JADE & MINDSCAPE JOIN SEASON 4 TEAM!

When this came together it’s safe to say excitement levels were pretty high here! Not only did we get the long-time, legendary producer Jade onboard but the equally as prolific and talented Mindscape joined forces with him and we got a seriously impressive duo to add to our team for next season.
Jade began producing over 16 years ago and has a back catalogue filled with heavyweight music, similarly Mindscape has been coming with exciting, hard hitting tunes for a long time, giving them a combined sum of over 30 years production experience between them. It’s safe to say they have a thing or to they can teach us!
Most will know, Jade also owns and runs the hugely successful and revered Eatbrain Recordings which has been built with care and hard work over the last 6 years to now become one of the most vibrant and energetic Neurofunk labels out there. Those of you interested in getting your music heard and considered for this label will be pleased to know we’ll be working with him over the coming year to link your awesome demo’s to Jade’s ears. So this combined with the sonic excellence of this duo and their solid footing in the harder end of this music we are really very hyped to have them delivering high quality samples and tutorials for our members.

 

 

 

 

We asked them a few questions ahead of next season…

How long have you been involved with D&B?

JADE
I started listening in 98′, I was obsessed with collecting every DNB related release.
2 years later i started producing, and in 2004 finally one of my tunes, with Matt-U came out on the legendary Black Sun Empire recordings. 
I quit my original job as an architect in 2008, since then I have been focusing on music.

MINDSCAPE
I got infected with the DNB virus in when I saw Goldie’s “Inner City Life” video on MTV in 1996.
It was something totally new to me back then, and I fell in love immidiately with this “new” dark and urban genre. (Was really sorry to see Diane Charlemagne go last year. )
Ever since it’s been in the center of my life.

How did you move into production, were friends around you learning or was it something you did by yourself?

JADE
Back the producing was a lot more hardware centered, it was difficult to get into it. 
With the development of the digital production softwares a door has been opened to this realm to practically everyone, who can afford a decent computer. My very first tune was mad in Fruity Loops, right after I moved to Reason, which I was using for many years. I started slowly phasing on to Cubase in 2006.

MINDSCAPE
I started my career as part of the Hungarian DNB group Random Soundz, we performed live acts on stage, which was quite a big thing back then in the late 90’s / early 2000’s.
Later I founded Mindscape with 2 of my friends, Andor, and SKC, who was one of the first internationally recognized Hungarian DNB producers’.
Since 2007, when I was working on my first album titled ‘Black Lotus’ and Mindscape was turned into a solo project with the others moving out of DNB generally.

What was your first production set up and how is it different from what you have now?

JADE
The setup I was starting with was pair of Magnat speakers, in my bedroom. Those are low quality HiFi speakers, so it was very misleading. I couldn’t afford studio equipment back then, but I knew HiFi speakers won’t cut it.
So I invested into Audio Technica headphones, which didn’t help too much either. (Quite honestly I never got comfortable with producing in headphones.)
My first better quality speakers were a pair of passive Tannoy Reveals. I heard them at Matt-U’s place, he was my regular studio partner back then.
But it was driven by a Pioneer amplifier which brought some HiFi feel to the sound. Still, that was the system I wrote my first released tunes on.
Later I bought a pair of Dynaudio BM15As, and I am still using them today. And couldn’t be more satisfied. About 3 years ago I moved out from my bedroom-studio, and built my own professional studio, putting my forgotten architecture skills to work. I’m using an ancient RME HDSP 9632 PCI card still, planning to upgrade that soon.

