd’s ‘Rolling Stone’ remix: http://soundcloud.com/truthdubstep/the-weeknd-rolling-stone-truth
Truth remix of Flight Facilities’ ‘Clair De Lune ft. Christing Hoburg’: http://soundcloud.com/truthdubstep/flight-facilities-clair-de
Find Truth using the links below:
http://twitter.com/truthdubstep
http://soundcloud.com/truthdubstep
Our next feature is with Disonata. We’ve been hearing bits from Karl Disonata in mixes and from other producers for as long as we can remember; he’s released tunes with some of the best smaller labels and been on collabs that have been long-term residents on our iTunes archive. We’re pretty pleased to finally caught up with him and added him to the list of producers we’ve featured, I’m just sorry it’s taken this long…
How’s it going Karl, all good?
I am very well thank you!
Awesome! Disonata – who and what is he?
Disonata is the name of my electronic music production project, mainly focusing on the 140bpm area (with a few variations from time to time).
How would you describe your sound?
Well, it’s hard to say as I don’t always stick to the more aggressive “dancefloor” stuff or the darker or more melodic side of things. I always like to use melodies in my music – and create a type of energy. Whether it be one that makes you want to jump about or one that makes you want to sit and just listen to the soundscape that’s been created. People say that they can tell when a track is mine, but I don’t know what it is that makes them say that or defines it as a Disonata track. So if I ever find out I can let you know haha!
What was the first dubstep tune you ever heard?
I think it was L-Wiz’s ‘Girl From Codiene City’, or at least thats the first one that made me sit up and be like “what the FKOF is this?! I need more of it in my life”!
When did you decide you wanted to produce as well as listen?
For me it wasn’t so much a decision of “I want to be a producer” as much as it was a natural progression. I always played in bands and stuff and when I started college in 2008 I had access to computers with DAWs and just started messing around. It wasn’t long before I realised I could make a finished product without having to rely on other people and shifting loads of gear to different rehearsal studios, so I got myself set up at home and just cracked on.
How do you go about building your tunes?
I have no set formula really, I rarely even start a tune knowing how I want it to sound. It will usually just be messing around with samples or different synths to just get that one line or sound that sparks off the rest of the tune. Drums and percussion are the main thing I do early on though, once I’ve got a rough idea of any musicality down I usually start building my drums and build on from there.
What’s your production setup like?
Pretty basic really, I don’t have loads of analogue equipment or anything like that. I use Reason 5 (but about to step up to 6.5), KRK VXT8s, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, M-Audio Oxygen 49 midi keyboard and AKG K240 MK2 referencing headphones.
You’re affiliated with some of the best smaller labels in dubstep, and have had support from some of the biggest DJs in the scene. How have you found getting your beats signed and supported, has it been a relatively easy process?
I think it can be difficult with so many people sending people tunes on a daily basis, the bigger the name of the person the more sh!t they get flooded with. I think that the music always speaks for itself though, if you’re getting noticed then it’s for a reason. You just have to network and be nice to people, if you get criticism then take it on the chin and work harder. It can’t hurt to have high standards!
Another standard question you’re probably bored to death of. Do you prefer turntables or CDJs for playing out? Does it matter?
I prefer turntables, but that’s because I’ve never actually used CDJs! The unfortunate thing is though, that because they’ve been somewhat phased out the maintenance on turntables in clubs is getting increasingly poor so it’s getting harder and harder to play on them. From my experience at least, this is what I’ve found. Generally though, no I don’t think it matters what you use. It’s a way for people to play the music they like to others.
How long have you been playing out? If you could pick any of your recent bookings, what would be your favourite - and why?
About 2 years now, and I’d have to say Bassliebe in Cologne, Germany. Just because everyone there was so friendly and I was over there for a few days and the city was awesome too. So it was just a great experience all around!
Have you always produced dubstep? Ever tried your hand at anything else?
Yeah pretty much, there has been a couple of tunes nearer the 132/134bpm mark which are little more funky house/garage like but mainly it’s been dubstep yeah.
Do you think producers need to make more than one genre of music these days?
Not necessarily, I don’t think they need to but I do think it shows good versatility when a producer can nail all sorts of different genres.
Where do you see the dubstep ‘sound’ moving to over the next year or so?
Hmmmm… I’m already seeing a lot more of the techno influenced stuff make its way into the light, so for the darker sounds I can see this direction maybe being pushed. I think the commercial stuff will still be there but the people who are interested in discovering the truer sounds will take the time to find them.
Other than the recent releases discussed earlier, have you got any tunes forthcoming we should be looking out for? Anything physical?
I have a lot of things lined up for the next few months, including tracks with Bassclash, Requiem Audio, Second To None and other labels I can’t confirm until it’s 100%, but there are things in the works. There was a physical release due, but as a result of the volatile physical music market at the moment it’s at an uncertain status so I can’t really confirm that at the moment.
In terms of advice, what are your top points for new producers and DJs looking to get heard or signed?
Take your time, I can’t tell you how many people I see post stuff you can tell hasn’t had the time it needs. Other then that just speak to labels that release music you like and make connections and be friendly.
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
In a nutshell, it’s a collection of the more chilled out music I’ve been sent that I like. I don’t get much opportunity to play as much of this side of dubstep as I’d like so I took the opportunity to focus on the more melodic and atmospheric material.
Any shoutouts?
Just to all the people that listen to my music and give me the support to keep doing it!
3 producers we should be following are…?
I honestly can’t narrow it down that much, but just check out all the artists in the mix I did. They’re all making awesome tunes!
Best dubstep track ever produced is…?
Ugh, what a horrible question! Haha…. I’d have to say Cher Lloyd’s ‘Dub on the Track‘………. because I can’t think of an actual answer.
As you do…?! Anyway. Best producer in dubstep to collab with is…?
For me the easiest I’ve worked with is Anex, we’ve made a few tunes and they all seemed to just click.
66 minutes, 39 tracks and 38 of some of the most ridiculous dubs I’ve been fortunate enough to hear for a long time. It doesn’t get much better than this!
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. Brownz - Think [dub]
2. Jafu - No More [dub]
3. Anex - Bella [dub]
4. Perverse - Obtuse [dub]
5. Geode - Aliased Fever [dub]
6. Percept - Khalka [dub]
7. Deadweight (Disonata & Anex) - Jigsaw [dub]
8. Dubapes - Africa Calling (Sparxy remix) [dub]
9. Caski - Infested [dub]
10. Perverse - Fucking Insanity [dub]
11. Gantz - Lifebound [dub]
12. Wayfarer - Spitting Fire [dub]
13. Taiko - Kukhuri [dub]
14. Klax - Lost Levels [dub]
15. District - The Shift [dub]
16. Twisted & Rakoon ft. Beezy - Secluded [dub]
17. Aelho - The Alliance [dub]
18. Droid Sector - Centipede [dub]
19. Perverse & Eleven8 - Cryosphere [dub]
20. Fable - Untitled Dub [dub]
21. Deadweight - Scratch The Surface [dub]
22. Congi - Disorder [dub]
23. Standard Procedure - Dusk (Disonata remix) [Drop Dem Records]
24. Geode - Get Dem [dub]
25. Vaun - Love & Learn [dub]
26. Nanobyte - Want For Nothing [dub]
27. Wayfarer - Shaman [dub]
28. Occult & Vantage - Contagion [dub]
29. Caski - Sandstone [forthcoming ****]
30. Disonata - Overload [dub]
31. Eleven8 - Catch Your Breath [dub]
32. Blynk - Phonic [dub]
33. Jafu - Devil’s Night [dub]
34. Tallan - All Night [dub]
35. Pheral - Tribesman [dub]
36. Deadweight - Bring Me Down [dub]
37. Catacombs & Knowledge - Old Town (District remix) [dub]
38. Disonata & Badklaat - Colossus [dub]
39. District - Kraken [dub]
Let us know what you think of Disonata’s interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara
On the 30th November, AD (Audio Doughnuts) will celebrate 2 years of parties and releases with their biggest party to date…With legends, new talents and some expected very special guests. Taking over Fire and Lightbox, as part of The Upfront Project, this night is set to be a memorable one.
We recommend buying tickets in advanced, as this event is likely to sell out. For advanced tickets, click HERE. For more information, check out Audio Doughnuts on Facebook and Twitter.
