Drum & bass legend Andy C has his roots firmly bedded in the underground music scene as the founder of RAM Records, but the wider public will be hearing a lot more from the man in the coming years.

Hot from signing to Atlantic Records, the globe-trotting producer created a special remix his Top 40 track Heartbeat Loud, featuring Fiora, to accompany the TV advert campaign for open-world driving game The Crew. You'll be seeing (and hearing) that aplenty in the run up to Christmas.

In our latest "music sounds better with…" series, in partnership with Cambridge Audio, we sit down with the RAM Records boss in Atlantic Records' digs at the Warner Music building in London and, having put down the Xbox One controllers for a moment to give the racing a rest, chat about music and tech.

Who are you?

"I'm Andy C."

What do you do?

"I DJ, procrastinate, and make the odd tune or two."

What are your top five tracks right now?

"They're all on RAM [Records, his label]. There are really hot new ones that I can't tell you the names of yet (laughs)… What should I start with?

"Frankee - Drop it Low.

"Culture Shock - Raindrops.

"Mind Vortex - Overture from their Colours EP. I started with that at the weekend and it went down very well.

"June Miller - Bad Brains.

"Audio - Nil By Mouth."

What track makes you think of the Summer?

"One of mine: Heartbeat Loud.

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/167105851&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false

"It makes me think of the summer because of Reading and Leeds festival. It was the same weekend as SW4 festival (South West Four) and we got a helicopter between the two and I just remember playing the piano intro and everyone going nuts. It's a mad buzz and a massive privilege, you know? Wicked day, wicked day."

What track makes you think of the winter?

"Right now, it's Troglodyte VIP by Culture Shock."

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What's your favourite gadget at the moment?

"The PlayStation 4 I've already got. I've nothing against [gestures at Xbox One controller] though…"

When you listen to music on tour, do you listen on a pair of speakers or are you a headphones kind of person?

"I'm always listening to music.

"When I'm DJing I use the new Pioneer headphones that they've brought out [the HDJ-C70 DJ]."

What's your proudest musical moment?

"I'm proud of it all. But I got two tweets in succession the other day that summed it up. One of them said 'just heard Heartbeat Loud, wow, mental tune' - as they'd just heard it on the radio - and the next tweet was someone else saying 'soundtrack to the way home from work: Sour Mash EP' [Andy's first release on RAM Records in 1992]. Is that a mad book-end or what? You've got the first ever release on RAM and somebody's listening to that at the same time somebody else is listening to the latest tune I've made."

Lastly, if you could have lunch with one band or singer (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

"I'd go down the pub with Noel Gallagher."

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(cc) freschwill

The Crew is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. thecrew-game.ubi.com


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