Early last year I was lucky enough to have interviewed some of my favourite artists. At a local club in Southampton I worked for a nightclub called Wax. Every Wednesday night they would bring in a top DJ from the bass music scene. I was given the chance to catch up with some of these artists after they had played. I took the opportunity to get some advice on producing and promoting from the people that know the industry best.
Dismantle is an up and coming artist from Brighton, UK. I asked him what he did to get recognised: “I started mixing then started using different production software. Then every day after school I was just trying different things. Then after that I joined Gangoon Dubs. After that it was just self-promoting and then finally someone heard my sound and they did some promotion for us too.”
The Prototypes are a duo act and have been in the UK bass music scene for a few years now and are experts when it comes to packing a punch with their drops. Here they highlight what’s important for them: “You’ve gotta come with a surprise as long as it sounds big and fat that’s all that matters to us. You know, if you’re doing it sub-terrestrial it just matters that it hits hard and comes across properly.”
“Yeah if we made Cascade [their most famous tune] every time people would be bored by now.” I then asked them how they keep their sound fresh, so the listeners don’t get bored. I wanted to know if they plan their tunes or it’s more of a natural process: “Very rarely we will have an idea to make a track around. Intros are easy for us, it’s getting the rest of the tune to work with the intro most of the time. The intros can be so big sometimes that to follow it up afterwards its like, how are we gonna do this? We kind of have a plan of what sort of tunes to make, we basically just wanna kill the dance floor but it’s how you do that that’s the tricky part.”
UK trio, Scratch Perverts, made their name in the Turntable competitions around the globe. They are renowned for this and are considered veterans of electronic music with their production spreading across a variety of sounds. Here’s their advice for anyone starting out: “I think it’s just hard work, like anything, you just need to put in the hours and eventually you’ll get the sound you were looking for. But it does take time and you have to respect that. I mean we’ve been doing this for a while now and we still have the same energy and passion as we did ten years ago. But you know as long as you’re in the position to take your time and put in the hours it will happen for you.” They went on to say: “. But I’d say to anyone wanting to get into the music industry don’t do it half ars*d, put as much time and energy into it as you possibly can and eventually it will happen for you and don’t give it 6 months give it a year or two, it takes time .”
“It doesn’t matter what you’re producing whether it be house, garage drum n bass or Dubstep. Whatever we or anyone else produces, it has to be fresh and not sound outdated or like it’s already been done. So like Skream sticks to 140bpm, predominantly, but he’ll switch his style up by including different drum patterns or bringing out a dark tune then following it up with a more up-beat one. It’s just important not to bring out similar sounding tunes again and again, that’s how you keep attention on yourself, it’s even better if you can switch from one genre to another.”
S.P.Y is a brilliant success story and should be an inspiration for anyone starting out. He was a graphic designer from Brazil but his love for music brought him to the UK. He then got on GarageBand, a producing software, which he fell in love with. He went from strength to strength and played at local festivals which got him residency at a club. I asked him what advice he might have for you guys: “Well I think it’s just down to like doing your thing and keeping the belief you can get somewhere and just keep pushing your stuff all the time that’s the best advice I could give it’s just about belief and promotion, nonstop promotion in any way you can.”