Roni Size played a set 1,375 feet below ground in Cwmorthin slate mine, near Blaenau Ffestiniog in Eryri, North Wales, on Thursday, October 15. The event was staged by adventure company Go Below and Casio’s G-SHOCK to launch the brand’s new Mudman watch, and the organisers are presenting it as an attempt at a world record for the “deepest underground rave”.
That record has not been confirmed. EDM.com, which received the organisers’ press release, reports that evidence from the night is being submitted for independent verification, but that G-SHOCK has not said which body will assess the claim or when a decision is expected. Wales’ The National ran its report under the headline “Roni Size sets record”, although its own article describes a bid awaiting verification. Until a ruling is published, BEZ is treating the record as a claim.
Getting to the dancefloor
Attendance was by ballot and capped. According to EDM.com’s account of the press release, winners had to complete medical and fitness declarations, wear certified protective equipment and stay with qualified Mine Leaders throughout. The descent took around two hours, through flooded passages, underground ravines, scrambles, zip lines and abseils, to a chamber called Deep Sleep. Decks, sound system, lighting and recording equipment were carried down by hand. Before the music started, the Welsh national anthem, “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”, was played through the system.
The mine as part of the mix
For producers, the most interesting part is the audio setup. Before the night, the engineering team captured the mine’s impulse response, the acoustic fingerprint used in convolution reverb, to understand how the space behaves. During the set, vibration transducers pushed parts of the music into the surrounding slate, while geophones and hydrophones picked up what travelled back through rock, water and mud and fed it into the live mix.
“How much more could you reflect the environment than by pumping a set into the mountain, hearing the sound travelling through the slate, rock and mud, and bringing it back into the mix?” Size said in comments released ahead of the event and published by Mixmag.
Local unease
Not everyone welcomed the idea. The National, citing the Cambrian News, reports that local resident Darren Edwards raised concerns earlier this month about safety and about holding a party at a quarry where local men lost their lives. Go Below, which holds the lease on Cwmorthin, responded that it has “deep respect for the industrial heritage” of the site and carried out a dedicated reconnaissance trip to assess risks specific to the event. Per the organisers, a certified mines engineer inspected the chamber and sound and vibration levels were monitored against agreed limits. Quarrying at Cwmorthin dates back to 1810.
What happens next
The National reports that the full set will be uploaded to G-SHOCK Radio and made available on Mixcloud. The more important outcome is the verification itself: if G-SHOCK names the assessing body and publishes a result, BEZ will update this story. Until then, this is best understood as an inventive, well-documented brand stunt with a record claim attached.
