| Each
month, DJ Times brings to its readers information on the
latest technologies that hit the market. Lighter amps or
improved plastic speakers that go easier on the mobile DJ’s
back, effect boxes that jazz up live or studio applications,
CD players with enough bells and whistles to start a 9th-inning
rally – all of these developments have been crucial
to recent advancements in each facet of the DJ market.
In
this survey, however, we take a quick look back at how we
got here and how much of the music that fueled this market
was made. We asked our esteemed industry mavens, “Which
specific piece of equipment most changed dance music –
either the way it is produced or the way it sounds –
and why?” Additionally, we asked the survey respondents
who produce or remix music, “What gear most changed
your way of making music and why?”
The
idea came to us in transcribing an interview a few months
ago with legendary New York DJ François Kevorkian.
I posed the first question in an off-hand manner and, in
his own somewhat dismissive, world-worn way, he replied,
“It can only be the sampler and the ability for any
turd to not know a note of music and to actually be able
to crank out a track based on other people’s music.”
His
response got me to wondering how the DJ/producers themselves
consider where they are on the technology timeline and if
there’s any notion at all of reference while they’re
cranking out the choons. While some of the answers will
seem very obvious, the explanations and philosophical implications
tend to be more revealing. Also, the answers to the second
question offer some insight as to how a very diverse group
of DJ/producers approaches work in the modern world. Some
even offer a well-considered road map. Enjoy.
 Simply
Jeff, Moonshine/Phonomental Music, LA: The laptop.
With the amount of power and multiple user-friendly programs
available to us nowadays, we can literally finish a track
on an airplane, burn it on a CD and play it that same night
to the masses. It’s the best way for producers to
know what works best on the floor.
What
changed your music? Cubase. It’s easier for
me to lay things out and actually see what’s going
on. It’s user-friendly and I love the VST plug-ins,
which give you more effects to bring you closer to the final
mix. On the MPC, it’s all about feeling the groove
and knowing what loops you have to play with. I can’t
wait for Cubase SX.
 BT,
Nettwerk Productions, LA: The computer completely
changed the entire ethos of music making and all electronic
musicians now have the responsibility to use the technology
to its most radical potential. If you think about what Bartók,
Stravinsky or Penderecki did with the resources they had
in the past, you realize the awesome potential of what they
could have accomplished if they had tools we have today.
What
Changed Your Music? Pro Tools because the linear
style of working is now out the window. The nonlinear style
of recording has really revolutionized the way we think
about music making. You can record drums, cello and contra
bass for one song, treat them, and use them again in a completely
separate piece of music. Going into a “traditional”
studio where they record to tape and use an old-school SSL
or Neve board is like using a mortar and pestle. Working
on a Mac laptop in an airplane today, you can do what would
have taken $1 Million worth of gear to do five years ago.
Toby
Marks, Banco de Gaia, Cheddar, UK: Got to be samplers,
especially the Akai S900 back in 1986 or thereabouts. From
the moment we all got samplers we could have the sounds
we wanted, and the same sounds everyone else was using,
so suddenly there was a uniformity of style rarely heard
before. If you didn’t have a 909 drum machine, no
problem. Use samples of one instead and your tracks will
sound just like you want them to; previously, I think a
lot of people suffered with tunes that nearly worked, but
didn’t have the right kick drum, bass sound or whatever.
It’s hard to remember now, but back then there were
no soft synths, no plug-ins, no cheap imitations of classics;
if you couldn’t afford the real thing you had to make
do with machinery that made the wrong sounds, and that just
didn’t work. (Can you imagine “Voodoo Ray”
or “French Kiss” with a bass guitar?) Of course,
the down side is that so much dance music sounds the same
these days.
What Changed Your Music? As above, except
I got into Roland samplers, which had better filters in
the early days. Being able to use pretty much any instrument
I could imagine opened up so many possibilities I could
have cried. It was the answer to my prayers, a device which
allowed me to be as complex as Pink Floyd or Beethoven from
the comfort of my own home without a major-label recording
budget. The freedom it gave me has still not worn off. I’m
still looking for new sounds and new combinations of sounds,
and it has shifted the emphasis away from the notes to the
atmosphere and texture somewhat.
DJ
Dan, Kinetic Records, LA: The 303, simply because
it started the acid house revolution and it keeps coming
back year after year in basslines to tweaky grooves, etc.