The next feature sees us catch up with the latest interviewee in the MakeItGood x FKOF series. We’ve been a fan of The Attic Project ever since Gus first sent us his tunes a few months back – since then there’s been a two track FKOF EP and now there’s a lot of words to go with his amazing mix. Hit play on the mix or EP below and read on…
Easy Gus, you well?
I’m grand mate!
Awesome. Introduce yourself, who is The Attic Project?
The Attic Project is the pseudonym I use for my musical output. It is basically me avoiding life’s responsibilities by living in my own little production-fuelled world. I’m 19 and studying at the University of Manchester, currently in my 2nd year.
How would you describe your sound?
In my mind, it’s a fusion of the steppy, bass sounds coming out of the UK at the moment combined with instrumentation and melodies from around the world, mainly influenced by the sounds of the far-east. I try and incorporate as many interweaving melodies as possible on as many natural sounding instruments as possible sampled from around the world, combined with deep rolling subs, so I would love to think there is a lot of depth and interpretation there. The sound of the Guzheng and the Tabla will always get me jiving!
How did you get into bass music in the first place? When did you decide you wanted to produce as well as listen?
It was probably my love of trip-hop and glitch artists like Prefuse 73, Four Tet and Aphex Twin when I was first getting into electronic music that lead me to diverse sounds like Burial, Bonobo, Phaeleh, Eleven Tigers, Erykah Badhu and Digital Mystikz (to name a few)… I don’t look at my influence as ‘bass’ music as my inspiration ranges from downtempo to drum N bass to Chinese and Indian classical music… (to make a massive obscure leap in genre). The sounds coming from people like Burial at the time when I was starting my music GCSE was what made me want to create soundscapes and atmospheres rather than tunes. My school got a single copy of Cubase 4 when I was 15 and the teacher said ‘if anyone can work it, you can do your GCSE composition on it’, and that was it. The teacher was useless…
How do you go about building your tunes? What’s your production setup like?
I will usually hear an atmospheric or ethnic sound of some sort that makes me go ‘sh!t, that’s awesome, I want to recreate something like that’. Then I tend to forget the tasks I’m meant to be doing and get preoccupied with how I can make a similar sound into a tune that hopefully people will like. Once I have the sound and a simple melody down, I tend to build the drum part around that then layer more melodies over each other. My setup’s a Macbook Pro running Reason 6 and Reason Recycle, an M-Audio Keyboard and a Lexicon Alpha soundcard. I also use a Samson Dynamic Mic for recording noise, vocal parts, my mates arguing (which can just about be heard in the background in some tunes) and anything interesting. My monitors are a sweet pair of JVC speakers my dad got me when I was 12 as part of a Hi-Fi system. I never appreciated the awesome quality they fire out until a couple of years ago. I’m never parting with them now…
You’ve had a pretty good run with recent releases, putting out on a few awesome labels with support from some of the best names in the genre. How have you found getting your beats signed and supported, has it been a relatively easy process?
Na it hasn’t been easy. I had a stroke of luck when I was 16 after posting three tunes online. I got an email from the Italian house label Aenaria Recordings asking if they could sign them even though the style of those tunes was pretty downtempo. They were released in late 2010. After that no one really took much interest so I honed my sound for a couple of years. At the start of this year I sent emails to loads of different labels, blogs and promo platforms just to get some feedback. Then I got an email from Andy Bee at Slime Recordings who was really positive about my music. After hearing that they had previously released tunes by Phaeleh and Submerse, I was ecstatic! That release got a wicked review from Juno Download at the same time that I got a tweet from Phaeleh saying that he really liked my release. Since then, I’ve had a release on Soulstep and another on Velcro City.
Another standard question you’re probably bored to death of. Do you prefer turntables or CDJs for playing out? Does it matter?
Aha, I wish I could say I have a massive vinyl collection but unfortunately it’s my parents who beat me to that. As I started out producing well before I thought about DJing, I only started to promote TAP more when people were taking an interest. I wanted to do something different that involved my own tunes so I bought a Novation Launchpad and started slicing and dicing mine and other people’s tracks into what I thought was a unique approach to mixing (turns out other people beat me to that too)! But yeah, I’m all about controllerism and recreation and remixing of songs live rather than straightforward mixing as it allows more creativity with your own tunes (in my opinion anyway).
How long have you been playing out? If you could pick any of your recent bookings, what would be your favourite - and why?
I only started playing out properly earlier this year. Producing for me has always been a personal thing so playing out became something I felt I needed to do when I started to get tunes signed. The production was always the main factor in persuading me to play out. Inflect in Bristol was probably my favourite recent booking. They host it in a small, intimate venue so it wasn’t a massive night but that was where I supported iTal tEk and BunZer0 so I was pretty stoked to be playing there. I also recently played in Sankeys in Manchester and as it’s theoretically one of the top ten clubs in the world, that’s pretty awesome. Since then I’ve got quite a few dates lined up at some exciting nights like Selective Hearing Manchester and Apex Bristol so I’m super stoked that I’ve been asked to play at them.
With producers expanding their repertoires from seemingly focusing on one genre when producing, how do you think bass music will evolve over the coming months/ years? Will we see everything starting to merge into one? Where do you see your sounds progressing to?
That’s what I love about sound, it’s yours to interpret how you want. The label ‘bass music’ already covers a massive spectrum of sounds, so I lost track of what it meant a while ago. An emphasis on bass and some swing in its (dub)step, and I think the term ‘bass music’ will probably cover a significant aspect of a lot of new tunes. Diversity is an awesome thing, without it there would be no creativity so I love the fact people are now stuttering when trying to define the genre of all this new music that has exploded onto the scene recently. As for my sound, I will continue to produce what inspires me and if all of a sudden I start to love something like gabba (which I highly doubt I ever will) then I will probably start creating that as that’s what I want to do. Realistically though, I see myself exploring more world sounds, getting more vocalists involved and playing around with tempos a lot more.
Other than the recent releases discussed earlier and one or two special tunes in the pipeline, have you got any tunes forthcoming we should be looking out for? Anything physical?
As of the moment I have one forthcoming release. It’s a remix I did a while ago of a Sophie Barker track (Zero 7) and is meant to be released on the same label as her solo work (Ho Hum Records) but it keeps getting delayed so I’m not sure that will ever be released. It would be nice if it was though. Once more tunes have been finished though I will definitely set about getting those released. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a physical release. I got an offer to have some tunes pressed to vinyl by a small label a couple of months back but when I replied to the email, they never replied back to me again so that fell through. Those were the tunes I have recently released on Velcro City. I hear Soulstep Records are also starting to release things on vinyl in the near future with all the profits going back into building up the label which I think is a great idea. Shame my release just missed out on that.
In terms of advice, what are your top points for new producers and DJs looking to get heard or signed?
I think the most important thing is to concentrate on the music YOU want to make and not what you feel would get you signed. Once you have got tracks down that you are genuinely happy with just send them to people and places you reckon will appreciate your sound. Even if you don’t hear back from anyone just keep persevering by making what makes you happy.
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
Awesome melodies x rolling basslines x what I’m listening at the moment x recent releases x atmosphere = MIG x FKOF mix… I’m not really sure if that answers the question!? But seriously though, it took 5 times to get it past the SoundCloud copyright filter and I had loads of sick tunes I wanted to put in from the Symbols Recordings roster. After playing around with it endlessly and replacing a few tunes it got through the filter – but it’s not the mix I originally had in mind.
Any shoutouts?
Anyone who has ever listened to my tunes and decided they like it. For that, I’m eternally grateful. Also, the labels I have released on and the people that make those labels work. None of this would have been possible without them.
3 producers we should be following are…?
Best bass music track ever produced is…?
Sh!t, this is a hard question! Here’s a few:
Best label in bass music is…?
Currently it’s Symbols Recordings for me but I only got into that label recently. No doubt my favourite label will change again as soon as I find another label where not a single release can be faulted.
