BEAT DIGGER
Oct 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Lily Moayeri
As drum 'n' bass fans can testify to, Dave Minner, better known as AK1200, is one of the top three domestic drum 'n' bass DJs (alongside his Planet of the Drums cohorts, Dieselboy and Dara). As such, Minner is a good candidate for tackling the monumental job of making an artist album, something not a great number of drum 'n' bass DJs — who mostly stick to mix compilations — attempt.
Minner created the majority of his full-length debut, Shoot to Kill (:/run, 2002), in collaboration with Rob Playford, who is known for his groundbreaking production on Goldie's Timeless (FFRR, 1995). “We worked hand in hand,” Minner says about the partnership. “We never had particular duties per track. I would spend time arranging, getting the beats and loops to sound and fit right. He would do tricks and effects to hollow them out, making sure I didn't crunch up the levels too much, so that everything sounded nice and clean.”
Additionally, Minner collaborated with Dominic Angas of Dom and Roland, Danny Breaks, DJ Icey and hard-house master Dave Ross. Vocal numbers feature house queen Terra Deva and the hip-hop stylings of Last Emperor and A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg, as well as ragga flavor from Junior Reid. Ranging from ambient melodies to dub-fused rhythms to straight up banging tracks, Shoot to Kill covers every territory touched by drum 'n' bass.
For the album, Minner abandoned his PC-based studio and started from the ground up with a Mac G4/733 tower; a MOTU 828 interface; Emagic Logic Audio software; Logic's EXS24 sampler; a Mackie 1604-VLZ Pro mixing desk; Mackie HR824 monitors; Native Instruments' Absynth, B4 and FM7; and Wave Mechanics plug-ins. The only gear that he uses from his old studio are HHB compressors, Lexicon delays and a Clavia Nord Lead 2 (used only as a MIDI controller).
After digging up loops and old breaks from sample libraries, Minner splits the sounds into four channels: kicks on one, snares on two, hats on three and tricks and fills on four. “I'll put separate compression and EQs on each of those channels,” he explains. “Then, I'll bust with a reverb and my HHB compressor to fatten it up. On top of that, I'll layer my snare with another copy of the same snare, pitch it down one semitone or even less than that and fine-tune it down a little bit so that it fattens up. Then, I'll run a little [Emagic] BitCrusher distortion to crunch it out.”
Minner also applies that method to his bass sounds, which he often gets from the EXS24's 808 preset. “Because I have the bass bused to another channel,” he says, “I can get a different EQ and a different amount of volume into it without it messing with any of the other sounds that are going on.”
Although not mind-blowingly original, Shoot to Kill is a laudable effort of multifaceted sounds based in drum 'n' bass beats and breaks. “I removed myself from who I am as a DJ,” Minner says of Shoot to Kill's divergent moods. “I want to keep the shelf life to my album. Who's to say what the sound is going to be like eight months from now? I would rather have my tunes outlast my DJ preference.”
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