Legendary Status #03 – DJ TRAX (UK)
DJ Trax has spent three decades behind the buttons, debuting on the seminal Brain Records (owned by Bizzy B), co-creating with Paradox as Mix Race on Moving Shadow in the early 90’s, and then going on to make music spanning multiple genres and even TV and film.
Meandering effortlessly between drum and bass and down tempo, his style is instantly recognizable because of his deadly drum sounds. Like one time studio sparring partner Paradox, they are studded with crisp high end frequencies and shatter across the eardrums like the reflection of the sun in broken glass. His previous knowledge as a drummer is more than evident, and there’s always that sonic undercurrent of early hardcore running through his productions that continually pay homage to his old skool roots.
After such a long time in the game and with a stunning 3 track EP due for release on Transmute at the end of the month, we thought it was well and truly time to catch up with this certified master of the drum loop!
Trax! Welcome to INSIDE DNB!
Thank you!
Firstly, please tell us a bit about who you are and where you’re from? A little background knowledge is always nice!
I’m a writer/producer/DJ. I am originally from Essex but have now escaped to Ely in Cambridgeshire.
You started playing drums at the tender age of 7. What was it about that instrument that first made you want to learn?
I was drawn to the drums from a very early age, banging pots and pans in the kitchen. My parents noticed that I had a good sense of rhythm and that I always wanted to play along with music, so they brought me a kit for my 7th birthday and I loved it! Unfortunately the neighbours felt differently!
By 12 you were DJ’ing. Tell us a bit about how you made the switch from drum sticks to turntables? 12 is a young age to start playing records!
I couldn’t continue playing the drums in the garage due to noise complaints, but I was frustrated and really needed another outlet. At the age of 10 myself and a group of friends discovered Electro. I was really into all aspects of early hip-hop, from Graffiti, freestyling, beatboxing and breaking. Before long myself, Monk (of the Jungle_list), Nucleus and a few others formed a crew called Electro Breakers.
I was really into the music, especially the drums. What really captured my attention though was scratching. Around the age of 11 I got my first turntable (the type that had a built in tape, amp and tuner). I started imitating the scratches I heard using the deck and the volume dial. Soon after my auntie gave me another similar turntable so at this point I could start mixing records. However, only records that were the same BPM!
I started running hip-hop events when I was 14. I booked some local heads and a couple of older crews from London. The events were really busy. It shocked a lot of people when they realised they were run by a kid. The first event I ran was the first time myself, DJ Raw and Nucleus (known as DJ Noise back then) had ever been on a set of SL1200’s.
At some point after that then you obviously discovered creating digital sound and computer music? This must have been the late 1980s or early ’90s?
I started with a Commodore 64 when I was about 13 (and this would have been 1986.) This was the first thing I had with a sampler on. You could record something and play it at different pitches across the keys. I used to make little riffs over a beat playing on one deck and then add scratches with the second deck. Three track business!!
In 1989 I started using MED on Amiga. It was a complete game changer (originally with 4 tracks which was later updated to 16). In 1990 I added the Techno Sound Turbo sampler and there was no looking back.
Brain Records was undoubtedly one of the most forward-thinking labels of the entire early hardcore era. Releasing your first track on that label (as Rawtrax) was quite an achievement, especially as you were just 16 years old. Tell us a bit about how that materialized?
My good friend DJ Raw was also a local DJ who hung out with myself and Nucleus. He’d d met Bizzy whilst DJ’ing at an early acid house rave. Myself and Raw were already making tracks together at this point. Neil (Raw) suggested we send some tracks over to Bizzy, and Dev (Paradox) also sent some to Rob Playford from Moving Shadow. To our surprise both labels got back to us! Next thing you know, myself and Neil were reworking some of our tunes at Bizzy`s studio using two Amigas, giving us 16 Tracks and a keyboard or two, all 16 bit! Heaven!
The two tracks on that release are cited as being among the first true jungle tracks, and this was way back 1991. Everybody and their dog has a view on the birth of jungle. What’s your take on it?
It’s a very tough question that I could write an essay on to be honest, but In short, my opinion is no one person or label created jungle. The scene emerged from so many different angles. It was a melting pot of styles, what with hip hop (especially the up-tempo British stuff) house, techno, early hardcore, R+B, reggae, dub and more.
The real game changer was people finally being able to write music at home in small bedroom studios. Up until that point, studio equipment was really expensive and inaccessible. Most home studios had limited sampling time. This in turn meant you had to make the most out of every second, hence people chopping up and rearranging beats to get the most out of the sample. I feel it was limitations like this that birthed a lot of the techniques that gave hardcore and jungle it`s unique style.
