HeavyFeet Interview & Guestmix on Triple J - 15.04.11

Media_httpyouthoughtw_tyqdl

Whilst on tour in Australia in April I dropped into Triple J (the Australian equivalent of Radio One) for a chat and to play some tunes. Went in on a bit of a Stamp! Beats selection as you'll see/hear!

Tracklist:

HeavyFeet feat. Jon Rice - Raise A Glass (Q45 Remix)
HeavyFeet feat. Jon Rice - Saving Me (Black Noise Remix)
HeavyFeet vs. Raze - All I Want
HeavyFeet feat. Serocee - Parking Meter (Sam Young Remix)
HeavyFeet feat. Bubbz - Young & Dumb (Nick Thayer Remix)
HeavyFeet feat. Kovas - We Came To Party (Deekline & Product.01 Remix)
HeavyFeet feat. Rod Hotly & Kid Bliss - Last 2 People (Two Fresh Remix)

Filed under  //   Australia Tour   Stamp! Beats   Triple J  
Posted May 9, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Publishing

Media_httpimg573image_kanuv

So, in this post there were plans to talk about publishing, what it is, and the benefits of being a published artist, etc, however it was remembered that Simon Pursehouse of Sentric Music had done a very good blog post about such matters only very recently, which summarises everything an artist needs to know, way better than we could spout in a single post, about publishing. If you want to know more please click here and read the 'The Idiots Guide To Making Money From Your Music Publishing Rights'. Reading this article and understanding certain publishing issues further than you currently do could be the deciding factor in whether you accept or decline a deal in the future, if you are an artist. 

Obviously, once upon a time our knowledge of publishing was considerably less than it is today (this article was not around either), but we have still declined a couple of publishing deals over the years, as we sought advice from people in the know, and begun to understand what we were looking at when presented with splits/percentages and terms of engagement, which, in hindsight was the best possible thing to have done, fortunately. Understanding publishing is very important if you don't want to get fleeced, and worse still, locked into an agreement with someone you grow to dislike (as you become a publishing expert yourself!) for years and years to come.

Read it, email it to friends, share the knowledge. After all, knowledge is power (according to Sir Francis Bacon... and frankly, we'd have to agree with him).
---

STMP009

Media_httpimg535image_dblib

 

HeavyFeet ft. Hannah T - Just Fall
Stamp! Beats
Release Date: 06.12.10

For our ninth release we enlisted the vocal talents of Hannah T. We had been trying to utilise Hannah on a track for a while before ‘Just Fall’ came together, to the point where we had a selection of her acapellas sat on the hard drive to be used whenever inspiration was lacking! When finalising the arrangement and mix on ‘Just Fall’ it became rather apparent, to us at least, that the track bore a rather large resemblance to Magnetic Man’s ‘Perfect Stranger’, although we can guarantee it was conceived before we had ever heard that record. At the time of starting ‘Just Fall’, we really didn’t think the idea of having trancey vocals and riffs over a 140bpm breakbeat had a such potential. With hindsight, the main fault we have with the original track was that we chose a chord progression to sit under the vocals that didn’t lend itself particularly well to getting a huge bass heavy sub line underneath, which, when you're making such a track is kind of an important factor.

We managed to combat this problem when doing our alternative version by ditching the majority of the melodic aspects of the original and only using rather sparse vocal cuts, and sticking a massively distorted, (un-tuned) 808 kick drum in for the bassline, which, as many people know, has untold amounts of low end sub frequencies. The 2-step vibe we went with on the remix is something we have experimented with in a few remixes of late, as it a style of music that easily enables us to put our own stamp on it and retain a largely musical element. 2-step remixes can also be made to fit in the often slightly awkward tempo bracket of 132-140 bpm, which can often prove helpful for DJ sets, etc.

There is very little to be said for the remix that Udachi did for this release, except that it is criminal that it took us so long to enlist his talents in the '12x12', and that he turned in an absolutely awesome, impeccably detailed monster of a club remix for us! It is certainly a favourite from the guest remixes we’ve commissioned throughout the project.

---

As always, thanks for reading, we hope the post has been of insight.
M&J

Filed under  //   12x12   Hannah Talbot   HeavyFeet   Sentric Music   Simon Pursehouse   Stamp! Beats  
Posted March 9, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Opportunities and development

Media_httpimg573image_erkri


Something that we have learnt from embarking on this project, in a similar manner perhaps to say a music producer or songwriter creating a truly unique sub-genre or set of songs (say Jamie Woon?), when you create something unique, in our instance, a new way of thinking with regards to the running of an independent, artist-run, record label, opportunities you could never have foreseen or imagined will arise. Since embarking on the '12x12' journey in April 2010, as HeavyFeet, we have been offered a number of unique opportunities that had we spent a minute thinking about pre-October 2009, would have thought were highly unlikely to happen within the timeframe that they have done. We feel that the reason for these exciting developments is largely down to one factor: You get back what you put out. 


