http://congonatty . jungli.st

Martyn Pepperell: Who are you influences and inspirations when it comes to music production? Terry T: My musical influences and inspiration are connected to mother nature herself, as she is the master musician creating every thinkable sound you could imagine. When it comes to the physical and spiritual my influences come from the Nia bhinghy sound of the African drum, which the tradition of Rastafarism has adopted as is orthodox music, hence the connection with jungle music. As far as modern day producers from the 70’s to current date in the field of reggae, there are a lot of artists I like to listen to and respect such as Dennis Brown, Bob Marley Peter Tosh, The Israelites, Black Uhuru, Garnet silk, Prince Lincoln, Capelton, Sizzla, I Wayne, Luciano, and Bushman. I could go on but if you know any thing about any of these artists then you’ll get the flavour of what type of music I like. I call this type of music the staff of life or spiritual food for thought.

In the field of soul music, I draw most of my influences from the 70’s as I feel this was the most groundbreaking era for this particular genre, with the fast tempo and drum breaks in the song. This is another link to jungle. Music from this ere also makes most of the R’n’B and hip-hop hits were hearing today. One other factor to me being drawn to this ere is that I'm actually a 70’s child myself. A small list of some of the artists I like, Roy Ayres, Amen brothers, love unlimited, James brown, gill Scott heron.

In field of hip-hop I draw my influences from artists that come original in their approach to the music. I’m an old skool cat when it comes to hip-hop. I like most of the original crews like Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, Ultramagnetic Mc’s, Stephaonics, Onyx, MC Shan, Tla Rock, Skinny Boys. Mantronics, Cash Money. On the UK side of things in the 80’s we had a good hip-hop scene, as we interpreted hip-hop into a more ragga hip-hop sound with groups like Demon Boyz (which million da) was a part of) and London posse (which Rodney.P was a part of..)

Here you have the main three ingredients which I draw my musical influences and inspirations from, although my capacity for taking in other forms of music is as vast and wide as the universe her self. Martyn Pepperell What styles of music do you produce, why do you produce those styles? Terry T: I produce primarily Jungle, but I also produce Reggae, Ragga (bashment), Hip-Hop and R’n’B. I choose to produce these styles of music because it let’s me express my self into music, jungle being the most rewarding, because of the strong diversity you can achieve whilst creating this music. Martyn Pepperell What is your process for producing a track? Terry T: Normally I work off a sample I like or a bass line theme I like then I lay down some drums with that and start vibing around with those elements until I come up with something that sounds like what I’d imagined it should sound like. Most of the time once I have the sample or baseline I like, I’m able to sketch out a rough mix of how the tune should sound in my head before I even hit the computer, this is something which has taken years to achieve, and as the years go on I’m able to do this with even more great effect. Martyn Pepperell What makes you like a track, what makes you not like a track, what do you look for in productions? Terry T: What makes me like a track is a combination of things like bassline beats lyrical content and delivery of lyrics, also the vibe of the song? What I don’t like in tracks is anything that doesn’t sound original and premeditated with cheap tricks. What I look for in music production is originality and the element of surprise in the track. Martyn Pepperell What are the things you like the most about jungle production, what are the things you dislike the most about it? Terry T: The things I like most about jungle production is the fact that it enables you to fuse any particular type of music you want. Jungle production gives you greater possibilities of creating something more original. Technically it is also the most demanding music to produce. Jungle is at the forefront of expanding the way music is produced today. This is evident by the type of equipment that was made during the origins of jungle music (89-92). E.g. the Akai S950, AKAI S1000, 1100 and S3000 range.

There isn’t anything I dislike about jungle apart from really bad jungle tracks. Martyn Pepperell Where would you like to see jungle go musically? Terry T: I would like to see jungle grow into becoming fully integrated into mainstream global listening population, just like hip-hop. But first there must be a format for the global listener to overstand and I believe we are at that stage right now!