Description

Here’s an old Manchester mixtape that was always in the car stereo. I’m a little fuzzy on when it was finished, probably mid summer 1997 guessing from the tunes in the mix. Following the double update 1.1 / 1.2, I couldn’t wait to get back into the studio and cut up a new set of tracks.

I’m still quite proud of this session. The tunes are great: a beautiful summer mix of the classic Sueno Latino, Masters At Work’s groove-bound rework of Brand New Heavies’ Sometimes, fat funky remixes of Shola Ama, Ultra Nate and MK’s Always. The Rosie Gaines track reminds me of DJing at Via Fossa because one of the bouncers always requested it, and in this mix it kicks in beautifully to Sandy B’s much-sampled You Make The World Go Around. We even end with a bit of early euro trance...

With this being another studio mix, all the tracks are edited and mixed perfectly. Another labour of love, making the most of weekends and down time in the studio.


Update 2.0 – studio mix - Spring / Summer 97

1 Sueño Latino - Sueño Latino - Express Of Sound Groove Bass Mix
2 Mary J Blige - Love Is All We Need - Mark's Needy Vocal
3 MC Lyte - Cold Rock A Party - Mousse T Club
4 Brand New Heavies - Sometimes - MAW Smooth Mix
5 Ultra Nate - Free - RIP Up North Dub
6 Shola Ama - You Might Need Somebody - Ill-In-Ton's Club Mix
7 Rosie Gaines - Closer Than Close - Mentor Orig
8 Sandy B - Make The World Go Around - Deep Dish
9 MK - Always - Visnadi's Extended Real Love Mix
10 Club 69 - Let Me Be Your Underwear - Vocal Club Mix
11 Brown/Bollard - Turn Me Sweeter - Bootleg W/L
12 Duke - So In Love With You - Full Intention Remix
13 DJ Quicksilver - Bellissima - Original 12" Cut
14 Lost Tribe - The Distant Voices EP: Gamemaster

58.1MB | 128kbps | AAC file

Geek speak:
I remember beat-matching and recording all the vinyl on to a Nicam video before loading it into Studer’s Dyaxsis software. I’m not sure why, maybe the video was simply the easiest way to get the tunes onto the computer. Vinyl turntables were removed from the com prod studio just before I started working at Key 103 - in fact the station had recently relocated to Castlefield and the new studios only had turntables in the one production studio that Stu Allen used.

Somewhere along the line I made a mistake and the first half of the mix is in mono. I can’t remember how this happened but by the time I’d noticed - which was when I was working on track 9, MK’s Always - it was too late. I’d already completed so much, it would have been a mammoth task to start again from scratch. The mono tracks aren’t too noticeable because parts were mastered with some stereo effects and there’s a wicked point in the MK track where the stereo kicks back in. Simple, but really effective.

Enjoy!