The Vine spoke to DJ Will B (below) of L’Orchestra Limited about mixing wine with music for the forthcoming Silent Disco at Old Bengal Warehouse which kicks off our Bordeauxlicious festival…
What type of projects do you normally do?
I am involved in all sorts of different areas of music. As a company L’orchestra produces bespoke music for advertising and consults on various music related projects. So, one day I might be making music for a Ferrari advert and the next helping to find exactly the right DJ or band for a fashion show or product launch. I also produce music of my own and am currently working with a really exciting new singer.
Have you ever created a mix like this, inspired by wines?
No, this is the first time doing a mix for wine. I have however created a series of mixes for photo shoots and process was similar although much less boozy!
What has the process been like?
I start by listening to the person organising the event and seeing what their vision is. I had a feeling for which styles of music would go with each type of wine – red, white, rose based upon instinct mainly. We talked those through and also used the findings from D&D Wine’s recent research. Together we decided upon rough splits of genre – although, the selections do cross genre and, for example, not every pop track that I have selected is used in the white wine mix – some are much more Rose!
Once we had the splits, I delved into our library of music, pulling out vinyl, searching through CDs and of course the computer and listened, making groupings along the way. I also found myself researching new music as this always brings a freshness to the table.
It’s quite an immersive process when making a playlist like this. Once I had tasted each wine and had feel for the sound of them it became almost obvious which songs should go with which wine. I found myself thinking of tracks as a white wine track or a rose etc.
The tastes and feel of the wines translated quite easily into sound in the same way one might see a certain song as red or a track as cold or warm
The last bit is too whittle down the selection to fit the timeframe, decide on the order – which is kind of like living the party through in your head – and finally mixing, blending and cutting the tracks together to make the journey.
Did you enjoy the wines yourself?
Absolutely, my favourite was the red – the 2009 Chateau Tanesse, from Cadillac, Cotes de Bordeaux.
What kind of music can we look forward to? For the red, the white and the rose mixes?
The red soundtrack will feature some heavy hitters from rock, modern and classic to hip hop, funk and even some reggae. All the Red wine tracks had to have some real depth and roots to them.
The white is a party sound track with lots of recognisable and popular songs from the mid – eighties up until today. All good quality music though, we’ll be selecting the well made hits that you can’t not dance to.
The rose is a real summer time playlist. From nu-disco to soulful house with funk thrown in. This will be one for the heads and party people.
Expect, treats and surprises in all three and mix of genres and styles.
What kind of reaction do you think the whole experience will get?
It’s hard to say but I hope it will be very positive and that people will be able to hear where we were coming from with the selections. It will be a fantastic journey through sound and music that will definitely compliment the wines guests are tasting!
