Home News What's On Annual Poll Photos Forums DJs Features Music Venues Reviews Links

Features Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022!

Lee Mortimer goes Loopy. Reported by Tom Cypher / Submitted 14-11-11 07:34 One of the hottest DJs of the moment, Lee Mortimer is renowned for putting his own unique take on bass-fuelled house music and has made a name for himself as a producer par excellence with tracks signed to Fool’s Gold, Dubsided, CR2 and Made to Play. He’s also provided remixes for bands such as Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads and Bombay Bicycle Club, as well as remixing tunes by the likes of Foamo, DJ Zinc, Dave Spoon & Pete Tong to spine-tingling effect. Following the recent release of Lee’s Loopmasters sample pack, ‘Wearhouse Music’ we ask him a few production-based questions. What was it that inspired you to start producing? I’ve always been into dance music, even when I was very young. I also loved computer games like all kids and I got a piece of software free with a magazine for my Commodore Amiga. It was called OctaMED and was a very basic sample sequencer. It came with a few rave samples and I got some off my cousin who was also into dance music. I would spend hours putting samples together and playing round. I was probably about 11 years old at the time. Years later I got OctaMED for PC and eventually got a copy of Propellerhead’s Reason 2.5. Reason opened up so many new doors and the first track I made on it got signed to Jesse Rose’s label. Which do you prefer producing, sample packs or singles? Making a sample pack was very new to me so it was a lot of fun doing it. Just sitting down and making noises is quite liberating, as you don’t have to really think about creating a whole track. With producing singles, everything you do has to be perfect so you can get a little bogged down sometimes. I couldn’t just make sample packs forever though as it’s so rewarding finishing a great track. Describe your studio set up It’s pretty basic really. I run everything off my laptop PC with an extra external screen. I have Yamaha MSP5 monitors, an Edirol UA-25 sound interface and an M-Audio Radium 49 midi controller. That’s all the hardware I use. In terms of software, I’ve always used Reason since version 2.5 all the way up to the new version 6. It really taught me everything I know about producing. It’s everything in one box and that’s its beauty. You never have to worry about it crashing either. It’s the most stable software known to man! Recently I’ve introduced Ableton Live as I wanted to start using 3rd party plug-ins which Reason doesn’t allow. Love is great for manipulating and time-stretching audio. It does it flawlessly. My favourite plug-in is Native Instrument’s Massive. Renowned for great bass sounds is perfect for what I do. Endless modulation settings really bring your sounds to life. I’ve also just got NI’s Razor which, again, is great for bass. I’ve just scratched the surface of it and can’t wait to dig deeper and use it in some tracks. If the presets are anything to go by then it’ll pay for itself pretty soon! What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in the studio? I always put off using anything other than Reason as I thought it would take ages to learn something new. Rewiring to Ableton was dead easy though and I’m so glad I did. I didn’t want to have to spend time learning new software instead of making tracks but in reality it was one of the best things I’ve done recently. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone to progress. Have you ever had any technological disasters? I haven’t at all really. Both when DJing and producing I’ve not had anything major happen. I narrowly avoided a disaster during my last gig in Brisbane, Australia. The night before one of the speakers caught fire and the whole club had to evacuate! Thank God that didn’t happen on my watch. What's your 'must have' piece of kit and why? I’d have to say Properllerhead’s Reason. I still use it in every song to program my drums and all the synths still sound great. It’s like my security blanket! What's the most expensive piece of kit you own? It’s probably my Yamaha monitors even though they weren’t really that expensive. You could probably get a pair for just under £400 now. The MSP5s are really clear and you know if your mix sounds good on them then it will sound good anywhere. I recently moved studio and naturally you worry how they will sound in a new room but I needn’t have. There’s always a nice sweet spot when you sit about 3 or 4 foot away no matter where you put them. As they’ve only got 5” woofers you don’t get overloaded with false bass. If I’ve been in a studio with a sub woofer then I find I come away with not enough bottom end. These work great for the music I make. Could you tell us a bit about your latest pack for Loopmasters? I starting working in the studio with Aquasky about a year ago and they asked me if I wanted to get involved with their Monster Sounds sample packs. I’d never done one before and thought it sounded cool so I began creating a palette of what I believe to be all the essential elements in making a track. There’s drums, big synths, FX, vocal hits and of course lots of my trademark basslines. I spent many weeks making samples that will hopefully be great building blocks for producers of all levels. What else are you working on at the moment? I’ve been doing a few collaborations lately. Laidback Luke and I have just finished a new track which will be out in the New Year. Probably for Miami WMC. I’ve also been working with AutoKratz, TAI and a few others which are still work in progress but very exciting! I’ve also been making slightly different music under the name Tymer. The first EP will be out on my Wearhouse Music label soon. Who or what has inspired you the most this year? There’s a guy from LA called Clockwork who I signed to Wearhouse Music who has been making some great tracks and getting support from the likes of Crookers, Steve Aoki, AC Slater, Foamo and even Armin van Buuren. Other new artists I’ve been into are Speaker Bomb, Maurice (BLKSQR) and Sunko. What have you got planned for 2012? I’d like to put together a follow-up compilation to the Wearhouse Music All Night Long comp I put out a few months ago. It was basically all unreleased tracks exclusive to the label by amazing producers such as Black Noise, Rico Tubbs, Reset!, Blatta & Inesha, Calverton, Aniki, Nom de Strip, TJR and loads more. On the production side I’d like to explore more tracks under the Tymer name which ranges from straight-up house to future garage stuff. I’ll still be pumping out some big bass business too! You can now download Wearhouse Music from here. Producers can expect to find a fantastic collection of bass loops, drum loops, synth loops, oneshot drum samples, vocal samples and more! All photos courtesy of Lee Mortimer. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Tom Cypher: Perfect Stranger Takes a Leap of Faith With His New Album Marco Scherer's Patchwork 17 My Digital Enemy Studio Talk with Organ Donors Essential Hardcore with Sy & Unknown The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments:

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. All other content is (c) 2001-2024 HarderFaster.

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Text Mode