After the drum'n bass ‘boom’ in brazilian lands, the broken beats have found even another way to express its innovation with the New School Breaks. Brazilian artists got into this new wave with mind, body and soul and even with less than five years, this scene reveals itself as a huge place to shelter producers from Brazil.

Marcus Diniz and Glauber Freitas are two of a kind. With their disguises as MKM and GBX, the duo showed how Brazilian sounds can get people and bring them down to the dancefloors. After achievements as playing at Breaks:FM and signing some tunes with several big labels, the duo recorded an exclusive set for DNB Online readers – and listeners.

If you want to know more about these two mighty kids, check this Q & A out:


DNBOL: You know DNB Online is a drum'n bass website, so I’ll start from here. Both of you guys came from drum'n bass dancefloors. What happened to you that made you fall into breaks?

MKM: I started listening drum'n bass few years ago. Since then, I started to search about other styles til I found breaks. I totally identified myself with this sound. It’s energetic, vibrating and it has influences from all kinds of music. This versatility was the first reason that brought me into this scene.

GBX: Well, in my first gigs, I have played a lot of stuff, tho the greatest moments and vibes were always in breaks and drum'n bass time. I had focused on drum'n bass for years, but always made my researches on breaks, buying some tunes. In my studio time, I was always trying to make some tunes, just for fun. Then, I met MKM, we made some tunes together, and a lot of good things have come to pass. I still have a serious commitment with drum'n bass scene, but in some gigs I play breaks as well, as part of our producing job. Receiving tracks from other artists and labels make this two-style-life a bit easier.


DNBOL: So, GBX & MKM will only produce some breaks…

MKM: Not at all. We do some sounds like house music, or tunes more ‘tech’ oriented. Sometimes, we also work on very experimental beats, without any labels attached. It’s always fun and interesting stopping the hard work to do something different like hip hop, trip hop, ambient… We also have a couple of drum'n bass tracks almost ready.

GBX: The focus is the breaks, but we’re always in tune with some other stuff. Whatever that comes in mind, we’ll do it!


DNBOL: Your work looks very tuned in. How did you started to produce together?

GBX: We found each other over the internet. [lol] After that we met at some parties and chatting about some things, we decided to go into studio together. From this first work came our “Audiometrick” tune. A DJ friend of ours, LuiJ, played this tune in a huge electronic music festival and we had a great feedback. We put this tune in an international forum and some labels have proposed to sign this track. With this first one, the doors opened and things became big.


DNBOL: How’s the flow of the work when you’re producing together?

MKM: Works really fine! Often we don’t have time to work at the same studio at the same time, but we do a lot of things all over the Internet. Each of us makes changes on the project til the time we really need to sit together and close the track. At this time, we really have to be together, to work on the final details as eq, mixing, and this kind of stuff. We have some tunes that we have made together since the beginning that really made our minds, like “Hold it Down”, our next release. This one will came in Trans:verse, with two remixes.


DNBOL: And besides “Hold it Down”, how are your release schedule?

MKM: It’s all good! After our Crisp Biscuit/Cut & Run release, it got even better. Several great opportunities had knocked out on our door. We got a tune named “Wake Up” on Breaks:FM label, it’ll came out on a CD, we’re ending a tune for a single (“Arachnophobia/Guerrilla Warfare”) to the big Mechanoise. We have tracks under construction to labels like Silo, BombTraxx, Pirate Breaks, Cut & Run, Ibreaks and Evopro. This last one is the breaks label from Allan Banford, of Carl Cox’s Intec. Soon I’ll release a solo track on Viral Breaks and GBX is producing a solo remix to Dangersounds Recs.


DNBOL: That’s a good agenda. Most of the dons have problems with labels like “New School Breaks”. Do you have some problem with this?

GBX: Actually, New School Breaks refers it to bassline breaks, this kind of sound that sounds like drum'n bass, with fat bass, wobbles, etc. As I’ve said before, we started producing only this type of sound. Now we are exploring every side of the breakbeat. We do things from bassline to techy and sometimes we even do some sounds with nu jazz influences. Our “Song 2” bootleg is a really techy stuff. This track was called “techy for the ladies” from specialized press.


DNBOL: How do you name it?

GBX: Breaks, only. There are sides as funky breaks, housy breaks, bassline breaks and all of those are breaks subgenres.

MKM: Our tunes can be more bassline or techy, even some mix of this two sides. I rather call it breaks. If I’d had to specify it, I’d call it of bassline or techy.


DNBOL: What is the biggest influence of you on your creation?

GBX: We have a lot of different influences, that’s why our work together flows so well. When I’m in studio, I never forget of the new drum'n bass tunes that are making my mind from time to time. I always also try to put some things that I used to hear when was younger, like rock, hardcore, gabber, techno, hip hop and house music. Something really essential to me is to put some Brazilian vibes in our work, like we did with “Gol”, mixing Brazilian swing with British style in order to receive good acceptance from all kinds of crowd.

