I know there is an abundance of stuff on the mau5 out there, but I found this article to be particularly interesting.

RESIDENT ADVISOR INTERVIEW
Deadmau5: It's complicated
September 30, 2008



Deadmau5 has no interest in being in the middle of an 80,000 person crowd and "having the time of [his] life." So how come he'll rock audiences just like that at matter, The Warehouse Project, Amsterdam Dance Event and many more throughout the rest of the year on his world tour? It's a bit complicated.

If you listen to the recorded output of Deadmau5, the last word that will come to mind is "complicated." Joel Zimmermann, the man inside the mask, is a hitmaker—a producer who aims to please his legions of fans. And judging by his string of hits on Beatport over the past few years, he's done just that. In a Beatles-esque feat last year, for instance, Zimmermann had five of the top ten tracks on the download store's chart.

With that kind of success comes a whole host of detractors. When RA ran a review of Zimmermann's latest single earlier this year, one commenter memorably claimed that he was "the Dane Cook of techno; bland, inoffensive and popular with people who don't know any better," while another asked us to never review another Deadmau5 record again. Let alone do a feature on him.

Which, of course, only made us want to talk to him more. And when RA caught up with him earlier this month in New York, Zimmermann was interesting, opinionated and much more complex than we ever thought. He talked candidly in advance of his upcoming dates at matter, The Warehouse Project and Amsterdam Dance Event about the sweat that goes into making his tracks sound effortless, his unique live set-up and why his upcoming mix CD, Random Album Title, contains little new material. And why his vision of hell is akin to being in a crowd at one of his own concerts... Did we mention it's complicated?


It seems like you got into computers at an early age. What first drew you to them?

More like who. My uncle, who was more or less the black sheep of the family, was into all things technical. He did some university stuff with computer programs when they were only a little bit more powerful than a pocket calculator. He was always the guy that the family would call to fix the computer.

Were you programming at an early age?

Nah. I was playing MS Golf and Minesweeper. And getting blown away by the amazing effects that Corel Draw could provide. At the same time, my parents were sending me to piano classes. I went to a school for eight years in Niagara Falls, where I got a lot of classical music pounded into my head.


Making the 'mouse'

Do you still find yourself using that knowledge in your music today?

The practical part, sure. Not so much the performance bit. Back then, it was no problem to get up on stage and do something, but I think I fried my brain at some point because I can't play anymore. It's so fucking weird. It's like, when was the last time you were on a bike? It doesn't matter—you can get on it and pop a wheelie or whatever. With things like that, though—that require intricate motor skills—you just forget.

When you were growing up, did you listen to classical music?

Absolutely fucking not. I hated it. I was that little bad-ass kid at the piano school that never listened to it.

What music were you listening to?

Skinny Puppy, Steely Dan, Tears for Fears, that sort of stuff.

Steely Dan seems like the odd group out in that list.

Yeah. My dad was one of those first people to be suckered by the Columbia House deal where you could buy 12 albums for a penny or whatever it was. So, we got U2, Tears for Fears, War, Steely Dan, there was some Metallica in the mix. It was a weird collection.

I read an interview online where you said that you don't have to feel overly happy with a track, that it doesn't have to be perfect before you put it out.

Are you sure? Because then I'm one contradictory son of a bitch. I think the point that I was trying to make was that you'll never complete anything. I'll never be 100% happy with any production. I can go back and make any production that I've done better. That's just the process of what makes you an artist.

Are there tracks that you wish you could go back and re-do?

Absolutely. I would love to revisit "Complications." It's something that you just can't go back to, though. You can. But it doesn't feel right for me.

Did you do that for Random Album Title?

No. There was one track called "I Remember" that I did with Kaskade, which was based on a track that I never released called "I Forget." It had been more of a cinematic segue-type thing, not dance music at all, which is something that I'll throw together every month—just some 50 second long thing. So I went back to that track and realized that if we expanded it, and added a vocal it might work.


Behind the mask

Do you want to do more stuff that isn't necessarily dance music?

Absolutely. I'd love to do a soundtrack to a movie. I don't even want any credit, I just want to do it for my own personal satisfaction. Because, you know, aside from being a club conductor/electronic music maker guy, I'm also very keen on sound design and transparent recordings. That's the goal. That's my goal.

What do you mean by transparent recordings?