By 1992 you’d signed to hardcore behemoth Moving Shadow, easily one of the top 10 most important labels in the development of DNB. How did that come about, and what can you remember about meeting the Moving Shadow crew?
Mixrace was originally a hip-hop crew which consisted of myself, The Brown Assassin (who later became Paradox/Alaska) and Leke (who went on to run www.aerosoul.co.uk and created the iconic Junglist Movement merch.) Dev and Leke were the rappers and I produced the beats and scratched.
Myself and Dev got more into production and around 1990 or early 1991 and we sent a cassette off to Moving Shadow. I can still remember the day myself and Dev were making tunes in my old bedroom studio and the phone rang. It was Rob Playford. We couldn`t believe it! He asked us to come in for a meeting.
Dev (being Dev) said lets perform the tracks for him. So Dev rapped ‘The Future Is Before Your Eyes’ and I scratched. Rob was really into what we were doing as he also came from a hip-hop background. I always remember seeing a tape on the side that said….’Hyper on Experience’. We were really drawn to it and Rob played us their first EP and we were blown away. It ended up being the release before ours.
So Mixrace was a project between you and Paradox and both of you are still making beats and earning a living from music today, so this period must have been a good grounding experience for you both?
As well as Mixrace, myself and Dev released under Brown + Dangerman and Broken Silence. We worked so well together. We used to program a bar or two of drums each and then switch. We were honing our skills by bouncing off of each other, a bit like a question and answer. We were also really good friends who were out raving together at the weekend, so studio time was always a good laugh.
High Time is a perfect example of that move towards that darker sound of 1993, yet you managed to brighten it up with lush string arrangements?
High Time was actually made a year earlier. Unfortunately Rob Playford’s hard drive crashed and a lot of tunes from various Moving Shadow artists were lost forever. Some were recreated, some were not. I always like the contrast of darkness and light or hard and smooth. Whether I`m DJ’ing or making tunes, I feel without contrast you do not get the same impact.
Taken Over is one of my favourite DJ Trax tracks from this early period, with what sounds like a lush harp and that almost classical vibe. It was quite unusual for its time?
It was quite unusual I guess. My first solo EP on Moving Shadow has sooooo many samples and ideas. It shows where a lot of my influences were coming from. There is soul, funk, hip hop, electro, reggae and random bits like that harp sample.
Can you tell us a bit about the equipment you’d have been using during this period? Was there a communal Moving Shadow studio, or were you still a bedroom producer at this point?
I was writing and producing the tunes at home on the Amiga (using OctaMED.) I would then take the completed tracks to the Moving Shadow studio which was in Rob`s house and we would recreate them there. Rob had a nice set up including an Atari running Q Bass, Akai samplers, a Korg M1, Juno 106 and racks like vintage keys plus various TC Electronics + Alesis FX and outboard racks.
Once a track was finished, was it a case of delivering the disk or DAT to the label for mastering? How did it work?
It was recorded onto DAT tape at Rob’s or from 1994 onwards in my studio, and then sent out to be mastered and pressed.
1994 saw you set up 5 individual labels with a number of business partners. What was wrong with just one?? ( 😊 )
Ha ha! Good question! The labels were run by friends of ours Scott and Gary. Myself and Dev wrote 90% of the output and helped with promo etc. Nautilus for example was a predominately down tempo label. However the others were quite close in styles. As I remember we released about 8 12”s in a year.
You were also still collaborating on other projects at this point too?
By the mid 90`s I was working on a lot of down-tempo music. There was so much great music around in that era and with my back ground in hip-hop, it was only natural that I would go back to those roots. I started working with a lot more musicians and released on labels like LaCerba (a sub label of Sony) Beats N Pieces, UCMG and also wrote for one of the Earth Compilations on Good Looking.
How do you think your knowledge as a drummer helped you as a producer during those early years of breakbeat culture, and then again slightly later as jungle birthed itself across the nation?
I think drumming at an early age meant that I really focused on listening to the rhythm sections of records. When I eventually started programming drums I wanted them to sound natural (most of the time anyway.) Rhythms that a drummer could have actually played.
You stepped away from DNB in 1997 and started to experiment with downtempo/leftfield music. What prompted the change in direction? Was it anything to do with DNB at the time, as these were pinnacle years of change for the scene?
I did find that from 1997 onwards that I was hearing less Drum and Bass that really blew my mind. The scene was more segregated then, you used to go out and would hear a big piano tune next to a dark jungle tune etc. Around 97 people would go to Logical Progression and it would pretty much all be atmospheric and smoother drum and bass.
