I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason and it’s all part of the flow of life.  It could be a loss of a job (but a new opportunity created), or a re-acquaintance with an old friend (who now helps manage your record label) or re-uniting with people who are now business partners.  In the ebb and flow of life, people enter and depart, but it’s your hustle that ultimately determines if the right people keep entering.

I first met Resonant Vibes back in 2006 when I was looking for digital distribution for my label, Hidden Recordings.  I was still learning the in-and-outs of owning a label, from the legality of it, to opening the bank accounts to reaching out to various distributors to carry our music. (I’ll go into how the label came about in a future blog)  It took a few months but we were finally up and running on RV.  Since the label at that time was only Dieter Krause and I, it was hard to give everyone the time they needed as we were drowning in work, only to come up for a few seconds for another deep breath before going under again.  I mean we were handling everything with the label, and still trying to produce music also.  Needless to say, a few partnerships never really got off the ground, with RV being one of those.

Fast forward to WMC 2009 and I’m working with Justin K from Rephlektor Ink who handles PR for Hidden Recordings, (BTW, It took 2+ years to work with Justin, and that’s another good blog for the future.  Oh, also, he became a father recently, and I wanted to wish him well here) and happens to mention that RV is hosting a booth at the WMC similar to what Hidden Recordings is also doing at WMC.  I had decided it was time to give the label a bit more push since we were more established.  The added visibility was good for the label, but I’m not sure if I would invest again in a booth at WMC. (Yet another future blog!)  RV happened to be only a few booths down from us and I swung by to introduce myself where I met Sam in person for the first time.  I didn’t even know he was a Brit, which got me thinking, how many Brits are there in Louisville KY?  Anyway, I sat down to set up a profile page and was immediately impressed with the progress of RV.  I saw the labels they are working with but Hidden Recordings was not listed.  I pointed that out to Sam, who responded, “Well, Deepak, you don’t send us music anymore.”  Ouch!  I quickly reached out to Dieter and let’s just say you can find a healthy amount of music and a mix from me on RV now, with more to come.

When I came back to NY, I had an email from Eddie from RV who was saying he was going to be in NY soon, and it happened to coincide with my gig at Rebel for Save the Cannibals, where I was playing with Paco Osuna.  I actually never met Eddie in Miami but after our first chat, I was impressed with his passion and professionalism.  I saw him at the gig and we spoke but decided to get drunk instead and continue the chat later in the week.  (BTW, the gig was AWESOME)  We grabbed lunch a few days later and really had a chance to understand what makes each other tick.  Our similarities range in how we approach our business, how we want to work with like-minded people, but most important how we like to work with good people.  I’m confident in saying the people involved with Hidden Recordings are a reflection of me (As I am of them) and Eddie is the same with RV.  We both agreed we are the types of people you want to root for!  We work hard, and are always hustling to meet new people and create more opportunities, and I think our growth speaks to that.

One such opportunity is writing this blog.  I am excited to do it, as it will provide you more transparency into the day-to-day activities (often unglamorous) of running a humble techno label in NY.  My hope is you’ll connect further with the label and want to join in our journey as we continue to branch out and expand.  For example, I spoke with my vinyl distributor over the weekend, (www.complete-usa) and our 2nd vinyl’s test pressing is almost complete!  I’d love to get the record out before DEMF if possible, and it’ll be close.  Later this week, Pablo Bolivar arrives from Barcelona to stay with me for a few nights before he heads off to Toronto to play for Noah Pred at the Drake.  Then he’ll be back to play live at my birthday gig in NY at Bar 13 on May 15th.  For those who don’t know, he produced the 9th release from Hidden Recordings, which is due out the same day, May 15th, but I don’t think this will happen.  The hang-up is Dieter and I aren’t fully pleased with our remix, so I’d rather push out the date. (More blog material!)

I’ll be in touch soon, and thanks for reading the first blog (they won’t be all this lengthy) and you can reach me at deepak@hidden-recordings.com.

- Deepak

Tags: Deepak Sharma, Hidden Recordings, New York City