DJ Boring released his new EP Like Water three weeks ago on Ninja Tune and we have the behind the scenes look on how the project was put together. It is only four tracks, but the EP is a joyous and fun 30 minutes. It is bright, colorful, patient and finds a beautiful middle ground between allowing you to dance on your own, but also lie down in a puddle of your emotions. We had DJ Boring take us behind the scenes to the Zoom meetings, the gear and the live shows that helped shape the new EP in a Director’s Cut feature.
Listen to Like Water now and get your copy here via Ninja Tune.
1. Like Water:
After my first live show at DGTL Amsterdam, I wanted to add a new song to my show that had no beat, no percussion. Just a song with pads and feeling. I copied the midi clip from the pad and accidentally put a mono synth and it created this harsh lead that really resonated with me. After playing around with the lead, I knew I wanted to make this into more of a danceable track but not exactly a club track. Later down the line of writing like water, it slowly became more and more danceable and then finally I changed the kick drum into something that was more powerful and punchy to give it the final touch.
2. Another Day:
I was in Devon analogue studio when I produced another day. It took me a day to finish it, which is for me is unspeakable. It takes at least 1 week for something to feel “finished.” Tristan, who runs Devon, was a massive help for the track. I used a TR-909, sh-101, novation peak, syncussion SY-1M, arp 2600 TTSH with the arp 1600 sequencer and my own voice. After I had made the lead line with the novation peak, I started to Fiddle around with the envelope depth and the LFO depth on the oscillator to create a wobble effect on the lead. I put the 909 into the nerve 1073 LB mic pre to make the whole of the 909 sound punchier. I really loved using the arp 2600 to create a bleep and bloop percussion groove. It was lucky because it was a fluke that I got it to sound the way it did.
3. Stockholm Syndrome:
When I made “Stockholm Syndrome,” I had one week left until my first live show. I quickly came up with a groove that later one became one of 2 highest sort out tracks from my show. I didn’t have a clear idea what kind of track I wanted to create, but randomly the “r2d2” bleeps as some people have referred them too came to me and gave the beat it’s extra bit of percussion it needed. On top of the beat I wanted to play some fun chords that then combined with the bass line gave the track a different feel to everything I’ve made before. It all came together quickly once again.
4. Seems Like Yesterday:
Seems like yesterday is a track that i made for my live show that had feeling, that wasn’t just to dance too. I wanted people to feel something when I played it out. The percussion in the track was from myself banging wooden spoons on top of my pots and pans in the kitchen. I recorded a lot from my zoom in my kitchen. I always feel my tracks have more meaning when I record real sounds instead of samples. After I had a groove with everything I recorded in the kitchen, I went into my studio and played with the novation mono circuit to create the “bouncy” bass line. I’m a huge trance fan but I don’t know really how to make trance. I incorporated trance elements into this track to make it my interpretation on trance, but I would never call this trance haha.
