Just one week today will see a mass of party goers and old skool ravers descending on Bath racecourse for the two day Retrotrax Festival. This event has been brought to fruition by hard working, visionary promoters, Ian Kenyon and Nick Sheldon, who have assembled one of the biggest line ups of ‘back in the day’ legends the UK has seen for a long time. Every musical genre of the the late 80s to late 90s is included, from House, Acid, Trance, Hardcore, Jungle, Techno to Progressive with all associated DJ’s representing their scene. In addition, upcoming PA’s for the event include Alison Limerick, Ce Ce Rogers, FPI Project, 2 Bad Mice, Sunscreem and more.

Denon + Dakeyne

I have the pleasure of DJ’ing at RetroTrax on the evening of Saturday the 12th in the House Arena. Not only for the music I’ll be playing (exclusively late 80s/early 90s house) and the no doubt up for it crowd I’ll be playing to, I’m also lucky enough to be premiering the all new Denon SC3900 decks during my full performance. The SC3900′s are digital-media turntable controllers, with the most awesome vinyl platter representation I’ve ever had my hands on. Denon themselves describe it as DJ’s now having..  ‘a choice between DJing with a turntable, a turntable and software, or a CDJ/Controller’. Capable then of playing CD’s, operating as a no limits DVS system with the likes of Serato Scratch, as a standard DJ controller or utilising Denon’s all new ‘Engine’ software. Engine is a music management solution enabling DJ’s the ultimate in set preparation, playback and control. I’ll actually be using the SC3900′s with the Engine software via an Apple iPad during my set so am very much looking forward to that.

Old Skool Download

So naturally, excitement is building for this massive event in Bath on the 12th~13th of May, so I’ve prepared a special one hour promo mix as a teaser to my own set I’ll be playing at the event. It’s available via the soundcloud link below as a free download for everyone reading this – stick it on your iPods, burn it onto CD for the car journey to RetroTrax, whatever you’d like, but be quick as the link for this mix will expire one week after the event. Right, I’m off to prepare my set with Denon’s Engine software and get busy using those SC3900′s too – see you guys at RetroTrax.

Mix Tracklisting:
1. Sueno Latino – Sueno Latino
2. Berry – TC1991
3. Chime – Orbital
4. Day in the Life – Black Riot
5. Real Life – Corporation of One
6. Yo Yo Get Funky – Fast Eddie
7. French Kiss – Lil Louis
8. I.M.N.X.T.C – Denise Motto
9. I’ll House You – Jungle Brothers
10. Voodoo Ray – A Guy Called Gerald
11. Pacific State – 808 State
12. Funky Guitar – TC1992
13. Kinetic – Golden Girls (Orbital Remix)
14. Last Rhythm – Last Rhythm
15. Essence of a Dream – Risque 3
16. Strings of Life – Rhythim is Rhythim
17. Go (Woodtick Mix) – Moby
18. Bells of New York – Slo Moshun
19. Planet Rock (Dakeyne Remix) – Afrika Bambaatta & Soulsonic Force
20. Running Away – Kamasutra
21. Yeke Yeke (Afro Acid Mix) – Mory Kante

Promo mix assembled using the awesome U-Mix Control Pro kindly supplied by MixVibes UK 

Stuart and I went on to launch our own stab at the music industry in 2007 with BackTrax studio productions, which saw us make a minor dent on the ever changing industry, but it was at a time when the digital explosion via distribution, mash-ups and freely available technology saw any decent wheat being buried underneath the chaff that began to proliferate. Today though for just a one month window and for your listening pleasure and delectation, I’m making the very first BackTrax remix available for a free download to your ipod’s etc.. so go get it below, and enjoy.

Amongst one or two other ‘League’ related sessions, one notable project (working title, ‘Distraction‘) was a personal favourite of mine. Due to the big dance music industry meltdown that occurred around ’02~03 however, this production never saw the light of day as a release. ‘Love Action’ was the original track my version was based on, with two version’s coming from a solid week of recording and mixing. Looking at the audio files I have on back-up CD, the vocalist was a girl called Amy – with version one of the mixes being a solid, though more commercial club mix, and the second getting my more harder-edged ‘Terpsichord’ treatment.

