Behind The Scenes of Random Soul ‘Diving’ (Incl. Richard Earnshaw & Mark Maxwell Remixes)

Sydney’s Random Soul, aka DJs Yogi & Husky, define house music at its core, celebrating nearly 2 decades of soulful, deep and funky house hues, releasing music on Large music, Guesthouse, Salted Music and Deepvisionz and their own imprint, Random Soul Recordings. As they get set to drop their second artist album in 2025, they have been tearing up the dance floors and airwaves with 2 vibrant single releases, ’Thinking About You’ (Incl. Dr Packer and Jay Bhana Remixes) and ‘Sway Me’ featuring Laura Vane (incl. Saison and James Alexandr Mixes). As they unleash the third single, ‘Diving’, from their forthcoming ‘Stronger’ album, featuring remixes from Richard Earnshaw and Mark Maxwell, Ihouseu goes behind the scenes…

Hi guys, congrats on your new single ‘Diving’, what was the inspiration behind the song and how does it sound?

Yogi: Thank you! I really love this record, one of my favourites on the album. We have always loved early Rufus Du Sol and have taken some inspiration from them with the sounds and vibe of the song. Lyrically it is leaning to a more conventional pop approach and the song themes cover falling for someone you know you really shouldn’t be with, but you just can’t help yourself and keep going back for more.

Husky: Thanks! I love this record also. I really wanted to re-create a more current version of our song ‘If We Let Go Tonight’ (released back in 2017) which used some really nice deeper and synthetic sounds, something that worked really well to contrast Yogi’s soulful vocals. When I heard the original demo of ‘Diving’ that Yogi and Chris Luder had been working on, I said this one will be FIRE if we chunk it up a bit and push it down that electronic-soul path.

Production wise, how did you go about putting the release together and who did what in the studio?

Yogi: Our usual work flow is that we vibe out and do sound design, harmony, basic drums and general direction together in person at my studio. Then the session goes to Husky’s where he elaborates on the arrangement and flow and fine tunes the sounds further. Then the session comes back to my studio where I mix it on my hybrid rig. We both chime in on all aspects of the production, but we just try to play to our strengths with this process.

Husky: The demo had the bubbling arp, and most of the verse 1 written, and some elements of the vocal hook. So we just dived into it and started adding parts from software synths and beefed up the drum energy in it. The track also features a lot of small samples which we curated and tuned just for this track.

Did you face any challenges or obstacles in the writing or recording process?

Husky: The usual scheduling challenges really. We started writing this one back in 2020 so kinda still recovering from Covid, family emergencies and illnesses, and also Chris having a hectic touring schedule meant Yogi and I had to finalise the vocals without him.

Yogi: Vocally for me this was probably one of the trickier songs to sing, from a technical standpoint. The top note is in a really mixed part of my voice, so I had to go through it all with my vocal coach to get it sounding the best I could. Happy with how it turned out, but took a little bit of coaxing for my pipes.

How does this compare to some of your other releases?

Husky: Hopefully it compares well! Ha ha! We think we have a Random Soul ‘sound’ but it’s always nice to try newer production angles as time goes on, and this one is certainly a little different to our usual sounds.

What was the main kit that you used on the release and did you get to work with any new instruments or kit in the process?

Yogi: The main kit used was probably Pro Tools. We are both using that for our DAW. But as far as gear, it is all in the mixdown department. 2024 saw me expand my mix rig quite a bit. I bought another UAD Apollo, this time an x16 to take care of all my analog outboard gear as HW inserts from Pro Tools. Plus I upgraded my mix capture A-D converter to a Neve MBC, which is quite a high end mastering grade unit, to capture the mixdowns from analog summing. Sounds really large and open and it’s like the blanket has been lifted off my speakers, ha ha!

There are remixes from Richard Earnshaw and Mark Maxwell, what did they bring to the table and what can we expect to hear?

Husky: We always try and curate the remix pack well for somebody we both love but who will also bring their own flavour to their remix and not just reuse the original parts to remake a similar version if that makes sense. Long time mate, Richard Earnshaw has done some wonderful remixes for us in the past, and was one of the first names on our remix list for this album project. We felt the deepness and emotion in this vocal needed his soulful and uplifting touch, and we certainly think he delivered. With Mark Maxwell, he is a rising star in Australia and someone we think could blow up at any minute. A foot firmly in the club/tech side of things makes his remix the chunky alternative and exactly what we wanted from him.

And what’s your favourite piece of studio kit that defines your sound?

Yogi: Probably my SSL G Buss Compressor, really glues everything together in the mix and makes things sound so polished without doing very much at all.

How has the release been going down in your DJ sets?

Husky: I love playing all 3 versions tbh. The original works well for the sunset vibes and Earnshaw’s mix picking up the tempo for the early dance floor. Mark’s for the late night!

Have you got a preferred mix that you’re playing out?

Yogi: Really hard to go past Richard Earnshaw’s mix, purely because it fits the most in my sets. But Mark Maxwell’s is incredible also, I just never get a chance to play it in my sets.

This is the third release from your forthcoming ‘Stronger’ album, please tell us a little about what’s to come.

Husky: Well, we just got the Grant Nelson remix for the next single ‘Stronger’, which is the title track from the album also, so we’re very excited for you to hear that, along with a suave remix from Sydney based Knight Horse. After that 4th single will be the album itself. We are planning on releasing all 12 tracks as singles with remixes, so this project will keep rolling out over the next 12 months. That in itself is interesting because the music and releases will evolve past the originals from the album. It’s got me very excited about this project and we hope the fans love it as much as we do.

You’ve been writing and producing together now for 2 decades, what’s the best thing about working together and what annoying / silly habits have you got?

Husky: haha, I think this is an easy one to answer. We have a very similar sense of humor and love for music. We often recite stupid movie lines or lines from seinfeld/family guy and if we haven’t seen the clip for a while we will momentarily stop working on music and find the youtube clip for a laugh. Without this connection to our childish selves it would all be a bit serious.

Yogi: It barely feels like work! We are usually cracking jokes about something stupid or catching up on ‘Dad grievances’ and the week that has been.

How important are songs for our dance floors?

Husky: They have never been more important. With the industry’s undeniable hunger for digging up the past and re-releasing it for a quick bit of nostalgia and connection, it’s getting harder and harder to break through with original music with the sea of remakes and sample heavy tracks. So for every original track that makes it through, it is a wonderful thing. New and fresh ideas are the only way we will keep moving forward.

Who are your current favourite producers?

Husky: hard to contain this list, but the following are just ON IT atm. Fouk, Dam Swindle, Dave Lee, Saison, Raffaele Ciavolino, Joe Pacielo, Sebb Junior, Richard Earnshaw, Ezel.

Yogi: Yeah this is always a hard one to answer, always evolving… But lately it has been Saison, Sebb Junior, Grant Nelson, Fouk, Brian Tappert, Ezel, as a starting point.

What else are you working on at the moment that you can tell us about?

Yogi: We have a few remixes from the album that we are doing ourselves individually, which will be a fun exercise for the project.

Husky: We also have some other WIP’s and demos kicking around that we want to revisit eventually, but for now, we are just focusing on the album.

Random Soul ‘Diving’ (Incl. Richard Earnshaw & Mark Maxwell Remixes) is out now on Random Soul Recordings.

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