Éclat Part 116

It's our last challenge for the year, and we're closing out the year in STYLE. Not only is this one an In Real Life event at House Of Music in Berlin, but we've also got one of our very own FABULOUS producers as our Guest Curator this week - rising star Amy Dabbs!

London born now Berlin based, Amy Dabbs is the daughter of an original Northern Soul DJ. Trusting in the mantra of doing what you love, Amy makes and plays music she believes in, music that makes you dance and elicit an emotional response. She runs her own label Dabbs Traxx, is a resident of club Renate, and hosts a monthly show on Rinse FM.

In the last few years her career has been a steep uphill trajectory, spanning releases on Shall Not Fade, Aus Music & Heist, sets at HÖR Berlin, collaborations with the likes of Coco Bryce, and countless features on BBC Radio 1 Dance. As a multi-genre artist, Amy Dabbs has become renowned for her distinguished, diverse sound, and undeniable flair both behind the booth and in the studio. With forthcoming releases on Dabbs Traxx, Future Classic and He.She.They, she has another very busy year ahead of her.

Tonight we're working with samples from Amy's beautiful Juno 106. This is what Amy had to say about tonight's sample pack:

"When I first got my shared studio space in Berlin, there was a Juno 106 in there that belonged to the guy I was sharing with. I’d never even seen an old analogue synth before and was excited to hear what came out of it. When I first started to play around on the synth, I absolutely loved the sounds it was making, and even though it was out of tune here and there (and desperately needed a service) it felt human, real and emotional. The Juno 106 has since featured in almost every track I’ve ever made - I fell so in love with this 1984 synth that I’ve since bought one of my own.

For my Éclat challenge, I decided to do a 106 special, and all of the 24 samples that people can choose from have featured in one way or another in my tracks since my first EP in 2020. As was I digging through all my old files to bounce the stems, it was a really nice reminder of different techniques I’d used previously and forgotten about (also nice to see how my production knowledge has evolved over time!)."

Download the samples from WeTransfer here

Tonight's challenge is that ALL your samples should come from tonight's sample pack EXCEPT for your drums! Make a track of ~2 minutes long by 21:00, then grab one of the USB keys so we can listen to it in the listening session!

Listen to Amy describe a bit more about using the 106 below:

 

 

Listen to more of Amy's tracks over on bandcamp!