It’s been exactly one year since DJ Veronica’s last mix It’s About Time. As usual, she was over here last night at my home-studio where her mix is being mastered by me.  As I was bouncing the finalized mix to audio-file, DJ Veronica danced all the place and later ate all my chocolate snacks and potato chips.

DJ Veronica – “A  New Beginning”…

Artist: DJ Veronica
Title: A New Beginning (DJ mix set)
Year: 2011
Comment: Mastered by Hashmoder (Omar Hash)

DJ Veronica – “It’s About Time”" (mp3)
http://homepage.mac.com/cavecybernation/DJVeronica_ANewBeginning.mp3 (link path)

From DJ Veronica to you…

So I was on my way to California for a week, all checked-in, through security, and then the flight was cancelled. Apparently the plane was struck by lightning on its way into Vancouver. A 6″ hole went through the nose of the plane! Needless to say, there was no chance of getting out of town, so I got my bags and went back home. Everyone I knew thought I was out of town. I had no responsibilities. I was on vacation, yet I was at home, so I fired up the speakers, cranked the bass, and pulled out the tracks that my sister DJ Rhiannon had burned for me a few months back and hit record.  This is the end result.

My new mix –A New Beginning– is full of tracks which I think are nostalgic. It makes me happy. I hope it does the same for you. It evokes memories of good times.  And I mean GOOD TIMES! Track such as Music Is The Answer, Sugar Daddy, Music Sounds Better With You …and so many more… that I know you will recognize but with an updated twist.

Hashmoder has mastered this mix for me in the way that only he can. Thank-you my friend! You rock!

To all my fans over the years, this one’s for you!  Enjoy! And catch me this week-end opening for Peaches @ the Utopia Festival!

Much love.  Music IS the answer!!!

…DJ Veronica

Ho ho ho. On this very day of Christmas Eve 2010, Playmate DeeJay Rhiannon busts her latest mix PornStep with the new underground sounds of dubstep.

DeeJay Rhiannon – “PornStep”…

Artist: Deejay Rhiannon
Title: PornStep (DJ mix set)
Year: 2010
Comment: Intro edits & mastering by Hashmoder (Omar Hash)

Deejay Rhiannon – “PornStep” (mp3)
http://homepage.mac.com/cavecybernation/DJRhiannon_PornStep.mp3 (link path)

In Rhiannon’s own words…

PORNSTEP

No this mix does not commemorate any kind of pornographic performance debut.  Playboy is where I start and finish my nude modeling escapades.  My naked a$$ isn’t going beyond the 2-D realm anytime soon.  PornStep is simply the title of one of the tracks in this mix — which one exactly is very obvious.  And, word of warning, the track right after that one is likely to make you vomit.

DUBSTEP

To me, Dubstep is pornographic.  It’s like dirty obnoxious animal sex.  And I love it!  My manager says that I look like I’m having an epileptic fit when I dance to Dubstep.  I can hardly disagree.  My eyes glaze over, my legs and arms flail like a 90’s candy raver, and I become completely unapproachable.  I would imagine, however, that having an epileptic fit does not leave you with an afterglow reminiscent of a mind-blowing orgasm, like dancing to Dubstep does.  It’s incredibly empowering to connect with ‘extra-large’ music like that (it is my theory that if Dubstep wore clothing it would wear size XXXL).  I recommend that all who haven’t yet dabbled in a Dubstep dance floor do so immediately.  It is incredible.  So much so that upon seeing me dance at the “Church” Sundays Dubstep night in Pomona, my manager was inspired to book me there for the very next Sunday to open for the insanely awesome DJ/Producer APX-1.

MY DEBUT SET

Ummm… Flattering offer but… This is a hardcore local, underground scene.  It’s a tight-knit group of well-educated regulars and resident artists, a family, a culture.  If I was going to pop up out of nowhere and lay down a live DJ set for these people, I was going to have to do some serious homework!  So that’s what I did.  Prior to that day I had only really listened to Dubstep, I had never attempted to mix it at length or with any kind of sincerity (my manager didn’t mention this little detail to the promoter of course).  But I didn’t let him down.  In less than one week I became a Dubstep DJ and put together this set of tracks for my live debut set.  Well, the first two thirds anyway, the rest I just added for the sake of including them in the mix so I could listen to them without pause in between while driving.

