Matt Edwards (Radio Slave)
A man of many monikers, UK producer and DJ Matt Edwards has gone by Matthew E., Rekid and Radio Slave as a solo artist, and as Quiet Village and Sea Devils in collaboration, but he’s best known for his extensive remix work and running of the Rekids label. From remixing Kylie Minogue to bringing Nina Kraviz to the world, Edwards is as much a talent as a talent-spotter in the world of dance music. How does he do it? Find out in this talk at the 2006 Red Bull Music Academy.
Hosted by Gerd Janson Welcome. We’ve got a man here who is a big hard to categorize, like almost everyone these days. He has a finger in almost every pie. He recorded under various monikers, like Rekid, Radio Slave, and, last but not least, there’s this famous project called Quiet Village. So he’s a producer, DJ, and a record label owner. His name is Matt Edwards. Please give him a warm welcome. [applause from audience] Maybe we start with the usual silly question: how did you get into music, Matt? Your mom was listening to Stevie Wonder? Matt Edwards I was really lucky. I grew up in South London. Like Greg yesterday, I was totally exposed to the whole electro scene. The first 12" record I ever bought was “Planet Rock.” I grew up in a very multi-racial society, multi-cultural society. It was very easy. There was lots of import shops. Throughout my teens it was really easy to buy a lot of 12" records. There’s a huge pirate radio station scene. Gerd Janson Which was always very important for London, right? Matt Edwards Yeah. In the ’80s it was very big. It died off in the mid-’90s, but in the ’80s it was all about jazz, funk, and electro and soul. I guess I was a soul boy when I grew up. Gerd Janson You went out dancing, too? Matt Edwards Yeah, we used to go to these underage soul gigs where there were people like the Cool Notes. You’d hear records by the S.O.S. Band and all that sort of stuff. Kids would turn up and breakdance. Gerd Janson But no alcohol? Matt Edwards No alcohol, no. Gerd Janson From there on? Matt Edwards From there on, I was really lucky to be exposed ... A lot of my friends would go into a lot of the clubs in London. I had one of those life-changing experiences going to the Milk Bar, which is a very famous club in London. Hearing DJs such as Danny Rampling, who back then was actually quite good and other DJs such as Pete Tong, who probably everyone knows. He’s known worldwide, but back then he was a very eclectic DJ who would play reggae next to funk next to hip-hop. Gerd Janson That was also the music Danny Rampling played at the Milk Bar? Matt Edwards Danny’s was more of a serious night. It was much more, I guess, serious. It was the Italo house and a lot more American house. I think he was one of the first DJs to bring over Tony Humphries. In that period in the early 1990s, you had famous clubs that... On a Wednesday, you had Rage, which was the famous hardcore club. Gerd Janson With Fabio and Grooverider. Matt Edwards On a Thursday, and then you’d be able to go back out on Saturday and also on Sunday. There was loads of things happening. This was before the sub-genres, before drum & bass. It was a real melting pot. Everyone went to the same clubs. Gerd Janson And you danced your nights away all week? Matt Edwards Yeah, for the whole of the ’90s. Gerd Janson Maybe you have an example of one of the most pivotal tracks. Matt Edwards I don’t know. Do you want me to play some old stuff? Gerd Janson Yeah. Matt Edwards Okay. Gerd Janson Were you already a DJ back then? Matt Edwards I started DJing around 1991. By then, I’d already been buying a lot of records. We were getting more and more into American house music. This is one of these records. It had already been out for years, but it was a big record at the Ministry of Sound. (music: Fingers Inc. – “Mystery of Love (Mystery of Dub)”) Gerd Janson That was Fingers Inc. – “Mystery of Love.” Matt Edwards Mystery of Dub. Yeah, that was one of the records we were hearing, which was actually quite old. Again, in the early ’90s, a lot of people were playing records from the past, especially people who got back into playing a lot more American house music. Gerd Janson It’s pretty different to the image being attached to house later on, like all of those super clubs and dancing around, your hand back. Matt Edwards When we were first going out, we were lucky to experience a lot of those people like Pal Joey, who were making house records that were around 115 to 118 BPM, which is one of the