Gus’ mix for MIG x FKOF is definitely one of my favourite from the recent additions to the series. It’s on more of a chill tip from the normal deep and dark stuff we feature but that’s by no means a bad thing. Grab the download or keep scrolling for The Attic Project’s FKOF EP…
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. Deep Focus - Lilly’s Beat [Free]
2. Atlas - Denver [Symbols]
3. The Attic Project - Adversity Face [Velcro City]
4. Atlas - 4AM [Symbols]
5. The Attic Project - Welcome To Your Perception [FKOF Free]
6. Bhok - Glacier[Slime]
7. iO - Slow Guys [Get Some UK Free]
8. The Attic Project - Seraph [Velcro City]
9. EPLP - Leave Me [Hot n Heavy Free]
10. The Attic Project - Narayan Alone [FKOF Free]
11. Phaeleh - Nothing’s Wrong [Free]
12. Pariah - Orpheus [R&S]
13. Sorrow - The Reaper [Self Released]
14. EPLP - Ochre [BackTheTooFuture Free]
15. DFRNT - Dark Spaces [Cut]
16. Sabre, Stray, Halogenix ft. Frank Carter III - Oblique [Critical]
17. Vanity ft. Charlotte Rawling – Shelter [FKOF Free]
If you missed Gus’ FKOF EP from a few months back, find both FKOF free downloads below. Definitely two tunes to add to your collection! Click to DOWNLOAD ‘Narayan Alone’ Click to DOWNLOAD ‘Welcome to Your Perception’
Let us know what you think of The Attic Project’s interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara
As the backlog of MakeItGoodx FatKidOnFire features slowly start to clear, we’re fast approaching the ideal frequency for posting new mixes and interviews. Once #137 (the feature following the one below) goes live, we’ll be uploading new mixes and interviews once a week - usually on a Monday or Tuesday. Oh, and we’ve started producing custom artwork for each of the features (a huge thank you, as always, to Chris) - so future MIG x FKOF features will start looking a bit more coherent(/ nicer). MIG x FKOF #136 sees us sit down and talk to Bristol’s Boofy, who’s been on my radar for a while now. I was introduced to Boofy by Vulcan Audio co-founder Medik, who was singing Boofy’s praises and suggested I check his tunes. I did and was blown away…
For the unaware, who is Boofy?
Boofy is a producer who sits in his production cave and doesn’t get enough sun in his life. I come from Bristol, and it sounds very biased but I think it’s one of the greatest cities to share sounds and make connects.
How would you describe your sound?
I can rarely describe my sound but I think I can accurately say it’s heavily 140-based. It’s developed quite a bit in the last year especially. Last year my sound was more wonky-based dubstep and now I think I try to focus more on the percussion and melody of the sound. How I see it is, if you like sub bass heavy music, I’ll give it a go.
How did you get into dubstep in the first place? When did you decide you wanted to produce as well as listen?
I’ve always wanted to be a music producer. Ever since I can remember. When I was younger I used to listen to tonnes of Dr. Dre and G-funk as well as older Marvin Gaye along with a lot of soul music – on this cassette Walkman I begged for off of my parents because my older brother had one. When I was a todd’ I used to say I wanted be a “musicianer”. I used to play trumpet and piano and whatnot too. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. And dubstep? I can remember actually getting into and using the term ‘dubstep’ in 2009 but I used to listen to it quite a bit before that. I used to think it was just grime but slower pace if you know what I mean, for example, I used to listen to a lot of Joker’s earlier stuff before he blew up, he was hot in Bristol before the ‘Kapsize EP’ in ‘07. He had mixtapes with his old crew KHK. And the ‘Skream!’ album I used to be hooked to that in ’06.
How do you go about building your tunes? What’s your production setup like?
My set up consists of 2x Adam A7X, iMac 27” 2009 with another screen to spread out my projects, Reason 6.5, Focusrite soundcard, 1 standard MIDI keyboard, se2200a II microphone and a Shure SM57. And on the other side of my room, I have normal Hi-Fi speakers plugged into a 5-channel mixer with 2x technics 1210 mk2 & MacBook Pro with SL3. There’s no real structured way I go about building my tunes. Most of the time I try to come up with a chord to work on and to develop on. And after that, if I’ve got that chord down, I get a sub-bass around it and see how it sounds as I’d want it to sound as heavy as possible. But then I could be just messing around the house with my microphone hitting sh!t like wooden or metal spoons, African drums, recording the rain, etc. etc.
You’ve had a pretty good run with recent releases, putting out on one of my new favourite labels (shouts and love to Biak, Medik and the rest of the Vulcan Audio crew!) and a few others. How have you found getting your beats signed, has it been a relatively easy process?
Yeah no doubt, man. I was so happy with VLCN003 and it’s probably been the highlight of my year so far. I’ve had an EP on Soulstep Records too this year but I don’t think it picked up as much attention as the ‘Momentum EP’ did. I wasn’t too sure about it at first because the tunes weren’t my most up to date and the promo was pretty much me being on Instagram and Facebook, but it’s done me proud. Shout out to my boy Gutcha as well for being involved. Getting tunes signed has been a lot easier this year than it was last year. I could’ve killed for a release last year, but I’ve always thought if I was good enough people will find me through good work. That’s why I gave out the ‘BooFree files’ [password: loveandting] in 2011 just to start a fresh on a new sound and try to sculpture some sort of base for the New Year. The aim of 2012 was to get an EP out, minimum. But I’ve had two, as well as the Scriptures release on Vulcan. So it’s been a really good year for me.
Another standard question you’re probably bored to death of. Do you prefer turntables or CDJs for playing out? Does it matter?
Personally, I love vinyl, but it’s personal. I just love the movement of vinyl and the process of making records is magical, especially its authentic crackle from being wheeled. But I don’t hate CDs, it’s what is relevant for the individual person. In all honesty I know some DJs who have switched to CDs because it’s just convenient to carry round a pouch instead of record cases which weigh a tonne. Stop being anal and let people play. Plus vinyl kills my wallet so I understand!
How long have you been playing out? If you could pick any of your recent bookings, what would be your favourite - and why?
In all honesty, I have really slacked on the playing out thing. I can’t remember the last time I did play out. I think it might’ve been last year? But that’s when I was using a really budget MIDI controller and it was just so long to set up. One of the last times I played out a girl threw alcohol all over it, and it broke. At the time I was livid, but she probably done me a massive favour. I’m getting back on it for next year though once I get my music sitting where I want it to be and I’m comfortable with it.
With everyone seemingly moving away from strictly focusing on 140bpm dubstep, how do you think the genre will evolve over the coming months/ years? Where do you see your sounds progressing to?
I think it’s great everyone’s trying to move or expand onto other genres. Still keeping the dubstep feel, I can see the scene moving more into more garage & house territory again for some reason, I don’t know why. As for me, I don’t really know? I mean I make a lot of stuff, but only put out stuff I’m really confident with. I suppose I don’t know what my sounds are going to be like, I just know I want to progress and be in a better place than I am this year for sure.
Other than the recent releases discussed earlier and one or two special tunes in the pipeline, have you got any tunes forthcoming we should be looking out for? Anything physical?
Forthcoming – I’ve just signed my ‘Wheel of Dharma (Dharmachakra)’ to Gradient Audio for a various artist release. I don’t know when yet but will keep everyone posted on my Facebook page once I get more details. I’m also in talks with quite a few labels at the moment so I’ve got to really work now for next year. I want to keep on board with the Vulcan team as well. Physical is the next step. If I get a vinyl release I will be sure I’m heading in the direction I want to be. But yeah, that’s the aim for next year to secure a 12”, so hopefully I can do it.
In terms of advice, what are your top points for new producers and DJs looking to get heard or signed?
Just keep doing what you’re doing. Look for honest criticisms. Experiment. Give the people you look towards a reason to listen. Keep it fresh. Don’t focus on getting tunes signed; focus on developing your sound.
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
Dodgy I hadn’t mixed in ages and I was using one headphone at the time, but I only have myself to blame. Overall though, the mix was full of most of my favourite producers. It kind of describes what direction I want to push myself in. The first tune was mine, because I thought that’s where I’m at right now, so it would be good to start there. There’s a balance of percussive brilliance, bass heavy music & persy’s throughout.
Any shoutouts?
Definite shout outs to Biak & Medik for giving me the opportunity to do work with a label I’ve fell in love with. Calski, Sparkerboi, Thieves, Kahlil Dubz, Hanns, Gutcha, Jafu, Muttley, Lemz & Pea Whitey, Superisk, Kahn & anybody I have missed out that has pushed my tunes and have supported me it means the world to me.
