q&a session 02 - paradox

8/8/2019 Q&A Session 02 - Paradox

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The Grid gives you the opportunity to question some of drum & bass production's most prominent figureheads.This Q&A will consist of a moderated open thread in which you can ask production related questions to the

interrogated. For this second edition we happily invite Dev Paradox!

Keeping track of this man's activities is an inconceivable task. Arguably one of drum and bass' most opinionatedmen, Dev Pandya AKA Paradox has had a long-lasting musical career; from working as DJ Trax' backing rapper

in 1988, to producing early Hardcore in 1990 under the Mixrace moniker and going on from Jungle to proto-

Drum & Bass and beyond. Next to production work Dev also juggles worldwide public appearances, which he

has been undertaking for more than nine years. Dev recently announced that he will be giving his last PA later

this year to increase studio time, as it seems that he will plunge himself solely into music production and his

labels. Next to the primary imprint 'Paradox Music', he runs two others; namely 'Outsider', a label dedicated tobring new talent into D&B and the most experimental of the three, 'Esoteric', a label which is set up for

collaborations. Forthcoming material is due to be released on 'Metalheadz Platinum', 'Hospital', 'Vibe'z', 'SecretOperations', 'Outsider', 'Freak', 'Archive', 'Esoteric', 'Bassbin' and, if you're still reading this, 'Paradox Music'. An

A-list which fits a man who has proven himself over and over again.


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when its chopped up and re-played in the sequencer you hear 'chopped' reverb 'stabs' repeating they give up..

LAAAZYYYYYYY !!!! I'll go in on the break to re-create the loop and 'magic marker' the parts that were full of

music. It's what I do.. I'll spend weeks doing it if I have to. To be honest, no-one is going to notice what I've

done unless they are really familiar with the original funk record but I have to do it otherwise I cant use the

damn break. The 'solid groove' you say stems from this really.. I think what I might do to explain this is post abreak that doesn't give away the whole break, and post an edited version I've programmed complete with

magik marker parts for all to hear.

How do you find working with Trax and Nucleus and more recently Seba - how do you tend to divideup the work, and do you find it difficult sometimes to find common ground on a tune?

Collaborating with Nucleus and Seba is easy. I've worked with Nucleus for 10 years now and he's a proper

'Crate digger'. He DJ's at hip hop/bboy events too so you can see he 'ain't your usual dnb head. In the studiowe have an odd understanding of how we want things to sound. Sometimes we disagree on certain things, but

we both remember that collaborating is exactly that, meeting in the middle so if there is something one likesand one doesn't that particular idea won't make it into track. We always agree on everything. Also what made it

easier for us both was Reinforced and 4Hero really supported us early in our careers and made it easier for us

to write EXACTLY what we wanted [waffle over].

Seba is another one where we just clicked. We have common ground in music, breaks and how we want drums

to 'roll'. With Seba its a little more difficult as we both have to travel to each others country to get in the studio,

but thats also good because we both work faster together as we prepare stuff beforehand in our own studios

sometimes. Seba and I will both agree that individually on our own we're both 'slower' at making our own

tracks. Another bonus is I don't cook and Seba does, so I'm always well fed when I go to Sweden.

What combination of software/hardware do you use in your studio and what are your preferences?

Logic is used on the PC with Nucleus and with Seba we use Cubase SX3. On the Commodore we use a 1

sequencer called M.E.D.

M.E.D. has it's limitations but is the best of the three.

Hardware wise I use an analogue 32 track desk, Alesis compressors and fx units, Roland, Aphex, TC Electronicfx and Outboard, Yamaha, GEM, Korg Z1, Nordlead and CAT Synths, Tascam mastering and AKAI S3000XL and

S900 Samplers

I just love the sound from the Akai's. Some people find it too crusty but I just love it

When you start a tune do you already have an idea? do you build a collection of samples then makea tune? how long would this process take??inc sample hunting and making the tune/?

I usually start programming the drums to get a 'break groove' first, and from there on I start pasting and

creating parts/patterns that could go on for 10 minutes or so.. Once I'm happy with my drums I kind of get the

right vibe of where I want the track to go and I could be hunting for the right samples for a while, or they might

just come quickly depending on what type of track it is. If I'm working on an Alaska track say for Vibe'z I'm at

my synths most of the time working on melodies whereas If I'm working on a cinematic Paradox release I'll be

hunting down samples via DVD's or soundtracks looking for the 'special' one line vocal that can make a trackand give it its 'eeriness' without sounding dark for the sake of it.

Sometimes things don't go to plan tho. Take 'Planets..Stars' for instance.. I spent two weeks looking for that

damn sample. I done jack shit in between watching films with pen and paper writing down timed codes andgrowing a beard, but when I found it I thought, 'Yes... thats a Sebadox right there..' and put it to the side, got

back in the studio, deleted a weeks work of drums because I was bored of it and started something else..nothing is ever planned really..

what is your most valued piece of studio gear? and why

My most valued piece of gear has to be my old Akai Sampler. It took me so long to save up for it and I lost

count of the numerous time I used to go to sleep looking at the brochure dreaming of it being in my bedroom

what do you use for subs IE simple sine waves etc. 808??