reasons, for me, the whole Rekid thing started, which was to make records that were much, much slower. Gerd Janson Rekid is one of your projects, right? Matt Edwards Yeah. That’s that crossover between house music and hip-hop, a much more 4/4 but still very slow. Gerd Janson Maybe you want to show us also one of those? Matt Edwards Yeah, of course. This was one of the records that influenced me to start making the Rekid stuff. This was one of the major influences. This is J Dilla. (music: J Dilla – unknown track) That was one of my favorite J Dilla tracks. Unfortunately, he died this year, which is, I think, a real great loss. Gerd Janson It is. Matt Edwards He really crossed over. He really made records that didn’t define one genre. In that record, there’s an Italo disco record that’s slowed down, there’s loads of different samples. It’s amazing. Gerd Janson It is, and it got you into doing that kind of slow groove. Matt Edwards Yeah. When he shows that you can take so many different influences from so many different types of music, and you can make it sort of slow. Is it four to the floor? Is it house? Is it hip-hop? Is it this? Is it that? Gerd Janson You're not into pigeon-holing at all. Matt Edwards No, not at all. I was going to play you another J Dilla track, which is even more like a house record or like an electronic record, this thing from BBE. Do you know BBE? Gerd Janson Yeah, the English label. Matt Edwards Yeah. This is the “Big Booty Express,” which is another great J Dilla record. (music: J Dilla – “B.B.E. (Big Booty Express)”) Gerd Janson It sounds even more like cosmic disco. Matt Edwards Yeah, totally. I think it’s crazy that he was making stuff like this. It’s so electronic. I really think it shows that there’s a lot more to hip-hop than just sampling old funk records, and that you can make great electronic music. Gerd Janson What is your take on the whole sampling thing? Matt Edwards I love sampling, especially with more of the Quiet Village stuff and some of the record stuff. We try and choose or pick a lot of more electronic records as well, especially from Europe and also from places like Turkey. I look further afield than just American funk records. Gerd Janson Not just sampling James Brown over and over and over and over again? Matt Edwards No, but that’s not to say ... I’ve been starting listening to James Brown again because it is amazing. Gerd Janson I didn’t want to say anything bad about James Brown. Maybe you could show us, then, what the Rekid stuff sounds like. Matt Edwards I’ll play a cut off my album. (music: Radio Slave – unknown track / applause) Gerd Janson How would you describe your style then, ketamine house? Matt Edwards I don’t know. I guess it’s a sort of hypnotic. Joel coined the phrase of heartbeat music. A lot of people in London were calling it smack house, which we won’t get into. It’s very hypnotic. There’s loads of hip-hop tracks that I think are very hypnotic. It’s the same with what’s happening with a lot of music, especially minimal house. Things go on for a lot longer. As my friend always says, keep it boring. Don’t change it. If it sounds good, just let it go. Gerd Janson That’s where you see the cross links between all of that stuff? Matt Edwards Yeah. It’s all about a great groove and keeping things going. There’s a split between two camps where you get a lot of people these days who want to change everything all the time. That’s more apparent these days, French producers or labels like Ed Banger or Justice. People like that, where it’s very quick. Then you’ve got the German producers who keep it going. Gerd Janson They’re very in the same groove for a very long time. Matt Edwards Yeah, for a very long time. Gerd Janson That whole kind of minimal house or techno that got prominent out of Germany in the last years is also very influential for you. Matt Edwards Yeah, very. I mean, I’ve really loved that scene. I mean, yeah, there’s some great records. It’s definitely going back to being more sort of house-lead, rather than glitchy and stuff. But yeah, no it’s really good. Gerd Janson With another of your projects like Radio Slave, you are a bit more up-tempo right? Matt Edwards Yeah, I was going to play you guys this, I’ve done this remix , I did two mixes as part of the job, so I did like a record thing and a Radio Slave thing. But I guess it’s what demonstrates more sort of dance or stuff that I make. I also have the influence one might be using, some sort of hip-hop sounds, or the way