TRACKS

This is basically a collection of the main tracks I’ve been jamming to in my car for the past year or so.  If you are a Dubstep connoisseur you have probably already heard most of these songs.  My goal was to compile and blend my favourites, not to be cutting edge or even that underground, though bits of it are.  The first half is nitty gritty and explores the cockles of your cockles: bass, filth, womp, grime, explicit sexual lyrics and all that fun stuff.  Then there’s a taste of that yummy dub reggae stuff, and I couldn’t exclude my fave track by the biggest midget in the game, Lady Sovereign.  The last bit gets deeper and more vocal, but still hot as f#ck.  The last few tracks are guaranteed to have you writhing in your panties.

TECHNICAL STATS

40 tracks in 80 minutes.  No I was not on speed nor any other kind of illicit drug when I recorded this mix.  I was simply… playing quick mash-up.  It was really fun.  There’s plenty I would change and tighten up if I had more time to prepare and re-record it but I had to get it out in time for the holidays for reasons disclosed in the first track.  So, bringing this monologue to a close… Friends and fans, here’s wishing you a Merry Dubstep Christmas and a bangin’ New Year!!!!!!

THE HASHMODER

Thanks again to the grand master Omar Hash for sound-designing the intro and mastering this entire mix like the true Jedi Knight he is.  Hit him up for all your audio engineering needs folks!!     Hashmoder’s contact page here.

DeeJay Rhiannon’s Current & Previous Mix-Sets…

CLICK HERE to view all of Rhiannon’s mix-sets listed in one page

I have decided to record digitally my entire StreetSounds Electro compilation series.

I will record every single StreetSounds vinyl of mine into Protools, with as much digital restorations as possible and widened stereo-field.  I do believe that I make the best vinyl-rips than most music collectors and bloggers out there. My 30+ years experience in pro-audio says so!

As I’ve stated in my previous StreetSounds article over a year ago, Electro since the early 80′s was electric funk and hip-hop music, mainly for break-dancing, bee-bopping, and body-popping. In my opinion, the word electro today has been hijacked in the form of 4/4 dance music and not anywhere near its true roots.

THEREFORE, STAY TUNED FOR DAILY POSTING OF EACH ELECTRO MIX.

Streetsounds History…

Streetsounds was part of the UK Streetwave stable of labels created by Morgan Khan. A Hong Kong-born Indian who grew up in London, Khan had worked in the UK record industry since the mid 1970′s, working for such names as PRT Distribution (a division of Pye Records) and R&B Records, for whom at the time Imagination were the up and coming stars of the day.

Khan founded the independent Streetwave record label during 1981 to specialise in releasing Electro and Hi-NRG releases. Within a year of creation, Streetwave began the StreetSounds series of albums; compilations created from some of the hottest 12″ imports of the day. These releases made available a selection of the most contemporary dance floor hits within the financial reach of those wanting to hear the freshest sounds. In the early 80′s a 12″ single was priced around £2 and you would pay over £4 for an import 12″. The Streetsounds series offered usually 8 to 12 full-length 12″ mixes for under a fiver. Understandably, the Streetsounds series was met with considerable enthusiasm and, some might say, mighty relief.

This series would run for over 6 years and contain over 50 albums. By far the most coveted of the Streetsounds releases were the Electro series. These albums introduced the UK to the developing hip-hop scene from America – a stroke of genius that brought electro and early hip hop from the underground to the UK high street and, one could argue, helped in the creation of the UK’s hip hop scene.

The Electro series ran for a total of 27 albums (and one box set) from 1982 to 1988. The albums were initially labeled StreetSounds Electro with the title morphing into StreetSounds Hip Hop after release 12 in 1986.

All of the albums were competently mixed by a series of the best remixers of the day – predominately from the UK.  A large proportion of the mixes on the early releases were completed by a London-based hip-hop sound system from the early 80s. Headed by “Herbie The Mastermind” (aka Herbie Laidley) the team also featured Kiss FM radio DJ’s Dave VJ and Max LX who were also members of UK electro outfit Hard Rock Soul Movement, responsible for the massive “Double Def Fresh” release.

