When a deadbeat band didn’t pay up for his services, engineer Dan Atkinson turned the group’s hardcore metal vocals into an EDM dance track. The result video clip has gone viral on YouTube.
Recently, we blogged about a dance music video that engineer Dan Atkinson of Dan’s Labs Studios in Long Beach, CA created using vocal tracks from hardcore metal band Altitudes after the group failed to pay him for his services. After the clip went viral, Pro Sound News caught up with Atkinson to learn more about the video and how it came to fruition
According to Atkinson, he and Altitudes had agreed to record two songs and a music video for the price of $300. Atkinson says he didn’t charge for extra services, including a separate drum recording, because two of the band members were his neighbors. After working with the group for a few months to record everything (and reportedly having to reschedule numerous times after the band bailed on recording sessions), Atkinson says the band members would avoid discussing payment, despite the numerous times he brought it up, or they would tell the engineer he would be paid soon when they had more money.
“They’d come by my house and chum it up with me, but still avoid paying me,” Atkinson claims. “I think they were just hoping I’d say ‘Here’s the files,’ but I won’t give them to him without getting the check.”
After playing this game for a bit, Atkinson decided to take out his frustrations by taking the metal vocals and remixing them to create the “Hardcore EDM Dance Band” video.
“I just want to paint a picture for them; I knew they would see the video, but I didn’t think it’d go viral,” Atkinson said. “Hopefully it makes them realize that they need to pay me.”
