How to make the sounds from Dr. Alban 'No Coke' with DRC
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Many non-professional DJ/producers fund their creative endeavours via employment in a role unconnected with the music industry. The reverse however, is probably a lot less common; i.e funding professional qualifications and investing in your future career with the proceeds from DJ gigs. One example of someone who successfully took this alternative path is Alban Uzoma Nwapa, better known as the Nigerian-Swedish artist Dr Alban. The inclusion of “Dr” in his chosen artist name may have already led you to guess that the profession in question was in the medical industry.
Born in Nigeria, Alban grew up in his hometown of Oguta, and remained there until the age of 23, when he moved to Sweden to study dentistry. To finance his academic ambitions, he was soon behind the decks of the Stockholm based club ‘Alphabet Street’, and quickly made a name for himself as a DJ, not just for his track selection and technical ability, but also for injecting his own personality into the mix, by regularly singing his own live vocals over the top of the dancehall beats. Developing both his dental and vocal talents in tandem, Alban completed his course, and went on to open his own dentistry practice while managing to still profit from his DJ work, in what must have been the ultimate side hustle.
Today we’re travelling back to 1990 for some cautionary life advice on the perils of illicit substance abuse, with this week’s featured DRC Sound Design Tutorial track ‘No Coke’ by Dr Alban.
Click here to download the Ableton project file
With hugs not drugs,
Team Imaginando