Interview with Stonebridge for essay.

Stonebridge, whose real name is Sten Hallström, and who was born on the 2nd of July in 1961, is a producer, and remixer from Stockholm, Sweden. He is a Grammy-nominated DJ and producer. This is an essay which will investigate the emergence of Stonebridge as a producer and provide an overview of what has helped his success. It intends to provide an insight of how he emerged onto the house music scene, and to show how his journey in the music industry started. It will also explain which equipment he used to produce music and make his tracks. This essay will examine how this producer has influenced modern dance music and stayed current in a reputedly ‘cutthroat’ business for almost thirty years. It will also look at how he remixed dance music for the industry’s top artists, and how he has successfully stayed at the top of his game (this assertion is being made based on Stonebridge’s high-profile resume).

‘Sten’ in English means ‘stones’, and in the studio where Stonebridge worked, they used to say, “Stones has written another bridge”, and so the name Stonebridge was born (find ref later). Stonebridge, as a profession studied marketing pre-DJ years, and was a keen clubber on weekends. His father had asked for him to DJ for his sister’s graduation party because he was ‘cheap’ and ‘had Records’. A successful party got him booked for all his sisters friends student graduation parties, and booked for a month, which inspired him to open his own club night ‘Felini’ in Stockholm in 1983 which lasted three years. The style of music Stonebridge played was heavily influenced by ‘Funk & Disco’ era from the 1970’s that emerged from the urban gay nightlife scene in New York. DJs such as ‘Francis Grasso’ from ‘Sanctuary’ nightclub. Grasso, best known for inventing the technique of beatmatching, which is the foundation of all modern DJ techniques, is the ancestor of all ‘modern’ DJs He nurtured and pushed the sound. Disco was a key influence in the development of ‘Electronic’ and ‘House Music’. Frankie Knuckles club The Warehouse, would give its name to a new genre of music; he would become known as its godfather. The music was house.

According to an email interview which was conducted originally with Stonebridge, Stonebridge claimed that being a DJ, that he needed new vinyl records every week. He decided to move towards achieving this goal by meeting new like minded people and making the records himself (Matthews, 2019). Stonebridge was chatting in the local record store where he met his idol ‘René Hedemyr’ in 1986 who Stonebridge says was ‘King of the DJ’s’. René suggested they started a remix service like the UK’s ‘DMC’, and the US ‘Disconet’ and ‘HOT TRAX’, and the name ‘SWEMIX’ was born through them being Swedish and wanting to remix records. The team’s equipment comprised of a four-track tape machine and mixer, a two-track tape machine, and a drum machine. From here they remixed until labels started to ask about record and artist rights.

Stonebridge’s influences were Todd Terry, Roger Sanchez, S Express, Del a Soul, Public Enemy, and Bomb the bass. He had sat with rock engineers who showed them how to use compression and Lexicon reverbs until he got established on his own. He went record shopping and clubbing in London up to five times per year to gain influences and to check the club scene out. Stonebridge did not like house music originally at first like his friends at their remix company. He liked the bass, strings, and piano characteristics from disco, but was inspired by ‘Garage’ the sound from Jersey. The sounds of Adeva, and Steve Silk Hurley – Jack Your Body, had arrived from America, and now he had found his beginning.

In an original email interview, Stonebridge’s first legit production was for US funk singer based in Stockholm ‘Frankie LaMotte’ From there he started making rap tracks with local guys. One of them, Stonebridge - Jazzy John's Freestyle Dub (Zoom/Swemix Records)1990, went on to be an underground hit in the UK. The owners of Swemix decided to sell the company, and sold it to one of their distributers after moving to their new studio, to focus on producing commercial remixes for record labels. The Korg M1, manufactured between 1988 and 1995 is the most popular synth of all time, and was unavoidable in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and was featured in TV adverts, shows and mainstream chart hits. (2002, February 1). The Korg M1 was used by artists such as Madonna with her single Vogue’ (1990), as well as Snap, with their single ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ (1992). Other artists that used the Korg M1 included Jay Z with his single ‘Money, Cash, Hoes’ (1998) Bon Iver ‘Beth/Rest’ (2011). This can also be been in some music being produced today Stonebridge himself used the Korg M1 synth to produce ‘Robin Stone - Show me Love’ in 1992. This is still a track used today in classic dance hit compilations and live DJ sets? It is regarded as one of the top dance tracks of all time. Although, which position in the charts it is in, changes from year to year in various polls depending on whose opinion it is, such as Pete Tong listing it in his top twenty. The first mix was rejected by Champion Records, so Stonebridge had to redo it in four hours, as they wanted a more aggressive sound. He changed the pre-set #16 Pick Bass to #17 Organ 2, added two string chords and used the distorted sound in the intro and sent it to Champion records. The track went to top five on Top of the Pops, which Stonebridge only found out while in a hotel in London. When Stonebridge asked Mel at Champion Records why they had not told him why the record was doing so well in the charts, Mel replied with ‘They didn’t want his remix fee to go up’. ‘This stone-cold classic was one of the biggest clubs and pop hits of 1993 and continues to be played out on dancefloors of all shapes, sounds and sizes. The original Robin S. single was created in 1990 and started as somewhat of a flop before Swedish DJ-producer Stonebridge revamped the song two years later. What resulted was a diva-house classic that topped the charts all over the world and remains a testament to any dancefloor DJ (Holbrook, 2019). And ‘Pete Tong’ lists it in his top twenty, at number six.

From the success of Show me Love, Stonebridge says his phone never stopped ringing for five years after this, then in 1997 he established his label, Stoney Boy Records, and became a resident at Hed Kandi for a couple of years where he made his producer compilation, ‘Can’t Get Enough’ in 2004. Stonebridge has an extensive catalogue of original and remixed tracks that can be found online, and Stonebridge says in an email interview (Matthews, 2019), that a highlight to his career was when he was nominated for a Grammy award for his remix for Neyo’s track Closer in 2008 knocking Coldplay’s song Viva la Vida from number one to hit the top spot spending eleven weeks in the top ten.

Stonebridge’s hardware and software journey started with tape recorders; Atari synchronized up by SMPTE, Pro-tools and Logic Audio. Akai 512, Taskam 4 track, Juno 106, Teac, Tascam, Manley reference tube microphone, Universal audio, audio interface, He used TDM until Apple bought Logic and killed TDM support. Mac tower, Mackie HR824 Studio monitors, Avocet controller, and he prefers an all virtual environment these days because if a customer had a recall, it was easier to get the settings to rerecord the track. These are the old to new hardware and software Stonebridge uses to name a few.

Stonebridge starts with simple drums and a vocal on the remixes and never uses typical ‘IN’ sounds lead his productions. He gets the parts working together, verse/pre chorus/chorus. His signature sound is his Basslines prominent in all his tracks and how he programs his drums and a nice blend between US and UK house styles. Stonebridge gives a tip on writing original music and to use a vocal to build the song around, write the track, and to remove the vocal. Then send the track to the artist to sing the top line over the track.