MKM: At the producing time, all kind of music influences me a bit. Before drum'n bass, I used to hear house and always liked it. I dig sounds like black music and reggae as well. In time, I started to look for other styles and I met some of seventies music like soul and funk, dance classics and deeper. I’m always listening a bit of all, like lounge music nowadays. Like G. said, “Gol” is the best example to show this ‘combination style’. We’re having nice reviews from this tune. To me, there’s not an artist to look as in a mirror. We take a little thing of each style, lot from drum'n bass and breakbeat, and wait to see. What really seduces me on breakbeat is this malleability, this difference that coexists.


DNBOL: Do you see this versatility just only in breakbeats?

MKM: Well, breakbeat is a true old school sound. That’s why they called this new kind of ‘new school breaks’. It’s a new sound, taking more space in world scene. And because of this story, there’s a lot more to explore rather than sounds like drum'n bass. Don’t get me wrong, drum'n bass also have this versatility. You can see it for the amount of variations that this style has, but in my case, the love for breaks was a little bigger. [lol]


DNBOL: Good one! [lol] You are building your names with a big number of releases in quite good labels. Who are the producers that are looking for your work?

MKM: There really are a few record labels expecting some beats from us. On the top of our list lies Hardcore Beats. It is the biggest label from the scene. We also have a great artist support from all over the world and there’s always some new requests on our Myspace. To name some of them, we can say that CtrlZ, ScrewFace, Entity, Ed209, Breakfastaz, Rasco, D-Ranged, Far Too Loud, Timmy Schumaker, Stormtrooperz, Quest, among others that are playing our tunes.


DNBOL: Gee, what a list! Well, changing the picture a little bit, I’m curious: what is the biggest problem or difficulty when you are creating?

GBX: Lack of time, no doubt. We are studying, working and doing our other projects and we never have a good time to meet on the studio. And this problem makes us take a little longer to finish our tracks. During our college or work vacations and every holiday we try to do all that we can, because we know that when the routine arrives again, we’re gonna be in a lot of trouble to keep things going. Together, in studio, there are no difficulties at all. We sit, talk and let it happen. Always having fun and even having some great results.


DNBOL: So, how about the technical issue? Do you ever have any problems with software/hardware limitations or something like it?

GBX: We are always feeling these limitations. My PC sucks and so does MKM’s. When we make a larger number of automations or using a lot of VSTs, computer always stucks! [lol] It’s almost impossible to finish a sound. I have a good pair of speakers and this is a great help, the mixdown and the synths get a lot better, the quality increases. I bought a new laptop and MKM changed his PC. When this equipment gets proper tuning, we’re going to have some more reliability. We have some sounds stuck by this lack of resources.


DNBOL: Which is the best setup to do your job?

GBX & MKM: The one able to open all needed samples and automations to put our ideas on the tune. In technical meaning, a disk with 200 GB, 1 GB of RAM and a good processor to make all simultaneously… And a good sound card, of course! The speaker’s quality is essential as well, so you can hear what you are doing. We use a good type of JBL speakers.

MKM: We use Cubase and FL Studio, and we like a lot of using Albino, a VST from Linplug. It’s really versatile; we use it to create most of our synths. For the bassline, we use Vanguard, Bass Station, VAZZ, Junglist and a machine from an old software called BUZ.


DNBOL: Everyone says that FL Studio is not professional software. Don’t you have any problems with this software?

MKM & GBX: Fruity Loops has its limitations and there are softwares like Cubase and Logic that have a professional way of making sound better. We started on FL and we felt netter on using it. We get almost everything that we want with it. Besides, with proper compressors and equalization, the music sounds as good as any other. You just gotta know the deal, have a good pair of speakers and know how to use your tools.


DNBOL: Nice one! What do you bring us on this set?

GBX: This one shows exactly what we are making on our DJ job. Good breaks, with some hip hop and drum'n bass vibes, lots of influences from both of us. Our future releases, solo tunes, tracks from labels that we like it and some good new ones.


DNBOL: Any special big up?

MKM & GBX: To all the crew that always supported our work, you are so important for us! Without you we are nothing! Big up to all Brasília, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande, Bahia, Fortaleza, Belém and Paraíba! And to all the people round the world who enjoy MKM & GBX. You rock!


Info and audio:
http://www.myspace.com/mkmbr
http://www.myspace.com/gbx64
http://www.myspace.com/mkmandgbx

AIM:
GBX - GBX64
MKM - M4rcusDC



Words by Hélio Matos from DNB Online crew.
Revision by André Elias.