3 producers we should be following are..?
- Peaman. He’ll sit dormant for a while, abuse sissy emotional commenters and verbally violate spammers on his SoundCloud, but his attention to detail and production is outstanding. He doesn’t upload much but the last time he did, if I can remember it was like 4 or 5 tunes all at the same time, which blew me away. If you get a chance listen to ‘Icarus’. - Calski. He’s always supported me and we’re very good friends. Not a biased opinion because he’s my friend, but because the reason I started talking to him was because his percussion and melodic music amazed me. A lot of upcoming producers could learn a thing or two from his music. - Thieves. I really don’t think this guy can see how much of a good producer he is. He’s told me a few times that I’m killing it but taking this guy’s sounds into account is was like “are you kidding me?!” As well as support, this guy can produce some gems. I just think most the time he doesn’t know it! He said he wanted to collab a few months back, which I may hold him to and take up the offer As I stated before, I think this sound is what more people are going to move towards in the near future.
Best dubstep track ever produced is…?
Either Mark Pritchard’s ‘Elephant Dub’ or Peverelist’s ‘Roll With The Punches’.
Best label in dubstep is…?
You’re killing me! Only one!? Tectonic or Punch Drunk. Leave it at that!
I enjoyed interviewing Boofy. And, as much as he might be a little unhappy with it, I love Boofy’s mix for MIG x FKOF as well. It’s not dodgy at all man! 18 tunes, 44 minutes and an awesome selection of dubs, releases and forthcoming bits Hit the free download and head over to the Facebook page to show Boofy your support.
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. Boofy - Dharmachakra [dub]
2. Congi - Somnium [Deep Heads]
3. Biak & Baitface - Cellula [dub]
4. Calski - Someones Missing (Kaiju re-edit) [Calski xmas freebie]
5. Jack Sparrow - Way Out West [Cloqworq Recordings]
6. DJ Madd - Lightsaber (Sith mix) [DJ Madd free download]
7. Catacombs - Mantis [Tribe 12]
8. LX ONE - Give It Up [Wheel & Deal]
9. Hex - No Mercy [dub]
10. Phaeleh & DJ Madd - Ritual [Black Box]
11. Jafu - Desperate Falcons [dub]
12. Submatiks - Proxima Centauri [dub]
13. Icicle ft. Proxima - Breathing Again [Shogun Audio]
14. DJ Madd - The Life You Chose [Black Box]
15. Author - Revolutions [Tectonic]
16. Breakage - Late Night [Naked Lunch]
17. Icicle - Need A Job [Shogun Audio]
18. Superisk - Find A Way (Kahn JA refix) [dub]
Let us know what you think of Boofy’s interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara
Today’s feature is a long and thoughtful interview with a promoter, DJ and producer from Athens. Billy Widz hit us up just after getting back from Croatia where he and his parter at Big Bang Athens played the Ballroom with a mix out of the blue. We had a listen and we had a chat and things progressed to what you’ll read below. This one’s a long (but interesting) read so skip down to the mix and press play before you jump in…
Mr. Billy Widz! How are you?
Hello, I’m ok thanks! I’m trying to experience most good things life has to offer without getting caught up in the web of negativity. That can be very tricky sometimes, especially in Athens at the moment. I am thankful for the music and I am staying positive.
For those that don’t know you, can you introduce yourself?
Hey my name’s Billy and I grew up in Athens from Greek and French parents. I currently produce and DJ sub-heavy beats around 140 bpm under the Billy Widz alias. I’ve done studio engineering in the past for many bands and later worked as a producer with Athens-based reggae collective Fundracar, while also running the small vinyl imprint Renegade. I am a studio-head and I have luckily always had access to some sort of recording or mixing equipment. I’m also involved with filmmaking and video editing, which has been my day-job for a few years now, my personal highlight being the work I did last year, under another alias, for a seminal London label. Apart from running the BigBang night in Athens with my bro Jeph1, we both build beats and also DJ together on a bi-weekly show on Greece’s best radio, Paranoise. We also played b2b at Outlook Festival ‘12, Ballroom stage, which was a mental experience.
Would you describe yourself as a DJ or a producer? What came first, mixing or making tunes?
Both came naturally together. From a young age I have been involved with vinyl, tapes, mics, recording mixtapes, Fostex 4-tracks, early Mackie mixers, being the drummer in bands while also playing live & spinning music with friends at high-school parties and such… So I can’t really say the one came before the other! I’ve been involved (through DJing) in this little “scene” in Athens which I love so much for the past four years. I have also been playing at parties around Greece and a few festivals. I started messing around with 140bpm production some time ago as a side-project between recording bands, but I have only really taken it seriously – and seen it as a priority – for the past six months. I also feel that some of my best understanding of production came through DJing and analyzing what others are doing.
Tell us about BigBang Athens. When did you decide you wanted to promote the music as well as mixing and making? Who’ve you brought to Greece?
BigBang is Jeph1 & myself, but first and foremost it’s the people that reach to the dance every time. It is a bi-monthly night we run in Athens. Again, nothing was planned really. I luckily got introduced to Jeph through our friend MC Sadacore after a Pinch & Mary Anne Hobbs party in Athens back in the beginning of 2010. Back then we both had our nights with other friends also involved. I was more on a dub/jungle/techno vibe myself, while Jeph with his other crew FTF were more hip-hop and beats influenced. It was definitely our shared love for the darker, more minimal, sometimes tribal, sometimes techier, sometimes dubbier sound, that made us gradually bond and form the night after a discussion we held when playing together at a festival in July ‘11. Our first guest was V.I.V.E.K exactly one year ago, then Tunnidge, Goth-Trad and Jack-Sparrow, every two months each. We also did a Deep Medi ‘Heads’ print exhibition with Tunnidge at the venue we play, Bios. For this year the season kicks-off on Friday, November the 9th and we’re very excited to bring Quantum Soul to Athens. We basically started BigBang because there wasn’t a night in Athens devoted to the Medi or eyes-low vibe. No lights, big Funktion-One system, decks and a few DJs is what our night’s about. The people make it special. No-one cares about how you look or dance. It’s one love for the sound - foundation style. The smoking ban is also not working in Athens so a few herb clouds can always enrich the atmosphere. Apart from Jeph1 & myself spinning the previous slot to our guest, we also host local producers & DJs for the warmup and after slots, with people like Duckem, Insom, Harris Funxion, SRJ, Red, Circo Inverso, & Black Athena having graced us with wonderful sets. BigBang is also a radio show, which is an amazing effort from many talented individuals around the country and abroad, for a full-on radio experience. I can’t thank them enough for having us on the roster, since we get to constantly share our love for the sound, play dubs and latest releases, reaching more people every time. The radio ting is Jeph1 b2b myself with MCs Sadacore, 2Delta & the FJ Skullz rotating on the mic.
How do you go about building your tunes? What’s your production setup like?
I start in Logic but along the way I’ll also have Reason or Ableton running in a rewire set up, depending on what I’m after. Usually drums and some percussion first and then it’s a puzzle which somehow, sometimes gets finished. Probably atmospheres come second with the sub and bass being next. The truth is I don’t think there’s a definite pattern. The right pattern must be in the mindset and how you approach and connect with what you are doing. My main set up is Logic Pro, UAD2, Native Instruments Komplete and Trilian. I also use a fair amount of plugins for dynamics and effects, all running on a Macbook Pro connected to a MOTU interface. I also use the Nord Lead 2X synth, a TL valve compressor, few mics and some percussion. I own a lovely Toft Audio mixing desk from my analog studio days, which I haven’t used in a while, but I’d like to see that changing in the future and rediscover what happens when beats run through it. I use Mackie HR624 MKI and Genelec 8050 monitors. All that equipment aside, I firmly believe that a laptop, a DAW with a good selection of plugins and a pair of decent headphones are more than enough. Having said that, I really enjoy working in my studio which is a little sound-treated for reflections. I am moving to the Netherlands later this year though, so I’ll have to get used to a more portable setup, at least for a while.
Do you prefer turntables or CDJs for playing out? Do you think the opinions about playing one being better than the other are relevant?
