[dnb-prod] RE: Imitation, emulation and creativity

[DojangMojo]

<<The world is full of people who can make music sound technically fantastic in an audiophile sense, but their tunes still mightn't move you on the dancefloor like the groove in a crusty old 1992 Boogie Beat Records early breakbeat/jungle tune like Rizla Bass made on a 4 tracker in a Hackney flat bedroom...>>

YOU HAVE HIT THE NAIL STRAIGHT ON ITS LITTLE HEAD!!!

Sorry for the caps, but this is what I have been saying all along.

Warning, statement may incite flames, of this I am aware, lets be civilized please...
3 producer types, yes 3 producer types lower the quality of dance music production, and D&B in particular:::  They all perform the conservation function of the 3 R's in D&B, this applies to all Rave music though...
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle...

Reusers::
+ Summer Music Camper producers: 
       They can play Classical and Jazz on the piano, they can play every minor and major scale from all 12 keys of the piano.  They know their theory like masters, hey they even have a knack for really good turntable mixing skills.  But it doesnt mean they can produce D&B at all.  I recall a recent Twix(tm) commercial featured a camper at her best.  Musical inspiration goes beyond theory, motor skills and blues chord progressions guys.  Look at those tribes in Africa, they make incredible music, but they cant event read or write, much less have a scientific music system.  It comes from their soul and its all done by ear...Thats the way good D&B is produced....
-Symptoms:
       Cool Fusion, Muzak and the dreaded Hair Salon, Elevator, Car Commercial, Cyber-Action Hollywood blockbuster film D&B!!!! 

Recylcers:::
+DJ Mixalot ??wheres the vibe at?? producer:
       You know it when you hear it, it sounds like a remix, but its all too familiar, the vocals are different, but hey isnt that the instrumental D&B track you heard in 1995?  Its all too clear, the mixer producer.  He's a monster on the dance floor, he gets the crowd hot and heavy with the latest chart topping anthems, he can get the chicks sucking his dick, how lucky!  But in the studio his favorite tool of choice is Acid Pro or whatever track mixing software the studio execs gave him.  Have you ever had the feeling that everything in D&B is getting to sound the same?  Yes, its DJ Mixalot comin at you with his madd phat turntablizm mixing skillz...Yo....Real remixing is an art, not an industrial skill and its not substitute for raw creativity. 
Symptoms:
       Just about everything they play on commerical radio, not just D&B btw.

    
Reducer...
+ The Closet D&B hater producer::
       Though they speak in London patois slang and wear all the latest hip-hop clothes they dont speak about their double life.  In fact they are the, "how the hell did I get into D&B?" producer.  Their true love is Hard-House, Trance and the good old Detroit techno days before those damn kids began pumping breakbeats and low bass from their raves.  They hate all urban influences, especially Ragga and Hip-Hop.  They also hate the Disco roots of House, the less groove the better.  Psychadelia enrages their puritanism.  They have the Kratwerk fetish and orgasm everytime they see German people program their home computers or add things up on pocket calculators.  They only know one shade of color, that is drab grey and they paint everthying that way.  They switched to D&B when they thought they could use shock art tactics to invade and conquer D&B, oh how they have...Yes techno hero of the grand trio, Ford's Robots are works of art but they dont move my soul, thats what music is for......Real musical soul is not technical mastery or clever design. 
symptoms:
       The total destruction of D&B is their aim.  They seek to purify Jungle and replace it with techno and hard-house until every bit of Rave, Ragga and Hip-hop is squeezed out of it.  75% of today's D&B is actually Techno and Trance done to a sped up two-step beat.  Its almost as if the entire Jungle is being burned down, and lots of autobahns put in its place....

Thats my bit.  I hope this provides good humor.  After writing these descriptions I laughed at myself, because I am so guilty of all three R's.  We all are guilty because we are lazy and not willing to listen to ourselves, but rather copy the professionals.  Thats why, we the people on this production list are so important.  We have to appraise the current standards and take D&B to the next level.  Remember it only took some amatuer Producers working on their Amiga computers and a few amatuer DJ's at illegal raves to start the whole ardkore and Jungle genre in the first place.  Think of the possiblities....   

Good-luck and thank you to all those who put the hours away, producing tracks and Dj'ing the raves.

Keep D&B alive, healthy and true...

---DOJ         
      
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