Spotlight On DJDM

[Wewus432]

Questions: Are you really made entirely of cheese or perhaps, like george costanza just your head is made of cheese, or are you just bullshitting us?

 

I noticed you said you are 100 per cent soft synth. Briefly describe the synths and other software you use in your productions.

 

Cool name. I like the devil girls.

 

If you've already answered these questions please direct me to the right post.

[Rick K.]

What's this all about?

[Wewus432]

I never noticed him until recently. He's DJ Drunken Master. Look on george costanza's accidental blank post, on this page, there's a message and link to his music.

[DJDM]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

Questions: Are you really made entirely of cheese or perhaps, like george costanza just your head is made of cheese, or are you just bullshitting us?

 

I noticed you said you are 100 per cent soft synth. Briefly describe the synths and other software you use in your productions.

 

Cool name. I like the devil girls.

 

If you've already answered these questions please direct me to the right post.

Hey Wewus,

 

Sorry about the lag in reply time. Been busy BBQing 'n stuff. I am in Seattle and we only get a little good weather so you gotta take advantage of it when it comes!

 

Depending on who you ask it's only my head that is made of cheese... as for the type? Probably Head Cheese.

Glad you like the name. I can't really take too much credit for that though as I am indebted to Selena, (my main squeeze), for the name and the artwork on the Devil girls. She is a really talented branding consultant who does not know that is what she was born to do!

 

My studio used to be entirely midi driven hardware. I was running a hodge podge of stuff from my basement that includes:

Roland 106, D-50, MKS-80

Yamaha DX7

SCI Six Trax

Ensoniq Mirage, EPS, EPS 16+

Korg M1

Akai S5000

Various drum machines from Roland and Alesis.

And at times:

Oberheim OBXA, Four Voice

Roland S-100M

Moog Micromoog

 

And recording gear that includes:

2x ADAT

Various, (about 10), outboard effects, compressors and inserts. Mostly lowend stuff from Alesis, Roland and Peavey.

2x Dat Recorders, (sony)

AKG 414 B-TL II

Functional but limited Yamaha 1602 line mixer

Symetrix Mic Preamp

Mac IIsi with Opcode Vision software

MOTU MIDI patch bay

About a million feet of cable

 

I have been building my studio since I was about 12 when I bought a Juno 106. That was 22 years ago. It has cost me about $40k over the years and has never made much of it back. Although it has allowed me to develop my skills to the point where I now work professionally in the audio industry! I guess in a weird sort of way it has paid off.

 

I had been interested in getting my own DAW and virtual sampler so I could update my studio.

I saved a few dollars and last year around June I purchased "Cubase VST" and "Reason" after a little research. I have not looked back.

 

I now dedicate about 20-60 hours a week to composing for web and film work and promoting my music on the web. It is going swimmingly.

Since August of last year I have received over 18,000 downloads and plays from MP3.com. This month I am one of about 30 featured "Hot Artist of the Month" on there.

I have contributed sounds that are now presets in the Malstrom synth in Propellerhead's "Reason 2.0".

I am scoring music and doing narration for a short film called "Boy Friend Off-Leash Park" that is to be released later this year.

 

My current setup that allows me so much time to write long posts like this instead of tweeking settings on my hardware is:

 

PC running Windows XP Pro

AMD 2100 XP

1 GB of DDR 333 RAM

Asus A7V333 Main Board

120 gigs of storage (Dual IBM 60s)

Nvidia Ti-4400 (for dual monitors)

M-Audio 2496 Audio card (averages about 8ms latency)

Midisport 8x8 (to plug in the hardware I never did)

 

Propellerheads Reason 2.0

Steinberg's Cubase 5.1

Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video 2.0

Sound Forge 6.0

Acid, (I never use this but feel obligated to have it... )

 

I am 100% softsynth now because I can't go back to the way things were. I have had my work environment so simplified and with such spectacular results that it would be foolhardy for me as an artist and a producer to do it any other way. The Reason synths sound like real synths. The drum machines sound like drum machines and the sample editing in this environment kicks so much ass over hardware samplers that its a joke. I have amazing effects in Cubase but for most applications the 16 bit effects in Reason are more than adequate. And everything saves at the touch of a button.

 

I do use one of my old synths for this process. My trusty D-50 is my controller keyboard.

 

My life. Aren't you glad you asked?

Thanks,

- DJDM

 

Boy am I long winded...

[Wewus432]

Hey now: Reason is an amazing tool, you're doing some interesting stuff. Have you used the rewire capability to open your Reason tracks in Cubase and add some guitars and or other instruments and/or vocals? Good hearing from you man, glad you got some barbecue time in. Hmmmmmmmmm barbecue.

[DJDM]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

Hey now: Reason is an amazing tool, you're doing some interesting stuff. Have you used the rewire capability to open your Reason tracks in Cubase and add some guitars and or other instruments and/or vocals? Good hearing from you man, glad you got some barbecue time in. Hmmmmmmmmm barbecue.

Oh yes, BBQ does indeed rule! And Reason is AMAZING! I'm glad you find the material interesting.

 

I have used Rewire extensivly to incorporate mostly Cubase effects.

I did a piece with Cubase's Vocorder on the vocals. It turned out pretty well. It is a remix that I did for Sinforosa from the track "Snake Dance".

The vocals were already recorded so all I had to do was import them into Cubase along with all of the tracks from the song, (Bass, Guitar etc.), and start fiddling with vocorder. It is a really nice plugin!

After I got the sound I wanted I exported that file and imported it into Reason for playback from an NN-19.

If you want to check out the results go here.

Good to hear from you too.

- DJDM