If you’re a good DJ it shows and most times people will feel it and connect with you. I think the opinions about playing one being better than the other are very irrelevant. Obviously vinyl will sound warmer and more pleasant on a properly tuned sound system with big subs, serviced turntables and an engineer who knows what he’s doing. Other times though turntables are plain FKOFed from years of abuse and it’s frustrating playing on them, or it could be an underground rave booking which usually won’t have turntables these days. At the end of the day the decks are just an interface between the DJ and the people. What matters for me is how the person is controlling the interface. Of course I love watching a DJ play vinyl and dubs but I can surely understand why the vast majority of DJs spinning acetates and vinyl in the past have moved on to CDJs and Serato. I personally love collecting & spinning vinyl, I get most of my tunes cut to acetate at Dubstudio in Bristol and I have an addiction to that whole culture, but I also love using Serato control vinyl when playing out and on radio, so basically it’s best of both worlds for me. It’s also much cheaper not having to cut every dub I feel like playing out. More recently though I acquired a pair of second hand CDJ-900s, which I like a lot, so I am getting used to them at home for use at gigs later this year. I’m also planning on using CDJs in Amsterdam next season where most mid-sized nights don’t have turntables usually these days. The “compatibility” factor is a big bonus with CDJs.
You’ve brought a selection of some of the best DJs and producers in dubstep to Athens. If you could pick a gig that stands out, which would you choose - and why?
I think both Jeph1 and I couldn’t pick one. Yeah all 4 of them are amazing artists and great characters so I really can’t choose. V.I.V.E.K’s gig was so deep with an amazing spaced-out quality to it, Tunnidge destroyed a full house Chestplate-style, both Goth-Trad gigs in Athens and Thessaloniki were pure gold. We also got to fly with Goth-Trad for the second gig and spend more time together which was nice. He dropped so many of his tunes plus bare Mala and Skream dubs. Finally the Jack Sparrow gig was again very special, being also the Athens Outlook launch party, he played lots of styles which I enjoyed alot, many Author dubs and closed his set at 170 bpm. I can’t thank all of them enough for the positive vibes they brought and I can’t wait now for what Quantum Soul has in the bag for kicking off this season.
How do you see the dubstep sound progressing over the next few years? What will we all be listening to this time next year?
No one knows and I feel that is the beauty of it. Each year new producers surface with their unique twist on the sound and this is what drives the scene forward. I do believe though that next year the techier sound Youngsta is pushing at the moment, and all the producers he’s involved with lately, will evolve even more and push the boundaries in directions we can’t think of yet. Icicle, Proxima, Killawatt, Biome, KM, Seven, Kaiju, Amit, Truth and the Tempa roster are all killing at the moment. I can also see the Deep Medi sound and family expanding even more next year. V.I.V.E.K, Quest, Goth-Trad, Commodo, Jack Sparrow are all on fire and I won’t be surprised if Kahn gets on board soon. The Chestplate, Osiris and Black Box crews are releasing gem after gem, I love the variety on Tectonic and Antisocial are upping their game all the time. On the other hand young labels having just celebrated their first anniversaries like M.U.D and Innamind have already built an impressive back-catalog and Tribe12 is also killing it. The scene in my opinion is healthier than ever and very inspiring at the moment. Producers from all over the globe are contributing to the sound and it feels very exciting. On a non-140 tip I love how Kromestar is pushing the bass boundaries with The Immortalz, same goes for Om Unit and the Cosmic Bridge crew. Also I can’t wait for what Swamp, Keysound, Burial & Old Apparatus all have to offer in ‘13 and finally I hope we get blessed by a new Horsepower album. Benny Ill is the don.
In terms of advice, what are your top points for new producers and DJs looking to get heard, signed or booked?
Build beats, more beats, set up a night, more beats, more beats, record mixes, built beats, play on radio, more beats, more beats, hook up with like-minded producers, build beats, more beats and forget about Twitter, Facebook and forums for a change. When I see big talk from young producers up online, I get the impression some are producing mostly to impress their friends or girlfriends and I feel they’re in it for ego complacency foremost. But ego and impatience combined with free production tools and free web space are responsible for a lot of force-fed mediocre stuff no one cares about. For most producers it’s a hobby anyway, one that will eventually be put aside when they move on with life, so please stop pretending that it’s all so important and rather enjoy what you do. Music is for real, if you’re serious about it, “stay in the trenches”. When your tunes get good, then you’ll get noticed. When you get noticed, eventually you’ll get signed to a quality label and then you’ll get heard by more and get booked. I feel it’s a long process like a marathon, a slower but long distance race. Don’t stop and never get discouraged. Learn more everyday and do it with more love because you enjoy producing or DJing, not for the end product, not for the tune, the set or the hype. A serious label is willing to invest time, money & much effort in an artist, so it is only fair for an artist to be ready to invest in his art. Otherwise anyone can upload some tunes up online these days on bandcamp and become a label, but most times no one pays attention or remembers those artists and tunes the next moment. What is the point of having these releases out for sale and spending energy to promote something that is mediocre? Try to find your sound, don’t jump from one bandwagon to the next. Refine your sound, do it for the long run. It is said that you need x hrs of practice to “make it” anyway. This x number also depends on each individual artist but nevertheless they’re alot of hours. Might be just 2 or 3 years for some, might be 10 years for others, you never know, so you might as well enjoy all this time and effort. Basic stuff really but traps into which we could all easily fall. Self knowledge is a virtue worth pursuing in the Arts. Also for some, including myself, eating healthy, getting some regular form of exercise and having some early nights per week can massively boost creativity. Sometimes all you have to do is to forget about music, go have a walk or a run, ride a bike or go swim, read a book, play a game of chess or watch a film. Find what works best for you. Finally, repetition and “showing up” is hugely important. You can’t write big tunes if you’re rarely in the studio.
Tell us about your mix for MIG x FKOF…
I recorded this mix the day after returning to Athens in September from playing Outlook Festival. I used Technics 1200s and Serato and it features 6 tunes of mine, which for the most part I got an offer to release, but which I finally decided to rather keep on dubs. The mix also includes dubs by Jeph1, Quantum Soul, Gantz and Ekelon. In addition I included released tunes I am feeling by Vivek, Mala, Commodo, Wayfarer and a couple more. The idea behind the mix was to showcase some of my tunes and those I’m feeling by others for the first part and for the later part to convey the listener with a tribal-percussive-subbed out feeling, which I like to get into when playing out. It was also a way to part with that batch of dubs before starting the next one, which is the batch I am working on right now and which I can already see fitting in a few players’ bags. On a side-note the mix closes with Rastaman Chant by Bob which we dropped at the end of our set at Outlook, at 5am in the Ballroom – a special moment.
Any shoutouts?
Yeah mad respect to everyone coming to the events, everyone locked to our shows on Paranoise, Jeph1, Mr Mazz, my Fundracar fam & Professor Skank, Sadacore, 2Delta & FJ Skullz, all the Paranoise massive, Runner, Insom & all crews pushing the sound with love in Greece. All producers sending me their dubs, all DJs we played with last season in Athens, all booking agents we’ve worked with and the Bios crew. Also big up Quantum Soul, Gantz, J.Robinson, Ekelon, Compa, Numa Crew, Peng Sound, Dubstudio, Vagabondz, Subdub & Outlook and of course FKOF and everyone reading this and feeling the sound. 1Luv
Best dubstep track ever produced is…? ‘
Livin’ Different’ by Mala. ‘Education’ again by Mala and ‘The Goat Stare’ by Loefah come in pretty close though.
Best label in dubstep is…?
DMZ each and every time, second to none.