This can be related to your content and/or conduct. If you radiate fresh, original music to the world, opportunities that are also fresh and new will gravitate towards you and your musical output. If you present a forward thinking, professional attitude towards your business, it's highly likely you'll attract similar minded persons who want to work with you and your project.


Since we have undertaken the '12x12' we have completed additional production on a pop track that was previous unsigned but had label interest (it is now signed and being released this summer), presented the working model of the runnings of Stamp! Beats and the '12x12' project to the In The City music conference (more to come on this in a later blog post soon), an internationally renowned new UK music showcase and gathering of industry persons, confirmed a new project to launch with the BBC in summer 2011, completed several remixes for major labels/pop artists, and this is largely without getting started on the last few months... or wanting to appear like we're overly blowing our own trumpet, because as we keep saying, this series of posts isn't about that, or us really, it's about putting experiences we have lived and information we have gained out there for people to read about, and hopefully go and do something even more pro-actove with their time than we have.


A point worth noting in relation to the paragraph above. Ewan Pearson mentioned this in a blog post recently and it rung a bell, but some days you wake up and you listen to a totally finished piece of music that you were 100% confident of a few days beforehand... and you absolutely hate it. The point to be taken from his point is, some days you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and have a bad day, or week, or month, whatever, it happens. The really relevant point to this though is that we also have these days and if you're reading this series of posts and you've just read the paragraph above about all these amazing things that are going on with HeavyFeet at present and you're wondering how the hell you can do something similarly positive, well, tomorrow is a new day and you can make new music, decisions about your goals etc happen then. Maybe you got out of bed on the wrong side today, who knows? Everyone has days where they feel muted about what they're trying to achieve, seriously. A semi-interesting point, some of the biggest artists we know or have met doubt themselves and their ability on an alternately daily basis, having one positive day, followed directly by a negative day. Heavy!


So, to go back to the point of this section of the blog... You get back what you put out. If you go out there as a music maker and/or business owner, with a positive mental attitude about making your personal goals happen whilst always looking for new opportunities and channels to go down, you really are able to achieve whatever it is you are trying to make happen. 


Passion, positivity and perseverance (or persistence, if you prefer). It's all about the three/four P's... depending on how you see it.

---

STMP008

Media_httpimg202image_nueoa

HeavyFeet ft. Serocee - Parking Meter
Stamp! Beats
Release Date: 08.11.12

With the original instrumental, we had the challenge of bringing something to the table production-wise that could work in the club, if so desired, as well as a vocalist recording to something structured (to suit verses and choruses rather than a simple hype vocal). Whilst Serocee has obviously recorded on club tracks prior to the track with us, we wanted to create something that could also showcase his vocal ability and innate sense of humour, plus having a full vocal track that was more in keeping with the ethos behind the whole project. A note probably worth mentioning also, having a vocalist of Serocee's presence within the scene to come on board and believe in what we had created, and understand the direction we were taking with the project, was a good moment for the project's morale and momentum through late 2010.

When revisiting the track now, there is a definite sense of achievement in creating something that worked so successfully, yet was so far removed from the musical output we had been associated with before starting the '12x12'. There was, however, a large dose of irony when it came to starting our club version in that we really struggled to settle on the direction in which to take it.

Because of our indecision we chose to get the guest remix sorted for the release first, before we tackled our own version. From being very familiar with Edu K’s releases over the past 4 years or so, he seemed like an ideal candidate to twist the original track into a more appealing club friendly version that still retained the vibe of the original. Upon receiving his remix there was no doubt that he had succeeded in doing that, and it also meant that we then knew we had to try a different approach stylistically if we to maintain the theme of not having two remixes on a release sounding particularly similar. The old school breaks infused remix we eventually completed seemed to strangely work with some of Serocee’s vocals, however, looking back on it now; it is perhaps a slight shame that we didn’t go for an even more jungle influenced remix!

---

Apologies for the delay in this post. Things are mighty busy in the studio at present. 

M&J

Filed under  //   12x12   HeavyFeet   In The City   Serocee   Stamp! Beats  
Posted March 9, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Distribution of free music

Media_httpimg573image_aximd

The decision to make each single available for free on each release came after many discussions with a variety of people, some of whom were industry related, some of whom were friends and DJs. The bottom line from our point of view was that we were about to embark upon a journey (sorry for the immediate cliche) where we would reveal a different musical tipped single each month for a year. As these tracks were to incorporate different musical flavours, and feature different vocalists and production techniques, and not be of one genre. We were aware that our largely house music loving audience would not necessarily want to spend their hard earned money on a HeavyFeet track, if it wasn't definitely to their specific taste, or perhaps more importantly, wouldn't fit into their own DJ set/iTunes playlist etc. 

