Compression Part 2 - I Like It Dirty 320 Kbps

<a href='http://gigs.gigatools.com/u/frankdw' target='_new'>Frank De Wulf's Upcoming Gigs </a>Saturday 27 July, 2013 <a href='http://www.tomorrowland.be' target='_new'>Tomorrowland 2013, Tomorrowland, Boom, Belgium</a> <a href='http://www.gigatools.com' target='_new'>Powered by GigaTools</a> Hey everyone,

When releasing new material, and especially when it has been so long as it was with Frank De Wulf …. you are kind of expected to tell a little bit about yourself. So, here you’ll find a quick overview of his career. You’ll discover how one thing led to another, without getting into too much detail.

You won’t find a list of his work here, if you are more interested in that please check out : http://www.discogs.com/artist/Frank+De+Wulf or soon the discography page on his web-site. If you are more into the insider info and personal anecdotes, you will soon find regularly updates with (sometimes) juicy stories from his days as a DJ/producer on the ‘by the way I just remembered’ page.

So here we go! Frank was born in 1968 as the youngest of three boys. Of course with 2 older brothers hanging around, he was introduced to all kinds of music, not just the mainstream tracks you heard on the radio.
He must have been about 10 when he started experimenting with tape decks, later he used his father’s 2-track recorder to make longer versions of hit records.
In high school, he got invited by one of his classmates to visit the local radio station. Impressed with their set-up, he asked if he could try mixing on their 2 ‘Technics SL1200 MK2’ turntables. It felt great! From there he got his own radio show called “Seventh Heaven Radio”. With Frank on the turntables and another guy doing the talking, they brought a whole new flavor to the dance hits of that time. By re-editing, remixing and manipulating the tracks, he wanted to create a particular atmosphere for the listeners and give them the idea that they were experiencing a live set from home.

Frank De Wulf was always into music with a strong, original sound & rhythm no matter the genre: from new wave, dance, electro European and American experimental post-punk with Kraftwerk and the Art of Noise as two of his major influences or dare he say “muses”. That fresh, energetic layered electro sound was something he aspired to bring himself, by creating his own music as well as through his work as a DJ.
After a while people started noticing his ‘work’ and around 1985, he was asked to do a show by a more ‘dance oriented’ radio station called ‘SIS’.

At the time he was regularly, DJ-ing in 2 of Ghent’s dance café’s. It was an excellent way to practice his skills and since he was still at school, these DJ gigs brought some extra money into his piggy bank … because he was also saving up to buy the Yamaha S7000 sampler and an ATARI 1024 Computer. The new beat movement had just started and he started to feel the need to create music rather than just mix other people’s work more and more. So he started to produce his own tracks and make remixes of existing tracks.
One of his first releases as musician/producer was the 12-inch Acid Rock track with his alter ego band Rhythm Device on Music Man Records. Thanks to Olivier Pieters, resident DJ at the famous night club Boccacio (one of the Belgian clubs where New Beat really took off), he could test run the track. To Frank’s surprise and great relief, the crowd loved it. The track became a big hit, and is now seen as a bit of a classic, or so he’s told.

His work as a DJ gave him the idea to make a record just for DJ’s. He wanted to create a kind of tool for mixing tracks while still keeping the familiar theme going. He started to work on several tracks, but due to a lack of time never really got to finish them. He had a series of beats, mixes and samples from international dance hits and newly created sounds that were not really fit to be released as a-side records. So still eager to release them, he decided to call them The B-Sides. The record went through the roof and he ended up releasing 4 volumes (on Music Man Records) plus remixes of them.
Due to the success of the B-sides, Frank was asked to give live performances as well as do DJ sets all over the world. He traveled around Europe, the States and Australia. It was a remarkable period, he met up with other performers and DJ’s, who where all starting their musical careers, people like Joey Beltram, Moby, Derrick May, Sven Väth. They all shared this great appreciation for each other’s work and Frank really felt that people understood his work. With each new sample or musical idea there was this immense reaction on the dance floor. He really felt that the crowd was on his side, the whole time pushing him on and inspiring him to break new boundaries. During his career, there was also Renaat, the owner of R&S records, who kept him inspired and focused. Renaats energy, drive and strong believe in the success of quality dance music had a major influence on Frank’s career.

He decided to start up his own record labels which gave him more creative freedom to release his tracks and do production work for other artists; like remixes for all kinds of artists in and outside the new beat scene like The Shamen & Erasure but also The Orb, Jam & Spoon, Orbital, Biosphere,…

At the end of the nineties Frank felt, he had reached the limits of what he could do with music at that period in time and decided to concentrate on another great love of his: the world of film and post-production.

He founded “GRID” a post-production company specialized in visual effects and motion design for commercials, video clips and films. He kept his musical career going at the back burner doing the odd remix or DJ set. 

So there you are… even though Franks work kept him quite busy and was creatively challenging, music is a part of who he is. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he always knew that this time would come. And now, he can no longer ignore this need to make music, this need to create and let the magic flow again. He hopes you will all enjoy the ride!