Itchy York article

Itchy goes remixing, with Bacardi DJ

We sit in on a remix session with house hero Marshall Jefferson

Bacardi are running a DJ competition? The best mix from each genre gets the chance to have their track remixed by some of the best DJs in the world?

And this means we get to hang out with Marshall Jefferson all day? Trust us, dear reader, we’ve rarely said ‘yes’ so quickly. And loudly. We almost broke the phone. 

And so we spent a day in the company of Marshall Jefferson, one of Bacardi’s ‘ambassadors’, who are on hand to take the great tracks that today’s up-and-coming talents have produced to the next level. The winner of the Bacardi Remix competition (in the funky house genre) was James Fennings of Prestwich, Manchester. James, already a tour DJ for The Fall for the best part of a decade in his non-house guise, won himself the chance to remix his track – which had been composed with elements laid out on the Bacardi DJ website – with Marshall’s fabled assistance. 

Studio session with Marshall

However, as one day in a studio would show us all, sometimes even the oldest dog can be taught a few new tricks. Indeed, Marshall and James seemed to get on from the minute they met, leaving the rest of us non-producers baffled as they started debating the benefits of (music production software) Logic and the  much-vaunted Ableton Live. Ableton in particular was to be vital to the day’s proceedings, but more on that later… Watching James and Marshall tweak and compress each sonic component of the song was an interesting process, which illustrated the reality of making a remix.  Every cymbal crash, every drum break, indeed, every single sound of the track has to be scrutinised, laboured over and analysed. Itchy isn’t a big studio head, so this level of precision was a bit daunting, to say the least.

Still, Marshall and James managed to keep us non-technical types amused, as they searched for the best ways to make James’ track capable of winning the Bacardi DJ final; which is when James’ track is judged against the best hard house track (as remixed by our own Lisa Pin-Up), the best breaks track (courtesy of Krafty Kuts and Pete Jordan), a storming d’n’b remix from Bailey and a hip-hop mix from Shortee Blitz.  

‘I can put other things on here, right? OK, we’re gonna get busy here…’ 

These were the words of Marshall Jefferson, the man behind Move Your Body, the House Music Anthem itself. Despite his illustrious history, Marshall’s not one for past glories though – aside from an amusing ten minutes where he told us all about Larry Sherman’s dubious business practices back in the early Chi-town days, with Trax Records – instead, he’s all about doing a good job on the beats of today.  On hearing James mix he boomed (Marshall’s well over six feet tall, and would be a little threatening if he wasn’t making jokes the whole time, even when deep in a mix) out ‘This track reminds me a bit of  Moloko… that Sing It Back one? Yeah, I know what this needs (looks on computer in deep thought).’ 

Marshall and James work it out

So while Marshall jumped in straight away, James set a conversational pace that would last all day. Between them, the laid-back Chi town house don and the talkative Mancunian made an unusual pairing, but both were eager to learn from each other. Marshall’s first contribution was to add just the right soaring cymbal noise, leaving James impressed at the way a single listen to the track could show Marshall just what was needed. The right (free) sample was taken from Logic, and so a day’s hard work began in earnest.... 

This day taught Itchy a great deal about just how time-consuming music production is. Everything must be in perfect synch, plus every sample used must be cleared, otherwise a lawsuit could cripple even the best, most respected producer out there. Being packed into a small, hot studio isn’t glamorous in the slightest; it’s an exercise in musical skill and technical know-how to get everything sounding perfect. Normally, studio time costs a lot and new artists like James don’t have much cash floating around. So they’ve got to make a tune that sounds good enough to sell, in the least time possible. Small wonder, then , that software like Ableton Live is doing so well, as it minimises studio time; a fact not lost on Marshall.  

A problem with some bongo drums 

A major problem of the day centred on one ‘loop’ (a repeated sample) in particular. This loop contained the sound of bongo drums, but neither Marshall nor James had any idea where they had come from. And what was worse was that the drums were seriously out of synch. After trying their best with Logic, the twist of the day came when James actually showed Marshall how to use Ableton Live, the newest music production tool that allows producers to re-edit even as they DJ.  

‘Marshall, I’m going to do your head in with this,’ James laughed, as he explained, ‘Marsh, I can’t believe that you don’t use this man, it will revolutionise the way you work. You can just take all the components of a track, separate them and use them as needed – all on the fly!’ Marshall, to give him credit, was more than impressed when Ableton helped them synch up the mystery bongo sound.  It was his experienced ear that told him that what sounded like one bongo playing was actually two ('no wonder it was out of synch', we all nodded, happy he and James were in charge), but it was James and the new software that really helped save the day. Indeed, the old pro had a lot to say when James friend Charlotte called him during the day, prompting the Chicago DJ don to exclaim,  

‘Man, a girl knows about Ableton and I don’t. Damn man..!’

By the end of the day, both the new kid and the old pro were able to walk away saying they’re learned a thing or two. And Itchy learned that it’s not all drink tickets and VIP rooms for DJs and producers these days… 

http://www.bacardidj.com/

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