Thursday, 8 May 2008
Monday, 28 April 2008
Subsine @ The Night Owl
Subsine are plleased to announce that we will be hosting a new night for Wednesdays at The Night Owl Club, High Street, Cheltenham.
Every Wednesday, 8pm - 1am, £2 on the door.
We'll be kicking off with a night of Dubstep from 2 step to half step, the emphasis well on the BASS for this one!
From then on every wednesday, we'll be bringing you the best deep vibes music...
DJs - Asusu, Malwav
Hope to see you there! More updates and flyers as they happen!
peace
malwav
Every Wednesday, 8pm - 1am, £2 on the door.
We'll be kicking off with a night of Dubstep from 2 step to half step, the emphasis well on the BASS for this one!
From then on every wednesday, we'll be bringing you the best deep vibes music...
Week 1 - Dub / Dubstep night.
Subsine held the first Dubstep only night in Cheltenham last year and our DJs are gaining recognition within the wider Dubstep scene. We hope to provide Cheltenham with the Bassiest night in town!
DJs - Asusu (Essencia, Bath/Motion, Bristol), Advocate & Autopsy (Resonance, Reading/Darkland Recordings), Malwav (Exegene Recordings, Darkland Recordings), Poyser (All over Gloucestershire!)
Week 2 - Chilled House / Trance / Techno.
Throughout the mid 90's, Cheltenham was among one of the most popular nightclubbing destinations in the UK, with clubs like Time regularly hosting the biggest names in the House and Trance scenes. Then the cheese and gimmicks set in. We aim to recapture some of the more blissed out, chilled vibes from a still extremely popular scene with a classic and new selection.
DJs - Andy Webber (Birmingham), Macker (Ajuna Beats)
Week 3- Dubstep / OldSkool Garage / Minimal Techno.
Expanding slightly on the template of week one, we aim to keep proceedings nice and deep. One for those who like to get lost in music.
DJs - Asusu, Malwav
Week 4 - 70's Funk & Soul / Bassline / UKG / Hip Hop & Live PA's.
Raising the energy levels for the end of the month, we keep things on a funky tip, along with various related performances from local talent.
Hosts - Action Jackson, DJ Cool, Ticq, Jadee & Musik Child
Hope to see you there! More updates and flyers as they happen!
peace
malwav
Monday, 18 February 2008
Malwav. Interview
Fresh from outfitting his new "Ceylon Asylum Studio" in order to obtain infinite analog delay feedback, Malwav ponders signal routing and gets excited about Bristol...alot, in the latest of our Subsine Collective interviews.
1. Ok, then - Malwav. Who are you, where do you come from and what do you get up to other than making music?
OK, so. My name is Michael Wintle, Malwav is my main production alias, although I go by Malevolent Wavelength for any DnB that I do. I shortened Malevolent Wavelength to Malwav cuz I was just too lazy to keep writing it and it's a mouthful to say as well, which ain't good. Born Gloucester, spent my childhood in Berkeley, hung around Bristol constantly when I was a kid, a place that continues to inspire me, moved back to Gloucester and currently live in Cheltenham with Heather, my girlfriend. West Country through n through, innit!
When I’m not making music, I drink tea, sometimes even when I am making music.
I tend to be fairly selective these days in terms of going out, so in the past year or so I’ve checked Massive Attack, Horace Andy, Soulfy, Skindred and also the Ashton Court Festival in Bristol, which will be sadly missed. And of course, I’ll always try and make time to go to Subloaded and Teachings in Dub down in Bristol! Aba Shanti-I top ranking!
I also like watching Sci-fi, my favourites at the moment are the Ghost In The Shell SAC series and the “re-imaging” of Battlestar Galactica. I love hanging out with Heather and doing nothing or eating!
So, you're a founding member of the Subsine Collective - can you shed a little light on what motivated you personally to start this?
Well, it was more of a case of, why not! Having completed the Music Tech course at Gloscat with many of you, the coolest thing about it, I thought, was that although we all came from different musical scenes and perspectives, we were all very much open to each others sounds and in the end influenced each other a lot, as well as producing some interesting collaborations. So, coming to the end of that intense time of feeding off of each others creativity, it’s like, well, now what? I just felt that we still had somewhere to go with all of this. I approached you (Asusu) and Matt (Advocate) first, with a view that maybe we could release a one-off CD or something, featuring our Dubstep productions, and it’s just grown from there. Both you and I took influence from the way Exegene operated, so that was our original template. I always loved the way that Exegene was always an artists label, where everyone felt involved in some way. So it’s the idea of Subsine having an autonomous, democratic approach to running an independent label, where all decisions on the direction of the label are done by discussion and consensus, everyone’s as involved as they want to be, working on individual projects or collaborations while still having support as a collective.
The concept of having a “no boundaries” approach to genres and releases on Subsine, purely came from our group discussions, and is something I’m really excited about.
3. You've got two d'n'b releases under your belt on Exegene and Darkland - how did these come about? Any tips for those who want their stuff to be heard?
I was actually involved with Darkland for quite a long time before Exegene. When DJ Sinister started up the Darkland Drum n Bass forum, I was one of the first members. “Era of Despair” I wrote especially with Darkland in mind, while the b-side was a remix I did of “Conspiracy”, originally by US producer Deadly Habit. If I remember rightly, Deadly put up the samples of Conspiracy for a remix comp on the Darkland forum, and I was the only one who did something with them!