Releasing each original mix of each single for free allowed our followers the option to download the track, decide whether they liked it or not, then either add it to their music collection, or delete it. By not asking for money for these non-club tracks, we felt, would leave our audience with a more respectful outlook of us as an artist, hopefully appreciating that this project was simply a year long process for us to grow as producers, releasing a variety of unique tracks for people to critically approve or disapprove of, whilst also servicing them with quality club versions/mixes of said tracks, that we strictly in the vein of the taste of our pre-existing fanbase. By releasing the single with a HeavyFeet Club Mix (or Club Dub, vocal use depending) and a single guest remix, we felt that had we confused a percentage of our followers with the original mix we would get them firmly back on board with our 130bpm-ish, generally 4/4, club version of the track, or the guest remix artist's take on the original.

We're very conscious of ensuring that all artists involved in our music should benefit from a release equally (as they are as involved with the music just as much as us, as producers), so we felt the format of only releasing the original mix, a HeavyFeet Club Mix and one guest remix would allow for maximum exposure for all involved. We're also very opposed to these 'super packages' we're seeing more and more of at present, where the original track is released with around 10-15 remixes. Our philosophy is this, if a track is in need of that many remixes, the original track isn't strong enough to carry itself, and a label is to attempting to distract the listener from noticing this by bombarding them with a bucket full of remixes to cover this up, on the whole. 

Making the initial decision to allow people to download the original track for free also meant, we hoped, that they'd be curious as to what the club mixes/remixes would be like of an often quite quirky original track. We have been pleasantly surprised by the increase we've seen month by month with our digital sales, and we feel that by allowing people to download a track, send to their friends or distribute through their blog, this has increased people's intrigue at what the club mixes would be like, thus boosting the number of people hitting our label and artist page on Beatport, and us seeing a steady increasing sales curve over the year long period. (Again, a big thank you to all who have helped support our music, be it financially or promotionally, during this period). 

As a publicist said to me recently; you have to be careful not to completely devalue music by giving it away for free, at the same time, if you can use it as a tool to increase your audience and reach as an artist, you should do. We agree, it's about getting that balance right.

---

STMP007

HeavyFeet ft. Rod Hotly & Kid Bliss - Last Two People
Release Date: 04.10.10

For us, 'Last Two People' was an advancement on our 5th release ('We Came To Party') in that we took the same approach to making a track with some commercial appeal, but we feel we managed to complete the release, with the vocalists we had on board, to a higher degree of success. That's not to say we feel this release is better than our 5th, merely that we think we got closer to the target we set out for it! Whilst we were extremely happy with the outcome of 'We Came To Party', the vibe of Kovas' vocals gave more of a party/club/hip hop slant to the track, whereas on 'Last Two People' any similar vibes were limited to Kid Bliss' guest 16 and middle 8 rather then being laced throughout the track, and the main vocal hook from The Real Dolls' Rod Hotly was a pretty hype, catchy set of lines. 

We first came across The Real Dolls through listening to BBC Introducing Manchester (every Sunday night from 10pm). We contacted their production team, who linked us with their management, and we went through the motions to get their lead vocalist involved in our 12x12 project. Initially, there were no plans to have Kid Bliss feature on the track. However, we had made the instrumental in the same period we created 'We Came To Party' and a commercially influenced track was always our intention for it. Once Rod Hotly had delivered us the hook we realised there was some space to play around with the arrangement and incorporate a second vocalist. Kid Bliss is an artist we discovered through Mistajam's website (who had featured his brilliant mixtape, Autopilot), and he delivered us the perfect complimentary vocals for the track. They definitely added the extra dimension we desired as well as managing to play up to the cheeky commercial style of the track.

For our club mix we had a similar situation to many that we've done in that we knew large parts of the vocal could not really be used if we were to turn the original into a credible track we could play every set. Fortunately, there's a wicked synth part in the original that we based our remix around, which with some added keys and the rolling beats and bassline, gave us a quality big room house tune. It is definitely one of our favourite, most well-executed remixes of the entire project. As for remixes from other artists, we sincerely hoped that the vocal and parts would have enough appeal to others for us to get two remix artists on board for the first time. They fortunately did, and DCUP (yes, of 'We No Speak Americano' fame) and Two Fresh turned in two very different (and exceptional!) remixes that complimented our ethos for the project of not really caring about the genre of music we release as long as it is of the highest quality, and we love it. We do enjoy blasting DCUP's remix when the sun is shining, but haven't really been able to give it a huge amount of support in our DJ sets due to the style and tempo (not to detract from its quality though), whilst the Two Fresh remix has become a staple track towards the end of sets.

---

Thanks again for reading. More information cometh next week! 