that you sample stuff in very much the same way as producers such as Dave Taylor work, from Switch. A lot of editing, a lot of sampling. Gerd Janson Before you played it, you could maybe tell us what got you into producing. Because you were telling me you had tried it in the early '90s but you weren’t too satisfied with yourself? Matt Edwards Making music, for me, in the mid-'90s was very difficult. I come from a graphic design background and was always used to being very hands on with making stuff or designing stuff, and I found it very frustrating as just being like the director or producer. It wasn’t until 2001 that I actually could start making music myself, and that’s what led to the Radio Slave thing, which led to the Rekid thing. Part of being so frustrated with the remixes that were coming out at the time. Gerd Janson On major labels right? Major artists? Matt Edwards Yeah, which is what... Maybe I play it, I can re-edit, but I was always fascinated with re-editing from the ’70s and ’80s, people like Walter Gibbons and that whole way of taking the best bits of records or making tracks that are three minutes much longer. In the late ’90s a lot of record labels lost their way because they always thought, if I get this guy to remix it he’s going to make the song better, when maybe the actual original song is good on its own. Gerd Janson It just needs a little rework. Matt Edwards Yeah, yeah totally. I can you play like a reedit I’ve done recently. This is like a reedit of a ’60s track. The track’s amazing, it’s about this guy Jacques Dutronc, and hopefully we’re going to do something with it, but it’s... (music: Jacques Dutronc – “Les Cactus” Radio Slave remix) Matt Edwards That’s a pretty simple re-edit. You can tell where it’s been changed. It’s sort of to make a two minute track into a five minute track. Gerd Janson What’s your general take on all of that re-edit culture going on right now? Matt Edwards I like it. I think it’s been abused, especially when a lot of the original records are so good. A lot of people are making money out of it, especially the people who are setting up bootleg labels just to release records that you can buy. You can go on the web and... Gerd Janson You can just search for them. Matt Edwards Yeah, you can find them, the originals, which are equally as good. Gerd Janson What constitutes or justifies an edit, then? Matt Edwards I don’t know. That’s the reason we started the whole Radio Slave thing, really. It’s really about extending stuff for the clubs, as much as that old school aesthetic of making a pop record into something that’s much more playable in an intro and an outro. Gerd Janson Like what Shep Pettibone did with Ketchup Boys. Matt Edwards Yeah, exactly. I think that the same rules still apply. A lot of people, maybe people who aren’t so knowledgeable about the music, they tend to cut out some of the best bits. Joel and I have just done this Quiet Village re-edit... Gerd Janson Joel is your partner? Matt Edwards Yeah, in Quiet Village. We’ve just done this Osmonds re-edit. We were in New York and we were digging for records. It was the WFMU Record Fair. We go there every year just to buy records. We were in this place in Jersey City, and Joel found this Osmonds 12", which is this promo only thing. No one knew about this record. One of Joel’s friends passed it on to someone else. Suddenly everyone knew about it. It was on DJ History. Gerd Janson Which is like a message board where stuff like this is discussed. Matt Edwards Yeah. Then suddenly someone has done a re-edit. They had cut out all the vocal and it just loops out the intro. Gerd Janson That’s not a good thing? Matt Edwards No. I could play you ... The actual track is amazing. It’s just one of those things where I think sometimes producers or DJs don’t understand that it’s sometimes great to hear the whole song. You want to hear the whole song. I think people have maybe forgotten about that as well. Gerd Janson With the Osmonds, especially, you think it’s what we had with Greg Wilson yesterday, like DJs covering up the records? You think it’s a good thing to keep some stuff under the carpet? Matt Edwards Sometimes. This record in particular, since we found it and essentially it was posted on DJ History, we found out someone did a re-edit. Another famous producer has now done a record that is using the bass line and the strings and stuff. In that respect, sometimes it’s best to keep things to yourself. I’m a great believer of sharing music, but