Artists of the Week: Zirenz

Add up female power, producing talent, a powerful voice that knows how to work with a beat and take all that times two. The result? Zirenz. Catrin Llewelyn and Rebecca Hazard, guising under Cat n Bex or Zirenz, have shown what they’re capable of. To produce high-quality dance music, with a strong and distinguished sound , is only just a part of their repertoire. They’re a vocal duo, have set up their own label, media-company and online magazine. It’s obvious these girls know their way around in dance land. Armada’s delighted to have their new track, ‘Shine’, out on the A State of Trance imprint. We hooked up with Cat and Bex to find out what moves these two ladies. One thing’s for sure. They’re on their way up.

When classic meets EDM
A female vocal writing, DJ production duo, classically trained vocalists and musicians. These two ladies didn’t stumble across music by accident. It was already there, flowing through every single vein. Same goes for dance music. Open minded as they are, the ladies tried all sorts of different genres. However, their goal was to crossover classical music with electronic dance. An experiment that worked out more than well. Bex: “Although I’m a classical trained musician after 7 years of scholarship, at the Royal Academy of Music in London, I’ve always loved electronic dance music. As a kid I listened to the Pet shop boys & Jean Michel Jar, Mozart and Puccini Operas. I always had a dream of combining classical music with electronic dance music. It’s been a real passion to find the perfect blend and still is, and when I started to get into the club scene trance music hit the spot and I knew that classical vocals would fit well to this euphoric style of electronic music.” Same goes for Cat, as she found her true EDM love in trance music too. Cat:” My background was varied, I played & sung classical & folk music. When I went to university, my friend introduced me to the clubbing scene which included garage, drum ‘n’ bass & techno, but they all lacked a vocal that was emotional and moving to me, which I found in trance. “

A fusion and duo
It was about 5 years back that Cat and Bex decided to form a duo. It was in singing class that the girls found out their voices were in perfect harmony to each other. Cat: “When I first moved to London, I was an IT analysis programmer and I wanted to get back into music, and approached Bex for singing lessons, she had a great vocal coaching reputation in London. I talked about my musical aspirations and learnt that we had similar ambitions. I listened to her music, and thought her melody lines were fantastic.” Same goes for Bex. Bex:” I thought Cat had a great voice and passion for music, so we tried singing together. Our voices blended really well, which is so important for a vocal duo. In fact, they blend so well that if we listen back to tracks we recorded some months ago we have to listen carefully to hear who is singing what, as we have a very similar tone. But this works well to get a smooth line with the vocal. We wrote our first song called ‘Underworld Nation’ which we entered into the John Lennon song writing competition and we won a John Lennon Honorable Mention Award which was great. It was then that Zirenz was formed and we have never looked back since.”

Confidence
The first few tracks by Zirenz, ‘Tears Of An Angel’ and ‘Utopia’ came out in 2004. Not that they really needed the confirmation, but it did encourage them to keep going. Cat: “Regarding confidence, I believe in Bex, and Bex believes in me. It gives us the confidence to believe in our work, which I think is paramount to our success. I think we encourage each other, deep down we know our strengths and weaknesses.” Cat: “When we decided to put our first dance track called ‘Tears Of An Angel’ out on vinyl, we went through the whole process of producing, finding remixes and seeing the vinyl pressed and then getting cool reviews from IDJ Mag reviewer Danny Slade. This experience gave us confidence and our first big push towards getting a Zirenz release. Then we took our rough mixes and midi files from our home studio down to the Turnmills recording studio in the bowels of the Gallery Night club and started creating the Zirenz track with engineer Dave Parkinson. We then sent our first promo mixes to Darren Tate at Mondo Records and that was a track called ‘Utopia’. We felt it was different from other vocal tracks out there, with a classical crossover feel. We thought he would get our vibe and he did. He signed us in 2006 and ‘Utopia’ went to No.7 in the DMC World trance charts.”

It was the spacey track ‘Edge of Space’ though, that really put Zirenz on the map. Featured on Armin’s A State of Trance 2006 compilation, ‘Edge of Space’ caused quite a stir around the trance scene. Cat & Bex: “It was a great time. Ee were very proud when we gathered massive support from Armin van Buuren, who played it in both his radio and live shows and track listed it on the award winning ASOT 2006. It was so cool to get this stamp of approval. Then we saw that ‘Edge Of Space’ hit the number 1 position in the DMC world trance chart, 2 in the Dutch Dance Buzz Charts, 3 in the Italy Classifica Trance/progressive/ house charts and charted in the Dutch TOP 40. We were so excited for the future of Zirenz and it is still a pivotal point in our dance music career for sure.”

