A Balanced Chat: Interview with Nick Warren:

April 25th sees the release of Balance 018, the latest compilation in the Balance Series, this time with tracks hand selected and mixed Nick Warren. Nick Warren is one half of Way Out West, as well as a Solo DJ. This is Warren’s first mix CD since 2008’s Global Underground GU35 Lima.

Marcie chats with Warren to find out how he selects and mixes 20 exclusives out of 1000 submissions, what’s coming up next in his studio, and why he wants to be in the Foo Fighters.

MARCIE: How did the Balance compilation present itself to you?

NICK WARREN: I’ve admired Balance for awhile now, and for me they’re like the coolest end of the compilation market now, so I was more than happy to get involved. They’re very easy going. They don’t give you any preconceived ideas of your mix. They left it up to me completely to do what I wanted. So it was a pleasure to get involved with them.

MARCIE: It sounds like you had a lot of creative freedom?

NICK WARREN: Oh, complete. It was fantastic. It’s always bit of a daunting prospect. I don’t really look forward to making these albums at the beginning because there’s three months of work involved, really, from contacting all the producers that I admire, to going through the tracks. It’s normally about 1000 pieces of music I’ll get sent for them. It’s pretty easy to spot the ones that are definitely going on, which from 1000 is maybe 10. Then I have to go through all the others and decide ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘maybe’, and work with them for awhile and see which ones fit. With these albums, it’s important for me that it still sounds good in ten years time, so it’s really vital that you choose music that will still sound decent in a few years time.

MARCIE: What do you think makes a track stand the test of time that way?

NICK WARREN: It’s really a timeless vibe. If you can look back at something and…think it might be [made] anywhere between 1994 and 2010, then for me that’s always a good sign.

MARCIE: A lot of that has to do with production style, or equipment.

NICK WARREN: Yes, of course. But also ideas. The production levels are really important, but then I think it’s about finding a timeless electronic music vibe, that’s important to me.

MARCIE: On Balance 018, you are blending a lot of melody with new school techno.

NICK WARREN: For me, melody has always been important, but then more and more I find over the past few years that the more progressive side of dance music has started to verge toward the trance end of the market…slightly more cheesy melodies. I’ve always wanted to stay on the cooler side, and I think the new techno that’s being made at the moment is getting more and more that way anyway; using melodies and nice basslines, but with all those cool percussion sounds and techno ideas.

MARCIE: Is there a track on the compilation that was the most surprising discovery for you?

NICK WARREN: Oh gosh…yes, there was. There’s one called “Hibiscus”. It was obviously made by someone who doesn’t spend all his time in nightclubs, because in some ways the arrangement was slightly unusual. It works perfectly for CD, you see. It might not work in a club because of the way it’s arranged, but it fits perfectly on a home listening CD.

MARCIE: Did you find sometimes that a track you really liked and wanted to put in a compilation would change the overall direction you had been going, or roadblock you?

NICK WARREN: Yes, exactly. You always upset a few people in the process, because you’re like, “I love your track, I’m definitely going to use it”, and then you start to do the mix, and it just doesn’t fit. It sends it in a direction which doesn’t work…and they have to come out. It’s finding those tracks which work in the flow of the mix. I’ve always wanted my CD to be in a certain way. I love to start on a deep register, and then take a roller coaster effect rather than a slow uphill climb, which a lot of dj’s do. They start deep, and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, whereas I like to move around in the genres and the sounds, which I think works on a CD more than in a nightclub sometimes.

MARCIE: How did you decide the difference between the first and second CD?

NICK WARREN: I started the first one first, and I started the second one second, (laughs). No, that really was it, to be honest. I knew the start of CD one. That was obvious to me to start with. Then it’s just working on tracks, on the mixes, and CD one evolves. Once I get to the end of CD one, I look at all the tracks I have left, and it’s a rebuilding again. In some ways, the two CD’s are very separate ideas in my head. It’s seeing what’s left of the tracks I want to use, and trying to make them work.

MARCIE: Do you have a lot of visuals in your head when you make a mix?

NICK WARREN: I don’t know if it’s visual. I think it’s more excitement. If I’m happy and I’m excited about what I’m doing, my foot just taps constantly. My right leg is going up and down like a yo-yo. So if that’s happening, I know it’s all good. If that leg is still, I’m flat. I think, ‘no no no, there’s something wrong here’, (laughs).

MARCIE: If we could switch gears and talk about your productions, do you have to be yo-yo leg to write music? What inspires you to write?