sometimes maybe, yeah. Gerd Janson There is an exception to the rule then. Matt Edwards No, I don’t think so. The Osmonds thing is a great track. I think it would surprise a lot of people that they made an amazing, almost electronic disco track. Shall I play it? I have to find it [searches through record bag] (music: The Osmond Brothers – “I, I, I”) Gerd Janson You were talking about people setting up labels for their re-edits. Matt Edwards Yeah. Gerd Janson You did that yourself, too, right, for the Radio Slave stuff? Matt Edwards Yeah, sort of. For a while I was doing a label that really had no direction. It was just putting out 12"s. In the last year, what we’ve done is, me and my brother-and-law, we’ve set up a proper label. We’re now signing artists and we’re looking at developing young artists, especially in the UK. Gerd Janson You would recommend a business plan if you want to set up a label? Matt Edwards I mean, when I was younger I guess I had no idea, and I always looked at things on the creative level. But I would entirely recommend if you’re going to start a label, that you do it properly, by the book. Because you need to keep it going, you need to make money. Everyone’s trying to do you over. Gerd Janson What does the book say? Matt Edwards I don’t know. It’s just the whole thing about setting up a business. It’s millions of miles away from way I come from, just one of these people, I guess he’s just more creative who just got right on a power record. I don’t care if it sells I just want to do it. It’s worth investing the time properly. Gerd Janson How would you recommend to do it then, maybe? Matt Edwards How? Gerd Janson Yeah, or would you recommend to everyone who’s making music and things, I have to put this out? Matt Edwards I guess the first thing is finding a good distributor, and someone that you can trust, and make sure you can get paid. That’s the hardest thing in the record industry, is actually getting money back once you’ve invested the time. It takes a long time to actually get your money back because there are so many ways for a distributor, or if say you’re signed to a record company, there’s a million and one excuses for them not to pay you. That’s one of the reasons we set the label up ourselves. Gerd Janson Then you’re in control of... Matt Edwards Yeah, so that we have complete control over everything from the artwork to the mixes to the manufacturing and mastering, it’s very important. The whole thing. Gerd Janson How much time does this take away from actually making music then? Matt Edwards I’m lucky, I actually have a partner who does a lot of the business side. That’s one thing I would recommend, if you are a very creative person, try not to do it by yourself. Try and find someone who’s got more of a business head, because it is very difficult. Gerd Janson You noodle away? Matt Edwards Yeah, totally. Gerd Janson Yeah. Maybe you could talk a bit more about that Radio Slave stuff? Matt Edwards Yeah, like I said before, the Radio Slave thing came about from frustration of not being happy with a lot of remixes. I was really lucky that one of my best friends is this guy called David Dorrell, who was part of MARRS, “Pump Up the Volume,” and he’s still active and involved in the music industry and managed this band Bush, who were big in the States and stuff. I did this remix, Kylie gave it to him ... Gerd Janson Kylie Minogue? Matt Edwards Yeah, he gave it to Pete Tong and Pete Tong played it, and the whole thing started from there. I guess this is around the time that whole mash-up scene started. Gerd Janson Like 2ManyDJs? Matt Edwards Yeah, that whole thing. To begin with it was kind of cool because there was a breath of fresh air, where you had before, people wouldn’t sample or wouldn’t use rock records. It wasn’t a done thing, it was not fair. Labels were still stuck in this whole progressive house thing. Then suddenly all these new guys came along, like Richard X or Soulwax and brought all these different, you know, these old references, especially a lot of European, sort of disco and sort of new wave references. That was good, it was good time, and I think it’s made a lot of difference because it’s brought a lot of young people back into dance culture, that were lacking in the late ’90s. Gerd Janson Young people are important for dance music? Matt Edwards Yeah. I can see that totally. It wouldn’t work without young people. I went to Pacha in Ibiza, I think it was around 2000 2001, and it was like going