What changed your music? The Akai samplers,
especially the MPC, simply because of their simplicity and
the way beats sound when you sample with it. It’s
a very funky piece of gear.
Eddie
Amador, Yoshitoshi/Strictly Rhythm/Mochico, LA:
Without a doubt, the sampling drum machine—the Akai
MPC 60. It was the only piece of equipment needed to produce
dance music in the late ’80s, early ’90s. With
this machine, the producer/DJ could automatically have a
drummer, a bassist, a vocalist & a choir at their fingertips
(of course, sampled from some other source).
What changed your music? The software inside
my G4 Ti laptop, which includes Digital Performer 3.0 for
sequencing and plug-ins, as well as [Propellerhead’s]
Reason for sounds.
Danny
Tenaglia, Be Yourself @ Vinyl/Stay Tuned Productions, NYC:
The modern technology of Pro-Tools. It’s
extremely cost-effective and the possibilities are unlimited
with the many plug-in effects. Plus, it also has a Pro-Controller,
which is a console that works great for me since I was always
used to sitting at the SSL mixing board and was not one
much for working directly with a computer in front of me.
So now I work closely with my engineer, I watch the monitor,
but can still have “hands-on access” to what
he’s doing in the computer as far as cuts, levels
and effects.
What changed your music? As a producer,
I’d say it’s a toss-up between the Nord Lead
synth and the Waldorf MicroWave. They both have a very wide
range of sound programs and give me the modern sounds that
I like to add to the foundational formula of the tracks
I create with many classic modules, as well like the original
Roland 909 drum machine or a Roland Juno 106 synth, E-MU’s
SP-1200, Akai Samplers and many, many more. As a DJ, I would
have to say the usage of the new technology over the past
few years with various CD players. I thought I’d never
use them, but with the Master Tempo feature, pitch that
can range up to plus/minus 24, a reverse option, trigger/cue
sampling points and effects, the CD player has become vital
to me in the booth. I burn most songs to CD to have the
use of these options, unlike a turntable, but I’m
still all for using vinyl as well. Of course, I’m
waiting for upgrades on Stanton’s Final Scratch MP3
system – then, Lord knows? It’s all a bit much.
But I love every minute of it. I even get excited about
new lighting!
Junior
Vasquez, Earth @ Exit/Junior Vasquez Music, NYC:
The Lexicon Jam Man is the most important piece of gear
in my DJ booth, other than my three Technics turntables.
I cannot DJ without it.
What Changed Your Music? The Apple G4 with
Digital Performer and Pro-Tools.
Dave
Audé, Moonshine Music, LA: The sampler.
Producers and remixers were able to start using/sampling
more than the basic “stock” sounds that keyboards
and drum machines were shipped with.
What changed your music? My Apple computer.
Just like the video recorder added so much more to the photograph,
the computer has added endless directions in which to create
music. It has also drastically cut the time it takes to
record, mix and twist your sounds.
Bad
Boy Bill, Mix Connection, Chicago: I would say
MIDI. It is not really a piece of equipment, but it is a
part of just about every piece of music equipment made today.
MIDI allows a producer to become a one-man band, by sending
note and controller data to various drum machines, keyboards,
samplers, etc.
What changed your music? Definitely Pro
Tools. It is the heart of my studio whether I am working
on a new mix CD or an original song. It is a complete recording
studio with digital recording, mixing and effects all inside
my computer!
Prof.
Stephen Webber (aka DJ Needle Juice), Berklee College of
Music, Boston: Thinking in broad terms, three of
the most important dance music pioneers from a gear standpoint
are Bob Moog, Roger Linn and Thomas Edison. When I took
a class called “Dance Band Arranging” at college
in the ’80s, we were expected to write for four trumpets,
four trombones, four saxes, bass, drums, piano and maybe
a guitar. Considering the gear that took us from there to
where we are today, there are three pieces that represent
seismic shifts: The Mini-Moog synthesizer, which ushered
in the era of personal synths; the Linn Drum, which morphed
into the Akai MPC series of drum machine/samplers, and,
of course, the turntable.
What changed your music? I went to the
dark side years ago. I’ve spent way too much time
making music in front of a variety of computers over the
last decade. It’s a love-hate relationship –
I love the control, but hate the fact that I’m spending
so much time staring at a screen.
Liquid
Todd, 92.3 K-Rock, NYC: The Roland TR-909 and TR-808
drum machines. Those sampled and tweaked drum sounds really
have defined house music and hip hop for decades. The Roland
909 kick is the most famous drum sample in dance music –
hands down.
