Interview and Mix: Aspin & Dipace

Drawing on Prodigy like energy and rave overtones, taking note of du jour house players like Bart B More and adding their own twisted, intense production, the sounds of Aspin & Dipace shake up the template and cannot fail to get a dance floor jumping. Fans of raved-up, razor edged house and electro bangers, then, should keep their ears open for this production and DJ duo who have recently had a dj download no1.

How did you get into this, and how did you come together as a DJ duo?

We met at one of those parties and started chatting about music. We both had something to teach each other and we have very similar tastes in music so it seemed sensible to have a go at a few tracks together. Our first release was quite successful and got released on CR2, so we've been doing it ever since.

What makes you, you?

You cant help but inject your own personality into the music you make, so hopefully that comes through. Were not pretentious or conceited; we just enjoy making music. We're influenced by a lot of different music and often try squeezing some of that in. We like to change our sound a bit from time to time too because it's easy to get stuck in a certain template and we get bored easily.

Tell us about your You Too track... how it was made/influences for it/how it sounds etc?

As for influences, I think it's pretty obvious on that track! We made it with Luvstuff in our studio in about 4 hours. That's really a lot quicker than usual, and we usually spend a while on our music, but when everything is working well, everything falls into place quickly. We got the sound we wanted straight away for the bass line - by distorting the s**t out of a sawtooth oscillator or two for anyone who wants to know and as far as track counts go it was pretty minimal, so then it was just a matter of getting everything sitting how we wanted and it was finished. We're still really proud of it, and it got to number one in the most downloaded charts on djdownload so were happy with that.

How does it work with both of you together... who does what in the studio?

Paul [Aspin] That's my forte really, Im obsessed with producing music. I started off learning in studios about 8 years ago, making a lot of rock/indie music, but, I've always loved dance music and anything to do with synthesizers. Either way, I enjoy the mixing side of things. I can read and write music and I've taken plenty of exams in music theory, which is something I think a lot of dance producers lack and sometimes it really helps in the studio. As far of ideas go, we both have a big part in that, Leon has some really good ideas and we know each other to the point that we can get it down easily.

And when youre DJing?

Leon [Dipace] In that sense it's the complete opposite. I've spent a similar amount of time Djing and I started out on vinyl years ago. Just as Paul is obsessed with the production side, so am I when it comes to DJing - learning new tricks, pulling them off in clubs and generally building sets that will make people jump in the air! Whether It's scratching using effects or looping and syncing different sounds over tracks, I feel confident that what ever I'm doing Paul will be next to me feeding and responding to my every move.
Thats one of the reasons we work well together because, as mentioned before, we both have something to teach each other and the gap is closing more now, the more we work together. For us it's all about playing live and having fun with the audience and keeping them on their feet. We work together really well now and if your hear our sets I think you would agree. We're going to take up a notch shortly too, and incorporate Ableton Live into our sets. It will allow us to do things we cant do now and that are pretty amazing.

What makes a good DJ great?

Lasers, smoke machines, loads of people and an impressive light show!...
There is a saying that we keep hearing everybody now is a dj I think that is a load of rubbish, there is a massive difference between someone playing records and someone creating an atmosphere and joining in with the crowd. We try an Edit live whilst playing and let the crowd hear something new..
If your audience go away with a smile and remember your set, you've done your job!!

You remix as well how do you choose your subjects?

In the beginning I think we took it as a complement to be asked, so we did a lot of them. If we didn't really like the original very much, we just wouldn't use very much of it. We get quite a lot of offers now though, but if we don't think its going to take us in a good direction through the association it brings, or we just plain can't see much of anything interesting to work with, we won't take it. I think we realised that doing remixes was just as much work as doing originals, but it brings restrictions with it. So we would rather just do our own thing. Having said that, we're doing a couple of remixes at the moment because we really like what's there and it's enjoyable to get to put your own twist on it.

Who or what inspires you to do what you do?

It's the best job in the world in our eyes, if you can get by doing something you love then there's a great sense of achievement there. There is a mental list of what we want to achieve, and each time we check one, it's straight on to the next one. That really drives you. Although, to be honest, the list is probably infinite, it's definitely satisfying ticking things off.

How much do you make music to work on a dance floor vs just sounds you like?

Sometimes its a balance you know what will work, but find the idea of doing it a bit boring and/ or generic. You dont want to do the same thing everyone else is doing, but you also dont want to surprise people to the point they just dont understand it. Although, especially more recently, we will always come down on the side of sounds we like. Its better to have a bit of integrity and stick to what you like, even if it doesnt sell as well. Fortunately however, the things we like are often the ones that work well on the dance floor.

What did you learn in 2009?

Fidget is really boring now, what was before a little bit different and interesting has become endless pale imitations of good dance music. Strong words maybe, but there's only so many times you can pop an LFO on that sound. We really cant tell the difference any more. Although, there is some people that have always done it well, and kept it interesting, we're mainly talking about anyone that has used the same sound more than once, or in some cases, for every single track. But more importantly:

• Remember to take your shoes with you when leaving a party.

• Never fall asleep whilst anyone else in the house owns a marker pen.

• Buying a surplus of ponchos at a festival and forgetting to sell them will earn you no money.

• Jack Daniels and coke in a can is a must.

• Dont knock people who are out there Djing. Most of the time it's the people who can't get themselvesout there but have played a couple of times at their mates parties and think they're the Bollocks..It's only Jealousy so dont do it. THERE OUT THERE AND YOU'RE NOT!!!!!

What else you got planned in 2010?

We've had a good start so far. We've turned in a bit of a new direction and got some really good feedback from it, getting a great response from some big players, our new remix of Roman Flugel Ghets Noch as gained support form David Guetta, Kim Fai, laidback luke, Juan kidd and many others. We've some very cool gigs coming up soon in London, Birmingham, Leeds etc so keep your eyes open for us. Hopefully people will appreciate the new direction we are going in and still keep up the support. We've a couple of collabs coming up, some new originals and a couple of remixes which should surface very soon. We are also Touring Australia in July/Aug so looking forward to that very much.