to a club full of just old people. Everyone was in their 40s and they were listening to some really boring music. It had no connection with what was happening with 18 year-olds and 19 year-olds. Really, it’s all about getting young people to go into dancing. Nightclub culture. That’s what it’s about. Gerd Janson Has it changed? Matt Edwards Yeah, I think it has changed. I think a lot of the kids who came through from listening to indie dance music and now discovered black music, black dance music, house music. It’s all good, I think we’re in a much better place than we were five years ago. Good music in general. Gerd Janson And that keeps you also inspired to go on. Matt Edwards Yeah of course, yeah and that’s good, because I think for a while dance music needed to be sort of indie dance remix and such, this or this that and the other. Whereas now I think it’s branching out on its own. Dance music is its own thing, it doesn’t need this indie connection with dance and stuff, and that’s good. Gerd Janson Can you show us what you did to Kylie? Matt Edwards Do you really want to hear Kylie Minogue? Yeah? If I can find it. I’ll have a look for it. Gerd Janson I mean, we’re in Australia. Matt Edwards Yeah, why not? Let’s have a look. (music: Kylie – “Slow (Radio Slave Remix)”) The first one I did, so I won’t play that one, sorry. I can play you something else. Gerd Janson Do you have that Kate Bush thing with you? Matt Edwards Yeah, I got the Kate Bush thing. I guess this works off the same template. I’m a big fan of Kate Bush and unfortunately she never ever did any remixes. I don’t think she’s ever been remixed, and I was really into her new album. If you haven’t got it I thoroughly recommend you buy it. Yeah, this is on the same sort of principle as buying an album, getting it back home and then put it into Sound Forge and then playing around with it. (music: Kate Bush - “King of The Mountain (Radio Slave Remix)”) Matt Edwards I guess that’s like a real typical example of a, it’s like a mixture of a re-edit and a remix where you don’t have any parts. You have to use exactly what you’ve got from the record. And that was quite interesting because I think the original of that record is I think like 70 BPM. I had to time-stretch it, double it, and then bring it back down to about 130 so that it worked. Gerd Janson You are fond of computers. Matt Edwards Yeah, unfortunately without computers, for me it wouldn’t ever happen. I mean I guess maybe it’s easy for me in some ways because I got this design background and I’m really into these, I guess they’re like collages. I can work with computers so easily. Gerd Janson You’re not one of those analog crusaders? Matt Edwards No. No. I mean, I use a PC which I’m one of the minority when it comes to making music. But I find using software is really easy and Cubase and stuff. That’s a good example of a crossover between a re-edit, a remix view. That’s pretty much the whole song in its entirety and then chopped to make it longer with an in track and out track and literally just some beats and stuff. Gerd Janson When you play as a DJ are you actually able to put all that different kind of stuff into one night that you are into? Matt Edwards It depends. It depends. Sometimes I won’t play any of my own music. I mean, I’m such a record fiend. I buy lots and lots of music every week. There’s always other people’s records to play. I’m a massive music fan, a lot of modern producers always blown me away and really humbled me. I always think, “Shit. I’m not doing the right thing.” Gerd Janson You’re fond of computers, but even founder of vinyl still. Matt Edwards Yeah, totally. Yeah, I’m a great supporter of vinyl. I’ll keep playing it, I think, and buying it. Gerd Janson You don’t think it will vanish these days with all the new technology? Matt Edwards One day when we’re old guys, we’ll have no vinyl left. No, I think people still buy it. I think it’s become like a luxury item, especially like Whatever We Want Records, these other labels that are very much more art driven, the prices are going up because it’s becoming much more of a luxury thing. Gerd Janson And a collector’s item. Matt Edwards Yeah, and already a collector’s item, especially doing it with the pressing. I mean, you’re lucky these days if you can sell over, on a regular release, over 2,000 records, whereas 6 or 7 years ago, you’d be looking at about 5,000. Gerd Janson Whatever We Want Records is a label that puts out the Quiet Village stuff with Joe