What changed your music? The Akai MPC-2000
has allowed me to program drums and make them sound great
and I love that box, but I would have to say that Pro Tools
has given me every tool I could possibly need to make music.
I love it. I have the Digi 001 unit and I just got a new
Mbox, which is a portable version of Pro-Tools with the
new software (version 5.2) and a box that connects to any
computer with a single USB cable. The USB cable also supplies
the power to the box which has two Focusrite microphone
pre-amps and all sorts of inputs and outputs. The best part?
It only costs $450!
 Saeed
Younan, Saeed & Palash/Addictive Records, Vienna, Va.:
I know a lot of producers, including myself, that stopped
using MIDI and started working with Audio. I think Audio
has definitely changed the way we make dance music. You
can really do some crazy things with Audio that you would
never be able to do with MIDI.
What changed your music? I still love my E-MU Xtream Lead
synth – great for percussions and sound effects.
Palash
Ahmed, Saeed & Palash/Addictive Records, Washington
D.C.: The computer with a sequencer and plug-ins.
One can produce an entire track, mix it down, and create
a master CD without leaving the bedroom. And it will sound
almost as good as any pro studio tracks.
What changed your music? The Clavia Nord
Lead, one of my first tweakable keyboards with really fat,
warm sounds. It appears on most of our productions. It set
the bar for a lot of the new analog keyboards.
David
Gadbois, DJ Times, Waterbury, Conn.: The piece
of gear that changed the industry is the Sony Spressa CD-RW
recordable CD player – pick any of several, really,
they’re all the same. A producer/DJ no longer needs
to make an acetate to get his or her music listened to or
distributed. Having the ability to do a remix in the daytime
then burn to CD and play it that night at the club to see
if the levels are right or see if the crowd even vibes off
of it is priceless. And when I say priceless I mean that
in a real money sense, because it saves me a great deal
of time. And in this business, time is money.
What changed your music? Steinberg’s
Nuendo software has made the biggest difference in my studio.
Used for both Audio and MIDI production, Nuendo has allowed
me to become more creative because it deals with many of
the technical aspects of production and I just have to deal
with the concept. Working in tandem with the Nuendo is my
SAC-2K controller made by Radikal Technologies. With this
controller I can make all of the adjustments in any of my
Audio/MIDI programs without using the mouse. This is great
because I have Carpel Tunnel problems and having a tactile
controller saves me wear and tear on my hand.
Jason
Ojeda, Mind Trap, W. Hempstead, N.Y.: Juno 106
by Roland – Analog, baby, analog!
What changed your music? Believe it or
not, it is always changing with the times, but I must say
Steinberg’s Cubase is just the bomb!
Mike
Setlock, Entertainment Resource Group, Buffalo:
I believe the new mixers (Behringer or Rane, as examples)
with separate line EQs are pretty innovative, especially
for DJs who spin both vinyl and CD simultaneously at the
same club gig. The use of the gain switch is effective for
“low-press” vinyl.
DJ
Feelgood, Moonshine Music, LA: Communication via
MIDI. I’m reminded when I play some of the old dance
records that are live and brutally sequenced.
What changed your music? My Mac laptop. It’s so simple
to compose tracks on it and burn the CD right there.
Chris
“The Greek” Panaghi, DJG Productions/Omega Studios,
Long Island, NY: The CD mixer. The technology was
coming for a while, but I think CDs take away from the warmth
and feel of a piece of wax. I remember only playing records
in a club and maybe be so lucky as to have a “CD player,”
sampler, or keyboard. And now what would a DJ booth be without
a CD mixer? It’s great because it adds the flexibility
of playing a new production or remix I just finished –
but I do miss the days of making acetates!
What changed your music? Computers and
CD burners. I think it was only a matter of time until computers
and CD burners were going to be an integral part of recording
studios everywhere. I think it’s great to have both
of them when recording. The new creativity of a computer
is powerful and essential while burning CDs is becoming
a standard for making music.
 Gene
Carbonell, DarkDriver/Choo Choo Records, Atlanta:
I think the PC has changed dance music as a whole. With
today’s powerful PCs, what seemed impossible two years
ago is now very easy to do. The fact that you can take a
piece of Digital Audio and manipulate it 1,000 times more
ways than you can with MIDI is mind blowing. I love it!
