Monthly Archives: January 2021

Josh Bones | tech/deep house DJ & producer from New Zealand

Introducing Josh Bones

Can you introduce yourself? who are you and where are you from? What are you doing in your day-to-day life? 

My name is Josh Baines and my stage name is Josh Bones. I’m a tech/deep house DJ & producer based in New Zealand. Outside of music my Monday – Friday grind is in sales for a holiday club 

Latest release ‘I Know’  

We would love to know about the production process of “I Know”, can you tell us how the track came about? What was your source of inspiration for the track? How much did it cost from start to finish? What issues did you run into?

The production for ‘I Know’ started during our COVID lockdown back in April 2020. The first few tracks I produced during this time (which have since been released) were tech-house tracks and after watching a production course by OC & Verde, I wanted to produce something more melodic but with a darker tone and vibe. Because we were in lockdown at the time, I found it challenging with the mixdown and referencing, as typically I’ll reference on so many different speaker types from apple headphones to club PA’s. A piece of software that was an absolute lifesaver was Sonarwork’s Reference 4, which calibrates your headphones to give a flat frequency response in order to achieve a well-rounded mix down without the need of a professional studio environment. The before and after will blow your mind! 

Producing music 

When did you start producing? How did you discover music production? And what made you decide to start producing? 

 I started DJing 10 years ago, predominantly mixing Hip-Hop. It wasn’t long before I wanted to learn how to produce, record and compose. So, for 3 years I studied Live Sound, Sound Engineering and Audio Production. After discovering artists like Disclosure, Hot Since 82 and Gorgon City, I was sold on producing and DJing house music.  

On average, how much road testing or feedback from friends is needed before you call a track finished? Tell us something about this process. 

When it comes to writing the track, I know it’s ready for the mixdown when I feel there’s enough elements to keep the listener engaged and entertained. I have a few friends who I send demos to but most of the time I just go off my own judgement. I like to make my own decisions on what direction I want the track to go in. For the mixdown and only after a lot of blood sweat and tears, once I can listen all the way through at a low volume and not notice anything (volume, EQ etc) that takes my attention away from the overall track, I know I’m pretty much there. For years I could never finish a track because I would never commit to certain writing ideas and/or mixing decisions and go around and around in circles and eventually lose my creativity or motivation. It had a lot to do with confidence in myself and I have countless number of tracks I’ll never do anything with, but it’s definitely helped with my creativity and my overall writing/mixing process.  

Dj-ing or Producing music

Definitely DJing! For me there’s no greater feeling than reading a crowd (whether I’m playing house, hip hop, pop or classics) and building a dance floor and hearing/seeing the reactions from the crowd when they’re really enjoying the music.  

Is there a difference in style between the music you produce and the music you play in your mixes? Tell us something about your track selection for mixes. 

At gigs I very rarely only play Tech/Deep House. Most bar/club gigs I play for a minimum of 4 hours and I’ll mix everything from Nu Disco, Tech/Deep House, G-House, Night Bass, Techno, Hip-Hop and classics etc. I’ll just read the crowd and go from there. I take a similar approach with festival gigs. I like a lot of variety in my sets to keep things interesting and different from the rest. I’m a sucker for playing house bangers that have sampled hip hop vocals, or at least with a sample from a well-known song that people are familiar with. People love hearing things they’re familiar with and it brings everyone together. 

What is your favorite style of mixing? What do you like so much about this style? 

When I’m DJing live, I tend to do fairly quick mixes to keep the energy alive. I have my playlists pretty well organized and it’s very easy for me to change genres, vibes etc. Most tracks have multiple cue points saved so it’s super easy for me to jump anywhere in the track. Sometimes it’s nice to let the track ride out and if the crowd are absolutely loving it, I’ll play it through. I’ll almost always mix in key to ensure each mix sounds musically pleasing to the ear and not like a train wreck of melodies/riffs.  

Can you describe to us some highlights of your career so far? 

2020 overall was without a doubt the highlight of my career. I got to live my dream job! Get paid to stay at home and make music haha. During lockdown I got two tracks signed to Barbecue Records (Australia). I held my own weekly radio show on Physical Radio and performed at two festivals (before and after we had COVID in our community).  

What more can we expect from you this year? Any releases or special events you can tell us about? 

I have a number of unsigned tracks that I’m hoping will get signed. My goal this year is to play at a few more festivals around New Zealand and continue to build my brand with another few releases. Watch this space!  

 

 

 

 

 

GJOL | Danish Based DJ And Producer

Introducing GJOL

Can you introduce yourself? who are you and where are you from? What are you doing in your day-to-day life? 

My Name is Mikael and I’m a fulltime DJ and producer from Denmark. 

How did the whole Corona situation impact you? For example, what things you did last year are you not able to do right now?  

I used to play as a DJ every weekend, but due to the COVID-19 this is of course not possible for the moment. Therefor I use more time in the studio, but I miss playing music at a party and of course the whole social aspect. 

Latest release ‘Rotator’  

We would love to know about the production process of “Rotator”, can you tell us how the track came about? What was your source of inspiration for the track? How much did it cost from start to finish? What issues did you run into?  

