Second Sign
Exciting New Technologies & A Move "Down Under" Have Given Carl Cox A New Lease On Life & His DJ Career

Published in the May 2006 issue of DJ Times Magazine
Volume 19 - Number 5
By Emily Tan

In a career that’s extended beyond 25 years, Carl Cox is one of the rare “global superstar DJs” who can rightly claim that title without a hint of shame. Yes, Cox has enjoyed the best that international clubland has to offer—first-class travel, stellar venues, handsome fees—but U.K.-born DJ can never be accused of shortchanging an audience. If you’ve seen Cox perform his brand of pumpin’ tech-house, you know that he gives as good as he gets. In forbidding venues like Ibiza’s Space or New York’s Crobar, Cox retains his unique ability to push a party to welcome heights.

But the years of traveling and clublife have taken their toll on Cox and, now at 45, he’s made the wise choices to take better care of himself and scale back his schedule. Since moving from England to the relatively peaceful Melbourne, Australia, Cox says he’s gained a new lease on life. Additionally, he says he’s become further energized by the technological advancements in the DJ and studio worlds. He recently helmed the development of his own signature mixer, the Vestax PCM-CX model, and has dropped his famous three-turntable attack in favor of Pioneer digital decks—the CDJ-1000 or the DVJ-X1. While his UK-based studio maintains a stout mix of hardware and software, his new Aussie-based studio opts for a leaner, software-based approach.

His latest artist album, Second Sign (23rd Century/Koch), was recorded mostly with Ableton Live and Pro Tools—a process Cox found quite freeing. A mix comp of original tunes that finds Cox collaborating with clubland’s best—Kevin Saunderson, Christian Smith, Misstress Barbara, etc.—the album successfully draws on a mélange of styles, from melodic piano-house (his own “Room 713”) and banging breaks (“That’s the Bass” with Fatboy Slim) to deep-dirty tech-house (“It’s the Machines” with Josh Wink) and bouncy, quirky electronica (“Open Book” with Roni Size and vocalist Onalee).

Carl Cox—a DJ who apprenticed by playing mobiles and graduated by rocking raves—has seen the DJ industry grow from relative obscurity to cultural touchstone. In his first extensive interview with DJ Times in several years, Cox reflects on his career, explains how he recorded Second Sign and discusses how the changes in technology—and his life—keep him hungry.

DJ Times: You’re in Australia for three weeks doing what?
Carl Cox: I bought a house here a year and a half ago. I’ve come to Australia for 13 years and now I’m living here. I really enjoyed being in Melbourne, and I was looking for a quality-of-life. There are beaches and wineries and all sorts of things here, and it gives me more of a sense of purpose in my work. I’ve lived so long in hotel rooms that I decided I wanted to have something I could look forward to and work hard throughout the year to get to. Also, the exchange rate in Australia is really good! I have tennis courts in my backyard, my cars and my records are here. My studio is here. My gym is here. It’s something I’ve worked really hard for. Now, when I come back to DJing and promoting and touring, I can really feel good doing it. I can also make music here, which I really enjoy. That’s how creative I’ve gotten by being here.

DJ Times: Has living in Australia changed your outlook on music production?
Cox: Definitely! Every time I’d work throughout the year, I’d always go back to England, where it’s always cold. I was eating a lot more, and I’d found myself on a life cycle that wasn’t doing my health any good. Now, I’m in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I come back here after touring. In England, I was always cold and with a blanket around me. The lifestyle in Australia is just healthier. I’m more relaxed now. The whole thing about going around the world without any rest is you find yourself degrading your brain and your body. After two weeks here, I’ll be ready to go back to DJing with even more energy.

DJ Times: Tell me about Second Sign?
Cox: I’ve been working on this album for three years. When I made this album, I didn’t have a record company to sign me. I established a record label, 23RD Century Records, in order to make this recording. This album is about how I feel about music. I could’ve made an album of micro-house and underground acid house and kept it really minimal, but that wouldn’t have been me.

DJ Times: There’s a different personality on each track. What was your process like working with collaborators like Josh Wink, Misstress Barbara, Norman Cook, Roni Size, Kevin Saunderson and Christian Smith?
Cox: For instance with Norm Cook, what I wanted to do was spark those ideas within Norm to find what makes him tick and then what makes me tick. We hung out and talked for hours about life, and then we’d go into the studio and throw up ideas and have a good time. On each record, you can hear the element of us enjoying ourselves and having fun.

