Reworking a track of the calibre of Youandewan's startlingly beautiful '1988' is always going to be a tricky prospect for any producer, but if anyone was going to be up to the challenge, it was Freerange boss Jimpster. He has, typically, absolutely nailed it, creating a firm favourite with everyone at the Defected offices. Youandewan himself was similarly impressed, so much so in fact that he had a few choice questions he wanted to aim in Jimpster’s general direction. We were only too happy to oblige...
Youandewan: Thank you for a great remix Jamie. You’ve turned the original on its head and completely made it your own. What stands out for me is the way you have managed to make a track very much with a personal seal on it, despite only working from loops as the original song file had been lost! Firstly, how much of a challenge was that?
Jimpster: Thanks mate and really happy you like it. Yeah, working with only a stereo track has its limitations, but then it’s a very minimal piece anyway and you were kind enough to put loads of breakdowns in the arrangement! The tricky bit was finding a general direction because I tried several attempts at some straight up deep house grooves and couldn’t get it sounding right with the guitar from the original. I finally settled on the more ‘balearic’ nu-disco kind of thing which suits your main hook better.
Y: Can you tell me a little about the things that went through your head when listening to the track and then the loops... how long did it take for an idea to form in your head?
J: When you sent me the original over I was instantly grabbed by how distinctive and hooky the track is. Dance music is awash with similar sounding tracks these days with no real redeeming or distinguishable features, so that’s always a good start when taking on a remix. I knew that whatever direction the remix took there was going to be that strong melodic hook to latch onto and provide the focal point. I think I spent a couple of days trying things and then scrapping them until I hit on the direction the track would take but as soon as that stuck then I had a clear idea of how to build up the track by starting with the drums and bass, then adding your original guitar loops then finally all the extra fx and icing on the cake.
Y: You use just snippets of the hook in the build of the track, accompanied with your own additional programming. Then you let the original hook play out at the break and then it all comes back together really rather impressively. Was this your initial intention or just a bit of trial and error?
J: Well, being a sucker for a big breakdown I knew it would work nicely playing the whole section at some point in the arrangement, but that the impact would probably be less if it happened more than once or if it played at all before the breakdown. The obvious way to introduce the guitar melodies but without overdoing was to just cut up the sections more and introduce them slowly as the track develops. I did have the breakdown section in place even before I had arranged the track properly so I guess I sort of worked backwards a bit to try and build the track up to that point.
Y: It sounds a little outside your normal aesthetic and some commenters on YouTube seem to agree. Is this a conscious thing and indicative of a stylistic shift for you, or do remixes just tend to come out slightly different to your own originals?
J: Not really a stylistic shift, just finding something that works well with the parts from the original. All the more deep house grooves I originally set up around the parts sounded a bit whack. I think your more techy beats work great with it but as soon as it goes deeper or more kind of soulful it didn’t work. I’ve done a few remixes which are more along the lines of this one – Joris Voorn’s ‘The Deep’ for example – with a bit more of a fizzy, synthy Italo vibe. I often try and include more stuff like this in my sets, and especially with the release date being at the start of summer it’s a great one for outdoor terrace parties etc.
Y: Nerd wise - where and with what equipment/software did you use to create the mix? Also with it being so intricate, did it take some time to get the finished product together?
J: I have my studio in my garage at home which is where I do all my production stuff. Sometimes I get initial ideas together on my laptop whilst traveling around with gigs but not in this case. I use Logic to sample and sequence everything and mix inside Logic too. I’d just bought the PPG software plug-in which is where the big stab sound is from and I think I used that for a couple of the other parts too. I guess I spent a fair while getting everything right in the mix but also, like most producers these days, you kind of mix things as you’re going along, so I normally try and play things out in a club a couple of times to check there’s nothing major wrong with them and then just do a few final tweaks before it’s finished. The first version I sent had the big chord stab happening quite a few more times but the general consensus was that I should reign it back a bit so it only happens a couple of times. I think that was a good suggestion.
Y: With your version having a balmy and somewhat Balearic vibe, did you bear the forthcoming season in mind before starting out?
J: Yeah, I did actually. Obviously, when I’m making a remix I consider that I’m going to be wanting to play this out in the coming months so I definitely had an outdoor, summer vibe thing going on in my mind. Also, having been blown away by the latest Todd Terje release on Running Back, I guess that was an influence too, although his thing is tons deeper and just f**king brilliant. I’m happy with how it turned out though and have already been sent some great clips of people such as Ralph Lawson dropping it at outdoor parties and the crowds loving it so I hope it goes down well!
