ABOVE AND BEYOND | Paul van Dyk on recording In Between
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ken Micallef
Paul van Dyk may be the world’s No. 1 DJ, but the Berlin-based producer and philanthropist cares about a whole lot more than what goes on in the DJ booth
“For example, using the two laptops,” van Dyk elaborates, “I will play a bass line and press record at the same time. Ableton automatically quantizes the bass line and loops it. Then I go to the next layer, maybe choose a string sound, then I play a string sound on top of that, do exactly the same thing. Now I have the drums, bass line and strings playing, and then I will play a piano sound or whatever I am going to choose and play that on top.”
“If it feels like a lush break is needed,” he adds, “I can do that in a matter of seconds: drop the beat, play a big pad and I have a big, lush break. If I want to kick it up a notch, I just add some fucking freaky, hard drum loops to it; then it is even more banging. I could play your favorite track, like [Underworld's] ‘Born Slippy,’ and it will sound completely different and so much more intense and right for the moment.”
Van Dyk admits to a steep learning curve, that even he is still mastering the flow of working two laptops in tandem. But as with any new technology or use thereof, mistakes — in the hands of a skilled musician — can sometimes turn into gold.
“I am still practicing and things are still going wrong from time to time,” van Dyk says. “When I played in Seattle the other weekend, by mistake, instead of a volume controller, I switched on the pitch controller. So when I hit the keys the next time, it was out of pitch and it sounded horrible. But when by accident I screw up a drum loop or create a break where there shouldn't be a break, I can, at the same time, create a snare roll and stick it back in even more hefty and even more banging. There is the definitely the possibility of highlighting your mistakes and making people believe it should be that exact way.”
YESTERDAY'S SOUND TODAY
Technology, coupled with creativity, is the very basis of the modern electronic musician, and considering that technology changes practically as soon as your next issue of Remix arrives in the mailbox, its impact is impossible to ignore. Yesterday's technology is today's push of a button.
“Technology enables me to make things easier, like those sounds that myself and BT made famous, those very hard electronic, even farty sounds: aaggnnhh, agnnhhh,“ van Dyk says. “Back in the day, to get that sound I put a jack cable into a guitar distortion box and sampled it. Then I tuned it to a note then played it on a sampler. These days it is much easier; you have Access Virus and all these software synths that come with those sounds. When you think of a sound, you can just play it and manipulate it a little. Back in the old days when I wanted a sound like that, I really had to get creative to even make the sound, never mind creating a track with the sound. Now I just look for a sound that is similar to that, and I go on being creative with the track. It supports the creative process much better than in the past.”
And van Dyk places much of the credit for his technological advancement squarely with Ableton Live. If there were a vote for the most popular software-recording program for live situations, Ableton would surely take first honors. Its inherent flexibility and ability to personalize programs makes it a no-brainer purchase for a rising army of producers and DJs.
“The fantastic thing about Ableton,” van Dyk insists, “is, let's take Ritchie Hawtin, Carl Cox, Sasha and myself: We all use Ableton for our DJ sets. And we all use it in completely different ways. As an example, I could never work with Sasha's setup, he could never work with my setup, and I could never work with Ritchie or Carl's setup. It is a program that allows you to very individually use it the way you want to use it. It is difficult to give advice on how to use it with two laptops. Just play around with it and use the elements and the possibilities that are available. When I started with Ableton, I wasn't using any more than a laptop and four channels and bringing things in and out. The next challenge was playing something on top, then adding loops, then triggering them from the outside. Then I thought it would be cool to sequence ideas, and that is when the second laptop came in.”
WHITE ROOM RIGORS
Paul van Dyk's Berlin studio is called The White Room because, you guessed it, the whole place is painted white. Custom-built recording gear fills the studio, along with a Euphonix console to oversee Logic Pro 7 and tons of soft and hardware synthesizers. Though he uses a variety of control surfaces, the Euphonix System 5-MC seems to handle most mixing functions.
“The Euphonix System 5-MC has this open-format software,” van Dyk says. You can use it with every program, and it is like a proper desk. Another thing about my setup, I have a lot of RME digital/analog converters; every channel in my program setup has its own output so I am not bouncing the tracks together, I am actually playing it out. So the audio is getting transformed into analog then mixed together in a big custom-built rack mixer, and then it comes back. That adds a little extra punch to it because every single sound has its space in the mix.”
Continued on next page...
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
