Anti-hype pop-tarts Bigkids are the anonymous couplet from Camden who make big tunes with no budget.
Plucked from the peripheries and championed by multi-award winning Irish five-piece Snow Patrol, BIGkids were no big deal until they were thrust face forward into the limelight. Busy minding their own business, this boy-girl duo were content writing and recording tracks alone at home, performing in low grade dive bars about London town. Picking up the tempo at any party, BIGkids’ hi-NRG, toe tapping beats feel good. Layering together saxophones, samples and analogue instrumentals in a haphazard fashion, debut release ’Drum In Your Chest’ was the band’s tune of choice, selected to introduce the kind of head-bobbing sounds the band intend for their audiences to take lightly and enjoy fully. The illusive pop pickers dropped by i-D to give us the low-down on how to piece together your own bedroom beats. Word.
Step 1 – Lock the Door - you don’t want your mother coming in w tea and a biscuit and disturbing the money vocal take.
Step 2 – Proof the Booth - you don’t want your bedroom recording to sound like it, so put mattress against the wall behind the microphone, draw the curtains and put pillows, jumpers, cuddly toys on any hard surfaces. This is to stop sound bouncing around and messing w your vocal sound.
Step 3 – Midnight Feast - you’ll need energy to work so go for monster munch multi pack and some haribo starmix to tick your nutritional boxes. We’ve found that mini-cheddars and a tin of red stripe work well also.
Step 4 – Jump Around - unless you’re making music for coffee tables or massage parlours/spas make sure you keep moving to keep things sounding upbeat (don’t record vocals sitting down – they will sound too chilled). Jumping up and down on the bed to Smells Like Teen Spirit will do the trick.
Step 5 – Get By With A Little Help From Your Friends - More is more here. Get friends round who play other instruments that you can’t to broaden your sound, so that it’s not just you and a drum machine. Get their thoughts on the tune. If everyone’s smiling and feet are tapping then it’s a banger.
Step 6 – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough - keep going. stay up all night. be prepared to take different approaches to the same track. Eg do a people-carrier mix, a club mix and a radio edit. try to beat your vocals, drum sounds etc. if you’ve run out of ideas, listen to some records that inspire you and come back to your choon.
Step 7 – Mean It - this is fun but it’s serious fun. Make the music that you believe should be coming out of the speakers. Make it so that it exists. Don’t worry about what else is out there. And make your bedroom recording like it’s going to be played on the radio the next morning. One day it might, so do your best to make a finished track. This is not a drill.
