INTERVIEW: DJ Madd [Boka]

After first hearing a DJ Madd production on Rob Booth’s Electronic Explorations show an air of expectance ensued around his following releases, and for me his merger of talk box vocals, rolling hi hats and piano melodies on ‘Reasonz’ (released earlier this year on Boka Records) perfectly fused his stuttering drum patterns with pure ‘air moving’ bass weight and 8 bit medodics; his simplistic drum patterns all the while sharing a kinship with the current Bristol fraternity.

Hailing from Budapest Madd, is sitting on a stack of forthcoming releases so, being the knowledge hungry suckers we are, we figured it was about time the Madd shared some of them with you, the Sonic Router faithful.

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

DJ Madd: My name is Peter, I’ve been writing tunes as DJ Madd for a few years now. I was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary and have lived there all my life. I recently moved to England to be a bit closer to all the happenings and to have a bit of change in my lifestyle.

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

Music is pretty much all I do. I am far from making a living out of it but in my free time I usually work on some tuness, sounds or just sampling stuff. In the last 6-7 months I was working for an IT company to save up cash for the big move. Apart from that I really like old videogames. I have an old xbox at home which I bought just to setup all emulators I could find and fill it with old classic games. At one point I want to start buying older computers but that project is on the hold for now.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?

I was always interested in making music so it was natural for me to get into production. I started making tunes in tracker programs such as Digi Tracker and Fast Tracker and then tried a couple of software programs and ended up with the ones I am happy with. For the first few years I didn’t even use EQs just focused on the arrangement, the final mix down just started to get important in the last 2-3 years.

What’s your production set up like?

I am using Cubase with Kontakt and a couple of basic plugins and software synths. I don’t have any hardware unfortunately, just a midi keyboard and Behringer Truth monitors. This setup works for me so I doubt I will change it any time soon. Knowing your gear can make things so much easier.

Where do you take inspiration from while making music? How did you get into dubstep?

I was always a drum & bass head so that has to be one of the main inspirations. The Valve and the Full Cycle camp had a lot of impact on me and I still listen to those artists almost every week. I keep exploring dub/reggae as well and always find something that blows me away.



Where did the name DJ Madd come from?

When I went through my graffiti phase I needed a catchy name. We had a lot of graffiti groups with 3 letter names, so I didn’t want to use ‘mad’ and went for ‘madd’ instead. After that it kinda stuck and I used it for playing games, production and everything that needed a nickname. I wish it would have a more fun story behind it... haha..

Yeah I was hoping you were borderline mental... Tell us a little bit about Hungary and Budapest, what’s the dubstep scene like out there?

It’s small but the people are very into it. There is group of people who would go to every single dubstep happening and that’s what we need really. Unfortunately you still get the standard “too slow” comments but I can’t blame them because the sound systems are not always up for the job. At the moment we have 2 nights running: Dub Phase which is the only monthly gig and Test which is not regular and not strictly dubstep. Though in the last few months you can really see how it’s begun to grow rapidly, so I am hoping for the best!

I hear that you’re moving to Bristol soon, which we all know is a hub for dubstep talent… Who do you hope to run into?

Moving to Bristol was a very, very old dream of mine. In fact my very first DJ set was at a night called ‘Tribute to Bristol’ where the idea was to play music that came from there! I was known to go a bit overboard on the Dopedragon, Full Cycle records... It seems like the Bristol thing stayed with me in dubstep as well. Many people who I rate high live here, such as RSD or Joker just to name the most known ones.

Who else are you feeling musically at the moment?

Too many to list! Apart from the obvious top names my favourite producers at the moment include Von D, Kito, RSD, Zomby, Synkro, Ikonika and the list could really go on.

Tell us a little bit about your mix? What songs just had to go on there/exclusive tracks etc...

The mix is a selection of tunes I been listening to at home with a couple of my own added, so not a "club selection" I guess. It's always a bit difficult to cram in a few different styles but in the end I think It's better than going for one sound over and over.



Which one of your releases means the most to you and why?

At the moment it has to be the ‘Better with You EP’ on Boka. All of those tunes are exactly how I wanted them to turn out and I am especially happy that ‘Flex’d’ got onto vinyl. It had a very good feedback on myspace and I had no idea if it will ever get a release or not. I am also looking forward for ‘Someone’ and the Breakage remix on the flipside!

What else have you got coming up? (releases/dates etc etc)

I learned the best is not to say any exact dates for releases but the following tunes are confirmed for the next couple of months:

Someone/Breakage Rmx (Black Box)
Different Tingz/In You’re Eyes Dub (War)
Babylon (Subway)
Got me dancin' (Subway)
It’s Over/ U with Von D (Boka)
Why/Sound System with Matt-U (Tube 10)
Homeland/Koopa (3.5 Records)
Stranger (Boka)
Flex’d Rmx/Detroit Skank (Boka)
I Know It's You/Better With You Akira Kiteshi Rmx (Boka)

At the moment I am accepting gigs around England, peep my myspace for future gigs!

What is the thing that is most exciting you at the moment in the bass music scene?

There is good music everywhere at the moment so I can't really pick one thing. Dubstep is on the roll and drum & bass seems to be back on track both on the jungle and the minimal sounds!

Have you got any words of wisdom for us?

Appreciating both Rusko and Martyn at the same time is not a crime.

::

DOWNLOAD: DJ Madd – Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist:

DJ Madd - So Far Away (Unsigned)
DJ Madd - Someone (Breakage remix) (forthcoming Black Box)
Kode 9 - 2 Far Gone (Hyperdub)
Hyetal - Gold or Soul (forthcoming Soul Motive)
Dj Madd - Blue Soul (Unsigned)
Ikonika - Space Ugly (Dub)
Headhunter & Matt U - The Chosen One – (Dub)
Phaeleh - Tachi – (Dub)
Gemmy - Rainbow Rd. (Planet Mu)
Von D - Chacha's Leggings (forthcoming Subbalcious)
Dj Madd - Got Me Dancin' (forthcoming Subway)
Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intensions [Joker Remix] (FREE DL via FADER)
Vaccine - Fever (Kito remix) (Dub)
DJ Madd - Better With You (Boka)
Skream – 0800 (Tempa)
Dj Madd - Flex'd [Ikonika remix] (forthcoming Boka)
RSD - Loving It (Dub)
Von D & Dj Madd – U (forthcoming Boka)

Link:
www.myspace.com/djmaddbeats