The two now veteran DJs went into business together through their label, which was originally designed for Mobin’s music but now provides a backing for both as well as a number of up and coming artists, including vocalist Polina, who features on their new track.
“It was supposed to be a platform to get signed to other labels, but now it’s become a proper label and we’re getting YouTube hits,” Mobin says. “The third record on Safari Music was Show Me Love, and that was the beginning of the label, so it’s come a long way.”
The evolution of dance music digitally has had a profound impact on the way producers operate, and Tate is excited by the accessibility he now has to music, wherever he is.
“In the past five years, everything’s in the box,” he says. “It’s very exciting because you can take your laptop anywhere in the world and produce music.”
In the studio however, the two work best with a full set up of computers, monitors and sound cards, preferring the outcomes of proper music engineering equipment.
“I just find personally on a laptop I don’t get the results I want to get,” Mobin says. “Afrojack created a lot of his stuff pretty much on his laptop, and I’m trying to use the laptop, but it just never sounds good.”
Both also prefer playing live with CDJs as opposed to laptop sets, choosing the traditional ‘hands on’ setup most similar to spinning vinyl.
Putting technical skill aside, Tate believes reading the crowd is one of the most important parts of being a DJ, a sense that comes with experience.
“Reading the crowd is what a lot of kids lack,” he says. “They might come into the scene and have a hit song within the first few months of learning music, but when they start DJing they haven’t had the experience of bad nights and having to work the crowd.” Playing EDM live in clubs wasn’t the easiest thing to do as the genre was just beginning to take hold of the global club scene, with an early live drop of Mobin’s hit re-work of the Robin S. tune Show Me Love not generating a response.
“For the first year when I was testing it, it killed the floor,” Mobin says. “But later everyone started loving it, so it goes to show you can’t pick which songs will do well.”
BY TOM KITSON
