June Miller: All Or Nothing

June Miller have been smashing it on all fronts lately. Having just completed a banging remix for Delta Heavy, the lads are preparing to release an EP in the lead up to an album expected in 2015. Add to this a relentless touring schedule, and the second instalment of their impressive Dark Complex Drum & Bass Sample Pack for Loopmasters and you’ve got one busy production duo. We caught up with the boys to find out more about the fresh re-load of Dark Nasty Basses, Driving Breaks, Cinematic Atmospheric samples and more…

Ez fellas! You’ve recently put together another sample pack for Loopmasters, tell us about the pack…

Hello! Yes indeed we have and it was a lot of fun, again! The sample pack is a pure representation of what we love about drum and bass, and to be honest there isn’t a great deal we don’t like. We wanted to capture that dynamic and variation we love adding a generous sprinkling of our cinematic and somewhat dramatic signature sound.

When you browse through the sample pack you should hopefully find yourself being taken on a somewhat of a journey. One second you’ll come across huge cinematic epic horns and raging drums then be taken back down again to a melancholy ambient piano riff.

What inspired you to put another one together?

Well if we are brutally honest we always felt that some artists doing samples packs held back a lot. It wasn’t a true reflection of what they actually released and just sounded like a bunch of old tunes they found. Our inspiration was the fact that we wouldn’t hold back on anything. All our best sounds, snares that have gone through 3-4 years of processing cycles, baselines that had been reprocessing again and again and again, were all included.

I guess some people can be a little precious about sounds or music they have put a lot of effort into or sounds they love, but for some reason we don’t see it like that. We’re happy to share what we have made and do not see it as any type of threat. If it helps someone spark a creative idea or to pursue a dream then everyone’s a winner.

How long did it take to put together this time around?

Well that’s hard to estimate because as mentioned above some of the sounds have gone through years of processing stages. But if you exclude those processes I would say it took around 2-3 weeks of full-on sessions.

We wanted to be creative in our approach so we tried to achieve things that were slightly different to your typical drum and bass pack. For example, the cinematic section. We spent about two days reprocessing a trumpet from an old session we did. It was pitched down, mangled, reverbed and several stages of distortion, so it sounds likes huge Game of Thrones style cinematic horn!

Was it a fun process?

Extremely! I’m not sure I can find anything more fun than making samples. It sparks a certain creativity and you can achieve small things in bursts which is always good for self-confidence.

But making sounds and samples is the core to our process. It’s the way we work ourselves – making our samples, then using them in a track. It’s also really fun to know that what you’re making could be used by someone else who also experiences a lot of fun using your samples. It’s an overwhelming feeling.

Are you keeping your ears out for your samples in other tracks now?

Haha well it’s a very surreal experience. We get sent quite a few tracks and some are really creative! The weirdest thing though is hearing a new track by some artists you have totally looked up to for years and hearing your sounds laced all over their tracks! Not to name any names but it’s very strange when your heroes are using your samples to spark their creativity!

What is your current favourite sample/ and your favourite sample of all time?

Damn good question and it’s really hard to pick just one!

What was the first thing you ever sampled?

It surely must have been an amen! I think when we first started that was really the only starting point we knew! I’m sure we are not alone here 😀

If you could choose one artist to create a sample pack of your dreams, who would it be?

I think it would have to be Noisia and Mike Sheridan. Two of our favourite producers on this planet who pride themselves on total quality control. I’ve never heard any other producers who can consistently stay so far above everyone else and maintain that.

Good choice! How are things over at RAM? What’s coming up next for you guys in terms of releases?

Things are great! We’re very lucky and the guys at RAM work so hard. They normally just let us get on with it so the creative freedom is very relaxed. We have just finished our EP which is a series of releases leading up to our album due in 2015, so keep your eyes peeled!