QBass – Deepa (Digital Remix by Chris Cox & Michael Eng)

It’s been quite a while since I posted a us digital remix of a known oldskool track from one of those early 90’s compilations.. in the past, I’ve posted some of these promo-only remixes for tracks like Sonz of a Loop Da Loop – Far Out, Acen – Close Your Eyes, X-Static – Ready 2 Go, and Kaotic Chemistry – LSD/Spacecakes. For more information on what these tracks were / how they were made, feel free to check this comment on the “Far Out” remix, or the Josh Kay interview I did. To be honest, I got a bit tired of tracking them down since it was such a crapshoot whether they’d be that different from the originals. Here’s one I found for 50 cents during a recent California trip though, which turned out to be worth a listen.

This remix of “Deepa” is by Chris Cox, who did many of the edits released on labels like Razormaid and Hot Tracks (who put out the Roadkill! series this is on). In this remix, Bits of NRG’s original remix of Q-Bass “Deepa” get combined with new breaks (a bit too repettive and loopy for my taste, but not bad), a few lines from Barrington Levy “Under Mi Sensi”, a new bassline (I think?) and some electric “zap” sound. Quite a lot of editing for one of these tunes, but still a bit nondescript and losing a lot of the best melodic elements of the NRG remix in my opinion.
One thing which does make the edit stand out though, and which made me want to post it here, is the breakdown at 3:10… such a simple idea but works really well. The original of “Deepa” has something similar using timestretching, but the simple pitchdown here makes it sound a bit less technical, and maybe more crowd pleasing at least to less informed crowdds (sounds less alien, closer to hiphop to my ears)

QBass – Deepa (Digital Remix by Chris Cox & Michael Eng)

Finally, even though it should be obvious, just to be clear… if you like this edit then by all means grab the original NRG Remix mp3 for sale on dnb arena. That remix and the original track are both two utter classic slices of hardcore, along with most of those early sub base releases. Sub Base are one of the few labels who actually put their tunes up for sale digitally, so find a solid mp3 store with them and buy away!