M&J

 

Filed under  //   12x12   Stamp! Beats   free music distribution  
Posted February 17, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Studio Ventures

Media_httpimg573image_kgtfc

Through our manager we had met Stefan Kazassoglou, director of Binary Cell in Liverpool, at some point during 2010. Upon our first trip to the building the studios are housed in, it was pretty clear to us that we had to do some work their with Stefan. Binary Cell's studio floor is comprised of 5 studios (one of which is for video editing only), a large live room and a roomy vocal booth, so the set-up was more than ideal to use for recording with vocalists we didn't know personally, as Binary Cell allowed us a certain degree of professionalism over our personal studio, which is only a one room affair. Whilst we have recorded many vocals in our studio over the '12x12' project (Bubbz, Jenna G, Jon Rice x2 and Mad Rush), Binary Cell offers a certain wow factor, as well as a skilled (recording) engineer who would be able to operate the studio in a much more time efficient manner than ourselves (largely as it is their day-to-day working environment).

Media_httpimg842image_ajgfp
(Screen bank in the Octagon studio, Binary Cell)

Stefan worked with us on the recording session on 'Are You Dumb?' (ft. Miski) and we built a great rapport with him over the session, which has since seen us collaborate with him on a couple of projects. We DJ'd at Binary Cell as part of the Liverpool Biennial festivities (late 2010) in one of the building's performance spaces. This wasn't just any old gig however, this was next level HeavyFeet (!), with us playing on a 5.1 surround sound system. Stefan has many magical gizmos (hardware and software) which allow him to be able to sweep frequency bands of audio around the six speaker stacks, creating a soundscape that is fairly unimaginable until you stand in the middle of the 5.1 set-up and hear it properly. We also had Mad Rush to hand for this show and Stefan was again able to take his (mono signal) vocal output and bounce that around the various speakers, adding to the atmospherics of the event.

In addition, Stefan worked on a 5.1 surround sound mix of 'Are You Dumb?' for us, which can be downloaded below. Please note, unless you have a correctly configured 5.1 audio system, this wma file will not play as it is intended to play, so if you only have stereo desktop speakers for example, you will not be able to hear the audio's movement and the full effect of the surround mix. If you do have a correctly configured 5.1 gaming system or home cinema system however, feel free to download Stefan's 5.1 version here. If you would like a higher quality wav file, just reply to this post or contact us through Twitter or Facebook.

---

STMP006

Media_httpimg232image_cdlbj

 

HeavyFeet ft. Miski - Are You Dumb?
Stamp! Beats
Release Date: 06.09.10

We first came across Miski through hearing her track ‘Lady Noisy’ on DJ Target’s 1xtra show which led to discussing the option of her voicing a single for the 12x12 project. After having released ‘War’ (ft. Jenna G) we were keen to complete a second single for the project that also had its roots in the club but crossed over into the realms of radio playability and was vocally strong enough and full enough to be listened to outside the club. Miski wrote two lengthy rapped verses over the beat as well as a sung hook for the chorus simply which added a great new additional dimension to the track. When it came to recording the vocals for 'Are You Dumb?' at Binary Cell, Miski adapted to the recording environment extremely well and delivered the vocals in a minimum of takes, considering the length of the verses, with the quality of the resulting stems enabling us to place them on the track with minimum editing, allowing a natural flow to the vocals.

The club mix we produced for this single was, to be honest, far from the best selling club mix we’ve released over the project. However, we had agreed at the beginning of the project that whilst we would always at least try and get a house-type remix done of each single, it wouldn’t always be HeavyFeet that provided that, thus enabling us to be a bit more experimental with our club output on occasions. It would be fair to say that we are not the most accomplished of producers when it comes to 140bpm bracket but had we not done the remix in the style we did there would have been no benchmark or ambition to go on and produce Mad Rush’s ‘Vs Up’ in such manner, which went on to be a very successful single for us. Also, we felt the original 'Are You Dumb?' instrumental parts and vocal would not lend themselves to a house mix particularly well.

As for the remix, there is very little to be said other than Dre Skull absolutely murdered it! As such a prolific and varied producer we were excited to have him on board for the project, and had zero idea of what would be returned to us come deadline day. Suffice to say, it was suitably mind-blowing and is definitely the most leftfield track we’ve released throughout the project.

---
Our apologies this week's blog is a few days late. It's been a pretty hectic few days here and HeavyFeet HQ. Tune in next week (hopefully Monday!) for more...

M&J

Filed under  //   Binary Cell   Dre Skull   HeavyFeet   Stamp! Beats  
Posted February 10, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

HeavyFeet ft. Jon Rice - Raise a Glass (free download)

Media_httpimg23images_gxorf

HeavyFeet ft. Jon Rice - Raise a Glass
(Original, Club Mix, Q45 Remix, Diesler Remix)
Stamp! Beats - Release Date: 07.02.11


As the penultimate release of HeavyFeet's '12 singles over 12 months' project powers into view, delivering yet another wonderfully diverse musical package from the Mancunian production outfit, what better way for the duo to celebrate than by inviting Jon Rice (of HeavyFeet's 4th single, 'Saving Me') back to the vocal booth.

