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House is a Feeling

Audiowhores are the acclaimed and world renowned UK house music duo of Graham Lord and Adam Unsworth. Their high-quality production and remix work for labels including Defected, Soulfuric, Peppermint Jam and MN2S has positioned them at the forefront of the UK's house scene.  Similarly, they have become known for their versatile and technically-brilliant DJ sets, incorporating everything from deep and soulful sounds to tougher and techier beats.

This has been busier than ever for the boys; they launched their label Audiowhores Music, having been gigging everywhere from Ibiza to Estonia, and are now rounding off the year with a string of releases. We caught up with the boys to find out how they fit it all in…

You guys have been pretty busy recently! Let’s start with the recent single with Haze ‘Prescription’…tell us a bit about it...

Graham: It’s our second collaboration with Haze (the first one being ‘Stay’ which came out on Defected last year).  We love working with Haze; his simple and hooky ideas always work really well with our music. We sent him the instrumental demo a few months back and he sent some great hooks for us to work with. We produced the main Club Mix off the back of that. Haze has done two wicked mixes too; really loving his Anthem mix!
 

You mention you’ve worked with Haze before – as have many of your contemporaries. What makes him such a desirable vocalist for dance acts to collaborate with?

G: If you look at his previous work (Changes / Stay / Freak for example) they’re all great tracks; people just want to work with him.  I think it’s great he’s kept himself quite exclusive to a few artists (us, Sandy Rivera, Danism, Nic Fanculii).  What makes him desirable? Hmmmm, unique voice, top hooks and great melodies!

Adam: Haze is passionate about house music and he produces as well, so he’s one step ahead.  He understands what works and what doesn’t – top man!

Haze

Now onto your forthcoming single on Defected ‘Connected’...what’s this one all about?

G: It’s our third single on Defected, which we’re really chuffed about!  It started life as an instrumental which we sent to Simon Dunmore. He really liked it but felt it needed a strong song on it.  Simon sent it to Ann Saunderson (Inner City) and Ann did an amazing job!  We really love what she’s done - we’re hoping to start another project with her very soon.

Ann Saunderson has worked on some pretty impressive projects, Inner City and Octave One not least among them. What was it like working with her?

A: It’s been great working with Ann.  She’s based in the States and we’re in the UK, so the project was developed via email.  Ann has been extremely quick to respond to our comments and suggestions and she sent updated versions and ideas several times a day.  That way we heard the song as it unfolded…..kind of felt like we were in the studio with her at times, even though we were on opposite sides of the pond!

How does the relationship between the two of you work in the studio? Do you all do a bit of everything or do you each have your own forte?

G: I’m pretty much hands on in the studio, creating the beats, working some keys and bass around them. Adam is a lot better at hearing and seeing the bigger picture. He works on the arrangement and the overall ‘feel’ of the track.

A: Yeah, G is a maestro when it comes to engineering and getting ideas down and his technical knowledge is amazing.  I tend to take a step back from the controls and focus on the direction, sounds, melodies and arrangements.  Seems to work well for us…..I think!

Have you ever had a major disagreement about how you see a track developing?

G: Not really no, there’s always compromise where we are concerned.

A: I disagree!!  Only joking, obviously music is very subjective and so course, our opinions differ on occasion, but if one of us feels strongly about something then we tend to make a compromise.   It’s the only way to work.

Audiowhores

You’ve also got a mix compilation coming out, with a few specially made re-edits on it. Tell us about it…

A: This year was our 10th birthday and so we thought it would be nice to put a comp together.  Believe it or not, it’s the first one we’ve done so we were determined to make something a little different!  We wanted to include some of our favourite tracks from the past, but at the same time we wanted it to be fresh and not just ‘another classics mix’.  We produced some exclusive tracks to set it apart from the rest and I think we’ve struck the balance well!  It’s called “House Is A Feeling” which says it all!

G: We wanted to make this compilation quite special with it being first commercial compilation we’ve done.  So we remixed a couple of tracks; Julie McKnight ‘Home’ and Kathy Brown ‘Don't Give Up’ as well as some re-edits of our own tracks and a new track of ours called Balearica. Really happy with them all! 

How did you put the mix together? What hard/software did you use?

A: The comp came together in conjunction with Defected, so the first thing we needed to do was listen through the vast Defected (and sub-label) catalogue which has worldwide licensing…what a task!  The concept was to separate the comp over two mixes; Early Doors, which is more laid back and includes some older tracks, and Late Night Floors which is more upfront, main room tackle.  We dropped all the shortlisted tracks into Ableton and then started playing around with the arrangement until it gelled.  We’ve been working on it all summer and it’s been a real labour of love…it’s been great fun, and hopefully people will hear that in the finished article!

How much time do you spend in the studio in an average week?

G: Adam works full time as an Account Manager and I work part time for Apple, so we only get in the studio two to three days a week. It’s certainly a juggling act with us both having family commitments too, but all good fun!  We’ve just had our 10th birthday party in Manchester which was amazing and we still love house music as much as we did 10 years ago. Looking forward to touring South East Asia again and starting some new tracks!

A: Yeah, it’s very tricky to squeeze everything in but we’re in it for the love.  Put it this way; I have very understanding missus and I know Graham would say the same!

What’s the plan for the rest of the year?

G: We’ve just started the ball rolling on a new track with Radhika. Also we’re very excited about working with a singer from New Jersey that we just found, I’m in the studio working on that at the moment. Very much looking forward to the Defected In The House event we have in Tallin, Estonia on the weekend of my birthday! I’m sure that will be messy indeed!

A: We’re also looking at a follow up single with Ann Saunderson which we’re really up for.  Other than that, we’re really looking forward to more touring off the back of our recent productions…gigs are the icing on the cake and it’s the bit we look forward to most, so we really make the most of every booking.  Bring ‘em on!

Audiowhores & Haze 'Prescription' is out now on Audiowhores Music

Audiowhores present House is a Feeling is out 6th December