DnB 1996 (LolaDaMusica) part2: Photek

[Kostly]

Photek .... always been one of my favorite....OFFBEAT FTW!

[Ainznando]

@prestonloyola Interesting documentary giving insight into these artists & their methods. I listened to all 3 of them at the time, and went to Metalheadz @ the Blue Note. Good upload, cheers!

[RobKramble]

I'd bet money he got that car as an homage to Miles Davis haha. Just watched the 60 Minutes interview with Miles and saw he had practically the same car back in '89 or so.

[DreamMuted]

Beast Dnb mate keep it up!

[bottle2lip]

beats!

[Uvaroffftube]

он убитый в хлам )))))

[Oxix999]

which program does he use?

[chris1london]

@Oxix999 Pretty sure it's Logic on an old Mac. The Mac was popular because it had a built in MIDI interface! In those days it was essentially just a MIDI sequencer triggering the external synths/samplers. No software synths back then.

[AnthonyDavid94]

@chris1london @Oxix999 I used to think it was an Atari hehe... Nah it's definitely not an Atari but I am sure it's Cubase (I use it myself) :)

Cheers

[jokeboxproductions]

That that OG Reason right there.

[klassiekerrally]

Top clip, remember having seen this. 'So what' by Miles Davis inspired Photek: great!

[codelocator]

I say it ever time but really, what happened to Rupert? Not only the finest D'n'B producer ever, imo at least, but one of the best producers of electronic music, period. Photek 1-5 and T-Raenon to name but two, it doesn't get much better than that no matter where you look.

I live in hope of a return to the 96 Photek style.

[asdernr]

is this cubase?

[codelocator]

@asdernr

yes. midi only!

[frascovictim]

i love you___

[mattvolcom76]

Now that is the coolest ginger in the world.

[bellaelvis11]

Rupert is god.

[hanumann]

Brilliant insight into the golden phase of one of my favs! Thanks!

[PICLex]

So when he's cutting the breaks, has he got two loops, 1 full, and one cut to the first snare? Can someone explain what he's doing there? Cheers

[prestonloyola]

@PICLex First he would make a break manually (using up to 20 mixer channels). Then he would resample it (=print it to a single sample). Then he would chop the sample up starting at different starting points, for example every 16th note and spread them across the keyboard (=> 16 samples for a 1 bar break). Google "recycle" for a program that chops up breaks. You can also do this manually in a sampler. Photek's innovation at the time was that he made his own breaks instead of using existing ones.

[prestonloyola]

@PICLex Also, in an interview of the period, Photek mentions chopping breaks into "tri-sets". Not sure what this means exactly, but I'd guess something like, 1st chop on the kick (beat1), 2nd on the snare (beat2) - that's what we see in the video - 3rd on the "2and" (to catch the chikachika grace snare action). In any case, fewer chops than 16.

Then you play these chopped samples on the keyboard, it's a very musical way of coming up with interesting drum patterns.

[hanumann]

@prestonloyola I guess he meant that he'd make a cut every third sixteenth note: On the 1, the sixteenth before the 2, the 2 and, the sixteenth after the 3 etc.

DnB often sounds like this. In this way, he gets irregularity

[2ManyNoobs]

@prestonloyola in my opinion one of the reason why the music of that time had so much vibes is because of the old skool recording / production techniques: they were forced to learn to play keyboards or work with machines. Nowadays you download a samplepack, a simple DAW and a mouse and you can pretty much make "music". (not saying that music of today doesn't have vibes though!)

[prestonloyola]

Also, check this video at 1:00 for another example _BkGhZLvDTE 

[PICLex]

@prestonloyola

Thankyou ! Very generous of you, that really helps me man.

[manfork]

@PICLex the software he uses here is probably long defunct though haha.



[manitobaeivastaa]

@PICLex

I don't get it either.

[paradiddle16]

Rupert parks!!! motherfucker!

[migraine516]

I wish we could just freeze that era and loop it. That's when the best shit was made.

