Published in the February 2007 issue of DJ Times Magazine
Volume 20 - Number 2
By Emily Tan

     Cedric Gervais hails from Marseilles, France, and credits fellow countrymen Laurent Garnier and Daft Punk as inspirations—nonetheless, he considers himself a Miami DJ. With a bi-weekly “afterhours” Saturday residency on the terrace of Space in downtown Miami—opposite fellow Euro Ivano Bellini—Gervais says he’s artistically stimulated by the city he now calls home.
     His debut artist album, Experiment (Ultra), unleashes some irresistibly catchy melodies and happenin’ hooks, all the while reeling listeners in like few original albums by DJs do. Teaming up with singer Caroline and trance darlings Second Sun, Gervais illustrates his theory that tracks need to have vocals in order to be memorable. DJ Times dropped in with Gervais to catch some Miami heat.

DJ Times: What inspired Experiment?
Cedric Gervais: The different sounds I hear in Miami. Also, I travel a lot in South America, Europe and Canada—I find sounds everywhere. I spent two years on this album. I collaborated with different people, like Second Sun and Caroline, the singer. Just being in Miami inspired me.

DJ Times: “Spirit In My Life” featuring Caroline is a great track. Very catchy. Where did you find her?
Gervais: She’s the singer who did the latest Buddha Bar compilation—she sang “El Corazon.” We finished the production of “Spirit” in one day. I had a score that I played with the chorus, I came-up with the bassline and Caroline started singing over it and writing lyrics. I told her, “This is what works for the girls.” You want the girls to like the song, because the guys will follow. I’d rather have girls on the dancefloor than a bunch of dudes. When you make a song, if the girls like it, the guys will like it.

DJ Times: Where do you record?
Gervais: I have a recording studio downtown called Sleaze Industries. That’s where my label is based. It’s a professional studio with a big set-up just for my productions, or when friends like Erick Morillo, Ali from Deep Dish or Sander Kleinenberg come to use it. I have a Mac G5 with two Apple Cinema HD 23-inch display. I use Logic as the program, Ableton Live and Reason. For analog gear, I have the Access Virus, a Nord Rack 2X, a Korg MS2000 synthesizer, an Avalon U5 Pure Class A pre-amp with dual channels. For vocals, we have a Neumann M147 mic, Fender Stratocaster guitars, an Ensoniq sampler. For speakers, I have Mackie and Yamaha NS10 speakers. There’s also a [T.C. Electronic] Powercore for the effects for the audio unit, and sound cards for Pro Tools.

DJ Times: How do you create your sounds?
Gervais: On the album, we used a lot of software, but I used a lot of analog gear, Nord and Virus, to make those sounds. You can produce the same sounds with software, but when you create a sound, you wanna put your hand on it and feel it and tweak it. When you tweak the Virus, you come up with sounds different from the feel of clicking a mouse. There’s still a different grain-of-sound with analog. I’m about 50/50 with analog versus software.

DJ Times: On “Respect,” you name-checked important DJs old and new. What’s the story behind that track?
Gervais: It’s actually inspired by Daft Punk’s “Teachers” from their Homework album. Mine is a tribute to Daft Punk. It’s older DJs and newer DJs—they’re all respected artists.

DJ Times: What makes a good track?
Gervais: It’s got to be a vocal track if you want to remember it. It’s all about the melody. I wrote the melody on “Spirit In My Life” with Arno Elias, my production partner. He does all the Buddha Bar CDs.

DJ Times: What are your favorite clubs to play and what do you require in your DJ booth?
Gervais: Pacha in Ibiza, Space in Miami, and The Cross in London. I use only Pioneer: the CDJ-1000s, DJM-800 mixer, the EFX-1000 effect unit and the silver Pioneer [HDJ-1000] headphones.

DJ Times: What was your best DJ experience?
Gervais: Panama for the Movistar Music Festival. I played with Christopher Lawrence and Ferry Corsten. I showed up at 2:00 a.m., and there were 23,000 people in front of me! That was the biggest crowd I played, like a rock concert.

DJ Times: You’re from Marseilles. Does the French scene influence your sound?
Gervais: I play there in the summer. Laurent Garnier is my favorite DJ. I think Daft Punk is special; they set up French electronic music and they’re a real inspiration to me. They really came up with the filtered disco sound back in the day. Now, Bob Sinclar’s more commercial. You have Laurent Garnier, Dimitri From Paris…but I don’t think my sound comes from my French background.

DJ Times: OK, so how would you describe your sound?
Gervais: It’s rockin’! [laughs] It’s a Miami sound.