The Exegene release came about after I posted Latin Roulette on the Subvert Central forum. Cube from Exegene heard it and that’s it really!
As for tips, I guess just put yourself out there, but remember to be modest. The internet’s really opened things up, it’s presented so many opportunities but there’s just so much music out there, so really it’s still all about creating personal links with like-minded people. The way I see it is, I only make music for me. If someone else is feeling it, then cool! Hopefully the Subsine Collective will help with that, it’s hard to get noticed on your own, but collectively, you never know!
What are your plans for 2008, musically? Anything in the pipeline?
I’ve been working on a few tracks at the moment, mainly in conjunction with the music production course I’m doing, so that’s more of a case of stretching myself and trying out new techniques. Other than that, I’m really getting into versioning, and I‘ve been setting up my studio especially for that purpose, so expect some exclusive Malwav dubs from the Subsine heads! There will be some more of my own productions, but I’m fascinated with taking other peoples tracks into new directions. I’m working on some beats for rapper Jadee and a few other people, but really, I see this year as a chance to refine and consolidate my own sound as a producer and record other artists.
What is your musical background? You've been around longer than myself, and have had a lot more exposure to different types of music...
I guess when I was a kid my parents vinyl collection fascinated me, from The Beatles and Otis Reading, to Holst and Bach. I’ve always tried to listen with open ears. OK, put it this way, the first album I ever brought (on cassette!) was an album by George Harrison, closely followed by Public Enemy and then a 4 tape pack of Reggae greats. So I think it pretty much all stems from that combination. Sitars and other unusual sounding instruments, in your face drums, and bass! At school I had a friend who was really into electronica stuff like Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, so I liked that kinda stuff too, then when the rave scene came along, everything kinda fell into place. I really started feeling music around 1991, all early Reinforced Records, Shut Up And Dance, Suburban Base, Tribal Bass and Moving Shadow, as well as getting hold of tapes of Stone Love dances. The moment when I knew music really had me, was when I heard “Killa” by Smith & Mighty on a Bristol radio station. That track just blew me away! From there, I followed the emerging Drum’n’Bass scene, again based around Bristol, catching a lot of the Full Cycle parties. Going out at that time was based around Techno/Hard House/Acid Trance on Thursdays, Drum’n’Bass on Fridays, whatever looked cool on Saturdays and chill out mixes on Sunday! Along side that, I’ve always had a weakness for Metal such as Sepultura and Deftones, blunted Bristolian beats, Indian classical music, Blues, hell, I’ll listen to anything! Never really understood Opera or Wagner though...
Who (or what) inspires your style of production most?
That’s a good question what I don’t gotta clue how to answer. I think it’s drum patterns, most nearly all my tracks start with a particular beat. Whatever I’ve been listening to last. Like, I’ll listen to the Deftones and want to do a track using a similar drum pattern from a particular track, but sped up for DnB, or listening to and finding out about Indian classical talas and wanting to do something in a ⅞ time signature. Hearing Tears For Fears on the radio and wanting to do something with that break. Everything else just hangs off of that, and again, just usually whatever sounds I’ve been checking at the time. My drums tend to be quite up-front in the mix, I think that stems from Public Enemy, Gunshot and the like. I dunno, I try and listen to anything music wise, so I’m usually just inspired by whatever I just listened too!
I think we all find our own production style eventually, we all hear music differently I guess, so that must come out in the way we put sound together. In terms of producers I admire, I’d say Paradox, DJ Krush, Amon Tobin, King Tubby, Hank Shocklee, PJ and Smiley, Rob Smith, Nelee Hooper, Steve Albini, well, there’s a fair few!
I know that, like me, you're very fond of sampling rather than using synths. What sort of methods do you use to source them?
Vinyl. Next!
Hehe, nah, although sampling vinyl is definitely a fetish of mine, recently any thing’s fair game. I’m really not a fan of synths, sometimes they’re useful, but I’d never rely on them. Last year I made a decision to ditch pretty much all of the softsynths and samples that I had previously downloaded and start from scratch to create my own unique little collection of sounds and textures. I get a real buzz from recycling sounds, whether sourced from vinyl or self recorded foley. Recently I produced some amazing bass tones by recording the feedback produced by my reel-to-reel routed back through the desk. I guess being from a sampling culture, I’m more interested in sound and texture rather than notes and harmony when it comes to making music. Saying that though, I’m really into recording live instruments at the moment too. For instance, if I want the sound of a flute, I’ll find someone who can play one and make them play what I want! I brought this crappy plastic wind organ made in the 70’s, off of Ebay the other day, just because it sounds like a cow! I’d rather use and record something with a unique sound like that, than use a tweaked preset on a synth.
8. Recently you've added some vintage effects units to your studio setup. Isn't it a lot of hassle to have to send your tracks out to use them?
Not really, I’m reconfiguring my setup at the moment specifically to make use of outboard and on-the-fly mixing, dubwise stylee! I’ve got a 16 track mixer, so I can send 8 submixed tracks out of Logic using the MOTU Ultralite, perform a mixdown on the fly incorporating effects, and record either onto tape or back into Logic. I find automation very useful, but I just want to be more hands on and capture a nice ital vibe when mixing.