DJ Times: How did you work with Josh Wink?
Cox: I’d come up with some patterns and Josh would come up with some string ideas—and we’d work like that. What I think is fantastic about being an artist is that you find the essence of why you make music. Not only do I have my studio here in Australia, as well as one in England, it shows I’m successful as a DJ, but that my passion for music is paramount.

DJ Times: Is it important for you to become known as a producer and not just a DJ?
Cox: It’s important to make music, and not just as a DJ, but it’s more important that people see my burning desire to make music. I grew-up listening to music, playing piano and playing drums. My love for music affects what records I choose as a DJ. One of the great tracks on this album is “Got What You Paid 4!” featuring Saffron. It may not sound like a Carl Cox track, but it’s a Carl Cox idea. It’s drum-n-bass, and you hear the power of the rock guitars. It’s the essence of how I feel about making music. I don’t want to be perceived as a tech-house DJ who only makes tech-house records. That track has a lot of new-school elements, as well as electronic elements with strings, a fat bassline and chord changes. I believe that music needs musicians, and so the keyboard changes and drums on Second Sign are all me. Computers have allowed me to become my own one-man orchestra.

DJ Times: As a DJ, the records you play out have a lot of soul.
Cox: Yes, but today there’s a lot of music being made without any soul. That’s why on “Feel The Real With Light Of The World,” everything is from a band. I want to break down barriers of perception. I love techno and I play the hardest shit, but I also love something that has more in it. There’s been many times when I wonder, “Am I doing the right thing by this album, because it’s so diverse?” You have to represent yourself.

DJ Times: Why record Second Sign as a continuous mix?
Cox: I wanted to tell a story. I didn’t want it clean as an album because you can’t hear the journey. As a mix, I’m trying to make people think a little more. On my next album, I won’t collaborate as much and I’ll probably push a different concept. I’m into a broad range of music: Latin, jazz, funk, soul, old-school rhythm-and-blues.

DJ Times: What’s the story behind “Room 713,” a song that has no collaborator?
Cox: Back in 2002, I was on my way to a festival in Detroit. Although I was ill leaving England, I still flew. When I got to Detroit, I found that my entire nervous system had broken down and I couldn’t move. I was laid up in my hotel room for four days. The only thing I could do was sit at my computer. It was the first time I could open my laptop and program drums, get samples, and play keynotes from the keyboard hooked up to my computer. I thought, “This is fantastic!” Once I had the idea of the track, I brought it back to England where I wrote “Room 713.”

DJ Times: Why was it the first time you could do that?
Cox: I always had to go into the recording studio. That experience enabled me to create something based on how I felt, right there. I’ve really benefited from these computer programs, being able to write songs. This is a great way of writing music, because your mood is created by what’s happening at any given moment.

DJ Times: I recognize “Ain’t It Funky Now” from Global. You produced that track solo?
Cox: Yeah, I used a sample from a Brothers Johnson glam album produced by Quincy Jones. It goes back to my old-school disco days.

DJ Times: What software are you running for music composition?
Cox: Pro Tools TDM and Ableton Live. For me, it’s brilliant. I’m so pleased that I’m able to express myself this way.

DJ Times: Where did you record Second Sign?
Cox: I recorded it all in my home studio in Horsham, England, near Brighton. I had Roni Size and Josh Wink ’round my house and here I was making roast dinners! [laughs] It was a good change to do something out of everyone’s comfort zones. At the beginning, I didn’t want to have such a lineup of collaborators, but this is how it ended up. I got to work with Saffron from Republica, and that was a great day for me. For her to come write a song around my track, I was like, blimey! [laughs] It was also great to have Onallee.

DJ Times: Did you work with an engineer?
Cox: I had an engineer to lighten the load—Neil McClellan, who engineered the last Prodigy album—and I learned a lot of my engineering from him. Neil engineered half the album, I engineered the other half. It lightens the load to have him for sessions like the Roni Size session.

