After I had moved to New York City, I learned about Make Music Day from the amazing producer Sonic Fear and CEO of Teknofonic Adam Reifsteck. He invited me to join him for it that June in Washington Heights. The task was: Hang out, meet people und other musicians, record and then create, produce and mix a song within 24 hours.
We set up in La Plaza De Las Américas, and immediately started recording. A kid played with his basketball: the perfect kick drum! A market was going on, and some vendors had a lot of metal hangers lying around: percussion instruments! And of course people came along, and we talked and asked them to say something about New York City: "A one second song" and "It's beautiful!" On top of all that, a horn player swung by, and he improvised: a wonderful melody hook!
We programmed the beat and bass line, and we recorded some keys while we hung out in Washington Heights. Loaded with ideas and inspiration, we headed to Adam's studio in the early evening and continued working on the song structure, adding the voice samples and the piano and stuff. Then I simply recorded some vocals, and Adam finished the mix – tadaaaa!
We did it! We had written and produced a song within 24 hours, and our ode to NYC was ready to be released! "Like A Mirrorball" captures the summer vibe, connects the listener with the people we met and transports our own feelings about the city. We combined everything into a chill EDM track, the perfect soundtrack for a hot summer day in the city.
On the next day I edited a little video for our tune. During my first weeks in New York, I had explored the city on my bike and had filmed a lot of time lapse material. I combined it with footage of Washington Heights that I found online, and that was it: New York City in picture and sound! Watch our video here! What do you think?