Having just released his stellar jungle album ‘Mixed Origins’ – a raucous blend of all the different sub genres of jungle – on his own Audio Addict imprint the award DJ Hybrid took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to in depth about the making of a modern day jungle opus, its place in modern day culture, its longevity, getting inspiration from old pirate radio broadcast and documentaries, the importance of track listing and much, much more…
How do you go about putting together a jungle album in 2015? What were you trying to achieve? What did you want to evoke emotionally?
The main concept of the album was supposed to show the origins of how I got into Jungle and Drum & Bass, I have always had a very eclectic taste in music and always thought that when I made my first album it had to be very diverse, it’s something I had been thinking about for a while and already had a rough idea of what the finished product would be. I suppose the main thing I wanted to achieve was to show people that I can make lots of different styles of Jungle and D&B and I’m not a ‘one trick pony’ as they say, but also I hope the album conveys my love for this music and my respect for the history of it as well as the modern day sound.
Why jungle? It isn’t the most in vogue at the moment…
I don’t think anyone starting making Jungle or D&B because it was popular, it’s always been sort of the outcast of electronic dance music. It’s been around too long now and built up too much of a strong following to be just a trend. We have seen other genres of dance music rise and fall in the time that Jungle and Drum & Bass has stayed strong and kept growing, so in that respect, yes! For me there is no other music like it and it has always been the most versatile and original music out there, it is instantly recognizable for its speed and rhythm and that’s why I love it.
Is Jungle still important in its own right in 2015? Especially in relation to race in the UK? Is it still as unifying as it was in 93?
Yes Jungle will always be important whether you are a hardcore junglist or jump up drum and bass head you have to respect and appreciate where the music originated from. I think back in the 90’s it attracted open minded people looking for something different I think a lot has changed since then as some people seem to be more closed minded now but I really hope it is as unifying as it was back then as Jungle and D&B heads are some of the most passionate people about music you will meet, that’s what brings everyone together over everything else.
The album really covers everything that is great about jungle – how did you sequence the album? Do you have any cuts that didn’t make the cut because of stylistic issues? I ask as this is much more than just a collection of tracks – it seems logical and thought out – like a good DJ set in fact….
The track list was probably one of the hardest things about the album, even when I had confirmed the final track list I still went back a week later and changed the order of a couple of the tracks. I wanted people to be able to listen to it from start to finish and hold their attention throughout. I spent a lot of time reading about some the greatest albums of all time and how the order of tracks played a big part in that and I wanted to incorporate that into my album. There were tracks that didn’t make the final cut but mainly because I had too many and had to narrow it down, there were also supposed to be a couple of vocal hip hop tracks that I wanted to include but I couldn’t get them finished in time as I was waiting for the artists to lay down the final vocal track. If it comes across like a good DJ set then great. That wasn’t my intention but if it holds people’s attention and they listen to it from start to finish then I couldn’t be happier.
How did you go about recording it? Did you specifically set out to say write a ragga tune, a liquid-y tune, a 2015 half step tune, a 2 step banger etcetera or were they all just lying around?
I had about 5 of the tracks lying around which I thought would be a good start for an album, mainly because they were all original ideas and diverse in their own way. Some of the tracks I wrote with an idea in mind such as an ‘authentic jungle tune’ or ‘heavy dance floor tune’ some of them just came together out of nowhere and I even surprised myself, for example one track was originally supposed to be more of an old skool jungle tune and ended up being a modern half step tune. I would say the main way I went about making it was just trying to maximize my creativity and be as open minded as possible.
Was making this album a different process that say doing your previous EPs? What were the difficulties in making an album proper?
Yes very different! I genuinely enjoyed making this album but I won’t be making another for a good while yet as it just felt like such a huge project .It consumes your life for months and it’s hard to focus on anything else. In the past when I have made EPs I probably had most the tracks or ideas ready and it was just more of a case of bringing them all together whereas with an album it just felt like I was not only constantly thinking of new ideas and trying to get them down but also making the decision of which of those ideas to pursue. Another one of the main difficulties with making this album for me was working to deadlines as I wanted to get the album out before the end of the year and I know other producers have fallen behind with albums in the past and in some cases has even taken them years to finish, I didn’t want this to happen with my debut album as I wanted to maintain a presence within the scene and not have too many big gaps in between my releases.
What did you listen to as research for this project?
I tried to go back and listen to early influences I had in music such as Hip Hop and Electronica and think about how I could incorporate those influences into my tracks, as I said before I originally intended to feature some Hip Hop tracks but wasn’t able to get them finalized for my deadline so that’s maybe something I will focus more on for my next album. I actually watched a lot of documentaries about music, record labels and of course Jungle music whilst working on this album which influenced me a lot. I also tried to listen to a lot of radio shows and live sets from all different eras of Jungle and D&B so that my influences would be based on the genre in its entirety instead of just its current sound.
