The year is 2015. It should go without saying that dubstep culture has changed since its inception nearly twenty years ago. But while transformation is essential in any scene, it is important that we recognize and respect our roots. Last week’s Final Fridays event at the Fusion Factory was a special celebration of evolution and foundation. We partied through the night old-school style at Denver’s favorite after-hours warehouse to the sounds of scene pioneer DJ Madd alongside local and emerging artists. We were thrilled by the opportunity to sit down with DJ Madd to ask some questions in the tradition of his own imprint: a bit about his Roots & Future. So, assume your preferred reading position, light one up if that’s your style, and enjoy these rare words from the badman himself!
What was your first exposure to the reggae sound and DJ’ing growing up in Hungary?
I started out playing reggae, but just for a couple of nights. I wanted to be a reggae DJ but after I got a bit involved with it I realized that there wasn’t as much mixing involved – it’s more about collecting the records, which I was doing anyway. I moved onto different styles that required actual mixing, and moved onto other scenes from there.
Who were some of your inspirations when you started to get into the craft?
My first inspirations were more of the hip-hop guys, the turntablists. I got my hands on a couple of very early DMC championships, DJ Craze, QBert - just random techniques and videos of them. That got me into buying turntables. That was the main thing that convinced me that I need turntables, because there’s no other way to acheive that scratching and, you know, turntablism.
What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the craft of DJ’ing between when you started and today?
One of the biggest differences is that when I started DJ’ing it was less about producers mixing their own stuff. Now it’s almost necessary to be a producer to be a DJ. Today most people play their own records and try to push their own sound, their own label, their own crew... so I definitely see fewer people who stay relevant with just DJ’ing.
We’ve seen a huge influx in mixing technology over the past years. CDJ’s and controllers seem to be replacing turntables in popularity. Is a DJ just a DJ or is the equipment really what makes the art?
Honestly I’ve had a bit of everything. I started out with vinyl, and now I’m playing mostly off of USB’s because sometimes the tracks i’m playing aren’t available on vinyl. Controllers... well, I’m on the fence with that. I don’t think it’s for the club to be perfectly honest. For at home, at house parties, controllers are the most affordable way. I think it’s so easy to learn to use CDJ’s now so if you really want to stay close to DJ’ing I would at least learn how to mix off of CDJ’s for clubs.
Why do you think vinyl has stayed so relevant within dubstep culture? – Joe
I guess that would have a lot to do with the roots because it was a heavily vinyl based scene from the beginning. To this day it seems like the people who buy the music are all collectors. They don’t buy the music just for a month - they actually keep it, and they keep playing it for years. I think that makes it easier to appreciate spending so much money on two or four tracks.
Do you have any non-musical inspirations on your music?
Non-musical inspirations might come from movies. Well, not actually movies... I spend a lot of time on Youtube looking at obscure videos of things like adverts from the 80’s and silent movie snippets. I use a lot of sampling from Youtube, and sometimes I’m inspired by just hearing a couple of sentences or a certain sound from a fifty year old recording from some dodgy video. I’d say that’s one of the biggest inspirations for my music.
Whats your favorite vocal sample? Can you pull that off the top of your head?
My favorite as in what I’ve used or just generally any?
How about both?
That’s a tough one. I really like the samples in old jungle tunes, mostly Congo Natty. He’s one of the guys who re-uses his old samples, and that gives him a traditional sound. That would be my favorite way of doing it.
My favorite vocal sample... I think if i have to name one of my tunes it would be the Rizla Dub sample because that sample actually stuck with me for so many years before I even touched it. I first heard it from a Prodigy tune, then I heard the original reggae tune, I heard breakbeat versions and drum n’ bass versions of it. I think I touched that sample at the right time as well because there weren’t any dubstep remixes. That’s probably why it connected with a lot of people. They already knew about it.
In 2013, & with the opening of the Roots & Future imprint, your sound became more dub-influenced then ever. Over the past 8/9 years we've watched you grow from DnB, to the more minimal styles of dubstep, & now on to the dubwise sounds. It's been a journey to say the least If you could only choose one piece of advice, what would you tell to upcoming producers that are still trying to find their sound? (- Shelby)
Honestly, I like how you described my own process – it feels like I’m not even sure about my own sound. My advice would be: don’t take it too seriously, don’t try to find YOUR sound but try to let your sound find you – however cheesy that sounds
One of the most important things is not doing the same thing over and over. Even if you feel like changing radically - like I think i did a couple of times - I think that’s something you have to go through. If you need an alias to do it, do it like that, just don’t stick to one sound because that will get boring and stale very quickly.
-Amye Koziel