I’ve always loved deep house and melodic techno, but I also dig the disco vibe which have had another revival over the last few years. So, the idea was to make a melodic tech track with a disco vibe. The bassline is a bit disco I think  

Producing music

When did you start producing? How did you discover music production? And what made you decide to start producing? 

 5-6 years ago, I started putting a serious effort into producing. I’ve been a DJ for more than a decade and to begin with it was mostly about making bootlegs etc. for the DJ sets. Maybe the COVID-19 changed my priorities, as I feel much more like a fulltime producer now. 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given when it comes to music production? What’s your best advice you can give to any new producers out there?  

If you can’t feel a good vibe in your project after max 4 hours in the studio. Leave it! The first idea is often the best one.  

Which other producers/DJs inspire you the most and why?  

I think Solomun is a Hero. Melodic productions and interesting DJ sets.  

Can you name five tracks that were important in your musical development and why they were so significant for you?   

• Kollektive Turmstrasse – Sorry I’m Late: An amazing track mixing all kind of styles Yotto,  
• Lane 8 – Buggy: heard it 1000 times and love it!  
• Solomun – Friends: Amazing bassline. Just keeps on rolling  
• Sono – Keep Control (Terry Lee Brown Jr. remix): Remember first time I heard this crossover. I was blown away. 
• Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus (Alex Metric Rmx): Rock N Roll baby!  

How much road testing or friend feedback is done before you’re ready to say a track is finished? And who is someone you share your new music with first for feedback?  

I’m always testing new things in my DJ sets. I have a dogma saying that a track needs minimum 4 month from birth of the idea until it’s approved.

What more can we expect from you next year? Any releases or special events you can tell us about?   

I have a few releases on the way and then just hoping that we will be able to move around like before COVID-19. Meanwhile, stay Safe!   

 

 

 

JMESA | Techno DJ And Producer From Bogotá

Introducing JMESA

Can you introduce yourself, who are you and where are you from? What are you doing in your day-to-day life?  

My name is Juan Manuel Mesa, I’m from Bogotá, Colombia. I work in sound design, audio postproduction and on-location sound recording for audiovisual content. I have a small audio postproduction studio in my city. Sometimes I make music for films and advertising, but when I have a bit of time left, I work here on my music. It’s difficult to find the time to produce my own music, but my dream is to someday have enough time for my own musical project. 

What is the current situation with the pandemic in your country? 

In my country we had 3 months of quarantine in 2020. This gave me time to work on personal projects and to search for the sound of JMesa. The situation is totally uncertain, but in music I found in a way to be optimistic. You know, “keep moving … music is the answer”! 

What have been some of your favorite tracks over the quarantine period and why? 

They’re many tracks that I found in the quarantine period. I started a playlist of new talents. Engelbert from Amsterdam, Tyler Mesa from Canada and Pangal from Chile are some of my favorite artist in my playlist. 

Latest release ‘Bitter Dream’  

We would love to know about the production process of “Bitter Dream”, can you tell us how the track came about? What was your source of inspiration for the track? How much did it cost from start to finish? What issues did you run into?  

Bitter Drams has the power and darkness of music that I like, but I was trying to explore more melodic lines. So, in the end I just tried to make a good tune. I just make melodies on my hardware and record one when I found something I like. I like working with hardware synths, I have a harder time finding the sounds and inspiration than with software synths. 

I like to interact with the actual knobs and feel the timbre of the sounds change as you move and dance in front of your synth. Sound design is all about small details. 

What ingredients make up a top techno song for you?  

I used to listen to loud and dark techno, but now I’m more interested in nice melodies and progressions. Music that you can feel in more ways than just dark and hard beats! At this moment I am looking for music not only to dance, but also to listen to and enjoy. We don’t have big raves in my city right now because of the pandemic, so I’m interested in techno music that you can listen to while you work or drink and relax at home. 

Producing music

When did you start producing? How did you discover music production? And what made you decide to start producing techno? 

I started producing electronic music 12 or more years ago. I tried to produce electro, hard techno and D&B. The styles of music I produced have been changing over the course of my life. I have many influences from different styles and I enjoy many different styles of music. The last productions were tracks that just never made it off my hard drive. I released a track with a label for the first time in 2020 and now I don’t want to stop. I try to make my sound with all this musical experience. Music can be a revelation and an X-ray of your life. I did not decide to produce techno until I was in front of my equipment is this was the music that flowed to me. 

What does your set-up like? Do you favor physical gear over digital? And what studio tools featured heavily in the writing of ‘Bitter Dream’? 

I prefer hardware to digital. I am working mainly with Behringer’s Model D, Roland’s SH01Y TR8A and Moog’s subharmonic. For Bitter Dream, the Model D was the main synthesizer. Everything was recorded in Ableton Live where I mix and finish my tracks. 

What’s a piece of gear or software that you always use when you’re writing a track? 

Voxengo SPAN is very important for me to get a nice sound and mix. 

What more can we expect from you this year? Any releases or special events you can tell us about?   

I hope to have more time to make music and have new releases, maybe with Black Mirror, who knows! I’m trying to get some modular synth equipment to add different textures in my music. I also want to try different styles of music, softer and less dark.