Get to know: Dedman
Dedman has been making waves with a string of heavyweight releases across labels including Incurzion Audio and LDH Records – his work rate and productions are turning heads in Birmingham and across the UK. Having recently celebrated the release of his All On Me EP on Bare Selection – weaving between bass music genres effortlessly, there are no signs of Dedman slowing down anytime soon!
Introduce yourself – who are you and how would you describe your music?
So my names Josh I go by “Dedman”, originally from Cornwall but now residing in Birmingham after a few years in Bristol in the middle. My sound feels like a real melting pot of my influences over the years. Having been producing for over 10 years now I’ve tried my hand at most genres within the UK sound at some point or another and have amassed ideas from all these different places. It’s a tough one to place really but I think it’s really summed up by dark gritty textures combined with tight grooves and low end bass.
How did you get started with music production?
So I actually started in secondary school when they showed us how to use garage band for our GCSE music. Shortly after I moved on to a cracked version of logic when I was 16 in college and started using it to make up backing tracks for ideas I had for my band and record guitar riffs and such. It wasn’t until I was 3 years deep into it that I actually got interested in dance music – it definitely didn’t sound like I’d been producing for 3 years at that point though!
What would you say are your main influences – musically or otherwise?
That’s a really tough one, my influences are really broad and it’s hard to pin point any one place. I listen to a lot of grime and UK Funky (surprise surprise) and I know that’s definitely a bit of a linch pin of my sound, but outside of that I’m quite inspired currently by global club sounds things like Kuduru, Soca & Gqom. I find those styles really interesting, especially rhythmically – they really speak to me and it’s exciting to see other cultures finding their place in the global stage too.
Tell us a little about your production workflow – any software or hardware you use, any special techniques or sources that are indispensable to your sound.
Honestly it’s different every time! I’ve played around with hardware before, I’ve had a virus and a Korg minilogue but never really found they added too much to my workflow. I’m a pretty in the box producer really. There are a few things I fall back on quite regularly like NI Battery – it’s just a great place to build beats from it’s got a huge range of sounds to pull from and the sampler emulation can add some nice grit and organic texture to things. The Arturia synths are amazing too, just a really nice analog sound. I use the prophet emulation religiously for any melodic layers. Outside of that it’s all pretty basic stuff, I’m really leaning away from heavily produced tunes and more now just using the right sounds in the right places. That’s the kind of thing someone would’ve told me years ago and I would’ve thought it was pretentious bollocks, but that’s wisdom I guess?
What do you do when you’ve lost your musical mojo?
I’m a pretty consistent person when it comes to that, I write music religiously to the point I need to force myself to have time off so consistency hasn’t really ever been an issue for me in that sense. There are times when i’m struggling to find any useful ideas and the best I can do in those situations is to just keep at it, like chipping away at a rock eventually you’ll find gold.
What are your favourite and least favourite BPMs to work at?
I tend to pretty much stay around 130-150 these days. I have been known to jump up a little higher making some jungletechno bits here and there, having spent so much time previously making drum & bass I’m pretty comfortable at higher tempos. I do have a soft spot for those old relatively slow garage tunes sat around 125. When it’s that slow you can really feel the swing and the groove so much more but I really struggle to get the energy when I make anything that slow.
When you make music, where do you start?
Almost always with the drums! Everything I write really revolves around the groove, the placement and the tone of the drums really sets the scene for how a tune is going to turn out to me. Whether it’s going to be aggressive and in your face or if it’s a softer more thought out tune, all this can really be told from the kick drum alone so building that from the ground up is so important to setting up the vibe of the tune. It’s very rare for me to start with a melodic idea (I struggle with melodies at the best of times) but sometimes I’ll have something I want to sample which will be the idea, but once I’ve got that in I jump straight on to the drums to get things rolling.
If you could go back to when you first started out and offer your former self one piece of advice, what would it be?
You’re not as great as you think you are haha! I was quite arrogant in my younger years, I think I would be twice the producer I am now if I’d taken the time to reference more and really analyse and break down what other people were doing. Seeing some of the work people send me now after just a few years of producing is honestly crazy compared to what I was doing at that time! I think the best thing you can do is reference and learn from what other artists you look up to are doing.
Can you tell us one thing you really appreciate about the Birmingham music scene and one thing you think could be improved?
Honestly the community here is amazing, within a few months of having moved here I’d been completely welcomed into the scene with open arms. I can’t shout out the guys from High Key (RIP) and Listening Sessions enough for that, without that space I don’t know how I would’ve met any of the people I know now. I really think we need a lot more promoters and some new venues though. It’s a bit of a small venue scene here ,but there’s no reason it has to be – we just need the infrastructure to build. I’ve spoken to a lot of people about this recently and more and more it feels like people are moving out of the city to places like Bristol, London or Manchester where there is already infrastructure, and Brum is really being left behind there.
When you’re not making music, what other interests and hobbies do you have?
Honestly it takes up about much 90% of my time but I also do some videography with old VHS cameras – I shoot all the visuals for my releases! And some graphic design as well when i get the chance. I also play guitar and a bit of violin but I think that comes under the making music category?
Do you feel Listening Sessions has helped you progress as an individual artist?
Yes absolutely Listening Sessions has been a great help to me! Having the chance to listen to a tune in a objective state, how an audience would hear it, without looking at a project and constantly getting distracted tweaking, cannot be overstated. It can be really hard to listen to your music and take it in outside of the studio mindset, and the being involved with your showcases is a chance to almost hear music for the first time. It’s also very rare that you get to hear your own tunes out of a proper sound system, even when you’re playing them yourself you don’t really get a proper chance to listen to them through stage monitors. So mix down wise it’s a real game changer!
Which other Listening Sessions producers are you feeling at the minute?
There’s so much talent coming through there honestly it’s hard to pick! Goosensei is obviously up there he’s a real local legend and has this real horrifying feel to his productions that really hits a sweet spot for me. Reedy as well always delivering some big party vibes to his tunes. Nothing that i’d expect more from the face of BCB! I always really enjoy bits from Red Sky, I don’t really follow much drum & bass anymore but some of the techstep and old neurofunk they deliver is a slap around the face every time and draws out the 20 year old in me.
Where can we hear more of your music?
So you can check out my tunes wherever you find all good music! There’s plenty on streaming platforms going back a long time as well as some edits on my soundcloud / bandcamp that are probably my more popular tunes these days! Have a dig through here i’m sure there’ll be something up your street in there
Do you have any upcoming releases, events or other stuff you’d like to promote?
Yes always stuff on the horizon for me! I’m just about to send out the promo for a really exciting EP for September for a really exciting new label out of Bristol, run by one of my favourite new DJ’s. I’m working on a handful of collaborations and remixes as well but they are going to have to stay under the hood for a little longer! Event wise things are a little quiet at the moment, I just had my EP launch in Birmingham at the end of July (photos below), that was a real nice party and great to get everyone in one place to celebrate and have a dance. I’ve got a halloween date in brum as well, and i’m putting the feelers out for some more of my own events in the coming months so keep locked for that! Long term i’m in the works organising a tour for next spring but that ones a way off. If any promoters are interested please reach out, the more the merrier!!
Photos from Dedman’s All On Me EP release party at Temper & Brown, July 2026:
