We are very proud to welcome Tik&Borrow to the Frozen Plates label! Hailing from Yorkshire in the U.K., the influential two-person production team has made serious moves in the dubstep genre over the past several years. They not only run a great show on Sub FM, but their cutting-edge In:flux Audio label has garnered them tons of well-deserved attention. For now you can listen to their freshest 100% production mix and read a very interesting Q&A with the duo.
Hi guys! How’s it going!?
Tik: It’s going good mate, keeping busy and out of trouble.
Would you please briefly introduce yourselves?
Borrow: We are Tik&Borrow, a production duo hailing from Leeds & Sheffield in the UK.
Is there any story behind your production names?
Tik: When we kicked off working together on our brand In:flux Audio back in 2013 we were Tik-Tok and Borrow. We generally shared a set on our events and started working together on tunes, and with another producer having annexed the Tik-Tok moniker, we made the decision to combine efforts to become Tik&Borrow.
Borrow: For those in the know, Tik is a British colloquial term for borrow – that’s all we’ll say on the matter, we’ll let you figure out the rest.
Was the FZP14 your first vinyl release? Do you think is it important to keep the physical format alive?
Borrow: It was our first vinyl release, so a big thank you for helping us tick that one of our bucket list.
Tik: Yes, thank you mate, it’s been amazing to work with you on getting this release out into the world. Absolutely, a big fan of the physical format. There is a process to listening to Vinyl that just can’t be replicated with digital, and as much as we appreciate streaming, it will never fully replace the ability to hold the music in your hands, especially music you’ve made.
Where did you release before FZP?
Tik: Until this past year our main releases have been on our own imprint In:flux Audio. However, in the last year as we’ve got more confident in our production, we’ve pushed onto a few of our favourite labels such as Dirty Beats, Simply Deep and most recently Mungk’s label SND SYSTM CLTR.
Borrow: and that’s just the start, we’ve got plenty more in the works!
When did you start doing music production?
Tik: I’ve been producing since I was about 18, so about 2004.
Borrow: I started a few years after that with the production, so probably about 2007.
How could you describe your music style? Where do you get inspirations from?
Tik: Our music has changed a lot in the past 12 months. Before we described ourselves as neuro-driven bass music, and whilst some of the neuro elements have remained, we have definitely gone a lot deeper and more melodic in our productions of late.
Borrow: We have inspiration from all corners of the music spectrum, which you can hear across a lot of our back catalogue. Of late, a lot of our inspiration comes from the amazing talent in the dubstep scene – it is so easy to be inspired when there’s so much good music about!
Can you lift the lid a little on your production methods?
Tik: The majority of our production is carried out by Borrow, so I can focus time onto our record label and radio shows, so what I tend to do is script song ideas in FL Studio, which we both use, and then when they are a more fully formed idea I ship them over to him – which is how a few of our tunes, such as Retrograde were written.
Borrow: I’m fully focused on the tunes, whether it be developing something that Tik has sent to me or developing something from scratch. I feel the most important part of our process is the regular backwards and forwards on the tunes. I know it sounds like an obvious one, but the feedback we give to each other is the most important element of our production, because that second pair of ears on a different set of speakers is key to making the tune work.
What tools do you use for making music?
Tik: The main tools for me at the minute are Battery 4 for my drums, Sublab for my basses, then FX tools for my Reverbs like NI Raum, which is just ace for those dubstep spaces.
Borrow: My go to synths are Serum and Vital, which is a like Serum with a whole extra oscillator. Tools I could not be without are Fabfilter Pro Q, which is so good for shaping those sounds, and then Valhalla Supermassive, the best of the best when it comes to reverbs.
So you’ve mentioned your own label In:Flux Audio. What can you tell us about this project?
Tik: In:flux Audio initially started out as a night in Leeds back in October 2013. It all came about due to the fact we were finding it tough at the time to get anywhere with bookings and wanted to set something up that gave a platform to up and coming DJs in Leeds.
Borrow: 9 months on after some good and some not so good events, we launched ourselves into a label with our first EP as Tik&Borrow, and now we’re approaching the 70th official release with the label.
Tik: The label had the same purpose as the nights, to give a platform to up and coming producers, something that is still at the core of how the label operates today. We always love to work with those new producers, give them their first release. Nothing more satisfying then than watching them grow from there!
And if that wasn’t enough, you also have a regular radio show on the legendary Sub FM. What can you tell us about this?
Tik: Yeah, we have had a show on Sub FM going on four years now. It feels like I did my first show yesterday! Alongside the label, this is one of the projects I manage, so I will sort the schedule for guests and run the show, which is currently every 4 weeks on a Thursday, 6-8PM.
Borrow: Now I am back in Sheffield I plan on getting more involved in the show, it’s just been tough whilst I was a bit further away than was manageable, especially when the show used to be every two weeks.
Tik: Definitely digging the monthly vibes I have to say. When we started it was monthly, but to get the 6-8PM slot I had to do fortnightly, which was decent for a while, but scheduling guests every two weeks alongside running the label became tough work. Now we have a guest every 4 weeks and they get an hour showcase so they can really get into the mix. We have a similar selection policy here guest wise – we love to give platforms to a lot of DJs who have not been on radio before, as well as local DJs in Leeds, and hopefully Sheffield soon!
When did you start djing?
Tik: This is going back even further than my production start date. I got my first pair of decks when I was about 17.
Borrow: I was a little bit after that again, but not by much. Probably 18.
What has been your most significant experience as a DJ?
Tik: It has to be when we played at Boomtown Festival on 24 Hour Garage Girls stage.
Borrow: Yeah deffo. The response we had was insane. We were 2nd on, and we went from empty to rammo across the course of our set. We had another set that weekend as well which was organised by our good friend Audio Gutter. All in all a great weekend for DJ sets!