I use my outboard synths for my subs. Currently we use the CAT OCTAVE synth and the GEM S2 for our Sublines.


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How do you begin a collaboration?

How much do you bring to the table that is already prepped? Do you bring out breaks, or synthsounds that you've been noddling with on your own? Or do you often bust out a somewhat fleshedout song to build upon?

Well with Nucleus and Seba we prepare things before we get into the studio. It could be drums on my behalf

and Samples/basses on Nucleus's, it could be anything really.. so yeh it's different every time. But sometimes

the little things can almost ignite the whole track where we might be stale for a few days going nowhere thenall of a sudden the tracks is finished in a matter of hours. It recently happened with me and Seba. We were

working on a track in my studio and we spent forever on this idea trying different things out. We eventuallyfinished it a month later in Sweden just by replacing a pad with something else and we completed the track in 6

hours. Seba and I also start from scratch sometimes, so yeh it's different from time to time

how did you process the amen in "Curse of Coincidence" to get that super heavy sound?

The Curse Amen was mainly by achieved by exaggerated low midrange on my desk and heavy phase effects. Ilistened to a raw amen loop I'd made on my headphones for at least 45 mins before I finally got the eq sound I

was happy with. I wanted to create a new amen, a new eq that no-one had thought of using before.

what do you use to make your bass and how do you process it to get it so deep,loud, and punchy?

Basses are all produced on outboard Synths. I don't process them sometimes tho. It depends on the break inthe track.

You say you sample straight from vinyl a lot Do you run in through mixer or a/d converter, to asound card, (maybe preproces, IE hard limit) then transfer to hardware sampler? If so what kind ofset up you run it through?

No converters, just straight into the Sampler.

How did you get some of those toms and kicks sounding so ruff?.. just desk overdrive? do youusually low cut the kicks and at what freq?

I usually rely on backing up certain breaks as today's market needs breaks that cut through just as much as

the crusty breaks on one sound level that I love. I have favorite kicks that can be used at many differentpitches that beef up breaks that need a kick up the arse. I use them at different volume levels to add a little

misplaced funk, so some might be louder than others and this could be in the most straight forward drum

loops.

what would you say is the best general approach to taking a bunch of individual drum hits anddesigning from them a cohesive break that sounds less "programmed" and more "human"?

OK, when designing a break from scratch if it be totally stripped I'd say get the kick from the Vibrettes 'Humpty

Dump', the snare from Funk Incorporated's 'Kool is Back', a fill-in from James Brown's 'Funk 78' and take airfrom either 'Cold Sweat' or 'Amen' and create trails [reverse and attack, reverse attacks also] to cover the

length of the loop at different volumes. Use cymbals and rides [from Tighten up if you wish] with less top endto hide the fact that you are placing over the top of the break as the plan is to make a 'sampled loop'. You

would be surprised at the human and less programmed results once you get into it.

don't really understand the trails bit and why would you add air?

What I mean is pasting a constant 'shhh' sound/or atmosphere over the break to give its 'tone'. Amen has thatcertain sound that doesn't even sound like a like drum break anymore (like a metallic interference) and this is

due to it's sample re-processing over the years from 1991.

When you listen to certain breaks you can pick up their tones and its possible to extract the noise from 'em.

Use delays on the air parts if necessary (minus bottom end on the sample) to make the trails last longer/stretch

over the length of the break your creating loop wise.

Im finding that Im using hardly any compression and just overdriving the desk gains... what areyour thoughts on compression vs gains?

Also, do limiters play a role in your productions? If so, over the main mix, on certain tracks, both?

I don't use compressors as much as I used to. Sometimes they can take the soul out of breakbeats.

Certain breaks ask for compression so don't be afraid NOT to use it.


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I use limiters on certain breaks too, but again that depends on the original frequency's of the break. I also go

through phases of not using certain processors.

The development of Drum and Bass music as a whole seems to follow the development of certainmusic technologies (sequencing, sampling and synthesis etc.). In light of the fact that your setupseems to have changed very little over the years and yet your music remains very cutting edge iwonder what you think of this trend?

The setup I use is so simple that it still 'holds' the unique analogue sound that gets washed away with so many'PC Music' productions nowadays. People need to grasp a good mix of both analogue and digital. Seba is a good

example of a producer that does exactly this. You see it's not always about what gear your using, but what

exactly your sampling.

What do you think is the biggest mistake for a rookie producer to make

The biggest mistake production wise is to copy what every other producer is doing.

The biggest mistake business wise is to not get your finances sorted out like PRS/MCPS/Publishing etc..

Do you really construct all your breaks on the AKAI or do you ever use an pads or keyboard tohammer out your own patterns?

All breaks are constructed on the Akai.

im a big fan of your tracks too , but when i play it , i hear people say things like "its too complex"or "where is the structure ...just drums" are they to lazy to follow the music ? ...whats youropinion on this ?

