Matt, how did you become a remixer?
Well, I started off in a band as a singer and then I went to polytechnic and got into rave music while I was there, hanging around with a load of ravers. I decided to make a record, so I got a student loan and made a rave record, and it did really well and sold something like 5000 copies. Off the back of that, I thought, 'This rave thing's alright', so I got a bit of classical music, put it over a rave beat, got a rapper in and the track got me signed to Sire Records for an album deal.
I didn't have a clue really about production or anything like that, so the control was completely out of my hands - I just had these good ideas. I'd recorded about 6 songs and spent about 70 grand when it fell through and I ended up completely skint, absolutely skint. So with this huge debt looming over me I thought, 'Right, I've got to do some dance tracks', so I did some tracks that I thought would be easy to sell, get a few hundred quid advance kind of thing, and the first one I did was this track called 'I Need A Man' which ended up like generating about 25 grand in advances, when I was only expecting 300 quid! Then I did something on Hooj Tunes called 'Space Baby' that turned out quite well and I did a remix of a track called 'Deeper' by Escreema on London records. I did a really good job and they used it as the single, which was the first thing I did that actually got in the charts.
From there it was just word of mouth. People heard my tracks and wanted me to do more.
What would you say your musical influences were?
At school I used to be into groups like Duran Duran. I thought Erasure's first album was brilliant. Now I listen to anything; classical, drum'n'bass, banging house techno, anything. The only music I don't like is soul.
How do you go about doing a remix?
You get the vocals on a DAT. Usually I like to not listen to the original track unless it's as a reference for arrangement or for vocal mixes - I did a vocal mix for a Kim Wilde thing and ended up getting the verses all the wrong way round - but it stayed like that because they preferred it that way!
Generally you get the vocals, you put them into your sampler, chop up the vocals, put them across the keyboard and then away you go. The first thing I start with is just a basic beat, then I think of a riff - I think a good remix has got to have a hook, especially with dance music where you take the vocals out. So you play the chorus and get the best chords - which are usually different to the originals - and that's basically it, and you just polish it up. Usually you do the most of the leg work in the first few hours and you spend the next couple of days just polishing it up, listening to it.
Who decides on the style the remix is going to be in?
I'm more known for doing energetic mixes with bouncing bass lines and big riffs, usually on a pop tip with quite a bit of vocal, and that's usually what people want from me. With the new acts I'm working on, I've got some break-beaty, quite trancy stuff coming out and also some harder edged jungly sort of stuff, verging on the Chemical Brothers, but with a full vocal over the top. I think that will influence what people want me to do, whereas now they're usually bouncing off the last remix, saying, 'Can you make this song as energetic as the last one?'
When you're commissioned are you told if it should be a full vocal or dub remix?
Yeah. I usually do a full vocal and a completely different dub mix. It's a good little package, it's just a thing to let people see that you can do something really cool and something really poppy.
What equipment do you use?
I've got an Apple Macintosh with Logic Audio, which records vocals to hard disk, so there's no tape involved. Synthesizers: I've got a couple of little Roland racks, a JV 220 and a JO 990, and I've got a keyboard, a Kurtsweil KT2000, two AKAI S-32000 samplers and a Lackey mixing desk. That's it, basically. It gives me enough different types of sound.
So how long does it take to do one remix?
It varies from about 12 hours to a whole week. I mean, if you nail it the first time then that's cool and it can happen really quickly, but sometimes you've just got to bang away at it until you get it right.
So how do you going about remixing?
Like I said, I kind of try to ignore the original mix, unless they want me to do a souped-up mix and to do it exactly how they've done it, but make it better, in which case I have to listen to their original track and get the chords and everything. But if they just want a club mix then I won't even listen to the original track.
Do you make it up as you go along?
It kind of like evolves. Once you've got your main meat of the mix, your big riff, then you have to work out how to build up to that. You start off with drums, bring in the bass line, bring in the hint of the chord progression or something and then climax with the riff. There's kind of a formula, building it up, break down, build it up again, then wind your way down so the DJ can mix in another song at the end.
What involvement do the band have with the remix?
Not a lot at all. An A & R [Artist & Repertoire] person rings you up and asks if you want to do a mix. Usually you just deal with the A & R people, so there's no band involvement at all.
The band always have approval on the finished mix, though. With the "Oh L'Amour" mix we biked it to Andy when he'd just got off a plane and he listened to it in a taxi on the way home. Then he rang up and said, 'That'll do' or, 'That's okay'. I think he really liked it, actually. I hope he did!
So how did you get involved with doing the Erasure mixes?
I did the Peach mix ['From This Moment On'] first, and then I rang up the head of A & R at Mute and said, 'How about an Erasure mix?' and luckily that call paid off. I just rang up and asked if I could do one!
I think it was the right combination because I like that type of music whereas there's a lot of other remixers who would just totally throwaway the vocal and chop it up so it wouldn't sound like Andy Bell singing.
At which stage did you become involved with "Rapture"?
I didn't know if it was going to be the single or a b-side. They just said, 'Do this', and a week later [my remix] was finished, so I never knew about it sitting on a shelf for a year. It's quite a weird song, isn't it? Quite trippy in away.
And what about "Oh L'Amour"?
Well "Sometimes" and "Oh L'Amour" are probably my two favourite Erasure tracks so when I was asked to do it, it was like, 'Yeah, I can do it tomorrow!' With a track like that which is so good already you have got to do a good job and I hope I did. They wanted all the vocal left in so, because it's quite a nice song, I tried to build it up with pianos and strings before going into the real mix. Just tag a bit on the beginning and then make it pump when it kicks into the song.
"Rapture's" my favourite of the two, just in terms of dance-floor sensibility, though "Oh L'Amour" is my favourite song. "Oh L'Amour's" more of a pop tip because it was a full vocal whereas with "Rapture" I just used a little snippet. I spoke to Andy at a Mute party and he said, 'You didn't use enough vocals', but I'd been told not to use much vocal because they'd said to make it quite clubby, so I just used the first line of the song.
Have you ever seen Erasure live?
Yes, when I was at school, I'm sure I went to one gig. I also went to the one at the Forum. I think they're great. I like bright clothes so I'm into Andy's dress sense, his 'Big Bird' costume.
Would you like to do more Erasure remixes in future?
Yes. Definitely. Absolutely. Just because it's such a good vocal to work with, it's so distinctive. Obviously you get remixes where the vocal isn't so hot and you have to try to get round that somehow.
The way I've been going with a few of my own acts is towards a tougher kind of thing, so I would like to get some mixes like that done. Sort of along the lines of "The Prodigy" or "Chemical Brothers" but integrating it with the house sensibility, taking these chunky beats and jungle influence and house influence and merging them together.
I tried to do that with the beginning of "Oh L'Amour". Yes, I would definitely be up for it.
Which songs would you like to remix?
Like I said, my favourite tracks are "Oh L'Amour" and "Sometimes", so "Sometimes" would have to be the one. 'Woah Sometimes'. Definitely.
So where do you think the dance scene is going at the moment?
Dance music is a good launch pad for any kind of act. It just opens up another audience. So if you've got a pop act and you get dance mixes done then they're just part of the promotion process, to help get it played by DJs and to get the song more airplay on dance shows.
But there are some remixers who can write songs and remixing is a really good way to get your name out there to help you launch yourself and your own acts, and that's what I'm trying to do at the moment. And also because remixing is good for cash flow!
Mat Darey, thank you.
Questions suggested by: Eric Solorio, Mike DePaz, Ewan Saum, Wade Lanier and Dave Snyder.