Digital
Steve Carr began as a reggae selector in Ipswich before emerging as one of the key figures in the drum & bass movement of the late 1990s under the name Digital. In his session at the 2004 Red Bull Music Academy, Carr guides us through his early years and working with the Timeless and Metalheadz labels. He also explains the realities of running your own label and distribution, offering tips for producers looking to get their records signed and calling for individuality above all else.
Hosted by NICK DWYER Joining us now is Steve Carr, also known as Digital, Natural Mystic and many other things over the years. He’s a drum & bass producer who’s been producing for Moving Shadow, Metalheadz, 31 Records, Renegade Hardware – pretty much every major drum & bass label. We might as well get into a track so people get an initial vibe of what you’re all about. DIGITAL This is “Sound Killa” on Timeless. (music: Digital – “Sound Killa”) NICK DWYER So, Ipswich, born and bred? DIGITAL Yeah. NICK DWYER Tell us about Ipswich, where is it geographically? DIGITAL East of England, there’s a big wash bit there [gestures as if on a map], it’s north-east of London, about 70 miles away, or 130 kilometers from London. It’s a country place but there’s quite a few people living there, it’s not a little village or anything. There’s a few good pubs. It’s not some little tiny place where nothing happens, a lot of music comes out of there. In the drum & bass scene there’s been a few people, like Photek, Source Direct, Origination. Reggae bands like Jah Warriors, who used to run with Aswad back in the day. NICK DWYER Growing up in Ipswich, what music was inspiring you? DIGITAL My dad for a start, he’s been playing reggae, soca and all that for about 35 years at least. So [we had] records around all the time. I’ve got older sisters and brothers, and they’re playing soul, whatever, Depeche Mode, anything. My brother was playing hip-hop, and I’d listen to electronic music, reggae. There were loads of DJs in Ipswich, everyone’s a DJ. NICK DWYER So in the ‘80s, UK soundsystem culture played a big part? DIGITAL At first I was playing reggae, same as everybody else until rave culture came in, everyone went to the raves and left the little reggae parties, and I veered over to that. NICK DWYER Going back to the soundsystems, who was your favourite sound? DIGITAL Jamaican sounds, really. My dad had his sound, he was doing his thing, local sounds. Bodyguard, Saxon, Stone Love, people like that. NICK DWYER Did you have any experience of putting together soundsystems? DIGITAL Yeah, when I was about 18 I’d broken my finger and got loads of money and started building and messing around with speakers, frequencies, all kinds of stuff. It started from there. NICK DWYER When did you get bitten by the rave bug? DIGITAL About 1990. There’s a guy called Danny C on the drum & bass scene. I went to Colchester, took my dad’s soundsystem with me, was playing reggae with my mate YT, and he came up to me saying, “Bring your speakers up to the beach mate, there’s a party going on.” So I took my speakers up and it was great, everyone jumping around, raving, and I thought, “This is great.” The music was sort of hip-hop with reggae basslines, and I liked the two musics jelling together, I got well hooked on it. Danny C started bringing his decks around so I was practising, started doing little parties around Ipswich, drum & bass mixed with reggae. Then I started raving myself and listening to the top DJs, and around ‘93 I thought, “I’m sure I can do this music,” so I started trying with Danny C and it followed from there. NICK DWYER And your first record was out on Certificate 18? DIGITAL Yeah, ‘94, me and Danny C. NICK DWYER In terms of the path of history with UK breakbeat music, when jungle blew up it was mad, it was everywhere – The Face, i-D magazine, every single compilation was jungle mania. It must have been a really vibrant time. What are the memories like for you? DIGITAL I’m from a bit of a dodgy estate in Ipswich, a little bit racist. So I’m going to these parties and I’m seeing these racist people talk to black people and black people talk to these racists and it was bringing everyone together. That's amazing, really, and that was through music. So that was one of the most amazing things about this new jungle culture, this whole party culture. NICK DWYER Prior to that whole thing there was still a bit of segregation going on within camps? DIGITAL What, in music you mean? NICK DWYER Just in general with different races, but then this thing brought them all together? DIGITAL Yeah, you’d get these people who didn’t like reggae jumping around to all this reggae-influenced music, that was just amazing in itself. And all the reggae boys were going, “I ain’t going to them jungle raves,” and then they’d turn up. NICK DWYER At what point