In advance of the release of House Masters Spen & Karizma, DJ Spen treats us to some of his fondest memories about working on the tracks on the compilation, including what he considers to be some of his favourite productions of all time, as well as working with some of the most talented session musicians in the game.
Click here to read Karizma’s House Masters tracknotes
Cajmere & Dajae 'Brighter Days' (Karizma & DJ Spen Deepah Dub Mix)
Cajual approached us to do DJ Spen & MuthaFunkaz remixes on ‘Brighter Days’ (one of my all time favorite dance tracks). I decided to ask Karizma at the last minute to see if he would be into doing a Deepah Ones version as well and he said YES! The rest is history!
Warren Clarke featuring Kathy Brown 'Over You' (Spen & Karizma Club Mix)
All I can remember about this track was working with Karizma at Basement Boys with a guitar player by the name of Skip Dorsey, who had done a ton of work with Britney Spears on one of her tours. The work he did on this track was excellent.
M.A.S Collective featuring Judy Peterson 'Release Your Mind' (Spen & Karizma Remix - 2011 Edit)
I remember engineering this track on a D8B. I also remember not wanting to engineer it; didn't think I was ready to handle such a great song and was worried that I would mess up. Karizma pushed me to do it and it came out ok. The Deepah Dub was fun to do as well. Kris and I did loads of those on the fly, with one take. Some were good, some were bad but this is one of the best!
Next Phase 'Piece Of Mind' (Basement Boys Vocal Mix)
We did this at Basement Boys. It was one of those sessions where we worked on a song for so long that we started making up our own words to it. The hook is "I need a Piece Of, Piece Of Mind"...after hours of working, Karizma and I started singing...."I need a Piece of Pizza Pie"....guess we got hungry
DJ Fudge 'Mechouga' (Spen & Karizma Remix)
Karizma and I had not worked together in the studio for almost seven years when we got together to do this remix. It was fun getting back together with him and seeing how much we both had grown in different areas.
Elements of Life feat. Lisa Fischer 'Love Will Know' (Spen & Karizma Remix)
When Louie asked us to remix this project, I was excited. Thing is I knew it would be a challenge because of the complexity of the Lisa's vocals. We got together with MuthaFunkaz keyboardist Gary Hudgins and ended up with musical arrangements that worked really well with the song, but still maintained the funk!!
Rhythmcentric 'New School Fusion' (Basement Boys Main Mix)
When Karizma and I were approached to do this track we jumped at it. It wasn't a typical song that had to have keys that fit or anything that confined us to staying in a box. So we just combined a lot of what we loved about everything at the time...samples, music, killer drums etc. It truly represents who we are as Deepah Ones.
DJ Spen Presents DJ Technic 'Gabryelle' (Original Mix)
Technic was playing a party here in Baltimore when I heard him play the original demo version of Gabryelle. I immediately called him and signed the track to Code Red, which at the time was not even a label. After getting together with Gary Hudge and Irvin Madden to create the MuthaFunkaz, we reworked his idea into what is now a dance classic that I am really proud of.
Jasper Street Company 'A Feelin' (Paradox Vocal Mix)
This song was my first ever production at Basement Boys. If anything, I see how much I have grown since from then, but i still love this record.
ATFC featuring Lisa Millett 'Bad Habit' (Spen & Karizma Main Vocal)
Bad Habit was already a big record when we remixed it. When we finally got our heads around the fact that we were really remixing it, Karizma and I knew exactly where we wanted to go and went there. We had loads of fun working it.
Jasper St Company 'God Helps Those' (Spen & Karizma Vocal 2011 Re-Edit)
I did this track with my boy Josane at Basement Boys studios. I remember Teddy Douglas and Gary Hudgins already had this track sitting around that wasn't being used for anything. Joasne and I came up with the gist of the song, but Teddy helped in a big way with finalizing the hook. When we called in Fruity, Vonite White, and Martin Wilson (the original Jasper Street Co. vocalist) to do the vocals, it was all over! Without a doubt one of my favourite productions ever.
DJ Spen 'Craze At Midnight' (Spen’s Live CDJ1000 Mix)
Craze is one of those tracks that I did in about an hour, thinking it would never see the light of day. Somehow this track ended up defining who DJ Spen is to a load of people. Unreal!