Martin, right? It’s packaged quite nicely. Matt Edwards Yeah, no, it’s package has always been very well designed, original pieces of artwork and stuff. Gerd Janson You think that’s important also to have a record label like that. Matt Edwards Yeah, I’m still a great believer. I come from the school, when I was kid, it was great to buy an album and actually see at as a 12x12 inch thing. Now I can’t by MP3s. I’m not into it. I only, just before I left to come here, I lost four years worth of photographs from my laptop. Gerd Janson It’s a pity. Matt Edwards Yeah, and that’s the same with music. If you have it on your computer, and all your music is on there, unless you back it up and back it up, you’re going to lose it. Gerd Janson The surface feel of vinyl. Matt Edwards Yeah, of course. Gerd Janson Maybe you can show us one of those Quiet Village. Matt Edwards Yeah, I was just going to play one more re-edit, if that’s cool. I was just going to play this. This another one of those DIY sort of jobs that actually in the end came out which is quite rare these days, but it’s a Paul McCartney track called “Temporary Secretary.” (music: Paul McCartney – Temporary Secretary (Radio Slave Re-Edit)) That’s an example, that was just a re-edit that I did. That’s all it is. That actual track is exactly like that. I think the track’s actually 133 BPM. Gerd Janson That’s pretty freaky for Sir Paul. Matt Edwards Yeah, and that’s off his, I think Paul McCartney 2, and all I did was literally cut the whole track up with time and put a beat there. Luckily at the same time, there was a, I think it was Parlophone that released his compilation, and they ended up pressing up which is pretty mad, really. We got the go ahead from Paul McCartney to release it. It did 500, one-sided 12". That’s the thing. I think if you got ideas, there’s still so much old music out there that people haven’t discovered or they’re discovering. I think especially with major artists, I think they quite like it. They have their ego massaged by these young kids coming along and sampling it and stuff. Their egos are very into that. Gerd Janson Yeah. Good for you. Compared to Quiet Village. Matt Edwards The Quiet Village thing is totally different. This a project that I do with my friend Joel Martin which is he released records, three records now on this label called Whatever We Want. DJ Harvey releases lots of stuff by Thomas Bullock using A.R.E. Weapons. This is much more of a cinematic side to what we do. It draws references to Joel and my obsession with guys like Vangelis and soundtracks. Gerd Janson Matt Edwards Yeah, Krautrock to a certain degree, but I guess it’s a real love of soundtracks, and we’ve actually started work on an album in January which is going to be quite nice. Gerd Janson What is your take on the hype around that stuff? Matt Edwards It’s good. I mean, I guess, I really think that downtempo music is going to have a real resurgence next year. In the mid to late ’90s, in the mid-’90s you had artist such as DJ Shadow who’s very experimental, and you had people like Air, Zero 7. Gerd Janson This went all into coffee table. Matt Edwards Yeah, it became very coffee table, and you had all those [inaudible] compilations, and the whole scene became so diluted. I think it lost its way. That’s not to say that people haven’t been doing it since, but I don’t think it’s had the reaction from the press and media. Trends come and go. The same with house. The way that something goes electronic and then it gets some more life back. I think there’s going to be this resurgence for downtempo music, sure. Gerd Janson It can be done in a positive way. Matt Edwards Yeah, and much more of an edgy way. Definitely, I mean, there’s a couple of tracks that we’ve done before that we’ve released, I think would give you a good example of the kind of tempo and mood. Gerd Janson Would you describe it as Balearic? Matt Edwards Yeah, definitely. I think it is Balearic. I mean Joel and I both, we’re massive collectors of that scene, and we’ve always been fans of the Balearic sound. Gerd Janson And what is the Balearic sound? Matt Edwards I knew you were going to ask me that. It’s incredibly hard to define because Balearic music can be a pop record, it can be a rock record, but primarily, I guess, it’s this mid-tempo sort of chugging, sort of druggy. Yeah. Gerd Janson Yeah, I guess. Matt Edwards Druggy sound that came about in the mid-’90s, sorry, mid-’80s. Gerd Janson When all the English people were traveling