with your production did you realize it was serious? DIGITAL In 1994 I’d done my thing with Danny C, but in 1995 I did my first solo release on Timeless called “Spacefunk”, my first track, and people were just going mental about it and it got played for about four years. Over the first two years I thought, hold on a minute, I did that with my eyes shut, so I thought I must be able to make it worthwhile and make a career out of it. NICK DWYER All musical genres have their epicentre, be it your Paradise Garage or your Warehouse, or broken beat now has Co-Op. You had Rage at Heaven for breakbeat hardcore, a night like AWOL for jungle, but around 1996 it was all about the Blue Note. Wherever you were in the world, everyone knew about the Blue Note, so tell us about that. DIGITAL Everyone’s happy going to a big rave, that’s cool. But this was a nice small club, this is the Metalheadz thing I’m talking about. They took a soundsystem called Eskimo Noise in there. It used to smash the club up. The vibe was amazing, you’d have a hundred people outside queuing all night and everybody wanted to play there because it was so fabulous. That was a major factor in the vibe of the scene. NICK DWYER Something that was definitely ingrained with the Blue Note thing, I mean, dubplate culture has existed from way back in the Jamaican scene, but the Blue Note really personified that whole thing, that’s where you’d go to hear Grooverider play the freshest tunes. DIGITAL If someone was playing Blue Note there’s no doubt they’d be phoning you up the day before, “You got any dubplates?” Everyone wanted to represent there, that was the place. NICK DWYER And you always had to come with fresh stuff? DIGITAL Well, that was just the vibe. Everyone wanted to play fresh [stuff], but there was a vibe that was just amazing. NICK DWYER How did your link up with Metalheadz come about, ‘cause you did that track “Down Under,” and “Niagara”. DIGITAL I’d done a track called “Touch Me” on Timeless in ‘96, that was getting played, that was doing well. Goldie was breakdancing to it in Speed, Fabio & LTJ Bukem’s club, and I was there and someone told him, “Yeah, it’s his track.” And he came over to me saying, “Sort me out, sort me out.” So I sent some tracks over to him and it was quite easy. If you’re making tracks that people want to sign and that people enjoy, it’s quite easy to get through. NICK DWYER You’re always doing something different with your production. It’s always very bass-heavy. What were you trying to do back then? DIGITAL I don’t think I was trying to be anyone else. I was drawing from my influences when I was younger. The first record was a bit reggae, a bit poppy, a bit Depeche Mode, and also a bit hip-hop, too. I was just drawing from my influences. And I think that’s important, because even now you get new artists trying to copy what’s going on on the scene and it becomes throwaway tracks. Everyone’s individual, and if everyone draws from their influences you’ll end up making different tracks. That’s what I was doing. I didn’t think I needed to do this sort of track, that sort of track – it was from in here [points to his heart]. NICK DWYER Tell us about your relationship with Brillo at Timeless, ‘cause obviously you’ve grown with Timeless as a label. DIGITAL The first two tracks I had done solo did really well and they were on Timeless. Because I was doing well he’d ask my advice on tracks to sign. Further on in the years he was helping me out by promoting me, all I had to do was make music and he was promoting me with the label. We sort of teamed up and worked for each other. NICK DWYER Play another track for us. DIGITAL I’ll put on “Deadline,” it’s a bit mad, isn’t it? NICK DWYER There was a period for you where, all of a sudden, three or four years ago, a track like “Deadline” was just getting caned across the board. DIGITAL I think that was just me doing my own thing. There was nothing like that at the time. The leaders at the time were Ed Rush and Optical, and it was very techno. Originally, I think drum & bass was a bit reggae-influenced, a lot of soul, quite happy music. Then you’d get girls leaving the clubs. It was a bit grim in there, a lot of men in the club. This put a bit of fun back in and it did really well for me. (music: Digital – “Deadline”) NICK DWYER That was huge. All across the world that was one of the biggest dancehall tunes – six rewinds every time it got played. The drum & bass scene has always been very cyclical. In the mid-90s you had Bukem and Good Looking, that whole sound, then that was out, it became too coffee table, then it was all about techstep. As you say it got very techno – were you not feeling the scene so much in that period? DIGITAL Nah, a few tracks before that, me and the Spirit guys were like, “What’s going on here? Let’s go and get jobs or something.” NICK