Without getting into the whole Analogue vs Digital debate, hopefully I can make good use of both worlds. Ultimately it’s just all about signal routing, the biggest hassle is that I need more cables, and now I’m tripping over them. Most DAWs such as Logic and Cubase support the use of external hardware anyway. If you’ve got multiple ins and outs on your audio interface, then it’s just a case of routing the sends and busses within Logic or whatever. It can be a headache initially trying to figure out the signal path and there has been some head-scratching moments when it looks right in theory, but you still can’t hear anything! It’s just an excuse to twiddle some knobs at the end of the day! Again, it’s the sound and vibe that I’m after, rather than it being technically nice.
My fascination with vintage equipment stems from one of the same reasons why I still love vinyl. it’s just the fact, that even with a record that’s over 50 years old, you can still play it. The same with hardware, if it’s been looked after. It’s like with Technics turntables. They’re basically the same design as they were in the 70s. You just can’t say the same with software, as it’s so dependent on a particular operating system. Again, I’m not saying analogue is “better” than digital, its all tools at the end of the day, to use how you see fit. Use whatever you can to achieve the sound you’re after.
The drums on 'Capture The Ideas of The Gods' sound great - really punchy. Give us a little insight into your method of drum programming and how you achieve that sound.
Thanks for saying so! That track came after my decision to get rid of all my downloaded samples. I wanted more control in how I obtained and sampled drum loops and samples and, yeh just make them bigger and punchier from source. That break came from the City Of God soundtrack, that I picked up on vinyl. So the chain was Technic SL1200 mk2 > Tascam XS-4 > Mackie 1604 VLZ > DBX 266XL Compressor > Atari GX4000D reel-to-reel (recorded well hot for tape saturation), then back through the DBX 266, I think, to be recorded into the computer. So, that was all about adding multiple small amounts of compression, being careful not to overly squash the sound. The sample would have been sliced up manually, separated into individual tracks (kick, snare, hat, etc…) to make EQing easier and sequenced within Cubase back then, I’m Logic now, tho it makes no odds really. The snare and kick I think were compressed again, as well as some light compression on the drum buss. Just a lot of compression really! I would never do that much compression on an overall mix, but it can be used creatively on individual elements of a track.
Recently, I’ve been sourcing my drum hits by recording a real kit, but that’s more a case of getting the sound right at source, through mic placement. Then I’d compress the hell out of it!
To round off, could you take us through the steps you take to create a finished track?
Haha, I hate finishing tracks! Damn you, you’ve found my weakness! Yeah, creatively sometimes I find it hard, but technically, I think I’ve made some progress. In the mixdown, it’s just about balance which I think is fairly instinctive, although I tend to mixdown really dark, as much sub as I can get away with, upfront drums and usually hardly any top. I have to make a real conscious effort to work on the hats and any other high frequency stuff. Just how my ears are I guess! I tend to adjust levels as I’m writing the track. I’m also experimenting with parallel compression at the moment, which is interesting after Chris’s comments about the amount of over-compression at the mastering stage that goes on. Parallel compression retains much of the dynamics in a track. Mastering is such a science in itself. The theory is one thing, but it takes years and years to be anywhere good at it.
Questions supplied by Asusu.
OK, so. My name is Michael Wintle, Malwav is my main production alias, although I go by Malevolent Wavelength for any DnB that I do. I shortened Malevolent Wavelength to Malwav cuz I was just too lazy to keep writing it and it's a mouthful to say as well, which ain't good. Born Gloucester, spent my childhood in Berkeley, hung around Bristol constantly when I was a kid, a place that continues to inspire me, moved back to Gloucester and currently live in Cheltenham with Heather, my girlfriend. West Country through n through, innit!
When I’m not making music, I drink tea, sometimes even when I am making music.
I tend to be fairly selective these days in terms of going out, so in the past year or so I’ve checked Massive Attack, Horace Andy, Soulfy, Skindred and also the Ashton Court Festival in Bristol, which will be sadly missed. And of course, I’ll always try and make time to go to Subloaded and Teachings in Dub down in Bristol! Aba Shanti-I top ranking!
I also like watching Sci-fi, my favourites at the moment are the Ghost In The Shell SAC series and the “re-imaging” of Battlestar Galactica. I love hanging out with Heather and doing nothing or eating!
So, you're a founding member of the Subsine Collective - can you shed a little light on what motivated you personally to start this?
Well, it was more of a case of, why not! Having completed the Music Tech course at Gloscat with many of you, the coolest thing about it, I thought, was that although we all came from different musical scenes and perspectives, we were all very much open to each others sounds and in the end influenced each other a lot, as well as producing some interesting collaborations. So, coming to the end of that intense time of feeding off of each others creativity, it’s like, well, now what? I just felt that we still had somewhere to go with all of this. I approached you (Asusu) and Matt (Advocate) first, with a view that maybe we could release a one-off CD or something, featuring our Dubstep productions, and it’s just grown from there. Both you and I took influence from the way Exegene operated, so that was our original template. I always loved the way that Exegene was always an artists label, where everyone felt involved in some way. So it’s the idea of Subsine having an autonomous, democratic approach to running an independent label, where all decisions on the direction of the label are done by discussion and consensus, everyone’s as involved as they want to be, working on individual projects or collaborations while still having support as a collective.
