A Tune You Lost

recording patches before they disappear forever...

eurorack modular ambient with ModSeq, STO, and FX6

Originally appearing on the Palm Pictures label back in 2000, "The 6ixth Session" was my best selling mix CD. It features Konflict's super awesome "The Messiah" which is one of my favorite drum and bass anthems of all time. The amazing graphic design is by Akira Takahashi and showcases 3D modeling of my head from Rene Garcia aka "Hyperform" who went on to do 3D work for the Matrix and Transformers movies. Suffice it to say, I have always been extremely proud of this particular work. It really helped push drum and bass music to a larger audience in North America.

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TRACKLIST

Dieselboy vs. Atlantiq - Initialize
Kemal & Rob Data - The Messiah
Technical Itch - Heavy Metal
Signal to Noise - Nanobugs
Underfire vs. Negative - Bios Fear
Future Cut + Futurebound - Homicide
Usual Suspects - Shrapnel (Stakka & Skynet Remix)
Andy C + Shimon - Firewire
Bad Company - Toxin
Dieselboy - Invid (E-Sassin VIP)
Dieselboy - The Descent (Phunckateck VIP)
Technical Itch - Pusher
Loxy + Dylan - Eclipse
Facs + B-Key - Plimsoul VIP
Teebee - Space Age Remix
Dylan - Dominion
J Majik - Solarize

The 6ixth Session

One of my most personal mixes. For this one I really tried to go outside the box conceptually - who would have thought to do a fantasy role-playing themed drum and bass mix? Having been a life long Dungeons and Dragons fan, I thought it would be cool to basically let everyone know that I was into role-playing games. And for the intro I was able to lock down the voice of Optimus Prime himself Peter Cullen! During the recording process I was patched into his headphones when he was in the studio and was even able to direct him. It wasn't until later that I discovered he had voiced the character of Venger on the 80's cartoon series Dungeons and Dragons. Awesome! The artwork was once again handled by the legendary Akira Takahashi. One of the coolest parts of the art is the reoccurring image of a dragon which is an exact copy of the dragon tattoo on my back. I always thought Akira was very clever to incorporate that image so deeply throughout the design. Though you cannot see it here, I spent a lot of time working on the liner notes so that they kind of read like stuff you would find in Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks. One of the coolest things about this project was being able to get remixes made of popular non-dnb artists like Tiësto, Sasha, Josh Wink and BT. It really sort of pushed this thing over the top at the time. Finally there is something that needs to be said about one of the tracks on here. The Paul B + Subwave remix isn't of the Tiësto tune "Flight 643". It is a remix of his track "Lethal Industry". I can't remember why this happened in the first place, but there you go! Enjoy :)

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TRACKLIST

Dieselboy - Prologue
Cartridge - End Of The World
Break - Accelerate
Kaos + Karl K + Jae Kennedy - Soul On Fire (Concord Dawn Remix)
Basic Operations - White
Tech Itch - The Hand
Raiden - Infection (E-Sassin Remix)
Sasha - Immortal (Kaos + Karl K Remix)
Wink - Evil Acid (Gridlok Remix)
Teebee + Calyx - Follow The Leader
BT - Knowledge Of Self (Evol Intent Remix)
Dub Faction - Flightpath
Usual Suspects - Doorway (Gridlok + Echo Remix)
Dom + Kemal - Moulin Rouge (Dieselboy + Kaos + Karl K Remix)
Tiësto - Flight 643 (Paul B + Subwave Remix)
Concord Dawn - Take Me Away (Ill Skillz Remix)
Decorum - Contrax (Weapon Remix)
Dumonde - Human (Ill Skillz Remix)

The Dungeonmaster's Guide

Project Human was essentially the launch point for my drum and bass label Human Imprint (the name of the cd was meant to tie in with the label name). It was a culmination of what I had been trying to do conceptually over the past few years and really set the template for all future mix projects - Big, cinematic voiceover intros. Remixes done specifically for my mixes. Big big tunes. Music that I had a hand in. Around this time I had started to get serious with making music and had partnered up with my dear friend Chris “Kaos” Ritter. He is featured on quite a few of the tunes on here. The first 12” release on Human Imprint was the Stratus tune “You Must Follow” and this provided Chris and I a remix opportunity to get our production feet wet. This was followed by our remix of a hip-hop track I really enjoyed by Styles And Beyond called “Subculture”. Originally I had this track remixed by Dylan and Ink for this mix, but I wasn’t especially fond of their effort and they unfortunately refused to put any more work into it. This inspired me and Kaos to do our own take on it, which is what appears here. Pretty proud of the details in that one to be honest. Looking over the tracklist…there was just a lot of really cool stuff that came together for this mix. Lots of remixes of disco house tunes (Robbie Rivera, Funk Parlor, Billy Lo). Remixes of seminal Moving Shadow tunes (Quadrant 6, The Shadow). I helped create a short lived North American drum and bass production “supergroup” called Weapon that has two remixes on here. Such awesome memories working on those tunes. We were actually in the middle of the Reborn remix (one of my favorite personal projects) when 9/11 happened. Never forget indeed. The artwork on this release was handled by the amazing WeWorkForThem boys (Michael Young and Michael Cina). They used images from a photoshoot I did with famed photographers Kelly and Meyers. I asked WWFT to remove my mouth in the images so I resembled the faces from the Human Imprint logo. The voiceover for the intro was my first ever voice actor hire. Aaaand it was Don LaFontaine himself, the most legendary voice actor of all time (“The Voice Of God”). I remember when he sent me the DAT with his voiceover takes on it. I listened to it in headphones and literally got the chills. So fucking amazing. Unfortunately around the time I was working on this intro, another DJ (Bad Boy Bill) made an internet promo that was supposed to sound like a movie trailer. It used a couple of the exact lines from my Project Human intro by coincidence! So I had to go back and rewrite those lines and have Don re-record them. Sad to say the version of the script was better (and the sound quality on the voice takes were better) in the original. Oh well. Of all of the mixes I have released, Project Human has seemed to resonate with drum and bass fans the most. I am quite proud of it.

