Chris Bartley x Hachiman

Chris Bartley x Hachiman

At Hachiman JPN we like to celebrate creatives from all walks of life to create an environment for our community to uncover new talent. For our launch, we collaborated with local Chester DJ Chris Bartley for our seasonal showcase and asked him a few questions to get to know a bit more about who he is and what he does. 

What was the thought process behind the Just Living track?

When Ryan approached me asking to do a Japanese themed track, I knew instantly that sampling would feature throughout the process. When you have a very specific sound in mind I find the best way to achieve that is listen to and sample preexisting music. For Just Living I sampled a Japanese LoFi track. I pitched it down and then sped it up to a housey tempo. I knew the Korg M1 featured a koto preset so I decided to use that to add atmosphere by following the chords of the sample. 

What was your favourite part about producing it?

The thing I enjoyed most about making the track was the challenge. Having never made something like this before, I was curious just to see how it would turn out. 

How long have you been creating music for?

I’ve been producing since the start of 2019 so just over a year and a half now. Before that I only had a basic grasp of music theory which came from learning the guitar. 

Anything you’re currently working on?

There’s a few house productions that I’m working to get finished at the moment. Right now I’m most inspired by the likes of Chris Stussy, Big Miz, and Kicks - that minimal and deep house mostly centring around the 128bpm mark. 

Advice for those thinking about creating their own music:

Just start. Many people are put off by how complicated it can seem, it’s normal to have no idea where to start but keep at it. Everyone’s terrible at the beginning. Once you start to see even the slightest improvement it becomes very addictive.

If you wanna hear more music from Chris and other artists he's worked with, find him on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/chris-bartley-689017906

Back to blog