In his role as educator, Jim
advocates experimentation: You’vebeenindrum’n’bassa long
time.Howhasthegenrechanged?
JM:“Forme,drum’n’bassisata pointnow
where,globally,therearesceneswhere
thereweren’tscenestenyearsago.
Obviously,theinternet’scontributedtothat,
butI justthinkthatdrum’n’basshas
crossedover.
“It’salwaysbeena musicthattakesfrom
othergenres,andatthemomentthere’s
quitea bigEDMkindofpresenceinthere–a
techykindofhousevibe– toa lotof
people’sproductions.If youlookatpeople
likeDimensionorCultureShock,thoseguys
aredefinitelytakingtheirinfluencefrom
moreofa housekindofthing.Anddrum’n’
bassisreallygoingbacktoitsrootsthese
days,aswell;it’sgoingquiteminimal,with
longerbasslines.
“Thethingthatalwaysseemedtobebad
aboutdrum’n’basswasthesplittingofthe
genres,butactually,you’vegotdarkstuff,
jump-up,liquid...andthosethingsovertime
havecreatedsuchbigfanbasesfor
themselvesthatalthoughtheyaresplit,it is
allstilldrum’n’bass.
“Attheendoftheday,oneperson’slove
isanotherperson’shate,andthat’showit
goeswithallthingsregardingtaste.Drum
’n’bassisbeingrepresentedatthingslike
Glastonburyproperlynow– bigfestivalsare
embracingit,evenacrossthepondin
America.So,yeah,I thinkit’sonthecuspof
beingthebestit canbe,actually.”:whatadvicedoyouhaveforanynew
DnBproducersoutthere?
JM:“It’sallaboutexperimentation.There’s
somuchinfooutthereonline,butthereare
differentwaystodothings.Keepanopen
mind:don’tthinkthat‘that’wayofsidechain
compressionistheonlyway.I alwaysliketo
saytomyclientswhenI’mteaching,‘I’mnot
goingtoshowyoutheway,I’mgoingto
showyouaway’.Oneman’swayofdoing
something,wherethemaster’srunningin
theredandeverything’sreallyhot,getshim
thatsound,whereassomeoneelseisgoing
tousea limiterintelligentlytogetthatsame
sortofsound.I’ma greatbelieverinboth,
actually.Overtheyears,I’vedonemyfair
shareofrunningthemixerintotheredand
gettinga soundthatway,andastimewent
on,I discoveredthingslikelimitersandhow
tousethemproperly.
“AnotherbitofadviceI’dgiveisjustto
notbeina rush– youcan’tgetexperience
overnight.Nobodycan.You’vegottogo
throughtrialanderroranddothebestyou
canastimegoeson.”: Everyone wants a quick fix these
days, right?
JM: “They do. Respecting the old school is
important as well, the people who paved
the way for you – don’t forget about those
guys. Have respect for them. I’ve always
had that mentality. Even though I’ve
become bigger than some of my peers, I
still respect them, because they were
there doing it before I was. You can’t lose
sight of that and get big-headed, and just
think, ‘Oh well, I’m bigger than you now, I
don’t respect you any more’. That’s
terrible, but people do that, I’ve seen it
happen day in and day out – to me, even!
People I know who weren’t that big, and
were dying for my advice and my critique,
now don’t even download my records to
check ‘em out. It’s sad.
“I used to engineer for Goldie, and I
never lost respect for him or started to
treat him different through being close to
him. If anything, I’ve always been careful
around Goldie – I’ve almost
got a ‘Goldie switch’, to make sure I don’t say
the wrong thing! I’ve got that much
respect for him, I wouldn’t want to upset
him in any way.
“In today’s society, with the internet, you
can become an overnight success and
forget about who paved that way for you.
But without your DJ Hypes and your Bryan
Gees and people like that, we wouldn’t have
a scene, and I think that’s important.”Diggingthescene
“Respectingthe old
schoolis important –
thepeoplewho paved
theway”
48 /ComputermusiC / July 2019
make music now / producer masterclass