My digital recording process & audio quality of vinyl records are top-notch …

click each image above to enlarge

Old video: recording session ripping vinyls Electro-6, 7, and 9…

It’s been five long years since DJ Veronica made a new mix set. She was over here at my home-studio less than two weeks ago, having her latest mix-set It’s About Time mastered. It took me over 10 days to come up with and edit a really super cool intro at the beginning of the mix, after the mastering was finished. I super spliced and edited two tracks together with my own voice on the vocoder on top of it … plus a lot of audio engineering and automation, such as the panning. The two tracks used as intro were (1) Grace Jones – “Slave To The Rhythm” and (2) Kano – “It’s A War.”

DJ Veronica – “It’s About Time”…

Artist: DJ Veronica
Title: It’s About Time (DJ mix set)
Year: 2010
Comment: Intro edits & vocoder by Hashmoder; mastered by Hashmoder (Omar Hash)

DJ Veronica – “It’s About Time”" (mp3)
http://homepage.mac.com/cavecybernation/DJVeronica_ItsAboutTime.mp3 (link path)

From DJ Veronica to you…

After spending 17 glorious days and nights in Whistler during the 2010 Olympics, I became motivated to make a new CD.  Now this is something that I used to do just about every month back in the 90s, and I have released many CDs in the past, but for some reason, which to this date I cannot explain, I have not made a CD in five years.

When my girlfriends and I were at the Chalet, apart from numerous suitcases of clothes and ski equipment, we also brought up all the sound gear and set it up in the living room where one could mix a CD and look out onto the snow-covered trees while the living room transformed itself into a dance-floor.  With audiences such as Team France and Team Mexico and a few local Whistler DJs, the party never stopped.  Sarah-Hannah and I had some great mix sessions together and we often could not stop well into the wee hours of the morning. Having DJ Rhiannon as your little sister is also a great motivator for me as she is always putting out killer mixes!

Whenever I would hit the slopes or the patio of La Bocca it seemed there was always a soundtrack coursing through my mind.  I was again inspired.  And I mean really inspired.  I have been playing out at nightclubs for over 13 years in places such as New York, Hong Kong, Spain, Australia, Seattle, Oregon and I have held many residencies of course in my hometown of Vancouver, but for some reason the urge to make a new mix faded a bit…but it’s now back with a vengeance!

When I came back from Whistler, I put this mix together one evening over a glass of wine while my little dog Hana watched me curiously, and occasionally jumping up for me to lift her up and do a little dance with her.  I think she likes this mix, and I hope that you do too.  It’s perfect for driving in the car or listening to after the club at an impromptu after-party.  It’s not exactly what I play out at clubs, as I usually play a little harder, but this is a collection of what I am really into now, and I can say that without a doubt this is the best mix I have ever made. A big thanks to Hashmoder for taking the time to master this CD.  You’re the best…

…DJ Veronica

DJ Veronica Photo Gallery…

Please allow the entire movie to load and then watch. Thank you for your patience.

Click here to watch movie fullscreen in different window

Another new mix from Deejay Rhiannon.  She was over here at my home-studio less than two weeks ago, having her latest mix-set Suck My Tech mastered by me.

Deejay Rhiannon – “Suck My Tech”…

Artist: Deejay Rhiannon
Title: Suck My Tech (DJ mix set)
Year: 2010
Comment: Mastered by Hashmoder (Omar Hash)

Deejay Rhiannon – “Suck My Tech” (mp3)
http://homepage.mac.com/cavecybernation/DJRhiannon_SuckMyTech.mp3 (link path)

From Rhiannon to you…

MY SISTER

(DJ Veronica) thinks this is “the most hilarious mix she’s ever heard.”  And she’s heard some weird shit.  I didn’t mean for it to be “funny” really, but quirky, ok sure.  Perhaps this is my reverse-psychological reaction to the monotonous obnoxious drone that is mainstream music here in California where I recorded this recent mix.  Ok, I shouldn’t generalize.  There is plenty of great underground music to be found here.  I just haven’t found it yet.  At least not in LA; San Francisco, no problem.  Perhaps that’s why I was intuitively more drawn to the Golden Gates than the Hollywood Hills.  Speaking of which, I almost called this mix “Holly wood If She Could.”  Why?  Well maybe I feel like Holly, who would play funkier, heavier, more complex music in L.A. if she could; that is, if she didn’t fear being boo’d off the stage by a ravenous horde of Kanye West & Beyonce worshippers.  Now don’t get me wrong, I like Beyonce and many other top 40 artists, but I also like AC Slater, Klaus Hill, and Bjork.  Am I a freak of nature?  Is it some special gift to have the capacity to appreciate more than one or two genres of music?  Or is it that the majority of people have unwillingly let themselves be ear-fucked by the hypnotizing effect of excessively repetitious radio airwaves?

