Over the past few years, some visionary artists have emerged from Oxfordshire. From bands like the legendary Radiohead, to the cutting edge, hard, techy beats of Lab 4, there is no shortage of diversity and creativity in the area. Acts like these, have managed to achieve success and critical acclaim, while maintaining the honesty and integrity of their music. This makes them a valuable asset, to a sometimes bland and predictable music industry, where playability and mass appeal, can overshadow artistic ingenuity. With a rich variety of artists, and a strong tradition of promoting new talent, Oxford producers have a lot to chat about.

There is a wave of fresh new producers on the scene, as access to software and equipment has become easier, and more affordable than ever. Home studios, have now overtaken the presence of the traditional recording studio, bringing a greater variety of styles to the scene. These new school producers, are as diverse in style, as the equipment they use to produce their music. They are not afraid to embrace different approaches to music production, mixing a blend of new and old technology, to achieve the sounds they want. This has given Oxfordshire music a strong national presence, and credibility.

Historically, the underground scene has always been extremely strong in Oxford, with unsigned artists being well received and listened to as much as those who are established. This tradition, is one that looks set to continue. Thanks to the formulation of new nights, and social channels, such as Feel The Bass, as well as the free party scene. Free parties continue to be a great place for producers to test their tunes, in a technical sense, and also to gauge an unbiased response to their music.

In this article we showcase a range of Oxfordshire based producers. Covering a range of styles, from experimental electronica, to organic drums and bass. We asked them for their opinions on the scene, and take a closer look at their achievements so far, and their tips for studio success.

What are your names and artist names?

Tom (Necho/Dyslogic), Phil M (Phillbee), James M (Rough Quest), Alex Hope (lqdbeats), Myles, Pete and Dano (Jazz Thieves) and David May (Overcast).

What are you about musically, what kind of music do you make and what other music related projects have/or will you be involved in?

Necho/Dyslogic: Don’t know any more - used to have some idea… everything I do is heavily DUB-influenced. I like SPACE and 3d soundscapes… I like found sound and weird crackly noise… feedback loops and lots of SUB… My remix stuff is a kind of tribal electronic space dub and my original stuff is sounding very dubsteppy these days… but dubstep with SPACE… Some of my older stuff has a bit of a wonky bluesy feel… I used to play synths in a band but I wasn’t very good and my sounds weren’t really compatible…

Phillbe: I’m all about DNB hard and heavy man… I try and be as original as I can. I’m going to be working on a little collab with Marakumo from TwistedBeatz soon and am trying to get a few parties up and running in Bicester. I moved to Oxford when I was 17, was involved in the DNB scene there from the early days (from about ‘91 onwards). I was a resident at Exodus Sound System for a couple of years and a regular on the Oxford rave circuit. I moved away for a few years but have been living in Bicester for around 6 years now and been producing music for around 2 years.

Rough Quest: I like to dabble in making drum n bass and other more harder stuff, but I really do love to make ambient grooves and generally more down-tempo stuff. I think I enjoy the slower tempo more as it allows me to develop my grooves and I find it gives me a lot more space to get all the little details in there. I’m trying to get myself more involved in what’s going on here in Oxfordshire. There’s interesting stuff, but I find you have to look a bit harder for it.

Lqdbeats: Musically I like quite a wide range of stuff. From composers such as Dvorak and Bach, to Foo Fighters to Justice to drum and bass, breaks and electro. I used to play cello and did A level music and have played in orchestras and metal bands! The music I tend to make usually veers to drum and bass BPM and tends to be on the liquid/intelligent/atmospheric side of things. I don’t intentionally set out to go in that direction, just seems to happen! I also enjoy making breaks, electro and ambient stuff, wherever the tune goes really! In terms of other music projects I’ve re-mixed a tune by a lad called Dirty Barry and am in the process of re-mixing ‘breakaway’ by DJ Priors and Dirty Barry. I’ve also got some collaborations hopefully coming together this year with some producers I’ve ‘met’ through MySpace. Previous projects are a little embarrassing, teenage angst, death metal band, you get the picture… ha ha!!!

Jazz Thieves: We produce jazz, funk influenced drum and bass on a different level and a majority of the time feature vocalists, mainly from the Oxford area also. Individually we have worked on many genres of drum and bass over the years, and more recently on breaks, hip hop and a little R&B also.

Overcast: We currently make Progressive House and Progressive Breaks. Both of us have been heavily involved in the D&B scene in the past, and will be looking at producing D&B again in the future, but right now house music is where its at. I’ve performed on Radio 1 and 1xtra as well as many smaller stations. Although I’m no longer living in Oxford, my family still do, so I’m around quite a bit. As well as Drum & Bass, I’m heavily into house music, which is how the Overcast project came about.

