RS: You've remixed a lot of big names - looking back at your
discography - which remix was the most difficult?
Lenny B: Hang on, let me look…
Wow. Well, there have been a couple. I do remember working on an Ace
of Base record that took me almost a month to complete. Hosh (Gureli)
recalled it twice on me. He's very specific with what he's looking for
on any given project, and on this particular single, he thought it
could be better. So, he had me go in and keep tweakin' until it was
perfect.
RS: Which are you most proud of?
Lenny B: That's a tough one. I'm a terrible critic of my own work.
Well, obviously, "Free Love" by Juliet Roberts, since it technically
was the first mix that got the ball rolling for me. The Real McCoy and
Ace of Base records, because, to me, they were huge dance-pop groups
at the time and I was really grateful for being involved with those
projects. I'm really proud of my mix of "Where You Are" by Jessica
Simpson & Nick Lachey. I know it's a cheesy song, and it's such an
over-the-top pop ballad, but I really loved how that one turned out,
even if it was such an over-the-top pop-dance mix! Anything I did for
Linda Eder and LeAnn Rimes, because they're amazing vocalists–some of
the best vocals I ever had an opportunity to work with. My remix of
"Toxic" by Britney Spears is one of my faves. That record was a lot of
fun to work on. Other records I'm really happy with are "These Words"
by Natasha Bedingfield, "True" by Ryan Cabrera, "Turn Me On" by Kevin
Lyttle and "Only One Too" by Jewel. Hmmm… those are all pop records.
Go figure! Most recently, I had the opportunity to remix "Thnks Fr Th
Mmrs" by Fall Out Boy. I did two different mixes and a dub for that
project and love how everything turned out.
RS: You did a string of three Ace of Base singles in a row. Why do
you think their sound and your sound meshed so well together?
Lenny B: I'm not sure, really. They were really "pop". I mean,
Abba-of-the-90s-sounding pop. And I love pop. I can wrap my head
around the pop stuff, and I like working on those kinds of records.
They're oftentimes good songs, so it's fun–and often challenging–to
take a real, well-written, pop song and turn that into a good, solid
dance mix.
RS: You also did three songs with Linda Eder. Do you ever get to meet
the artists that you remix?
Lenny B: Well, with Linda, Stew and I went down to NYC to recut vocals
to our mix of "Something To Believe In." She liked the mix so much she
wanted to resing the vocals to the dance mix, so there were no
artifacts from the time-compression in her voice. That was an intense
experience for me, since I'd never worked with a vocalist of that
caliber before. Linda's an extremely talented Broadway singer, and she
came into the studio, fresh from coming off-stage from a performance
of Jekyll and Hyde. She walked in, did a couple of warm-ups, and
pretty much nailed it on the first take. Stew and I were totally blown
away. Needless to say, we left the city with a perfect vocal. Ever
since then, according to the label, Linda has requested that I be one
of the remixers on her records.
RS: As a remixer, you are known for commercial club and radio friendly
remixes but on your side project BluSol you have a totally different
sound. Tell us about BluSol.
Lenny B: BluSol is a project that came together through my love of
house music. When I moved down to Atlanta, a friend of mine was
throwing events at a lounge and he needed someone to spin deep, groovy
house stuff. I had never really played it before, but I gave it a
shot. Armed with a stack of Promo Only Underground Club CDs, I showed
up and pulled the night off (I can spin anything!). After that, I was
hooked on the 'deeper' sound, started buying those kinds of records
left and right, and it wasn't long after that that I started trying my
hand at making those kinds of tracks. Fortunately for me, my friend
Bobby's a great sax player, so I had him play on some stuff, which
gave it a more funky, smooth-jazz-meets-house vibe. I made a couple of
tracks that ended up on BasicLUX's New Sound Theory Vol. 1 CD, under
the alias Auricle, along with a deep house mix of Madison Park's
"Who's Got the Time." A year later, I came up with a track that was
very latin-influenced called "La Guitarra." I wrote this cool melody
that I played using a Spanish guitar patch on my Triton, played the
"rhythm guitar" by comping some chords, threw it over a moving
bassline and house beat loaded with latin percs, and it was released
on New Sound Theory Vol. 2. Well, I was later introduced to these two
flamenco guitarists, David Verbist and Rouzbeh Hoshmandy, and I
thought it would be great to rework La Guitarra with real flamenco
guitars, palmas (rhythmic hand-clapping), the works. Rouzbeh came in
and recorded the rumba (rhythm) part and I later brought David in to
re-record the melody I had written. Once the rumba was in the track,
the synth-guitar part sounded out of place. David and I made a couple
more tracks after that. By that time, I had a whole bunch of tracks
written, and James Cool from BasicLUX thought I should assemble the
best ones and put out an album. So, in 2004, I released BluSol's first
album, To The House, an album that combines deep, groovy house;
downtempo; latin and smooth-jazz flavors. A complete departure from
the signature "Lenny B. Sound."
RS: The CD did quite well at several stores - especially as a
self-distributed project. What is next for BluSol?
Lenny B: Well, I just secured a distribution deal with Beatport for my
labels Blue Noize and Volume 11 Recordings. Blue Noize is going to be
where you can find all the less mainstream, less "Lenny B.-sounding"
tracks, like BluSol, for example. Volume 11 is going to be reserved
strictly for the dance stuff–commercial-sounding; vocal. I'm almost
finished with the second BluSol album, and I'll most likely be
dropping the first single soon. The first BluSol album, To The House,
will be available online as well.