I think Billy’s interview is one of the most thoughtful I’ve read - a lot of time, effort and love went into those answers. It’s always awesome to read those kind of interviews! Luckily for those of you out there who like your mixes deep and subby, Billy Widz has putt the same effort into his addition to the MakeItGood x FKOF series - his mix is truly brilliant. 19 tracks, 45 odd minutes, a good number of dubs and ending with a Bob Marley song. Can’t ask for anything more…
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. Billy Widz - 1Luv [dub]
2. Billy Widz - Deliverance [dub]
3. Quantum Soul - Xolotl [dub]
4. Ekelon - Ital Sounds [Free download]
5. Billy Widz - Kapari [dub]
6. Wayfarer - Fall Of The Zulu [Tribe 12]
7. Olie Bassweight - The Void (3rdeye remix) [Bassweight]
8. Billy Widz - Flatlinerz [dub]
9. Gantz - Tesseract [dub]
10. Billy Widz - Forest [dub]
11. Jeph1 - Genesis [dub]
12. Billy Widz - Mentor’s Trap [dub]
13. Commodo - Buckwild [Deep Medi]
14. Gantz - Cave Dance [Innamind]
15. Mala - Cuba Electronica [Brownswood]
16. Quantum Soul - Otherside [dub]
17. V.I.V.E.K - Meditation Rock [Deep Medi]
18. Quantum Soul - High Priest [dub]
19. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Rasta Man Chant [Tuff Gong]
Let us know what you think of Billy Widz’s interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara
It’s rare to come across a character who’s described as positively by literally everyone we’ve heard talk about him. Mentor, legend, badman, boss, hero - a few of the adjectives used to describe the following interviewee. Regarded as a father figure to many new and upcoming producers thanks to his seven year residency on Sub.FM, BunZer0 is also a bit of a hero of ours. He hit us up randomly a few months back to say he’d be ‘honoured’ to record a mix for the MakeItGoodx FatKidOnFire series. After a bit of a doubletake, we got the ball rolling on what he calls his ‘best recorded mix from 2012’ and what’s possibly my most favourite interview…
[BunZer0 at Outlook 2011 by Anna Drozd]
Easy Ben! You good?
Am not too bad mate thanks! You?
All good thanks mate! For those that don’t know, who exactly is BunZer0?
Well my name is Ben, I live in Brussels, Belgium and I am a DJ and producer who loves sub-bass frequencies…
It’s a question you’re probably sick of being asked, but can you place what first got you dubstep? How did you make the jump from casual listener to mixing and producing? What came first?!
Well I was DJing a long time before dubstep came around. So let’s say I was into breaks at the end of 90’s, when the genre was interesting (if that makes sense)… In the early 2k’s some fusions came out of the UK, mixing breaks elements with UK garage. People used to call that breakstep. Tunes coming out on Zinc’s label Bingo Beats (under his alias Jammin) were really interesting me. It was refreshing and sounding a bit sexier than the breaks area. I started to check more garage stuff and I was immediately caught by the deep and meditative music people like Horsepower Productions, Zed Bias or El B were bringing in the scene. At that time the word dubstep didn’t exist but with some distance we can definitely say that those sounds were the foundations of what people started to call dubstep a bit later. I was already playing around with sounds at that time but I wouldn’t say you could call it production! I only started taking that seriously a few years later….
How long have you been DJing?
Well in the sense that a DJ is someone who plays music for people, I’d say I started to play underground music to my friends when I was 15 or something. But mostly in my bedroom to be honest. That was 24 years ago! But the beatmatching ting and the beginning of my real bookings came a bit later, early 90s I would say, during the techno golden age…
Your FOB Show on Sub.FM is the stuff of legend, how did your slot with the station first come about? How long has your show been running?
I’m in my 7th year of FOBness on sub.fm now! The station contacted me because I was posting dubstep studio mixes on the internet - and, well, those mixes used to be quite popular at the time… I think the station was interested by someone making waves outside of London, outside of Croydon. The station suggested that slot to me and I jumped on it. So I’ve been playing, every Thursday at 6pm GMT, for the last 7 years…
How do you go about building your tunes? What’s your production setup like?
Oh my set up is really simple: a (recently bought) powerful computer, Ableton, and a tiny midi controller. I’ve also got a pair of little studio monitors but I’m not massively happy with them. For now, I’m producing on my good old hifi speakers because I know them perfectly. I should definitely buy a pair of Genelec monitors in the future though!
Another standard question you’re probably bored to death of. Do you prefer turntables or CDJs for playing out? Does it matter?
Well as I started to DJ a while back, I of course spent most of my career on vinyl. I sure do have a lot of love to that analog medium, for its warmth and ability to reproduce deep bass frequencies. But in the past 7 years, since the FOB Show started, I’ve been getting sent a lot of unreleased material. So I started to play on CDs ‘cause I couldn’t afford to cut everything on wax. Which is still pretty much the case in fact… On a pragmatic level I also think I would definitely need to buy a warehouse to stock all the dubs I would have cut since the beginning of the FOB Show! And on top of that, around the start of the FOB Show, I had some very bad hernia in my back. All the doctors told me to stop carrying heavy weights so I had to stop playing on vinyl! That was definitely my biggest motivation to play CDs instead. I didn’t really have a choice you know? But yes, I’m missing the vinyl days – at least for the sound they bring… Then when I see all the DJs having issues with decks in clubs nowadays, I don’t think it was the worst decision I’ve ever made! At least CDJs are war machines and allow you to play music anywhere. So less charm for sure but definitely the best way to play music in club nowadays in my humble opinion…
You’ve played all over the world with some of the best DJs in dubstep. If you could pick a gig, which would you choose - and why?
It’s too hard to pick up one! Playing at FWD» in London twice is surely a great addition in my list! But playing and organizing the first ever Dubstep night in Belgium back in January 2006 with Skream and Youngsta is also something I will never forget. Playing at Reconstrvct with my harmonica player Mr Jo is another very important memory. And of course Outlook is also something I am really proud of!
With the steady rise in popularity of ‘roots music’ and the whole system culture (thankfully) coming back, how do you see the dubstep sound progressing over the next few years?
Eradication of ‘Brostep’ and ‘Filth’ is my first and most important goal! I hope that’s going to be the same for the rest of the scene…
You’ve just given a few tunes away for free on your SoundCloud, have you got any tunes forthcoming we should be looking out for?
Yep, I’ve got two releases coming up soon in mid November, early December. The first one is for the American label Airtight Imprint, with my tune Paracetamol + Paracetamol (Innerlign remix). The original plan was to get another remixer on the release but the guy is late so I’m not too sure his version going be on the EP. The label plans to release a compilation later in 2013 and plans to put that mysterious remx on that compilation… The second release is an EP on Mindstep Music. I can’t really say how many tunes are planned for that one ‘cause the label is trying to keep a bit of mystery around the EP. All I can say is most of the tunes there are collabs I did with some skilled live musicians! Two tunes are revealed though ‘Darabuka ft. Kamine’ and ‘Chapati ft. Mr Jo’. Mindstep Music plans to send all the tunes to the mastering studio, so I reckon they’ll communicate a bit more when we got the very final versions of the tunes.
In terms of advice, what are your top points for new producers and DJs looking to get heard or signed?
Hmm. I’m a bit negative about the whole musical industry and DJing nowadays to be honest so I’ll be a bit sarcastic and say to beginners to avoid doing tings like I did… Don’t be honest, spit on your fellow DJs and producers, be arrogant, lie to everyone and say you are the pioneer of one genre even it is clearly someone else, be really pushy to promoters, follow every new hype instead of believing in the genre you really like and make cheesy unimaginative tunes then you’ll be a SUPERSTAR. So yes I did the opposite and am still poor as hell!
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
Well I don’t want to throw flowers at my own face but the mix I did for you is probably my best recorded mix in 2012. I’m really happy about the build up and the story the mix tells the listener. Not sticking to one kind of vibe or one kind of beats so it is like you open a little new door on every tune I put there…
Any shoutouts?
Yep I’d like to thank all the people supporting my DJ stuff and my radio show. I’ve been posting mixes online for years and there are still a lot of people loving them so that’s really great! Big shouts to the whole Sub.FM crew! Big shouts to the labels releasing my own music: L2S, Reggae Roast, Airtight Imprint and Mindstep Music to only name a few! Shouts to all the DJs playing my music! Big ups Distance, Syte, Crises, Content, Beezy, Djinn, Hedmuk, ARtroniks… Again to only name a few. So anyone else doing that please forgive me!
3 producers we should be following are…?
Well I’ll name 3 guys I “recently” discovered and who are really exciting me at the moment. - Wayfarer for his incredible ability to make the sickest tribal dubstep at the moment - Promise One because his dark garage stuff is absolutely amazing and he is making the link between the roots of dubstep and the most recent improvements in sound production - Gantz for his artistic freedom and his ability to build solid and crazy vibes. About the confirmed producers I won’t be original at all but Mala stays for me the best producer everyone should check! But I feel bad for just giving four names…. Distance, Ruckspin, Planas, Tunnidge, Kryptic Minds, Swindle, Thelem, Kaiju, FNC and SO MANY MORE should be mentioned!
