I recently had a chance to catch up with System-D128. If you haven’t heard of him before, the guy is really taking video remixing to the next level. I had a discussion with him about the concept of video remixing and this is what ensued:
First off, tell me a little about yourself and how you got started in doing what you do.
Im a bugged out cat from New York that directs music videos and video mixes with my DJ skills.
How would you explain the concept of video remixing?
I would have to compare it to djing, I remember getting a 12″ or maybe even a Cassingle. You would have the song, an instrumental, an acapella, a remix, maybe 2 or 3 remixes from the same or different producers, and maybe bonus beats or an extended version with a breakdown thats not in the original…
A video remix for me woud be one, two, three or more of these type of mixes in video form…
What would you say influences your film style?
one thing for sure is record covers, the linear notes, the text, the design of the artist’s name, the record label, just the look of the record in general and not just a old record, any record, even some of the current designs of the cd’s that are coming out.
The other thing is the movement of animation or scenes of movies that coincide with the break of a song, a scratch or maybe a snare or hi hats, anything thats moving with sound…
I remember seeing Wild Style way before there was a Wave Twisters and when the movie first starts the opening title of the movie “Wild Style” tries to animate with scratching…as far as the scratch going with video I think its Wild Style.
I get influenced alot of times thru something I bump into by accident, like I just seen this movie that has some crazy 80’s music in the intro called “Yor the Hunter from the Future” the cat looks like The Beastmaster but he gets on some future type s.h.i.t.
I really feel Baltimore Club Tracks where the beats have alot of samples from movies, cartoons, tv shows from yesterday and today…
There are plenty of music video and movie directors im feeling but Im waiting to get some props from someone out there first…Lets see what happens…
What projects have you done and what are you working on for the future?
I just finished doing a DVD full of mixes for the DJ Atrak tour…
I made an official video for the Quasimoto and Sun Ra song that was on the 1st Madvillain record, I’ve collaborated with Diplo on a bunch of stuff, I made Silver Back Mountain King for Bigg Jus, I got another video I made for Bigg Jus from the Poor People’s Day record he put out on Mush called “Illustrations of Hieronymus Bosch”, I made a SuperVillains MegaMix from the record with the same title by Suckadelic.
I did the world’s first official Baltimore Club Video for DJ Johnny Blaze’s “Muppets”. I got plenty more stuff I put out on mixtapes and such.
As far as the future goes I just did some stuff for Spank Rock, I’m going to make more Baltimore House Video’s, I just got a camera so im ready to start working on more original footage too,so look me up if you want to film.
Im about to finish editing the Hoodborn DVD,thats gonna be a postive move,there’s plenty of stuff on there, Ghostface Killah,Frank N Dank,Rashan Abdul Hakim,T.I. The Beatnuts,Steven Seagal,3rd Bass,Ralphie from the Andy Milonakis Show
its gonna be crazy!
Damn you sound busy, What is your connection with White label TV and what is White label TV?
Me and one of the guys from White Label TV both did original stuff for Blockhead. He wanted to use a few video’s I was involved with like the Muppets joint and a One Thing Sticky Mix, that was it.
I sent Him a bunch of other bonus things just to check out,and He was really feeling alot of the archived footage I sent out,so we threw a bunch of other idea’s around and it grew from there. There is alot of stuff I still havent seen thats on there, the DVD keeps changing I dont know when it will be released…
At first WLTV was going to be White Label Videos like a handful of White Label Records, Unathorized videos and music…But I think its more than just that at this point, We will all find out in due time…
Do you plan to work on a feature film?
Yeah, I would like to create a whole film from scratch, I think I could handle it, watching and listening to a whole bunch of genres.
I think I can make anything from a little more than nothing…
How much further do you think video remixing can be taken?
My personal opinion, a video battle with dvdj’s would not come off right, alot of people would disagree, If there is someone reading this who does think video dj battles can work, Im sitting right now on a blueprint for the Ultimate Battle DVD…
If someone wants to come forth with money and you think it will be lucrative, I have everything needed to make it happen as far as records, to a list of animators, to cataloged music video’s, lets make it happen…
To get back to video remixing, I think it could be whatever you make it, besides what I said previously, taking a mixdown thats complete and redoing it, audio or video, legal or not, pushing the limit…Anything can and will happen. I think it will keep going further unless that one person gets thrown in prison for 5 years and/or gets that 250,000.00 fine, then mixes will be harder to locate or they will have to come out correctly with the proper funds.
Are there any other guys out there that are doing a great job video remixing?
There’s people out there that have and still are doing a good job. You got EBN, ColdCut, Hexstatic, DJ Kentaro, Mike Relm, Q-Bert, DJ Yoda…
Explain your “Muppet Show” video, and did you work closely with Johnny Blaze on it?
I met face to face with DJ Johnny Blaze, so it wasnt a situation where I just put video over a song I liked, then started showing it to people…
The “Muppets” track was already on a record months before the video was made, so we didn’t work on the music together, I took the song the way it was on the record and added other parts of the Muppets show to it, like the new intro, some scratching, additional adlibs from the characters and the end segment…
Alright, first off, I want to say thanks for granting Glitterfish the interview. Do you have any shout outs or final comments?
I want to definitely give a shout out to whoever reads this, and whoever gives a give…
On some comicbook s.h.i.t. see friendsofsound.com “book7″ system-d128 till next time…
“sprayin like pecticide, con commit suicide step into my realm and be fried by the statik………”
You can check out more of System-D128’s videos by going to his youtube site here. Also look him up on myspace at www.myspace.com/systemd128
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[…] In addition to being a DJ and a Glitterfish contributor, Erock is also a hell of a well dressed dude. He has superior matching skills and vast street wear knowledge. His new blog is dropping some serious Cap knowledge. This new 59/50 from New Era and Acapulco Gold is set to drop later this year in 3 different colorways. The underside of the bill has a monogram print that matches the 3d embroidered logo on the front. You can see some smooth detailing in the interweaving of the “AG” on the front. I will definitely be looking to pick up all three when they drop. […]
June 18th, 2006 at 9:30 am
[…] For more from System-D128 check out his youtube site and make sure to check out his Glitterfish interview here […]
June 19th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Seriously, one awesome interview.
Thanks glitterfish!
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:26 pm
[…] In addition to being a DJ and a Glitterfish contributor, Erock is also a hell of a well dressed dude. He has superior matching skills and vast street wear knowledge. His new blog is dropping some serious Cap knowledge. This new 59/50 from New Era and Acapulco Gold is set to drop later this year in 3 different colorways. The underside of the bill has a monogram print that matches the 3d embroidered logo on the front. You can see some smooth detailing in the interweaving of the “AG” on the front. I will definitely be looking to pick up all three when they drop. […]