Artist: Signalrunners
Real Names: Alan Nimmo & Andrew Bayer
Aliases: Nimmo & Bayer, Syndica, Team SR, (Signalrunners)
Website: http://www.fraction-records.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/signalrunners

Interviewer: Ross Baker (rb2k1)

Q: Hey guys, thank you for doing an interview with APN. How and where do we find you at this present time?
(Alan) Hi Ross, all good thanks. busy as usual with new material and the label but wouldn’t have it any other way!

Q: How, Why, and When did each of you guys get involved in electronic music? When did you meet and how did Signalrunners come about and under what genre would you classify Signalrunners?
(Alan) I started listening to my older sisters records around the late eighties and never really stopped listening! The UK has always had quite a good dance music scene so it was pretty accessible growing up with. I started DJing in the early 90’s and by around 1996-97 started legally clubbing. I started getting into producing a while before meeting Andrew but started taking it seriously thereafter. I think we met around 2001/2, on a dance production website forum. Genre wise, we’re definitely labeled trance on the main part, although a lot of reviews of our music mention ‘crossover’ a lot which is fine by me as well. I don’t really mind personally, but some people get really heated over it! I remember reading some people on a forum cracking up about our track ‘3000 miles Away’ not being proper trance like the ones before (Love Theme Dusk, Backfire etc) but that was a really good record for us in the UK and probably my personal favorite for various reasons. As long as someone somewhere is enjoying it that’s what counts. I don’t suppose you can keep everyone happy all the time, especially when we are always trying to pull in different and new techniques from one track to the next.

(Andrew) I got into electronic music from Nine Inch Nails and various 80’s synth pop. The genre thing is something that always really annoyed me. At the end of the day, it’s all EDM. We are EDM producers, but we really don’t like to linger on one style forever. I think there is one thing that has been consistent throughout our tracking process and that has been the fusion of multiple genres. We always have been known for combining trance and house. Our productions will normally lean towards one side of the spectrum, but always include bits from the other side.

Q: What do you both enjoy most about music production? Least? How do you guys go about working together?
(Alan) I really just love it all, although I know my strong and weak points. I love doing the stupid intricate stuff no one probably even hears and EQing etc, whereas Andrew is really on the money at bass lines for example. I think we both work better together than separate so it’s a good combination. Normally we will work tracks as projects from each others studios from across the internet and then try and finish them in person, with either Andrew flying here or me going there for a month or so at a time. It doesn’t work like that for every track of course, but I think the best ones always come from this way.

(Andrew) One of my favorite aspects about electronic music production is the immediate response and feedback you can receive. I love hearing reactions from people after having a track debut on a radio show, which in some cases can be just the day after wrapping production on that tune. The best instant feedback is seeing the reaction your latest track receives on the dance floor. That is probably my favorite perk about EDM production!

Q: Who have been/are your biggest musical influences to this date?
(Alan) Too many to list!

(Andrew) So many different things really, it’s difficult where to even start. As for dance acts, obviously Above & Beyond, Eric Prydz, Remy, D. Ramirez, and Dubfire. We’ve been also right into the deadmau5 and Moonbeam gear also lately. As for non dance stuff, you can find a lot of Jose Gonzales, Dntel, Sufjan Stevens, Yoko Kanno, and Sigur Ros on my playlists. Also we’re highly influenced by films (and the film scores as well). Some of our favorites are Blade Runner (duh), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Children of Men, etc..

Q: Some of your latest productions are the cleanest, most well produced tracks I have heard in a good while. One such example being your remix of Above & Beyond’s “Beautiful Together.” Do you have any production tips or tricks for our readers to aid them in achieving a similar quality in their work?
(Alan) Thanks! There was a lot of little edits and percussive elements in there that we were both really pleased with on the end result. I think the best tip would be to take it easy with overuse of reverb and delay, be brutal with subtractive eq and try and make each sound count to its fullest potential. Spend time working the mix as much as the melody/synths and don’t just throw 10 vengeance loops at it and expect to have a unique sounding end product.

(Andrew) Alan summed it up pretty well. I can’t stress this one point enough: less is MORE. Dry(er) tracks always sound best loud, not something swamped in reverb and delay. These things usually make weak parts sound better, so if your parts are quality, don’t cover them up with huge reverb and delay tails!! This is usually the first thing on our list of fixes when we sign demos to Fraction.