People don't see the melody's are within the beats. That's what D+B from 1995-96 was all about. I stopped

worrying about it in 1998 when everyone bar me and someone else jumped ship but when asked by the press

the questions about it I always made sure I got my points across

'Love her'Can't wait to hold this one in my hands. How did you made Stab sound in 'Love her' so metallic andharsh?

Well love her is released now in the shops, full art copies in new color sleeves. Take no notice of the 'Promo' or'White' that Red Eye, Chemical or Juno say. My promos R full art copies.

Yeh we love Love Her also. We wanted to make a 'REAL' hardcore track not a bloody cheesy revival rinse out.

The stabs are made on the OCTAVE CAT Synth. It took us about 5mins of knob turning. Also, Nucleus is

Scratching on the track and I'm on the Mic.

What are you doing to move on from a raw track sketch( the quick idea of a track) to the full down written arrangement. What is happening between thosetwo states of a track?

I usually start with drum programming for roughly 2-3 days and in that time I'm gathering stuff for the musical

parts etc.. whether it be keyboard stuff or samples from other sources. It all kinda comes together on the 4th

day.

and whats your favorite Funk break

KC and The Sunshine Band: 'Let it Go' or Nina Simone: 'Funkier than a Mosquitoes Tweeter'

How many bars of drum track do you typically work on at a time on the Akai?

I work loop by loop on my Akai. Kinda 2 second loops etc.. and one at a time. It's painstaking work.. but it'swell worth it.


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How come your newer stuff is more dance floor and DJ friendly, was it inevitable due to the scene,or just a choice to broaden the horizon of your audience, or to expand into working with otherproducers, or maybe all 3?

Well basically my 'Collaboration' work is exactly what it is. It's two minds instead of one. All the work on

Esoteric is with Nucleus and Nucleus loves the old Headz sound, hence 'Twelve Bits' coming out on Metalheadz

[his idea] very soon. Me and Seba wanted to work together for years but due to the GLR situation I didn't want

them to surface on GLR so we had to wait till Seba was outta his deal to record them on our own labels. Again,

my work with Seba is a collab' so things are different every time. I mean, 'Its not a Dream' is our favoritebecause its pure Source Direct in our books. We always wanted to do stuff that reminds us of our no.1 love. We

have just done 'Remembrance' which is another chapter/homage to those days. Working with Robert Manos onvocals lets us do other musical things we wana do like for Hospital, so yeh a meeting of artists does broaden

your horizons.

Do you have lots of unfinished tracks lying around or do you tend to just scrap something if it ain'tgoing where you want it to after a few days?

I have tons of unfinished stuff. I have a CD of some 30 id's each with 6 minute break programming just sitting

there that I'm completely bored of. Friends come around and can't believe they are all on the CD doing shit. Ido get bored easily in my own studio sometimes, but what I plan to do is release some on volumes of 'Paradox

Breaks' vinyl Sample LP's forthcoming on Paradox Music, y know. like the old 'Simon Harris' series on Music of

life etc... basically break lps.

Also, any advice for people that have a hard time finishing tracks like myself? ( for every 1 track ifinish i must have 30 odd that i don't

Advice wise.. well what I do that really helps me, is when I've got an idea or I'm currently working on a trackand I need a break because I'm stuck, I put what I'm currently doing on my Mp3 recorder and listen to it whilst

I'm buying shopping for meatballs in Sainsburys. This really helps me get away from the screens in the studio

and I can spot mistakes very easily. From my house to Sainsburys and back is about 30 mins so I listen to it a

good 3-4 times, so when I get back into my studio I'm refreshed and I know exactly what to delete.

with switching up breaks how much is it about finding the right samples and how much of it is inthe EQing, processing sequencing etc etc?.. to get the 2 beats to flow and cut up each other nicelyeven tho they sound different? are their any tricks?

Well, I find it's best to find two breaks that have their own 'identity'. so when they switch between each otherthey both stand out in the mix. Myself and Nucleus have just done a track called 'Orphic' which does this

exactly to the tee, and we spent some time on the eq of one break to change it's dynamics to compliment the

other break [sampled of a VHS tape from 1968 !!!]

Some breaks don't need so much work as they have everything there already [IE Tina Turner's 'Funky Mule']

and when you switch back to funky mule it has that 'military' stance that is fantastic to program or juststraight-forward loop.

Now we tend to 'switch' breaks a lot rather than 'layer' so many breaks together. Funny thing is back in the old

days in 1992 we as Mixrace and DJ Trax used to have like 5-6 breaks all running alongside each other.. crazy.

What we generally do is switch the breaks back and forth till we find suitable eq's even before say properly

programming them as we choose breaks specifically the way they are drummed and try to stick to that style of

pattern to kinda pay homage to that drum style, like for example the 'funky chicken' patten etc

how you get all your breaks sitting in the track the same. Kind of like use of a reverb but sampledroom? (obviously eq etc... play a part too)(but makes sense now)

Yeh a re-sampled room effect or reverb [also reverse ones] works well as air trails especially with long gains.