Both versions are below for your scrutiny and hopeful enjoyment (be gentle with me, remember, they are over ten years old now). The one and only airing of either mix of the above ‘Distraction’ project was myself DJ’ing, dropping the Terpsichord version to an underground club in Denmark (I think) – ironically, for my last ever Ministry of Sound tour gig.

Version 1 – Club Vocal Mix

Version 2 – Terpsichord Mix

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

‘Turntable Remix’

In late 1986 I’d only just moved to the London area to take up my then new position as in-house producer (alongside good friend, Sanny X) for the DMC crew. Within a few days of bedding myself into my new studio home, I was asked if I could turn around a lightning fast remix for MCA Record’s act, The Jet’s. The label’s A&R department had the release scheduled but were panicking they had no alternative club version for DJ’s to drop. The ‘gotchya’ to this scenario though was that no multitrack was available for the remix project. If I was to complete the remix then, I’d have to rely solely on edit and overdub elements and hence was born my reference phrase, a ‘turntable remix’.

Re-Build

Working then just with the original (I think) radio mix, a fortuitously available acapella, a Revox tape B77 tape machine and one solitary Akai S900, I set to work. The remix was built structuring the original pop arrangement around intro, outro and sporadic interspersed ‘bullet edit overdub sections and multi-layered audio grabs. The bed for some of these sections were themselves constructed from samples of the original drum track, plus other such stab ‘n percussion randomness! All in all though, once gelled into a cohesive club version, the whole thing held the nuance of the original production, but just added the DJ specific intro and outro’s, with some exciting dancefloor moments sprinkled through the timeline.

Radio Play

Literally a few weeks after the remix was delivered to MCA, this new version was aired on the then popular Tony Blackburn LBC radio show, ironically as a radio edit of my extended mix – huh! – but hey, it went on to be the main commercial release hitting the top five spot sometime in January ’87, and of course the 12″ mix did the club business too.

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

Funk’d Up!

This track dates back to sometime in the early 00′s – I’d guess at 2001, and was made as a possible promo release with a guy from a certain, high profile dance label having some creative input. My then production deal with the Ministry of Sound added some complications at the time and for (yet again) one reason or another, the promo 12″s of this track were left sat behind some A&R man’s desk and never saw the light of day. It’s a darn shame really, because I genuinely think this is the best house record I’ve ever made (the ‘Sharp Boys’ thought so too, and attempted to sign it for release on their label!).

On the studio, geek side of the fence, the track was made up with some old funk samples, a cheeky little borrow from an Art of Noise track (hence the ‘Dum’ in the title) and use of an old style, proper analogue filter unit, called the Electrix Filter Queen.. or something like that. Anyway, ‘it’s all about the tunes’, as a radio DJ friend of mine says, so.. here it is – enjoy.

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

The ‘and me’ part there actually translates to a similar type production that got SO close to an actual release, but due to some bizarre focus switch from the label (MCA Records) at the time, left this project on the shelf. I created a pseudonym (as I was often to do throughout my career – good, bad move?). The artists then was CHANNEL D, the track was called ‘Oh-We-Oh (love or lust?)’. The ‘D’ of course was my surname initial, and latched onto a utilised vocal sample from the cult 60s spy TV programme, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

As you’ll hear from the Soundcloud file below, it is indeed a sample-fest, an audio potpourri of bits and bobs that somehow hangs together with an underpinned groove lifted from Oliver Sain’s rare groove classic, ‘Bus Stop’. It contains original drums, bass, keyboards and guitar and fell nicely into the wake of the Bomb The Bass et al productions mentioned earlier. Alas though, it was not meant to be. MCA Records got as far as sending a legal document to secure the track, then as I said, had an eleventh hour transfer of affection (as it were) to another in house producer over at DMC. And no, before you ask, I aint, and wasn’t, bitter. I did however bury the project, not even letting DMC themselves put it out – and swiftly moved on to create another sound, another direction and flip a re-invention along the way. ‘Oh-We-Oh’ was never broadcast live on radio, never released in any format and was only played (off 1/4″ tape) twice at my then DJ residency, The Hippodrome, London. I found an old cassette with it on recently, and that is how I rediscovered it. Download if you’d like and enjoy, even for old times sake..