What hardware/software do you lot use? And which is your favourite?

Necho/Dyslogic: Reaktor, Absynth, Kontakt, Live, Logic, a Mac Pro computer, UAD-1e, M-Audio FW410 (gonna ditch it as soon as I have some cash), crappy monitors, little keyboard, 1976 Fender Precision Bass and a Gordon Smith GS-2 guitar.

Phillbe: I use Cubase, alot of VST plug-ins like CamelPhat. I also use WaveLab and a little known sequencer called Tunafish.

Rough Quest: iMac, KRK r6 monitors, Shure SM58 microphone, Ableton Live 7, Reason 3, Absynth 4, Kontakt 2, Predator, V-Station, Dubstation (one of my favourites), VintageWarmer and a few controllers.

Lqdbeats: I use predominately software for my production, although I have a Yamaha CS1X, which is my only real piece of hardware. I bought this before I got a computer and software. It was a good starting point really as I learnt (through trial and error!) how to layer up sounds and what advance, decay, release and sustain do! Now it’s mostly used as a control synth, although I also use a M-audio Oxygen8 as a control surface. I run Reason 4, ReCycle and Audacity on my Mac PowerBook. I cut my teeth on Reason 2.5 and have been using it ever since.

Jazz Thieves: Lynx Aurora, Neve Vintage Pre-Amps, Folcrom Summing box, Toft eq/pre/compressor, Thermionic Culture Valve compressor, Kontact 3, Nuendo, plugins etc etc

Overcast: For software I use Cubase SX3 and Renoise for sequencing, various VST plugins - current favourites are Surge, Kontakt and Nexus. As for hardware I use Virus TI, Nord Lead 1 and 2, Roland JP8080, Motu Traveler, RME Fireface 800 and a Korg Trinity Plus with the Prophecy Card.

Have you had any success with your music (outside of the bedroom/studio) so far? Any advice on how to get heard?

Necho/Dyslogic: I’ve had a release or two here and there - mainly remixes… played Glade 2006 with my old band, had a tune played out by IDSpiral DJs at a few festivals. and got Seb Taylor from Kaya Project/Digitalis to play guitar on one of my tracks… Still haven’t found my groove as a solo geek yet though, better at producing other peoples ideas, really… Did a remix - the original artist’s label handled the rest… Used MySpace to find like-minded DJ-types/musicians and did collaborations.

Phillbe: Yeah, I’ve had a release on Darkland Recordings and an EP on TwistedNoize, which was well received. Also got a new one coming out on TwistedNoize Platinum called Switchbac. As far as airplay goes, a lot of my tunes are on heavy rotation on internet radio and also have had DJ support from Crissy Criss on 1xtra, Dr Slecta on Twisted and from DJ Rocksteady in London. Apparently someone played Switchbac at Herbal the other week! …It all happened really through MySpace and just hitting people up with my tunes via AIM. Also, hitting a lot of Internet labels and other labels and basically keeping my fingers crossed.

Rough Quest: Apart from having one tune featured in Computer Music, not much else. I’ve had a tune played in Turnmills in London, but it ended up being a tune I’d made that I didn’t really like to much! Though I haven’t done too much, I think the key is about networking really. Just chatting to people, getting to know them (either face to face or virtually) and finding opportunities to get your foot in.

Lqdbeats: I haven’t had any success so far as getting any tunes played in a club or on radio or being signed goes. I’ve had some pretty decent responses from people through MySpace… That’s about it so far!

Jazz Thieves: Yes, we were featured on one of Bryan Gee’s Liquid V mix CD compilations hosted by Artificial Intelligence in 2006 and we’ve also had a stream of releases on our own label, Pushin’ Wax Recordings since. Not to mention other releases on Keynote Recordings based in Reading, here in the UK. Meeting people and other artists in the scene, globally, in your own front room, by means of networking on AIM was a massive help on getting heard. We’ve also received continued support from many people on MySpace, however, over the years we have met many different people with links in one way or another. As for tips, today, we’d suggest hitting people up on MySpace & Dog On Acid etc - much like we did - and request their AIM addresses etc. It’s the only convenient and fastest way to go… beware though, it can get addictive!