towards the Balearic islands. Matt Edwards I think from what we’re seeing now and from people like Daniele Baldelli and all these other DJs, I think a lot of people have realized it was happening without England. Gerd Janson Yeah. Awesome. Matt Edwards Yeah, well not completely. It was always there, this scene or this sound, which fits in between very slow and club music. I can play this one. This is the first record we ever did for Whatever We Want. (music: Quiet Village – unknown track) Gerd Janson That was a nice example of the Balearic sound. Matt Edwards Yeah, I think that was the first record that we made as Quiet Village. That was the kind of sound we were trying to achieve, was this slow disco dance. I mean with the record thing is much more sort of... Gerd Janson Electronic? Matt Edwards Or hip-hop. Sort of has much more hip-hop edge. This is much more, yeah as you said Balearic. Gerd Janson Floating. Matt Edwards Yeah, floating, yeah, and trippy and stuff. It just draws references where it’s that sort of sound, you know where the sound is between soundtracks and almost disco. In the late ’70s there was a lot of that stuff that was made. I think everyone pretty much made a disco track. I was going to play you like another example of an Ennio Morricone record that is basically he made a disco record and it’s pretty much been a great influence on John and I. (music: Ennio Morricone – unknown track) That’s a great example, I think, of someone who wouldn’t be associated with disco making a disco track. Gerd Janson That’s where the inspiration comes from for... Matt Edwards Yeah, that’s one of the people, but yeah. Gerd Janson Yeah, Joe Bataan told us today that when you’re turning 30, you should know what you will be doing for the rest of your life. Matt Edwards Right. Gerd Janson Can you see yourself going on like this? Matt Edwards I hope so. I hope I can keep... Gerd Janson Producing records, playing records? Matt Edwards Keep making music. I don’t whether I want to be in the foreground as much with DJing, because DJing is pretty... It’s... Gerd Janson Ain’t what it used to be? Matt Edwards No, no it’s quite fun. I mean I can tell you now that the clubs are much better than they have been in years, especially in Europe. I think they have a great scene. There’s a lot great clubs in Germany and stuff. Gerd Janson Panorama Bar. Matt Edwards Panorama Bar. I think it’s very hedonistic times but as a working DJ, you know it’s a great a job and very proud to do it. It does kill you slightly as well. Gerd Janson With all the bad things happening in nightlife? Matt Edwards Just with the schedule and just you know, constantly turning. But no, it’s good. You get to experience a lot of different cultures and also you get to buy records in a lot of different countries. Gerd Janson That’s why you do it. Matt Edwards Yeah, especially in Eastern Europe and stuff is great for buying old records and stuff so that’s always good. Gerd Janson What are the places in Eastern Europe to buy old records? Matt Edwards I’m not going to tell you. Gerd Janson You have to keep it as a secret. Matt Edwards Yeah, Budapest is really good. You find a lots of good old records as well at good disco in these places and that’s great. Gerd Janson Maybe we should open it up for... Matt Edwards Yeah, yeah of course. Gerd Janson Do you have some questions? One, two, the mics are coming. Audience member Hey, hello you mentioned that you would bring a song into Sound Forge during your affair at the Sound Factory. What do you do once you put it into... Matt Edwards I usually only use Sound Forge as a recording tool and I tend to just edit the sounds. Or I’m sampling in Sound Forge. I really like it as a program or as a piece of software. Yeah, that’s really good. I’m looking to find new things I’m comfortable with. I’m not sure whether I want to become part of the Mac family and only use Logic as a sequencing tool – this, that and the other. I think that can be a bit restricting. I don’t know, you do get a certain sound. It’s whatever you’re into, I think it’s all about ideas. At the end of the day it’s all about what’s in here and that’s how you’re going to make music. Without that you know, you can use lots of different things, but unless you have the ideas. Yeah, no Sound Forge is the one for me definitely. Audience member As a producer and record label owner is there some legal advice you’d like to share with us or any important thing or issue that we should know? Matt