Produce like…
The Bristol-based producer on creating their unique combination of hard techno and drum & bass
Over the course of the past decade, UK producer Mandidextrous has become known for their high-energy tracks that blend elements of a multitude of fast and hard club genres. After early success in the world of hard techno (or tekno, as it’s often styled around the illegal rave circuit), Mandi’s career has taken a turn following the forced reset of the Covid pandemic.
Through a mentorship scheme with powerhouse DnB label RAM, Mandi rediscovered their drum & bass and jungle roots and began pioneering a new sound blending the broken grooves of DnB with the pounding, hard kicks of tekno.
We sat down in Mandi’s recently complete studio to talk raves, lockdown and the production process behind the high-energy Mandidextrous sound.
Tell us about your production journey. Are we right in thinking you got started in the free party scene?
“I started as a DJ when I was probably, I don’t know, 15 or something like that. Very late ’90s. I did that on the illegal rave scene for quite a long time, then when I was about 20 I stopped partying so much, stopped going raving all the time and started wanting to get into music production.
“I had a couple of friends who were already doing it and I found the whole thing fascinating. I got a copy of Reason 3.0, which is where I started, although I found it really confusing. Then one of my friends who was working on Ableton showed me that, and I was off. I’ve been on that path ever since then.
“Originally, I didn’t really intend on writing music for anyone else other than to have tracks to play in my DJ sets. I just wanted to play stuff that I wanted to hear, but that I couldn’t find. And, you know, having that challenge of playing music to people that you’ve made is really amazing. So yeah, that’s where it all started. It all came out of the end of me being on the rave scene, starting to not want to go out so much and just kind of be a recluse and write music [laughs].”
You’ve become known for playing quite hard, high-BPM tracks, was that where you started from?
“Yeah, I basically just don’t have any chill when it comes to the music that I want to put out and play! I started with DnB and jungle in the late ’90s then, when I got to about 17 or so, I discovered techno and went deep in the rabbit hole of free parties, drugs and all of that stuff.
“I found techno really cool. It really reached to me, as I liked the way you could get lost in it a lot easier than DnB. I was DJing techno for a couple of years. Then that evolved into the music that I create now, because
