Thanks to his new gig, Derek Allen, a recent Sound Design grad, has an insider’s look at the studio of one of America’s most innovative music producers. With his own label, Mad Decent, a hugely popular and influential podcast, and a critically-adored LP, “Florida,” out on Ninja Tune’s big beat subsidiary label Big Dada, Diplo is already carrying a continent’s worth of street cred before we even mention he collaborates with the legendary UK music trendsetter MIA. Our alum Derek is Diplo’s right-hand man, acting as his studio engineer on all new tracks. We caught up with Derek in the frenzied days before MIA’s latest album Kala was released and while he prepped to move the Mad Decent HQ to Philadelphia.

Besides giving us the heads up on where to find a new free Diplo mixtape, Derek (Aka DJ A) was also kind enough to drop us a couple of exclusive tracks of his own for your streaming and downloading pleasure.

The first track is Derek’s Baltimore bounce remix of Boston’s classic rock hit “Takin’ my time,” and the second is a Hyphy-inspired original called “Get Stupid.”

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Check out the interview…

What did you do after you graduated from VFS?

After graduation I shipped my belongings to my girlfriends apartment in Boston. This allowed me to stay in Boston but travel to New York, where I met and worked temporarily with hip hop producer Disco D at his studio in Brooklyn. During this time I slept on the floor (usually in the vocal booth) and assisted him with a variety of audio and video projects. In late August, it became obvious to me that (since I wasn’t getting paid and had nowhere to live) I was going to have to head back to Boston, where I aggressively sought employment with the animation company Soup 2 Nuts who were responsible for the Adult Swim television show Home Movies. I didn’t have any luck with the Soup 2 Nuts people, so I took an unpaid internship at a Boston based recording studio in October.

Has your ambition always been to work in the music industry?

Yes and no – I definitely know that it’s always been my preference, but having grown up around it, I’m very familiar with the reality of the music business. A big part of going to VFS had to do with me wanting to study more than just music recording.

So how did you meet up with Diplo?

Very early in 2004 I had a chance layover which put me in New York staying with a friend for just one night. I found out prior that Hollertronix (dj team w/ Low Budget) were playing a party down in the Bowery, so I checked it out. I talked to Diplo for a short while about being from the south (I’m from Louisville, KY) and gave him some CDs with some various music I had made. Later that year he came to Cincinatti on tour with RJD2 so I went and bothered him with some more CDs. When I moved to Vancouver the following summer, I discovered that
we had mutual friends in the city and we ended up hanging out while he was in town.

You started working for him after he put out his debut, Florida?

No, not until the Yeah Yeah Yeahs remix at the beginning of ’06.

Diplo’s probably one of the most acclaimed remix artists out there right now. What’s your favorite remix he’s done?

My personal favorite Diplo production is the song “Newsflash,” also known as “Diplo Rhythm“. It’s not really a remix as much as it is a traditional rhythm – the 12″ has three different versions of the track with different MCs. The track itself is made up of amazing 8-bit Nintendo sounds, but in a very non-obvious manner.

What kinds of projects have you worked on with Diplo before you met up with MIA?

Mixing the remix he did for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, mixing the remix for Canser Sei Sexy (CSS).

How would you describe life around the Mad Decent office? What’s your day-to-day like?

Currently we’re gearing up to get into a new building in North Philly which will house our new studios and offices. Over the last few days I’ve been trying to track down a very reasonably priced Mac Pro from a Craigslist Seller : ) and ordering hard drives and crap like that. Once we are set up and more or less have our construction finalized, my responsibilities will involve everything from engineering sessions, to organization (sounds, sessions, radio drops, music, etc.) to doing some basic label management stuff.

My responsibility at Mad Decent is primarily as an Engineer working on either a remix, an original production featuring an artist such as Bonde Do Role or DJ Blaqstarr, or a podcast (free on iTunes). Generally I will work with the artist or producer at the beginning middle and end of the mix, with me pluggin’ away in between those times. Over the next few weeks we are going to be developing some all new projects, including a Canadian group called Thunderheist, and an album co-produced by Diplo and Switch (Dave Taylor, Solid Groove) in Jamaica. In addition to Mad Decent, I have been very fortunate this year to have my own productions placed in an advertising campaign on hummer.com as well as freelance work doing mixing and mastering for a variety of independent artists and labels.

She’s one of the world’s most innovative musical artists. She’s putting out some of the most original music in the past few years. She’s got fresher style than ninety-nine percent of rappers. What’s it like to work with MIA?

Very laid back, very normal and without attitude or aggression. Working on her new material was an honor and a pleasure, and I’m very grateful for it. My experience with M.I.A. was mixing the track “Big Branch” with her and Diplo in Fall 2006. Maya is a very talented and unique artist, and a very kind person besides. The chorus of that song was recorded outside on a beach somewhere, and you can hear people talking and laughing in the background. At first I thought that we had to get into a proper studio and re-record them, but then I began to realize that things like that are what makes M.I.A. so unique as an artist. That take made it on the final mix, and the song will be included on the Japanese release of Kala.

Do you know if you’ll be going on the road with her?

What she wanted me to do was to take all the audio elements of her live show (music, sfx, cues, etc.) and organize it using a program called Ableton Live. Basically, this is a concept done by many pop style performers – you have a master computer system running a program which “guides the show”, and the musicians and vocalists all follow the computer, so to speak. However at the last minute plans were changed due to a video shoot and our total inability to get this prepared in less than a week.

Busy times ahead?

As far as what I’m up to right at the moment, I just competed a remix for the Vagrant Records band Emanuel, which is going to be released on the soundtrack to the upcoming film Resident Evil Extinction. In addition, Diplo and I have been finishing up the initial control room in the new Mad Decent Studios where we are working on remixes for artists like Bloc Party, Black Ghosts, Young MC, The Black Lips, and tons more. During the month of August, Diplo and house producer Switch went to Jamaica to work with dancehall mc’s like Elephant Man, Turbulance, Monster Twins, and more for a future collaborative release. Look out next week for an exclusive Diplo mixtape available at Pitchfork.com