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

WTF?!

Call me some ol’ dude advancing in years, but I honestly can’t even remember programming, recording or mixing this. But I do however recognise my own work. The track in question is (and appears to be called), ‘The Mexican’. I can only assume this was a post Tinman period work, a further exploration of guitars and dance music.

Technicals

For the studio geeks, the Roland 303 style acid sections would definitely have been programmed with Propellerhead ReBirth, the guitar was pretty much a dead cert john Moores performance (same dude who played the ’18 Strings’ riff) and you’ll all recognise the Tarntino-esque vocal samples. Were these from Pulp Fiction? Maybe you can tell me.

Anyway, it’s available for a period on Soundcloud and as a free download (below) for y’all. “Everybody be cool… YOU be cool”!

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

Your Name’s Not Down

For me, for ages, the MoS was a pretty closed shop. The main room, called ‘The Box’, seemed like a hallowed ground of tribal worship, continuously occupied by American jocks and those of a ‘deeper’ playing style than perhaps mine. The MoS DJ booking team were however becoming more aware of yours truly and the style and technical aspect of my DJ sets (using technology to enhance the up ’til then, standard two deck experience).

All Change

With enough tongues wagging then, they finally took notice and dived straight in with a main room set offer, though laced with a kind of ‘come on then, show us what you can do‘ attitude – I had, therefore, to make it special. Thankfully, the club was opening its musical style to the more techy (and trancey) tunes surfacing in the mid-90s, a situation mirrored by their then burgeoning CD licensing compilations moving from the darker, underground vibes to a more energised flavour of content – and that’s exactly where my style sat.

Into Battle

The icing on the cake for my debut set was the use of a new piece of DJ sampling technology, the Akai Remix 16 sampler. It was capable of triggering and manipulating 16 pads of loops and singe-hit samples, at a quality of audio that made it virtually indistinguishable from the actual running vinyl. Sure, by today’s standards, it might appear somewhat archaic, but in ’96, it was a ground-breaker. I prepared a basic sample content set and for the first time ever, partly rehearsed my initial hour’s performance in my studio. I couldn’t go into that kind of live scenario, with that kind of technology (oh, and various Akai head-honchos and the Ministry management team watching my every move), without some prep!

Listen Up

Anyway, the set came, and passed and, thankfully, all went well (shortly after the performance, I got a call from the MoS management team, and accepted their offer to come on board for the London club and International tour gigs – the rest, as they say, is history). Back to the live recording below however, sure, with no sequenced MIDI or computer triggering of the Remix 16, all being solely down to the accuracy of my fingers, there were a few (er-hum) ‘moments’ – But, warts and all, I’ve popped the whole unedited section onto Soundcloud (available for 12 months only). For what this minor piece of my personal history is worth, I hope you at least enjoy listening to it.

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

New Beginning

Terpsichord brought out the more uncompromising edge of my personality, reflected too by the large amounts of tech-house creeping into my DJ sets and a general dissatisfaction at the mundane amount of (conveyor belt) house music in general at that time. The first track to appear, influenced by this environment, was ‘The Bells’ – a track which, again like ’18 Strings’, I totally self financed, from the first day in the studio, right up to promo pressings on heavy weight vinyl to be hand delivered to a London distributor.