'Raise a Glass' is a contemporary take on the classic Chicago house sound that HeavyFeet have always sought inspiration from, and includes bumping bass, skippy beats, uplifting synth chords and hooky vocals. Taking these elements one step further, and drawing influence from the 2 Bears (Raf Daddy & Joe Goddard from Hot Chip), HeavyFeet open the track up with a simple club beat and then lead into a suitably developed song, letting epic synths sweep into the chorus section alongside Jon’s deeper lyrical side, giving the breakdown a lovely hands-in-the-air moment to what is an otherwise rather vocally sparse, club influenced number.

HeavyFeet's Club Mix takes the house vibes up to a peak time level, reaching for loud, tribal percussion, a deep rolling sub line, select vocal snippets and subtle strings, dropping a main room friendly house track with all the right components to keep the dancefloor full. Australia's Q45 ramps things up with an all out 90's-tinged house affair, manipulating the original chord stabs and morphing vocal cuts amongst a ravey bass and classic drum machine style beats. Diesler rounds off the package with slow burner of a broken beat re-rub, choosing heavy Latin-influenced drums and a deep, pulsating bass to create an astoundingly intense build up, which conjures up a chaotic yet soulful take on the original.

With growing UK radio support from BBC Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, the Asian Network, XFM, Kiss and Galaxy in the UK, HeavyFeet are already well amidst a global Stamp! Beats takeover, with regular and additional radio support from the Ukraine, Poland, Estonia and Australia. They embark on their debut Australia tour in April 2011, and plans are afoot for a US tour just after the ‘12 singles over 12 months’ project draws to a close.

Since April 2010, Stamp! Beats has been offering an original HeavyFeet vocal track, club friendly mix and guest remix. The original of each monthly release will be given away for FREE through a variety of online resources, encouraging fans to download, feedback on and share HeavyFeet's new and exciting material. The importance of artist-to-audience communication, high quality production and regular output in this new digital era is paramount. The concept is simple; avoid the traditional album format and allow fans more regular access to fresh musical offerings and exciting club friendly remixes.

DJ support from the likes of Tom Findlay (Groove Armada), Zed Bias, Lars Moston, Black Noise/Aquasky and Act Yo Age on this release.

Check out the mini-mix of the 'Raise a Glass' release: 

 

Free download (320kps mp3) of 'Raise a Glass' here: 


Grab the Club Mix, Q45 & Diesler remixes here:

 Beatport

 

Filed under  //   Diesler   Free Download   HeavyFeet   Jon Rice   Q45   Remix   Stamp! Beats  
Posted February 7, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Media Interest

Media_httpimg573image_hmegb

It's going to be hard to not make this appear like a name dropping exercise, but we wanted to mention how the media reacted to the '12x12' project over the initial few months of it going live. The music magazines (namely Mixmag, DJ, iDJ) we service the singles to were initially quite good at picking up on the releases and reviewing them and despite us not really getting much coverage in terms of column inches on STMP001 (ft. Virus Syndicate), we were rewarded with a 'Killer of the Month' feature in DJ Mag for STMP002 (ft. Jenna G), and as we moved through the release schedule we begun to see regular reviews (a few of these that we have scanned are available to see on our new 'Biog/Press' tab on the heavyfeetmusic.com homepage). As the releases picked up and we got the hang of which journalists at which magazines like what, we were able to target people a bit more specifically, which we feel certainly helped confirming reviews. Comparing this situation to being a DJ, there's nothing worse than being carpet bombed with every promo from a label. We'd much rather receive music that the label owner thinks we're going to dig and support, generally with a personal note attached stating this, than receiving every release and having to sift our way through them to find one decent track. It's a similar idea, once you know a person's tastes, be personal and don't spam them with so much music that they're overwhelmed. It'll just increase your chances of them sweeping your CDs into the nearest bin upon arrival.

Throughout the '12x'12 project we'd been keeping a pretty close eye on our radio airplay, and whilst this would often require us to scour various tracklists across multiple websites each week. We were genuinely quite surprised at the support we begun to receive however. Our radio airplay had gone up (looking at it from a year on year basis) on BBC Radio 1 (Kissy Sellout, Judge Jules, Annie Nightingale), BBC 1Xtra (DJ Target, Mistajam), BBC Asian Network (who off the back of them supporting a few singles, asked us to do them a guestmix), Galaxy (now Capital, we continue to receive their support), Kiss and BBC Manchester, who deserve a special mention as they have, to date, supported every release from the '12x12' project on their weekly BBC Introducing show. Considering we were not using a radio plugger or PR company with radio contacts, we felt pretty positive about this airplay increase.

