aaamusic | On 05, May 2012

Daniel Cairns chats with DJ superstar D:Ramirez about this years High Definition Festival, what gadgets he likes and the creation of a new genre wrestling ring house.

AAAmusic: Your playing this years High Definition Festival, do you have anything special in store for your fans?

D:Ramirez: Well i’ve been working on a few new outfits for a start … No, seriously i’ve been busy this year working on loads of new productions which should be ready to road test by the time the festival comes around so i’m looking forward to dropping some new bombs on the crowd.

AAAmusic: Which artists are you most looking forward to playing with at this years festival?

D:Ramirez: I’m really hoping that i’m not on at the same time as Maceo Plex as I really want to go and check him out! I always love playing with the toolroom crew, Mark Knight, Mark Storie etc. There’s a serious line up on the bill, it’s gonna be fun!.

AAAmusic: Your a producer and remixer what is the dynamics when you record your own material?

D:Ramirez: I’ve actually stopped doing so many remixes in favour of working on my own productions which I find a lot more inspiring these days. I got sick of polishing the proverbial turd so to speak. I got sick of making other peoples shit records sound good (pompous but true) so I mainly produce my own. It’s a lot tougher finding the inspiration for a track sometimes and that’s what i’ve been concentrating on recently. I’ve been trawling through old records, looking for samples in strange places to get me started. I like to start with a hook of some kind and that’s the tricky bit…

AAAmusic: Can you tell me about how your single ‘Nothing Habitual’ with Richard Dinsdale came about and what was he like to work with?

D:Ramirez: Richard is a very talented producer who i’ve respected for a while and it was a joy working with him. He’s so quick we just blasted through a couple of tracks in a couple of days. I found a couple of samples which I took down, added those to the samples he found and hey presto, just like a jigsaw puzzle we put it together. Easier said than done mind you, both of us have been doing it all of our lives!.

AAAmusic: Can you tell me about what you thought were the best gadgets at this years NAMM show?

D:Ramirez: There were loads of new toys, I was like a kid in a candy store. The best gadget by far was the new analog mono synth by Arturia called the Minibrute. It’s only £430 and it’s a serious piece of kit that they’ve really thought through to make it stand out with it’s own identity. I’m just waiting for it to hit the shops so I can grab one! The other big thing came from Universal Audio which is a sound card called the Apollo. What’s amazing about it is it has a UAD2 processing card built in so you can use all of the amazing UAD2 plug-ins straight from the unit. Oh, plus it had a thunderbolt port to attach to the new MacBooks.

AAAmusic: For me my dream has always been to play on Top of the Pops what was it like to play such an iconic programme?

D:Ramirez: TOTPs was exactly that, my childhood dream. It was a really funny experience because nobody in the crowd knew who we were so there were all these young girls shouting up ‘who are you’. I’m just glad I got to do it before it got shelved.

AAAmusic: Can you tell me about the artists you have signed to your own record label?

D:Ramirez: I was running Slave for a long time but recently I used it solely to release my own productions. It’s quite hard running a label all by myself so i’ve now started releasing on other labels so Slave is in semi retirement for now. I might dust it down and get the Slave out later on. Go get the gimp!

AAAmusic: Who would you most like to collaborate with?

D:Ramirez: Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Mick Jagger to name a few

AAAmusic: How would you best describe the music you make in five genres?

D:Ramirez: Dirty, sexy, twisted, dramatic, house

AAAmusic: I recently gave one of your CD’s to the wrestler Jeff Hardy cause you look a bit like him, would you think about doing his ring music for him?

D:Ramirez: Of course – send him my way and i’ll get cracking on a new genre. Wrestling ring house!

 

 

D:Ramirez plays the main stage at this years High Definition festival along with Fredde Le Grand, Mark Knight, Mark Storie,  Maceo Plex, Miguel Campbell, Tini Hector, Ms Dynamite, Alexis Raphael, Fabio and many more…

It takes place Saturday June 30th at Ilford, Essex

Check out all event info at the official website – http://www.highdefinitionfestival.co.uk/

Some tickets still avaliable from –http://www.highdefinitionfestival.co.uk/index.php/tickets

 

Daniel Cairns