NICK WARREN: Pain always works. It’s always been the same in songwriting. I think all the best music comes from people who have just fallen out of love or have no money. It’s always been the same from Jimi Hendrix onwards. But then, I’m neither of those things on this album. Just everyday life inspires. It might be one sound I hear. Whether it’s a bird in the garden, or…I still collect lots of [old] vinyl….70’s and 80’s weird electronic albums from Germany, or I bought a load of…music from an old university in California of just these guys on synthesizers making the weirdest noises in the world. I might hear one little thing, and that’s the spark that starts everything off. It’s like building blocks. You start with that sound, and then write another one. And that’s when the direction occurs. There’s no direction in the beginning apart from that one small sound for me. And so it’s quite random which direction it’s gonna go in.

MARCIE: What’s the vocal that you’re using in Buenos Aires?

NICK WARREN: There’s a few websites which offer free samples. I was looking for a little sort of vocal sample to put in ‘Buenos Aires’. There was a girl who had put some ad libbing that she’d done onto this free site. There was a great loop… I sent her a mail asking if I could use it, and she said, go ahead. It fit perfectly.

MARCIE: Can listeners expect any new big vocal songs from you?

NICK WARREN: I’m just starting to think about doing vocals again. ‘Cuz obviously with Way Out West, we did a load. Jody and I are gonna do some new material soon. We used a vocalist awhile ago, called Omi, a girl from Bristol who did some great songs for us, and I’m gonna maybe get her in the studio again. I’d like to do some real weird ambient vocal music with no drums at all, and just go into the studio with synthesizers and her, and work for a day, and just mash it up and loop it, and see how it evolves.

I like that idea, because with dance music now, it can be a bit formulaic, where you work on something for months and months…backwards or forwards. Whereas in the old days, when rock n’ roll bands used to book a studio, they’d go in for 3 days and they’d have to start and finish their album then. I quite fancy that idea of getting some musicians and vocalists in, and just work constantly for three or four days and see what comes out at the end.

MARCIE: If you could trade lives with any other DJ, band, or musician for a week, who would it be?

NICK WARREN: I’d love to be in the Foo Fighters for a week. I’d love to be Dave Grohl for a week. I think that would be so much fun. To be in a big rock n roll band, just for a week. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, and fly around the world in a private jet and do stadiums. It must be so much fun.

MARCIE: But you get to travel a lot…

NICK WARREN: Of course I do, but it tends to be on my own. Way out West did a tour of North America a few years ago, and we did the tour bus thing, and it was really good fun, I enjoyed it.

MARCIE: In the soundtrack of your life, what song would play when you walk in the room?

NICK WARREN: I’ve always wanted to say ‘Oops, I Did It Again by Britney’, but it’s not that one, (laughs). I think it would be ‘Song to the Siren’, by ‘This Mortal Coil’. I remember as a young man, having a Sony walkman on, and listening to it walking in the town where I lived, over and over again. It’s just a very spiritual, amazing piece of music. I would like it to be played at my funeral when they throw me on the fire.

MARCIE: Do you have a favorite female producer or female DJ?

NICK WARREN: Yeah, my favorite is a girl from Argentina, called Victoria R. She’s got a track on the Balance album. I think she’s a real talent, really cool producer. Also there’s a female producer called Estroe, I’m sure you’ve heard of. I’m a big fan of her work.

MARCIE: Do you have a favorite Balance Compilation from the past?

NICK WARREN: Joris’s! Joris Voorn’s is great. James Holden’s, I thought was fantastic.

MARCIE: So you would want to do it again if they ask you?

NICK WARREN: Yeah, of course.

More info: Balance Music | Nick Warren

Balance 018 mixed by Nick Warren

CD1
1. Ormatie – Only
2. Spieltape feat. Shamil – Morning Paper
3. Underset – Berlin
4. Fiord – The Tribe Has Spoken
5. Paul Hazendonk – My Addiction
6. Eelke Kleijn – Monkey Movin’
7. Jamie Anderson And Owain K – Without Sound
8. Nick Warren – Buenos Aires (Terry Lee Brown Jnr Mix)
9. Nomad in the Dark – Drones (Send me)
10. Franck Orff – Hibiscus
11. Giorgos Gatzigristos – Tickless

CD2
1. Tripswitch – Collider (Nick Warren Mix)
2. Julio Largente – Darkened Underpass
3. Beat Factory featuring Stamina – Let’s Take a Walk
4. Lank – Ain’t No Problem
5. Yamil Colucci – Bristol Warm
6. Victoria R – Cosmos
7. Solee – Aragorn
8. Steve Mill – Someday
9. Steven Libby – 80D Test
10. Nick Warren – Flowers (Solee Remix)
11. Pablo Acenso – Bread

Posted in: Interviews | Posted on April 14, 2011 by MarcieJoy