Additionally, The BBC also recognised our increase in airplay and offered us a BBC artist page, which again, was a nice gesture to receive around the halfway point of the project. Separately the BBC also ran a piece on the progression of the project in October 2010, shortly after we'd delivered our case study of HeavyFeet/Stamp! Beats's development of the '12x12' working model at the In The City music conference in Manchester. We noted an increase in licensing opportunities also, and had interest from Sony (Australia) for tracks from STMP001 and STMP003, on two separate mix compilations. Whilst neither of the tracks made the final tracklists (this isn't uncommon, most artists compiling such compilations get the label to clear about 50 tracks so they have a decent number of tracks to pick from when programming the mix...), it was great to see that our efforts in promoting our music through all mediums available to us was reaching a worldwide audience. 

For people's interest, there will be a final round-up of all press coverage (both physical media and online) in a later blog post. 
---

STMP005

Media_httpimg43images_aqfug

 

HeavyFeet ft. Kovas - We Came To Party
Stamp! Beats
Release Date: 02.08.10

'We Came To Party' was one of the first beats we constructed in the summer or autumn of 2009 when we first toyed with the idea of setting up Stamp! Beats. As we'd often discussed making beats or tracks with a commercial sound, not necessarily for commercial exploitation but more because we're both heavily influenced by what we hear on daytime radio, the basis for the track was born through that. So, with some nicely verging-on-the-side-of-cheese chords we initially set about rinsing the synths through all the hardware in the studio till they came out the other side twisted beyond all recognition, then did the same with the drums, and managed to finally concoct the first vaguely commercial track for a HeavyFeet release. 

For vocals, Kovas seemed the perfect choice for us. We'd wanted quite an obvious and familiar sounding vocalist who could deliver some wonderfully standard Americanised lines (no disrespect intended!) similar to those heard in the charts. He managed that perfectly, although we did choose to get Hannah T (of 'Just Fall' fame) to double up on the chorus at the last minute to give the whole track that extra dimension in the chorus, and lift the necessary sections.

When it came to remixing 'We Came To Party' we knew that a considerably more underground and less divisive version would be required from us. By taking some choice parts of the vocal we managed to give them an entirely different meaning and effect within the track, on what was essentially an original club tune. The club mix we released was certainly a manifestation of our growing forays into producing house music for the main room, and we managed to sort out a remix from Tom Stephan that complemented ours with a very similar playability, whilst his version took on a much darker persona. We'd received support from Tom on a few of the remixes we'd completed early in 2010 and were very chuffed indeed when he agreed to be part of the '12x12' project. For us to have an artist remix one of our tracks who made tunes we had grown up to in the clubs was rather special! The only downside in the entire release was that Tom wasn't able to deliver us the remix in time for us to send it out (he's a busy man) with the first wave of the promotional campaign, this was however, the only real hiccup we had in the entire project when it came to actually putting the music out there, which we feel is quite an achievement.
---

Check out blog instalment number six next week! 

M&J

Filed under  //   12x12   BBC 1 Xtra   BBC Asian Network   BBC Manchester   BBC Radio 1   HeavyFeet   Stamp! Beats  
Posted February 1, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Mastering

Media_httpimg573image_yfrhu

When you have created, produced and mixed a track, we're largely of the opinion that you cannot objectively complete the final stages of the track's creation, as your head and ears are too involved in the track, and your head and ears will struggle to make objective decisions on the final necessary tweaks to the stereo pre-master file. A mastering engineer who's job is to provide such objectivity on a daily basis to all types of music, via a pair of £20k speakers and equal quality ears, we feel, is money well spent. Our first EP we feel of real note, The Sasquatch EP (Passenger Records), was released in Summer 2000 and mastered by Shane at Heathmans (now Finyl Tweek). The difference we heard between our (pre-master level) mixdowns was massive. We'd never really heard such a transformation between pre-masters and masters before.

From hearing these masters, we began to consciously check out who's music around us had a certain shine that we loved listening to. Whilst working with friends and fellow Passenger artists, The Body Snatchers (Baobinga & Ginz) on our 'We Here' (ft. Yolanda) remix, we got to hear their debut album, and were pretty astounded by the quality of the finished product. After speaking to the guys we soon realised that we wanted to speak to the mastering engineer who had provided the final sparkle to the album. This is when we begun communications with Kevin at Wired Masters, London. Once initial thoughts were communicated on what we were looking for, we spent a couple of days going back and forwards, getting the first release finalised. As mastering was far from our area of expertise, a few things had to be explained to us that weren’t possible to be done at the mastering stage, and once clear in our minds that certain 'huge' block waves were generally created at mixdown stage and not mastering, and that infact, we most probably didn't want this type of master, we were all good. The slightly overdriven 'hot' sound has become vital to our sound, and we feel we'd largely be unsatisfied with masters from somebody who didn't use without hardware to master our tracks now.
---

