Two of house music’s finest producers keep us Holding On
Interview : Dan Prince
Ben, Chris welcome back to DMCWORLD. Where on the planet are you today?
“Hey Dan, thanks for inviting us back for this interview. At the moment we are in the studio in south London, finishing off a new EP and doing some admin for our new label, Tropical Velvet.”
Well you have done it again, ensued dancefloor madness courtesy of one of your productions. Please talk us through the sound and history of ‘Holding On’…
Ben: “Thanks really glad you guys are feeling the track. I was at MOS London for a Defected night a few months back just after the sad passing of Frankie Knuckles. Simon Dunmore gave a really touching speech in the main room – I was standing in the booth and at the end of his speech, Paulo Rocco dropped ‘Where Love Lives’ and the place erupted; it was a very special moment. I thought we kinda gotta do something in that vain with some pianos, a hooky vocal etc. We laid down the drums pretty quick, rough house style then messed around playing some piano hooks until it sounded right. The baseline was last in the process which doesn’t usually happen when we write. We then thought Man Without A Clue would add a nice tech vibe to the package with Electronic Youth giving it a deeper urban feel; and both have really delivered for the label. Getting Radio1 play on ‘Dance Anthems’ and being charted by you guys has really helped create a buzz…”
Chris: “Mixwise we were originally going for a more commercial soundscape but as things evolved we decided on a more ruff-house sonic approach, changed some of the sounds and used some more extreme treatments on certain elements. At this point it was obvious that the original bassline was not going to work with the new mix perspective so, as Ben said, unusually this was the last part to fall into place.”
I was on the Café Mambo terrace in Ibiza recently when the track came on, will you be hitting the white isle this summer for some DJ gigs?
Ben: “I was there last month with my wife and daughter for a nice break and did a great gig at VIVA – the place was really jumping. Hopefully gonna try and get back out there before the end of the summer but we have a few other gigs lined up abroad so will see what time we have.”
Ben, you first started writing music and lyrics in the mid 90s, cutting your teeth on an old Atari & Cubase using old samplers and desks. It was your friends however who insisted you take up DJing as you had to learn if you were going to make your own tunes! What did you originally think of their suggestion…had DJing always been at the back of your mind?
Ben: “When we used to have house parties with our friends, we had decks there but only 2 of my mates could DJ so when they ran out of steam at silly o’clock in the morning I would put on mix CDs, one tune would come on and I would say ‘this would sound really good mixed with that tune….’ so I kinda had a pretty good idea for track selections in my head. As far as always wanting to be a DJ….no! First and foremost it’s writing for me, but I do love DJing. My first set of decks I bought was a crappy old pair of Technics which was a good learning curve, I remember they had a wheel for the pitch fader…lol…so moving onto the 1210s after that was like driving a Rolls Royce!”
Chris, you experimented with the guitar as a teenager but as soon as you heard House music you knew you had found your musical direction. What can you recall about that time, the tunes, clubs and DJs you were suddenly loving?
“They were mad times! Much of the scene was pirate radio led in those days- London was awash with squelchy basslines and tuff beats which seemed to emanate from doorways, open windows and passing cars- it was an infectious, street level buzz with backstreet parties appearing in disused warehouses, industrial spaces as well as pioneering clubs such as Clink Street, the Wag, Feel Real at the Gardening Club and of course Ministry when it first opened in 1991. Happy memories of hunting down imported US 12″ in Groove Records, Black Market and City Sounds rooting out the latest from Trax Records, DJ international, Strictly Rhythm and the Detroit labels such as KMS and Transmat.. There was a sudden great sense of musical freedom and of boundaries being pushed back; many of these hard to find imports were being picked up and re-released in the UK – in no small part thanks to a certain Pete Tong at London Records’ label ffrr – which helped spread the word, opening things up to a much larger audience along with the emergence of an explosion of independent UK labels. Tunes such as Fast Eddie’s ‘Acid Thunder’ with Joe Smooth (DJ International), Adonis ‘No Way Back’ and Robert Owens/Larry Heard ‘Bring Down the Walls’ (TRAX), along with classics such as Karia ‘Let me Love you for Tonight ‘& Raze ‘Break For Love’, Deeper vibes with Fallout ‘The Morning After’ (Fourth Floor Records) and an early personal favourite from a young MK ‘Somebody New’ (KMS/Network) together with Earth People ‘Reach Up To Mars’ stand out for me from those days; many have become relevant again today with younger producers finding inspiration from elements of those raw cuts. The cult of the superstar DJ had not really happened yet back then and many who were on the underground scene back then have seen their profiles fall by the wayside (no digital media in those days!) but shouts out to Trevor Fung, Rhythm Doctor, Rob Acteson, Kenny Carpenter, Mr C and Colin Faver among many others who provided many memorable nights!”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
1. KORT – HOLDING ON -TROPICAL VELVET
2. GUTI, KING BRAIN – OPUS 2 -DFTD
3. LOULOU PLAYERS – HUM HUM (TAPESH REMIX) -BUNNY TIGER
4. WEISS – I FEEL BETTER – TOOLROOM
5. KORT – THE GOTHAM FLASHER – TROPICAL VELVET
6. HUXLEY & SHENODA – PREMIER (SONNY FODERA REMIX) -DEFECTED
7. S.CHU, MAN WITHOUT A CLUE – GET READY – BEATING MUSIC
8. MICHAEL MANDAL – I DONT KNOW
9. DUSKY – INTA – 17 STEPS
10. ORDINARY SUBJECT – HIDDEN LIFE
Tell us about your studio set up…
Ben: “We use the Juno 106 and the Prophet a lot which are the main source for baselines, synth sounds etc. We use the guru for 90% of our drums & Kontakt. I have ATC monitors which are really good especially when mixing the bottom end
Chris: Our focus is on accurate monitoring a tight control on room reverberations and an uncluttered working environment. Although we both started out in the analogue domain we are mixing digitally these days although we do have some great convolution reverbs with IRs of some classic analogue devices. We have evolved certain techniques and favour particular outboard but these are trade secrets!”