DWYER Seriously? DIGITAL Yeah, I’m a reggae man, you know what I mean? I like a bit of jazz, a bit of soul in my music, and that wasn’t doing it for me, and that was just [makes unpleasant noise], all this noise. It wasn’t happening for me. We [Digital & Spirit] had done a track called “Phantom Force” that swept all that crap away. NICK DWYER It wasn’t just you. One that comes to mind is Photek. During that time he was the man, the big programming whiz, then all of a sudden someone who was so prevalent just went, “That’s it, I’m not feeling it.” DIGITAL Same again, he likes soul in his music. You’d be playing to 35 men in the club! It’s not happening, is it? It’s not fun. NICK DWYER When you were making “Deadline” what was going through your head? DIGITAL First of all, I got the drums, thought these are interesting, bit African sounding, and I just wanted to make some happy tune that people could jump around and enjoy themselves to rather than nodding their head and looking upset about something. NICK DWYER You never had your own label in the ‘90s, but part of Timeless became a label called Function, which you were overseeing. What were you trying to achieve with it? DIGITAL I just wanted to show people that you can do their own thing and get away with it, ‘cause everyone was copying everyone. That label was for me to just float around on, not worry about doing this or that. There was big tracks on there, tiny tracks on there. I didn’t care, it was just music on there. NICK DWYER Who was on it, close friends or what? DIGITAL It was 75% me and close friends who enjoyed expressing themselves without looking over their shoulder and watching everyone else do their tracks and copying them. NICK DWYER For a lot of people making drum & bass outside England it always seemed like it was UK and then the rest of the world. But as well as Marky and XRS coming from Brazil, Timeless was one of the only labels looking at what was going on in the rest of the world. DIGITAL There’s established artists out there, and people play safe. We enjoy all kinds of music, no matter who does it or what style it is. Timeless releases jazzy stuff, ragga stuff, techy stuff, everything, and that’s what we like to play as well, no matter who you are or where you’re from. Like [New Zealand’s] Concord Dawn, that was a techy track [‘Tonite’/‘Appollo 13’]. They hadn’t had a UK release before, we took it on and I think it's sold about 11,000 to date. NICK DWYER I feel like I’m flying the New Zealand flag, but Concord Dawn are a couple of guys from there. You spent some time with them, they gave you a demo and you went out of your way to listen to it. DIGITAL Timeless do a label called L Plates for new artists. There’s a lot of artists going on to do big things that have come through that label. I thought, yeah, that tune is really good. This same track was getting played by DJs for about three months, but no one had snapped it up ‘cause they were new artists from New Zealand. I was talking to my partner Brillo and we said, “Let’s just put it on Timeless, this track’s really good.” Next minute, everyone was phoning up Concord Dawn asking for tracks. That’s just the scene for you, people are scared, they don’t like to do new things. NICK DWYER Why is that? DIGITAL I don’t know. Me and Brillo are relaxed people, we’re quite open... I don’t know. I really don't know why. NICK DWYER You guys are obviously always checking out demos. DIGITAL That’s the other thing. I listen to everything. The only thing that does piss me off is if someone sends me 13 tracks on one CD. Because I could get 10 [CDs], that’s 130 tracks in a week, and I’ve got a life, you know what I mean? So I say to people, “If you’re going to stay in touch with me, just send me a few tracks, and I'll listen to every track.” NICK DWYER So your advice is to just stick two or three good tracks on there. DIGITAL That’s right, because I have got a life. If you produce a lot of tracks all the time, just keep sending them every week, but it does get a lot when you’ve got 10 CDs, 10 tracks on each one. I’ve got friends, I’ve got my own work to do [laughs]. NICK DWYER Back to that thing of drum & bass being very much a UK genre, but now blowing up around the world – now you’ve got this Eastern Europe thing. Are you constantly finding new pockets? DIGITAL People hear about how we are at Timeless and they’re always sending us stuff. Not all of it’s great, but it’s really interesting to listen to. Technology is helping people all round the world to produce better stuff, and that’s really exciting. You never know what you’re gonna get sent next. NICK DWYER The other thing that Timeless has expanded into is distribution. In the last two or three years, in electronic music as a whole, we’ve had all these distributors go out. EFA, big German distributor, Prime, a techno distributor, in