What changed your music? I bought a Mac
G4 733 in November 2001. I feel my production has improved
tenfold since I switched from PC. A good analogy is like
spinning on a pair of Gemini turntables. Yeah, it’s
a turntable and it does the job, but then move over to a
pair of Technics and you get an instant smile on your face.
The Technics feel “tighter,” more “stable.”
You feel like a better DJ once you’ve spun on lower-end
tables then moved to Technics. The fact is Macs are “job-specific.”
PCs are “multi-purpose.” By nature, Apples are
more stable machines because there is less to go wrong.
Bill has put so many layers in his operating systems that
it has forced PCs to be out of time (in terms of MIDI) and
handle Audio in a completely different way than Apples.
Die-hard PC users are going to curse me, but once they go
Mac, they’ll never go back. Besides, Macs look cooler.
Nicky
Siano, Legendary DJ, NYC: Compact discs.
Eric
Kupper, Hysteria Productions, Weston, Conn.: The
sampler would have to be the most significant piece of gear
in dance music history. Suddenly, anything seemed doable.
Didn’t like the way the vocals were arranged? Sample
’em up and rearrange ’em. Tired of the kick
drum sounds in your drum machine? Sample one off a record.
Blend it with a sample of a 909. Whatever! Like the groove
from that old disco record? Sample it, filter it, cut it
up, etc. Not satisfied with the string sounds in your sound
modules? Buy a CD or two of some new ones. It’s a
totally open book.
What changed your music? For me the most
significant piece of gear is definitely Digidesign’s
Pro Tools. It has totally changed the way I work. I’ve
been a dedicated Pro Tools user for about five years now.
I sculpt and create sounds in it (often through the use
of plug-ins), and arrange and mix completely in the Pro
Tools environment. Things don’t last very long in
the MIDI domain for me anymore – they get printed
as Audio almost immediately. The degree of precision you
can get to create your music is unprecedented, and it is
relatively simple to use – as compared with other
programs such as Logic, Digital Performer, etc. I find the
total recall factor invaluable as well. In many ways Pro
Tools has replaced the sampler for me as well. I don’t
program drums as much any more – I chop ’em
up in Pro Tools & put them together via cut-and-paste.
Even loops and other little Audio bits I record into Pro
Tools and then process within it. Pro Tools (and digital
recording, in general) has also renewed my allegiance to
vintage analog gear. When I am recording things into Pro
Tools, I rely on my valve and Class A discrete analog gear
to give the tracks the sonic character that makes the biggest
difference between a good and great sounding record.
 AK1200
(aka Dave Minner), Moonshine Music, Orlando: The
transition from analog/MIDI to digital/Audio. The tunes
done in Audio sound so much bigger and cleaner – although
people have made the switch back, longing for the warm analog
sound. Also, with Audio came all the new plug-ins, even
the cheesy ones like “auto tune,” which Cher
made famous with that one tune [“Believe”].
What changed your music? When I switched
from Cubase and PC to Logic and Mac. That was my turning
point. I love Logic and I love my Mac. Logic is the most
detailed sequencer I have ever seen. The sky isn’t
even the limit with that program.
Guido
Osorio, Gomix Industries, Levittown, NY: Other
than the invention of the PC, the one piece of gear that
single handedly changed the face of house music is the Roland
TR 909 drum machine. It stands as the most used piece of
gear in the dance music biz whether it be the actual unit
or samples taken from it. The distinctive kick and open-hat
sounds are synonymous with all types of dance music. Nothing
sounds quite like the real one though – don’t
tell Johnny Vicious, ’cause I’m still borrowing
his!
What changed your music? The Ensoniq ASR
10 sampler. Before that there were really no real sampler
workstations that had stereo sampling and sequencer built
in and were affordable. Also, later I have to give an honorable
mention to the Yamaha CS1X (aka “little boy blue”).
It helped me and Razor usher in a whole new era in synth
mayhem. There was one point where every producer was “doing
it again” – oh my.
Chris
Meyer/Alias Zone, CyberMotion Music, LA: Samplers.
Setting aside their use as musical instruments with which
you can construct entire tracks, the ability to fly in drops,
stings, and other events in time without tying up (and cueing
up) another turntable or CD has allowed DJs to create more
layered, spontaneous performances.
What changed your music? Effects that can
be synchronized with tap tempo, beat detection, or MIDI
clocks. I’m very much into preserving, reinforcing,
and layering the groove, and having effects like delays
and gated reverbs that can be quickly timed to the groove
allows me to build up these layers live without it falling
apart into a horrible mush.