Something that is very clear. Where you hear every nuance in the way that is mixed. Transparency applies to engineering, the placement of certain sounds, the honing in on and the lessening of certain frequencies. And mastering, which is really an art. A lot of guys don't do their own. Which is fair play because I drive myself fucking crazy when I have a great idea for a track and I can't quite dial it right because of the way that I've put the track together.

I master as I make it, so it's a really difficult thing. I think a lot of guys are starting to do that now, which is neat. But traditionally speaking, back when say Josh Wink ruled the planet, people were just taking their stuff to wherever and it wasn't done properly. It was all a case of making it as loud as they could without fucking up the grooves. I love listening to early dance music, but listen to the audio fidelity of "Pump Up the Jam" next to a slamming Shlomi Aber track, you know? And that's all due to levels of technology becoming more accessible.

There are still a lot of people who don't put the time into mastering these days, though.

It's like the asshole who bought the first iPhone and smashed it on purpose. It's like, "Ahhh! It's such a great track! What are you doing? Treat it right!" I'm just too strict on quality control to let that happen. That's why things with a deadline, like remixes, are such a thorn in my side sometimes. I'm really against that idea of "I don't care what you have to do, you need to bring me a polished thing by this date."

Didn't it take a long time for your album to come out?

Well, this isn't my artist album. This is a fucking mix CD. I'll blag it before you assholes on the message board do. Yes, it is a mix CD. Yes, half of the tracks are already out and you've heard them many times before, but in my defense I did sneak in eight tracks that have been unreleased or won't be released for a while. It's music for my fans, those who wanted a CD, a tangible good. In this day, that's such a rare thing to come by.


Tell me about your live performance. You use something called the Monome, right?

Yeah. For lack of a better explanation, it's a modern art installation piece gone functional. When you get it, it comes in a box with a power supply and a USB cable. No manual, no logo stamped on it. It's a piece of wood with some buttons. I think the reason the guy who made it does that is because you're forced to be innovative with it. You have to make your own software for it.

The one that I have is a 16x16 grid where each button will light up, and that's it. But with that, you can build your own sequencer and have each button doing a different thing. So Steve [Duda, my partner in BSOD] built this monster of an application called MOLAR, which is an extended version of MLR. Steve really has a thing for complicated machinery, so he set it up so that we can load in wav data and slice that up. It basically allows you to sequence a feed, MIDI triggers or wav data playback to a channel. You can permutate it in so many different ways that you can really jam on it.

How has that changed how you do your live show?

Every show is different. I'll make 150 loops or something and just chuck them into the directory. One of the things that I've found is that you can do a dance music live PA for hours and it'll sound like shit, so you've got to dodge it a bit because you can't bring all of your hardware up there on stage. You have to make some compromises, but you might as well make it fun, right?

Hi to all the engineers, producers, djs and members of the forum. It's time again for a new poll.

I thought it would be interesting to see how many of you use DSP hardware. By this I mean a Digital Signal Processing card or external hardware that was added to your computer's configuration, which does not include the soundcard that your machine came with. Creamware, UAD, M-Audio, RME, or Focusrite are a few manufacturers of said products.

To qualify as DSP hardware it must contain a Digital Signal Processing chip that performs calculations on the device itself for effects, mixing, or whatever else. Devices that only provide inputs or outputs should not be considered. Likewise, synthesizers that connect via USB/Firewire also should not be considered.

One of the countless holy grails of software emulation is the successful recreation of the Moog filter sound.

This week, Universal Audio steps up to the plate with a Moog-approved multimode filter plug-in for their UAD DSP card platform.

This is sure to raise a few eyebrows, especially considering that countless producers have purchased Moog’s Little Phatty for the express purpose of using its filter to process other sounds.

Thus, a software version could be a tremendous value, especially combined with the outstanding effects that are already bundled with the UAD.

According to the announcement, UA “meticulously modeled the analog behavior of the historical 4-pole ladder filter including all of the non-linearities of the original.”

In light of the Moog brand, this is quite a claim, but we’re inclined to believe that UA’s hallmark attention to detail could lend the statement some credence.

In addition to the trademark Moog 4-pole lowpass sound, there are highpass and bandpass modes for added flexibility.

If you’re new to the concept of filtering, here’s a synopsis to get you started.

