Mix Master Mike

Zektarian Temple Of Sonic Sorcery
Serato - 12" Control Vinyl

Illustration: Tomas Cottle
Creative Director: Matthew Downes
Design Directors: Chris Elliot, Chris Leskovsek

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.