The concept of having a “no boundaries” approach to genres and releases on Subsine, purely came from our group discussions, and is something I’m really excited about.
3. You've got two d'n'b releases under your belt on Exegene and Darkland - how did these come about? Any tips for those who want their stuff to be heard?
I was actually involved with Darkland for quite a long time before Exegene. When DJ Sinister started up the Darkland Drum n Bass forum, I was one of the first members. “Era of Despair” I wrote especially with Darkland in mind, while the b-side was a remix I did of “Conspiracy”, originally by US producer Deadly Habit. If I remember rightly, Deadly put up the samples of Conspiracy for a remix comp on the Darkland forum, and I was the only one who did something with them!
The Exegene release came about after I posted Latin Roulette on the Subvert Central forum. Cube from Exegene heard it and that’s it really!
As for tips, I guess just put yourself out there, but remember to be modest. The internet’s really opened things up, it’s presented so many opportunities but there’s just so much music out there, so really it’s still all about creating personal links with like-minded people. The way I see it is, I only make music for me. If someone else is feeling it, then cool! Hopefully the Subsine Collective will help with that, it’s hard to get noticed on your own, but collectively, you never know!
What are your plans for 2008, musically? Anything in the pipeline?
I’ve been working on a few tracks at the moment, mainly in conjunction with the music production course I’m doing, so that’s more of a case of stretching myself and trying out new techniques. Other than that, I’m really getting into versioning, and I‘ve been setting up my studio especially for that purpose, so expect some exclusive Malwav dubs from the Subsine heads! There will be some more of my own productions, but I’m fascinated with taking other peoples tracks into new directions. I’m working on some beats for rapper Jadee and a few other people, but really, I see this year as a chance to refine and consolidate my own sound as a producer and record other artists.
What is your musical background? You've been around longer than myself, and have had a lot more exposure to different types of music...
I guess when I was a kid my parents vinyl collection fascinated me, from The Beatles and Otis Reading, to Holst and Bach. I’ve always tried to listen with open ears. OK, put it this way, the first album I ever brought (on cassette!) was an album by George Harrison, closely followed by Public Enemy and then a 4 tape pack of Reggae greats. So I think it pretty much all stems from that combination. Sitars and other unusual sounding instruments, in your face drums, and bass! At school I had a friend who was really into electronica stuff like Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, so I liked that kinda stuff too, then when the rave scene came along, everything kinda fell into place. I really started feeling music around 1991, all early Reinforced Records, Shut Up And Dance, Suburban Base, Tribal Bass and Moving Shadow, as well as getting hold of tapes of Stone Love dances. The moment when I knew music really had me, was when I heard “Killa” by Smith & Mighty on a Bristol radio station. That track just blew me away! From there, I followed the emerging Drum’n’Bass scene, again based around Bristol, catching a lot of the Full Cycle parties. Going out at that time was based around Techno/Hard House/Acid Trance on Thursdays, Drum’n’Bass on Fridays, whatever looked cool on Saturdays and chill out mixes on Sunday! Along side that, I’ve always had a weakness for Metal such as Sepultura and Deftones, blunted Bristolian beats, Indian classical music, Blues, hell, I’ll listen to anything! Never really understood Opera or Wagner though...
Who (or what) inspires your style of production most?
That’s a good question what I don’t gotta clue how to answer. I think it’s drum patterns, most nearly all my tracks start with a particular beat. Whatever I’ve been listening to last. Like, I’ll listen to the Deftones and want to do a track using a similar drum pattern from a particular track, but sped up for DnB, or listening to and finding out about Indian classical talas and wanting to do something in a ⅞ time signature. Hearing Tears For Fears on the radio and wanting to do something with that break. Everything else just hangs off of that, and again, just usually whatever sounds I’ve been checking at the time. My drums tend to be quite up-front in the mix, I think that stems from Public Enemy, Gunshot and the like. I dunno, I try and listen to anything music wise, so I’m usually just inspired by whatever I just listened too!
I think we all find our own production style eventually, we all hear music differently I guess, so that must come out in the way we put sound together. In terms of producers I admire, I’d say Paradox, DJ Krush, Amon Tobin, King Tubby, Hank Shocklee, PJ and Smiley, Rob Smith, Nelee Hooper, Steve Albini, well, there’s a fair few!
I know that, like me, you're very fond of sampling rather than using synths. What sort of methods do you use to source them?
Vinyl. Next!
Hehe, nah, although sampling vinyl is definitely a fetish of mine, recently any thing’s fair game. I’m really not a fan of synths, sometimes they’re useful, but I’d never rely on them. Last year I made a decision to ditch pretty much all of the softsynths and samples that I had previously downloaded and start from scratch to create my own unique little collection of sounds and textures. I get a real buzz from recycling sounds, whether sourced from vinyl or self recorded foley. Recently I produced some amazing bass tones by recording the feedback produced by my reel-to-reel routed back through the desk. I guess being from a sampling culture, I’m more interested in sound and texture rather than notes and harmony when it comes to making music. Saying that though, I’m really into recording live instruments at the moment too. For instance, if I want the sound of a flute, I’ll find someone who can play one and make them play what I want! I brought this crappy plastic wind organ made in the 70’s, off of Ebay the other day, just because it sounds like a cow! I’d rather use and record something with a unique sound like that, than use a tweaked preset on a synth.
