• RELEASED: Sept 2001
• FORMAT: CD / 12″ promo
• LABEL: NINJA TUNE
• CAT No.: ZENCD55 / ZEN55P
• DESIGN: Openmind
• PHOTOGRAPHY:  Martin LeSanto-Smith
• EXTRA ZEN: ninjatune page / BUY

By 2001 it was time to turn the radio show into a bonafide physical product – a mix CD series – and create a brand look for it. We had previously done a couple of T-shirts with a logo I had quickly knocked up but little had ever stuck apart from a stereo test record graphic I had appropriated for DK’s tour mix CD a few years before (see other entry for the graphics). This provided the jumping off point for the initial visual look for the series – stereo test records – with their sonic imagery, slightly scientific presentation and info-heavy liner notes. What better way to encapsulate a style of mixing and matching that didn’t play to any specific genre but would be aimed at hardcore music enthusiasts who wanted a bit more than all the hits mixed neatly together?

Luckily for me I had a plethora of material to use for reference as both DK and myself had a decent collection of such records, the best of which can be seen on the Solid Steel club flyers of 2005. I wanted a vaguely 50’s tone to it with one prominent colour for each compilation accompanied by a tone of the same and another highlight colour. A waveform logo was adapted from one album with a set of ‘sonic rings’  from another with several different elements replaceable or adaptable from release to release. For instance, at the top of each sleeve a dual phrase ‘analogue/digital’ was later changed to ‘phono/line’ and ‘off/on’ etc. Inside the new Solid Steel logo – a circle with diagonal lettering – a 45 adapter was later changed to a speaker, a CD or a Final Scratch controller. To tie this and any other future releases together the top spine of the slipcase and the side spine of the CD inlay had the ‘sonic ring’ graphic split over subsequent mixes so that, when displayed side by side, the CDs showed off the completed image.

We also decided to pack out the booklet with info, firstly on the history of the radio show and secondly with extensive sleeve notes on the tracks used and what had led to them appearing. This was to highlight subtleties that could have been missed and to impress upon people the way we work with the music we mix. The front cover of each release had room inside the sonic ring graphic for an image that could change to illustrate each individual artist/mix. The images for this release were taken down at the Orlake pressing plant in Kent – sadly now closed – which used to do a lot of the Ninja Tune vinyl production. Photographer Martin Le Santo-Smith and I were given access to the factory floor to shoot the presses and various bins of offcuts produced every time a record was pressed.

A 12″ promo was pressed up to accompany the CD with 3 unmixed tracks on one side and a whole side of sample snippets from the mix including acappellas, spoken word samples and exclusive tracks. This was to be in a plain black bag with a long, thin sticker on it which was run diagonally across one corner, folding round the back where it overlapped. Unfortunately a printing error meant that the design was stretched and didn’t line up properly. THIS is how it should have looked.

Slip mats, stickers, T-shirts, even slip mat packaging was proposed and some of it even got made. As I had just designed a whole new look for the Solid Steel series for the ‘Now, Listen’ mix I had a whole heap of graphic material to draw on for merch and the t shirt design is one of my favourites ever. The Solid Steel ‘transmission mast’ was actually designed for this shirt I think rather than for the actual mix CD series and was later improved upon for the CD inserts we print for the regular Solid Steel radio shows that go out to syndicators. The whole funk 45 craze was in full effect at the time hence the use of dink designs of different types on the slip mat and the back of the T shirt (45 centre as Ninja throwing star) The row of dinks never got used as it was meant to be printed around the sleeve but couldn’t be done accurately.