[ home ] : [ press ] : [ in the pen ]

in the pen with nubreed
resident advisor
june 16 2003

success meaning 'attainment of wealth, fame or position', nubreed are certainly on their way to achieving all of the above and more. the australian break beat trio have been thrilling audiences world wide with their infectious, energetic sound. their individualistic sound incorporates soaring vocals, progressive breaks, raps & rhymes, drum ‘n bass and tribal tech. the success first started with the release of their first single welcome on the independent label zero tolerance. with such wide airplay on australia’s triple j, the group have now been signed to u.k. based mob records owned by one of the masters of break beat, tayo. other tracks by the group have also being signed to adam freeland’s offspring from marine parade, apex. nubreed have also had the opportunity to remix for the likes of way out west, tiesto & junkie xl and skunk anansie. but alongside their production and remixing adventures is the collaboration with phil k, titanium. the astounding set they played together in tasmania reached world acclaim when it was replayed on u.k. dance station bbc 1. titanium release's include the remix of sonic animation’s i'm afraid i think i'm human and the forthcoming pqm babe i'm gonna leave you.

(j) jase (d) danny

tony from nsw, australia asked:
when is tribal trees coming out?? have you got much more dirty fours stuff in the pipeline?

(j) It is now called basstrap and was co-produced with luke chable under our house name (dirty fours). it will be out on vapour recordings in the next few months.

also there is a track called submarine with austin leeds. also look out for a titanium breaks album with phil k, after our nubreed album is out.

lloydthemongel from nsw, australia asked:
i really hate alot of the breakbeat that is produced but you guys always seem to make the tracks that i like. they have melodies and are more songs than tracks and that is why progressive style breaks are my favourite genre of electronica. now my question is this, what other producers and dj's inspire you? and how do you go about writing your tracks? i.e. how do you get it from your head onto the computer and then into a song..

(j) i beat box a lot first and get a general idea of a drum pattern in my head for drums and baselines. the first hour in a nubreed session starts with humming baselines and singing melodies over beats. it's a funny sight when all of us are making the drum and baseline sounds with our mouths into danny’s small tape recorder.

djrobotek from nsw, australia asked:
on the supercharged track bushpig, you guys collaborated with deekline, phil k and ransom to create a wicked tune, yet it sounds like only one person actually came out with that tune, which part(s) did you actually work on for that track?

we programmed that whole record from the drums to the bass lines on everybody’s approval and input. deekline, ransom and phil’s input was crucial in making that record sound like it did. from the arrangement ideas to the engineering, mixing and choosing sounds and samples.

if one of them wasn’t in the room that record would have sounded very different. though ransom was a great diplomat in relaying deeklines ideas, since he had poor communication skills while sleeping or rolling, he he he.

lucas from vic, australia asked:
creative minds do not always see eye to eye. in the early stages of creating a track do you have reasonably equal amounts of input, or are the ideas for your tracks usually generated on an individual basis?

(j) it all depends on whether we are in the studio at the one time. a lot of the tracks on the album were created from an individual idea but nubreed tracks are always worked on together. we program, mix, record, engineer, song write and perform all our own records.

lucas from vic, australia asked:
what equipment do you use?

(j) access virus kb, super novation, logic, absynth, exs24, plug ins etc, softsynths and a truck load of samples/drum sounds.

(d) dtc compressor and a dp4 fx unit, event tria monitors and beringer 2024.


becks from resident advisor, australia asked:
how did you guys first start out?

(j) we first started out as friends with a love for music, about ten years ago. some of our first pieces of studio gear was an atari cubase 1040, roland w30 sampler, 01w keyboard and a s760 sampler.

fireSprite from qld, australia asked:
when I saw you guys play live with phil k at the moonbar here in brisbane - highlight of the year! you performed a rockin' ragga number. i'm *hugely* into this sound thanks to artists like stereotyp on kruder & dorfmeister's g-stone label, and was wondering..... is it ever going to get a release? ;)

(j) yes…our album has a few garage, dub influenced tracks. lately we have been really getting into the sounds of the bugz in the attic crew, tempa crew, oris jay, landslide, dubplate.net, horsepower etc.

djrobotek from nsw, australia asked:
what is it about playing live that you guys seem to love so much? will we ever get a chance to hear a nubreed dj set? If so, what styles would you incorporate into your set?

(j) the instant reaction to our music. the fact that we can make people dance and have a fun night. also the little keyboard and efx tricks we pull off as a group while we are playing.

yes definitely dj'ing is on the cards. we supply a lot of other dj’s with tunes and put them onto a lot of bomb records for their sets…..hey why not play them ourselves. we have enough tunes to play all styles according to the specific night, but we love them broken beats. anything with a bit of funk.

jeremyj from qld, australia asked:
who are your favourite producers?

phil k, andy page, kevin beber, the neptunes, timbaland, dr dre, just blaze, fresh (bc), tipper, si begg.

backindauk from nsw, australia asked:
what are your views on analog/analog modelling equipment for the creation of those 'fat' sounds. i have heard virus-like sounds in many of your tracks (access virus) which are cool, and in what order do you put together a track? collect samples? arrange? compess drums/bassline etc..

(d) analogue modelling is cool if you can get your hands on different synths, mix sounds together and see what comes from that. i haven’t heard many synths that are as fat as a real prophet. although there are copies that sound good.

the main thing with analogue modelling is that you can explore sound shaping and create sounds that are your own thing. there are soft synths that are just as much fun, which captures the same essence of analogue modelling.

tracks are put together in many different ways. it all depends on the track. sometimes it may start with a beat, sample, bass line. the order doesn’t matter. it always changes from song to song.

lucas from vic, australia asked:
can you describe your production process?

(j) it all depends on how we are feeling. sometimes it can start from the drums, bass lines or chords, or even a sample that is in a nice key that can determine the mood or tempo of a track.

  credits

reproduced without permission from the resident advisor website. the original article is here.

© copyright 2003 gavin stok. all rights reserved.