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At Off Centre your DJ education begins with the original industry standard Technics 1200. Along the way you'll incorporate various skills, technologies, and philosophies to create clean, creative, and original mixes: http://www.offcentredj.com/dj-programs.html "Modulation", the technique used in the video will also work with controllers and CDJs. It's a versatile technique to add to your skill set and it will make you a better DJ, no matter what genre you're in to. Share the knowledge! Welcome to our Video Newsletter. It's November! Here are highlights of things we got going on this month. You can go old school and read the full newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bDuRZD
In Episode 5 of our ongoing OCDJ series we touch on a much debated topic: Humans vs. Technology! Not so much in the Ex Machina sense, but more so breaking down how art and expression are influenced and sometimes even replaced by pre made loops, stock automation, and computer generated mixing. Technology is a wonderful thing, but where do we draw the line between self expression and roboticized beats? What's more important, star gazing or trail blazing? It's October! GO BLUE JAYS!! Welcome to our Video Newsletter! Here are highlights of things we got going on this month. You can also go the trusted old school route and check the full newsletter: READ HERE
Sound architect Matt Thibideau has a wealth of Synth knowledge pouring out of his modular brain. We grabbed a bucket to hold some of it and realized it wasn't enough so we decided to get him over to OCDJ for a highly anticipated weekend workshop happening July 18th. Here's a taste of the man's knowledge.
OCDJ - It's time to abandon ship and you've got only 2 minutes. Which synth is going with you? Why is it so special? MT - That is a really tough question. It may be the Oberheim OBX, or my Roland System 100m modular. Both for very different reasons. The OBX is great at lush sounding polyphonic stabs, chords and bass sounds. I tend to turn to it a lot because it sounds alive. No two notes really sound exactly the same. The Roland System 100m is a great compact modular synthesizer that can dream up pretty much any sound, it could be drums, bass, bleeps, or weird sound fx. With the ability to connect it via patching and so many different synthesizer parameters, the sky is the limit. OCDJ - You were recently featured in a documentary about modular synthesizers. Can you tell us a little bit about it? What was it like being approached to be in it? MT - I dream of wires is a great documentary that explains the disappearing and then return of the modular synthesizer in music. The Artist Solvent (who put the movie together) got in touch with me after knowing about my music in the local scene here in Toronto for years. What drew them to include our studio was that we have the Synclavier (an early digital sampler that changed the way music was made in the 80's). It is a great documentary for both the enthusiasts and people new to synthesizers as it gives some insight into the history of some great machines and how people use them. OCDJ - Are you opposed to digital gear or have you found a way to fuse the two worlds together? MT - I do use some digital gear, mostly in the form of hardware (Samplers, FM and Wavetable synths). I also do use a Mac with Protools. It pretty much acts like a big tape machine and editing suite with midi control. So in this way the two worlds do come together. All of my sounds tend to come from external instruments though. It is a comfortable way of working for me I guess.
OCDJ - Are there places in Toronto you like visiting to get inspired?
MT - I tend to leave the city to get my inspiration, but have walked around outside to record different "natural" types of sounds. I tend to record and take this back to the studio for a lot of experimenting and manipulating. I do visit the lake shore a lot as a bit of an escape from the city. OCDJ - Besides navigating around mountains of synths at your awesome studio, do you have another passion? MT - I enjoy my bike rides, and going to the gym when I have time. Listening to lots of ambient music and working with other like minded artists. Performing live and travelling makes me happy too. "Never be afraid to try working at a lower sampling rate" OCDJ - Our students go bananas over tips. Do you have a drum programming or synth tip you'd be willing to share? MT - 1. Erase the presets, Avoid sample packs, and build your sounds from the ground up. 2. Make kits of drum sounds using synths and sample them into different devices. 3. Never be afraid to try working at a lower sampling rate. Recording and sampling sounds in 8 bit, and 20khz can produce interesting and sometimes magical results. OCDJ - What can participants expect from your "Intro to Modular Synths" workshop? MT - Participants can expect to explore all of the aspects of a smaller "moog" styled modular synthesizer. This will include the Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier and Envelope. We will talk about how they all interact and some of the history of the synthesizer. OCDJ - Any last words or projects coming up you'd like to tell the world? MT - My Brother and run a small label called Obsolete Components with many different recordings done with modular and hardware synthesizers. We have plenty of music to share with the world here. https://obsoletecomponents.bandcamp.com/ We will also be heading to Europe this August to perform some of that music live.
Guelph/Toronto beat wiz Elaquent is on a steady climb into the minds of music enthusiasts around the globe. Taking a break from a busy tour schedule, the skilled beat smith hung with us for quite an awesome chat.
