Dom Sweeten – A.K.A -Defective Audio /OD404 Interview By SparX – Hard As Nails Records

I am maybe best known for my hard house but have always worked on a huge range of dance music styles, most recently my productions under my current breaks alias – Freeflow45 with current releases on iBreaks and Bombtraxx as well as some cool remixes.

What’s the best night you have played at?

I played at a party that was held from a narrow boat beside a disused quarry where I DJ’ed for about 12 hours non stop. The decks were inside the boat with the side open and I remember playing things like Joey Beltram’s Energy Flash and early Prodigy tracks. This and most of the free parties I used to play at have all been second to none due to the outdoor vibe and having the sun rise up over the party in the early hours the next morning. It can’t be beaten.

Do you think the standard of music production has got better or worse since the introduction of easier to use music programs?

I do think there is a huge amount of badly produced music around but there is in contrast so much more out there in general, including some amazing music by artists that would not have otherwise had the opportunity to release anything.

Production by the talented people in the industry in general though has progressed massively, to such a high polished level now that in a way I feel lacks the raw energy that it used to.

Whats your favourite thing about the music business and the thing you hate about it?

My favorite thing has always been the way I am able to continue what is a passion to write music and a good excuse to buy loads of toys.

I don’t hate anything about it, it’s good to stay positive about things.

Any advice to up coming djs and producers?

I have always been open to all styles and types of music and never assume one particular style is wrong or bad.

Do you remember the first tune you ever made?

That’s a hard one, I used to play in bands before I was a DJ and progressed to jamming with keyboards off the back of this doing psychedelic dub stuff. I started to write more dance music based material in 1993/4. I found some early dance productions the other day while sifting through some old DAT tapes, most were written using just a Boss Drum machine, a TB-303 and an SH-101 keyboard synced together.

When did you have your first release out?

Ever enjoyed Bhangra?

Maybe, without knowing it!! I have heard some crazy Bhangra before though that has a very Techno edge to it. It’s not something that you associate with dance music much but there is actually more of a crossover that first thought.

If you were going to be re-incarnated as an animal and you had a chioce – what would you want to be?

Whats the most random thing you have ever sampled?

A few, all for different reasons. I’m getting back into my hardware at the moment though – just bought myself a Yamaha CS-15.

Any thank you’s or shout outs you want to give to anyone?

Where can we we you perform next?

Any new releases you have out?

I have some Spinball material due out in Jan 2010 which is the digital release of the recent SpinCD002.

I also have a breaks track, just released, Freeflow45 – Tuff Unit which is out now on a compilation called NSB Uncovered. This is available through most download sites and promotes a mixture of upcoming and established artists in the breaks scene.

Any new mixes we can hear?