How do you feel about the dubstep/140 music scene in your area?
Tik: The dubstep scene in Leeds is wicked. We have the legendary Subdub nights, plus all their other branded nights, not to mention my favourite night of all Beneath the Surface, which is run by some good friends of mine.
Then the producers in the area are just next level - you’ve got J. Sparrow, Mungk, Gnasha, Surreal, 1point5, Breakfake, Imajika and this is just a few of them.
Borrow: I’ve only just moved back to Sheffield, but already I’m noticing the difference to where I was before. It’s the sound system city of the UK really, with Sinai, Raze and more coming out of this city – Outlook Festival basically runs on Sheffield sound systems. Really looking forward to getting back involved when things start to open back up in the near future!
When did you start listening to dubstep? What was the main thing that got you into dubstep?
Tik: I started listening to dubstep in about 2004 off the back of listening to a lot of Warp Records which led me to Planet Mu, which seems like a strange Segway into the genre, but Planet Mu released so much good stuff like Distance’s early albums and Vex’d Degenerate (which was a fave amongst us and our mates). As a label Planet Mu were so ahead of the curve with what they were putting out. I was then super lucky that I was at University in Leeds from 2005, because I caught the first wave of dubstep hitting the clubs, especially at the West Indian Centre for Sub Dub and Exodus. That famous picture on Skream’s first album cover was taken at a Sub Dub at the West Indian Centre – an event I was at funnily enough!
Borrow: Ditto to Tik really. We grew up in the same hometown and are best mates, so naturally our music tastes from that time overlap massively. The only difference would be the University locations as I went to Leicester before heading to Sheffield for my 2nd/3rd year, but I distinctly remember seeing Mala, Coki and Skream at a garage night playing dubstep and being blown away.
How do you feel about the dubstep scene nowadays?
Borrow: As I mentioned before, the scene is incredible. A lot of our inspiration comes from within the music scene. Often, I’ll ask Tik to send me three to five tracks he’s digging, and that’s all I need to go on a writing spree.
Tik: With running the label I see hands on how much the scene is thriving. We’ve got 15+ artists on our dubstep roster and our schedule for 2022 is pretty much sorted. So if our label is that strong and we’re relatively new to the dubstep genre, then it gives me a feeling that the scene is only going to go from strength to strength the next few years.
Who are the most interesting producers and labels for you?
Tik: My go two top producers are one old school and one new school. Headhunter, whose album Nomad is my favourite dubstep release of all time, is just the pinnacle of that techy dubstep sound for me – his production is so clean and the drum work is second to none. My new school producer fave are Ternion Sound, whose breadth of production is incredible – they’ve pushed experimental sounds all the way to old school wobblers. I’m never disappointed with anything they put out!
Label wise, my favourite for their whole audio and aesthetic package has got to be Deep Dark and Dangerous, with other favourites being Albion Collective, they never seem to put out a bad release, and Navy Cut, the gems of artists they seem to uncover is breath taking.
Borrow: The labels for me are exactly the same. This is the same as before really, our music tastes overlap so much that we often find ourselves sharing the same favourites. My favourite label at the minute though is Slug Wife – whilst not dubstep, it’s having a huge influence on the sound design elements of my production, they’re absolutely incredible!
Tik: Of course with running a label as well, I can’t not mention the amazing artists we get to work with on a regular basis – Dystinkt, Fork and Knife, J. Kong, 1point5, Ali McK & IYZ, Dunman, Ekula, Gnasha, Hexy, Panix, Qwirk – expect to hear a lot more from these and a lot more this next year!
Do you listen to any other genres besides dubstep?
Tik: I make a pretty big rule of not listening to dubstep outside the studio. The reason for this is to not give me fatigue on the genre, which is massive when you’re trying to write and DJ it regularly. Also, I find listening to other genres really gives me a lot of inspiration for extra elements I can bring to my writing.
Borrow: Metal and Neurofunk are my big go to outside of dubstep, and you can hear a lot of the latter in my production. Another big go to of mine is half-time, which is why Slug Wife is a big favourite of mine at the moment.
Do you have any forthcoming releases? What are your plans for the future?
Tik: Our next EP up happens to be our next release on In:flux Audio which is out at the end of July. Two original tracks from us and two remixes from Dystinkt and Qwirk who’ve gone with UK Funky and breakbeat respectively. The EP bangs if I do say so myself!
Borrow: Then we have a track lined up on the next Dirty Beats compilation (all to be revealed soon), and that’s about it for now, although we’ve got plenty in the works, so we’ll start arranging our next few releases very soon.
Tik: We also have our first gig in a long while this summer. Playing at Solfest alongside a massive line-up, so we’re in the process of planning a few special bits for that.
Borrow: Hopefully the first of many!
Please recommend five tunes and a DJ mix that should be essential listening for every human being – the sort that would leave your life incomplete if you’d never heard them…
Borrow: For the tunes we’ve put our heads together and come up with a few dubstep ones, but a couple of other ones that have been huge influences on us production wise.
- Headhunter – Prototypes
- Vex’d – Lion VIP
- Ternion Sound – Ukandu Ikandu
- Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car
- The Qemists - Stompbox (Spor Remix)
Tik: The mix for me that I will always reach for that is maybe too underrated in the FabricLive series is number 14 by DJ Spinbad. It’s a Hip-Hop masterclass – I cannot reccommend it enough!
Borrow: I’ve not hear that one, I best check it out! I’m gonna keep on the FabricLive flex as well – number 22 by Scratch Perverts. The epitomy of a party mix!
Tik&Borrow
https://soundcloud.com/tikandborrow
https://www.facebook.com/tikandborrow
https://www.instagram.com/tikandborrow/