DJ Times: What gear and software did you use?
Cox: Pro Tools version 5.1.1, primarily. Most of the album was made with computer software. My studio in Horsham has all the hardware you can hope to have in a recording studio, but the only hardware I used on this album was my MIDI Moog for basslines. Keyboards were Access Virus plug-ins. Everything you hear are manipulated samples using plug-ins. I used Pro Tools and all the TDM plug-ins available, like echo units, EQs, compressors, delays…these are all standard in the Pro Tools TDM system that’s bundled together. There’s a lot of chopping, reversing and time-stretching using Pro Tools on each track. My studio in Australia is far superior to my studio in Horsham, yet it’s got far less equipment. With Ableton Live, I’m able to do so much more with manipulation because I can use all these mad plug-ins. The sound of Ableton isn’t as good as Pro Tools though, so I create on Ableton and then bounce everything to Pro Tools to give it that great, fat, powerful sound.

DJ Times: Do you feel that there are sounds made with analog gear that cannot be replicated using plug-ins?
Cox: These Symphonic plug-ins from MOTU, with strings and timbales, are unbelievable. There’s another plug-in called GURU which has an amazing drum machine program by FXpansion. Another is the UltraFocus plug-in, and these are ultra-heavy plug-ins that use heavy CPU power, but the sound is a whole new day for me.

DJ Times: You’ve said that you’re no longer DJing with vinyl, but are instead using three Pioneer CDJ-1000s or three DVJ-X1s. Has that changed?
Cox: The Pioneer DVJ-X1s for me are “it” as CD players. I’m also delving into video. I use the Pioneer EFX-1000 effects module, my Vestax PCM-CX mixer, and a loop machine by Red Sound Systems.

DJ Times: What does playing with three DVJ-X1s allow you to do that you couldn’t do with three vinyl turntables?
Cox: Man, like time-stretching live, reversing, sampling. I absolutely love this machine! It’s given me a whole new lease on life. I get on the Pioneer platter and I mix and scratch it, like a vinyl turntable. You used to have this argument where people were like, “You’re not a DJ if you’re not playing vinyl.” Dude, you’re not a DJ unless you look further into technology to create your own sound! I’m more creative with CD players than I’ve ever been with vinyl. Look, I have over 100,000 vinyl records in England. I have a lot of music that I’ve collected over the years, but now, the day has dawned for vinyl. Today, it’s based on how you get music, how you edit it, burn it, play it out that night. That’s what’s happening today in the new-school, and I’m not being left behind.

DJ Times: How are you getting your music, and how much time do you spend shopping for it? What do you look for in a good track?
Cox: I don’t spend too much time music-hunting. I’m not obsessed with it. I’m into hearing the next new thing in music, but if I miss out on a record, it’s not a bad day for me. If I come across it six months later, it’s still a good day. It’s not important for me to have all the latest stuff right now. If that’s how you feel about getting and playing music, nothing lasts long enough to become an anthem. I tend to hang onto records for longer than most DJs.

DJ Times: You must get sent tons of music.
Cox: Yeah, I get sent so much! If I buy on Beatport, I’d have the same records everyone else can buy. I used to go to record stores with four or five DJs around me. I’d be buying a record and then they’d all go grab the same record. Can you imagine if I went onto Beatport and bought a record? You’d get thousands of people buying that same tune. I’m more likely to play records which are not available on Beatport yet. I get so much sent to me by having two record labels, Intec and 23RD Century.

DJ Times: You play different venues all over the world. Do you tailor your sets to the city?
Cox: My music does change in Miami for WMC—it gets a bit tougher. Generally, I adjust it. When you go to Crobar in New York City, you get beautiful people who dress up. I couldn’t play a full-on underground techno set at Crobar. You can introduce techno in the right way and people will find themselves not being scared and dancing to it, but you have to work it into what they expect. I find it very challenging to show people that techno isn’t scary, that it’s here to be enjoyed. In Ibiza, we talk about Europe and Europeans, and they’re used to hearing all sorts of weird stuff. Americans aren’t used to hearing weird stuff. Maybe in small underground clubs of 200 people, but not when you have 3,000 people in front of you! I don’t think it’s easy to play in America, but I really care about people who make the effort to come out and see me.

DJ Times: What’s your definition of a DJ?
Cox: As a DJ, you are the focal point of the entertainment of that night. If you’re being selfish, people won’t come back to your next show. I don’t want people ever to feel like that. We are here to have fun with this music, not to stand there with your arms folded.

