Mike Callander is a lifelong student of sound. But he's also a teacher. He educates upcoming producers in Ableton, and schools audiences in the latest techno music. He has a label, runs a residency at Revolver. It would be quicker to list the top festivals and clubs that he hasn't performed at. He knows and loves music, and he makes music too. If he wasn't already generous enough with his gifts, Mike Callander is offering his latest single as an exclusive dowload for THUMP. It's a collaboration with acclaimed Sydney artist Bertie Blackman, and it sounds very different to anything either artist has made before.THUMP: Mike, can you tell the story of how this collaboration came about?
Mike Callander: I released an album a few years back that came about purely from experimentation, sometimes without intent. I would set to work on a sound until it demanded an arrangement, but I never set out with a vision. I was really happy with how that turned out, and can still listen to it with satisfaction, but upon review of how it happened in terms of process, and alongside a discussion with my manager, James, about where I'm heading as a producer, I set out looking for a challenge. I wanted to force myself out of the techno world, even if only for a minute, and see what happened.For many projects since then I have approached the production process differently. I started writing songs for the first time before giving them any sound, and I started on the hunt for a voice for some of my lyrics. The connection to Bertie came through James, Ware (Mike's manager) as he'd worked with her before, and it made sense, because I had sampled her before (in fact I don't know if she knows that!?)You are in a unique position to understand the evolution of DJ culture having seen many shifts in the scene first hand. What are some of the current sounds and styles that are most inspiring for you, or that feel the freshest?
At the moment I'm most inspired by really great DJ sets, rather than really great productions. I feel like there are a million producers out there doing pretty much the same old thing, and its the DJs who are telling more of a story again, rather than just tacking one record on to the next. However, there's one guy that stands out for me as both a producer and DJ: Rebolledo. He's one half of the Pachanga Boys (alongside Superpitcher), but also released an excellent mix CD on his own called "Memento Drive" on Kompakt. In an era where the podcast has all but killed the mix CD, it's exciting to see and hear, because this was always my favourite format for listening to music.You've mentioned this track with Bertie Blackman was stepping out of your comfort zone. How did this particular track push you as a producer, and what did you learn from the process?
Firstly, developing a vision for the track before creating anything audible was difficult for me. And if I'm honest, it really didn't turn out the way I'd intended. The collaborative process can involve so many people with their own unique interpretation of every gesture, every element, so I needed to find a way to articulate what I wanted and translate it not only for Bertie, but for managers, A&R people, and the like. But it occurred to me that maybe this is what I'm missing? In this environment you've got to back yourself and mean what you say, and really have a vision that stands the test of many ears and many minds. Until this I'd been having a grand old time sitting in my studio just convincing myself.The first part of the collaboration was easy. I sent Bertie a song, first with a demo track, and once she agreed to work on it, with a guide vocal that I sang terribly for reference. I was totally vibing with confidence after she had agreed to collaborate and I was excited. But we realised after a lot of back and forth that while the music hit the mark, the lyrics were holding us back. Bertie is talented enough to fit my clumsy words into the song with her incredible delivery, but in the end we agreed to scrap my original lyrics and she turned out something much better. It wasn't easy for me to see that my lyrics weren't quite right until we could compare them to something better. And if I was to report back any kind of revelatory lesson from this whole process, I'd say that reference and context is really the key to good production. Everything sounds good on its own, but you really see the flaws when you hold it up to the light of comparison. Sometimes it reinforces for you what's important to your vision, but sometimes you need to let go and try again.In the end I might have done twenty different versions of this track. The one we're putting out here is actually incredibly far removed from the original, but it's the one that I'm playing in my DJ sets and the one that really resonated with the people I trusted in the early stages. So we kinda went on this long journey outside the realm of the dancefloor, and finally came all the way back onto the dancefloor, with a twist.What can we expect to hear next?
