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Recorded at San Francisco’s Ruby Skye, an ex-vaudeville-theater-turned-nightclub, Dan says that the experience was unique and only mildly stressful. “Christian [Dwiggins, Moonshine’s sound mastering engineer] and the guys at Moonshine set that up,” says Dan of the Surround setup. “Before the club even opened, we went and did a sound check and I played some records just to make sure everything sounded alright. It seemed like everything was too perfect, so that kind of made us nervous. When everything’s perfect, it means something’s going to go wrong later, but it didn’t, so we were really fortunate. What they do is have one line on the DJ set-up and four others on the crowd. Then from there, they have to internally mix all those channels.” Says Dwiggins: “To accomplish Surround, we basically are trying to recreate what happens here in the club, in the studio, and on a Surround Sound system so that you have it in your home. We record on a [TASCAM] D88, which is an 8-track multi-track digital recorder. We take two channels from the DJ booth – channels 1 and 2 – then we hang a couple of condenser microphones and one stereo pair microphone in various places where we think the most crowd is going to be. I look at the speaker array, decide where I’m going to get the least amount of sound and more of the crowd, and set it up so I understand how it’s recorded here and can better mix it in the studio later on. “Three-dimensional sound is the future. Stereo is being phased out, a medium of the past. The experience in Surround Sound is far superior to the experience in stereo. You feel like you’re in the music rather than just listening to it.” And how did the results sound to Dan’s ears? “Oh man, I was tripping! I knew three of my friends that were out there [in the crowd], and I could hear their voices. What a bizarre experience that is! The cool thing about Surround Sound is that you could hear the energy from the crowd and it adds to the whole experience. And it was weird because you always wish that you could stand back and hear yourself play, and that’s kind of how it was. It was a trip, definitely.” 
A seasoned global jock, Dan runs down his favorite clubs to play.
“I’d say Aria in Montreal – it’s my newest
residency,” he says. “I love that club because it’s
an after-hours club that opens at 2 a.m., and by 4:30 it’s packed.
I get to play three- to four-hour sets and it can go on until two
in the afternoon. I also still like playing Spundae. It’s a
great release for me as a DJ, because I feel I can play as hard as
I want to. In L.A., I can smash the hell out of it!” Dan also enjoys spinning at The Church in Denver, The Guverment in Toronto, and, of course, Ruby Skye. “I’ve had a big history with them now,” he says. “We did the CD there, and that was pretty memorable.” But his favorite club remains Fabric in London. “That’s probably the best club in the world, and I’m not saying that to be cliché,” marvels Dan. “They have the new Allen & Heath [Xone:V6 rotary] mixer – it sounds amazing – and speakers built into the floor. You can set the filter so it goes all the way around the room and then it comes back in through the floor. To be in control of that room, I’d say it’s the most power you can possibly obtain as a DJ.” With his music career entering its 13th year, the 35-year-old Dan Wherritt says that, as long as he remains in demand, he has no plans of stopping. “For years I thought I was going to switch careers, thinking, this can’t last,” he explains. “But every time I thought I should get out of it, I end up doing a track or something, which showed me more than ever that this is what I should be doing. And the crowd will let you know if they like what you’re doing, and if they think it’s good, I feel that calling to keep on doing it.” |
DJ
Dan's Surround Sensations