All of these tunes were recorded while I was working at The Dairy Studios in Brixton:
Track 1 'Promote Violence' - Face aka Black Piranha (myspace.com/blackpiranha)
This is the first of about 15 tracks I recorded when I was working at The Dairy. I went down to mix one of mine and Coco's tunes and Face was booked in the studio after me. I'd already worked with So Solid back in the day so we got chatting and I agreed to engineer for him. At the end of the session I gave him two beats and the next day he came back with this so we recorded it there and then! Mad impressed!
Track 2 'Hey' - Lifford
(myspace.com/lifforddavid)
I had wanted to work with Lifford since I heard 'Please Don't Turn Me On' with Artful Dodger, mainly cos he's got a boom voice! (Big up Emily T @ The Dairy for the linkup!) If I remember correctly this one happened on the same day that Face did 'Promote Violence' (a good day eh? lol). He came down and wrote the hook and a few other little bits and then came back the next time we were both free to drop the verses.
Track 3 'Do Me Good' - Lifford
(myspace.com/lifforddavid)
I took about a week out to make a load of new beats and knew straight away that I wanted Liff to blast on this one! I played it to him, he wrote to it and we recorded it late one night. To be totally honest I don't even remember it now but I love the tune!
Track 4...
Soon come! lol
A Bit About Big D...
I have been involved with music since my dad put a guitar in my hands when i was about 5. He taught me to play 'the animals went in 2 by 2' and since then I've found it difficult to stop. When I was 12 one of my friends bought an air rifle to go shooting in the fields near his house so I asked my parents if I could have one for my birthday. My mum disapproved of the whole gun thing and talked me into having an electric guitar instead because my cousin had just got one. I got an amp for Christmas and within a year I was in my first band. Big shout to "Fita" (drums) and 'Superchunk Indie Dunc' (rhythm guitar and vocal snippets). We didn't have a name and we 'rehearsed' in the dining room of my parents council house after school whenever we got the chance (god bless the good old coucil estate mentality. We didn't get a single complaint!). 'I'm a singer in a Rock n Roll Band' was our biggest achievment (a song stolen from a brief encounter with a band called charisma, but that's a whole other story) but with hindsight there's a very good reason why you've never heard it!
Throughout grammar school I continued to Jam with Fita and various other musicians, including Tom Lyons (son of Leo Lyons, former bassist with Alvin Lee) but it all turned out a bit like 'summer of 69'. After my A-Levels (maths, physics and german if you're interested!) I attended the School of Audio Engineering in Islington and after 18 months obtained a diploma in sound engineering. After about 6 months of walking the streets of London with a record bag full of CV's I landed a job at a studio in Camden called 'Falconer'. My initial plan was to try and meet musicians to form a band with but I fell in love with working in a studio and dreams of being a pop star were put on hold!
After about 3 months of setting up mic stands and making endless cups of tea I finally landed my first session and progressed from studio assistant to engineer. After about 3 years I became chief engineer and when the studio manager left I accepted his position. This consisted mostly of answering the phones, general admin and carrying out the orders of the studio owner to the letter with the odd session when I got the time. Not exactly ideal for a creative person! I figured that working in a bank would be equally soul destroying but the money would be better. I didn't want to work in a bank and I was fed up with having a partially destroyed soul so with trepidation I decided to go freelance and began honing my production skills. I have to give a massive shout to everyone at Soul 11 Soul studios in Camden because without them I probably would have ended up behind a desk somewhere (and I don't mean a mixing desk!). I worked as much as I could in as many different studios as possible and met loads of really interesting people and I owe a big shout to everyone who's influenced and shaped my sound and musical style over the years. peace.
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