THE HASHMODER

Hashmoder himself asked me to write a little something about what this mix means to me, and how I put it together, etc.  The truth is that I actually never planned on making a new mix at the time; I was just testing out my Vestax CD-RW recorder to see if it survived the move.  I warmed up after a few mixes and off I went.  None of the tracks were put in order or play-listed together prior to recording the mix.  For me, the magic happens when I get completely pulled into the music and let everything else go.  At that point, I trust my intuition to lead me to the next track, and so on.  Sometimes I select a song and for a split second think, “Crap! This is not going to work!!” — but I go for it anyway.  More often than not I’m pleasantly surprised.  In fact I discovered the live mash-up of Cicada’s “Things You Say” with Dubfire’s “Roadkill” while I was playing a gig in Mexico City.  Ok, I have to make a side-note here: Mexicans PARTY.  And they love good house music.  Apparently the Governator is worried about the immense influx of Mexican immigrants to California.  If this is the case, Please tell me where they are exactly so I can open up a club smack in the middle of their makeshift American Zocalo!  I’ve yet to find their level of enthusiasm & passion for underground house music in California.

SUCK MY TECH

Self-explanatory really!  Meant to be more humorous than anything.  I admit there is a tad bit of “fuck you” in there somewhere… probably to all the people who give me appalling song requests.  And to my dear old dad who hasn’t spoken to me since he heard the shocking news that I shot a Playboy centerfold ^{(download PDF file)} to advance my career.  Come on pops, it was no secret!  If you bothered to glance at your daughter’s website once a decade you might have had a heads-up!  Anyway, the real truth is, “I’m just a lady bug.”  ;)  Thank you Larry Tee for explaining it so well.  How this track relates: I love the entertainment industry and all the contrived glamour, name-dropping, and beautiful bullshit that comes with it, but it’s what I do, not who I am.  It’s a character I play, and that I adore certainly, but I try to separate my exterior identity — the social identity that can be recognized, used, and altered by people you don’t even know — from my interior identity — the unique identity that is mine and mine only to share with whom I choose.  And in this case my public identity is that which I’ve created for my career: Playmate, DJ, Lyricist, etc.  My private identity, the person I am when I’m at home, is similar to the one described in that song (Lady Bug is the 6th track).  Anyway, Eckhart Tolle explains this stuff far more eloquently than I.

23 TRACKS IN 63 MINUTES

Very telling of the new DJ culture I find myself in.  I trained myself as a House Mouse DJ in Vancouver.  Long, seamless mixing was the goal, averaging 4 minutes or more per track usually, creating a smooth, fun vibe on the dance-floor.  Since being exposed to a far more hip hop-inclined DJ scene my sets have become progressively busier, more compact and faster-paced.  It’s a new style from that which I’m used to, but I’m enjoying the challenge.  Averaging less than 3 (sometimes 2) minutes per track, I can’t help but think this style is representative of the A.D.D. generation that we DJs are now serving.  The film industry entertains the same public; and mainstream film producers continue to develop bigger/better/busier movies using technology, not to mention smoke-&-mirrors, to keep its audience’s attention and distract them from their nagging restlessness.  I think us DJs are being faced with the same challenges, at least those of us that serve the mainstream crowds (unfortunately I am sometimes one of them).  In this DJ culture quick-fingered Turntablists are gods.  But I’m holding my own the best I can.  ;)  The little underground house DJ lost in Hollywood… .

