Canadian turntablist and producer A-Trak touched down in the London studio on Monday, and hit the ground running by working on remixes for not just one, but three A-list musicians.
A-Trak – real name Alain Macklovitch – booked his two days in the studio sandwiched between two big live gigs to devote production time to his remixes of Jamie Lidell, Robyn and one for his old pal, Kanye West.
Plugging his laptop straight into the studio desk, A-Trak got to work and told us: “It's a busy time at the moment, I'm working on about five things at once. I'm starting a remix for Jamie Lidell, today I'm doing some tweaks on a remix for Robyn called Indestructible that's almost finished.
“I'm also supposed to start something for Kanye at the moment, he's asked me to work on a few things for him. That's the main stuff I have on my plate this week. It's kinda crazy.”
'I prefer to focus on stuff I'm excited about musically' – A-Trak
Things for A-Trak have blown up since his track Barbra Streisand with fellow Duck Sauce-r Armand Van Helden hit number three in the UK charts in October, but he told us this week's remixing is a very rare thing : “I usually say no to remixing even though some of the offers come from pretty big bands and sometimes the money's pretty good, but I know I have a lot on my plate and I don't like to rush any work.
“I said yes to these guys because I like the music. Sometimes remixing is a good exercise for me, I'm still learning how to produce and it gives me a couple of starting points. As for the tracks, I prefer to focus on stuff I'm excited about musically.”
A-Trak was named the youngest ever Technics/DMC Champion at 15 years old in 1997, and he switched his talents from remixing in the studio to judging the Red Bull Thre3style UK talent: “I think it'll be interesting to see if it's mixture of who gets the biggest reaction or who does the most creative mix," he commented ahead of the event on November 17. "But if someone comes up and is a skilled turntablist and does something that's technically above the other DJs, then that guy will be the clear winner for me.”
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