Timofey had the chance to be in a national radio show in Russia and talked about his DJing and producing work. Props to him for sporting our Headspin shirt while mixing and interviewing with Russian Tv. I don’t what he’s saying but he sure damn looks good! Check out his super popular youtube page where he discusses producing and sampling in Ableton. He’s got 2.2 million views and 5,000 subscribers on his Timofey Youtube Page. He’s also produced several super dope house/electro tracks with his label 17:44 so he’s definitely working his talent. Not only is he working on his own label, but he’s also supporting our Dbmlabs DJ Clothing label as well!
It’s been too long since we released a new shirt so we’ve released our new Paired Down Tee on our site. A shirt that speaks to roots of being a DJ, producer and remixer. Stay cool, stay protected and stay equipped with the Dbmlabs Paired Downtown Shirt! Printed on super soft 100% cotton ringspun tee.
DJ Etronik doing his thing with Odyssey Cases. After coming back from a 4th place finish at the World DMC Championship, he’s back on the grind traveling with his company and doing demos with various DJ Related Companies. Check out the scratch session he did with Odyssey Cases.
When we first started Dbmlabs, we wanted to create a brand that represented djs, producers and remixers, similar to how Nike represents top tier athletes, or how DC Shoes represents top tier skateboarders. We set on creating a lifestyle brand that captured the essence and talent behind the making, mixing, and remixing of music. Dbmlabs is more than just a Dj clothing and dj shirt company, it’s much much more than that. We actually hate the term dj clothing, but unfortunately it’s naturally what people have ended up calling us. You’ll notice that we put a lot of time and effort into the design and selection of our shirts. The Dbmlabs vision, which is constantly updated expresses our feelings towards the brand and what we expect of it. Our commitment to making Dbmlabs a global brand is the same commitment you have put into mixing, remixing and producing your music.
The Process Behind Dbmlabs
Many of our fans have asked us how our shirts and apparel are designed and put into print. It’s quite a complicated process, not because printing shirts is difficult, but ensuring the quality of shirts, designs, labels, and stickers (the whole package) is the difficult part. While most of our customers will vouch that the quality of our shits are top notch, we’ve upped ourselves again by recently using even better shirts (ringspun combed cotton) to make the shirts softer, smoother to the touch. For those curious about our process, here goes!
Step 1 – The Design: Getting the design done. Before we work with a designer, or if we have worked with the designer, we will have a theme or have them come up with some good ideas for our designs. We remind them that this is not a cheesy, novelty type of clothing brand, but rather a brand that we envision to be seen as the one and only apparel brand for dj’s and those who make music. You’ll notice that many of the designs are multi-layered and multi-dimensional, making them more interesting, unique and dynamic. We leverage some of the best designers in the world to create designs for us that push the envelope of visual imagery. In fact, our creative director Pat is from the Art Center in Pasadena, known as one of the top design schools in the world. We’ve even paid many different designers for Dbmlabs designs that we have never even used because it didn’t live up to our expectation. That doesn’t mean it will never be used, it just means it’s not ripe and ready for consumption. You’ll see below is the first draft, and you’ll notice that none of these made it to the final round. We make it absolutely clear that we stress quality over quantity.
Step 2: After the designs are completed, we send them over to our printers where the artist creates transparent sheets called films. These films are used to make the screens which are used for screenprinting.
Step 3: After the films are produced, the screens are made and the screen-printing process is started. All our shirts are screen-printed with high quality ink and dried so that they will last forever. Some of the shirts that are not screen-printed properly will fade quickly or will not look bold like its supposed to. There are so many different methods of getting printing on shirts, whether it is heat press, iron on, and even printing the ink with a printer onto the shirt. In my experience, by far, the best quality comes from the screen printing process. We have tried all of the other methods but the best is still screen printing with plastisol ink, which lasts forever. We take pantone color books and choose the perfect color so that it comes out exactly how we wanted it. You’ll notice that colors different depending on computer screen, monitor, television screen etc so pantone color books are used to standardize the exact color you mean when you say “blue” for example. They give it a color code for it.
Step 4: Woven labels are sewn on the bottom. Again with labels, there are many different variations of how labels can be placed but this seemed to provide the most “umph”. This label, to me, is like someone kicking you in the face without it hurting too much. You see it, but it’s not overwhelming and distracting.
Front of label
Back of Label
Step 5: Stickers are attached. We used the best stickers, printed on vinyl, full color process. These stickers sometimes cost up to 25 cents a piece but we know you put them in the most awesome places so it’s worth it for us to ensure that your sticker lasts longer than you do!
Most of you who are familiar with designing and creating shirts can appreciate the complexity and effort needed to really ensure the quality of both the shirts and the design.
I want to preface this blog entry by saying happy new year! Here’s to 2011. We have some amazing designers working on some Dbmlabs shirts and tees that are going to make your mouth water. I recently saw TRON and figured that a mention of Daft Punk and their new soundtrack is in order. We might even have some daft punk inspired tees and shirts!
Superstar DJ’s, remixers, and producers Daft Punk recently released (well not really recently) their TRON soundtrack and, in my personal opinion, sound absolutely amazing. Although quite a departure from their original work, it’s an elegant transition into something that is original and different from their core competencies. And quite obviously, due to their relationship with Disney and the fact that this soundtrack plays in tune with the movie, it’s natural that the tracks won’t be similar to their usual club bangers. Historically, Daft Punk puts out jams that can be played on the dance floor and at the clubs but the album has very little music that can actually be mixed into another set without major edits. Except for ‘Derezzed’ most of them follow in suite with the scenes in the movies and not produced for prime time clubbing music. Orchestral and classical sounds blended with some synthesized drums and electronic influences is what makes this soundtrack worth taking a listen.
Apparently, they recruited a 90 piece orchestra, a huge departure from their drum machine, synthesizer days. Check out the short article from Dailymail regarding their inclusion of the orchestra into their soundtrack. Daft punk’s latest indicates quite a migration from their dance club hits like ‘Around the World’ and ‘One More Time.’ Yet, it’s still all love for the one and only Daft Punk.
“In a startling departure from the kind of techno-disco-heavy metal mash-ups and bombastic dance music that propelled them into international superstardom, the Grammy-winning French electronica duo put what they do best on the back burner, then went on hiatus from a lucrative touring schedule for nearly two years to compose and produce the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack.”
Happy Holidays from Dbmlabs! It’s time for giving and sharing, and what better to give than some Dbmlabs shirts! This PSA is just notifying everybody that your orders must be completed by 12/15/2010 to ensure delivery before Christmas time (at least in the United States). Anything after will most likely arrive after Christmas and possibly post new years. Enjoy!
Dbmlabs is an apparel and accessories company dedicated to the lifestyle of mixing, remixing and producing music. Check out what we have in our store. Check the Dbmlabs Clothing and Apparel Store!