8. Recently you've added some vintage effects units to your studio setup. Isn't it a lot of hassle to have to send your tracks out to use them?
Not really, I’m reconfiguring my setup at the moment specifically to make use of outboard and on-the-fly mixing, dubwise stylee! I’ve got a 16 track mixer, so I can send 8 submixed tracks out of Logic using the MOTU Ultralite, perform a mixdown on the fly incorporating effects, and record either onto tape or back into Logic. I find automation very useful, but I just want to be more hands on and capture a nice ital vibe when mixing.
Without getting into the whole Analogue vs Digital debate, hopefully I can make good use of both worlds. Ultimately it’s just all about signal routing, the biggest hassle is that I need more cables, and now I’m tripping over them. Most DAWs such as Logic and Cubase support the use of external hardware anyway. If you’ve got multiple ins and outs on your audio interface, then it’s just a case of routing the sends and busses within Logic or whatever. It can be a headache initially trying to figure out the signal path and there has been some head-scratching moments when it looks right in theory, but you still can’t hear anything! It’s just an excuse to twiddle some knobs at the end of the day! Again, it’s the sound and vibe that I’m after, rather than it being technically nice.
My fascination with vintage equipment stems from one of the same reasons why I still love vinyl. it’s just the fact, that even with a record that’s over 50 years old, you can still play it. The same with hardware, if it’s been looked after. It’s like with Technics turntables. They’re basically the same design as they were in the 70s. You just can’t say the same with software, as it’s so dependent on a particular operating system. Again, I’m not saying analogue is “better” than digital, its all tools at the end of the day, to use how you see fit. Use whatever you can to achieve the sound you’re after.
The drums on 'Capture The Ideas of The Gods' sound great - really punchy. Give us a little insight into your method of drum programming and how you achieve that sound.
Thanks for saying so! That track came after my decision to get rid of all my downloaded samples. I wanted more control in how I obtained and sampled drum loops and samples and, yeh just make them bigger and punchier from source. That break came from the City Of God soundtrack, that I picked up on vinyl. So the chain was Technic SL1200 mk2 > Tascam XS-4 > Mackie 1604 VLZ > DBX 266XL Compressor > Atari GX4000D reel-to-reel (recorded well hot for tape saturation), then back through the DBX 266, I think, to be recorded into the computer. So, that was all about adding multiple small amounts of compression, being careful not to overly squash the sound. The sample would have been sliced up manually, separated into individual tracks (kick, snare, hat, etc…) to make EQing easier and sequenced within Cubase back then, I’m Logic now, tho it makes no odds really. The snare and kick I think were compressed again, as well as some light compression on the drum buss. Just a lot of compression really! I would never do that much compression on an overall mix, but it can be used creatively on individual elements of a track.
Recently, I’ve been sourcing my drum hits by recording a real kit, but that’s more a case of getting the sound right at source, through mic placement. Then I’d compress the hell out of it!
To round off, could you take us through the steps you take to create a finished track?
Haha, I hate finishing tracks! Damn you, you’ve found my weakness! Yeah, creatively sometimes I find it hard, but technically, I think I’ve made some progress. In the mixdown, it’s just about balance which I think is fairly instinctive, although I tend to mixdown really dark, as much sub as I can get away with, upfront drums and usually hardly any top. I have to make a real conscious effort to work on the hats and any other high frequency stuff. Just how my ears are I guess! I tend to adjust levels as I’m writing the track. I’m also experimenting with parallel compression at the moment, which is interesting after Chris’s comments about the amount of over-compression at the mastering stage that goes on. Parallel compression retains much of the dynamics in a track. Mastering is such a science in itself. The theory is one thing, but it takes years and years to be anywhere good at it.
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Ceylon Asylum Studio - Sunday Sessions
Malwav's new studio set-up is now up and running...
although if your looking for nice, sterile and clean signal paths for your recordings, this ain't the place to go! 70s delay, spring reverb and tape saturation is more the vibe! Focusing primarily on dub versioning, off-kilter beats and heavy, heavy bass, as well as recording DJ mixes, the studio will be open on Sundays from 2pm - 7pm. Unfortunately, the studio cannot accommodate band recording, but is perfect for recording vocals and solo instruments.
Feel free to give Mike (Malwav) a call on 01242 699924 or drop an email: malwav@blueyonder.co.uk
fiyah!
Asusu Interview
Currently spreading dubstep vibes across the Bath and Bristol area with his back-2-back DJ sets with fellow bass reprobate Trigger, as well as dropping bare dubplates of his own, here Asusu shares his take on sampling, going deaf after Subloaded and, err... gay marriage. Questions supplied by Macker.
1) What got you into music? Is there any particular point at which you thought "hey, this is for me!!!", or was it something that you gradually got into over the years?