Dead DISCO

The track itself featured a re-arranged acapella excerpt from a 1979 underground disco record, ‘Put Your Feet To The Beat’, by the Ritchie Family. I managed to get hooked up with the original record’s producer (French label owner, Henri Belolo, who I’d worked for years earlier and also the same guy who wrote and produced the Village People’s, ‘Y.M.C.A.’ – how ’bout that?!) – and he was kind enough to send me the multitrack vocals.

Forging The Bells

The programming on the ‘Bells’ track consisted of a minimal, driving tech-house beat, a wobbly [mid bass] signature sound, forged with great assistance from long time collaborator and friend, John ‘Moorsie‘ Moores, plus some more messed up sonic experimentation courtesy of my then beloved, Metasynth and HyperPrism sound design tools. The main riff of the track was influenced by Scottish band, the FiniTribe’ and their late 80s, ‘De-Testimony’ tune – The musical notation of ‘The Bells’ hook, though close, was not an exact copy however (Play full length, original mix below).

‘Mitch’ Takes Control

The week before I was due to deliver the 12″ promos to a west London distributor, BCM Mallorca resident DJ and long-time friend, Des Mitchell had popped into my studio. Des grabbed a few copies of ‘The Bells’ promo to take back to the island a few days later and as he had numerous big name jocks guesting at BCM, promised to drop a few into their hands. Unbeknown to me, that very weekend coming, Paul Van Dyk was due to play and Des gave him not one, but at Paul’s request, two copies.

Come to Take You ‘Home’

Within a matter of 3 days, I had a fax sent from Van Dyk’s ‘Vandit’ label, offering to sign the track for European territories. Taking the offer under consideration, the following weekend came, seeing me have a Saturday night off from DJ’ing – Imagine my surprise then when my phone lit up big time around 3 a.m. Sunday morning, saying that Van Dyk had just dropped the two ‘Bells’ copies [mixed together] to the assembled masses at London’s then superclub, ‘Home’, live on Radio 1′s ‘Essential Mix’.

Sure enough, Monday morning came and I walked into the studio to find faxes and messages from various distributors and labels asking for an appointment to discuss signing the track – purely on the fact that Van Dyk had played it to such a rapturous response at ‘Home’ – and that boys and girls is how the ‘industry’ used to roll back then.

Terpsichord GO!

The story thereafter can be condensed into me:

• Accepting an offer from Cream records (then financed by EMI if I recall correctly)
• Having the track remixed by the awesome Pascal FEOS (amongst others)
• Producing a ‘bonus’ track (or ‘B’ side) called ‘Two Freeqs’, which Cream liked so much they pressed it as a limited edition 12″ on it’s own
• Going on to do DJ sets (branded nights at London’s, Heaven club for example), remixes (including my super-hard take on Darude’s ‘Sandstorm‘ – see video at bottom of post) and further productions and releases under the ‘Terpsichord‘ branding for the next 2 years
• Being chuffed to mint balls when then numero uno DJ/Producer, Timo Maas declared ‘The Bells’ to be “the best record Cream has ever put out”

Supporting Cast

The FEOS mix was a gorgeous piece of borderline techno, you can hear it below:

‘Two Freeqs’, aside from the whispy robotic vocal and heavy breaks/electro feel, also contained a live, ‘from the top’ modulation performance on a Roland Jupiter 6 – probably my most favourite of polysynths – listen below..

And Then..?

Surprisingly enough perhaps, and despite the relative success of Terpsichord (and more or less coinciding with the big dance music industry meltdown in ’02), I folded my headphones up, packed up the studio and turned my back on DJ’ing and music production, pretty much for good.It was one of those ‘life needs to change‘ periods. I was getting disillusioned with doing what I was doing and the industry I was doing it for – maybe I’d done ‘enough‘ and wanted something new in life? From 2003 then, life did change and began to get a whole lot different..

