Beatdrop

"Listening to ["X-Buster Mk. 17"] from 2001, this isn't just an upgrade but a full overhaul, and it's plain to see how much he's developed as an artist. His initial mix did illustrate a firm grasp on the basics, and still shows that even at fifteen he had an ear for arranging, but both his arrangement and production skills have exponentially improved since, and this update represents both evolution AND revolution. It's easy to see why Konami dug his original work, as the direction he's gone in is definitely danceable & accessible, but also features surprising depth and, increasingly, more twists, turns & transitions." --David Lloyd, Founder & Webmaster of OverClocked ReMix, excerpted from Mega Man X3 "Revolutions" write-up.

From his modest beginning as a novice computer music hobbyist to full-blown producer and musician responsible for numerous full-length studio albums and countless memorable contributions to the video game music arrangement scene, Dain "Beatdrop" Olsen continues to redefine the standards of Electronic Dance Music in ways that many of his peers wouldn't dare.

Dain grew up in a musically rich environment, with his father latching headphones on to his head while he was only a toddler, chuckling as he wobbled around in an attempt to dance to the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Genesis. Into grade school, he had a short-lived experience with the violin before entirely giving up on music performance until the age of 11.

But around the time he turned 11, he garnered a newfound passion for percussion instruments, and began playing the trap set shortly after he set foot into fifth grade. When he wasn't doing homework, he spent most of his freetime in the garage, drumming along to a lot of the same classic and progressive rock bands that he grew up listening to. Eventually, though, it became apparent that he wanted to do a lot more than just smack some drums with a CD backing; something more than just playing a marching rhythm on a snare drum in front of a crowd of parents in his middle school band.

Near the end of 2000, a person with whom he frequently played Rainbow 6: Rogue Spear on the MSN Gaming Zone sent him a short drumloop that he'd composed himself. Mindblown and completely unaware of what it took to make such things, Dain was pointed towards Hammer Head, a freeware drum sequencing application. After making a number of drumloops with it and still craving more, Dain began to research computer music creation tools on the Internet.

At the beginning of 2001, he came across an application known as FruityLoops. It offered many of the same features that Hammer Head offered in a similar interface, but also opened up many other possibilities, allowing Dain to begin programming his own melodies and creating his own full-length tracks.

Nearly eight years later, having taught himself numerous synthesis methods, countless mastering and production techniques, and various aspects of music theory, Dain is seeing interest in his genre-bending styles of Techno growing rapidly. With two of his more recent tracks licensed by Konami Computer Entertainment for various iterations of the popular Dance Dance Revolution series, his fanbase is becoming far more global than it's ever been.

It doesn't stop there, however. With the imminent release of his fifth full-length studio album, Revolution, Dain aspires to completely change the way that people look at Electronic music.

"Far too often, people tell me that they aren't interested in 'techno' or 'dance' music because it all sounds like video game music," he says, "and that alone seems utterly ridiculous, but I intend to broaden everyone's horizons just a little bit by giving them something they probably haven't heard anywhere else yet: an all-encompassing fusion of elements designed to produce an enthralling listening experience."