And if you’re already a filter junkie, then check out these features (taken from the press release):

- Classic Moog ladder-type 24dB/Oct (4-pole) & 12dB/Oct (2-pole) LPF/HPF/BPF
- Extreme distortion via 0/+20dB input gain, replicating Minimoog external input
- Stunningly “analog”; self-oscillation, smooth saturation, zero artifacts/quantization
- Enveloper follower, six LFO wave shapes, and DAW tempo synchronization
- Mono & stereo processing with Spacing/Offset features from Voyager
- Includes free low-DSP Multimode Filter “SE” version for high instance counts

Looks pretty serious to us.

Source:
http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/univ...ter-sound/

http://www.dv247.com/news/Korg%20nanoKON...PAD/131777


Look pretty convenient. I could see using the slider one for gigs, nice and compact.

First up the NwTSSL: (notice the knee is set to Soft10)

Logic Vs Digital Performer
I'm looking to purchase DAW software for my power Mac. I used logic 7 in college and I really like the plug-in's. My confusion comes because I have a MOTU interface and i'm wondering if there are any advantages to using DP with the ultralight. Any suggestions would be helpful. GREAT FORUM!!!!!!

I have been using my sony oxford dynamics (i.e. compressor) plugin on the master bus of my tracks, when someone i was talking to seemed to think I should be using a "dedicated stereo bus compressor". Now i thought the sony dynamics was a stereo compressor, but its not specifically a 'bus' compressor, whatever that means!

Since then i have demo-ed the waves api 2500 & the ssl4000 bus compressors and a-b'd them with my sony. I couldn't hear an amazingly obvious difference except for a small amount in the bass, and the api seemed to boost the high end a little.

So whats the go on 'stereo bus compressors'?

How many of you have a subwoofer in your studio?

A while back I noticed that all the studios I record at (in Taiwan) don't use a subwoofer. I asked them why they don't have one, and they told me that they don't need the "Boom" of the bass for the music, commercials, etc. that they work with. I guess I can see their point to some degree, although it makes me wonder why they wouldn't want the entire sound spectrum represented while working.

At any rate, I've been considering to buy one but don't know if it's really worth it. I'm using a pair of house speakers attached to a normal amp with the highs cut off for an occasional reference while mixing. I don't trust everything I hear from them, but I think they give me a good idea of where the sub freq's are sitting.

So....a studio sub...is it worth the money? Or just stick with what I'm doing? And other than the KRK sub....what others would you recommend?

Glenn

Hey,
I have completed several tracks and noticed on comparison to others that mine sound harsh and i guess "digital" and lack warmth. I have heard these words thrown around a lot before and now i guess i know what they mean..

So my question is, can you get warmth without analog gear?

I now notice a lot of artists mix their tracks through analog desks. I just mix it on the computer, so it never leaves the digital world. Will a desk give a better sound?

Also, i have been looking into getting some plugins for colour/warmth. I have looked into plugins such as the URS Channel Strip Pro & URS Saturation plugin as meds has mentioned these before. I demo-ed them and they definitely add noticable warmth, especially on the input setting - tube.

What i'm confused about, is whether plugin emulations such as the waves API/SSL/V series / UAD & even the focusrite liquid mix give the warmth of the plugins they are emulating, or just the frequency characteristics??

- James

ok fellow MedHeads, I need help with 2 things.
First, creating the stutter, trailing effect on the clip titled "fading vocal clip". In the clip it stutters (for lack of a better term) a bit then fades out. Has a nice little pattern to the stutter as well. I've been trying to create something similar to no avail. I've been messing with the Double Delay combined with the Chopper in C4. I've also tried it with the Glitch and so far neither has given good results. Any suggestions, advise, direction, etc. will be more than greatly appreciated as I want to add this to a vocal in an rmx I’m working on and I need to turn it in.
Ok on to the second thing. In the attached file "bassline clip" said bassline has a great swing to it and the 2nd series of notes in the bassline come across as muted. Like when a bass player doesn't fully fret the strings while playing the notes type of thing. In the attempt t re-create a similar swing and sound - in C4 I’ve set the quantize to 64-triplet, made each note in the midi editor 3 cells in length, the start of each note in midi editor is set to the first line behind (to the right) of the beat, so "E" in the count 1-E-&, 2-E-&, etc. the 2nd series of notes I’ve turned the velocity down to 50 and shorted the notes to only 2 cells but still am not getting that kinda muted sound.
Again any help would be appreciated!

Attached Files

  FadingVocalClip.mp3 (Size: 118.42 KB / Downloads: 5)
  BasslineClip.mp3 (Size: 79.83 KB / Downloads: 5)