Q: If we walked into your studio what would we find and how much time do you both spend there on any given day?
(Alan) You’d most likely find 2 guys just having fun making the music they love I suppose! When we’re in the same studio its really 18 hour a day stuff so you’ve got to enjoy it and be able to get on well together. When were working in separate studios its probably more like 10-12 hours between studio and the label with the rest of the time sleeping and back home with the other half explaining why I’m an hour late!

(Andrew) Haha, Alan nailed it…except that those 2 guys would be extremely exhausted with tons of empty cola cans lying about. As far as gear goes, we’re both mac guys running the new Logic 8 with a slew of software. On the hardware front, we’re quite into the Dave Smith synths (Poly Evolver Keyboard) and the Access Virus series (Ti/C). We have some miscellaneous other synths such as some Novation gear, a JP8080, Triton Rack, Micro Korg, and a few other sound boxes. Our favorite bits are probably the converters by Apogee, plus our Fireface 800 is great too.

Q: Having been in the edm industry for some time now who do you guys look at as an icon or symbol within the edm genres?
(Alan) I think Above & Beyond are doing great things for trance. D.Ramirez and DJ Remy have been my 2 favorite producers for quite some time.

(Andrew) For me definitely guys like Eric Prydz, Sasha + Diggers, Ali + Sharam from Deepdish, and Joel Zimmerman.

Q: If you could collaborate with any artist out right now who would it be?
(Andrew) Well we’re actually in the middle of collaborating with some really amazing artists, so our hands are pretty full focusing on doing the best we can with these projects at the moment. We actually have a single on the board produced by Brian Eno. He made some time in the middle of working on the Coldplay album to work on the followup to Leaving London. [that was a joke]

(Alan) Joking aside, I’m really excited about the current collabs Andrew mentioned yeah.

Q: Your catalogue has a number of Remix works, how do you usually go about taking on any given remix?
(Alan) We make sure we like the original track first of course then if all is fine we will normally try to give it a different edge if we can. I like vocal remixes the best as it can give you a little more freedom with where you go with it. Normally we’ll get as much original audio in as possible and try a few directions out before we set out with what we think will work best. We’ll add all our own drums in there, new synth lines if needed etc. Trying to put our sound to the mix while making sure it stays true to the original, and adds to the release package.

Q: Are there any particular artists you that you have both really enjoyed working with or remixing for?
(Alan) Remixing for Judge Jules was enjoyable, as he has really helped us and gave everything we sent him a lot of airplay. Our track ‘Team SR – Leaving London’ was played weekly for over half a year on Radio 1 so getting the chance to try and return the favor was really good!

(Andrew) I really enjoyed working on the remix for Markus Schulz also. He’s such a great guy, and its wonderful when you really hear loads of appreciation for your work- that meant a lot to both of us.

Q: Having put out many quality tracks and remixes this past year, what have been the highlights of the year for you?
(Andrew) Well thank you! One of the highlights for our productions this year was Electric Sheep. It has a sound we had been developing and tweaking for a while, and we finally applied it to an original track. I really dig how the transitions and builds sound on a loud system!

(Alan) After hearing about Turnmills closure shortly, I’d have to put Djing there last year as a highlight too actually. RIP Turnmills!

Q: What can we expect to see from you guys in 2008? Do you have any special tracks in the works right now?
(Alan) We’re working out some new Anjunabeats tracks just now, an E.P on Fraction, and there is an E.P due out on AVA shortly too. I think 2008 will be primarily about Anjunabeats/Fraction. A radio show is high on the list for 2008 and possibly a youtube video diary. Id like to do an album this year too..

(Andrew) Yep. Expect some new stuff from our Syndica alias which will cover both uplifting and housey territory. We plan on developing our sound more and more this year.

Q: What are your top 3 favorite tracks at the moment? Of all time? Top track of your own?
(Alan) I couldn’t make a top 3 of the moment, far less all time! There is a lot of really great music around right now. Of our own, I still have to say ‘3000 Miles Away’ haha. Technically its not up to much, but it has a lot of sentimental value and always makes me smile when I hear it!

(Andrew) Oh god. I have no idea… for last year I can definitely say Dubfire - Roadkill, DJ Remy & Roland Klinkenberg’s “Mexico Can Wait”, “Faxing Berlin” by deadmau5, and Partial Arts - Trauermusik would all be equally listed as my favorite tracks from last year.

Q: Which artists (if any) do you think will breakthrough in 2008?
(Alan) One name to watch out for from our label would be Bjorn Akesson. He’s definitely going to do well for himself if he keeps up the great work. I don’t know about really big breakthrough guys…. Further up the ladder I see Breakfast is doing well for himself which is good to see so I’d expect him to really get out there in 2008.

