Justin Case & the REAL #benztown or travel the world…

Hey guys, last week my buddies Justin and Shane were here in Stuttgart. We met so often in LA, but he never was in Stuttgart before and as always – he was kicking it big time…I feel blessed working with such great talent as Justin and Shane and I am happy to have them as an important part of the benz brigade crew. Check out his stuff for benztown Country, Clique  and Benztown Rhythmic. AND now…JUSTIN IN BENZTOWN!

9th May 2014 – by Justin Case:

Illegal underground drum and bass train parties, beautiful architecture, soccer, studio time and beer, lots and lots of beer.  That would sum up my fantastic time in Stuttgart, Germany. I was lucky enough to travel to the Benztown studios in Germany for a week with our master composer Shane Drasin. Regardless of the overcast and rainy weather while we were visiting, there was definitely some magic in the air. It’s one thing to work for Benztown, joining the team in the States, and another to see the brains of the operation on their home turf.

Bright and early on Monday morning Andy picked us up and we were off to the studio. After the daunting task of climbing the ridiculous stairs we hit the ground running with a quick team meeting and introduction to the guys that have only lived through skype for so long.

With a recent relaunch of the Benztown platform there was a lot to get to. We dove right into the process of labeling, uploading and making all of the content that lives on the platforms a reality. It’s pretty tough to understand how complicated it is to maintain the content load of 20 production libraries until you see it for yourself. We continued to work on evolving the tag infrastructure, added new functions and got down to producing.

The legendary captain, Oli, was working on power intros for NRJ radio. One thing that is easy to lose sight of doing imaging in the states is the attention to detail overseas imaging gurus pay to their production. I’m just as guilty as the next imager in the US for having to hurry through productions because of all the various hats we wear. There is definitely a different dynamic overseas and it does make you think. Stop, take some time and take those extra minutes, maybe an hour or a day (if you can get away with that!) to make sure that the production that your putting out there is absolutely perfect! Oli does that and the results are outstanding!

Andy and I spent a lot of time going over our own imaging processes, the templates we use when producing and our individual techniques. Since I came on with Benztown as an independent producer about 4 ½ – 5 years ago, he has always been a mentor and amazing friend. His ability to be a leader has since transcended to another protégé of his, Jan Brückner. Jan is a wildly impressive 23 year old imaging producer who is going to be a force to be reckoned with throughout the years. We spent 4 days in the studio producing, collaborating and continuing to find ways to make the Benztown experience second to none.  Stay tuned for more.

Outside of the studio, Andy was quite the tour guide! From amazing cafes and restaurants to a 4am underground drum and bass party (details of which I’ll leave to your imagination) the DJ side of me couldn’t be happier! The music in the clubs was fantastic. Electro till 4 AM at Kowalski. German hip hop with our web guru Stefan at Bergamo and Ton Studio, which used to be a famous Stuttgart recording studio. From Frühlingsfest with 1 liter steins of beer to my first professional soccer game, it was a trip I won’t forget soon.

The takeaway? Take your time, live life to the fullest and create the best product you can. Always.

If you want to see more of Justin, just click HERE!