drum & bass the main one was Vital Distribution. A lot of people complain about DJs holding on to dubplates ‘cause they want fresh tunes, but what they don’t realize is the problem is with the distribution. DIGITAL It’s hard out there. Distributors, some of them are greedy and they try their luck with stuff they shouldn’t. They get themselves into trouble and it affects the labels, then the labels can’t release anything, can’t pay their artists advances and stuff. Next minute tracks are piling up and it gets out of hand. NICK DWYER With Vital it got very out of hand. DIGITAL Really out of hand. There was big, big money being owed at the time. It got messy. NICK DWYER £100,000 is a lot of money. Obviously, there’s Load. What’s your aim with it? DIGITAL It’s a small distribution company. Because Brillo and myself were looking after lots of people’s labels we decided to make a proper go at it. But it’s not like 50 labels and ten of them are good and 40 are rubbish. There’s only a few labels there, and it's a nice little tightly controlled thing so we can oversee everything. We’re not going to be taking everyone's label. NICK DWYER It’s very international, you’ve got people from where? DIGITAL New Zealand, America, UK, all over the place. NICK DWYER What are you guys looking for in a label? DIGITAL Not one-hit wonders, consistency. And if you’re a new label, we just want to see that you’re trying your own thing. A lot of people send us things that just sound like everything else and that doesn’t work with us. NICK DWYER Obviously, the game has changed a lot in the last few years. Are you making sure you’re just pressing the minimum amount? DIGITAL Yeah, we deal with a tight ship. If you over-press, everyone’s losing money. You have records sitting there that’ll get burnt. That’s been a problem with Vital and there’s records not being sold. Then everyone loses money, even themselves, because the label generally won’t go, “OK, there’s the £500 I owe you.” It’s just not happening. Everyone starts losing out. That’s why a lot of distributors are going down at the moment. NICK DWYER With drum & bass, maybe more than any other genre, the whole MP3 downloading thing… I mean, how much is this Soulseek and Kazaa business affecting things? DIGITAL I think a lot. A lot of drum & bass is DJ music, and if DJs can get it off the net, it’s going to affect the sales, definitely. They’re outselling Technics decks at the moment, that just says everything. NICK DWYER Even the nature of always wanting to have fresh tunes, there’ll be tunes that you’ve played and given out to a few people, and then next thing you know, two weeks later, they’re on the internet, tunes that haven’t even been released. DIGITAL Our production line has changed. Now if we give a tune out, it’s very tight. With people I’ve known for years, no one’s going to slag it over the internet. Now I’ll get it, decide what label it’s going on and get it mastered straight away. Before, we’d let it ferment a bit around the scene, let DJs play it first. Now I’d rather get it straight onto vinyl, get it out. It’s all different now. NICK DWYER It’s a bit of a shame though, that you have to think before you give a copy of your tune to someone. DIGITAL “Don’t give it out, don’t give it out.” It’s not nice, it’s not the vibe. NICK DWYER In a lot of UK bass genres, including garage, but especially drum & bass and jungle, everyone was playing dubplates. How much has that changed now? DIGITAL CDs again. It’s cheaper to buy a CD and put ten tracks on there than it is to buy five dubplates. It’s £150 or 30 pence. Say you’ve got a massive DJ in a club playing CDs, then you’re going to look at him and think, “Well, I don’t need to buy a record, I’ll play CDs as well.” NICK DWYER Does that scare you as a label owner? DIGITAL You can’t fight against it. I play CDs, vinyl and dubplates, just depends how good it sounds. If I need to go and get it mastered on a dubplate, I’ll do it. NICK DWYER In the mid to late-90s, Music House was a bit of a legendary place. Tell us about Music House. DIGITAL It’s a shame. Everyone used to go to there to cut dubplates, everyone would meet there and say hello, everyone was friends. Now you won’t even get a phone call, you won’t talk to anyone from one year to the next. Someone will get ont AOL instant messenger: “Got any tunes?” “Yeah.” You download it. “See ya. Thanks.” And that’s not a good vibe for anything, it’s like we’re all turning into computer nerds. It used to be a meeting place. There’s people releasing tracks on their label and they haven’t even met the artist. I don’t do that, I still go to meet people. I was in Hungary on the weekend to go and meet some people. But it’s just rude. People will hit me up asking for tracks when they don’t know me from Adam. I'm like, “Who the hell are you? Piss off.” NICK DWYER Is