See more of Paul’s creative output at Dakeyne Photography

Still to this day, a simple to understand, incredibly intuitive and logically laid out software package, ‘Notator’ was the first real sign of how things in the future would shape up, leading us to the DAW’s (digital audio workstation‘s) we know and love today. There was a stacked ‘arrange’ pattern to the screen’s left hand side, and each of those patterns could hold up to 16 (centrally placed) tracks of MIDI information addressing one channel and/or piece of kit in the studio. Detailed breakdown of the track contents (what today we’d call a dialogue box) sat sensibly to the right hand side along with a group of transport controls too. Intricate and powerful MIDI editing was possible as was the ability to illustrate sequences in musical staves, which made the ‘real’ musicians very happy indeed.

I have to say, this software was rock solid and hardly ever crashed, and the timing and accuracy of the transmitted sequences would shame some computer software even today. As the early 90s began kicking off, I upgraded to the C-Lab ‘Unitor’ system which incorporated a SMPTE timecode reader – invaluable at the time as I was beginning to get a shed load of 2″, 24 track tapes through the studio door which always demanded synchronisation of the original performances with my new ‘remix’ parts (and I’m sure there’s a full blog post somewhere in me about the trials and tribulations in that department!). Then, however, came ‘Logic’.

The German company C-Lab mutated into ‘Emagic’, and thus was born ‘Logic’. Still running on an Atari as ‘Notator Logic’, the tide was about to turn in what was the supercharged pace of computer/software development during the early 90s. Eventually, I was sat comfortably with my first Apple Mac computer (1993/4) and the first incarnations of ‘Logic Audio’. My machine wasn’t capable of running audio off its hard disc at that time and barely affordable storage was still a little out of reach. It was Logic version 3 that gave the first signs of a fully functional MIDI/audio solution, with version 4 introducing the platinum, gold and silver editions. Sound processing ‘plug-in’s began to appear and by 1996 (and, after the in-flux of monies from the Tinman record) I was able to increase the power of my Apple Mac computer and invest in Logic ’4′. Think about this though for a second – in 1996, I paid almost £350 for a separate, dedicated audio hard drive – it was 3 gigabytes in size. How times have changed.

Moving on then Logic 5 arrived sometime in the very late 90s and with it came not only the processing power and (slightly) more affordable and faster, hard disc space but the Logic plug-in’s themselves had announced their glorious arrival as contenders to actually ‘replace’ the masses of effects processors, and synths I’d relied on on for so long. Everything, it seemed, could quite feasibly be done, ‘in-the-box’. One day then I embarked on a self-imposed production mission to do my next remix session totally within the Logic 5 environment – no hardware samplers, synths, effects or physical mixing desk would be used. Logic 5 had not only flexed its muscles in the sonic department but was also hinting that its automation and mixing possibilities were about to scare the livin’ daylights outta me! It was a memorable day and night for surewhich filled me with excitement levels I’d not experienced for a long time prior. This was amazing, awesome and fabulous and pretty much began a 3 year period of transition to total computer based recording and mixing, bar the odd ‘classic’ synth I refused to let go of (the track that got remixed that glorious day by the way, was my re-interpretation of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love’) PLAY-Dakeyne remix I FEEL LOVE

Fast forward to the 21st century and, well, right now really, I’m happy to be rockin’ an iMac i7 running Apple Logic Studio 9. Sure, I could be/should be running a fully kitted out Mac Pro but quite honestly, my studio sessions are more occasional, chilled and not so ‘conveyor belt’ these days, so the iMac 27″ more than handles the strain. Logic itself is still beyond awesome – add to this the amazing amount of native and third-party plug-ins and virtual instruments and my loyalty remains unswerving despite that Avid temptress Pro Tools shaking her seductive hips at me constantly. Blogging as I do for those good people over at Digital Village (dv247.com), I was happy recently to be invited to record a short series of Apple Logic 9 tutorial videos, which I duly set about and the run of six is below for your delectation and possible enlightenment. These cover individual features in the current version ’9′ and attempt to give easy, follow-along examples of their possible applications. To quote Douglas Adams’ ‘Hitchhiker’s guide..’, “share and enjoy” – bye for now