My turning point was when I started to write lyrics at about 13, so there was a definite start - I can still remember the first time. I was really into my hip hop and rap, and loved the whole sort of scene, which lead me to buy a pair of decks shortly afterwards. It wasn't really a serious thing until I got to the end of school and was at the point where you have to start thinking about what sort of direction you want to head in. I hadn't done a music GCSE, but I took the plunge and went for the BTEC music tech course because I couldn't see myself doing something I didn't enjoy for a living.
2) I'm not particularly big on dubstep, so I don't suppose you could shed some light on it for me. What is it about the genre that you like so much?
This is a toughie! I liked dub before dubstep (Scientist in particular), and when I heard Burial's album it combined these skeletal beats with beautiful melodies and the omnipresent dub test tone. I didn't really rate a lot of the other stuff very highly at the time, I think it was the older dubstep and a lot of the Kode9/Spaceape tracks that got me interested in that. I love the fact that it's such an open genre - you get 2-step vibes, wobbly half-step, techno and really bare minimal stuff. I think that's the main attraction for me, you can listen to a dubstep set and it's constantly changing throughout. Of course, we can't forget the thrill of hearing it in a rammed club on a huge system. It's great to be able to skank out like that, I hate trendy clubs where they play r'n'b and you only go to get wasted and try to pull.
3) Who are your biggest musical influences? Are there any unusual ones, perhaps some that you might not want to admit even?! Go on, you can tell us!
Well, Aim is the artist that got me away from the more commercial US hip hop - he's still my favourite. It's the music that brings back memories of growing up, he makes great funky beats and melodies that I aspire to. Boards of Canada too - they have a very similar effect and a really distinct sound. I started to really experiment with samples when I heard what they did. Another is Amon Tobin, the Splinter Cell OST completely blew me away when I heard it. I admit I don't listen too a lot of d'n'b (if you'd label him as such), but that album was so adrenaline fuelled at points, and really slinky and sly in others. It's not repetative at all, but constantly changing and fresh. As for dubstep - Burial. I came across the scene when I was mainly listening to downtempo electronica type stuff, just really deep music. I couldn't have got into dubstep through any other artist. I'm really rinsing Darqwan's stuff at the moment too, as well as Headhunter. I'd be a bit embarassed to admit to listening to Jehst nowadays, his new stuff really doesn't stand up to his first few e.p's which inspired me more than any other mc. My unusual taste would maybe be Weather Report - they made jazz fusion, it's so funky and great for sampling.
4) One thing that's always amazed me about your productions is your sampling ability. I've known you take a sound and turn it into something completely different, as if by magic! Like the time you made those horns sound like a rhodes, or bird song used as a bass! How on earth have you learnt to do this?
Well, most of my favourite artists make kind of lo-fi sounding stuff, stuff that's difficult to make with synths. I guess part of that is to do with the use of analogue equipment, but sampling from vinyl is a common theme throughout most of the artists. I can't play any instruments either, but I like recording them when I get the chance.Of course, I come from a hip hop background as well, so when I first started to produce it was instinctive to sample. A lot of it's experimentation with filtering, pitch shifting, modulation and just general processing. I find that samples are a lot more pliable than synths, you start off with such a complex waveform so you're not limited to all the obvious synth sounds - if I use a synth, I'll usually bounce down the sound and put it in to my sampler because I can do more with it. I've just started to dabble with Max/MSP too. It's a bitch to learn, but well worth the effort because you can basically build synths, samplers, processing units and just about anything you can imagine to you're own specifications. What really appealed to me is that you can pitch shift audio to unimaginable speeds that other programmes simply can't reach.
5) What do you hope to get out of subsine & where would you like to see it heading in the future?
I think the initial aim of subsine was to spread dubstep to places where it hasn't infiltrated yet - such as Gloucester. I personally want to play a lot more in Gloucester and help to forward that myself, even in Bristol there's been a few people come up and ask what is we're playing. Since we started to discuss possibly releasing other forms of music, I guess that's where we're headed for the future. For the moment though I think pushing ourselves into the spotlight is the most important thing. We have a few contacts here and there, but we need to make our name locally first. It's a prime location for dubstep, because even though it's small, it's got a big d'n'b and garage (mainly grime) following. I think people will definately rate it, we just need to show them the way with a phat system.
6) Are there any genre's that you'd like to try your hand at producing, but haven't got around to doing so yet? If so, why?
Minimal Techno. I started listening to a little bit - mainly the Deepchord stuff - after I heard some dubstep compared to it. It's the only 4/4 stuff I can stand to be honest. They've got the whole lo-fi thing going on with the white noise they use and the delayed chords are one of my favourite ever dubby sounds. I'm not sure whether I'll ever give it a go because you need to be able to immerse yourself in a music form to produce it properly. I don't think I could simultaneously produce dubstep and minimal techno, just like I've lost my touch for hip hop. There are always elements of my favourite sounds cropping up in my music, but I can't just switch styles from track to track. For the moment I'm going to stick to dubstep, but within the next year I want to fuse dub, garage, electronica and downtempo hip hop together. It's hard to find your sound, but I think these are the styles that will come together to form mine. I've also been working on some more spoken word lyrics - kind of like Tricky - so they might crop up somewhere along the way.
7) It's pretty safe to say you like going to live events - what one's been the most memorable and why?