DJ Times: What impresses you about a DJ?
Cox: Attitude and passion. When they talk music, it’s about how they love it, how they feel honored to do what they’re doing. Music is a great enjoyment.

DJ Times: Have your ideas about the identity of the DJ changed over time?
Cox: If you look at the biggest DJs now, you see the Sashas and Digweeds and Paul van Dyks very much up there, still. Our profile has sustained because we got into this industry first. We were around 15 years ago and set a really high standard for what we do. We’re involved in venues and record labels. It’s very difficult for aspiring DJs now to come close to that level. We used to have a massive rave scene, and now we don’t. We used to have media support behind us, which we don’t have anymore. We have certain specialists like [DJ Times] getting the word out around the world, but now the world wants to know when the next Justin Timberlake record is coming out! [laughs] The infrastructure has changed a lot, but we’ve made our own mark. We DJs are an industry.

DJ Times: How do you maintain your position?
Cox: I’m doing more quality events. Nowadays, DJs have to work five-times harder to get into the Top 200. Eight years ago, you could become a name DJ, but it’s very difficult now to be acknowledged because there are so many DJs pushing the Top 20 at the moment. None of the DJs in the Top 20 are going away—we’re still raising the bar. At my “Carl Cox & Friends” shows, I have 12,000 people walk through the door, when most DJs can’t even get 500! I still have the same energy as when I started 15 years ago, but I’m working harder now than I did 15 years ago. This year, I’m turning 45. My audience is 18-to-40-year-olds, but I never thought I’d be DJing at 45! [laughs]

DJ Times: How do you see the future of digital music?
Cox: Digital music’s getting strong and stronger as a format. Say I wanted to get the new Jamiroquai album…normally, I’d have to put on pants, get in my car, drive to a store…whisper to the counter clerk what I’m looking for, only to have him tell me they’re out-of-stock. Now, you go onto iTunes, and boop! It’s in your stereo before you go out that night. That’s the future. If you’re a DJ, it’s fantastic. Think of all the vinyl records that wouldn’t get cut anymore. They’d be at record fairs and you’d be hunting them down.

DJ Times: Isn’t that one of the downsides of digital music—that rare and unique records are harder and harder to find?
Cox: That’s why I said about buying records online, actually going online and listening to every MP3 is very tedious. I’d rather go to the beach. [laughs]

DJ Times: What new DJ product would you like to see created?
Cox: I think it’d be really cool to have a CD player with a hard drive on the player itself, so you don’t have to load your CDs onto it. It’d already have the music built-in. I’d want it to have an Internet connection, so you could download music from the Internet onto your server at home. I wouldn’t have to take my CDs around with me. I wonder if that’s the next step today with wireless Bluetooth…to be able to connect and download songs wirelessly.

DJ Times: How has global DJing affected your health, and how are you dealing with it?
Cox: If I were keeping up my old regimen, with the bodyweight, drinking as I was, that all wasn’t good for me. It’ll be two years where I haven’t been drinking. I’ve lost weight, and I’m really happy with myself in how I’ve been able to turn it around. I don’t want to push myself into an early grave because I have to go to all these places in one week! It’s really important to try to pace yourself. I see a lot of DJs looking drawn-out, shattered. If they’re chasing the money, it’s no good to you if you’re dead! Like, Erick Morillo. I’m like, “Slow down, man!” He’s doing some really crazy flying right now. I’m the perfect example of that: at one point, I thought I was invincible, ’til I wound-up in a hospital bed for a week. I love music and being a DJ, and it’s selfish that I could end up dying because I want to eat a steak at 4:00 a.m. or drink a bottle of Crystal while I’m digging in my crates. I’ve partied hard, at times ’til I couldn’t do it anymore.

DJ Times: You’re almost an entire generation away from when you first started DJing. Have you seen your audience change over the years?
Cox: Yeah, about three times already! [laughs] I started out with 15- and 16-year-olds as my crowd, then 20-to-23-year-olds, then shoom! Back down to 18-year-olds. These people are still coming out to hear a 45-year-old man DJ! [laughs] I’ve been DJing every weekend for 25 years, which is older than most people who come to my parties. I reckon I’ve got another 10 years in me.