If you went to Metalheadz it would be a lot harder and was often more mechanical sounding. Don`t get me wrong I loved those nights, but I wasn`t getting the same buzz that I was when the music was changing and progressing at a much faster rate. The downtempo scene was wide open. I felt it gave me more room to experiment.
You’ve released music on a ridiculous amount of labels, and you were one of the hallowed few who got to grace the cover of Knowledge Magazine, a publication that was and still is respected all over the globe. Do you miss paper publications, and can you remember seeing that copy for the first time?
There are still paper publications, but they are not relied upon in the same way. They were an essential part of the scene in my opinion. Without the internet they provided snapshots into the worlds of different producers and DJ’s.
I gave a full CD album away (a first for Knowledge) on the front cover. It was a strange time, when vinyl sales had plummeted and a lot of labels started to focus more on digital. A lot of people asked me why I gave the album away. The truth is that I never got excited about releasing digital. So to have a physical product that got into the hands of so many people who would not have heard it otherwise, was a no brainer for me.
I would never ask you to pick favourite collaborations, and there have been a lot over the years, but in terms of just doing something completely different, which ones would you cite as most interesting in terms of artistry?
I loved working with Dev and Hyper on Experience (Under Mixrace + Pro-Ton Isospace.) We worked on an EP for Stronghold Records and a 12″ for Timeless. Both times myself and Dev went and stayed with Alex (half of Hyper On) in Beccles. We recorded in their infamous shed at the bottom of the garden. It was a really small studio, packed with gear. I really liked the fact that they did not use any screens and instead used external sequencers.
We also brought my Amiga and did some of the programming on that. We wrote a tune a day from start to finish and still managed to fit in getting pissed, stoned and having a proper laugh.
Tell is all about Assorted Anonymous. How the heck did that one come about?
Nathan (Nvious) was a regular on Subvert Central (www.subvertcentral.com). We got chatting and got on well. I wrote a track that I thought would work well with a US rapper. We collaborated on that track and then he told me about the crew he was in. We ended up making three EP’s, two remix EP’s and an album together. I loved the process. I would write a rough instrumental and would send it over with some concept ideas. They would then work on it and would send over the vocals. Finally I would build the track around the vocals. It is definitely a collaboration I would like to re-visit.
You’ve even scored music for TV and film over the years. How did that compare to firing off beats? I’m think of the limitations in terms of time? In other words, you have to make the music stretch out over a certain amount of seconds or minutes according to the scene?
I`ve done a few multi media and TV bits over the years. It really varies, sometimes I have sent them a few quick suggestions and they have loved them and the whole process has been fun and painless. Sometimes it can be difficult when you are working with more corporate clients who have no idea what they want. I also wrote for the award winning British film Shifty. It is an area I would love to work more in.
Your EP on Beats and Pieces Recordings pushed your music out to a much wider audience, including peers like Laurence Garnier, Giles Peterson and Mixmaster Morris, and the LP ‘Rhythmic Delusions’ has some stunning moments in it. How do you look back on that era now?
I loved that era, it felt completely open. It was a great time to be making music. Working with LaCerba on the album at the time was amazing. They were a subsidiary of 3MV and so had some budget which always helps. Unfortunately it was also a time of big change in the industry. People downloading music had a huge impact on sales and then subsequently record company budgets, and this resulted in a lot of companies going bust.
You returned to DNB in 2004 and haven’t looked back. You must have seen another change in the scene that drew you back in? What was it that tempted you back?
A few things happened around this time. I joined Subvert Central (Respects to Statto) and got to chatting to lots of like minded producers, DJ`s and music lovers. People like Bob Macc (Subvert Central Mastering) Ben Kei (Dalston Chillies) Fushara, Rico (IChiOne) Havoc _ Karbon Kid (Ruffskool) DSP, Code (Subtle Audio) Ricky Force, Sub, ICR and many, many others.
I`ve also got to give props to Dev and Nucleus. They kept telling me how people were really feeling the breaks at that point. When myself and Dev were making heavily programmed beats a lot of DJ`s and record companies were not supporting the tunes, hence deciding to do it ourselves.
I went to an Inperspective night (respect to Chris!) with them and was shocked to see people like Equinox and Breakage jumping around to tunes with lots of programmed breaks in. I met Fracture, Neptune, DSP and a bunch of other producers there. I then got booked to play at a few nights including Inperspective which definitely helped me get the bug back. Dev also kept on at me to write something for Outsider. I got the bug and ended up releasing a string of releases for him.
You had a couple of residencies in Amsterdam and Belgium. Tell us about those please! A residency is always nice, but especially ones you have to get on a plane to go to!
I was booked to play at IChiOne In Amsterdam. It was such a wicked event. I played a three deck set there and ended up cutting up some of the original funk breaks in a jungle/drum and bass set. Myself and Rico really got on well and I travelled over about 6 times a year for 8 years. It felt like my second home in the end.