I never got into depth about what each track or blend means to me.  I suppose that’s because I didn’t release record this for myself.  I did it for the pleasure of my friends and fans, like every other mix.  I’ll use it for promotional purposes of course, but ultimately it was inspired by the simple desire to feel a certain way:  funky, bouncy, dirty, fun, sexy, thoughtful… ?   As long as it affects the people that listen to it in some way I’ve done my job. So ENJOY!!  And finally, HUGE THANKS to Hashmoder for mastering this mix like Cesar Milan masters bad-ass bitches, with ease and prowess.   Thank you Omar!!!!!

Rhiannon Photo Gallery…

DeeJay Rhiannon’s Current & Previous Mix-Sets…

CLICK HERE to view all of Rhiannon’s mix-sets listed in one page

Mid Summer 2009, a very close and longtime friend of mine RC Lair came to my side of town and hung out with me. Before going inside the Ocean Club for drinks, we stayed inside my car to listen to the entire Hale Bopp mix CD which he’d done in the mid 90′s. All the tracks on that CD were retro classics of electric disco/dance/italo ranging from the late 70′s through the mid 80′s. By the time we reached track-05, I was going through the car’s roof from excitement. The track was just THAT awesome … pure electronic analog circuitry … melodic and true to its form and genre its era. And I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT … and own it! So I asked RC who/what that track was, but he couldn’t remember from the top of his head, and he wasn’t going to look through his entire record collection at any time soon, because they were all stored in boxes. Now I was on a serious mission to hunt for a full-length copy of track-05. After six weeks of unsuccessful digging and searching, I still had no name of the artist nor title of the track.

A few days later, my producer friend Peter Hecher exposed me to Casco who was an Italian legend DJ and Italo music producer. I checked out his MySpace page, his main site and all other webpages related to him; listened to all his amazing original/classic Italo tracks; and downloaded few of his old live mix-sets. When listening to one of his Italo mix-sets … low and behold … track-05! Thus immediately I sent Casco an email requesting him to identify track-05 for me. Few hours later he sent me a reply, “Mito – Droid“.

After searching the net for days, I was able to find only bad quality MP3 copies. But just recently, over the net, there was a nice fellow from Europe who had an actual 12-inch record of Mito/Droid and, at my request, was kind enough to record and send me a good quality .wav digital file of it.

However, during the entire period of searching for Mito/Droid, I had discovered that it is in fact a remix of an original 1978 “Droid” track by Automat. According to SongBooks blog:

Automat was a project of a disc, from the Italians Musumarra, Gizzi and Maggi. The first two were members of the pop band La Bottega dell’Arte that was successful in Italy between 1976 and 1984. The “Automat” LP was released in 1978 as a kind of demo Synthesizer MCS70 (Memory Controller Synthesizer 70) built by Maggi. The funny highlight of the LP is the band Droid, who say they were the opening theme of a TV news at TV Globo (Brazil) in the early 80′s. In fact parts of this theme were used twice in television news, in one of them no Globo Esporte noon. This all in it for 81/82. But it was common to the Globo television, since I remember that was used in the novel called “Brilhante”, type in 80/81. There are many more electronic themes that the Globo TV used in the field of the Fantástico.

I was able to find and download the entire Automat album on torrents. There were only four tracks in total, and all of them were in mono. At first I’d thought it was an accident by the person who recorded the album to digital, but in fact the original source of recording was done in mono. So I took the liberty to re-master Automat’s Droid, making it pseudo-stereo, adding true stereo ambient reverbs with independent left/right parameter settings, and enhancing the track’s overall low, mid and high range across its spectrum frequency (by using Waves Linear Phase Multiband plugin, among other RTAS plugins, in Protools). I’ve included both the original/mono and my enhanced re-mastered versions for comparison.

All in all, I find that Droid sounds very similar to Vangelis‘ Pulstar (1976). To my ears, it seems that Droid borrowed heavily from the melody of Pulstar with noticeable variations, although both manage to stand out away from each other at the same time.

As a bonus, I managed to find a great Italo remix of Pulstar by Hipnosis (thank you Beat Electric).