(Andrew) I agree with Alan. Bjorn has done some ROCKIN stuff for us. Casey Keworth is also such a great guy and extremely talented. I really have been in love with everything Moonbeam is putting out also. They’re not very new but man are they productive!

Q: There is some talk of how the dance scene is constantly changing, both in the club as well as in the production circles. As owners of the record label, Fraction Records, what are your views on the current state of electronic dance music?
(Alan) Yeah its definitely in constant change. I can never really decide on my views on the current state actually. Piracy aside I think digital has some minus points that need addressed. Don’t get me wrong, when digital is done right, it’s absolutely the way forward no questions but the way it is getting is concerning. There are digital labels being set up almost daily by people who basically can’t get there music released by a ‘real’ label for want of a better word. There’s no proper mastering of the tracks, or promotion, and at the end of the day it has a negative affect on how people perceive what’s available to buy. I mean, with Fraction, we put about a years worth of royalties into starting something properly. We’ve pressed vinyl/cd from day one, we have distribution deals for both our physical and digital media, we’ve paid advances, remixer fees, and a have set-up a proper website/servers. Over the last few years we’ve gathered contacts and industry friends to be able to promo our music properly, and really, with all that said and done we can still find getting coverage on digital download stores problematic at times from the sheer volume of sub standard digital only music released at the same time. I’m not saying competition is bad of course, and there are some superb digital only labels around who are doing things absolutely spot on, but traditionally in the vinyl only days of old there was a definite level of commitment, self restraint, and finances required to essentially be running your own business. I mean, to get a P&D deal for your label you had to have a proven track record on other labels, or have 3 releases scheduled of quality productions to show what you were about. If you couldn’t get this and went the other route of getting a fully independent distribution deal yourself you still had to factor the costs of pressing your own records which, if they didn’t sell due to being rubbish would soon make you wonder if your stuff was actually as good as you thought, and also very much out of pocket! At Fraction our sales are actually really good digitally, so hopefully we have built a good name where people are really into what we are about, which really makes it all worthwhile, but I do know other labels who are finding it frustrating. At the end of the day, from the DJs to the producers, to the labels, to the people buying the end product : the consumers - what we all want as part of this scene is to have a choice of excellent music maintaining and nourishing a healthy scene. I know a lot of the download stores are addressing this in various ways so hopefully it can rectify itself, as, like I said at the start, it is an excellent format when done right, and undoubtedly the future!

(Andrew) What Alan said + I miss vinyl.

Q: Fraction Records has proven itself as a great record label with its high quality releases and top notch artists. What advice can you offer aspiring artists looking for their big break?
(Alan) I think try to really bring something new to the table. I mean, stick within the boundaries of the genre to a certain extent of course, but don’t be scared to try new things which can make your tracks stand out from the rest! A great tracks a great track at the end of the day, but a great track with something new and original is even better!

Q: What does Fraction Records look for specifically when reviewing newly submitted demos? Are there any common mistakes or misconceptions that you have noticed in the demo submission process that artists should avoid?
(Alan) Probably the cc filled with 100 other labels is the best way to not get your demo listened to! I think a well presented email with 1 or 2 direct linking tracks is the best way to get someone to listen to your music. Although we do listen to all of the demos we get the best ones do seem to follow this format. We generally don’t follow up on the “Hi label, here’s my track (link) bye” ones with the cc fields filled with labels. If we’re going to be putting the money and time into a track, and working more than just once with an artist we look for what is potentially a good solid starting point to build a relationship into.

(Andrew) Yeah- it’s obscenely rude to send one email out to every label you scraped off discogs.com. We all know that it’s common place to shop to different labels, and its quite alright to do so (in certain cases) but don’t send just one email out. Also please don’t attach tracks to your email.

Q: You guys have recently become an active part of APN. How did you find out about APN and is there anything you could tell our readers about our community and your involvement here?
(Alan) I’ve been reading the forums for a while actually before joining up. Its probably one of the most on and point and helpful discussion groups around I think so I hope it continues in the same way for a long time to come!

Q: Well you guys certainly have many supporters here on APN! Thanks again for doing this interview, we wish you both the best of luck with everything to come!
(Alan) Thanks, and hopefully people have enjoyed reading it!

(Andrew) Thanks very much!

thx for info!!! But not everyone understand that here is written!!

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