Big up Audio. A man who loves and lives the D&B culture so much he’s got drum and bass tattooed on his knuckles.
A key member of the Virus family, this week sees him release his third artist album. Soul Magnet has been a big topic of discussion amongst the many D&B forums with all manner of speculation and anticipation. And rightly so, not only is it his biggest work to date; he’s made some massive changes to his set up including a brand new Digital Audio Workstation which he highlighted in this recent production tutorial. We thought we’d give him a call to chat about his album, the perilous challenges of mixdowns and Optical’s eye catching artwork….
The album! Nice work. Are you happy with it?
“Yeah of course! It’s my third now, so I’m a bit of an old hand at albums.”
Does it get any easier or harder because you’ve set a benchmark?
“Yeah, the only pressure is the pressure you set on yourself. You always want to elevate things and push yourself to back up what you’ve done it and taken it further. Genesis Device was received pretty well so it was a case of taking things further again. A good, healthy kick up the arse if you like!”
Definitely. What have you learned in the two years that have passed?
“The first album and half of Genesis Device was written on Reason which is quite a basic program really. Soul Magnet is done on Studio One. The sound is bigger, there’s more texture and better mixdowns. Not many people have heard of Studio One but it’s made by Presonus which is an old company with a great reputation for hardware. It’s got the best of Ableton, the best of Logic and the best of Cubase all in one.”
Cool. Let’s talk mixdowns; they’re quite contentious… A lot of artists saying they’re taking the fun out of producing at the moment.
“I can see that. I mix down as I go along so when I add a new element I make sure it’s mixed properly when it’s first added. From my point of view, I’ve seen a lot of younger producers come through off the back of the big dubstep explosion. They write a good piece of music but it’s so badly mixed down I can’t listen to it! You need to be able to play your tune on everything from a home stereo to a massive 10k rig. People say ‘as long as it sounds good on a laptop’. I’m like really? That can’t be the benchmark. So we need proper mixdowns to make sure the benchmark is kept high!”
Is that why you did the production video? To pass on your knowhow?
“Not really! I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think anyone would be interested but Optical persuaded me to do it and I ended up enjoying it. It was supposed to be 20mins and I waffled for double that! To be honest the video could’ve been nine hours long.”
Haha! Cool. Back to the album. Soul Magnet is a great name. Where does it come from?
“I first heard it on an episode of Fringe, which is like a modern day X-Files. I liked the sound of it and kept a note of it. I’m getting a bit deeper now, too. I’m a dad, I’ve got another kid on the way. I’m not down with obnoxious music for the sake of it. It’s got to hit me. It’s got to have something, some soul or groove that captures me. That’s what I wanted to make, an album full of soul magnets. The artwork came later and fitted in perfectly. Optical did it and asked me what I thought…”
Optical did the artwork? Nice!
“Yeah he did. Virus artwork seems to be very Marmite. People either really love it or really hate it with a passion. It’s famously been like that for a long time. Matt likes what he likes and does it himself. We were talking about Soul Magnet and he sent it over. It was a huge advantage knowing the artist; we could work together until we were both happy.”
Two highlights for me are Vein Drain and Recon. If you had to pick three tunes to keep from your album, which would they be?
“Headroom is the first. Without a doubt. It was the first tune I made with my new monitors. I blew my old Mackies up half way through the album, which is the worse time ever to happen! So Headroom was the first I did with the new speakers before going back and checking the other tunes I’d made for consistency. Recluse is another one I’d pick. I did it with Inside Info. We raided his dad’s vinyl collection and sampled loads of old jazz. We went back to 97 and just hammered the samplers. There’s no synths or anything, just proper sound manipulation. A proper nod to the Wormhole days!”
Yes! One more…
“It’s a really difficult question mate!”
Sorry, I know…
“Probably Recon actually. It’s been kicking around on computer for almost two years but I was never quite happy with how it sounded. I played it to Optical and he was like ‘you’re joking mate, where the hell has this been hiding?’ He insisted it was on the album and it was great to finally finish it and give it a good home.”
Ah, closure. Nice. Cheers!
Soul Magnet is out now on Virus. Listen and download.