I'm mixing for a really original artist at the moment: Galambo. I haven't heard anything this 'out there' but with such great dancefloor potential in a very long time. And for my own productions, I'm back to the techno experiment. The short hiatus has given me more resolve to make things more weird and gritty, but for every gesture to have clear intent. The result is some quite basic, loopy stuff, but I'm slowly letting this sound creep into my DJ sets and I'm enjoying the response.You can download Mike and Bertie's track "Let me go" here.To follow Mike Callander's many musical moves, check his website.
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Mike Callander: I released an album a few years back that came about purely from experimentation, sometimes without intent. I would set to work on a sound until it demanded an arrangement, but I never set out with a vision. I was really happy with how that turned out, and can still listen to it with satisfaction, but upon review of how it happened in terms of process, and alongside a discussion with my manager, James, about where I'm heading as a producer, I set out looking for a challenge. I wanted to force myself out of the techno world, even if only for a minute, and see what happened.For many projects since then I have approached the production process differently. I started writing songs for the first time before giving them any sound, and I started on the hunt for a voice for some of my lyrics. The connection to Bertie came through James, Ware (Mike's manager) as he'd worked with her before, and it made sense, because I had sampled her before (in fact I don't know if she knows that!?)You are in a unique position to understand the evolution of DJ culture having seen many shifts in the scene first hand. What are some of the current sounds and styles that are most inspiring for you, or that feel the freshest?
At the moment I'm most inspired by really great DJ sets, rather than really great productions. I feel like there are a million producers out there doing pretty much the same old thing, and its the DJs who are telling more of a story again, rather than just tacking one record on to the next. However, there's one guy that stands out for me as both a producer and DJ: Rebolledo. He's one half of the Pachanga Boys (alongside Superpitcher), but also released an excellent mix CD on his own called "Memento Drive" on Kompakt. In an era where the podcast has all but killed the mix CD, it's exciting to see and hear, because this was always my favourite format for listening to music.
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Firstly, developing a vision for the track before creating anything audible was difficult for me. And if I'm honest, it really didn't turn out the way I'd intended. The collaborative process can involve so many people with their own unique interpretation of every gesture, every element, so I needed to find a way to articulate what I wanted and translate it not only for Bertie, but for managers, A&R people, and the like. But it occurred to me that maybe this is what I'm missing? In this environment you've got to back yourself and mean what you say, and really have a vision that stands the test of many ears and many minds. Until this I'd been having a grand old time sitting in my studio just convincing myself.The first part of the collaboration was easy. I sent Bertie a song, first with a demo track, and once she agreed to work on it, with a guide vocal that I sang terribly for reference. I was totally vibing with confidence after she had agreed to collaborate and I was excited. But we realised after a lot of back and forth that while the music hit the mark, the lyrics were holding us back. Bertie is talented enough to fit my clumsy words into the song with her incredible delivery, but in the end we agreed to scrap my original lyrics and she turned out something much better. It wasn't easy for me to see that my lyrics weren't quite right until we could compare them to something better. And if I was to report back any kind of revelatory lesson from this whole process, I'd say that reference and context is really the key to good production. Everything sounds good on its own, but you really see the flaws when you hold it up to the light of comparison. Sometimes it reinforces for you what's important to your vision, but sometimes you need to let go and try again.In the end I might have done twenty different versions of this track. The one we're putting out here is actually incredibly far removed from the original, but it's the one that I'm playing in my DJ sets and the one that really resonated with the people I trusted in the early stages. So we kinda went on this long journey outside the realm of the dancefloor, and finally came all the way back onto the dancefloor, with a twist.What can we expect to hear next?
I'm mixing for a really original artist at the moment: Galambo. I haven't heard anything this 'out there' but with such great dancefloor potential in a very long time. And for my own productions, I'm back to the techno experiment. The short hiatus has given me more resolve to make things more weird and gritty, but for every gesture to have clear intent. The result is some quite basic, loopy stuff, but I'm slowly letting this sound creep into my DJ sets and I'm enjoying the response.You can download Mike and Bertie's track "Let me go" here.To follow Mike Callander's many musical moves, check his website.