John
Howard, OM Records, San Francisco: The drum machine.
Synthesized sounds with perfectly sequenced rhythms are
so distinct. Any of the units – 808 for hip hop and
electro, 909 for house and techno, Prince’s Linn Drum,
all the cheesy ’80s drum sounds – it’s
all about the drum machine.
What changed your music? It has to be my
Mac laptop. It makes me able to write music on the road.
And nowadays, the applications are so good, and the sounds
are so good in software, that I feel you really don’t
need much else. Between Digital Performer with the Waves
3.0 plugs, Reason, Absynth, Reaktor, I am totally set for
now. I also see it getting better and better from here on
out, so it has to be my laptop. That wins that award.
 Freaky
Flow, Moonshine Music, Toronto: I really don’t
know. I wasn’t even born yet when dance music went
through some of its most revolutionary changes.
What changed your music? For me, the Kurzweil K2000 changed
my way of making music. Before I owned one, I wasn’t
making music. Now I am.
Dave
Dresden, Gabriel & Dresden, LA: Obviously,
the turntable. Love it or hate it – I personally hate
vinyl – vinyl is, has and will continue to be the
way rhythmic music is played, created and expanded. The
record scratch alone could have voluminous catalogs of song
titles in which it is featured.
What changed your music? Any of the computer-based
software programs. They have taken the $100,000 studio and
converted the price into something even a person on welfare
can afford – and they can turn out tracks as good
or better than the big boys in the comfort of their own
bedrooms.
StoneBridge,
StoneBridge Productions, Stockholm, Sweden: The
sampler. Before the sampler everything was played or programmed.
With the sampler anyone with at least some idea of music
could produce a masterpiece. With the sampler, people started
to recycle rare and funky tracks to a point where a record
without samples sounds really strange.
What changed your music? Logic Audio changed
everything since the old way of recording to tape and mixing
analog wasn’t necessary anymore. Total control of
everything and much easier to be creative in the virtual
world.
Andy
Bailey, DJ, London, UK: Two pieces of kit: Technics
SL1200 turntable circa 1973-75 and the Akai S900 or early
model sampler. Nothing was ever the same again.
Mikey
D. Merola, Full Blast Records, NYC: Personally,
I think the Akai samplers and Sound Forge 5.0 software increased
my creativity more than anything. The editing tools and
plug-ins give me so much flexibility in my mix shows and
editing at the studio. The sound effects that are in the
plug-ins include echo, filters, wah-wah, and many other
effects as well.
What changed your music? Roland Gear hits
the top of the list for me – the Grooveboxes, beat
machines, samplers and others. The gear has given me so
many different ways to create new sounds.
DJ
Cash Money, All World Entertainment, Philadelphia: Samplers
because you can loop your favorite tunes and put them in
a sequencer then add your sounds on top.
What changed your music? The Technics 1200.
This turntable was made sturdy, but it wasn’t made
to make the sounds that I perform. That’s my creativity.
This turntable changed my life because I’m a DJ first
before I became a producer.
Randy
White, Washington Music Center, Annandale, Va.:
Akai samplers/MPC. Akai S950 through all of the MPC models
has changed dance music. Akai sampler or MPC units enabled
producers for decades to sample vocals clean, sample drums,
keyboards and other accents for production use. Akai products
have a certain sound to them – warm vocals, great
definition. The Akai samplers changed dance music because
it gives the producer powerful sampling options.
What changed your music? The computer changed
my way of doing music. Computer sequencing and hard-disk
recording have simplified all aspects of recording. The
computer gives you sequencing, hard-disk recording, effects
and mastering all in the digital domain.
Mike
Clark, Agent-X Productions, Detroit: Drum machines.
It was one of the first DJ-friendly pieces that eventually
became consumer friendly with Grooveboxes, etc. The drum
machine was the basic principle of house and techno. Dance
music went to a whole new sound, change and era. As drum
machines got better, it improved our sound from sounding
like a machine to sounding almost like a real drummer –
for example, the MPC 3000, 60 or 2000. Also, sampling drum
machine sequencers. A must for a major studio, they define
what we do now – sample, sequence, etc. And we cannot
forget the consumers, everyday people who may not have the
desire to make music or DJ for a living, but want to do
it as a hobby or to impress friends. You have beat counters,
Grooveboxes, music software (Fruity Loops, Acid, Reason).
