System 6 Samples is a London based label focusing on the deeper side of electronic music, bringing you high end audio samples/patch's and sampler kits and everything you need to take your productions to the next level! Were very proud of System 6 headquarters and our massive selection of vintage gear and every effort has been made to add as much gritty warmth to our sounds as possible..  Our goal is complete usability, thinking up creative ways to make our samples work in your tracks straight out the box.
 

“Here at System 6 our passion is making sounds that will elevate your productions. Our samples are guaranteed royalty free and produced by some of the hottest names in the industry on some of the most sought after gear making System 6 Samples your first stop when searching for that all important added ingredient.”

With two release already out on Loopmasters (Dirty Funkin House, and Deep Bass House) and more in the final production process - we thought it time to find out what’s cooking in the studio and unlock the mystery behind one of the UK’s newest sound design labels!

All Things Sampling?

Hi Lawrence - ok let’s talk about your new sample packs ‘Dirty Funkin House’, and ‘Deep Bass House’ out on Loopmasters – what’s the idea behind these packs and how did you approach the process of creating them?
      
The idea behind them stems from a love for sampling and a love for all things House and Techno, I get excited thinking about what can be done with samples and these two packs represent different gaps in the market that I felt needed to be filled.

For the 'Dirty Funkin House' pack I wanted to create a collection with tight drums to leave space for the big synths and bass that represent this sound. I processed the drums through a TubeTech PE1C to add the warmth synonymous with tube EQ’s. I then used a few different analogue compressors depending on each individual sample. Most were fed through a Universal Audio LA3A as its one of my favourite compressors in history and for others I used a TubeTech  CL1B or the Universal audio 1176.
            
For the 'Deep Bass House' pack I used a very similar approach, I wanted to have a large selection of one shots and I also wanted to use analogue synths to give that warm vintage feel. I decided to give the option of one shots in raw mono form and some in stereo to make the pack as usable as possible. All the samples were then fed through the SSL E4000 and processed on vintage analogue processors.

These packs are a really well thought out and fresh collection that fuses inspiration and usability - is this the way you see sample pack production moving?
         
I do see things moving this way, the market is flooded with packs where labels seem to be copying the same format. One of the reasons I really wanted my products to be distributed through Loopmasters was there approach to sampling. I think people are realising that by buying your sound libraries from LM will result in a far more usable pack than from other companies. For System 6 we are spending time trying to come up with new more usable ways to create libraries and offer more potential for manipulation in the production stage.

How did the project opportunity come about - was this just a natural progression in terms of career workload and your personal production style, or right time, right place?

I first had the opportunity to create packs from knowing the owner of Soundbox. I decided to give sample creation a go and realised that I really enjoyed the process of having an idea then laying it out and trying to capture a sound within the samples.  
          
Also as a producer who's been releasing records for some time I was searching for a way to fund my time creating tracks as I was seeing little money coming in from my productions. I think in this day an age you either have to be prepared to spend your life on the road to support your studio time or come up with other ways to try and turn underground music into a liveable wage.

How was the overall production experience of the first two packs?

I really enjoyed creating my first two packs for System 6, I spent time thinking about what I wanted the company to represent and then used all the resources I had at my disposal to get the sound I was after. I didn't put any time restrictions on my self and kept ploughing along with it until I was completely happy with the results.

How would you define your production sound at the moment?

Deep/Techy reminiscent of days gone, yet forward thinking.  Big drops and tight grooves.

Tell us about how you got started in the industry?

I discovered Drum and Bass as a young teenager and desperately wanted to create tracks, I found out about software called Ejay and although that was sequencing pre made loops it gave me the hunger for music production.  Five years later I had a copy of Cubase and a Yamaha SU700 sampler and a few other bits and I released my first record on a cd compilation called Drum N Bass 2000.

The next five years or so production became an obsession. I desperately needed to know how people were getting there tracks to sound so good. It was obsession born out of pure frustration of not being able to get the sound exactly right. After a few more years of bedroom lockdown I started to make tracks I was happy with, this was in the era of Hard House and Hard Trance and due to the fact I was raving Friday to Sunday, i made a lot of contacts within the industry. I started a live PA with a raving buddy and for a good couple of years we played live at the weekends mainly in the clubs around Brixton.

What is your studio setup for production at the moment; are there any stand-out plugins or key bits of gear you use time after time to get a certain sound?

The System 6 Samples HQ is based around an SSL E4000 desk and some choice vintage processors. Most of the sounds produced for the packs and my own personal tracks are run through these units. In terms of plugins my absolute fav company is Slate Digital and everything I produce will have the VBC compressor on it somewhere!

I still am astounded as to how good this plugin is! The one plugin I couldn't live without has to be the SPAN by Voxengo. Its fantastic as a guide to check every things sitting in the right space and incredibly useful for mixing low end sounds together, whats more its completely free.

In your Deep Bass House pack you have included Bitwig patches…which is pretty hot off the marks as far as new formats are concerned…how do you rate the new DAW and its creative suite of synths and sound design devices?

We included Bitwig patches as I feel its a great new addition to the DAW family. I really believe in the software and rate it highly and hence I felt it was a market we needed to cover.

What’s your favourite studio gear currently?

My all time favourite hardware processor has to be the UA LA3A, its fantastic at adding punch and really easy and quick to use. I'm also a big fan of the TubeTech PE1C tube eq, its great for adding warmth to low frequencies and even in small doses seems to add character.

How has sampling and the use of samples played a role within your own productions and furthered the development of the overall Bass House, and Funkin House for you?

I've always been a fan of using samples to layer up drums and resampling sounds. Every person who creates samples runs the sounds through different hardware/software therefore by incorporating these samples into your music your adding more textures.  

Most of us have our go to synths and processors and using samples enables us to get a more varied sound. I started making samples initially for my own personal stock but then decided to release these sounds to the rest of the world.

You have focused on the mainstream House genres to date, but do you have plans to release in other genres, and if so what else do you feel producers are calling out for?

System 6 is focused on House and Techno and for now we plan to keep exploring the subdivisions of these genres. Using samples is ideal for these styles and buying a sample pack can be a great way of injecting some new inspiration into a project your starting.

What can we expect from System 6 Samples for the rest of 2014?

We have some very exciting releases coming up! The next pack released will be '100 Deep Tech House Grooves' which provides some great building blocks to fire up your Deep Tech House productions. Following that we have a journey into Deep Techno and a very exciting release showcasing the mighty Death Proof Recordings.

We have also confirmed some key players in the House and Techno scene but i have to be a bit hush hush at the moment. You can hear more about these developments on our Facebook page or our Twitter page.

Thanks for your time, great studio - very envious! We look forward to your next releases…