I tend to buss most of my main breaks to a single buss on mix down, to add equal control over themonce processed, then I can compress/limit/eq etc. when mixing. Do you do anything similar to this?

I don't bus my breaks usually, but some tracks have needed more group attention etc.


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When you're choosing sounds for a tune do you search for a specific character you're after for thatparticular tune, or do you string elements together and see how they work?Would you say you had a planned out approach to making a tune that's systematic, or do you justwork in the way you feel like at that time?It changes all the time mate, but layering samples and strings/effects together is a process that usually followsafter programming drums and bass. Once i get break groove's going the ethereal side of things come into place

and I can start to figure out what direction I want the track to progress via synths/samples. When I work withSeba sometimes it's the other way around. We might have some sort of melody via samples in mind so we'll

work on that for a while and then that in turn influences us to what breaks we would use.

What do you mean by 'magic marker' exactly?

I mean by placing the 'sound' of the break as in the 'air' layered between edits so that you can make versions

of the break unknown to the break on the original funk record. You see it's all about beating the drummer on

the vinyl. No record club-going or record buying punter will ever realize what you have done but at least youwill be satisfied with yourself that you 'extracted' a loop unknown to man or the ultimate breakbeats LP series.

Do you speed up a break to the desired tempo before chopping it up, or chop and re-arrangesections of the break at it's original tempo?

I never speed a break up before slicing it up. I stick to the original funk tempo, and sometimes pitch downeven.

Is it a matter of chopping a break into slices in the Akai and triggering each slice via midi in thesequencer, or do you arrange slices into loops within the Akai and the loops are triggered by midi?

Yes each 'slice' is triggered in midi. Recycle can do this easily for you indeed but I prefer to do it the manual

way.

obviously you have seen many producers working, seen many software. if you hadn't your gear,which softsynths samples, eq, filters, dynamic plugins whatever you enjoyed most

Hmm.. not a big fan of PC music but if I had to choose I'd go for Cubase and Kontact for my sampler etc.. Nice

filters on that there.. I find it boring talking about PC software sorry.

When you pick up some drummer for a session, you use funky drums samples on vdrums? or is it adrum session, with a regular drum(not electronic).

I'd be more concerned with the feeling, the engineering aspects can be applied time and time again after. Still

today we make tracks and hear them out and we might be in a club discussing what we're going to change eq

wise the next day in the studio.

about composing tracks. Are the drums edited in the same sequence as they are finally used, or doyou do much rearranging to make them flow better.

When I sample and then splice up say a 'loop' of a break and I intend to use the exact same loop as I've just

sampled in my track, what I do is actually 'improve' the loop by changing shuffles, kicks, snares etc.. but

keeping them in the exact same places [so the loop stays the same] to make it more leveled or just to improveit so it flows better to me. Obviously not every drummer is spot-on so this way I get to choose the best parts of

the hits and just 'over-write' same parts with similar snares from before, or maybe the same snare from later in

the funk track etc.. Just because a break is 'given away' at 2m:45s in a funk track that lasts 6 mins DOESNTmean that the rest of the track is useless. I ALWAYS check the whole track and try to extract ANY part that I

can replace to make the overall loop sound better or punchier. Now after all this, I'm just trying to improve aloop that sounds to the human ear 100% exactly the same damn thing I've sampled in the first place. What's

the point some of you might ask? If your going to do it properly this is the way to do it.


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Also do you for instance repeat the same drum edit every 4th bar etc. just to bring some coherenceto the track. Do you ever have to rearrange your edits to fit around the bass line?

If you listen to the ride section of 'Drum Sessions' you can hear slight changes at the end of say, the 8th loop

which I've tried to make it sound like a live drummer doing 'his thing' by having slightly different snares, fill-ins

or maybe a tom section rolling into a 'crash' at the top of another bar/loop. These are all very simple drum

techniques that professional drummers study.. it's so simple to program them into a computer. You only have to

listen to the drummer of the Winston's 'Amen Brother' to see what the drummer is about. It's not just about the

break that is available to 'sample'. This is what I include in my tracks when I base my rhythms around a famousbreak. I will copy certain rolls or 'edits' if you wanna call 'em from the original and program them into my d+b

version even tho they are not available to 'sample'. This is how I get the 'Where did you get that part of thebreak from? I've checked my copy and It's not available, do you have another version I don't?' ETC....

I have found with this style it is hard to get the track sounding like a progressive live drum breakrather than random edits, and also not sure where, if anywhere, to draw the line as the breaks andbass have to complement each other and you don't want people to get too lost?

You just have to be careful over what breaks you use at the current ridiculous speed of Drum and Bass today.

There are some breaks that after I've spent an hour getting ready I've found that at 170 they just sound 'toofast' regardless of the pitch I'm reducing them down to. Then I know it's not just gonna work, I mean it might

sound 'OK' but to me if it sounds like a drummer on speed then thats not very natural and I won't go for that.

