Win-Win Situation
May 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ken Micallef
CASTLES IN THE SAND
Migs gets up to leave the beach because he has to prepare for a club set later that night. His less immediate future includes rehearsing with a full band to tour tracks from Those Things (he will play guitar), as well as developing artists for his Salted Music label. Wherever his projects take him, you can be sure Migs' keep-it-simple, keep-it-funky approach will light his path.
“I am just not a big computer tech head,” Migs reconfirms. “My brain isn't gifted that way. I like the old-school approach, just writing musically in a simple way rather than getting too technical about it. I will have a few units at the touch of my hands to be able to flip through sounds and tweak manually. I like that. There is something about that that is appealing to me.”
DJ ERGONOMICS 101
Before and after I get to the club, I always double-check that the gear is how I want it to be. I am 6'3”, so I have to make sure the setup is four feet high or I will be bending over all night, and that is really hard on my back. That is a huge thing to me. So the setup has to be comfortable for me to do my thing. You have to make sure the equipment is placed properly. Sometimes the mixer will be where it shouldn't necessarily be, or maybe you want the CD player inside the turntables if you are playing more CDs. There are little things you can do to customize the DJ booth to suit your preferences. I hammer [the club contact] pretty hard before I get to the club to make sure everything I need technically is there so I don't need to bring anything. But if you are playing records, bring your own needles and maybe a small light, because clubs tend to be dark. Light is essential in the DJ booth.
MIGS' MACHINERY
Computers, DAWs, recording hardware
Apple Power Mac G5 2.7 GHz computer with Logic 6 software; MacBook Pro (for the road)
Digidesign Pro Tools|24 Mixplus, Pro Tools|HD systems
Synths, plug-ins
Access Virus A rack synth
Apple Logic EVP88 (Rhodes) and EVB3 (Hammond) soft synths
Clavia Nord Lead 2 synth
E-mu Proteus 2500 rack module
Korg Triton synth
Line 6 Echo Farm plug-in
Roland Fantom-X6 synth
SoundToys PitchBlender plug-in
Studio Electronics SE-1 synth
Waves Renaissance (L1 Ultramaximizer, MondoMod, MetaFlanger)
Yamaha Motif ES6 synth
Sampler
Apple Logic EXS24MkII Software Sampler
Mic, preamp, compressor, EQ
Millennia Media Origin STT-1 preamp/compressor/EQ
Neumann U 87 mic
DJ mixer, turntables
Pioneer CDJ-1000 CD turntable, DJM-800 and DJM-1000 DJ mixers
Rane MP 2016a Rotary Mixer
(2) Technics SL-1200Mk2 (with Ortofon cartridges)
Monitors, headphones
Mackie HR824 monitors
Sony MDR-V6 headphones
SF Soundworks vocal mixdown
Lexicon 960L effects processor
Neve 1073 preamp
Pultec EQP1 EQ
SSL 9056 J console
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