What I mean by being more "DJ User Friendly" can best be explained with an example of a club DJ's job. Most songs that you hear on the radio and on albums are made short because an audience grows tired of a song if it plays for 10 minutes. Therefore, most songs only have a couple of bars of music before the lyrics begin, otherwise known as the introduction. This type of arrangement is fine for the general public but there is nothing more discouraging to a club DJ. Instead, what a club DJ wants is a very long introduction to the song before the melody or the lyrics start. Having this allows the DJ to match the beat of his next record to the beat of the song already in play. Once the beats are matched up, i.e. synchronized, the DJ mixes the two songs together, fading the old one out while fading the new one in. During this mix the beats of the two songs are completely matched so the audience does not hear the previous song end. By making a song more "DJ User Friendly" we would be extending the introduction of the song along with extending the middle portion to allow for a good place to mix into a different song.

Process:
The re-arrangements of a song are done digitally on a Macintosh computer. After the song is re-arranged on the computer, it is transferred to digital audio tape so that there is no loss in the quality of the audio. Once all of the songs are on the digital tape it is taken down to a professional recording studio where they can make what is called a CD Master Tape or a Lacquer Master Tape. A CD Master Tape is encoded with all of the digital information that is necessary to make a CD Play. Once completed, one CD is made from which all the other CDs are copied. A similar type of process is also used in the making of a vinyl record. Some studios that make the different masters do, in turn, manufacture the copied CDs and vinyl records. We will have our masters made in the Bay Area so that we can personally oversee the quality control of the sound being transferred to the master tapes. Once this is done, the masters must be sent to a CD or vinyl record manufacturing plant where they can reproduced. After all of the copies are back in our hands then it is our job to sell them. We will sell them retail to disc jockey via the mail and wholesale to record stores that specifically cater to disc jockeys.

Permission:
Now, you might be wondering how we can take a song that is already out on a compact disc, re-edit it, and then turn around and sell it legally. To do this requires a record company's permission. Most of the time they happily give permission because they want their songs being targeted to disc jockeys who, in turn, play them in clubs, dances, and on the radio. Basically, the record companies view a Disc Jockey Subscription Service as a promotional tool that helps them sell more of their own records. They are not afraid that we would be taking part of their business, mainly because of another restriction put upon us that limits the amount of copies we can make. The two other DJSS companies reproducing the same genre of music that we intend to re-edit can only make 1000 vinyl records and 1000 CDs. This restriction makes these records and CDs very rare and sometimes extremely hard to find after the first month of their release. Being a DJ myself, I have bought several of these types of records for the retail price of around $30. One of the CDs I bought for this price a year ago can now be sold for around $200. So, we see this restriction as actually a benefit for us because it limits the supply of these records thus making them easier to sell as the demand for them is always increasing.

Who was behind Rhyth`M´atrix:

What did they Do:

Matrix One

Artist	Song	BPM	Key
Sons of Soul	Madness	113	A Minor
Pet Shop Boys	DJ Culture	115	F Minor
Candyland	Fountain O' Youth	118	E Minor
Seven Red Seven	Thinking of You	124	F Minor
Cybex-Factor	Die Schöpfung	125	C Minor
Plaza	Yo Yo	125	A Minor
T.D.C	Keep Groovin	127	B Minor
Channel X	Rave the Rhythm	128	F Minor
Gnomes of Zürich	Gnomes of Zürich	128	A Minor

 

Vector One

Artist	Song	BPM
Celebrate the Nun	You Make Me Wonder	125
Blow	Cutter	127
Decade V	Nosferautu	131
2 Bad Mice	Hold it Down	134

 

Vector One Production Notes

CELEBRATE THE NUN "YOU MAKE ME WONDER"

A morning Acid Hit! A must for your 1-4 shift. Uses both the (Beats 4 U mix) for the vocals and the (Technotrance: Dept. 47 VS Yanicke mix) for the intro house synth as well as the middle acid portion of the song. The whole edit rides over a drum track from an earlier Nun track, "Will You be There" and of course various acid samples. Rhyth`M´atrix Re-edits is in the process of talking to Metronome Musik for this version's release in the US.

 

BLOW "CUTTER"

The comeback kid. This song did not nearly get the play it deserved during its first weak release. The Re-edit includes a strong mixture of the altern 8 ive hardcore mix and the original mix which gives it the additional energy it needs to be a pumping core to anyone's record box. Virgin should really think about releasing this song if not Blow traxs in the US.

 

DECADE V "NOSFERATU"

Goth meets Acid. Another one of Boy records triumphs. This dark acid trax is helped by a rap performed by Jonathan W. Frankenstein warning those of Dracula's return. While your breaks and intro are laced with a bass line synth, it gives a good transition into some of the busier acid songs. The re-edit is mostly the Sucker's Mix with just enough of the Dope Remix to give your floor a break.

 

2 Bad Mice, "Hold it Down"

The cream of VECTOR ONE. It is actually a medley of three 2 Bad Mice songs Hold it Down, Bombscare, and 2 Bad Mice all of which are held at the same BPM and drum. The song is very layered and ends in an extremely busy climax with bass that is truly thumping (Woofers beware). Congratulations to Moving Shadow Records and especially Rob Playford the producer and core of 2 Bad Mice. Hopefully they will use the Rhyth`M´atrix Re-edit on their upcoming release.

 

The Press

Vector One: "Their initial vinyl release, contains four tracks and it is a surefire winner on any turntable" Remix Service Authority October 1992

Matrix One: "The edits are tight and clean on every song and it is difficult to criticize any of the structures in their re-edited form." Remix Service Authority, July 1992

Matrix One: "T.D.C. Keep Groovin: This mix sounded a whole lot better than other Remix Service's versions. The mix is not repetitious and is more energetic and easier to mix in and out. It also starts out with cool Techno beats/rhythms" Remix Service International September 1992

Vector One: "The Celebrate the Nun track is familiar to me from a Gridlock! issue of some months back, and I love it. This is very different from that mix with some lovely orchestral bits added. Gorgeous! This is followed by an EXCELLENT mix of Blow's Cutter, a song that should be familiar to most London club goer's. I found the stereo bouncing of the percussion tracks (twitch panning, I call it) a bit garish but otherwise, delicious." Prime Cuts, October 1992

Matrix One: "And finally, a real exclusive-Gnomes of Zürich which is an original Rhyth`M´atrix recording. This is very 1988 - a lovely choral synthy intro leads us into a backdrop that's reminiscent of Yazz's The Only Way is Up with lots of sampley bits over the top. It didn't really work for me but would, no doubt, have gone down a storm in the clubs at the tail-end of the 80's" Prime Cuts, October 1992

Gnomes of Zürich

Quinn "Gnome" Roberts was the "real" musical talent of the Gnomes creating the keybords for the only published song of the Gnomes of Zürich entitled Gnomes of Zürich. While it received positive reviews from the press it was critsided as being to "80's" in this new "Techno focused" age of 90's dance music. It was a collection of samples, drums and original lyrics constructed by DJJC with a very distinctive HOUSE hook.

Quinn and DJJC spent many hours trying to re-create the success of the Gnomes they never were able to devote the time and energy to create that "new sound" the the 90's has lacked. DJJC, DJ Billí and Quinn believe that the "80's sound" is coming back and are planning on re-assembling the Gnomes of Zürich to continue 80's dance music tradition.

Contact: john@curnutt.org