Mito – “Droid” (12″ Remix)…

Artist: Mito
Title: Droid (12″ Remix)
Year: 1982
Label: Zanza Records

Mito – “Droid” (12″ Remix) (mp3)

Automat – “Droid” (Hashmoder Remaster)…

Artist: Automat
Title: Droid (Hashmoder Remaster)
Year: 1978 (2009)
Label: EMI Odeon

Automat – “Droid” (Hashmoder Remaster) (mp3)

Automat – “Droid” (Original, mono version)…

Artist: Automat
Title: Droid (Original, mono version)
Year: 1978
Label: EMI Odeon

Automat – “Droid” (Original) (mp3)

Vangelis – “Pulstar” (Vangelis original)…

Artist: Vangelis
Title: Pulstar
Year: 1976
Label: RCA

Vangelis – “Pulstar” (mp3)

Hipnosis – “Pulstar” (remix of Vangelis)…

Artist: Hipnosis
Title: Pulstar
Year: 1982 ?
Label: ?

Hipnosis – “Pulstar” (mp3)

Vangelis in his studio, early 80's.

Spring 1988, Denham Village, Buckinghamshire, UK ….. on the way to Syco Systems (high-end pro audio shop — by appointment only — caters only to high-end clientele and famous artists such as Peter Gabriel) to pick up the gear for my first studio (see pictures below)  ….. I heard this track by Mantornix on the radio.

Notice: If you need to know more about Mantronix and the man himself, Kurt Mantronik, refer to my previous blog Hanson & Davis. Please read that first and then come back here and continue reading this blog/article.

I used to dream about having a Linn-9000 one day, so I could load my own drum samples and program beats with its sequencer; I used to sit for hours and drool over the brochures of the Roland D-50 synth and think about how breathy and paddy (also see video below) my tracks would sound along with the Linn-9000 drums pulsing underneath. The D-50 was revolutionary at its time (1987), because it was the first synth to have built-in effects, such as the the reverb, attack-transient samples and linear synthesis, among many other things. When I went to Syco Systems with my dad to buy the new gear, Kendall Wrightson (see quick shout-out below) informed me that the Linn-9000 was no longer in production, because its parent company went bankrupt; however, its designer Roger Linn had come up with a much better machine through Akai. He pointed his finger towards the Akai MPC60 at the other end of the room. It was GORGEOUS. It looked like a mean machine with a tilting LCD screen! Oh, those 16 square rubber finger pads. I didn’t hesitate to add it on the transaction. Kendall said something along the lines that he had one in stock, boxed and with Tony Banks’ name on it (yes, Tony Banks — the keyboardist of Genesis), but Tony didn’t want it at the time. When I looked at the box, sure enough his name was in fact printed on the shipping label.

After picking up my new studio gear from Syco, I stopped by Our Price record store, bought the 12-inch of Simple Simon and then drove home from London to my parent’s country-home in Denham Village. I love this track through and through. It’s very melodic and street-emotional, especially the bassline. Love the guitars (which are not real but tone-sampled and played from a keyboard sampler). The sound and style is very different from Mantronix’ previous releases which were more freestyle-based. Simple Simon sounded more mature but still had that “Mantronix” feel … perhaps it was the snappy, hard drum samples and programming coming from an E-mu SP-1200. Whatever it was, it certainly had the Mantronix‘ stamp with MC Tee‘s rap vocals. These two guys really stood out with this one.

I used to play both A and B sides of the 12-inch. Check out the amazing editing and fast-gating on You Dubba Regard mix, which were very hard to produce. Around that same time of year, the Latin Rascals were doing clever edits like this, with stutters, splice-edits and gated chops. Check out their sound/edits on Information Society’s – What’s On Your Mind which I’ve blogged about previously.

Quick shout-out to Kendall Wrightson:

Kendall Wrightson who was my personal salesman at Syco Systems. He was very well-known in the pro-audio industry, for representing and selling high-end gear like the Fairlight (watch Kendall’s demonstration), Syclaviers, SSL mixer consoles, etc.. There were times when Kendall used to let me and my best friend Noel Derblich to go inside one of Syco‘s studio rooms and transfer samples from the E-mu Emulator-III (also watch video here) to my Akai MPC60 drum-sampler/sequencer (64 midi channel, 99 tracks). Kendall was also featured in several documentaries about music technology.

