Aperture f/32

Smaller hole, sharper image, less light. That's the whole trade. "Open the lens" uses your camera, only when you ask, and nothing leaves your device.

Out of the darkroom · into the digital

DreDarkroom

A beat-driven maniac DJ who learned to see under a crimson safelight. The darkroom taught patience, timing and a feel for light, and those crafts came with me into the digital world. Two sides, one room: Safelight for calm and melody, SquidgySqueegee for bounce and swing.

The image is there before you can see it

02 · The process

Four trays

Every print goes through the same baths in the same order. So did I.

Developer · where it began

Before anything was digital there was a darkroom: a crimson safelight, the smell of chemistry and a blank sheet slowly finding its picture.

That's where I learned to see.

Stop · timing

Pull a print too early and it's thin; leave it too long and it's mud. A blend works the same way.

I'm a beat-driven DJ, and every set I play leans on that darkroom clock.

Fix · what stuck

Fixer makes an image permanent. What the darkroom fixed in me was patience, framing and a feel for light.

It all came with me into the digital world: stills, video, timelapse and now sets sequenced like a contact sheet.

Wash · still developing

The photography-and-music fusion is still coming up in the tray. In spring 2015 a Dre Darkroom mix won the Prohibition competition, and the rest has been rinsing through since.

This page is the test strip.

Make a printHit stop when the image is right, not a moment later

BlankSubject · ?Mud

Space works too. Warmer developer runs faster. Streak: 0 · Prints: 0

Developer tempEverything in the darkroom starts here

23.4°

Running hot. Prints will rush.

Darkroom timerStop it at exactly the speed of a slow record

00.0

03 · Two sides of one record

Pick a side

Same hands, same room, two moods. Tap a side to hear how it feels.

Side A · calm

Safelight

Progressive, melodic sets that take their time. Strings, soft harmonies and long, smooth blends, lit like a print under the safelight: warm, low and patient.

Named after the one lamp you're allowed to leave on while the image comes up.

Progressive
Melodic
Strings
Harmonies
Smooth

Visit Safelight

Side B · bouncy

SquidgySqueegee

Named after the rubber blade that wipes a wet print. Light on its feet and full of fun: electroswing brass, electro bounce and a grin you can hear. This is where the beat-driven maniac comes out to play.

It tips its hat to Prohibition, the electro swing party: a Dre Darkroom mix won their spring 2015 competition.

Bouncy
Fun
Light
Electroswing
Electro

Squeaky clean. Now dance.

Wet print · swipe to squeegee

Try typing the names

04 · The lab arcade

Play in the dark

Two little games made from darkroom parts. Every win exposes a little more of the roll.

Silver Rush

Hold the pads

Your film canister harvests silver. Spend it on crew, hold two of the three pads to charge the flash, and fire it at the light leak. Three flashes and their print is fixed.

Silver

Your flash

Their glare

Base plates

3 · 3

Pick a crew card (1 · 2 · 3), then tap a lane on the board (or ← ↑ →). Squeegees beat Glares, Tongs beat Beams, Enlargers beat Flares. They counter you too.

Light Dash

Catch the light

Steer with the mouse, a finger or WASD. Click, tap or Space to dash. Dashing through a light leak develops it; touching one without dashing fogs you. Hold the ring for a bonus.

Score

Time · lives

60 · ●●●

Best

Feed

Up up down down · the old ways still work

05 · Book the room

Lights down.
Needle up.

Club nights, festivals, livestreams and parties. Tell me the room, the date and the mood: calm and melodic, or bouncy and swinging.

bookings@dredarkroom.com