Josh Gabriel is an American electronic dance music DJ and producer, most known for his collaborative partnership Gabriel & Dresden with

Dave Dresden Dave Dresden is an American electronic dance music DJ and producer, co-founder of the collaborative acts Gabriel & Dresden with Josh Gabriel, and Dresden and Johnston with Mikael Johnston. History 1988–2000: Early years Dresden's zeal for ...

History

Early years (1988–2000)

In 1988-89, a 20-year-old exchange student from

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...

, was living in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

in The Netherlands and studying at the

Institute of Sonology The Institute of Sonology is an education and research center for electronic music and computer music based at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in the Netherlands. Background The institute was founded at Utrecht University in 1960 under the n ...

. Josh Gabriel had already been working with digital music since his high-school days, achieving mastery of the

DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

and TX816 by the age of 17. With an Apple Macintosh Plus, operating system 3, and the earliest of music applications like

Mark of the Unicorn Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) is a music-related computer software and hardware supplier. It is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has created music software since 1984. In the mid-1980s, Mark of the Unicorn sold productivity software and several ...

's "Composer" and "Performer", Josh was already at the bleeding edge. In the Netherlands, Gabriel's inventor spirit took shape as he wrote a computer application to control samples on an Akai S900 in real-time with a joystick. And the inception for what later became

Mixman Mixman Technologies, Inc. is an American interactive music company that develops computer software that allows for the creation and manipulation of music files. Founded by Josh Gabriel and Eric Almgren, Mixman launched in April 1994 and is headq ...

had been born. Along with electronics whiz Jan Pannis, (Stockhausen's tech-man) Gabriel and Pannis built an apparatus which converted beams of light coming up off the floor into a Midi Control device and the 20-year-old Gabriel dressed in black, wearing white gloves performed his real-time beat-trigger device in the clubs of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. By 1993 Gabriel was doing high-end digital sound editing, design and production in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, and finally found a business partner and the journey that was to become Mixman began. Mixman had always been conceived as a hardware device, the " Walkman", the "

Discman Discman was Sony's brand name for portable CD players. The first Discman, the Sony D-50 or D-5 (depending on region), was launched in 1984. The brand name changed to CD Walkman, initially for Japanese lineups launched between October 1997 and Ma ...

", the "Mixman"... and several proto-types were built. The path to hardware was longer than software and in late 1995 early 1996 the first Mixman application was released to the public. Spin Control, included 8 songs from the San Francisco underground Dance Music scene, that were remixable with only a PC, enough RAM and a proper

sound card A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external au ...

. Gabriel's patents for loop-based music remixing are the backbone of industry standard music making software applications used in virtually every producers studio today. By 1999, Mixman had evolved and grown and merged with a larger dot.com. Expanding briefly to the Mac platform and deepening its relationship with Record Labels and MTV as well as starting work with

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

on a controller (eventually became the DM2) -- things looked good. But as happened with many dot.coms the ride got bumpy. In late 2000 Gabriel decided he had had his fill of the corporate life, and decided he wanted to return to "music". In 2002 Mixman sprung free of the dot.com shackles and returned to independence.

Gabriel & Dresden (2001–2008)

Before he attended music school in the Netherlands and

and started experimenting with synthesizers and computers in the early 1980s. At the same time

was a club deejay in a suburb of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

as well as a renowned US dance music journalist. He became the

Music Director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

of grooveradio.com and met

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...

, who asked him to help find music for the Essential Selection. They met at a party being hosted by grooveradio.com at the

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

Winter Music Conference in March 2001. Josh gave Leon Alexander a record, the record was "Wave 3", which Dave then gave to Pete Tong, and he played it on the Essential Selection and also used it for his compilation that same year. Pete gave Dave the opportunity to do a spec mix of New Order and Dave asked Josh to work on it with him. The two joined forces in 2001 and made a name for themselves by creating numerous remixes. In 2002 Gabriel & Dresden released their first single "Lament" (Saw Recordings) in the United States. The duo released numerous singles and number one ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' hits like " Tracking Treasure Down" and " Dangerous Power"; They also released one self-titled studio album together, '' Gabriel & Dresden''. Josh played the

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Armin van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted '' A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&n ...

's single "Zocalo" in which both Dave & Josh produced the sounds. The duo won the 2007 and 2008 IDMA award for "America's Best DJ". He has achieved 16 ''Billboard'' Dance Chart No. 1 hits as "Gabriel & Dresden", composed music that has appeared on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

, HBO,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

and CBS TV shows. Gabriel & Dresden have their own record label, Organized Nature. Gabriel has also invented a new pro-audio web application that will be available to the public in Winter 2009.

Solo years (2008-2010)

Josh spent his time off from Gabriel & Dresden starting a label called Different Pieces (via Armada Music) and working on three different album projects. The first, his 2008 solo album "Eight" which was named after the amount of analog synthesizers used to record it. He also worked on an album project for Winter Kills, Josh's band project with vocalist Meredith Call. This yielded the song "Deep Down" which charted on the

Hot Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as ...

chart and was on Armin Van Buuren's

A State of Trance 2009 ''A State of Trance 2009'' is the sixth compilation album in the ''A State of Trance'' compilation series mixed and compiled by Dutch DJ and record producer Armin van Buuren. The tWO-disc album was released on 8 June 2009 by Armada Music Ar ...

year-end compilation. He also produced the debut album for Andain "You Once Told Me" which finally saw a release in 2012 and spawned a sizable hit with the song, " Promises (Andain song)", which Gabriel & Dresden remixed in 2011.