Remember single kicks rather than double [before the 1st snare] does slow down overall loops, but with the

speed nowadays people are going double kicks at 175+ and it starts to sound ridiculous with some well-known

breaks.

How do you make those mind blowing dark Pads that give your tracks this strong tension. How doyou make'em ? What's your approach to them ?How do you process them ?

Those type of pads are all cinematic and I spend a lot of time searching through dvds and soundtracks looking

for things to layer stuff with. Orchestral tension stuff Is what I'm into, stuff like the soundtrack from 'The

Shining'. I made a track called 'Apocalyptic' based on the film. I put the whole audio of the Shining onto a CD

and instead of watching the film, I 'listened' to the whole thing whilst relaxing in the summer sun. Now It's noteveryone's ideal summer relaxation I know, listening to 'ol Jack but it's inspiring from a mood and tension angle

and it can give you great ideas on how to approach music from a cinematic angle and to surprise the listener inthe exact same way as a movie goer.

Aside from the 1968 VHS tape you mentioned, what's the weirdest source you've ever sampled abreak from?

Yeh on that Kool and the Gang break I tried to give real auditions of whats possible to change a classic break,but it keep it 'linear' enough so people don't get confused. The drummer George Brown was happy with my

version too. Makes it all worthwhile.

I've done some tracks with Nucleus that uses some Country + Western breaks.. you would be surprised whohas funky bones in their bodies.

How do you find music as a full time job as opposed to being a hobbyist

I've been doing this professionally since 1992 and have never had another job. I've been through some tough

times indeed in the earlier years, and yeh in today's market it's a struggle hence so it's always good to createmusic outside of the d+b circle. I couldn't image just making dnb, how boring would that be ??

The only problems arise when people don't pay you on time. This doesn't affect the creative writing process but

can stump the production process from time to time. It's the same old cash-flow problem when you have labels

to pay for etc.. Not having a monthly income thats 'In DA bank' at the end of the month can be stressful but it's

how you deal with it. I'm quiet proud and I don't 'sell' myself through agency's for my pa's as I just rely on

invitations through my website etc.. which truefully has no security, but if I was to start worrying I'd have done

that years ago to be honest. I just do my thing and roll with it. If I get booked great, I'm spreading my musicfurther afield and make some money.

Having said that being 'Paradox' is a full-time job just as much as following my personal dream, so part of me is

also VERY strict as believe me, you have to be otherwise people will walk all over you.

Whats the best place youv been to for digging? and what did you dig up?

I love all kinds of funk but finding the odd gospel-funk break gives me a rush !!!


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When you've spent ages chopping a break, do you then use them for more than one tune? Or you doyou chop a new break each time ?

I'd use the break again for sure. Once I've spliced up say 'Assembly Line' by the Commodores I might use the

break again at another pitch or in a slower bpm project, so it's worthwhile to go through the painstaking

process definitely

when do you make a remix for somebody , do you try to keep the original vibe of it or do you take

the sounds/samples and make your own thing with it ?

I try to extract the original vibe and build on it. We [Seba + Paradox] have just remixed a track for Horizons

that we're really happy with. We've extracted the soul from the original and worked on taking it further. It's

pretty kool. I don't do many remixes as I don't like putting my name against stuff for the sake of a 'Paradox

remix'. I was asked to remix a track in Japan that I turned down flat even tho the money was amazing. The

track in question was 'Just a jealous guy' [you know the one..all sing along now... 'I didn't mean to hurt you..']

how do youve made the drums in the marteria-impact-remix ? is it a break or made from singlehits ? just wondering every time.

The Counter Intelligence remix came about as I was asked by a friend who owns the label and it helped the

label get off the ground. The breaks in question are 'Shack up' by Banbera and the break from 'Outsider Crisis'

from my last Paradox LP. the name escapes me..

How long you pass for make a track ? 1 day ? 1 week or several month ?

I usually work for around 5 days on a track, but it depends if I'm getting someone in for vox, bass etc.. then it

drags out further.

More than time for composition (structure, drum sequence, arrangement etc...) or for fx &mastering (EQ, comp. , space etc...) ?More than time for composition (structure, drum sequence,arrangement etc...) or for fx & mastering (EQ, comp. , space etc...) ?You compose every day ? Howlong by day ? in the morning or in the evening ?

I usually work for around 5 days on a track, but it depends if I'm getting someone in for vox, bass etc.. then it

drags out further.

I'm currently programming a hip hop track for my Alaska LP and my sisters husband who is in the hip hop outfit

'Richbeggar' is doing the vocals and Nucleus is doing the scratching so it's taking time getting all parts together

plus recording in various studios.

The mix downs are generally quick as myself and Nucleus kinda' eq as we go along, and it's the same withSeba. When I used to work with Rob Playford at Moving Shadow it was totally the other way around and we

would time up breaks and the volumes would be all over the place.. odd looking back at that.

I work in the recording studio 6 days a week, up at around 8-9am. Watch abit of Sky Sports morning news

[Georgie Thompson.. so FIT !!!] take a cup of tea into the studio, turn on monitors [studio is left on overnight]

listen to what I'd just finished around 3am, check emails, turn on Aim and then get to work before the phones

start interrupting me.

