HEADLINERS
Jan 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By David Weiss
Don't question that recording makes Rob Swift happy. War Games (Coup De Grace, 2005), the newest album from the ex — X-ecutioner, has wrist aerobics and grooves aplenty to goose your CD player. But whenever possible, the Queens, N.Y. — based turntablist likes to take the music on tour so that his worldwide fan base can witness what truly goes into it. “Seeing it makes you appreciate so much more how physical it is,” Swift says. “By simply listening to it, there's no way to know the intensity it takes to go into a scratch. You appreciate the art so much more live — it's mind-blowing.”
Swift has a system for converting complex, multi-DJ recordings to solo performances: It involves an Apple G4 PowerBook, Rane/Serato Scratch Live, two Technics turntables, a Rane mixer and his own two hands. “First and foremost, I have to pick songs that don't demand everyone scratching on a track at one time,” Swift says. “The song ‘Military Scratch,’ for example, is easy to perform onstage because there's a hook and a 12-bar verse that each DJ [Ricci Rucker and Toadstyle, who are featured on the track] has, so it's like we're soloing. Since I have all the individual tracks at home, I can create a version of the song where their parts are still there, but my own are muted out. Then, I just play their parts out, as a backing track, and perform my part on the Serato vinyl. A person in the crowd can watch me and still get the point of the record.”
For the highly experienced Swift, that means planning for the live show actually starts when he's writing, arranging and recording the songs in his personal studio, which includes an E-mu 6400, an Akai MPC2000XL and Digidesign Pro Tools. “When I'm working on a song, as much as I'm thinking, ‘Man I want this song to sound good,’ I'm also thinking I have to approach it in a way that will allow me to perform it,” he says. “That's something I learned from X-ecutioners. A lot of times, we'd start rehearsing and realize, ‘This song will be impossible live.’ Doing that made me realize you've got to structure a song in a way that's realistic.”
Swift usually opts not to remove reverb and other studio effects from the live backing tracks. “I try to leave everything as is, and I think that helps,” he says. “I don't want stuff to sound too dry onstage. [On one song] there's a two-minute scratch routine I do, and after that, I want it to fade out, so I added some delay at the end. If I were in a huge band and I could travel with a sound guy who could do the effects live onstage, I would, but I don't have that kind of access. I have to prepare the effects at home and on the road that way.”
While he's at it, Swift is determined not to make a mistake he sees other DJs make — namely, skipping soundcheck. “It's very important to do soundchecks,” he emphasizes. “We as artists get lazy and want to skip it — stay at the hotel and just get to the club — but sometimes I got there and found out the turntables are set up the wrong way or there's a buzz the soundman didn't take care of. At soundcheck, you establish a relationship to make sure the soundman wants you to sound good. Make friends, talk to him because the sound for what we do is the most important thing. You can have an amazing show but horrible sound, and the crowd's not hearing anything.”
In working with the soundperson, it helps Swift to know how he wants his turntables EQ'd. “You don't want too many highs, because when you're scratching, it can sound annoying,” he says. “The bass should be so it's not overpowering and distorted but thumping just enough so the crowd feels it in their chest. Sometimes sound people think with a turntable setup it's just XLR to DI box to the board, and that's it — but no! You want to EQ those turntables and make them sound good. Just because it's a turntable doesn't mean it's any less of a job to make sure it sounds right.”
WHAT SWIFT DRIVES LIVE
Apple G4 PowerBook
Pioneer CDJ-800 DJ CD players
Rane TTM 56 mixer
Rane/Serato Scratch Live digital DJ system
Shure SM 57 mic
Technics SL-1200 turntables
Vestax PDX-2000 turntable
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