Best dubstep track ever produced is…?
Mala’s ‘Lean Forward’.
Best label in dubstep is…?
Deep Medi.
America has its own dubstep ambassador in the form of the one and only Joe Nice. I’m not sure if the association has been made before (but if not it bloody should have), but Belgium can definitely pin the same title on Ben. If you’re ambivalent as to why, have a listen to the mix he’s put together for MIG x FKOF. It’s truly, truly sensational…
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. BunZer0 - Bubble [dub]
2. Camu - Mujahedin [forthcoming Mu Djina]
3. BunZer0 - Paracetamol [forthcoming Airtight Imprint]
4. Mala - Curfew [Brownswood]
5. Vivek - Against The Tide [forthcoming Tectonic]
6. Tunnidge - Empty Spaces [forthcoming Chestplate]
7. Anneka - Shut Her Down (Collision remix) [dub]
8. Imaginary Friend and UNCO - Bad Dreams Factory (Apatic remix) [forthcoming Undersky]
9. Gantz and Quantum Soul - Oracle [dub]
10. Wayfarer - Shaman [forthcoming Tribe12]
11. FNC - Prism [dub]
12. Sleeper - Zodiac [dub]
13. BunZer0 ft. Kamine - Darabuka [forthcoming Mindstep Music]
14. Twisted and Rakoon ft. Beezy - Secluded [dub]
15. Proxima - Lie Detection [Tempa]
16. District - Kraken [dub]
17. Pheral - Tribesman [dub]
18. ARtroniks - Depths Of Darkness [dub]
19. Sleeper - Pathogen [dub]
20. DubApes - We Are Monkeys [Bacon Dubs]
21. Vivek - Show Me [dub]
22. Core and Jack Sparrow - Backer [dub]
23. DJG - Rivet VIP [dub]
24. J:Kenzo - Statement of Intent [forthcoming Tempa]
25. Planas - Mr Litvinenko [dub]
26. Broke N - Weighted Notes 6Blocc [forthcoming Phantom Hertz]
27. FNC - Imprinted [dub]
28. Dubface ft. Beezy - Tomorrow [dub]
29. Quantum Soul - Hark Back [forthcoming Tribe 12]
30. Boot - The Rift [dub]
Let us know what you think of BunZer0’s interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara
Tomorrow, Regulate are celebrating their 2nd birthday, and boy are they doing it in style. Taking over Vauxhall club Covert, this really is going to be one hell of a celebration (just look at the line-up)!
Advanced tickets are available HERE. For more information, check out Regulate on Facebook!
Today’s MIG x FKOF feature sees us sit down with M.A.K.Z., a DJ/ producer/ blogger/ SoundCloud group administrator and all round badman. Oh, and he’s given us a FKOF free download as well…
Who is M.A.K.Z.?
M.A.K.Z. is a producer/DJ that uses influences from all over to create the most natural, organic sounding tracks and mixes.
What got you into mixing and producing dubstep? How would you describe your production style?
I first got into producing when I started my music technology course at college (which was 2 years ago now). Before then, I played the drums and have done for almost 8 years – I had been playing with a few bands and had done quite a few gigs around the local area since I was about 14. I think the first time I ever heard real dubstep was in one of Beezy’s old GetDarker mixes that I downloaded because it looked interesting. It blew me away – I’d never heard music like that before and I just really loved the sound of it, after that I got into all the old school stuff – artists like Skream, D1, Mala etc. and it’s progressed from there really. The mixing just came about – I would say I’m more of a producer, but I like to have a mix from time to time. I would say my production style is a blend of deep subs, strange pads, weird eastern samples, varied percussion and natural sounding drums – I try not to go with the whole processed sound, I do like a natural feel to my productions.
How long have you been producing and DJing?
I’ve been producing for a couple of years now – when I first started I used to catch the bus home from school early pretty much every day just so I could work on new tracks haha! I just found it amazing how you could make music with only an idea in your head. I’ve not been DJing too long, I’d say about a year. I just listened to loads of radio shows and wanted to try my hand at it, I used to DJ with a friend of mine who would walk from his house to mine with a suitcase packed with his turntables and mixer and we would do this most days after work when we were both on together.
How do you go about building your tunes? Is there a process behind each one? What software do you use?
I usually start with the drums – I use a program outside of my DAW that has all my samples in (it sequences the beats as well after I programme them), so they’re all the same tempo and not just loose samples. I do tend to layer my drums loads – at the end of bouncing down all my drum tracks to put into my DAW I’ll usually end up with about 5 snares/claps, 3-4 kicks and a variety of different hats/shakers/percussion. Then I start with the main instruments – pads will come first, then the sub and then the other synths and finally I’ll pick and choose samples that I’ve never used before or might recycle old ones. The process behind my tunes is an idea – once I get an idea in my head and I think it’ll sound good I’ll start on the track. I use Cubase 5, I learned to produce using that so it’s familiar to me – if you sat me in front of a Mac running Logic I wouldn’t have a clue what to do! I’ve just started to really find my sound – a lot of my older productions were a jumble of different sounds, but I would say I’ve finally found my way.
You run a popular SoundCloud dubstep group and have your own dubstep blog – how’s that going? What inspired you to start them both?
Well I started the group one day (which was a while ago!), a lot of unknown producers were submitting tracks that I thought were amazing and produced to a high quality. That gave me the idea to set up the blog which would be a platform to get their music heard. Since then it’s got more popular, not as popular as some blogs, but enough so that people know about it and what it’s all about. I keep trying to come up with new ideas for the blog, which is how the exclusive downloads and the mix series came along – I’d hit up producers/DJs that submitted tracks to my group and they’d usually all be up for it – a lot of people will probably think I’m trying to copy other blogs with the same sort of theme (for example Trusik), but I mainly focus on the underground artists and producers that not everyone might have heard of before. I’ll also be starting a podcast sort of mix (‘DDDDcast’) that will be regular and will be mixed by me, also got quite a few big mixes in the pipeline for the series – that’s all I’m saying…!
Turntables or CDJs for when you play out?
I’ve honestly never played out before haha!! I’ve always mixed in my studio (aka bedroom), but have never had the opportunity to play out because I live in an area of the Midlands where people don’t seem to know the first thing about true dubstep and there’s not a lot of venues here either. But if I was to play out it would be CDJs seeing as though they’re easier for playing unreleased music on – I wouldn’t know where to start with the whole cutting dubplates business!
What’s been your best gig and if you could DJ alongside anyone, who would it be?
If I could DJ alongside anyone in the world, it would have to be Hatcha back in the days when dark garage was the rage and the clubs consisted of only big sound systems and decks.
Who are your top 5 dubstep producers at the moment; and why? Any labels you’re feeling?
I’m really feeling the music coming out on Tribe12 at the moment. Deep Medi and Tempa are also doing big things as always and of course Osiris. I’ve been hearing some good things on Redshift One too.
What’s the future of dubstep - where do you see the genre going? Do you think the ‘deep and dark’ side of things has been overdone yet? If so, what’s next?
Personally I don’t think it’s been overdone yet – there’s still a load of producers bringing different styles to the table and making the music more interesting, it’s a controversial topic to be fair – everyone has their own opinion. It’s the same thing with my blog – ‘Deep, Dark, Dungeon Dubstep’ paints the wrong picture really – it’s a music blog that covers all areas of bass music, not just the typical dark, minimal sound. I think techno will be the next big craze – I like it in little chunks, but I don’t think you’ll ever see me produce a techno beat! I’d love to see 140 jungle come about more – I’ve got respect for that sub-genre.
Any forthcoming releases we can look forward to?
I’ve got a 4-track grime EP that I will be doing the pre-masters for soon and sending those out – if the labels don’t want it then it’ll probably be a self-release thing on bandcamp, I’ve put a lot of time into it and the concept behind it so would be nice to have a label to support it – dropped a couple of the tracks from it in my mix too.
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
I had a lot of dubs as it was and was still getting more from producers – I tried to include as much new music as I could, also played a classic from Cyrus, one of my most favourite dubstep/grime crossover tunes and that beautiful production from Vaun.
