TATE SEDAR’s “Take It All Back” starts with stuttered chords that carry the sadness of a past relationship. He built the track around that nostalgic feeling, then added a dark, vowel-shaped lead and a shift into drum and bass. The vocals came later, complementing the chords and helping the different sections take shape.
The track took a long route to its release. SEDAR first made it as a collaboration pitch, but the project fell apart when the other producer stopped communicating. He kept the idea for a year before handing a USB copy to Laidback Luke at an Exchange LA show. Luke later reviewed it on social media and saw potential in the track, though he also pointed out that it needed more work before he could play it on his radio segment. That feedback pushed SEDAR to finish the production.
An unsuccessful submission to the EDC Las Vegas Discovery Project sent him looking elsewhere. He returned to electro house, rediscovered his interest in Big Fish Recordings and sent the track to the label. It was accepted within 24 hours, but the work wasn’t over. SEDAR still had to polish the mix and develop the drum and bass section, making “Take It All Back” one of the most challenging tracks he had made.
For those who might not know you yet, how would you introduce yourself?
My name is TATE SEDAR. I am an electro & bass house producer/DJ from San Francisco. I was also raised on the East Coast of the US and in the UK, where I became a dual citizen and lived in London for 7 years. I’m based in Los Angeles, and while I have mainly focused on dance-pop records, I’m now exploring the grey area between progressive & bass music.
If you had to bottle up your sound into just three words, which ones would you choose?
Hyper, layered and melodic.
Which artists (not only music-related) or moments have left the biggest mark on your music?
The one and only Michael Jackson gave me a template of what an artist can truly be in their profession. And one of the largest moments was getting to witness deadmau5, Nero and Skrillex headline LED Festival in 2011.
When you hit play on your songs, what kind of feeling takes over?
Great question. When I DJ, I’m mostly driven by energy and groove — both being relative to each other. Although house music is mostly in a consistent tempo range, there are so many different types of grooves. My sets are designed by matching grooves in tracks, while progressing energy from one track to the next: sometimes up, down, and up again.
Each track of mine, I think, has its own sensation, and then when I just play my music (not DJing), I recall that feeling. But sometimes, my mind can also wander off and think about the technical aspects…which I guess is a cardinal sin of being a producer.
If you could team up with anyone in the world, no limits, who would be that dream collaborator?
Since I was a teenager, I’ve always wanted to work with Afrojack. His sound has changed a lot, though, and so has mine — and speaking of #nolimit — I think a more modern name to collaborate with that’s close to what I’m working on is Knock2.
What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?
At the moment, I’m working on a series of mash-ups to be released on SoundCloud accompanied by videos on social media; all the mash-ups include tracks from the ‘golden era of EDM.’ I’m also working to get a remix out with collaborator VALYON from Saudi Arabia and one final release on a label in December.
Can you walk us through the story or emotion behind “Take It All Back”?
“Take It All Back” was just built on the stuttered chords you hear in the beginning. They really evoked a sense of nostalgia and sadness of a past love. I had wanted to work on something with a dark, vowel lead that sped up into drum and bass. The vocals complemented the chords and the track came together from there.
I made it as a collab to pitch to another producer, but they didn’t keep up with communication and that relationship sort of just dissolved. After sitting on it for a year, I gave a USB to Laidback Luke (LL) at his Exchange LA show in July of last year. And in the last quarter of the year, I found him reviewing the idea for the single on social media to consider playing it on his Tomorrowland One World Radio segment. He couldn’t play it because it was unfinished, but said the idea was memorable and could see people dancing online to it — which meant it had some commercial appeal.
From there, I made an effort to finish it and I found an opportunity to find a home for it: the EDC Las Vegas Discovery Project with special guest judge Kaskade. I submitted and lost. Without a place for it, I ran into a rabbit hole of listening to electro house and rekindled my love for Big Fish Recordings. I submitted the track and it was accepted in basically 24 hrs. What I had to do next, though, was get the mix and drum & bass section down, as the former needed polish and the latter needed development. It was one of the most challenging tracks I’ve made, but LL was onto something because people on- and offline seem to resonate with it.
