If you want to submit an unsigned track for consideration (drum & bass, hip hop, breaks or dubstep) you need to go to our Knowledge Demos Group on Soundcloud. Simply upload a tune and we'll check it out. Every week we'll pick a winner and profile the producer behind the winning track. The best track of the month will win the special accolade of making it onto our monthly podcast. This week's winner is DJ Melly with Tribal.



Please introduce yourself...
I'm DJ Melly from Newcastle upon Tyne - born and bred Geordie! I went to Newcastle College to study music technology for two years. I took a year out after college and started playing at clubs, house parties and free parties around the north east gaining new friends and influences along the way. I then moved to Leicester to have a go at uni and gave up! I'm still currently living Leicester playing for local nights and producing in my spare time. I use to mix drum & bass mainly for years but due to my change of affairs in the last year I've become predominantly dubstep.

How long have you been making music?
I started making tunes when I was about 15, so I guess about eight years but I only really started getting serious with it about four years ago. I must have about 150 tunes I've finished dating back from when I first started producing. Unfortunately a lack of proper hard drive care led to a loss of around half of the tracks, which was a learning curve.
 
What styles of music do you make?
I started messing about making drum & bass, breaks and techno tunes when I was about 15. I've currently been trying to create fusions of different genres into dubstep. For instance my Tribal track is a fusion of techno and dubstep. I also have been making some mean sounding dubstep, fusing Nero techy industrial drum n bass with dubstep. I'm a massive neurofunk / techstep fan, I still try to produce some drum n bass as well from time to time.

How would you describe your music?
I try to make each track sound different and fuse genres, but I guess it all comes down to deep techy neuro rollers with a punch and twist. That's what does it for me!

Tell us more about your winning track...
Tribal is one of the first of many tracks I've been working on to encourage the "technostep" sound. I made the track in my home studio where I spend more than half my life and was experimenting one night with techno beats. It's just one of those accidental tracks you know (like most of my tracks!).

Which track by any artist do you wish you'd made and why?
This has to be the hardest question ever. There are far too many, ha-ha! Probably Noisia & Phace's - Surface Tension - one of my all time favourites. It's a sick track; it's got such a great soundscape and has the deep techy sounds I adore. But also really like SPL's - Cobalt. SPL's nailed the dark side of dubstep with his tracks on Hollow Point Recordings.
 
What are you currently working on?
These days I've become purely dubstep minded, I haven't got time to produce drum n bass. Lots of dubstep tracks I've started recently have been edging on the dark side of drum n bass and techno. I'm really enjoying experimenting with dubstep, it's a lot like drum n bass where it can be multi genre, fusing music from all sources.

Do you have anything coming out soon?
I'm really tight with my music; I've had talks with several small labels about a release of tracks but I'm still waiting for the right breakthrough. I really want to be on a solid label I can trust to promo properly and there's so much confusion out there your music can become instantly lost.

Where can people hear more of your music?
I'm on MySpace, I have a slot on dnbradio.com every Tuesday @ 6pm GMT. I also have a Soundcloud page with tracks you can stream and listen to plus there are also a few mixes you can download. Simples!

What's the next challenge for you?
Well, everyday life is a challenge, ha-ha!, but I'll mainly be focusing on producing to perfection and getting signed to Tectonic or maybe Hollow Point, that would be nice!

Anything else you'd like to tell us about?
I'll be playing drum n bass @ Filtered Presents >> Marcus Intalex, Braidee, Aspekt, Melly and MC Jman in Leicester on Saturday 14th November @ Encore (formerly Esko) and I'll be playing dubstep @ Heavy Weight presenting Silkie, Funk Ethics, Melly and Saga in Newcastle on Saturday 12th December @ The Other Rooms.

Favourite labels
Subtitles, Virus, Vision, Neo-signal, Shadow-Law, Lifted Music, BSE Records, Tectonic, Hollow Point.

Favourite producers
Noisia, Phace, Break, Misanthrop, Calyx & TeeBee, Icicle, Verse, Mindscape, Head Hunter, Kryptic Minds, Pinch, 2562, SPL, Babylon System, Antiserum, Roommate.

 

• DJ Melly

Related Links:

• Phucked Recordings Competition
• Chook Interview
• F Interview
• Review: Sinister Sound, Toronto
• Podcast 06

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