This type of equipment can make anybody sound like anybody.
It is all done for you. Can’t blend a record? Get
a beat counter and calculate the beats. Want to sound like
a professional producer? You can buy one piece of equipment
and you get the best of all the sounds, which goes to answering
the third question.
What changed your music? I just recently
bought the Yamaha Motif 6 and I have to admit it is one
of the best one-man-band pieces thus far. I started using
that with the rest of my studio and I found myself using
just that over everything because everything I want is there.
With that I can sound like anybody! My opinion is the MPC
is still a better sequencer, but it is hard to pry me away
from the Motif by itself. It has the best drums, pianos,
keyboards, horns, etc. I’ve heard come out in a machine
thus far.
Jody
Wisternoff, Way Out West, Bristol, UK: The sampler
has obviously had the biggest impact on dance music over
the last 15 years, although at the moment I’d say
computer programs such as Pro Tools, Logic and an army of
software-based synthesizers.
What changed your music? As above, the
equipment that has changed my way of working is my computer.
Super-powerful G4 with Pro Tools TDM, Logic, resulting in
infinite sonic possibilities due to plug-ins, softsynths,
etc.
Neil
Christian, NCP Music, Fairview, N.J.: The computer
and digital technology in general has changed the way music
is produced and the way it sounds. Over the last two years
or so computer speeds and power have increased dramatically,
and has allowed producers, both experienced and newcomers,
the flexibilty to be a lot more experimental in their productions.
The computer also allows you the ability to tweak sounds
with plug-ins in a way that just the use of synths and outboard
effects could never match. These days you can produce a
record from start to finish with just a computer, all of
the sounds that you need are available with VST (virtual
synth technology) and all effects are available as plug-ins.
Loop-based programs also make it very easy for the beginner
to put together a record, all it takes is some imagination,
and a powerful computer.
What changed your music? The computer.
In my studio, I use a combination of outboard gear and my
computer to produce my records. However, recently I find
myself using the computer more and more not just as a sequencer,
but also as part of the production process. Originally,
the computer served as just the sequencer for me, however,
these days the computer plays a much more integral part
of my production process. Many of the sounds that two years
ago I would use just the way they came off the synth, with
or without effects, can be twisted even further by recording
them into the computer and using plug-ins to really make
them into something far out. The computer also allows you
greater flexibility when it comes to mix-downs, as plug-ins
allow you to manipulate each sound in ways that a standard
mixing console never could. The computer allows you the
ability to let your imagination run wild, for me, that is
the most important part of producing records and hopefully
will allow me to grow as a record producer.
 The
Scumfrog, DJ/Producer, NYC: The Roland 303. It
made “tweaking” possible for home producers
and provided a lead sound that, in combination with the
right stimulants, made vocals unnecessary on the dancefloors.
Its sound became the foundation for Acid House in the late
1980s, and dance music has been a slave to that sound ever
since.
What changed your music? The G4 Powerbook
laptop allows me to take Pro Tools wherever I go, instead
of always being tied to a studio environment.
DJ
Qbert, Thud Rumble, Daly City, Calif.: The turntable,
of course! How else can you scratch and manipulate sound
as easily?
What changed your music? Besides the turntable,
the mixer obviously!
 Chris
Fortier, Bedrock/Balance & Fade, NYC: The Sampler
has been the most significant tool for dance music. Since
much of dance music is based on fusion of sound and technology,
the sampler has enable producers to bring together old and
new.
What changed your music? Computer Audio
recording has had the most impact on the way I make music
now. The possibilities are endless. You are only limited
by your own imagination.
Freddy
Bastone & Jeffrey Bernstein, Bastone & Burnz Productions,
NYC: The sampler, i.e. – Akai S900, Emulator,
SP1200. It enabled people with no formal musical background
to create a sonic collage from existing records, beats and
sounds.
What changed your music? Logic Audio software
and Pro Tools took the recording process out of the linear
domain and created an environment where all kinds of sounds
could be mixed together quickly. The editing stage became
part of the production.
 Chantzis
Christophe, Ian van Dahl/Dee Dee, Bilzen, Belgium:
Sampler! Millions of new possibilities. People can do stuff
now not possible before – be more creative, re-edit
sounds and change it in a total way, re-invent in a way.
What changed your music? Cubase and the
sampler. I can now run dozens of sounds without any problem.
Even if you’re not the best musician, you can still
make wonderful melodies. I now people who don’t know
how to read music, but with a sequencer can make tracks
so beautiful. The sampler opened a whole new world for me.