it really sad that that meet-and-greet element has gone? DIGITAL It is. Meeting people and looking at people eye to eye, it’s just normal courtesy for human beings, instead of being computer nerds. NICK DWYER The other thing with AOL instant messenger thing is tunes aren’t getting properly mastered, someone’s finishing a rough version, sending it to their mate, saying, “Don’t play it out, but see what you think.” But they’ll play it anyway, then you’ll hear something really crap… DIGITAL Crap coming through the speakers, yeah. It’s nice to master things and have it presented right when you play it out. NICK DWYER Shall we play another track? (music: Digital – “Gateman”) NICK DWYER What was going on in the studio with that one? DIGITAL All them effects are live, me playing around. I just wanted to do my own little dub type thing – bass frequencies, so when I play it out it’s just a bass-heavy piece of dub, in my own way. NICK DWYER How much has your studio set-up changed over the years? DIGITAL Not a lot. I’ve got a new Mac and all that crap, but the main feature is my Tannoy speakers, they help me get my frequencies right. I don’t like my stuff too sharp, I like it smooth, like old reggae. That [track] is a good example of it I think. I’ve got an E-mu, a Mackie outboard desk, but the main thing is the Tannoys. I wouldn’t be able to mix the way if I didn’t have those. NICK DWYER In terms of bass, we were talking to Mo about getting master lacquers done. How important is the cut for you? DIGITAL The mastering? Very important. I’m not a master, I just make tunes and try and mix it down the best I can. You just want the frequencies to be all smooth. I can only do so much in my home studio. Guys train for years to be mastering engineers, I try to leave it in their capable hands. You get what you pay for as well. NICK DWYER If you look inside the etching on a lot of records, not just drum & bass, you’ll see Simon at The Exchange or Stuart at Metropolis. Tell us about these guys, what role do they play in the scene? DIGITAL The play a big role. Simon at The Exchange, he does the harder stuff, he gives a loud cut, makes things quite distorted. You put a track of his on, it’s going to be loud. I prefer Stuart at Metropolis. He’ll smooth everything, he’s a bit more expensive, but he doesn’t distort everything and turn everything up. He’ll take out the horrible frequencies, relax the track a bit more, and he keeps the bass there as well. NICK DWYER What sort of price are you looking at for that service? DIGITAL At Metropolis, to cut a new thing is about £300, Simon at Exchange is about £180. NICK DWYER Definitely worth it? DIGITAL Definitely, it’s got to be done. NICK DWYER Bass plays a big part for you, apart from the speakers. How much time would you spend on the bassline? DIGITAL Unless I’m lucky, I’ll probably do about 20 basslines and chuck 19 away in the end. I want to get a good one. It’s never the first one. I think that one [“Gateman”] took me ages. NICK DWYER How does the production process work for you? Do you start with a sample or muck around with the bassline? DIGITAL It’s never the same, that’s why my tracks vary as well. I like drums, I like bass, I like samples, I like everything. It’s never the same, I haven’t got a formula. You listen to some artists, you know they’ve got a formula, but I haven’t. I can work with musicians, I can start off with a crusty old bongo or whatever takes my fancy. NICK DWYER As well as drum & bass there’s been a lot of stories about a reggae project. Tell us about that. DIGITAL Well, it’s a friend I’ve known for 18 years, a white guy, a reggae dancehall artist. I haven’t done much towards the project yet, but it’s nearing the end of it and I’m in the middle of a couple of tracks now. That’s dancehall, and to be honest, I like dancehall, but I prefer the older reggae. I listen to Dennis Brown, Tenor Saw, Sugar Minott, that sort of stuff. That’s why I like my bass, ‘cause they often use rhythms with fat bass in it. NICK DWYER What else is coming up? What are you working on? DIGITAL It’s ten years since I joined Timeless, so we’re doing a ten year Timeless album next year. That’s various artists who’ve been on Timeless over the years. Me personally, I’m going to go into the studio because I haven’t been much lately, I’ve been involved with distribution and all that rubbish. So I’m looking to go back to what I do, which is make music in the studio. I’m just looking to make tracks, I need to be making tracks. NICK DWYER Is it a drag sometimes when you have a really hectic DJ schedule and it’s drawing you away from being in the studio? DIGITAL Sometimes it’s hectic, sometimes it ain’t, and I like it like that. If I’ve got DJing then I’ll go and enjoy that, but if I haven’t got DJing then I’ll make loads of tracks. I’m happy either way. NICK DWYER You’ve