Congratulations on your new remix of Anakim & Dark Heart’s ‘Seconds Away’! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this remix?
Thank you! When Anakim & Dark Heart reached out to us with the remix offer, we were already primed to say yes – but hearing that amazing vocal from Frýnn sealed it! We wanted to create something that had a different feel than the original and so we went in a more melodic direction, bringing in influences from 2010s Trance and Progressive House – sounds that were our first introduction to electronic music. This one was a pleasure to work on, one of those lucky instances where the track came together quickly once we locked in that lead melody.
You’ve been in the industry for quite a while now. How would you say your sound and style have changed over the years?
We used to lean more heavily into Progressive House and Deep House. When the two of us met in college those were our favorite genres to DJ at our dorm parties, so naturally that’s what we emulated when we first started Local Dialect. As years passed our tastes evolved and we found ourselves becoming more inspired by club-oriented techno which is what we focus on now, but we still retain the melodic slant from our early days.
Can you walk us through your creative process for this remix? How did your version of ‘Seconds Away’ come to life?
With a vocal as good as Frýnn’s we found it fairly easy to build up a track that supported the vocals. The underlying structure – bass, drums, pads, and other synths – came together quickly, then we spent a while fine-tuning the lead melody. We had a rough idea of how it would sound but oftentimes we find it useful to step away and come back to the melody and sound design after some time – tweaking the placement of a few notes and adjusting the envelope to fit with the groove make a huge difference. Once we figured that out, we recorded live performances of the lead and spliced together the best parts. From there it was a matter of locking in the arrangement and mixing and mastering it!
Can you discuss the technical aspects and equipment you used to produce this remix?
The lead is from our Prophet 6, and we also used that synth for some pads that you hear in the break. We also layered a Diva preset on top of the lead to add some extra dimension and hype in the main drop sections. The bass was on our Moog Sub 37 and you can also hear us modulating the filter cutoff in the main drop. We used some other digital synths for the various pads in the break and the drums are a combination of recordings from our Roland TR-8S with samples from our collection. One new thing we tried in this remix was freezing a reverb tail of the vocal and stretching it out into a tonal riser during the build-up section which was cool!
Can you describe the emotional and thematic elements you aimed to convey in your remix of ‘Seconds Away’?
We generally aim to create music that inspires an emotional response in the listener with tinges of euphoria, nostalgia, and melancholy, but we try not to think too hard about this – we don’t want to tell the listener how to feel and would prefer for them to listen to the music for themselves and discover what emotions it incurs!
What has the reaction been like from audiences when playing the remix out?
We’re happy to report that the remix has gotten great crowd responses – we had multiple fans reach out about the remix after our recent shows in Philadelphia and New York. The vocals really connect with people and we’ve been noticing that people are ready for more melodic influences in club music lately.
You launched your own label Translations this year. What was the decision behind this?
It’s been an experiment in having more control over when and how our music is released. It’s been exciting to work with a visual artist on the branding and album artwork, and also to work with marketing and press folks to come up with a release plan. It’s definitely a bunch of work, but it’s rewarding and allows us to more easily build up momentum around our music without having to abide by other folks’ release schedules and just focus on developing ours.
How do you see Translations evolving in the electronic music scene, and what kind of artists are you looking to collaborate with or sign?
For now we’re mostly focusing on Translations being a vehicle to release our own music, but obviously we’re working towards a future where we’d release music from our friends and other artists who inspire us. We think there’s a lot of untapped talent in the music scene right now and we’d like to shine a light on so many of the artists we know who aren’t getting enough recognition even though they have amazing music.
Who are your biggest influences in the current electronic music scene and how have they shaped your sound?
Too many to count… but we’ll try! We really respect people who aren’t afraid to break out of the norm and try new things. Artists like Cassian, Jonas Saalbach, Township Rebellion, Elif, Max Styler, James Harcourt, Cherry, Avis Vox, and Lexer fall into this category – they’ve all been making music for years but somehow still manage to discover fresh new sounds and develop their own unique style!
Where do you see your music and label heading in the next five years?
The music comes first – we’re always looking for ways to further both our technical abilities as well as songwriting and creative exploration. We mix and master all our own music and though we’re pretty confident in our abilities, we know there’s always more to learn and discover. And with the label, we simply want to continue to put out great music and build up our brand recognition. Within 5 years we hope to be able to collaborate with more people – both musically as well as in all the other creative facets including visual branding and marketing. It would also be great to start throwing our own parties to showcase the music on Translations!