I try to turn off at 6.30pm cause Hollyoaks is on, so I have a little break and wind down. Evenings are usually

sample hunting periods. Nothing is safe from me..

I used to work in the studio in the evening also, but I'm getting older I suppose. I can't stay the whole 12 hours

in front of the screens like I used to. I'll work on a Saturday or a Sunday depending on Liverpool playing. but I

generally do 6 days a week when I'm in the UK

You use your Korg Z1 just for keys and pads ? or also for make a bass or other sound ?

The Z1 is used on other stuff but we always totally change things by various out-there fx on fx units.

you ever do drum sessions with v-drums or any kind of electronic drums? if so , is it with thoseslices of the breaks you sampled, or drum samples from samplecds.

I've used some Roland Octapads before on stage but that was a while ago. I was triggering break samples too

with long releases which melted breaks into each other and was excellent to use on stage


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how do you get the breaks sounding really clean? is it eq'in and processing alone, or does some of itcome with the mastering? I can never seem to get the clean sounding breaks like a lot of producersdo. I know the source is important, but you say about taking it straight into the Akai, from vinyl?how do you go about cleaning it up? Ive tried using endless old breaks with layered kicks andsnares processed up and cant really get it like i want it - with classic breaks sounding fresh.

To be honest I'm taking an analogue source into another analogue source into an analogue desk. Alot of the

depth I feel is lost when going into a PC or a digital mixing desk. I like it totally raw you see.. I rarely use

reverb on breaks too, I like them crusty. The Metalheadz 12" we've done is sooo crusty it makes my sisterslittle baby's Farley's rusks look soggy.

My advice is to not be afraid to have a little 'raw' quality [this quality is the 'clean' your actually talking about]

in a break. This is what cuts through the bass in our Nucleus + Paradox tracks. Sometimes we place 'Crackle'

over breaks to give a little authenticity if they are too computerized I do push the gain on my desk with breaks

and then eq and add exciter eq sometimes, and constantly by-passing and comparing the dry signals to the

new fx'd ones. Once again, don't be afraid to run with an 'odd' eq just because it don't sound 'fucking loud'

compared to the next ram record. The Curse of Coincidence amen is a good example where a strange eq makes

people go crazy on the dance floor and they even remember the track the next morning after getting pissed.

What method do you use to tune your drum samples?

Just tune with ears bro.

Do you like to get into layering drum sounds a lot?

Don't often layer the same break twice as I like to keep the raw feeling of the original and back it up in other

ways. Kool theory tho.

What do you think of drum-machines type Roland DR-770, SR-16 etc ? do you used this ?

Yeh I like the Alesis SR-16. Used it for a while

man I still don't get this 'air' thing?When you say sample the air out of the Amen, do you mean sample like the snare's reverb tail?(space between the hits)

Well it can be the snare trail but thats not the best part at all.

In Amen the best part is the quiet 'cymbal' after the single kick and before the snare. [This slice is what mostuse also in the fill-in when programming Amen etc..] Get this slice [its tiny by the way] and reverse it and

trigger it a lot whilst making sure the stuttering isn't recognizable and vola.. you have your 'extended' air. Thiscan be used to slow amen down and program the break slower or in different ways, now amen is an easy

example as the break is so fucked up anyway cos of the metallic noise and almost in a good way if you hear

aliitle clipping it doesn't sound so bad.

Another good example of this is the break 'Kickback' by the Buena vistas Check the break and then check 'I get

a Kickback' on Offshore [If you can be bothered]

When you sampled a sound of DVD, have you anything to declare (copyright)?

Depends on what I sample really, If it's very recognizable I might have to clear it. If it's via a company that I

already have affiliations with IE warner it's easier to clear etc.

do you smoke the green stuff when producing? if so does it help or hinder?

Never smoke weed in the studio. Hinders for real.

you use mostly hardware, what do you record to? a hardware recorder or the pc?

Hardware recorders Tascam DA40 and RW700

You mention exciters... which do use?

Yeh we have one of those plus TC Electronix, Boss, Behringer and Alesis , just on breakz


11/16

When you program your beats, how important (if at all) is it that it sounds realistic (by which imean "possible to be played by a drummer")?

It is THEE most important thing to me. I love technology on drums and all that, but that's my ethos with

Paradox programming. The drums on 'Tomorrow's Tomorrow' had roll sections that lasted 6 seconds [long for a

drum roll in dnb] and I spent time playing the rolls with sticks on the side of my mixing desk to get the realistic

feel, and the nod from the drum police.

aries maze.. one of the most beautiful pieces of music Ive heard.. the breakdown is simply lush!where did u get the vocals from? also did you make it for anyone in particular? and why is it calledaries maze?

Yeh a lot of peeps like 'Aries Maze'. The vocalist is fine lady called Eliza Emery and she done a few bits for me

on my Alaska LP in 1999.