STMP004

Media_httpimg683image_yepbm

HeavyFeet ft. Jon Rice - Saving Me
Stamp! Beats 
Release Date: 06.07.10


Jon Rice has recorded with us on several occasions, and is no stranger to our studio setup and the way we work. Whilst only one of us was present for the session that led to 'Saving Me', it was the most fun and relaxed recording session out of any we have conducted with Jon, and the casual vibe Jon carries with him most definitely comes through in his vocals! Previous experiments with him voicing our tracks had led us down a dead-end, with us concluding that his rather delicate tone and vocal timbre would need working around carefully to allow them to sit on a track in the right manner. The broken beat styling of 'Saving Me', with an acoustic focus, gave us a great foundation for a single that wouldn't overpower Jon's vocal, but we then had the challenge of producing the track so it would stand up against those produced by much more experienced and accomplished artists. Fortunately, after lots of painstaking and precise engineering we had an end product which we were proud of; a mostly personal achievement for our efforts in creating a balance between the musical influences of ourselves and Jon.


Upon embarking on our club mix of 'Saving Me' we felt that the nonchalant vibe of the track might not be to everyone's taste, and so opted to create something much tougher and darker. We loved our club mix at the time, although looking back it seems we far from managed to capture the feeling of the original in the club mix, which has taught us the valuable lesson of using the vocals and other important parts of a good track when attempting to remix it, after all it is those parts that usually make the listener like a track in the first place. 

Having worked out an agreement with the Black Noise lads for the remix, we were eagerly anticipating their email with their interpretation of 'Saving Me'. We're hugely respectful of how capable they are as producers but had slight reservations as to how the vocal, coupled with the instrumentation we had selected for the original, would fit with their sound. However, when the hugely fun disco house remix dropped into the inbox, any reservations went right out the window! To capture the whole vibe of the original track whilst keeping only the vocal was a massive triumph and the remix has definitely become one the most successful on the label to date.

---

Tune in next week for more bite size chunks of Stamp! Beats information/revelations. :) 

M&J

Filed under  //   HeavyFeet   Mastering   Stamp! Beats  
Posted January 25, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: Getting Started

Media_httpimg573image_czteu

After enjoying a positive start to 2010 with our remix of DJ Zinc’s 'Killa Sound' (featuring No-lay) peaking on the Beatport Electro House chart at No.6 and the vinyl selling extremely well (no doubt helped by the Skream remix being on the flip!), we were approached to remix Roisin Murphy. There were various issues once the remix was finished, so eventually it got blogged. Our version of 'Mommas Place' went on to notch up a decent amount of downloads as well as be picked up by The Times Online (thanks to Ed at B.M.B!) and supported by Toddla T, who subsequently championed it on his then new Radio 1 show. Both these remixes provided a sturdy backbone for the early months of 2010, a small profile boost with some international gigs, and demonstrated a more mature approach to HeavyFeet's output for a new year.

 

Prior to the launch of Stamp! Beats it had been decided that a new division of HeavyFeet would be founded to facilitate the important promotional needs of the label. Firmsole was created as an umbrella company and managed by Mike Kelly (our manager) with Mike HF over seeing the bulk of the PR responsibilities aided by prior experience working in this area. The areas targeted by our promotional campaign were set to physical music media, radio, club/DJ, online music media and blogs. Each area needed separate attention, and with a pre-exisiting and continually building contact base, we slowly started to penetrate these mediums with news of the label's launch and the necessary monthly Stamp! Beats release. 

---

Media_httpimg407image_cuehp

STMP002:
 
HeavyFeet ft. Jenna G - War
Stamp! Beats
Release Date: 03.05.10

To further emphasise our Manchester roots, we chose to enlist the help of the fantastic Jenna G in completing our second single on Stamp! Beats. To have the vocalists involved that we did on the first two releases was important for us in re-establishing our position in the Manchester scene and our intent to work with fellow Mancunians in a progressive and collaborative way, something which we felt was of benefit to us before collaborating with artists on a national and worldwide scale, as we would go on to do as the '12 x 12' process developed. It was important to us to build a solid local foundation and grow outwards.

The plan of Jenna voicing a track for us had come around several months prior to her coming into the studio, but at this stage of the process of writing for and recording with vocalists we were quite particular about our creations and maybe tried too hard to get a track we felt was perfect and had little or no chance of being rejected by a potential vocalist. Hence there was quite a period before we were entirely ready to move forward. Interestingly, what we'd created was released as the 'club mix' of 'War', way before the original mix had been created, so Jenna wrote and recorded to that version, which in hindsight is not something we'd ever attempt to do again or advise anyone else to try really! 