A Classical background
As a producer, it might come in handy if you’ve got a classical background. Luckily, both Cat and Bex have plenty of experience when it comes to playing instruments. Cat: “We both played instruments. I played violin and flute and Bex played double bass in orchestras, playing classical & film music. I think that gave us an understanding of how different sounds can work together and also that each sound needs its own space, this translates brilliantly into dance music.”
Bex:” We were also both in international choirs that performed regularly on international stage & tv. I feel that having the classical background does enable us to give diversity to our recorded vocals as my voice is a dramatic Contralto and Cat is a Mezzo Soprano. Between us we have around a 4 octave range which is quite useful when creating something different vocally in a dance track. This is shown in our track ‘The Hymn’ which we co-wrote with DJ Mark Eteson. In this track we have created a multi vocal part choir effect that shows our unique vocal sound. This is also brought out in a different way in the new track ‘Shine On Me’, Ayana Vocal mix, in which we have also layered the vocal line in a similar way to ‘The Hymn’ giving an expansive vocal sound. The ‘Zirenz Sound’.

Speaking of which, how do both ladies describe that sound? Cat & Bex:”Emotional and honest, we sing from the heart. The Zirenz Sound in the words of IDJ, DJ, m8 and Mixmag Reviewers over the last few years have all described our Zirenz sound as ‘Atmospheric, Luscious, Beautifully abstract, Spine tingling, Heart wrenching, Fresh and Unique vocals’. I don’t know if you can pigeonhole our sound though. But we love trance as a genre and feel our vocals fit well in this genre and are most at home.”

The Voice
When listening to Zirenz’ tracks, it strikes us that their vocals often sound as if taken from a synth. Perfectly clear, in key and subtle. All in perfect balance. And that’s exactly what make their work stand out more than others. By not standing out.
Cat & Bex:”The voice is an extension of your soul. We were both brought up with classical music, so it’s very difficult to move away from a classical feel, but we feel we do it with a contemporary edge. The Zirenz sound has developed into a very atmospheric sound and we have always believed that a vocal is like any other instrument that should perfectly blend into the mix. Although we have been brilliantly described as ‘The Diva Vocalists’ in some mag reviews we will never sacrifice the flow of a track to have a massive vocal riff in it. Only if the track needs the vocal to expose itself. Otherwise we use the Zirenz Vocal Sound in our minds like a synth .You can hear especially hear in our track ‘Edge of Space’ as some have commented that they thought the voice was a synth. But the lead line is sung by Cat of Zirenz. However, we love that sort of ‘is it a voice or is it a synth?’ thing, as we know we have achieved blending the vocal smoothly and effortlessly into the mix.”

Soul & Meaning
Inspiration is one of the key words to make a good tracks. To Cat and Bex, it’s mainly important that their inspiration comes from something that really happened. They’re in it for the real deal.
Bex: “Each track starts from something that has happened to us in our life. A feeling or a memory. For me it has to be that way or it’s false and will have no soul. That’s important for any piece of music. It must have soul and meaning. I know a lot of our tracks that hit the dance floor have atmospheric vocals with ooh’s and aah’s and a few words, but what most of you may not know, is that we write full songs to most of the tracks we have released and the lyrics often get taken out in the mix which is sometimes a shame, but still in each of our songs every vocal sound has emotion, feeling and expression.”
Cat:” In addition to real life experiences, we also get inspiration from movies. I seem able to emphasis with characters’ emotions which I remember and portray into our music.”

Let’s hit the studio
Some produce together at thousand miles of distance from each other, others are lucky enough to live in the same house. Cat and Bex belong to that last, lucky group.
Cat: “We share a house together, so when one of us is in the studio, it doesn’t take long for the other to get involved. It is a totally combined creative process. Influences and ideas come from both parties, and depending on moods and passion, we can both lay down ideas, synths and vocals, alone or together, but the final product always has both of our input.”
Bex: “At the moment, we’re working on tracks that have a Celtic feel, as Cat is Welsh. We are embracing the Welsh and Celtic language, as it works well with the classical tunes we create. It’s fun working together and it helps to get ideas flowing as we always bounce off each other.”