Subloaded 6, 'cos I couldn't hear anything the next day! Well, not much anyway. I accidentaly blew a speaker because I couldn't hear what I was doing, and partly due to a dodgy crossfader on my mixer as well. Surprisingly, we spent most of the night downstairs at Teachings In Dub. They had a proper old school sound system clash, and we only managed to tear ourselves away for a little bit to watch Vex'd and snatches of other sets.
Cool, I know you're a tech head, like myself - what equipment have you got your eyes on, and what would you love to have if money were no object?
Well, software wise - Kontakt 3, Logic 8 and Max/MSP (I'm running the 30 day trial at the moment). I know you hate Logic and Macs, but I'd love one of the new i Macs to run it on too (4GB ram!). Since I can't afford the hefty price tag for Max, I might get PD instead which is a free version that's apparently just as good. It's designed by the same people too, I think. I've been wanting a portable recorder for the past 6 months as well. That'll probably come out of my next chunk of student loan, I've got my eyes on the Edirol R-09. I just received a second hand pair of Technics 1200 mk 2's in the post not 3 hours ago, only to find that they're in a far from satifactory condition. So now I have to go to the hassle of sending the bloody things back and scouring ebay for another pair. I'd like to get a little bit more outboard stuff, a compressor and a tape machine maybe - I'm really envy Malwav's setup.
9) What are your views on gay marriage?
I told you not to ask!!!
1) What got you into music? Is there any particular point at which you thought "hey, this is for me!!!", or was it something that you gradually got into over the years?
My turning point was when I started to write lyrics at about 13, so there was a definite start - I can still remember the first time. I was really into my hip hop and rap, and loved the whole sort of scene, which lead me to buy a pair of decks shortly afterwards. It wasn't really a serious thing until I got to the end of school and was at the point where you have to start thinking about what sort of direction you want to head in. I hadn't done a music GCSE, but I took the plunge and went for the BTEC music tech course because I couldn't see myself doing something I didn't enjoy for a living.
2) I'm not particularly big on dubstep, so I don't suppose you could shed some light on it for me. What is it about the genre that you like so much?
This is a toughie! I liked dub before dubstep (Scientist in particular), and when I heard Burial's album it combined these skeletal beats with beautiful melodies and the omnipresent dub test tone. I didn't really rate a lot of the other stuff very highly at the time, I think it was the older dubstep and a lot of the Kode9/Spaceape tracks that got me interested in that. I love the fact that it's such an open genre - you get 2-step vibes, wobbly half-step, techno and really bare minimal stuff. I think that's the main attraction for me, you can listen to a dubstep set and it's constantly changing throughout. Of course, we can't forget the thrill of hearing it in a rammed club on a huge system. It's great to be able to skank out like that, I hate trendy clubs where they play r'n'b and you only go to get wasted and try to pull.
3) Who are your biggest musical influences? Are there any unusual ones, perhaps some that you might not want to admit even?! Go on, you can tell us!
Well, Aim is the artist that got me away from the more commercial US hip hop - he's still my favourite. It's the music that brings back memories of growing up, he makes great funky beats and melodies that I aspire to. Boards of Canada too - they have a very similar effect and a really distinct sound. I started to really experiment with samples when I heard what they did. Another is Amon Tobin, the Splinter Cell OST completely blew me away when I heard it. I admit I don't listen too a lot of d'n'b (if you'd label him as such), but that album was so adrenaline fuelled at points, and really slinky and sly in others. It's not repetative at all, but constantly changing and fresh. As for dubstep - Burial. I came across the scene when I was mainly listening to downtempo electronica type stuff, just really deep music. I couldn't have got into dubstep through any other artist. I'm really rinsing Darqwan's stuff at the moment too, as well as Headhunter. I'd be a bit embarassed to admit to listening to Jehst nowadays, his new stuff really doesn't stand up to his first few e.p's which inspired me more than any other mc. My unusual taste would maybe be Weather Report - they made jazz fusion, it's so funky and great for sampling.
4) One thing that's always amazed me about your productions is your sampling ability. I've known you take a sound and turn it into something completely different, as if by magic! Like the time you made those horns sound like a rhodes, or bird song used as a bass! How on earth have you learnt to do this?
Well, most of my favourite artists make kind of lo-fi sounding stuff, stuff that's difficult to make with synths. I guess part of that is to do with the use of analogue equipment, but sampling from vinyl is a common theme throughout most of the artists. I can't play any instruments either, but I like recording them when I get the chance.Of course, I come from a hip hop background as well, so when I first started to produce it was instinctive to sample. A lot of it's experimentation with filtering, pitch shifting, modulation and just general processing. I find that samples are a lot more pliable than synths, you start off with such a complex waveform so you're not limited to all the obvious synth sounds - if I use a synth, I'll usually bounce down the sound and put it in to my sampler because I can do more with it. I've just started to dabble with Max/MSP too. It's a bitch to learn, but well worth the effort because you can basically build synths, samplers, processing units and just about anything you can imagine to you're own specifications. What really appealed to me is that you can pitch shift audio to unimaginable speeds that other programmes simply can't reach.
5) What do you hope to get out of subsine & where would you like to see it heading in the future?
