36
DJ TRAX
guides us through his new album, ‘Thoughts inWidescreen’, track by track:
1. Drawn Together Morning Parade rather than just my tune with a than your average Trax tune, whatever that is. It’s
“The first track I wrote for the album. I had just featured vocalist. A video is in production and got lots of intricate edits and FX twists. This
brought a new Supernova Synth and was loving will be added to my blog.” one’s more for the dancefloor! The video for this
the spacey atmospheric sounds. I wanted to write can also be seen on my blog.”
a track that had punchy drums which would leave 5. Thoughts in Widescreen
a lot of space for the musical elements. “This track was the last I wrote. I love writing in 9. InnerVoice
The vocals were taken from an old relaxation different styles and tempos, so after making a “This is one of my personal favourites. I started
cassette I got out of the library 15 years ago. I mostly d&b album I was keen to do a downbeat with the hypnotising rhythmic bleep pattern. It
think I might owe some overdue money on that!” track. I found the vocal in a documentary has a strong gated string hook and jungle style
and really liked the part that said ‘Full colour breaks. Again it mixes elements of the old with
2. Heaven’s Gate widescreen memories’ which led me to the title of the new. Classic type bleep sounds, virus leads
“This is another atmospheric track but with fuller the album. There is also a video for this track and warm pads topped off with a heavy helping
breaks. The drums were so beefy I had to keep which can be seen on my blog.” of bass. I’m really looking forward to playing this
taking low frequencies out rather than adding one out.”
them. The featured vocalist is Becki Biggins, a 6. Nobody’s Fool
very talented jazz singer. She recently released “Following a 4am eBay session I had just bought 10. The Last Laugh
an album produced by Paul Hardcastle! We’ve an Access Virus. I’ve wanted one for years. This is “This track features the hugely talented Manu
worked together in the past and I’m sure we will the first track I made using the sounds and filters Delago playing the hang drum. The hang
in the future.” and vocoder. The track is 149bpm. It has a bit was only created in 2000 so it’s a really new
of old school flavour but with new production instrument. This track utilises the more rhythmic
3. Be Moved (Remix) techniques. It’s a bit of a roller with warm side on the drum. The track is 170BPM but is
“When I started writing the track I didn’t intend Detroit-ish sounds, with one eye on the past and largely based around the half-time beat. Again
it to be a remix. Once I got the fundamentals one on the future.” the track features vintage analogue style pads. The
down, I was looking for a vocal part and I kept track is a bit of a fusion between styles
hearing the vocals from the original (released 7. Sunlight and instruments.”
on sYncoPathic Recordings) in my head. I tried “This is a tune I wrote from the riff upwards. I
them and they instantly worked. The track is started with the hypnotic synth lick and worked 11. Frantically Calm (bonus track)
more minimal and rolling than a lot of my music on the FX, getting them to be quite trance-y. I “I made this track with Jon Perkins and it was
but it helps add more variation to the album.” then added pads and synths and built everything originally released on Misspent Music along with
around that. Again, I wanted to use those classic a remix by ICR. The track now features in the
4. SemiConversational Detroit type sounds. I really like the main film Shifty, in a scene where the Shifty character
“I went to see Morning Parade live and breakdown and the bassline could be straight out is selling crack to a woman in her 60s and the
Steve’s voice was great so I spoke to him about of a classic house tune.” neighbours are blaring drum & bass through
collaborating. He came into the studio with the wall. Also in the same scene is a track called
Chad, the guitarist, and we sat at the piano, 8. Shady ‘CataclysMic’ which features Rich Beggar.”
writing the song melodies and chords first. “The album takes a darker turn! This track is a
It sounds like a cross between DJ Trax and very atmospheric Amen monster. It’s tougher
www.kmag.co.uk
K34-36_DaveTrax.indd 36 29/4/09 12:36:45
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