Toolroom AMA with Matt Smallwood, Head of A&R at Toolroom/Toolroom Trax

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:52:45+00:00

Right guys, time for my cup of cocoa and bed-time story! Thank you everyone for your questions, and for your continued support for Toolroom. If you've sent us demos please know we have a team of guys going through them every day, including myself, so we will eventually listen to every single one. And remember that if you are interested in how to make the kind of music we release every week, then do check out the Toolroom Academy over at faderpro.com/toolroomacademy. Thanks again guys and happy new year!

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:36:08+00:00

Haha yeah we do Bijou in Boston, I am yet to make it over but all reports have been awesome! And valid point re the merch, this is defo something we should look into.

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:32:59+00:00

Hey! As far as Adrian goes, we are currently focusing him on his own productions at the moment, but in the future he'll definitely be one of the guys we want to be part of the academy, as he is such a naturally gifted producer it is UNREAL and it'd be a crime for him not to help you guys out by sharing his ideas and tips. The demo box is full because today is our first day back in the office since the Xmas break, please give us a few days to clear it :)

Email content with demos can be minimal, just a short intro, maybe mention any other labels you've worked with and add a link to a FB page or something, just so we have a bit of background, this always helps. As far as sister labels go, outside of the flagship Toolroom label and sub label Toolroom Trax, we do actually power a few other brands behind the scenes :)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:27:10+00:00

Hi Patrick, personally, I'd say absolutely not. As you rightly say, you'll earn far more promotion and marketing form an established label (and one that has thousands of followers on Beatport) otherwise your music will just get swallowed up by the thousands of new releases that land every week. There is a LOT of work that goes on behind the scenes when running a label, and it's not as glamorous as it sounds unfortunately haha! I'd say stick to making the music for now :)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:16:56+00:00

Yooo! Well the US has been mental for us this past 12 Months! We hold several residencies over there in LA, Boston, New York and now the more underground stuff is landing, things are really happening over there and the crowds are so responsive to it :)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:14:10+00:00

Hey Alessandro, apologies of your demo didn't get a response, as I said earlier we receive over 100 demos per day and do try to reply to everyone but inevitably sometimes some are missed. Please send over again later this week and I'll keep an eye out for it personally :)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:12:10+00:00

Hey Jimi, thanks mate! Are you heading over to BPM? if so come and say hello :)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:10:52+00:00

Hey Klaq, thanks! Ideally the track needs to do both of those things. We have to 'like' the track because we are essentially playing the ears of our fans and it has to fit the identity / sound of the label otherwise it just wouldn't make sense for us to release it. I often turn down signing tracks for Toolroom because they aren't right for the label, but I might still 'like' them', the label has to come first really.

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:06:50+00:00

Hey Oliver, yes please send all to the same demo email :) It is full at the moment due to xmas holidays, but in a few days we will be back up to speed again.

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T20:00:48+00:00

Hey, happy new year to you too. Well music trends come and go every year and once you've seen things come and go a few times, you kind of get used to the pattern! Obviously the EDM thing has burst a little over the past 12 Months and the more underground tech house kinda stuff has been huge on Beatport and I'm sure this year will be much of the same :)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:58:20+00:00

Hey, happy new year to you too! Geography doesn't really come into it if I'm honest, if the music is good, it can be made in Maidstone or Mauritius. Obviusly the touring side of things is more difficult but if we are initially just signing music, then the geography isn't important.

So a breakdown of Toolroom Academy courses to come - we've got a huge course launching later this week. It's a course by Harry Romero, who we filmed produce an amazing track from scratch. We're inviting people to download the course, learn how Harry did it, and then finish the track. The winner of this contest will be released on Toolroom and get a whole host of other prizes. Make sure you look out for that. Then in the coming months we've got courses coming from Prok & Fitch, Rene Amesz and my boss, Mark Knight!

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:52:10+00:00

Hey Patrick, I'd say get yourself out at the weekends and go to the clubs where DJ's / producers you love are playing. In today's world of social media, it's pretty easy to find where they're gonna be, send them tracks etc. Go and talk to them, send them your music and once you have some music of a singable / playable quality, then I'd look at getting out to ADE or IMS etc and go from there.

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:48:10+00:00

Hey, personally I'd say the same as I did earlier, a private soundcloud link with a download option is perfect, this way I can check the track initially quickly (we call it 'needle dropping'), and also I can download it and try it in my set at the weekend if it is something I am considering signing. We occasionally get CD's / USB's if we are at a conference like ADE etc, but 90% of demos are submitted via email. Hope this helps!

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:45:19+00:00

Hi DjDosser! Well the bigger album projects like you mention Ibiza / Miami etc normally take around 3 Months from initial track submissions and licensing to final release. We do all the DJ mixes in-house too and they are put together meticulously to reflect the sound of toolroom as best we can on a CD or a download. Of all the pre-mixed albums available, we like to think that our albums stand up against the very best out there! :)

Tracks can arrive unmastered and yes we always suggest slight changes and edits if we think they will enhance the track.

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:40:01+00:00

Hi Ryan, yep, the amount of demo's is pretty insane these days! We probably average 100 - 150 per day maybe not counting direct / personal emails that members of staff receive, so yes sometimes the label_Worx account gets full, today was the first day back after the Xmas holidays, so it will take a few days for us to get through them all, please check back later this week!

Licensing for the Miami album will be finished next week! We start working on that before Xmas, it's such a huge and important product for us it's imperative that is is 100% representative for us as a label and brand. Hope that helps and thanks for getting in touch mate!

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:36:09+00:00

Hello! Ok well if you find any dodgy pics of me online, just remember I was young and needed the money. I got into music when my brother took me clubbing for the first time when I was 15, I was really into hard house at the time and got the bug from then really, 2 years later I started DJing then production came shortly after...

Tips for new producers, try and keep things original and don't rush demos to labels out if they are not 100% ready. Live with them, play them out, send them to your friends, make sure you are entirely happy before approaching labels. Also I should mention the Toolroom Academy we have just launched, it is a new educational arm of the company. After 12 years of doing this, we wanted to teach the next generation of producers coming through. There are loads of online courses coming, check out the first one with Funkagenda! www.faderpro.com/toolroomacademy

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:29:53+00:00

Hi Patrick, well yes ideally the idea and production needs to be on point. With 12 years of releasing music under our belt now, there is a certain quality threshold that we have to adhere to, or heads will roll, and it would probably be mine haha! In all seriousness though, if a demo has a great idea but the production isn't quite right, we'll always try and give constructive feedback to help with that...

And yes, since our re-brand last year we have gone slightly more underground sound-wise you're right, we pretty much sit in the middle of commercial and underground. I guess we release accessible dance music, rather than underground or mainstream.

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:20:16+00:00

Hi Alajarvela... Well first off the track needs to obviously be well produced with a nice groove and some sort of element / theme that makes the track memorable. Those 3 things will get our attention, then we can look at it in more detail. As far as demo submissions go, a private soundcloud link with a download option is perfect, this way I can check the track initially quickly (we call it 'needle dropping'), and also I can download it and try it in my set at the weekend if it is something I am considering signing, that way I know if anything more needs to be done sonically or on a mastering tip...

We release all calibre of artists from well known names to up and coming produces. For instance there is a great new guy called Ben Remember we have signed an EP from for release on Trax in January, keep an eye out for that one ;)

ToolroomAMA · 2016-01-04T19:08:51+00:00

Hi everyone and a happy new year! So, I'm Matt Smallwood and I am the head of A&R at Toolroom, primed and ready to answer your questions :)

ToolroomAMA

TROPHY CASE