I think the initial aim of subsine was to spread dubstep to places where it hasn't infiltrated yet - such as Gloucester. I personally want to play a lot more in Gloucester and help to forward that myself, even in Bristol there's been a few people come up and ask what is we're playing. Since we started to discuss possibly releasing other forms of music, I guess that's where we're headed for the future. For the moment though I think pushing ourselves into the spotlight is the most important thing. We have a few contacts here and there, but we need to make our name locally first. It's a prime location for dubstep, because even though it's small, it's got a big d'n'b and garage (mainly grime) following. I think people will definately rate it, we just need to show them the way with a phat system.
6) Are there any genre's that you'd like to try your hand at producing, but haven't got around to doing so yet? If so, why?
Minimal Techno. I started listening to a little bit - mainly the Deepchord stuff - after I heard some dubstep compared to it. It's the only 4/4 stuff I can stand to be honest. They've got the whole lo-fi thing going on with the white noise they use and the delayed chords are one of my favourite ever dubby sounds. I'm not sure whether I'll ever give it a go because you need to be able to immerse yourself in a music form to produce it properly. I don't think I could simultaneously produce dubstep and minimal techno, just like I've lost my touch for hip hop. There are always elements of my favourite sounds cropping up in my music, but I can't just switch styles from track to track. For the moment I'm going to stick to dubstep, but within the next year I want to fuse dub, garage, electronica and downtempo hip hop together. It's hard to find your sound, but I think these are the styles that will come together to form mine. I've also been working on some more spoken word lyrics - kind of like Tricky - so they might crop up somewhere along the way.
7) It's pretty safe to say you like going to live events - what one's been the most memorable and why?
Subloaded 6, 'cos I couldn't hear anything the next day! Well, not much anyway. I accidentaly blew a speaker because I couldn't hear what I was doing, and partly due to a dodgy crossfader on my mixer as well. Surprisingly, we spent most of the night downstairs at Teachings In Dub. They had a proper old school sound system clash, and we only managed to tear ourselves away for a little bit to watch Vex'd and snatches of other sets.
Cool, I know you're a tech head, like myself - what equipment have you got your eyes on, and what would you love to have if money were no object?
Well, software wise - Kontakt 3, Logic 8 and Max/MSP (I'm running the 30 day trial at the moment). I know you hate Logic and Macs, but I'd love one of the new i Macs to run it on too (4GB ram!). Since I can't afford the hefty price tag for Max, I might get PD instead which is a free version that's apparently just as good. It's designed by the same people too, I think. I've been wanting a portable recorder for the past 6 months as well. That'll probably come out of my next chunk of student loan, I've got my eyes on the Edirol R-09. I just received a second hand pair of Technics 1200 mk 2's in the post not 3 hours ago, only to find that they're in a far from satifactory condition. So now I have to go to the hassle of sending the bloody things back and scouring ebay for another pair. I'd like to get a little bit more outboard stuff, a compressor and a tape machine maybe - I'm really envy Malwav's setup.
9) What are your views on gay marriage?
I told you not to ask!!!
Friday, 18 January 2008
08' Update
Just a likkle update,
Bedlam Breaks 6th Birthday Party @ Carling Academy, Saturday 9th February. Lots of big d'n'b names with dubstep in the 3rd room in association with Drop Records (featuring myself).
Also check out Kernelcore Modes Bass Olympics mix (Reload Radio), featuring 'Serrom Khen', see tracklist below for details.
http://rapidshare.com/files/84210831/kernelcoremode_13.1.08.mp3.html
1.southern - untitled
2.asusu - serrom khen
3.helixir - subadub skunk
4.numaestro - fantasmas
5.l-ow - lost valley
6.wedge - trak 4
7.hektagon - running thru
8.rsd - firewall
9.slt mob - horror
10.luke envoy - mugen
11.bionics - dubcore
12.spherix - blackwood
13.ekaros - pitch
14.blackmass plastics - rock head skunk
15.darkstar - lilyliver starkey rmx
16.darkstar - lilyliver
Asusu
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Plugs
Here's a few plugins for you lot....
oh....ive got kontakt, FM8, Komplete (downloading), Ableton Live, Waves Mercury, Absynth, EZ Drummer, and a load of other stuff...but its all 300mb +....so if there's any special requests, just let me know.
Plugin Download Link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/abszei
Plugin List:
Dr Device
Dubstation
Musicrow Valve Preamp (nice)
Ohmforce Experience
Ohmicide (5 band distortion unit...you can distort individual frequency ranges!!!)
Antares Harmony Engine (5 band vocal processing)
Antares Auto Tune (High End Pitch Correction Unit)
Nightmare Machine
Delta Series (multiband distortion/filters/delay/blah)
Have fun!
Advocate
oh....ive got kontakt, FM8, Komplete (downloading), Ableton Live, Waves Mercury, Absynth, EZ Drummer, and a load of other stuff...but its all 300mb +....so if there's any special requests, just let me know.
Plugin Download Link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/abszei
Plugin List:
Dr Device
Dubstation
Musicrow Valve Preamp (nice)
Ohmforce Experience
Ohmicide (5 band distortion unit...you can distort individual frequency ranges!!!)
Antares Harmony Engine (5 band vocal processing)
Antares Auto Tune (High End Pitch Correction Unit)
Nightmare Machine
Delta Series (multiband distortion/filters/delay/blah)
Have fun!
Advocate
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