Elabor8 caught our attention when he was judged as the winner of our May Unsigned competition. As part of his prize, we present you with an interview from the man himself to give you more of an insight of his approach to music.

Please introduce yourself...
I'm Elabor8, real name Aidan Grant and I'm a drum & bass producer from Flitwick, Bedfordshire.

Your winning track 'Can't See' is a drum & bass track although you'd be forgiven for thinking it wasn't. How did each element come together for this one?
Yes, I would definitely forgive someone for thinking that. Well it started with the main pad/melody part and I thought it wouldn't work as part of a full pace dance-floor tune so I went for the chilled angle instead. And I love adding layer upon layer of percussion to tunes as well as other parts for the tracks texture such as the vocal. I tried to make the second drop a little more upbeat though.

 

 

Are there any artists outside of drum & bass who have had a significant influence on your sound?
Oh absolutely. I'm quite a big house music fan at the moment as well, living in Nottingham the scene is massive so as an artist you are inevitably influenced by it. I think in particular Disclosure are coming up with some great stuff, but I also love the new Justin Martin EP.

Besides winning our May unsigned competition, you've also had a couple of releases. How did these tracks in particular get noticed?
Since I started making music I have always sent music to Tommy Dub because I was a huge fan of Cue and Fred V and Grafix. One track I sent to Tommy was 'What's Needed' at an early stage and he decided he liked it, we discussed idea's for how to improve it and got to the finished version. The same happened with the A-side 'Again'. He was very involved and constructive throughout.

From this I got a message from one of the guys at Lifestyle saying to basically send any new beats their way. I sent them 'Can't Decide' which they liked, and then followed it up with 'For Moneys Sake' on the B-Side. Tomekn and Catharsis at the label gave me some mixdown advice and then voila.

What is your studio set up like?
Well, being a student I don't have anything too expensive or impressive, everything I do is based on VSTs and samples really. All I have is a laptop running Cubase 5, a couple of Behringer Monitors and a keyboard.

In many cases, the natural progression from production is try your hands at DJing (or vice versa.) Have you found this to be the case with you?
I was actually DJing before I decided to give production a try. After about a year or so of only DJing my sixth form parties at my local football club I decided I need to take this a bit more seriously to get any decent gigs. Since then I've managed to bag a few sets at various local events and I'm always looking for more!

Are there any events or productions in particular that we can look out for in the near future?
Yes, I have just signed two tracks to a new label called Automate Deep which can be expected a little later in the year I imagine, and anyone in my area can catch me playing at Moustachio Events at The Edge nightclub in Luton on the 21st.

Related Links:

• Noisia Release Tommy's Theme
• Noisia Release Split The Atom Special Edition
• Video: Ctrl Z Producer Masterclass
• Issue 78
• Kmag Seba Remix Competition Final Call

Like it? Share it!
Sign up for more with the Kmag weekly newsletter.