AM was the 1st release on Outsider and It seems like I get emails every month [since 2000] from people asking

to buy a copy 'cos they cant get it anywhere or desperate to pay me for a cdr or mp3 etc.. Even when I'mabroad I get it. I only pressed 1,000 units and they all went pretty quickly. I've got plans to remix and and

possibly... put the original on the flip as an Ariez Maze 12", but I'd like to remix the Reykjavik track also so Idunno what I'll do yet. It will probably be Outsider 010 and I'm up to 007 at the moment, so early next year I

reckon release wise.

This is one of the rare few that I haven't named a track after the breakbeat. The name 'Aries Maze' has no

significance to it, I just liked the sound of it.

Yes the breakdown is beautiful. The strings are from the GEM S2 Synth. In the sequence I layered a lot more

pads originally, but I thought I had over done it and ended up taking a lot out. Maybe I'll put some back intothe remix.. we'll see. Glad you like it anyway. I have 2 unplayed copies of my own but I ain't selling em!

what was the break ya used in the unspoken divide, my fav of your tunes... that female vocal makesme scream..

God that one escapes me because all the kicks/snares/fill-ins were all parts of others, but the girl 'Ohh' in theloop plus other little bits were from a Manga film that we're just placed over the break. I started a remix of it

about two years ago for the Drum works Vol.4 Ep on Reinforced, but as I left the R it never was finished. Maybenext year I'll drag it back.

when u say trigger it a lot do u mean like repeat it ever 16th or just put it in between hits.how do you 'make the stutter unrecognizable'

It's all in the blending my friend. Practice making it smooth or place other bits over it to make it sound lesscomputerized [It's hard to explain I know. Sorry]

how the hell did you eq the amen on black angels!!?? that kick is mad strong!!! i like the contrastbetween that amen which to me sounds pretty saturated in processing chopping with a pitchedlower amen that is very dry in comparison

Again when swapping breaks it's good to hear their indentitys rather than clashing breaks to make it sound

mad or insane. The kick in the Black Angels one is just a backed up kick with 'Room' reverb [resampled andslightly chopped at the end of the sample to stun the trail] to give it that odd punch. The kick is purposely loud

I might add.

the amen snare flam you have used over the years, the roll you used in deep sleep & some of youramen tracks recently is that programmed?

Yes that Amen roll is programmed. But sampled from the Winston's 'Color Him Father' LP. Yes sometimes I use

it as a snare also, and as the 'small snare' in the fill-in.

Well we just placed a high pass Amen over a brush drum break to lift the beats in Last Goodbye. I don't meanair as in the 'eq' but the 'overall bad quality' noise that amen produces

What monitors do you use?

I use Yamaha NS10'z.


12/16

Ive noticed that your tracks seem to keep the ruff n rugged sound of Jungle but are stillpunchy/Loud and engineered to similar standards of the modern sound of DnB. How do you get thatbalance of Dirt & Clarity? Is it due to the mix down?

It's due to the mix down I really don't like tracks that are 'too clean' and sound purely from a pc. Seba works

totally from his pc and yes he has outboard synths etc.. but he choose the right breaks that give a little dirt to

his productions. Something for all new producers to think about. Basically I don't want to make vinyl that

sounds like a CD

i listen to your crazy beats and it makes me spend longer on mine,whats the longest amount of time you've spent perfecting a loop

I programmed the break 'Got to get a knut' for a track on Marc 4 Hero's label Twisted Funk. I really wanted to

use the break a while back but it's so long and complicated as it has vocals and out of sync rides going over the

break and the sample-able parts were ALL over the 7min track so I knew it would be a huge job to even get it

into the sampler so I kept on putting it off.

When I finally started it drove me insane !! There were times where I just was shouting out loud, pacing up and

down my house in pure frustration and I found myself having to leave the studio for a brisk walk to the localshop for some energy sugar raising mars bar whilst thinking, 'I wont be beaten.. its only a fuckin break'

I spent 6 days on the dam thing and my versions just sound like I've sampled straight-forward loops from a

funk records with no effort done on my half [If you hadn't heard the original]. Perfect.

Break in question: 'Got to get a Knut' - New Birth

concerning bit depth---when working in 24bit, and one sends all sounds to an analogue mixer to besummed, is the resultant output still 24 bit? or is it up to the final recording app. as to what depth itis recorded?

in other words, would it be necessary to dither to 16bit to record to a 16 bit DAT after leaving thedesk?

Fuck all that mate. Thats all Bollox. Working in 16,24 whatever sending to an analogue desk results in good

results regardless. I seriously wouldn't worry about it.

What was the most difficult (or challenging) break that you've worked with?

The most difficult break I've worked with is actually 'Get into Something' by the Isley Brothers. It's a tricky one

indeed to get all the loose parts sounding quantized and UN-computerized ['recycled'], and to also make itsound 'slower' when programmed faster.

You've mentioned switching between breaks in a previous answer, but do you blend breakssometimes? I was experimenting with this earlier, trying to provide transitions between breaks thisway. It's a bit challenging, if so, mind shedding some light on this process?