Quite what led us to start the UK garage-infused original version of 'War' we can’t remember, but we had agreed that where possible we should make some original tracks that drew influence from the club, merely twisting them into ‘radio-friendly’ pieces of music, rather than beginning each original tune in the mindset that it should not be suitable for the club at all. When it came to involving a remix artist on the single, B. Rich had recently stayed with us for a few days in Manchester, and after hearing the initial fruits from his Kastle alias, we were completely sold that this sound would really complement 'War'. We could see how well his newer, R'n’B inspired future-garage production would work with Jenna’s vocals and the chords, and the remix he produced is certainly a favourite of ours in terms of remixes we've commissioned our associates and friends to do.
---

Check in with us next Monday (17th) for instalment three of twelve...

 

M&J

Filed under  //   HeavyFeet   Stamp! Beats  
Posted January 9, 2011 by HeavyFeet 
 

Stamp! Beats: The beginning...

Media_httpimg573image_dhtkf

Happy New Year!

Every week for the next three months we will be blogging bite size excerpts of the story of Stamp! Beats and the last twelve months of our music making. We hope you find this insightful and inspirational. If anything we mention here over the next twelve weeks encourages one single person to get up and go do something new with their time/life, then this will make us very happy indeed. We are going to split up each blog post into two sections, the month by month logistics and runnings of the label, and the numbered monthly release. Happy reading!

---

Reasoning and Preparation:

After two years of operating under the HeavyFeet guise and working with third party record labels of all sizes along the way, we had reached a decision: it was time to set up our own self-managed channel for releasing our music, otherwise known, as a record label. Over the early years of HeavyFeet we had increasingly begun to crave control over our music, both creatively and financially. Having grown tired of working with labels, many of whom had sub-standard communication procedures (a pet hate of ours), the foundations of Stamp! Beats were slowly and methodically pieced together between Autumn 2009 and Spring 2010.

There was a need for self-control over our release schedule, the finances, the image and PR, and the many other bits and pieces/release additions that go with releasing music, such as guest remixes. Being aware that there was zero point in becoming just another digital label flogging another set of club tracks to a relatively small audience, artistically we decided to break the HeavyFeet mould and output the more album orientated side of our productions. We were at a point artistically where we needed a new project, to refocus our sound and image, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Musically we were tired of creating only one genre (house) and we needed to expand our creativity as producers. With this plan in our heads, we came up with the concept of releasing 12 singles over 12 months, with 12 vocalists and 12 guest remixers. We began sculpting skeleton tracks that were centred in genres that were previously thought to be out of our comfort zone and discussing our options with a range of vocalists. It was also decided that we would complete a HeavyFeet Club Mix of each single, to allow a version of each single to fit into the music collections of our pre-exisiting followers. We begun to adapt to the challenges of making new music, and the fun returned to the creative process through experimentation.
---

Media_httpimg26images_bxdca

STMP001:

HeavyFeet vs. Virus Syndicate - I Spy...
Stamp! Beats
Release Date: 05.04.10

The instrumental to what became I Spy… was the first of our musical musings and experiments we turned into a full and proper track which we deemed worthy of shaping into something further. Also, it was one of those ideas that came together in an afternoon - the simplest and quickest are usually the best! The track went off to Virus Syndicate under the premise that it would definitely differ to their expectations, however, we felt the bold statement of Virus’ brutal lyrical style and content on a HeavyFeet track would be perfect to begin shaking the mould in which we had previously worked.

 

Vocals were returned to us and once edited we began working out how we wanted the whole release to sound. We were in the process of putting the finishing touches to our remix of Zinc’s Killa Sound, and were chuffed with the result to the point where we took a vaguely similar approach to the club mix of I Spy… Also, in providing a main room-type track for our remix it meant we could skimp on vocal and provide something for those who maybe wouldn’t favour fully vocal-led club tunes. As for the guest remix, we had a couple of favours owed to us in the lead up to the label's launch, but our old friend AC Slater seemed the most appropriate artist to get on board for the first release, giving it that extra 'oomph' that is always a welcome bonus on the debut single from a new label. We knew he’d be able to provide something more upbeat and bass-heavy than we had done on our mix, but also wanted to make sure he had free reign on direction, seeing as we'd experimented on the original, we wanted those involved on guest remix duties to also be able to follow suit. As it turned out, a grime-tinged dubstep of sorts remix fitted well with the strings and vocal hook of the original perfectly and rounded off a very pleasing first release package.

---

 

Check in with us next Monday for instalment two of twelve...

 

M&J

Filed under  //   2011   HeavyFeet   Stamp! Beats  
Posted January 3, 2011 by HeavyFeet