Edwards I don’t know. As a producer I would always suggest that if you can, it’s always great if you are a creative person, if you can find someone who is going to help look after you to a certain degree. Maybe not in a managerial thing to begin with, but if there is someone who could look after you, whether it’s your friend who you know who is good with business. You can get very lost, and I found for the first three or four years that I didn’t know about putting money away for this, for tax, or for certain different things. You can end up, you know, you think, “Oh I’m making loads of money!” Then suddenly you’re not. Suddenly you owe people loads of money. It’s important. Audience member I have two questions. One is, is there something for [inaudible] is there a point where something becomes kitschy? Matt Edwards Kitsch? Participant Is everything [inaudible]? Matt Edwards I don’t know. I really like pop music as much as any other type of music. I think a lot of people, they won’t buy into popular culture because they want to be really underground. But you got to remember the reason people are signed to major labels is because they’re bloody good at what they do. I try and check a lot of albums by people, maybe people think they might be completely cheesy. There’s some amazing producers out there and the reason that they’re working with these artists on a major label is because the fact that they’re so amazing. I don’t know. I always surprise myself by the albums I buy. Maybe I’ll buy Britney Spears’ album just to hear one track by one producer, just because I want to hear what he’s doing. It might be completely crazy. You never know. Audience member Yeah, and making contact with [inaudible]? Matt Edwards Did I get in contact with Kate Bush? We tried to, but it’s really difficult. Gerd Janson She lives in a cottage. Matt Edwards Yes. She’s a real reclusive and she smokes loads of dope and I don’t think she’s [inaudible] do that really. Audience member [inaudible] Matt Edwards With the Quiet Village thing, what we’re actually going to do next year because we’ve actually signed the deal with the album. We said we’re going to actually replay everything. I would go along the lines, and don’t quote me on this, but if it’s really obscure then you can probably almost certainly say you can get away with it. If you’re pressing over say, four thousand records than you have to really start to worry. But a major label isn’t going to take any notice of you if you’re only pressing up a thousand records or doing small runs. In fact, the whole bootleg culture, say with like Kate Bush or whatever, it’s actually great promotion for them. Sometimes they love it. They love it when guys will do like a bass mix or drum & bass mix of a track because it’s great promotion. It means they don’t have to pay a remixer to do it for them. Audience member [inaudible question about digital reveue] Matt Edwards We’ve got a digital partner. We’ve got Beatport and DJ Download that we work with. Maybe I’m just old but as a consumer, as a company, I have to get involved with this whole digital thing. It’s just really important. It’s a great way, especially for companies that have already been established, it’s a great way of selling a catalog because it’s a great way to not invest money in new music but to sell a lot of old music as well. But no, it’s great. If that’s how people want to buy music then I’m all for it. But I’m just really old fashioned and I love vinyl, I love the smell of it. I love the jackets that they come in, the designs. Audience member As far as your revenue is concerned, are you making as much selling...do you have a chart of how much you’re actually making from selling records and how much you’re making from resources on the internet? Matt Edwards It all depends on the deal that you have with the partners. I think with iTunes, I think you, unless you’re saying thousands and thousands you’ll earn absolutely nothing. But with Beatport yeah, it can be a really good way of gaining revenue. I have quite a high dealer price. It can be good. Obviously with vinyl, vinyl’s incredibly expensive to manufacture and you have to pay for the artwork and bar codes and all this stuff that you don’t need with selling music digitally. I’m sure that I will start to buy it, but hopefully not for a few years anyway. I hope that answers your question. Cool. Gerd Janson Any more questions? We’re done, I guess. Matt Edwards Yeah, cool. Gerd Janson Thank you very much for being here.