Description:

Serato collaborates with the best DJs and artists on the planet to create ‘Serato Control Tone’ vinyl records to use with its world-leading DJ software - Serato DJ Pro.

Serato approached Grammy award winning Mix Master Mike of Beastie Boys fame to do such a release.

The brief from Mike was simple:

“I love fine art. Things from the Vatican, the Louvre,
MOMA. Sumerian scriptures. Old churches. Eastern
European castles. I want it to look like fine art.”

The solution was to create a piece that evoked feelings of curiosity, mystery, felt like a work of art, had hidden messages that could be deciphered, was other-wordly and still fell within the serato design ethos.

Early experiments saw us creating a Mayanesque temple-like structure made from recognisable turntable elements such as the platter, feet, and faders. This culminated in an illustration depicting the partly ruined Temple in an ancient world, free from human habitation emitting a beam of light from the top as if somehow communicating with the gods. This was to be used on the inside of the jacket as if it was a diptych painting.

Mike’s interest in Sumerian scriptures gave us the idea to convert one of his infamous quotes about his approach to turntablism into such a script and use that as a pattern on the outside jacket, reminiscent of early carved stone tablets.

Mikes quote:

Mix Master Mike. The sonic puppeteer. Pulling
heart strings. Tapping the emotions of the people.
Controlling the masses with sonic frequencies from
his raygun. The scratch traffic controller.

The ritual of opening a new vinyl record for the first time is an important part of the experience.

We wanted users to be able to decode the message so the idea to add the obi-strip gave us the opportunity to include a key and could be used for user engagement / competitions etc.

The vinyl itself is an original combination of a money green base colour with black swirl patterns which we named ‘Intergalactic Green’ in keeping with Mike’s obsession with outer space. The end result is an almost jadelike effect reminiscent of ancient jewellery or artefacts from parts of Asia.