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An Interview with Amine Edge & DANCE

Known for their individuality and unique blend of Tech House, taking inspiration from early House, Bass, Philli Funk and 80’s Hip-House, the French duo are regular favourites not only with their consistent productions, but as DJs, hosting some of the best dressed parties naturally. We recently caught up with the pair to dive a little deeper into their musical journey and production process following the release of their sample pack in our Trademark Series... ⁠

Hey Amine Edge & Dance! Congratulations on the release of your latest Toolroom Trademark Series Sample Pack! How are you doing and where in the world are you right now?

Amine: Thanks for the opportunity guys! Right now, I’m in my studio at home in Lisbon, it’s sunny outside but there’s always tonnes of work to be done.

DANCE: Hi guys! I’m really good, thank you. I’m just home right now, in Marseille packing my bag to go for Holidays in Ibiza tomorrow!

How would you both describe the vibe and sound of your brand-new Toolroom Trademark Series Sample Pack?

AE&D: We would say it’s a large palette of what Amine Edge & DANCE is, a bit of analog, a bit of digital, a bit of deep a bit of tech, a mix between the old and the new Amine Edge & DANCE sound and some refurbished vinyl loops, eclectic as usual.

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How do you approach creating new music as a duo and where do you draw inspiration from when producing?

Amine: Since day one, DANCE and I always worked separately, we send ideas and project thru Dropbox and jump on it and send back to each other, this until we find a project that we both happy with.

DANCE: The inspiration comes from all the ideas I’ve got in my head; I’m always thinking about music and production, I’m obsessed! I listen to a lot of different music every day, sometimes just a cool bassline in a pop track can inspire me…

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What are your favourite synths, drum machines or hardware you own?

Amine: As we travel a lot, we’ve definitely digitalized our process, but when I’m back home my best friends are my Barefoot speakers. I love making loops with the Native Instruments Maschine as well. I do also use the Roland TR-8 to try and find those unique moment you cannot get via DAW, and I love my TB-3 for acid sounds like our track ‘Ruthless’ on Desolat.

DANCE: I don’t actually have any hardware! I’m too lazy to learn how to use them. So, I prefer to work all in the box and use some cool VST’s like Omnisphere, Korg Triton, Nexus 3, Shaperbox 2 etc… 

What was the best bit of advice you ever received as producers/DJs?

Amine: Oh, it’s hard to tell because I’ve never stopped learning! I constantly watch new tips and tricks on YouTube or Instagram from talented people but learning how to properly mix a sound I went to school for it, and this was the most beneficial 3 month of my life for learning those theories.

DANCE: As I’m more a producer than a DJ, I always listen to Amine’s tips to improve my DJ’s skills. He always has been my mentor.

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What is the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you first started producing music?

DANCE: I started producing music 20 years ago so I wish there was all these tutorials that we could find on YouTube easily. It was way more complicated to learn how to make music back in those days as I had to learn by myself, so it took me a long time to become good.

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What are your top 3 tips for aspiring producers looking to up their production game?

Amine: I like to play with probability tools, nothing planed and using tools like ‘Step Divider’ on Ableton to help you find some good random melody you’ve never thoughts of more and more artist use AI to help their creativity, then it’s just a matter of taste if you pick them loops or not.

My second tip is try not to sound like someone else, making music is so easy nowadays, but making good music and making something original is another story. When you think of a headliner DJ, they all have their own sound and I believe you can’t be successful if you are a clone of someone else.

Lastly, keep learning new things every day, if you are an incredible producer and you stop learning the new technologies and trend you soon going to become obsoleted with style.

DANCE: You have to work every day and make sure you stop being distracted by all the social networks. Check all of the tutorials available on YouTube and constantly listen to a lot of music. Having a big musical culture is very important. You have to understand and analyse how big hits are made. Be focused on structure, it’s very important. And last thing – Consistency, that’s the key.

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Looking back through your discography, what is your favourite record that you’ve produced together?

Amine: I will have to go with our remix of Franck OceanLost’ because till this day this track makes people go crazy in clubs and still get us many bookings! It’s a track that seems to not age at all which is amazing!

DANCE: My favourite record is ‘Good Time’ released on Defected. We sampled one of my favourite R&B tracks ever for it and I think we did a very good job! I still play it in almost every set!

Who are your top 3 artists who should be on our radar?

Amine:

I would definitely go with some names signed on CUFF like Beltran, a young producer from Brazil making noise with his incredible and powerful productions.

Mene from Serbia is another very talented producer, we are working on some tracks together right now! This guy always goes straight to the point I love it!

Lastly, E.R.N.E.S.T.O. from Venezuela, not a new kid but I believe this year he is making very dope music from Electro to Juke, this guy always brings fresh, new and exciting sounds.

DANCE:

For me it has to be:

Ramin Rezaie – He’s a sick producer.
Yungness & Jaminn – They are the future (Yungness is my little brother).
Clyde P – He’s a sick French producer from Paris who we have collaborated with a few times now.

What’s next for you both in 2022? Any aspirations, events, releases you’d like to mention at all?

AE&D: Regarding the releases, we want to take our time to put the right records on the right labels. The next one is out on October 7th on Fools Gold with Prok & Fitch, obviously we’re going to drop some stuff on CUFF, and a massive one on Saved. But we’re going to do some CUFF shows in Brazil which make sense since we have many Brazilians on the label!

Toolroom Trademark Series – Amine Edge & DANCE is OUT NOW!

The pack boasts a serious collection of production ready loops and one shots, from full drum grooves and music loops to individual stems, basslines and one shots all ready to take your production to the next level!

Download from Splice or directly from our Toolroom Academy Website!

https://toolroomacademy.com/shop/sample-packs/amine-edge-dance

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