Cheiron Studios - 1986-1992: From Bootlegs To Worldwide Hits

1986-1992: From Bootlegs To Worldwide Hits

In 1986 a group of 10 of Sweden's most talentful discjockies founded "SweMix", a remix-service, as a response to DiscoNet, Hot Tracks and DMC. Those included Dag Volle (Denniz PoP), René Hedemyr (JackMaster Fax), Sten Hallström (StoneBridge), Emil Hellman (SoundFactory) and Johan Järpsten (JJ). At the beginning they were producing and distributed remixes of tracks without permission, so-called "bootlegs", for the limited underground or only for DJs market on their newly founded Remixed Records. Though being an underground collective, Remixed Records got noticed by, not only Scandinavia, but also Germany, Italy and The Netherlands. Tom Talomaa, a nightclub owner, got involved and supported the studio with more sophisticated equipment. Artists were dropping by SweMix to get a deal or a production. As a result of the requests, two labels were started; Basement Division for the underground and SweMix Records via Swedish Sonet for commercial records.

SweMix Records signed Swedish dance-acts like Dr. Alban, Kayo, Dayeene, Leila K. and had their first biggest hit with Dr. Alban's Hello Afrika (produced by Denniz PoP). In 1991 the company was divided and sold their Remixed Records remix-service. The following year SweMix further split up into SweMix Productions and SweMix Records & Publishing. The latter was sold to BMG and taken over by Denniz PoP and Tom Talomaa who renamed it to Cheiron and began working in the studio in 1992. SweMix Productions however continued as a production company and a couple of months later StoneBridge makes it famous with his remix of Robin S. – “Show Me Love” which put Sweden on the international map of club music. "Dagge" had up to that time been awarded for Best Remixer and won many DJ competitions, his talent was undeniable.
The newly started Danish record company Mega Records sent the talented producer a demotape by an unknown synthgroup called Ace of Base. The song on the tape was called "Mr. Ace" and it got stuck in Dagge's car-stereo so he had to listen to it over and over until he said "I gotta do something with this" and the solution was to make a reggaetune out of it. The song was recorded at the SweMix Studio by Denniz PoP and the song was renamed to All That She Wants. The song was an unexpected hit and catapulted both Ace of Base and Denniz PoP into stardom. "Dagge" became the group's producer, friend and mentor who shaped their material into what they are known for today.