This week i interviewed Jay Sauce, runner up with the third place in the “Ghost House Beats” remix competition hosted last month on the Metalectro blog. Jay Sauce, who is based in the UK, saw his tracks “Camera’s Ready” and “Clumsy Bass” recently being released on Saucy TraxRecords and has already produced around 30 tracks, both originals and remixes. He also held a residency for industry giants Ministry of Sound and Hed Kandi in Egypt playing 5 nights a week. Jay also has a 3 track EP being released on June 27th with Bone Idle Records. Let’s see what he has to say…
1. Hi Jay! Would you mind introducing yourself?
Hi guys, I’m Jay Sauce, a DJ / Producer / Remixer from the UK and started off dj’ing about 10 years ago in a small bar in Worcester and progressed overseas to Egypt where I spent a fantastic year with Ministry of Sound and Hed Kandi playing to some of the best crowds DJ’ing alongside some big international DJs. I’m mostly known for my ‘Funny DJ Trick’ video on YouTube now hitting around 200,000 views and support from Laidback Luke, The Wideboys and many more. Check it out and hope you enjoy the Trick!
2. How long are you doing Jay Sauce and how would you describe your music?
I’ve been producing and remixing for about 3 years now, but only in the past 12 months have I really got my head stuck in the studio to create some new and original material. My music varies as I love to experiment with different styles but I have to admit I am a huge lover of big, wobbly, dirty bassline house and the energetic upbeat style known as Fidget House.
3. You were recently a runner up with the third place in the remix competition for The Hats “Ghost House Beats”. How did you come up with the idea for this remix?
My remix was based upon a bit of UK Garage style percussion and subtle wobble bassline to try and create a simple, yet effective mix. I came up with the idea as I had just been playing a gig in the UK where I played a lot of UK Garage and wanted to try and mix the 2 styles together.
4. You have been doing quite a few remixes, do you prefer writing original tracks or remixing?
This is a question I’ve asked myself many times! Haha. I can never decide because creating your own track from scratch by building the drums, percussion, bassline, leads etc.. and getting great feedback on the finished production is a great feeling as its all your hard work paying off, but remixing is such good fun and a little bit less stressfull as you get given great samples to work with and your imagination can run wild. So in answer to the question im 50/50 haha.
5. What would you say is your biggest music achievement/highlight so far?
Well, on my soundcloud I have an unofficial bootleg I did of David Guetta – Don’t let me go, mashing up some samples I got from the amazing Vengeance Sounds website and just threw it all together to play at a New Years Eve gig and got a great response to it so I stuck it up for free download on my Soundcloud account and its tallying up some huge numbers on listens and downloads so I think that’s my highlight so far on production.
6. Are you working on any new material at the moment? Do you want to tell us about it?
I’ve always got something new in the pipeline as I tend to start a project then put it to bed for a few weeks then pick it back up again! Haha. But I do have a new track out that’s on my Soundcloud now called Pitch Bend that is a very sub bass driven, fidget house track that I’m hoping will do well as it may be released on my Label (Saucy Trax) this summer.
7. Do you prefer writing original tracks or remixing?
Never played in a metal / rock band before no… But Dire Straits and AC/DC are definitely up there in my top bands selection! My main influences come from some big wobble / fidget house producers like Stupid Fresh, Calvertron, Herve, Micky Slim and all that crowd.
8. Do you prefer working only with computers/sequencers or do you get your hands dirty playing and recording instruments? Do you use samples and what’s your opinion on sampling and copyright?
I’m a bit of a geek and just love my iMac studio too much, so its all about the digital sequencers and synthesizers for me. I only really use samples if I’m doing a free bootleg to give-away where as if im doing an original production or remix I like to add in my own sounds I’ve engineered to give it a personal touch, otherwise your stuff can easily start to sound a lot like everyone else. Copyrighting stops a lot of people making a lot easy and cheeky cash so I’m all for it, if a sample from a track I produced got used without permission then its just not fair unless it was for non-profit material of course.
9. Do you ever run out of creative ideas in the studio?
I think every producer has that day where nothing sounds good or something just sounds off and when I get a day like that I sometimes just shut off and go home, but normally a few beers sorts out that problem though haha! The best way to re-spark your creative side is just to slap on a few of your favorite tunes from different music genres and that normally works for me.
10. So, what is music for you and what do you think about the way the music industry is changing?
Music has always been that escape from normal life for me, no matter what is going on (even if I have a monster hangover), sticking on your headphones and blasting whatever music you love into your head always brings a great feeling. The music industry is nothing what it used to be, nowadays to produce music you only need a few hundred pounds and you have a studio on your computer or mac which is great but I think the music industry as too many people in it if im honest.
11. What do you think about today’s mainstream music?
In todays mainstream music the personal touch is being lost as many producers just use old samples from past big hits and stick a rap over it and new beats to wiggle into the charts.
12. You’ve been DJing for a while and have already played some big clubs. Do you believe that an electronic music artist can earn his/her living from music nowadays?
Yes if you are lucky / good enough to secure a residency with a venue but freelance DJs must be finding it tough as just like the production industry, the DJ industry is easy to get into now with software programmes running straight from a laptop with most of them giving the option for the “DJ” to literally just select the track and the software does the rest! I started off on 1210’s playing vinyl and back then a DJ was respected and had a following, but now not many people are bothered about who the DJ is in a local club as so many DJs are out there now.
13. Are you signed with any record label? Any future plans? (live shows, releases, remixes, etc)
Well I run my own label called Saucy Trax which is fairly new to the industry and hoping to get it well established by this summer. I recently got signed up to a fantastic Electro / Fidget label called Bone Idle Records who have a great artist roster and I’m also a remixer for Savage Trax who under my old name (John-e Jay) I have a few releases out for an artist called KJ.
14. What are you listening to lately? Any tracks/artists you recommend?
A big tune for me at the moment is Redlight – Source 16, it has got one of the best basslines I have ever come across! Also check out a producer called OH MY! on Soundcloud, he has a great original sound and style with some free downloads available to. Other names to check out are Carbon Parlour and Tomas Rubeck, both making some great stuff.
15. What do you like doing when not in the studio?
I love keeping fit and do kickboxing as a hobby but if I’m honest, 80% of my time I spend in the studio! Haha.
16. What do you think about the Metalectro blog and the music featured on it?
The Metalectro blog is great and very well managed. The music supplied is nice and varied and I will definitely be sharing the blog to friends and my followers!
17. Anything else you’d like to mention and we forgot to ask?
If you get a few mins then take a surf through my website www.jaysauce.co.uk I also have some free music downloads on there!