Overcast: We’ve both had a number of releases under previous guises (Rareform/Blunt). Dave is a well-established D&B MC (Manikular). The Rareform project allowed David to tour with a live act and also work with established D&B names such as Total Science, Spirit and Simon Bassline Smith. He also had work used on television and films including a track on Eastenders! We did it the usual way really, identifying labels that are pushing the sound of music we’re writing and then sending them links to check out our tunes online/CDs. Make sure your demo is actually good - be very self critical. First impressions count and if the first tune you send out is rubbish then a label is unlikely to listen to any more. Get some web space as well and upload your tracks to it - it’s a much more convenient way to send out demos and you can always send out a CD if they ask for one.

Do you have any tips for fellow producers?

Necho/Dyslogic: Dunno really - just keep plugging away… get a set of tools you like and learn them inside out. Buying/pirating new stuff all the time won’t help you write better music. Doesn’t matter how many knobs you have to twiddle - if you can’t make good sounds/don’t know what you want to write - you won’t make good tunes. Avoid using too many loops - loops kill inspiration unless you keep mangling them up. DON’T use sample CDs - they’re shit. Make your own sounds. Try making tunes using only 4 tracks. All the kit you use is just a SET OF TOOLS - its your brain that is the important thing - Burial did both his albums using only Soundforge on a shitty PC - no MIDI. (But try to get some decent monitors and place them correctly). Learn to compress and EQ properly. Don’t use presets unless you’re going to fuck with them completely (there’s nothing wrong with using them per se - its just that you won’t learn to program synths properly if you rely on them). COLLABORATE! REMIX! Don’t spend too long on your own… you need other people’s input/comments/encouragement or you’ll just become convinced that everything you do is shite. I could go on….

Phillbe: BE ORIGINAL! No one is gonna listen or sign you if you just a sound like everyone else. Get yourself a specific sound and just work on it. Also, samples are key… the cleanest sounds you can get - always makes for better music.

Rough Quest: Really get to know your compressors. Though I’m no expert, I’ve been finding out more and more as I experiment with different ones. What they actually do to sound, how different ones have different affects etc. etc. You can really be quite creative with them. Also, always experiment with different genres and tempos - especially tempo. It’s amazing how a song can just ‘make sense’ when you hit the right tempo for it. Be open minded generally and keep experimenting with different things… I’ve made lots of wicked sounds out of just a mic and a delay plugin!

Lqdbeats: I think the best tip I can give is just go with what you think sounds good. Don’t stress or force the issue/idea if you’re having a creative block. Come back to it another

time. There have been (and will be) plenty of times where I’ve reached a point where I can’t seem to get any further. I’ve come back to tunes, days/weeks/months/years(!) when I’ve been inspired by a sound or sample I’ve found, or just with fresh ears. It’s crazy how one sound can make everything else fall into place or just listening with fresh ears can give you the idea to finish a tune.

Jazz Thieves: On a mixing level make sure there is a high pass EQ filter on each sound, removing any hum and unwanted frequencies. Also if using a sequencer with various ‘workspaces’ - set one up with your analyser, so any time you want to look at it, you just hit ‘Alt F1′ or whatever - this is a great time saver! With writing beats, its good to have a default song set up with loads of breaks on different channels that you keep adding to, all timed up. Then you can mess with muting in or out different breaks to get a new feel. With bass, obviously separating up the frequencies, and make sure its got a groove! A lot of our tunes have just copied bass lines from classic funk/jazz records but used with new instrumentation, which is a sure fire method of using tried and tested bass lines and re-introducing them to a new generation. On a more practical level, its a good idea to carry an iPod about with your tracks on and any time you are analysing tracks away from studio, write down all the issues you hear. This is a really objective way to analyse. Then, next time you load up, you can just reel off your list of issues and not have to think too hard about what to do!

Overcast: Most important is to make sure your samples are good in the first place. Read production boards etc on the Internet, as there is a wealth of information out there - and don’t be afraid to experiment! A lot of our best sounds come from when we just try something stupid in the studio - 9 times out of 10 it will sound crap, but it’s that other 1 time when you come up with something amazing that makes it all worthwhile. And don’t forget, it’s all about the detail! Finally, subtractive EQ is the way forward.

• Phillbee: www.myspace.com/philbeetunez
• Rough Quest: www.myspace.com/roughquest
• Lqdbeats: www.myspace.com/lqdbeats
• Jazz Thieves: www.myspace.com/jazzthievesuk
• Overcast: www.overcastmusic.info

Thank you to everyone involved for this article. Hope you readers can learn a little from these guys and hopefully be opened up to what is going on in Oxfordshire!

Introduction written by Ella Dickenson. Complied and edited by James Morris