[Mars464]

3.45 John Coltrane in the background

[nezzwerk]

ДА ОН ЖЕ УПОРОТЫЙ !!!

[TheSilentNoize]

Cool studio

[BeeGrau]

i want that car!

and that house

and that studio

... but not that hair lol

[LALLZ]

Typical home until Ikea hit lol

[stevendelacrem]

beyond what any wallys are making these days.

[shenmue4life]

was photek still living with his parents here?

[XaminDJ]

hire car lol

[yashioman]

KJZ. Orgasm.

[EXetoC]

oldschooool!

[shenmue4life]

with modern computers you really dont need all that hardware anymore, but its still cool to have some.

[audiofringe]

@shenmue4life Thats not what she said. :0

[kubahobo]

which song is the one in the begging? i dont think its photek is it? im more into Sd but please tel me!

[ratfaceroy]

Yes it's Photek! It's called 'KJZ' and it's on Modus Operandi.

[elkayr]

that is one sexy car.. gonna have to dig out modus operandi after watching this, big up photek.

[DjGils]

@elkayr check his hidden camera ep as well four classics!

[undatone]

any1 no were i can get a copy of dat pic from @ 5:57? thought maybe it might be in a old magazine or sumat.

[bandwagonblues]

anyone know th name of the track he's playing at 4:42 or so, the jazz one. cheers

[ttasi7]

why did he have to go to la la land

[rarebeats77]

1996 was the best year for drum n bass, i'm only 19 so unfortuneatley my generation has to put up mostly with shitty hardcore dnb

[marxistsoldier]

the earlier jungle years were better.

[pittster57]

Man, this is the first time I got to see the man behind the music.

[def4d]

+1 thanks, great post, and nice to see old hardawres and soft :|

[THEDEFOCATOR]

Atari Love!

[DJCW]

Photek is just so versatile, the beats are has clean has a sushi chefs knife. His attention to detail is tailor-like, such an inspiration for people like me. To listen to Photeks album Modus Operandi you can hear all the elements here speaks about here. A Real Classic Album.

My Top 5 in no particular order

Photek - Modus Operandi

Adam F - Colours

Goldie - Timeless

Roni Size & Reprezent - New Forms

Chase & Status - More Than A Lot.

[LALLZ]

What makes it so interesting it the fact that he has no acoustic treatment in the room and everything is kind of set up in a strange way. All the talk people do these days it just goes to show that talent shines through no matter what monitors you use etc.

[puertorican1883]

Nice Ferrari man

[DubBot]

The car didn't really match the house of Photek at this point in his life.

[therealKINDLE]

Does anyone know where I can get hold of all those oldskool Jungle drum sounds?

So I can maybe make a track of my own. For pleasure.

[Deenis17]

Photek is without question one of the greatest electronic producers of all time

[xpez]

who doesnt want that car?

[EtcEtcAndEtc]

ARGH, where's the rest of the interview?!

[baldurvonschirach]

click on DnB 1996 (LolaDaMusica) part3: Source Direct

[owlwink]

part 3 maybe,? im going to see now...

[yagatza]

all i have to say is photek is an absolute genius.

[schpleurton]

Lad. 4.36. Rich Blak from the Beatminerz used that for Feel the High by Finsta Bundy. What's that track?

[leanfist]

badman. check the whip haha

[in5secs]

Lawl! Just look at that PC xD

[kidkidder]

perfect for all its intents and purposes, my friends still uses a mac with 256k colours, works good for him.

[coskbeatz]

Its so cool watchin him chop up the beats like that cause thats the same thing i do with rex files.

photek is the shit

[marxistsoldier]

i've got every photek tune released, all his aliases

[nexusdb]

whats the song name at 4:24 by miles davis? i must know!

[prestonloyola]

Lonely Fire on Big Fun

[Netniuq]

thanks a lot!

[QuinnyGoth]

I think it's called So What

[123frizzlefry]

It's So What from the album Kind Of Blue

[dubconcrete]

the track and record that got me into jazz... Miles Davis

[djkaseone]

@nexusdb Was flipped on Finsta Bundy's - "Feel The High" Dope track!