not got software on the laptop? DIGITAL I do use a laptop, but I’ve got a life to live as well. I’m trying to calm down on the old laptop, you know, not sit with my girlfriend on the laptop. NICK DWYER In terms of samples, a lot of your tunes have old reggae samples or something. What’s the fine line between clearing the samples and not? DIGITAL I won’t use a new one, it’ll be like 25 years old, or I’ll only use little snippets. I don’t really rinse it that much. I mean, you probably can tell where come from, so that’s out of respect. NICK DWYER What are the laws of sampling like? Is it 25 years after they die or something? DIGITAL I think after 25 years you can get away with it, but I think it’s the amount of seconds, probably about four or five seconds. I’m not sure. NICK DWYER What are your favourite breaks and who are these originals by? DIGITAL The obvious one, the Amen. There’s a Paris one, I’m trying to think of an example of a track it’s on but I can’t. Amen, Paris, “Apache” by [the Incredible Bongo Band], they’re the regular ones. NICK DWYER What’s the Phantom break? DIGITAL You mean [Digital & Spirit’s] “Phantom Force”? That’s a Numatic break. To be honest I’m new school, I’m not an old jazz man. I’ll go off tracks I grew up with. Back in ‘91 there was something on Reinforced by Numatic, so I call it the Numatic break. I do have some of the old originals but I’m not really that clued up on them. NICK DWYER Do you want to play another tune? Do we have any questions at this point? Audience Member What’s the Paris break? DIGITAL Shall I play it to you? You know Goldie’s “Inner City Life?” You know the metallic break in that, that’s the Paris break. Audience Member Why do you call it the Paris break? DIGITAL It’s something to do with the artist I think, old jazz people. Like I say I’m not really clued up on the old sampling thing. I’ve got the “Amen, Brother” and the [Incredible] Bongo Band - “Apache,” and a few others. NICK DWYER How much time do you spend on a break cutting it up? DIGITAL Not long, it’s just a starting point and then mixing it right. For a whole track I can take three days to two weeks, it just depends what kind of track. DIGITAL This is one I’ve done with a friend who plays guitar. NICK DWYER So this track’s called? DIGITAL This is called “Dig It.” (music: Digital – “Dig It” Dubplate) NICK DWYER So you are still keeping the dubplate scene alive? DIGITAL I cut a few. NICK DWYER What does it take for you to cut something? DIGITAL If it’s mine [laughter]. If it’s going to be around a long time without being released, then I’ll cut it on a dubplate. Or if it’s on one of my labels. NICK DWYER Talking about drum edits and programming, there’s been a revival, a lot of people harbouring it as a new sub-genre - breakage, choppage, or what have you. What’s your take on it? DIGITAL It’s been around for ages. I don’t really... it’s just the same thing that’s been going on for ages, but there’s a group of people huddling together and making a big thing out of it, I think. NICK DWYER It’s just the same as what was happening ages ago? DIGITAL Yeah, I’ve done a few of them, some of my first tracks sound like that. I do like some of it, I’m not slagging it, but it’s nothing new. NICK DWYER There’s a lot of drum & bass labels now. Seven or eight years ago there were like nine or ten releases each week and you’d get some quality stuff. Now you’ve got all these new labels cropping up. What is your advice to someone thinking of starting a new label? DIGITAL Release some stuff on some other labels first, get your name around a little bit, unless you’re doing something totally original. It’s a bit weird when people are copying tracks and not standing out and yet they’re starting their own label. ‘Nuff respect if you’re trying to do your own thing, innovate and do something special. But it’s quite weird when people sound like someone else and they’re starting their own label. NICK DWYER Do you see a lot of that? DIGITAL Yeah and I get a lot sent. “Can I start a label at Load please? Here are the tracks.” And I think, “Well, stick some of your own influences in there, make your label personal.” There’s another label out there that’s better than you and they’ve been around for ages. If you’re gonna come up with something special and new then that’s great. Audience Member Can you tell us something about MCs on drum & bass releases? DIGITAL MCs? Audience Member How important are they? DIGITAL They’re important for the vibe. They do excite the crowd. They're not always important but I am for them, I'm not against them at all. A good MC is not going to shout all over my mix anyway. I like good MCs. I think they're good for the scene. Audience Member For example? DIGITAL Um, Rage. That's it. (Laughs) Uh, Fats. Sterling. New ones, you know. There’s a few I can think of. I’m involved with some