Tempo-flexing: whether you’re an orthodox D&B purist or a sucker for the genre-jumping drop, no one can deny the huge influence BPM bouncing has had on DJ culture in the last few years.
Usually the sole preserve of trademark eclectic DJs like DJ Food, Yoda or Craze, now all performers are encouraged to get creative in the fertile pastures between tempo territories. The big challenge is how you do it…
Do it right and you blow your floors minds.
Do it wrong and you blow your chance of a repeat booking.
Over the years there have been a few key tracks which have helped DJs make the switch with party-pulverising panache. Noisia’s militant, guttural distorto-damager Machine Gun being one of the most popular. Now Audioporn have put together a 22-track strong collection of tempo-terrorisers helping you make the jump from 170 to 140 and back again with such precision your dancefloor will go home thinking you’re a magician.
Across Transitions you’ll find bangers from Camo & Krooked, Shockone, Dirtyphonics, Xilent, Fourward, Noisia and many more. There’s also a whole bunch of exclusives including this head-bending D&B/electro buzz cut from James Marvel and Audioporn boss Shimon…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbSk2GbTVO8
Intrigued by this new style of genre-mashing we called up Shimon to find out more…
Transitions…. What inspired the concept?
It’s the way things are these days. It’s far more acceptable to drop whatever you want in your set. Drum & bass-wise it used to be pretty staunch on what people wanted. But with electronic genres opening up in the way they have, it’s really opened up the doors for creativity and we wanted to celebrate that.
Props. I think DJ technology has helped. Once was a time when you couldn’t make that switch on vinyl – now anything is possible…
Absolutely. When we were playing on vinyl you were stuck at that tempo and it didn’t sound very smooth mixing up other genres. I just think dancefloors are far more up for variety right now and it makes things a lot more fun for both the DJ and the dancefloor.
How long did it take to curate?
We’ve been thinking about it for a while. Once we decided on the idea it was just a case of putting together a killer tracklist of the best examples of these tunes. Audioporn has released a lot of these tracks since the very beginning. Dirtyphonics, for example, really led the way with this style. So we had a lot of great examples of these tracks, then we asked a few more of our producers to make some and from there it took a couple of months. Not long at all.
Indeed. Give me some personal album highlights…
I’m so happy with the new tracks. High Maintenance featuring Melissa Pixel on Take The Pain Away is a big highlight for me. It was great working with James Marvel on Ice Block, too. I really enjoyed making that track and it’s had some insane reactions.
Any more exclusives?
The lead track Transitions from Dilemn is just incredible. It goes from electro to dubstep to drum & bass, so three genres in one tune, which is really inspiring and set the tone for the whole album. Like I say, Ice Block is another big exclusive you won’t get anywhere else. Also there’s a VIP from Naked Fish, there’s Mustache Riot’s Creepy Unkle, there’s DisasZt’s Till The Sun Comes Up and of course High Maintenance. I’m really pleased with all of them.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfzjpGMfk-4
Tracks that helps DJs genre jump this seamlessly are like gold dust. Are you worried you’ve made the dark art of tempo switch-flipping almost too easy?
Hahah! That’s the plan! We’re all about accessibility in this society aren’t we? We want to get what you need in front of you. Yeah these tunes have been like gold dust in the past, and they’ve been great for me in my sets, so we wanted to put them altogether in one collection for everyone to use. I don’t think we’ve given the game away; we’re just helping fellow DJs out! It’s also really nice when you’re starting a set if you’re following a different genre DJ. I’ve done it a few times when I’m on after an electro, dubstep or breaks DJ. It makes a really smooth switch because the standard way of doing things is to stop the track and go ‘yeah it’s me’ then start with your own intro. But with this it’s something different, you can make that jump without stopping the flow of the night.
Obviously flipping up from 130/140 to 170 is a no-brainer. How have you found the drop down in tempo? That’s got to be some solid production to make that transition, right?
Definitely. And not only has the production got to be solid but the way you mix it in has to be timed correctly too. Naturally jumping back up to 170 is so much sweeter, it really knocks the floor’s heads! We noticed all of our artists are really good at making these transitional tracks. Maybe that’s why we’re putting this collection together and no one else has yet…
Please give us some production pointers on how to do it best…
Producers are very lucky now, most production software has really good automation functionality. DAWs have made it really easy to do these days. I can’t give away any specific production techniques, it’s all about timing and making sure that drop or jump in tempo carries a lot of weight for maximum effect.
Any plans for a Transitions 2?
Only time will tell. I hope so! We’re very excited about this debut collection, first. Let’s see how it does and see whether people want another collection. When we started Audioporn it was essential we never constrained ourselves or set anything in stone, we want to reflect what’s going on on the dancefloors right now and take it up as many levels as possible.
What’s next?
Just watch this space! We’ve got music coming out of ears at the moments. All of our artists smash it on a regular basis, I’m so excited about the material I’ve been sent from them recently. We try to do a release a month but could easily do one a week with the amount of incredible stuff I’ve been sent! The next release is a collection of Boss Wave remixes with versions from Teddy Killerz, Dodge & Fuski, James Marvel. There’ll be a new tune from Xilent himself on that, too. I can’t wait to get it out there!
Transitions is out now. Listen and download