Chasing dreams, meeting heroes, and engineering future connections

Some reflections on my monthly Zoom calls with a bunch of blokes connecting to our youths and making atmospheric drum and bass together

For the past couple of years, I have been attending a monthly Zoom call with a bunch of people I’ve never met in real life. To make music. Hear some stories from the past and create some connection around some shared passions.

A screenshot of the motley crew with Gavin Cheung (aka Nookie, Coud 9, Binary State) answering some of our questions

Our leader is a guy named Lee Batchelor. A Brit (from Glasgow) who now lives in Melbourne. He is one half of a music production team (and sometimes just Lee) called Future Engineers. Most readers will have no idea of who I am talking about. This is one of their early tunes. Hard beats, intricate layers of futuristic sounds, and a mesmerising flow.

One of my first conscious experiences of Future Engineers was with their tune, Echo Location.

But if you ever listened to Atmospheric Drum and Bass, Intelligent Drum and Bass, or DJs like LTJ Bukem and Blame back in the mid-to-late 90s, you would have heard some of their music. Incredibly futuristic, with a vibe from a different planet.

And if you haven’t really engaged with that kind of drum and bass, it can be an acquired taste, but Bukem’s essential mix would be a good place to start.

LTJ Bukem’s classic Essential Mix from 1995 — possibly one of the best 2 hours of musical Drum and Bass you can imagine. Except for Pete Tong pronouncing Bukem’s name incorrectly.

The Future Engineers Production Sessions — a saviour for the pandemic

During the pandemic Lee decided to run monthly production sessions. He would take people behind the curtain of his production processes. Geeking out on Logic Pro channels, VST plugins, and samples from films.

Now our monthly sessions usually focus on building a track together.

At some point Lee pivoted to the idea of making a tune collaboratively. We’d chip in some samples (maybe a few too many from me at first), listen to them all and then over several months craft a track together. Almost a year for one track. We would watch as Lee crafted the loose samples into something intricate, futuristic, hard hitting and groovy. There would be comments, ideas and feedback on the music from the group of aging drum and bass heads. All this paired with wild tales of NFT pubes, banter about life with kids, and discussions of how to get our music sounding anywhere near as good as Lee’s. There would also be crazy stories about Good Looking Records. One of the most infamous record labels of the scene, ran by LTJ Bukem and the Tony Fordham.

The attendees of the group changed over time. And I’ve only ever been in the UK group. There’s actually another Oz group that appears on the flipsides of the releases, and some healthy competition between us. We’ve had infamous producers pass through, hoping to learn some new tricks. And some special appearances from the likes of Blame and last night, Nookie.

Nookie’s Sound of Music is one of hardcore rave’s biggest ever anthems. Uplifting pianos, pitched up chipmonk vocals, classic breakbeats and some heavy bass.

Nookie’s Only You — a sublime piano-led piece of musical drum and bass from 1994

Getting poorer through pluginitis

Later into the journey, Lee setup a Discord. The group would share tracks where they were working on for feedback. Share industry gossip. And recommend the latest plugin that was on sale. Together, we’ve got a lot poorer with all the stuff we ‘need’. All in the spirt of getting that bit closer to the sound we want. But we have benefitted from kind and bat-eared feedback from the likes of Den and Lee.

Getting richer through connection

Alongside getting poorer financially, I think we’ve all got a bit richer. Some deep insight on gain staging, the best plugins (Trackspacer well up there by the way), to how we might mangle sounds, layer breaks, tune bass drums and mix down something that could sound great in a club. These are all the things you might expect if you joined a music production class.

But I think there is something even richer from this, beyond the obvious. A group of lads. No women unfortunately. But our banter is actually more female friendly than other groups I may have interacted with in the past. Mostly middle-aged lads. All looking pretty good for it I would add. All coming together to bond over a social object from our youths. A very niche, and transformative music style. Popular for a few years in the 90s, that hasn’t quite died, and is actually having a revival. Many of us being members of the Atmospheric Drum and Bass revival Facebook group. Most of us trying to bring our own minds, skills, and hearts to creating something contemporary, or nostalgic. Maybe both at the same time.

Men often find connection through social objects

This is a story that I can relate to as a middle-aged man, who often experiences professional and personal loneliness. Despite being around many lovely people in work and beyond, men (and some women I’m sure as well) can often find it hard to connect with other men without a social object. Usually, in the UK, it’s football (soccer to you US folk), which puts me at a disadvantage because I just didn’t get into it properly. And there’s even a Men and Sheds Association dedicated to helping with this from a different angle https://menssheds.org.uk/

It could be sheds, football or atmospheric drum and bass. Men seem to find it easy to connect over a social object.

But, it doesn’t really matter what it is. Once the BS about the knowledge and who knows more subsides, some genuine conversations happen. And while we interact, maybe we feel less alone.

Receding within the group

I’m sure not everyone in the group feels this. I may be the only one. And I hardly participate in the live discussions. In fact, I surprise myself how quiet I am. Receding into the background, more as passive observer listening rather than the provocative space invader of old in a conversation around design. Not having to play up to a LinkedIn profile, or a career in an industry. And there’s something nice about that. Knowing very little. But wanting to know a lot. Not necessarily improving my music production at the pace I’d like. But building some foundations for the future. And possibly some new connections.

Gertting closer to a dream of hearing a track I made in a club

I can’t remember when it was, but at some point I was writing a list of things I wanted to do before I died. A bucket list if you like. On it, was the desire to be in a club, dancing with a bunch of people, to a track I had created. I used to love DJing before having kids. Helping other people to feel joy on the dancefloor. Tackling the technical challenges of beat mixing, and emotive challenges of tune selection alongside breaking my back with records. But actually creating the music that would help people move, just feels like something that might be that bit more meaningful.

With this group and my tinkering over the years, that dream gets a little bit closer. And the journey itself, enjoying the process, is helping me disconnect from some other stresses in my life,. I even enjoy listening to my unreleasable music. There’s always plenty to improve, but it’s nice when something you create, can help you change your own mood. Sometimes bringing you joy, and peace.

‘Recall’ is the first track the UL group created together, and I giot to play it in Berlin.

Last year I had the opportunity to DJ at a UX Camp Europe after party and play ‘Recall’, one of the tunes that we made as a group, to a few fellow UX designers. Unfortunately there weren’t many left at that early hour. But I did it again the next year and played another new one. alongside some tunes from the group. Not quite the music I created. But I had some input. And I was there through most of it. So I’m slowly inching closer to my dream.

Getting closer to your heroes

Another aspect that I appreciate from the sessions, which I hadn’t expected is getting closer to my heroes. Blame, Nookie, and Lee himself, all being producers that really connected with me over the years. In many ways, they each changed my life. Filled my ears with warmth. Got me moving on some of the best nights of my life. Through this experience, I have got closer to seeing how technical brilliance and life-changing impact doesn’t necessarily make money. But it is within reach of some super down-to-earth and lovely characters. It’s quite empowering to meet your heroes, and realise they’re humans too.

So, this little excursion to my office on a saturday evening for the past couple of years has certainly been one upside of the pandemic. Helping me get closer to my dreams, closer to some of my heroes, and helping me connect with some new people while re-connecting with one of my early passions.

You can find out more about the Production Sessions at Lee’s website here: https://futureengineers.net/productionsessions, and find out more about Future Engineers here: https://futureengineers.net/ including their latest release which is brilliant.

You should also check out Nookie’s latest album on Metalheadz, a whole bunch of his early and recent music.