guys in New Zealand, Salmonella Dub – they’re massive over there aren’t they? Me and the guy helped do that jazz track there, Innerheart his name is. A guy called YT, a reggae dancehall artist. My friend NJC from Ipswich, we all do a thing called Sativa Records and that is drum & bass, reggae, hip-hop, anything. We've been doing remixes for Salmonella Dub, people in England or whatever. I’m well involved in other music, yeah. Audience Member I think that often it happens that working on one main scene is a limit if you’re a musician, you’re considered just a drum & bass producer. But you’ve got the attitude to work with other music. DIGITAL I think over the years I’ve learnt that I’m a producer, not just a drum & bass producer but a producer. For example, the Salmonella Dub remix is about 125 BPM, dub-influenced, it’s not drum & bass. I got all the musicians together, all the parts and bits and bobs, and I produced it. I enjoy that. NICK DWYER What’s your vibe on working with musicians? Obviously, there’s a friend of yours playing guitar on that [“Dig It”], is that a direction you want to go in more? DIGITAL I just want to do everything. I enjoy working with people. He’s a better musician than me, I’m not a musician and I’m amazed at what musicians can do. I’m privileged to being able to produce people who actually know music. I’m not a musician but I’m producing musicians and I’m privileged to do that. Audience Member When you produce your tracks do you think of making something for people to dance or something for them just to listen to? Do you think drum & bass is a high tempo music, so it should always be for people to dance to? DIGITAL As the track’s progressing I’m starting to think either this is a something to listen to, or this is a bit ravey, this will go off. I don’t sit and think I need to something for people to go mental to in a club, but as I’m getting my parts together I sample bits and bobs and play around with noises. So as the track’s going along I realise what it’s going to be like in the end. I don’t set out to do a certain type of track – except for that track where I got a musician round, so it’s going to be that way obviously. Audience Member On the subject of the bassline, it’s a bit of an old argument but I’d like to hear your take: analogue versus digital. Obviously, nowadays there’s a whole range of plugins coming out and producers now have these cheap affordable synths, but it has cropped up during the course of the Red Bull Music Academy that for tight basslines you need that analogue sound. DIGITAL You mean an E-mu sampler or something? Audience Member No, I mean an analogue synth. You can’t use a Reactor or one of these emulators. DIGITAL I’m not sure about that. I haven’t got one of these old analogue synths. I’ve got ones on a computer, these cheap throwaway things you’re talking about, and then I’ve got an E-mu sampler. If I use the same sampled bass note and put it on my Emu sampler and test it on my speakers and then I test it on my Logic computer, the difference is major – the E-mu is miles heavier. So the synths are probably lacking in bass. I haven’t got a natural synth, but the E-mu is much more powerful, much more bottom-end. Audience Member I thought it would’ve been like a synth, like the Korg MS-10. DIGITAL I EQ. My Tannoys help me get my bass how I want it. A lot of people mix on their little speakers and their bass is not really heavy. But with the Tannoys I can sit there and I can hear properly. Audience Member So maybe to get the tight sound is down to monitors. DIGITAL I think monitors are very important. These ones [points to speakers in the room] are great and my old Tannoys are working for me. Before I had those I was happy, doing my thing. But when I got them three or four years ago, that’s when I was doing a lot of tracks with loads of bass all over the place, that’s what happened. So I think it’s the monitors. People come round and play their tracks on my monitors and the bass sounds nice and clean, nice and thin, then I’ll play my tracks on their little speakers and it’s bang-bang-bang. So the monitors are very important. Audience Member What type of Tannoys do you have? DIGITAL I’ve got the little gold monitors and I’ve got the SOM 15s. (Inaudible comments from participants) DIGITAL Oh cool, they’re nice. It takes a little while to get used to monitors. At first it sounded crap, I was like, “What’s going on here? They’re rubbish.” You can rack them properly and they’re happy. You have to get used to monitors. NICK DWYER Shall we have another tune before you go? DIGITAL These were just done on the laptop. NICK DWYER What were you using? DIGITAL Just Logic Pro, add it to a soundcard. It’s the first time I’ve done it on laptop only, I’ve only done it twice. (music: Digital – Unknown) NICK DWYER Thanks very much, Steve. Nice one.