I’m a big fan of the different tonalities that are present throughout – all the tracks have their own special flavours and idiosyncrasies, they aren’t all homogenous and samey – was this a happy accident or did you purposefully try and make some tunes as raw as you could?
It definitely wasn’t a happy accident, in fact I would say you have summed up the main concept of the album in your question as I wanted there to be noticeable contrast between all the tunes whether it being the production techniques used or whether it’s a heavy raw distorted track or soft smooth rolling track, an old style track or a new style track, hence ‘Mixed Origins’. I very much like themes and concepts for tracks and a lot of thought has gone into each and every track on the album so I’m really glad you have noticed that.
Did you go as far as picking up some of the original hardware the pioneers used back in the day at all – your emu/akai samplers and the like? Did you sample any old records? Where did that pirate radio broadcast from Bloom in 93 come from- it sounds like the sample on the first Special Request single…
I would have loved to get my hands on some of the original synths and samplers used back in the day whilst working on my album but unfortunately they are all quite expensive and I was on quite a tight budget with the album as I choose to release it through my own label Audio Addict. I love sampling though whether its old records, films, documentaries or even video games I have always tried to keep a notepad and pen handy in case I hear anything that could be a potential cool sample to use in a track. The samples used in Boom in 93 are a mixture of samples recorded either from old documentaries about pirate radio and Jungle music or from old tape packs and radio recordings. It’s an idea I had in my head for quite a while so it was one that I really wanted to make especially to feature on the album, sort of a homage to the days of pirate radio and the 90’s Jungle scene.
How did a typical track from this album get made – how did you start? With a firm idea or did you wing it and experiment?
I would have to say it was a mixture, some were ideas that I had in my head or had already written down but some were just me sitting down with no preconception of what I was making and seeing what I ended up with, the track ‘Katie’s Song’ is a good example of that as I just tried to make something musical and atmospheric with pads and pianos, the drums weren’t added till later. I would say overall though the main thing I tried to do with this album was to be as creative as possible and not use the same formula for all the tracks.
What do you think of the jungle revival in the mid-tempo’s from the last few years – what do you make of the likes of Special Request, Etch, Sully and Tessela?
I really like them! Anything that uses breaks and takes influence from Jungle and innovates in new ways I think helps expand people’s minds to how diverse Jungle music can be. Whether or not it’s the so called ‘revival’ of Jungle music I have to put down to a matter of opinion as I think it’s just more of a new direction. Jungle has always been going strong thanks to people like Ray Keith, Bladerunner, Break, Serial Killaz, DJ Vapour I could go on… One new producer to watch out for though is My Selecta as he has been coming up with some really interesting new vibes which also incorporates Jungle vibes similar to Tessela, Special Request and Sully but around the 130bpm tempo.
I saw you mention Sam Binga in an interview… what do you think of the half time stuff…? Dem Try is a monster tune that seemingly crosses grime with half step/drumstep type stuff… how did that tune come about?
I think what producers like Sam Binga and Fracture are doing is really interesting and it has influenced me a lot in my own productions especially with the track Dem Try. It came about when I was working on a more authentic old skool sounding Jungle track where I was using well known cuts from breaks and vocal snippets to recreate that 90’s Jungle sound. The track took a different turn when I starting experimenting with the main vocal by playing it through a sampler in different keys to change the pitch and rhythm of it. I used a more dancehall style kick drum to make a breakdown and when I added it over the top of the breaks it seemed to give the track a new found rhythm and sounded fresh so I just carried on with that vibe and even then scaled back some of the breaks I was originally using.
What do you think of drum and bass’ more modern iterations? The techy stuff like Mefjus or Maztek…
If I’m honest I’ve never just considered myself as just a Jungle DJ or Producer, it’s all Jungle Drum & Bass to me and I genuinely love all of it. Some of the best crowd reactions I get when I’m DJing is when I drop a heavy tech tune over the top of a Jungle classic, so yes I very much fuck with D&B! I have always loved to mix up different styles in my sets and in the studio, I have never really liked all this segregation of sub-genres within the music either as when I first got into it I listened to all of it.
Do you still see yourself as a primarily a DJ?
It’s funny because I was just a DJ for about 5 years before I started producing and I even started producing in order to get more DJ bookings, since I’ve learnt how to produce music though I would say I enjoy this a lot more then DJing now as the finished product is a lot more rewarding. So no, I don’t see myself primarily as a DJ anymore but I used to.
DJing or producing, which is more cathartic?
I think DJing is really fun and impressive to watch live but producing for me is so much deeper and personal, you can mix two tunes together as a DJ to make a combination of sounds but with producing it really feels like you can transfer what’s in your head into a piece of music whether it’s a current mood you’re in or a statement your trying to make or even just trying to make something that people will dance to there’s a lot of thought process and heart that goes into any piece of music.