MINDSCAPE
In the early days I was using Fast Tracker 2 in DOS on a very oldschool PC setup and cheap Hi-Fi speakers. It was cool to learn the basics of producing drum and bass. Sometimes I had the chance to work in a small local collective studio, there we had some fun with some proper synths and effects, like Nord Lead 2 and Lexicon, big Mackie desk and stuff.
My first proper system at home was a pair Behringer monitors which served my well, until I bought my current speakers, the Mackie HR824’s. They are still generally used in DNB, their sound fits the style perfectly.
Now I’m still using these Mackies, running Cubase 8.5 on a powerful PC, an awesome midi keyboard (Akai MPK249), Steinberg soundcard, and AKG studio headphones, to be able to work on the beats at night too. I also have Trace’s EMU 6400 sampler here, which is more like a relic to me, it’s not connected to the system. 

How much time do you spend each day / week on making music?

JADE
Since I started Eatbrain, it’s been really difficult to find time for producing. Which is sad, because that’s still what I’d love to do all the time. But my output has been reduced to about 5-6 tunes / year. Some times weeks goes by without opening Cubase.
Although this situation has a great effect on producing too – producing for me is a kind of reward. When I finish the label business on time, I get to produce. This makes producing time so much more valuable.
MINDSCAPE
Producing is the center of my life, there is barely a day without some form of producing. At the moment I’m working on an album for Eatbrain, and this inspires me even further.

Can you give a rough outline of your creative process?

JADE & MINDSCAPE
There is no such thing as a specific creative process for us. We go with the flow 🙂 sometimes start with samples, and build something from it, sometimes the base is a solid beat. It’s never the same process. That would kill the vibe if we stick to the same deal all the time. What matters is inspiration. That can be a new synth to test out, or a sample from a movie we just saw, our just a solid patch one of us twisted out of a synth.

What’s three of your favorite older dnb tracks??

JADE
that’s a tough one. I recently had to play a DJ battle with only oldchool tunes, and I wasn’t able to narrow down my tune pool to less than 200 tunes.
The absolute favorite tune of mine must be Beckoning by Konflict. Pretty much everything Kemal was involved with is gold.
Bad Company’s Seizure was the actual tune that got me hooked on DNB though. For the 3rd tune I will choose something that doesn’t get mentioned often these days, Sex Drive by Future Cut. Those evil perfectly engineered reces combined with the live sounding beats was a production masterpiece back then.

MINDSCAPE
The turning point for me was the legendary Ed Rush & Optical album, Wormhole. I could choose any tune from it, but if I have to narrow it down to one tune it would be Compound.
Konflict also made a massive impression on me, Bleed is a great example of a dnb tune flow, relevant still today, or Soul by Cause 4 Concern, as I’ve been a C4C fan since their early tracks.
It’s not easy to choose only three – there’s countless sick classic dnb tunes. 

Have you learned much from online tutorials? Or Have other people helped you too?

JADE
I turn to tutorials, when I run into a certain problem I cannot solve right away, in these cases tutorials can save a lot of time.
In the begging of my career I was very lucky to have people like Chris SU and SKC. They were on the rise when I started. I will never forget Chris held me a private studio tutorial, enhanced one of my dead end tunes. I have learn a lot from him.

MINDSCAPE
In the beginning, there was no internet, so all the things we learnt was by our own experience, or producer friend’s advices and I really enjoyed to discover the territories of producing music this way, by myself or with the help of my mates, I think those skills are built in my memory much deeper, than watching a quick tutorial.  
Now I’m watching tutorial videos if I’m about to learn to use a new software, or to find some new functions in others, it accelerates the learning curve a lot and gives me inspiration sometimes, but I’m always trying to improve and shape those tips further in my own way, implementing those new skills into my own arsenal.

Do you use Sample Packs, do you think they are helpful if so?

JADE
I have bought a handful of packs, and I love to browse them it’s a great source of inspiration. But in the final product I don’t like to leave actual pure samples in the tune.

MINDSCAPE
I’m sponsored by BHK samples, and use their packs quite a lot. It’s really good to have a solid sample base to start with. Later they get processed, sometimes even removed from the final product, but initially they could be of great help.

SO YOU HEARD IT FIRST! SAMPLE GENIE SEASON #4 KICKS OF FROM 1-7-16

MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO FOLLOW 😀

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