Have you got any advice to upcoming DJs/producers looking to get their music heard or signed?
I think I’m the one who needs advice about getting signed! But for getting heard, you just need to know the right people and send your music out to DJs that will appreciate it.
Any shoutouts?
I just want to say a big thank you and respect out to all the producers/DJs contributing to my blog with downloads and the mixes and to all the supporters so far, also out to all the DJs who play my music – cheers and of course Wil for putting up the best mixes/free downloads around and for letting me contribute to that!
3 people (dead or alive) you’d go for a beer with (and why)?
Best dubstep track ever produced?
It’s got to be be ‘Midnight Request Line’ by Skream – an old school classic and it was one of the first real dubstep tracks I ever heard.
Best dubstep producer out there?
That’s a tough one, but I’m gonna have to say Icicle – all of his music is flawless and his productions are outstanding, no matter what genre.
17/20 dubs in his mix for MIG x FKOF and a truly weighty little FKOF free download. M.A.K.Z. is definitely a DJ and producer to look out for in the future! Keep eyes on the SoundCloud group (I’ve found a good few gems in there) and the DDDD Tumblr and Facebook page - and keep tabs on M.A.K.Z. on SoundCloud and Mixcloud…
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. Camu - Bloodwood [dub]
2. Boofy - Subculture [dub]
3. Aiko - Mystic [dub]
4. Biak - 045 [dub]
5. M.A.K.Z. - Headhunter [dub]
6. Cyntel - Trolls [dub]
7. Baku - Deep Breaths [dub]
8. Gatekeeper ft. Grilza - Truth In The Booth [Nu Labels]
9. Deafblind & Format - My Fate [dub]
10. Geode - Aliased Fever [dub]
11. Kong - Enemies [dub]
12. Cyrus - Paradise Dub [Tectonic]
13. Camu - Kikuyu [dub]
14. Pressa - Solar Flare [dub]
15. M.A.K.Z. - The Sleeperhold [dub]
16. Alias. ft. Lowdose - Bristol 2 Tha Bay (Cyntel’s Grime VIP) [dub]
17. M.A.K.Z. - K.O. [dub]
18. Boofy - Since When [dub]
19. M.A.K.Z. - Straight Roller [dub]
20. Vaun - Colourful [Redshift One]
Let us know what you think of MAKZ interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara
Birmingham based KRYPT are back again at club P.S.T in November, offering a night of deep, minimal dubstep. This time round, they have invited our good friend Beezy and head honcho of Tribe12 J.Robinson.
Free before 11pm, £5 after. For more information, check out the Facebook event page!
Liminal Sounds presents Big Eyes, Little Soles’ 2nd Birthday. Big Eyes, Little Soles is a sneaker blog and European wide collective, dedicated to the female fiend. Since the site’s inception in 2010 the community has continued to grow exponentially. They have been voted one of the Top 5 sneaker blogs by Guardian Online as well as being featured by the likes of Vice and Mint Magazine.
Free before 11pm, £5 after. £3 advanced tickets are available here. For more information, check out the facebook event page!
Today see’s the latest MakeItGood x FatKidOnFire feature with Bristol’s Gamma…
Who is Gamma?
Gamma is Nathan Gamlin, a 23-year-old producer and DJ from Bristol.
What got you into mixing and producing dubstep? How would you describe your production style?
Well I was into band-oriented music when I was young (ranging from metal, indie and rock) but I got into some drum and bass after going to a youth club that Roni Size was involved with. Just before uni, I was getting more and more into DnB and deeper into the jump up side of things – stuff like Hazard, Generation Dub and DJ Pleasure. A friend showed me some Caspa and Rusko tunes and then I got pulled into dubstep pretty quickly; finding the deeper sound about 3 years ago. I don’t know how to explain my sound really. Deep and dark I guess, I would like to think I have some kind of cinematic kind of sound too. Still evolving I guess though!
How long have you both been producing and DJing?
I got my decks about 4 years ago and started producing 2 years after that. DJing has taken the back seat after I moved back home from uni and I now focus much more on producing.
How do you go about building your tunes? Is there a process behind each one? What software do you use?
I’ve always used Reason (until about 2 months ago anyway) when I started rewiring into Logic… I’ve definitely seen the light now! I generally go beat first, probably due to playing drums through my teenage years… Then pads and intro and by then I have a pretty good idea what I want the tune to sound like.
Turntables or CDJs for when you play out?
I would always say turntables just for the feel of vinyl but for ease and saving money I would go CDJs.
What’s been your best gig and if you could DJ alongside anyone, who would it be?
Probably any of the early RUN nights at Native. So much fun and a sick line up every Tuesday with residents like Dminds, Clipz and TC! I can still remember when TC first dropped the Caspa remix of ‘Where’s My Money’… At that point I think everyone was pretty speechless! Probably choose someone like DJ Shadow or someone… Someone who does something different!
Who are your top 5 dubstep producers at the moment; and why? Any labels you’re feeling?
In no particular order…
What’s the future of dubstep - where do you see the genre going? Do you think the ‘deep and dark’ side of things has been overdone yet? If so, what’s next?
Not sure where it’s going to be honest… I think there will always be a core group in all areas whether it’s tear out, deep stuff or that future dubstep stuff… It definitely has longevity and I don’t think it’s overdone. It will just evolve and change, people just need to remember to do their own thing as much as they can!
Any forthcoming releases we can look forward to?
No releases… Yet!
Tell us about your MIG x FKOF mix…
Well initially, I wanted to get some drum and bass in there but then decided that I would just do a mix of the sound that I think I kind of fit into and also get a few of my friends in it too! I just grabbed tunes I liked at that point and mixed it - most of the selection are in my top tunes of this year!
Have you got any advice to upcoming DJs/ producers looking to get their music heard or signed?
Well, seeing as that is what I need to focus on I’m not too sure… Be confident in what you do I guess. And people will notice!
Any shoutouts?
Shoutouts to Fortitude, Dyssomnia, Konvex, Clare (for putting up with me sitting at my Mac for so long!) Snyde, Deafblind, Shiba and all my nearest and dearest.
3 people (dead or alive) you’d go for a beer with (and why)?
This one took a while…
Best venue/ club night in Bristol for dubstep/ bass music?
Motion just because the huge nights and massive line ups they have. Check out the in:motion series, big nights every Friday and Saturday from October until New Year!
Best dubstep track ever produced?
Hard one…. D1’s ‘Dubstep Warz’ just because it got me into the darker stuff.
Gamma’s MIG x FKOF mix is a pretty awesome selection of dubs and releases. 23 tracks from a serious selection of established and upcoming producers - you can’t really go wrong with that! Free download as always, so stream or grab. It’s definitely a keeper!
Click to DOWNLOAD
Track list:
1. Anex - Delusions (Demon Remix) - [ICU Audio]
2. Gamma- Defiance [dub]
3. Soap Dodgers - Unleashed [Wheel & Deal]
4. J:Kenzo - Invaderz [Tempa]
5. Catacombs & Knowledge -Tactics [Free]
6. Gantz & Collision - Chant [Tribe 12]
7. Kryptic Minds - Idiom [Osiris Music]
8. Enigma Dubz - Stagnant [Enigma Dubz]
9. Truth - Dreams [Tempa]
10. Gamma - Spies [dub]
11. Dioxin One - Nobody Get Hot [Free]
12. Zoobi - Dont Trust Anyone [Soulstep]
13. Freeze & LX One - Forseen [Osiris Music]
14. Biome - Persepolis [Macabre Unit Digital]
15. Vicious Circle - Not Afraid [Crunch Recordings]
16. Icicle - Together in Dust [Shogun]
17. Catacombs & Knowledge - Out Of Focus [Macabre Unit Digital]
18. Dcult - Inner Peace [Macabre Unit Digital]
19. Dyssomnia & Skeptix - Empire [dub]
20. Icicle - Need a Job [Shogun]
21. Congi & Gantz - Warrior [Innamind Recordings]
22. Goth-Trad - Seeker [Deep Medi Musik]
23. Reamz - Born Of A Sin [dub]
Let us know what you think of Gamma’s interview and mix via Twitter or Facebook.
Lara