Who are some of the producers from around the world you are giving high fives to at the moment?
Ben: “There are a lot of really good producers around at the moment which means there is a so much good music too. MK just seems to have a golden touch, pretty much everything he makes you wanna play. Love the simplicity and ruffness of Weiss. His tracks have a Todd Terry feel to them. Man Without a clue is smashing it at the moment. Secondcity and Route 94′ are making some great records and we’re really liking Paulo Rocco.”
“Production wise we aim for big and bold with an analogue feel while always mindful that we are mixing for the rig rather than the radio.”
Chris: “We both have our roots in the analogue world and in the days of purely 16 Bit Digital I always felt the sonic shortcomings of the medium as it then was. Nowadays with the advent of 32bit + internal resolution and the tremendous power of modern day computing things have changed significantly. Ironically in the analogue days I used to strive for a pure signal path whereas now I find myself whereas now I am applying all sorts of decimations to signals sources that, to my ears, can sound way too crisp and ‘digital’ in order to keep the mix interesting on a sonic level. Nowadays digital equipment can produce that analogue feel without compromising the headroom. Some modern radio pop is compressed to such an extent that dynamics are almost non-existent. If you listen to some of the very early house records they are mixed in a way that only really makes sense when you hear them on a big system. We try to walk a tightrope between these two extremes and mix in such a way that whilst having enough detail to satisfy listening in a critical or room environment, all signals come over big and bold on a rig. We try to achieve this with careful use of compression pushing signals forward whilst not squashing the life out of the material, and the addition of extra harmonic energy and movement to keep things interesting.”
Your musical influences read like a who’s of who of the best musicians from the last 6 decades. So, if we came back to yours after the club…what would be the Kort Back To Mine 10 you’d spin us to mellow the vibe…
1. Marvin Gaye – Space
2. Texas – The Hush (Rae & Christianson Remix)
3. Talisman & Hudson – Leave Planet Earth
4. Levitation – More Than Ever People
5. Bob Marley – Sun is Shining
6. Bob Marley – 3 Little Birds
7. Brian Eno – Another Green World
8. The Doors – LA Woman
9. Brian Eno & David Byrne – The Jezebel Spirit
10. The Doors – The End
You share The Buzz Chart this week with Alex Adair and his Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell sampled track ‘Make Me Feel Better’. Is that on your summer soundtrack…?
Ben: “This is a beautiful track, perfect sunshine vibes. Love the original and this mix definitely does it justice.”
Chris: “I agree – a great vibe for the summer with marimba and piano hook complementing the samples beautifully.”
What is each other’s finest quality in the studio?
Ben: “Chris has an ear for detail in the production. When we are mixing track & looping it round, Im listening to levels of the instruments & making sure we got the vibe right & Im thinking ‘yeah this is sounding real good’ , then Chris hears we are losing the weight on the kick or the bass is not rolling through how it should. So this does make a good studio partnership.”
Chris: “Ben has a very methodical and professional approach to working, sets the pace in the studio keeping us both focused and has real tenacity: he never settles for anything less than just right which is a great quality.”
And what is each other’s most annoying habit?
Ben: “Chris being a veggie doesn’t like the smell of Chinese chicken lol.”
Chris: “Funnily enough Ben eating smelly Chinese chicken, although thankfully not often!”
What is the record that…
…reminds you of your childhood?
Ben: Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Chris: Beatles ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ – one of my earliest musical memories
…always gets you on the dancefloor?
Ben: Alison limerick – Where Love Lives
Chris: The Night Writers – Let the Music (Use You)
…reminds you of being broken hearted?
Ben: Bob Marley – Waiting In Vain
Chris: Smith & Mighty – Walk On By
…you wish you’d have made?
Ben: Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Chris: MK’s remix of Storm Queen Look Right Through – must be a great feeling to make a house track that delivers a UK #1!
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise…
“After setting up our label Tropical Velvet things have been non stop with releases. ‘Holding On’ is out 18th August (Tropical Velvet), then we have another scheduled for September: we are really trying to keep up momentum with the label…also we have an EP coming out on Supernova’s Lapsus label in August/Sept and a couple of remixes we’ve done should be up for release in the near future.”
http://www.kort.co
http://soundcloud.com/k-o-r-t