When it comes to the technical side of producing, the ladies know their way around with it, more than fine. Cat:” We sometimes start even before we get into the studio, singing around the house. We’ve worked together differently over the years, but we seem to have found a groove. It can be hard to access your own work & vocals, so we listen to each other for valuable feedback.”
Bex: “When we have a strong idea we put together a basic string and synth pad arrangement to sing to. We mostly use Atmosphere for pads and strings, Vangard for arpeggios and Kontakt for Harp & solo cello. Then we record vocals, which we take in turn to record each other’s vocal parts until we have a duo vocal recorded that we are happy with. We then may add further harmony parts to the track if we feel it needs it. To record the vocals we use a Rode condenser valve mic, which works well to give a warm sound to both our voices. We also use a pop shield in front of the mic to help smooth out any explosive sibilants and constants when singing.
The Vocal recording can take time as we are perfectionists and if we are not getting the right feel we will pick up the track a day or so later as it’s important to get the right sound and vibe to our Zirenz tracks as the vocal is very important to us. When we have a rough first draft of the vocal arrangement we then work together, adding more shape to the track. I then work on the final mix which Cat listens to and gives her feedback and tweaks which works well for us, making sure we get a finished track that we both love. We’re song writers and vocal producers so when we’ve finished producing what we either call an Intro or chill mix we look for a producer to work with to take our tracks to the dance floor. This is, we feel, the most difficult part as we need to find someone that has the same vision and passion as Zirenz. We found this with Mikkel Hansen aka Saint Rush when we produced ‘Shine On Me’ together.

Shine On Me
And ‘Shine On Me’ is exactly what has our interest. Out now on the A State of Trance imprint, this lush trancer is set to put you into a state of trance with a dreamy atmosphere. Cat & Bex:” We wanted to create a summer track, so we had a vision of the Balearic sun rising in the early hours of the morning on the beach, over the smooth open sea. Then the sun’s ray’s pouring down on the faces of dancing clubbers who reached out to touch the rays. We translated this into music, bouncing ideas over the internet and gradually the track ‘Shine On Me’ was born.”
It was Mikkel Hansen, aka Saint Rush, that had the honour to make this beauty fit for the dancefloor. Cat & Bex:”Actually, we have never met, only spoken to him on the telephone once and many times on e-mail, but we knew his music. We used to support his mixes in our Cat n Bex Sessions radio shows, so we liked his sound very much and approached him to work on a track together. We knew that both our sounds would blend well. We found the whole process of working with Mikkel very easy. Bouncing ideas over the internet and eventually finishing up with the finished original mix of ‘Shine On Me’ which we are all very pleased with. It was great to sign to Armada Music. We are now looking forward to starting a new track in the next few months with Saint Rush, so you can definitely expect a follow up.”

Zirenz Media
In 2008, Cat and Bex started their own label, Zirenz Media Records. A natural decision, to make sure their tracks would see a release and be independent. Cat & Bex: “We decided to have Zirenz Media Records as a portal to release our own music if we need to. Having a media company, Zirenz Media ltd, it was a natural choice to have the label set up. At the moment the label is focusing on releasing compilation albums in the near future for our VMM Sound radio station and the Virtual Music Magazine so the future is exciting for ZMR.”
Cause besides the label, Zirenz also started an online magazine. Virtual Music Magazine covers up news, interviews and info on everything in EDM. Cat & Bex: “We’ve always wanted to create an online experience for dance music lovers and the VMM was created as that experience. We didn’t want to have a magazine that was physical, as we feel that time is limited for print nowadays. And the future is in new media technology. The VMM is an audio visual experience. A place where you can see through Video and hear through Audio, all about your favorite DJ’s and their latest music releases. The biggest plus is, it’s free. The VMM is still a fledgling new magazine but we have already made links with the highly successful club night ‘The Gallery’ that has its home at the Ministry Of Sound in London. There you will find the VMM filming on Friday nights and interviewing some of the world’s Top 100 dj’s. Also, the UK legend Graham Gold has a monthly feature which films the clubbing scene in Thailand, Russia and UK. We’re also branching out into the world of hard dance music with dj’s like Alex Kidd. We also work closely with many world class record labels, management companies and PR companies to help work with them to promote the latest album & single releases. The future looks exciting for our VMM and although it’s very tiring running this massive new online dance music magazine with only a small dedicated team of reviewers we enjoy interviewing and reviewing the world’s best in dance music. It’s very rewarding being part of the industry in this way.
The future for Zirenz
Future’s not only looking bright to VMM, it’s also giving a warm welcome to Zirenz. Cat & Bex:” Zirenz are currently working on a few projects with select DJ/ producers. We are also putting a Zirenz album together, which will be very different from any other vocal dance album. We’re also working on developing a live PA set and will be launching our new radio show Aurora Sessions that will be exclusive on our very own VMM Sound radio station. The show will feature the very best vocal trance music and the sounds of the VMM Virtual Music Magazine where we are looking to showcase the recommended and top tunes of the month from our VMM reviews. We are also constantly developing all our Zirenz Media LTD projects so we are very excited for our future.”

More info on Zirenz, checkout www.myspace.com/zirenz.
For Virtual Music Magazine, checkout www.virtualmusicmagazine.com.

Zirenz & Saint Rush – Shine On Me
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