I also met Jim and Toon there (Havoc + Karbon Kid) who run Ruffskool in Belgium, who are two of the nicest guys you could ever meet. They asked if they could book me for their event. It was at an old squat that translated as The Sexy Ape! It was such an amazing event. We became very good friends and I became their resident DJ. I feel so blessed to have met so many amazing people through music.
Sample packs are also something that you’ve been involved in. These must be pretty intense to sit and create. Where do you even start?
This first came about during lockdown. I lost all my events work and began to explore some other avenues. I have created five libraries for Loopmasters so far and am currently working on another.
Sample libraries have really changed over the years. If you are working with a reputable company like Loopmasters then the content must be 100% created by yourself and exclusive to the pack. I love the challenge that this brings.
I create a lot of the pads, stabs, strings, bass, keys etc using various synths I my studio. I also recorded myself playing various percussion instruments and have twisted them up. A lot of the drums in the packs have come courtesy of Bob Macc. As well as an amazing producer and mastering engineer Bob is a wicked drummer (check out some of his clips on You Tube.) Bob sent me a TON of breaks and I picked out the best and processed them.
And there’s recently been a release on Over/Shadow. Firstly, who are Over/Shadow and secondly, this EP absolutely kicks ass in that inimitable DJ Trax style! It’s the drums!!!!!!!
Thank you. Over Shadow is ran by Simon and Sean from 2 Bad Mice and Rebecca. With amazing designs from Sean, Craig + Gary. I also help out with a bit of A+R and QC support. My good friend Dan Monk (TJL) also supports with promo and bad jokes. It`s great working with 2 Bad Mice again. It feels like we have gone full circle, but this time round we have our heads screwed on a bit more!
With reference to drums, for me personally it’s a calling card of yours, especially on your later work. What would you say is the key to forming a signature drum sound. Is it just a case of picking the right samples, or is there more to it than that?
That is a tough one. Having a good sound to the drums is more important than the initial pattern. I spend a lot of time trying to find the right drum sound for the track. Once I have that, next up is creating the right groove.
I like my drums programmed (obviously) but I prefer them to have a rhythm that you can follow. I want everything in the rhythm section to be working together. After that comes the processing. I`m definitely a bit of a perfectionist so often the next step is deleting and starting again ha ha
By now, you must have every piece of studio kit any digital musician could possibly require! What are your favourites and why, and what would you never part with?
I don`t have as much as I used to have, as a I work in a smaller room these days. However I am really happy with my set up now. I use a combination of old synths (as they all have their own character) and more modern plug ins. I tend to process using UAD plug ins. I also have a fair few percussion instruments. I like to play and twist up.
My favourite bits of kit are my Virus, Tetr4, Supernova + and my recent purchase, a Deep Mind 12.
I’m pretty sure that even a producer with your experience would have a small list of artists, producers or engineers that they would like to work with. Who would be on yours, and why?
There are a few producers. I am very fortunate that a couple of them have approached me recently! For down tempo/mid tempo tracks I would like to work with more songwriters and rappers. Song writing is a real skill that I do not possess. Ideally I feel if you are going to collaborate with someone, then each person should bring something to the table that is a weaker area for the other.
And signing off, what does the rest of 2022 and beyond look like for DJ Trax?
It has been a good year. I have already released my debut on Okbron. I love what Alexander is doing with the label. I help out a bit with Quality Control. We are planning a follow up release for 2023
Following that my debut for Ben Kei`s Dalston Chilies came out. I wrote a track for Dalston Chilies Volume 5. Ben is a good mate and a talented producer so it was great to be involved in the project.
I also released my second 12” for Over Shadow. I am pleased to say another DJ Trax release is due for OSH in 2023.
Next up is my third EP on Transmute Recordings. I love working with Rob Strike (Latent Notion.) and this is a real labour of love, my good friend Dean Warner (Diverted Light) has made an amazing Video for each project. He has also created outstanding covers, that link in with the videos. It is a series of releases I am really proud of.
Warped Minds Ep is Out on October the 3rd (pre-orders live now) – Transmute Recordings (bandcamp.com)
The EP also features a wicked remix of London Groove from Suburban Architecture
That will be my final release of the year. However, the start of 2023 will see two remixes. One of a Suburban Architecture track that I loved from their first EP.
The other is a remix of a rare Haute Control (Omni Trio) track. This will be released on Blueskin Badger with other remixes from some talented producers.
FIND OUT MORE HERE:
Music | dj trax (bandcamp.com)
dave trax (@thedjtrax) • Instagram photos and videos
