PRODUCE LIKE…
Danny Byrd
We get the lowdown from Danny on how his latest single, Selecta ft D Double E, came together
© Sam Neill
Danny Byrd’s Bath studio combines software and hardware, centred around Logic Pro and the MPC X
Bath-based producer Danny Byrd is a true lynchpin of UK drum & bass. A staple of influential label Hospital Records, Danny has released UK top 40 hits, a string of well-regarded albums and some of the most infectious remixes on the D&B circuit.
Key to Danny’s sound is a tendency to blend ideas from different genres – his best work often borrows ideas from R&B, hip-hop, old-school rave records and beyond.
Danny’s latest release, Selecta, is another great example of his genre-blurring approach. It started out life as a straightforward drum & bass club track – inspired by a sample CD from a certain Future Music – but then the track was brought to life by a lively vocal turn from grime figurehead D Double E.
We packed up our video cameras and went on a raid to Danny’s studio to find out more about how he puts his tracks together.
Tell us about the new single,
Selecta… How did that all come about?
“Right before the last lockdown a friend of mine came to my studio in Bath and he had the idea for these horns that he’d heard on this Yello track. I was like, ‘I’ve heard those before! I think it was on a Future Music CD.’
“I managed to track them down, I had to get a copy from Discogs because it was a CD all the way back from ’95 or ’96. I managed to get the horns totally clean and just ended up rolling out the track in about a day, which is rare for me because I usually spend ages working on tunes. When you’ve someone else in the studio though you can’t fuck around.
“The basic three minutes of music were done in pretty much a day, and it is a buzz when you manage to do that. You don’t end up getting bored of it.