64 Bar Challenge

It's a pretty simple concept really, but one that has sparked a movement that even the creator couldn’t fathom happening.  Back in 2009 Cardiff based DJ Kovas was a regular visitor to the Ninja tune record label forum (http://www.ninjatune.co.uk/forum/), over time he got to know the producer community there, and decided to suggest a project that everyone could work on. The idea was pretty basic but welded some amazing results, he says –

I had got into the habit of writing my tracks 64 bars in length. It was done by accident really, but it turned out that 64 bars is a perfect length for mixes.

I was going on the ninja tune forum a lot back then, and the community were always coming up with different musical projects. Initially, I floated the idea that we should make tunes in one hour. I called it The Hour Challenge. No one really went for that, but when I changed the rules and said let’s make them 64 bars long at an elected tempo, it seemed to spark people's imaginations, and the idea was born.

A global project was initiated, and Kovas received tracks from over 40 electronic producers who had all mixed their tunes to be 64 bars in length as stipulated. The tracks he received featured some amazingly outstanding music. They were placed in mixes which numbered 6 in total, these mixes were then posted on Mixcloud, Official.fm and the 64 Bar Music site (http://64barmusic.wordpress.com/ ).  Kovas was overwhelmed by the response –

I was surprised at how popular it became. The first mix had around 50 plays in the first 48 hours. By the time we were on mix number 4, the number of plays had jumped to 500 in the same time amount of time. When DJ Food put out mix number 6 on Solid Steel Radio, we had over 5000 plays.

From the very first mix released in the summer of 2009, the 64bar mix series did well and sported some great tracks from Kelp, Proof of concept and Mike Ladd amongst many shining others. By the 6th and final mix Kovas had received way more tracks then expected –

Up until the 6th mix, anyone who sent a tune in to the project had it included in the mix. Often, I'd speak particular producers and work with them to tweak, and refine their tracks. But it became impossible to include every track in the last mix simply because of the volume of music we'd received.

The fifth mix was 84 minutes, and that is simply too long.  We made a decision to keep Vol .6 under an hour; it finally came in at 53 minutes, and included over 30 tracks.

After releasing mix number 4, Kovas was ready to throw in the towel. He believed that the project had reached its peak -

The collective opinion was that the Vol. 4 mix was the best of the lot, and I honestly couldn't see how we could top that mix. The standard was really very high, and the mix flowed and twisted in ways that kept the listener guessing. But, the other Producers on the project weren't quite ready to knock it on the head and so we decided to create a 5th mix.



It was taking quite a lot of effort now to put these mixes together. I was dealing with 30 plus producers, writing the 64 bar blog, getting artwork sorted, promoting and publicising the mix on blogs and social media sites. It was becoming a lot like work.

The 5th mix was really well received, and again I wanted to leave it there, but once again, I was talked into putting out a 6th and final mix. I think having someone like DJ Food at the controls felt like a fitting end to the project, and his construction is without doubt the best of all the mixes.

This past fall Ninja Tunes' own DJ Food created the 6th mix, and showcased it on Solid Steel Radio. A brilliant collection of quality tracks formed this last release, and the project went out with a bang...or did it?!

Could that really be the end of a project that inspired so many musicians from all over the world to make so much top notch music? Is a full blown release of the mixes on the cards? Of 64 bar projects future Kovas says -

We do have some plans for the new year, what I can say is that we've signed a digital deal with a world renowned independent label, to put out a 'Best of 64 Bar' album, which will be dropping on Jan 16, 2012. I'm not at liberty to reveal which label it will be on, but all will be revealed when they do their official launch. I’m very excited to have signed this deal. It’s recognition of the quality of the music that has been produced, and proof that good things happen if you do the right things well.

Music - Productions