BALANCING POINT
Jun 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Justin Kleinfeld
DIY-ISM
You wouldn't get the impression from listening to Idealism, but Moelle confesses that much of the music on the album is the result of impatience and laziness. However, much like the less-than-ideal production constraints of its bunker, Digitalism finds a way to excel at challenging situations. Take, for instance, the track “I Want I Want.” It has a full-on band sound, complete with live drum sounds, guitar and vocals. But much of the songs' key elements are the product of studio trickery and the desire to finish the track out of boredom. While there was a drum set and guitar available in the studio, neither Digitalism member is able to actually play the instruments. Essentially, Moelle would toy around with the drums and guitar and record whatever was workable. Next, they fed the recording into the Korg Electribe ESX-1 sampler and looped the desired sections throughout the track. “I pretended we could play the guitar flawlessly, and it's really DIY stuff,” Moelle says. “We aren't patient, so if we need any sound or need a drum loop, we try to record it quickly with the sampler. We don't really care if the take is perfect.” That casual, hurried approach applied to Moelle's recording of his own vocals for all the tracks on the album: “I was sitting in the bunker, and the ventilation system [supplying the bunker with air] was running in the background while we recorded the vocal. We just edited it a little to make it sound a bit cleaner, but there's a lot of dirt still in there. We just moved on to other things rather than concentrating on the vocals and getting multiple takes.”
One of the most talked about tracks on Idealism is “Digitalism in Cairo,” a unique edit of The Cure's “Fire in Cairo.” Before the full-length version of the track was created, it existed as a DJ tool that was first edited together in just 30 minutes prior to a DJ set. “We just looped the chorus for a few minutes and then wanted to add something around it to allow us to play it in clubs,” Moelle says. “It's boring if you just loop 4 bars for 2 minutes, so we had the idea to add an effect that turns the track on and off. When we thought about making this a long track, we rerecorded the sample and even recorded vinyl noise to make it sound more like a classic sample.” With Robert Smith's blessing, the track appears on Idealism.
Elsewhere on the album, there are certain proper club tracks that can only be described as having the sound of a jet engine. In particular, “Jupiter Room” provides one hell of a massive jolt. Digitalism's tip for creating such an intense sound centers on compression. “We always produce with a compressor first and an expander afterwards and never leave any head room in the track,” Moelle says. “It's pretty funny because we boost it so much that we had arguments with the guy mastering the album. He simply couldn't do as much during the mastering process as he usually does with other albums.” Moelle also says that by playing around with the decay and release times and by putting massive distortion on the tracks, he's able to create a “dark, bad, storm of sound.”
LIVE-ISM
Digitalism is a two-headed monster live. As a DJ team, Digitalism garnered much attention for their sets featuring a cross selection of music from the likes of The Prodigy, Boyz Noise, Soulwax, French house records and their own special edits of popular rock tracks. “Isi likes to use mixer effects, and I'm more of a purist,” Moelle says. “I think it's the content that counts more than tricks.” Though, for the full-on Digitalism experience, it's best to check out the proper live show featuring a laptop, two synthesizers, controllers and an effects mixer. Aesthetically, the equipment is spread out across a table, and it looks similar to a DJ set. The show is evolving though, and Moelle reveals that they are looking to rely less on the laptop and outsource more sounds to other gear. Also in the works are the addition of an electronic drum kit and vocals. “What we've experienced in the past is that we didn't know what to do live, and I had to do so many things at once,” Moelle says. “I don't know if we are going to actually play too much stuff truly live, but we will probably concentrate more on adjusting the sounds of the noise generators. If I'm looking down too much at the gear and not connecting with the fans, then it's not going to be that interesting.”
While Digitalism has achieved a strong buzz and a moderate level of success leading up to the release of its debut LP, it may seem that the band's direction and working habits — the old-school gear and devil-may-care attitude — are a bit half-baked. Seeing as how the Digitalism boys are green and still evolving their sound, it's tempting to chalk up their impatient methodology to their “youthful naivety.” However, after one listen to Idealism, you'll realize that it all works — it's just not clear how they make it work so well. “We started making music because we were bored,” Moelle admits. “We heard so much music that was just boring, so we just had to produce the kind of music that we would immediately buy and like. We felt there was a lack of it, and that's why we started making music. We think very positively all the time and have big visions, and we wanted to transfer it to everyone listening to our music.” In Digitalism's world, this is Idealism.
INSIDE THE BUNKER
Computer, DAW
833 MHz PC running Emagic Logic software
Mixers, interfaces
Doepfer MCV24 MIDI-CV/Gate/Sync interfaces
Kenton MIDI/CV converters
Mackie CR1604 mixer
Samplers, drum machines
Akai MPC2000XL sampling workstation
E-mu ESI-32 sampler
Korg Electribe ESX-1, Electribe EMX-1 drum machines
Roland TR-808, TR-909 drum machines
Synths, modules, software and plug-ins, instruments
Custom drum kit: “It consists of many different parts — can't really tell which brand,” Moelle says.
Doepfer MAQ16/3 Analog Sequencer
Fender Stratocaster guitar
Korg MS-10, MS-20 (2) synths
Native Instruments Kontakt soft sampler
Roland SH-101 synth, TB-303 bass synth
Mics, mic preamps, EQs, compressors, effects
Boss guitar pedals
Akai MFC42 Analog Filter Module
Alesis 3630 Compressor
Ibanez AF-9 Auto Filter guitar pedal
Sherman Filterbank
Shure SM58 mic
Monitors
Tannoy active monitors
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