[amart7]

Anyone know what program he's using to sequence at 1:58?

[grimey025]

Yeah it is an early version of cubase

[djbash914]

what record is he using at 4:28? i know its by miles davis but it just sounds amazing.

[jjwidvs]

loladamusica, cool

[muzzaa]

Its the first track off kind Of Blue

[cephal0p0d]

That bit late in the interview is the most important, I think: "I could just sample it, but I'd far rather make it myself."

Mr. Photek just scored big points.

Awesome vid.

[nexusdb]

miles davis' neck looks weird! it pops out like a frog! lol. great artist though.

[olywood9]

thanks so much for uploading this. One of the all time greats of EDM.

[Infiltrate808]

photek one of the greatest end of, personal inspiration to me.

[djcloudstrife]

how in the world can these dnb artists afford these cars especially in the early days of dnb.

[jewto0b]

It would be impossible for them to afford them now actually (with just dnb). In the "early days" (these interviews are more during the middle of it) dnb was actually marketable, and huge labels were looking for dnb artists to sign, such as Photek who was signed to Virgin Records for many years. I'm sure he bought that car right after his first advance from Virgin, haha.

[djcloudstrife]

oh wow, i never knew that at all. thanks for the info man:)

[roryvanderoest]

Reason 1 ? Dude this is 1996..

It's steinberg cubase on an atari

[djcloudstrife]

hahaha reason 1! lol hahaha

[ADERS16]

hahha old school

[deeyem1991]

Sample for biggies 'suicidal thoughts' there at 5.04 - 5.07 i think

[nexusdb]

what software is he using? is it reason 1?

[djcloudstrife]

lol reason 1?

[mistamontiel]

dude ridiculous amazing beauty ride he has. i think a lotus esprit ?? dude all that just for producin dnb. photek's THE MAN

[sourberrymusic]

I like how he shows the monitor and gives a glimpse of how Drum N Bass breaks are created. I'd like to see more vids like that.

[035KG]

it's gr8!

your sick'n! so, i like Photek's DNB!

big up!

[mierecords]

great video. thanks for posting this. photek is a legend in this scene.

[Peter5k]

hmm... he drives a Ferrari Testarossa.

[djgiga]

what is the photek track playing while he is driving? its so 007 dope spy style.

[Droyd21]

second that! What's it called?

[prestonloyola]

KJZ on Modus Operandi

[elmer1410]

KJZ which is one of the greatest tracks in dnb history.

[junglisttt]

How come photeks got such a nice car?=)

[madurodamn]

Advance from Virgin for making Modus Operandi, every major signed a d'n'b act in the mid nineties.

[LulaJake]

Photek is a god of D&B. fills my heart with joy to see him using an Amiga. To all those that like D&B today - see this man? he is why D&B exists.

[hypercatjohn]

haha, hardly down to photek alone is it? the fact bukem was making the whole future jungle sound in tracks he was putting out in 1991 suggests he's more responsible. people like photek and source direct just took it to darker, more intelligent heights

[QuickDrawUK]

not even so much darker, just colder.

imo, it was optical that started the whole dark thing. neurofunk owes alot to both of those guys though.

[Strafuzz]

Gold!

[KineticFrenetic]

Too many bells and whistles can ruin the raw material someone is working with. Photek is aware of this, and his early work shows it.

Now people are remixing his stuff. Unfortunately, he's trying to do some house style music these days with VOCALS! NO! Go back to your roots, Rupert.

[outsource]

Wow, thanks for posting this!!

If it wasn't for Photek, I wouldn't of became a TV composer today.

[mistaben2k]

Thanks.Always wonder how they make the music I grew up with.

[darko789]

Thank you very much for posting this one man!

I'm a big photek fan, and I missed this interview back then, I only saw source direct.

Very nice to see, thans a lot!

Cheers,

Tyn

[Lazune]

Big.

[danielnickless]

these are excellent mate - thanks very much for posting them!