Blazing a trail through the UK’s underground house/tech scene, Jack N Danny have been finding favour with the likes of Radio 1, Kiss FM, 1Xtra, Kiss Fresh and Capital XTRA thanks to releases on Simma Black, SOTU, Form & Function and Audiowhore. We asked them to give us the lowdown on their breakthrough track, ‘Double Up’ – a beefy slice of G-House that’s made their name across the world.
It all started with an idea for the vocal: a classic Notorious B.I.G. track, ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems’. But we didn’t want to use an obvious part of the song, so went with a short loop from the Ma$e verse, which we manipulated. To this day there are people that still ask where the sample is from. As with all our tracks, we made it in one session – probably about 3-5 hour studio session including time to mix it down (a key part!)
The setup we use (not simultaneously!) includes three iMacs, two Quad Core Mac Pros, two Macbook Pros, Logic Pro 8, a vast selection of Audio Unit plugins including Waves, Rob Papen and iZotope’s Ozone (too many to list), a custom drum library, four pairs of monitors – including our personal preference, KRK Rokits – Native Instruments Maschine, outboards including Focusrite pre-amps and compressors, Korg Triton and Trinity Racks to name a few.
With regards to ‘Double Up’, the drum sounds were from our own library, bass sounds courtesy of SubBoomBass and synths from Blue, Predator and Tone 2. The arrangement was chosen to have an acapella vocal start, deliberately because our DJ style is to hold our mixes and use vocals from one track and mix with the bass of another and create a new sound. We definitely use the loop / slip roll feature in our live sets.
The track was made at the end of 2013 with no genre in mind. We just knew there had to be a deep sub bass, the type you feel in your chest when you’re in a nightclub. Initially we knew the track had potential in its simplicity, catchy vocals and deep-down dirty bassline – but we didn’t have any special expectations for it. It was only when it got mastered and we heard it in a club that I thought – this track is powerful. The ravers loved it!
At the time, the track was not a big deal to us, so to speak, and we thought of giving it out as a free download and put a clip up on Soundcloud. The response was good and we couldn’t wait to test it out at a gig. We continued to feature it in our live sets and promo mixes. The interest for the tune was a lot greater than normal and we flung it out to a few DJs in the UK scene.
It was only then we were told it sounds a little like the G-House sound, so we then did some digging and realised there was a G-House movement and instantly thought – yep, we like this – as it was very hip-hop influenced through the vocal sample that we used. We sent the track to Amine Edge & DANCE for them to play and then basically moved on to our next project. One of our flaws is we never chase up people we send tracks for feedback – but hey, we never have and so far the formula has been generous to us.
One Friday night was we received a Facebook message with a picture attached from a DJ / promoter which was of a Pioneer CDJ with a track loaded in the deck called ‘I GOT’ (another track of ours due out on Cuff this year). Along with this was a message: “I’m in Buddha Lounge Romford and Amine Edge & Dance are playing your tracks and they said they are gonna sign ‘em”. Trying to play it cool, I think the response was “yeah nice” when really we was like “NICEEEEEE” ha ha…
Some days passed and we was wondering if they would contact us. We then got shouted by our good friend X5 DUBS who tagged us in an Instagram clip from Sankeys Ibiza. In the 15-second clip, ‘Double Up’ was playing and the crowd were loving it. Some more days passed and we then received an email from Amine asking about possibly signing a couple tracks to CUFF, and as I think you can guess we instantly replied “oh yes!” Hopefully Amine Edge & DANCE will drop a remix as well at some point.
The next few months, Amine Edge & DANCE really supported us and ‘Double Up’, taking the track from UK to Europe and the world. In a short space of time, we saw the track tear up festivals and dance floors from Toronto to San Andreas, Miami, Brazil, Barcelona and Ibiza. We instantly started receiving messages from all over the world, from A-list DJs, tour managers and so on. As weeks went by and the track became more popular, we received a message from someone in Germany sending us a link to MK playing our track on his latest Mixmag mix. The mix had a visual on YouTube plus a tracklist and he was looking for a copy. We were super-excited at this point as we learned MK had been playing it regularly.
With the release in the waiting with Cuff we received massive amounts of emails regarding the track and others, as people’s ears were now open to us. Since being released in July, it racked up 25,000 plays in nine days and has received further support from Kenny Dope, Miguel Campbell, Paco Osuna, Shiba San, Sonny Fodera plus many more.
We still think it’s a great track and we are proud to say it’s ours.
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