The things I can do now…I don’t know where dance
music would be without the sampler.
William
“Harley” & Flavio “Muscle,”
Harley & Muscle, Milan, Italy: For sure, Apple
Macintosh and its Audio applications. We started in 1989
to create our tunes with a little Roland sequencer and a
DJ-70 sampling keyboard in our home. Growing up and going
in various studios, we always found lots of problems with
mixers, keyboards and the rest of the equipment because
they were very slow. For example, during those years, it
was always a problem to record singers because after the
performance (recorded on ADAT or 8-track), we had to cut
all the vocals and assign them to the keyboard and re-play
them in order to re-create the lead vocals. Recording on
a sequencer program (as Notator or others) connected to
the sampler Akai S3000, they’re both very difficult
to use. Today, with our G4, we manage everything by software
(also samplers, sound machines and effects) and it’s
very easy and fast to compose our tracks with really professional
and high quality results. We sold out all our hardware musical
equipment, keeping just the real Fender Rhodes. Its sound
is not comparable with the actual plug-ins, but we are sure
that very soon it will arrive.
What changed your music? Logic Audio. We’ve
used it for five years and every time it’s totally
amazing. We discover new utilities and plug-ins. It helps
us so much every day because it gives us the possibility
to hear the immediate results of our composing. After a
really deep reading of the manual, everyone can start to
arrange tracks in your own home. Logic and other software
like Digital Performer or Pro-Tools are real hot for house
producers because you can obtain professional results without
a big investment. Logic forever!
Jeannette
Romeu, Galaxy Girl, Weston, Fla.: The analog/digital
synthesizer hybrids. These come in different varieties.
My favorites are the Access Virus, Novation’s Super
Nova, and the Nord Leads. Their sounds are prominent in
all of today’s dance music with their filtered sweeps,
samples and arpeggiators – just that big fatter sound
from other past decades of music.
What changed your music? Digital Audio
Workstations or DAWs such as Pro Tools. Before Pro Tools,
I would use a software MIDI sequencer and then record the
final MIDI two-track mix to ADAT. Now I record Audio directly
into Pro Tools and would edit the Audio clips/loops and
add effects with no generation loss. I would fine tune the
mix and master it digitally, burn a CD without ever touching
a tape machine.
Tweaker
(aka Chris Vrenna), Six Degrees Records, LA: The
Roland 909 and 808 drum machines. I can’t think of
a single dance mix that doesn’t have at least one
sound from one of those machines. The 808 kick drum is the
bottom-end sound.
What Changed Your Music? Pro Tools. It
has made writing easier, as well as arranging and editing.
And since I do lots of remixes, the compatibility between
artists and producers for sending files is fantastic.
Gavin
Hardkiss aka Hawke, Six Degrees, Sunburn, San Francisco:
The sampler took the emphasis away from the band
to the producer. The producer becomes the artist with a
palette of 100 years of musical recordings.
What Changed Your Music? The E-MU Emax
II is the sampler that got me started. Now programs like
Reason are so easy to use, anyone can get into the groove.
Scott
Weiser & Todd Walker, Jackal & Hyde, W. Palm Beach,
Fla.: The sampler allowed you to put everything
under one hood and manipulate the sounds you’ve created
even further. It enabled us to avoid a multiple keyboard
MIDI/CV nightmare. Make the sounds you need and place them
on a spread of keys and use it like a painters palate.
What changed your music? Computers –
options are endless, and the power is increasing every day.
The ability to take a single sound into the computer and
use plug-ins turn that sound into a thousand different sounds.
One of the most exciting things about electronic music is
that we’re creating new sounds that the human ear
has never heard before.
Rhys
Fulber, Conjure One/Nettwerk, LA: The affordable
multi-sampler, i.e. – the Akai S900. It opened up
a new era for underground electronic artists. It allowed
any recorded sound to be manipulated and helped radically
evolve the way rhythm tracks were programmed. Before the
Akai (and Mirage), this was only the domain of Fairlights
and Synclaviers, which cost a much as a house, or the Emulators,
which cost as much as a car.
What Changed Your Music? Logic Audio and
Pro Tools. Before this I was used to an Atari and a sampler
for Audio and some synths. Now, everything seems to come
out of my Powerbook and MIDI doesn’t play as much
a role as before. Plus, traveling for sessions now means
I just bring a shoulder bag. |
