Digging the scene
: You’ve been in drum ’n’ bass a long time. How has the genre changed? JM: “For me, drum ’n’ bass is at a point now where, globally, there are scenes where there weren’t scenes ten years ago. Obviously, the internet’s contributed to that, but I just think that drum ’n’ bass has crossed over.
“It’s always been a music that takes from other genres, and at the moment there’s quite a big EDM kind of presence in there – a techy kind of house vibe – to a lot of people’s productions. If you look at people like Dimension or Culture Shock, those guys are definitely taking their influence from more of a house kind of thing. And drum ’n’ bass is really going back to its roots these days, as well; it’s going quite minimal, with longer basslines.
“The thing that always seemed to be bad about drum ’n’ bass was the splitting of the genres, but actually, you’ve got dark stuff, jump-up, liquid… and those things over time have created such big fan bases for themselves that although they are split, it is all still drum ’n’ bass.
“At the end of the day, one person’s love is another person’s hate, and that’s how it goes with all things regarding taste. Drum ’n’ bass is being represented at things like Glastonbury properly now – big festivals are embracing it, even across the pond in America. So, yeah, I think it’s on the cusp of being the best it can be, actually.”
: What advice do you have for any new DnB producers out there? JM: “It’s all about experimentation. There’s so much info out there online, but there are different ways to do things. Keep an open mind: don’t think that ‘that’ way of sidechain compression is the only way. I always like to say to my clients when I’m teaching, ‘I’m not going to show you the way, I’m going to show you a way’. One man’s way of doing something, where the master’s running in the red and everything’s really hot, gets him that sound, whereas someone else is going to use a limiter intelligently to get that same sort of sound. I’m a great believer in both, actually. Over the years, I’ve done my fair share of running the mixer into the red and getting a sound that way, and as time went on, I discovered things like limiters and how to use them properly.
“Another bit of advice I’d give is just to not be in a rush – you can’t get experience overnight. Nobody can. You’ve got to go through trial and error and do the best you can as time goes on.”
: Everyone wants a quick fix these days, right? JM: “They do. Respecting the old school is important as well, the people who paved the way for you – don’t forget about those guys. Have respect for them. I’ve always had that mentality. Even though I’ve become bigger than some of my peers, I still respect them, because they were there doing it before I was. You can’t lose sight of that and get big-headed, and just think, ‘Oh well, I’m bigger than you now, I don’t respect you any more’. That’s terrible, but people do that, I’ve seen it happen day in and day out – to me, even! People I know who weren’t that big, and were dying for my advice and my critique, now don’t even download my records to check ‘em out. It’s sad.
“I used to engineer for Goldie, and I never lost respect for him or started to treat him different through being close to him. If anything, I’ve always been careful around Goldie – I’ve almost got a ‘Goldie switch’, to make sure I don’t say the wrong thing! I’ve got that much respect for him, I wouldn’t want to upset him in any way.
“In today’s society, with the internet, you can become an overnight success and forget about who paved that way for you. But without your DJ Hypes and your Bryan Gees and people like that, we wouldn’t have a scene, and I think that’s important.”
“Respecting the old school is important – the people who paved the way”