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TRACKLIST

Dieselboy + Joshua Ryan - Genesis
Optical + Ryme Tyme - Shapecharge
Styles Of Beyond - Subculture (Dieselboy + Kaos VIP)
The Funk Parlor - Something For The Dancefloor (Underfire Remix)
Stratus - You Must Follow (Dieselboy + Kaos Remix)
Stakka + Skynet + Friction - Altitude (Fierce + Ryme Tyme VIP)
Dylan + DJ Ink - California Curse (Technical Itch Remix)
Billy Lo - Carjacker (Ram Trilogy Remix)
Robbie Rivera - Harder And Faster (Weapon Vs E-Sassin Remix)
Kemal + Rob Data - Hostile
Usual Suspects + Loxy - Stalker (Danny C Remix)
Rob + Goldie - The Shadow (Hive VIP)
Dom + Roland - Soundwall (Dom + Roland VIP)
Dom + Optical - Quadrant 6 (E-Sassin VIP)
Rascal + Klone - Terminal Velocity
Technical Itch - Reborn (Weapon Remix)
Bad Company - Mindgames
Dieselboy + Joshua Ryan - Revelations

Project Human

System Upgrade was my 4th and final mix CD release for Moonshine back in 2000. I was on a roll at this point, given that my last CD “Soldier’s Story” had been released only one year before. I was super motivated by the freedom that I had finally been given to select all of the music in my mixes, and this tracklist reflects a truly diverse selection of really great drum and bass from that era. Being able to kick things off with the remix of “Mindscan” by the legends Ed Rush and Optical was truly an honor for me. At that time stateside artists and DJs were still struggling with garnering respect from the UK. I feel that this mix was sort of a transition for building trans-Atlantic relationships during that unfortunately tense era. Dillinja came through with a beast of a remix for American super producer Hive with “Ultrasonic Sound”. Decoder did serious justice to his remix of my tune “The Descent”. And E-Sassin was one of my favorite artists at the time and straight killed it with tracks like “Symptom”. A true American DNB classic. The rest of the mix was filled out with plenty of great music from the likes of Bad Company (the first time they licensed a tune for the American market), Kemal and Rob Data AKA Konflict and of course Dom + Roland, Tech Itch, etc. Was always super happy with the tunes I was able to get for this one. And yes, this was another mix I did in my pajamas sitting on the floor of my living room in my apartment in Philadelphia. Very classy! The artwork was handled by Justin Fines, otherwise known as Demo Design. I discovered his work on a flier at a rave in Detroit back in the 90s. He was way beyond most flier designers at that point in time. Currently he is killing it in the world of TV commercials here in NYC. Was very lucky to have him on board for this project. The concept of the mix was elevating consciousness through music. This theme played out through the title of the mix, the graphics, the liner notes, and the intro (which was a collaboration between myself and a Mr Justin Geller). Here is a fun story. The rainforest environment FX in the intro were recorded in binaural sound (that means in headphones they should sound like they are in true 3D audio). We also used a sample from one of my favorite new age / synth artists at the time named Steve Roach. Outside of the new age music scene I didn’t think he was well known. Buuut…Moonshine ended up getting contacted by his lawyers for my illegal sampling of his track. I had to forfeit all of my income from the CD to pay Steve Roach back for using his music in my intro without clearance. To this day I am still not sure how he found about it. Long story short, “System Upgrade” is a mix that reflected the vibe of drum and bass at the time and it was a very important stepping stone between what I had previously been doing before mix wise and what I would go on to do with the “6ixth Session” and future mixes. And, to this day, people still tell me that it is their favorite mix. I don’t disagree. I feel like this was an important moment in the progression of the  US drum and bass scene.

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TRACKLIST

Dieselboy - Loading Program
Ram Trilogy - Mindscan (Ed Rush + Optical Remix)
E-Sassin - Symptom
Hive - Ultrasonic Sound (Dillinja Remix)
Biostacis - Brain Hack
Dom + Roland - Can’t Punish Me
Decoder - Road Rage
Future Cut - Overload
Kemal + Rob Data - Konspiracy VIP
Stakka + Skynet - Side Effects
Dieselboy - The Descent (Decoder Remix)
Jonny L - Selecta
Decoder - Dumb
Facs + B-Key - Antics
Technical Itch - Deadline
Bad Company - Sentient 
Absolute Zero - The Code (Usual Suspects VIP)

System Upgrade

board recording of live set at Moon Villain

Belarisk - 20170311

"I Love You" --
Produced and engineered by Julie Kathryn/I AM SNOW ANGEL. Instrumentation and programming by Julie Kathryn. Mixed by Julie Kathryn. Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA. Assistant mastering engineer: Maria Rice.

Written by Julie Kathryn/I AM SNOW ANGEL (ASCAP, Julie Kathryn Publishing).

I Love You

Julie Kathryn, AKA I Am Snow Angel is a producer, artist, sound designer, and advocate for female empowerment in the music industry. Her latest release Mothership was recorded in a cabin in New York's Adirondacks. I sat down with Julie in her studio in New York City for this chat. Enjoy!

Sponsored by Antelope
http://en.antelopeaudio.com

eurorack modular ambient with ModSeq, STO, and FX6

Nicholas Szumowski