Gabriel & Dresden reunion (2011–present)

On December 31, 2010, Gabriel & Dresden reunited for special one off New Year's Eve celebration alongside ATB and Francis Preve at the

Hollywood Palladium The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 4,000 ...

in Los Angeles. Shortly afterward, the duo were booked on the Anjunabeats WMC Miami party at the Ice Palace as a special guest. Since this event, Gabriel & Dresden have officially announced themselves as reunited. Since the reunion, Gabriel & Dresden have performed at many clubs and festivals around the world including

Electric Daisy Carnival Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is an electronic dance music festival organized by promoter and distributor Insomniac. The annual flagship event, EDC Las Vegas, is held in May at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and is currently t ...

(Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago & Orlando),

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions ...

in Belgium, Electric Zoo Festival in New York, Sunburn Festival in India,

Escape From Wonderland Escape: Psycho Circus is an electronic music festival held in Southern California around Halloween. It is one of Insomniac Events music festivals, running annually since 2011. There are Halloween walk-through mazes, themed stages, and costumed ...

, Nocturnal Wonderland, Paradiso Festival, Creamfields Australia, ASOT 550: Invasion,

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. J ...

, London, Zouk and a monthly residency at the Marquee Las Vegas in Las Vegas. In 2011 they signed an artist deal with Armada Music which brought forth their mix compilation "Mixed for Feet, Volume 1" as well as numerous singles including 2012'a "Play it Back" featuring Betsie Larkin, "Tomorrow Comes" with Neil Ormandy (2013), "Shatter" (with D-Wayne) and a re-working of Tracking Treasure Down Revisited. On February 3, 2014, they restarted their monthly radio show "Gabriel & Dresden present Organized Nature" on

Digitally Imported DI.FM (formerly known as Digitally Imported) is an Internet radio broadcaster consisting of over 90 channels dedicated to electronic music, such as house, trance, techno, drum and bass, and dubstep. DI.FM broadcasts handpicked selections consist ...

's progressive channel. Since this show was already on the air in the past, it began this time around with Episode 30. On March 29, 2014 they released "Rise Up" which was supported by a wide variety of DJs including Above & Beyond,

Eric Prydz Eric Sheridan Prydz (, ; born 19 July 1976), also known by his many aliases including Pryda () and Cirez D (), is a Swedish DJ and music producer. He rose to fame with his 2004 hit single " Call on Me", and saw continued chart success with " Pr ...

Armin Van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted '' A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&n ...

Markus Schulz Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobâr ...

, Jason Bentley, amongst many others. The official music video for this song was generated entirely from

Creative Commons License A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...

content found on the video sharing website

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...

Discography

''For discography as Gabriel & Dresden, see Gabriel & Dresden discography.''

Albums

* 1996 ''Mixman: Remixable Hip-Hop · House · Acid Jazz · Underground'' (Compilation album) * 2008 ''Eight'' (Studio album) * 2011 ''Winter Kills''

Singles/EPs

* 2002 Wave 3 * 2005 Alive * 2006 Tracking Treasure Down * 2007

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

* 2008 Tone Program * 2009 Rubber * 2009 Wood * 2009 Winter Kills - Deep Down * 2009 Entropy * 2010 Winter Kills - My Friend

Remixes

* 2002 Andain - Summer Calling (Josh Gabriel Mix) * 2003 Andain - Beautiful Things (Josh Gabriel Mix) * 2004 RND() - Nova Santori (Josh Gabriel Mix) * 2010

Layo & Bushwacka! Layo & Bushwacka! is the pseudonym of British DJ duo Layo Paskin and Matthew Benjamin, who released four tech house albums between 1998 and 2012. Layo Paskin Paskin, from London, began his DJ career at the age of sixteen while working at Camd ...

- Let The Good Times Roll (Josh Gabriel Unauthorized Dub) * 2008 Francis Preve - Caboose (Josh Gabriel Remix) * 2008 Stel - New Life (Josh Gabriel Remix) * 2009 Andain - Promises (Josh Gabriel Remix) * 2009 Winter Kills - Deep Down (Josh Gabriel Remix) * 2010 BT - Every Other Way (Josh Gabriel Remix)

Co-productions

* Andain - Summer Calling * Andain - Beautiful Things *

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was vo ...

- Walking on Clouds *

- Zocalo *

- Without You Near * (As Winter Kills (with Meredith Call)) Armin Van Buuren - Take a Moment * Ellen Meijers - '' Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee'' soundtrack and GameSpeak voice (1997) * '' Oddworld: Soulstorm'' soundtrack

Awards and nominations

''For awards as Gabriel & Dresden, see Gabriel & Dresden Awards / Nominations.'' * ''Nominated'' WMC Best Progressive / Trance - Beautiful Things - Andain

References

External links

Trance AddictJosh Gabriel at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel, Josh Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Record producers from California Remixers American trance musicians Armada Music artists