Mantronix – “Simple Simon” (You Gotta Rock Hard)…

Artist: Mantronix
Title: Simple Simon (You Gotta Rock Hard)
Year: 1988
Label: 10 Records (UK)
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Simple Simon – “Simple Simon” (You Gotta Rock Hard) (mp3)

Mantronix- “Simple Simon” (You Dubba Regard)…

Artist: Mantornix
Title: Simple Simon (You Dubba Regard)
Year: 1988
Label: 10 Records (UK)
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Mantronix – “Simple Simon” (You Dubba Regard) (mp3)

My first studio with nice gear which I've bought from Syco Systems, London. Kendall Wrightson was my personal salesman. See his videos below.

Kendall Wrightson at Syco Systems, demonstrating the Linn-9000…

Kendall Wrightson at Syco System, demonstrating the Fairlight…

Roland D-50 synthesizer demonstration of its sounds/presets…

E-mu Emulator-II demonstration of its sounds/presets…

Mantronix - “Simple Simon”…

Electro back then was electric funk and hiphop music, mainly for break-dancing, bee-bopping, and body-popping. In my opinion, the word ‘Electro’ today has been hijacked in the form of 4/4 dance music and not anywhere near its true roots.

I am providing you with four Electro albums for download. I recorded them directly from vinyl into Protools (Electro-6, 7 & 9 in particular), digitally restored as much as possible, and widened the stereo field, among other quick fixes. Go ahead an compare my mastered versions to the same ones you find elsewhere — mine sound the best.

Streetsounds History…

Streetsounds was part of the UK Streetwave stable of labels created by Morgan Khan. A Hong Kong-born Indian who grew up in London, Khan had worked in the UK record industry since the mid 1970′s, working for such names as PRT Distribution (a division of Pye Records) and R&B Records, for whom at the time Imagination were the up and coming stars of the day.

Khan founded the independent Streetwave record label during 1981 to specialise in releasing Electro and Hi-NRG releases. Within a year of creation, Streetwave began the Streetsounds series of albums; compilations created from some of the hottest 12″ imports of the day. These releases made available a selection of the most contemporary dance floor hits within the financial reach of those wanting to hear the freshest sounds. In the early 80′s a 12″ single was priced around £2 and you would pay over £4 for an import 12″. The Streetsounds series offered usually 8 to 12 full-length 12″ mixes for under a fiver. Understandably, the Streetsounds series was met with considerable enthusiasm and, some might say, mighty relief.

This series would run for over 6 years and contain over 50 albums. By far the most coveted of the Streetsounds releases were the Electro series. These albums introduced the UK to the developing hip-hop scene from America – a stroke of genius that brought electro and early hip hop from the underground to the UK high street and, one could argue, helped in the creation of the UK’s hip hop scene.

The Electro series ran for a total of 27 albums (and one box set) from 1982 to 1988. The albums were initially labeled “Streetsounds Electro” with the title morphing into “Streetsounds Hip Hop” after release 12 in 1986.

All of the albums were competently mixed by a series of the best remixers of the day – predominately from the UK. A large proportion of the mixes on the early releases were completed by a London-based hip-hop sound system from the early 80s. Headed by “Herbie The Mastermind” (aka Herbie Laidley) the team also featured Kiss FM radio DJ’s Dave VJ and Max LX who were also members of UK electro outfit Hard Rock Soul Movement, responsible for the massive “Double Def Fresh” release.

Electro-9…

Mixed by: Herbie (The Mastermind) Laidley
Year: 1985
Restored & remastered by: Hashmoder

Streetsounds Electro-9 (mp3)

Electro-7…

Mixed by: Herbie (The Mastermind) Laidley
Year: 1985
Restored & remastered by: Hashmoder

Streetsounds Electro-7 (mp3)

Electro-6…

Mixed by: DJ Maurice Assisted by DJ N
Year: 1985
Restored & remastered by: Hashmoder

Streetsounds Electro-6 (mp3)

Electro-2…

Mixed by: Herbie (The Mastermind) Laidley
Year: 1983

Streetsounds Electro-2 (mp3)

Track-List of Electro-6, Electro-7 and Electro-9…

Video of ReMastering Session of Electro-6|7|9…

Name: Omar Hash (Hashmoder)
Location: West Vancouver
Set: Project June
Download: Omar Hash (Hashmoder) – “Project June” (mp3)