OCDJ - Why beats? EQ - hmm, I mean, I could get into a number of philosophical reasons why I make beats....but the biggest or main reason..is that its fun. as a kid who grew up on golden era hip hop, production has always been an area I was very interested in, however, I didn't have money to buy an mpc. luckily I discovered fruity loops and found a way I could create. my older brother and I often used to complain about how wack commercial hip hop was, but instead of complaining about it, why not be a part of the solution. He excelled at rhyming, I excelled at beats. OCDJ - For someone who has no idea about music but loves food can you describe your sound to them? EQ - lol thats a tough one...perhaps a well seasoned steak with a rich balsamic wine reduction sauce. there is a lot of quality steak out there, but I try to add a lot of subtleties to add a little bit more flavor to the typical boom bap sound, whether its my usage of samples or synths, while still maintaining an element of rawness...hence the rareness of the steak. but really, its all in the eyes of the beholder. perhaps to someone else, my sound is a multi flavored ice cream, or dill pickle chips lol, there is a number of analogies. I would say anything delicious with layers to it. "I feel like vinyl immortalizes you, one day somebody might find my 12" vinyl 80 years from now and get curious" OCDJ - Whats your biggest personal breakthrough in your music making/performance career to date that you can remember? EQ - hmm, releasing my Scenic Route album on vinyl (first one) was a very big deal to me, it always ranked very highly on my personal bucket list. I feel like vinyl immortalizes you, one day somebody might find my 12" vinyl 80 years from now and get curious. To me, an artist who releases music on vinyl in this digital/mp3 age has an aura of legitimacy to them. on the performance side, touring europe for the first time was big. Being able to share music, embrace and interact with people who don't speak the same language or live in a completely different culture is humbling. OCDJ - Do you have another passion? Something you enjoy doing when you're not feeling musically creative. EQ - Outside of music, I'm notoriously known to be a big sports fan of NBA and NFL, which is no surprise to everybody who follows me on twitter lol (@elaquent). I would say that my second love is collecting martial arts movies. maybe it was the early influence that Wutang had on me as a kid, but I've always been super interested in martial arts movies, and I have a big collection with over 500 films ranging from Shaw Brothers classics from the 60s and 70s, Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung cop movies of the 80s, wired Yuen Woo Ping stuff from the 90s, and so forth. I've spent a fortune on them over the years. OCDJ - Without making your Toronto/Guelph fans to upset, have you found a place/town/city through your musical travels that you envision yourself living in? Can you tell us why? EQ - In a perfect world, I would live in a number of different cities for like 4 months at a time. Would love to spend like 4 months in Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles. As far as one single place, i'd lean towards Los Angeles. It is just a really good creative hotbed with no shortage of people to see and things to do. I guess there's a reason that so many artists try to move to LA to find success, and having been there 5 or 6 times, its very easy to see why. there are lots of different events happening on a regular basis, lots of different artists to collaborate with in person, good weather, palm trees and so forth. traffic sucks there though. OCDJ - What would be your dream collaboration? EQ - Always wanted to work with Common. one day I hope it will happen. "Use the velocity when hitting the pads. the swing settings will never match the feel" OCDJ - Can you share any drum programming or other production tips for a budding beatmaker? EQ - I guess it depends what type of beatmaker you want to be. I always like to tell folks that the best way to get that soulful groove in your drums is to listen to some jazz music, and to turn off the quantize switch. Use the velocity when hitting the pads. the swing settings will never match the feel. trust your ears and don't rely on just the waveforms and your meters. But ultimately, do what feels right! OCDJ - How do you prepare yourself mentally before hitting the stage? Do you have a ritual or is just go with the flow? EQ - I just go with the flow. I try not to over-prepare...depending on the vibe of the crowd, I tend to call many audibles and change direction often. I have a general idea of what I want to play, but if the crowd wants to dance, I may have to inject some faster grooves to keep people happy. It all depends. ultimately I have to trust that I got booked to play for a reason, so I just go with the flow and trust that whatever I play, in whichever order I play things are for the best. Plus, its a lot more fun to play when you haven't already committed to the next song. How do I call an audible and switch from this super fast song to a much slower song that I've never mixed before? all of my favorite shows were the ones where I threw the playbook out the window and just feed off the crowd. OCDJ - Any last words? Shout outs? EQ - I could list shoutouts all day lol..but nobody got time for that. I'll say shouts out to Off Centre for the interview, shouts out to my family for supporting me, Gill Breathing, and everybody who has ever supported my music or seen me play live. got lots of new music coming soon, including an album on HW&W. stay tuned :)
Alicia Hush is a Montreal based DJ/Producer with an infectious style of booty shaking beats. A crowd favorite at Montreal's esteemed electronic music festival MUTEK and co-head of lovable and steadily rising label Hushlamb, Alicia's positive energy and knack for making a dance floor take-off is a must witness. We had a quick chat with her recently. Check it out below!
OCDJ - Do you remember what pulled you into making electronic music?
AH - I started djing when I was 19 and knew then that I wanted to create music but I had a lot of self doubt at the time. It took me a good 10 years to get my butt out there and tap into this creative outlet that has now become my everything! OCDJ - What gear do you use to create? AH - I mostly use ableton with plugins. I can't live without Reaktor. I enjoy being able to pull out my laptop anywhere, anytime when the creative wave hits! OCDJ - Can you describe your sound? AH - Thick bass and quirky highs. Groovy dance floor sounds. OCDJ - Where do you find your inspiration? AH - On the dancefloor! Often when I'm out dancing to good music my body will get hit with certain sounds and I'll try to remember those moments in the studio! OCDJ - Before you perform do you have a ritual to get you focused? or do you just dive in? AH - I often get a lot of butterflies before gigs and so I need a little quiet time before a show. Oh and a few drinks :) OCDJ - Do you have another passion? Something you do when you're not feeling musically creative. AH - I sometimes find myself drawing or painting and if it were possible I would have a huge garden in my yard! But for now I put love into the few plants I can fit onto my balcony. OCDJ - We recently read that you will be making a move to Europe. Is this a career decision? Why? AH - Well this isn't a permanent move, just a few months traveling and playing and filling myself with inspiration before I head back to Montreal, a place that truly feels like home to me now. OCDJ - Any last words/shout-outs? AH - Hugs and high fives to the big hearted Hushlamb crew ! |