Yeh well blending I do sometimes, then I usually go for breaks that are programmed similar pattern wise, IE I

might re-program them for instance like the military Funky Mule pattern. I don't often do this really. Mainly inlive work,

how big is your break collection?

Our break collection is quiet large. we have some 4,000 Jazz+Funk records. There is a pic of A to D on my

website [yes we categorize em]

Are you ever going to use any of the hybrid breaks such as the tramen, boomerang or remotecontrol break? What is your opinion on these? Do you see it as an evolution that new breaks arecreated specifically for the genre?

Those breaks are not kinda my feel. I prefer rawer breaks. The funk years will service dnb forever.

It's nice to hear people sampling the Boomerang break as you call it but that just reminds me of a year of dnb.Whereas when I hear Amen for example [personally] I think of the Winston's and not 5million dnb records.


13/16

Breaks: mono or stereo? Please discuss at your leisure....

Breaks Mono.

Samples Mono + Sereo.

It's good to have an 'unbalance' in the mix from my point of view

how do u get a b line really beefy?a lot of re sampling ?

1. We go completely in the red on our desk2. Nucleus says 'That sounds good'

3. I say 'It's fucked'

4. I turn it down.. Nucleus looks disgruntled

5. We eventually agree on a certain volume even tho Nucleus says it's too quiet

6. It gets cut and Nucleus is happy.

Apart from the above we use certain outboard synths that we can rely on and it's just a case of matching the

bass volume to the master break volume. Everything else after that can be all over the place volume wise..something we do in our mix downs to surprise people. A bit of oddity can be so fresh. Nucleus's 12" on

Reinforced is a good example of this.

You mentioned b4 that u back up your breaks sometimes with other elements and pitch them. I waswondering what kick and snares in particular(like from which breaks) you use, or think are good for

doing that with? Also by how many semitones do u pitch them and what makes u determine howmuch to pitch shift something?

Yes but I generally back up breaks if they are needed by Roland hits etc..

Sometimes placing kicks from other breaks can get sharp trails that make the overall break your doing sound

less authentic [to me anyway], so you have to use your ears and decide on appling release or a straight

forward sharp end to the backup kick. [waffling now..]

I use kicks from Kool and the Gang breaks, The Vibrettes, Hot Pants etc.. they all can br used and pitched to

sound beefy.

I never knock the pitch down too much as then it just becomes too muddy, like 2-3 semitones

I normally make my beats with single snth hits. I tried working with breaks (whether it be funk, hiphop, or otherwise) but when I try to program a pattern (depending on the break) there are hits thattend to "clash" with each other. Then when I cut each slice, it tends to sound more robotic (with nohumanness feel at all) to them. Any advice on trying to get that human feel or groove to them whilestill coming up with a fresh pattern?

Yes. To achieve the smooth feel to the new pattern you have to layer these air bits I've been talking about. Thebest bet is to reverse some hits [around 6 samples inc kicks + snares] and straight after a snare enter a very

tiny part of the reverse snare to extend the snare time [but without making it sound like a backwards sample]and place a ride/cymbal halfway through the reverse snare [in time etc..] Straight after that sample try the

filling with the reverse filling too [just experiment] and then just move around the parts. The single

rides/cymbals will slow the break down. [Over the rev-air parts I place 'ride/cymbals' to mask the area I've

been working on]. This creates the smoothness that will just make people think you have done absolutely

nothing to a break and people will think you have sampled raw loops.

There you have it. Now whats the point in doing that if people don't notice you might ask?

There is a bboy in every dnb producer dying to be set free.

Pay homage to the damn drummer and extend his great work. Don't fuck it up. Make him proud of your

version.

earlier on you mentioned that the sheer tempo of drum and bass in 2005 limits your possibilities interms of usable breakbeats and the complexity of your drums... would you feel uncomfortablemaking a tune around 165-168 nowadays?

Yes its a shame as there are some great breaks that I just can't use because of todays tempo. I mean, I can go

in on them and extract grooves but there are certain patterns that I'd like to keep in my homage versions that

just aren't possible at 170bpm+


14/16

You say "Yes its a shame as there are some great breaks that I just can't use because of todaystempo. "

i don't understand.... why this "tempo dictation" ? (sorry for the term... i don't say thisinenglish...dictator,dictate,dictature ?)

There are some breaks that would be simply crucified when played out at +2/3 because they are so busy in the

first place.

if you make a track at 165 Bpm , the DJ (junglist/DnBist) don't play your track ? at 165, you can'tsell this ???

It's not about selling the record. It's a personal thing that I KNOW that my record will sound like a chip monk

when played out. I just use those types of breaks PROPERLY at the right tempo at 130 bpm on the break labels

I work for.

on the mastering process. Is it essential to the quality of the tracks, or is it merely a formality?

For us it's merely a formality. We kinda mix down the track as we go along, so we're always aware of the

volumes and its easy when coming to the mastering stage. At the cut you can also change things so it's not the

final mix down really.

How do u usually go about equing your breaks do you tend to process each element seperatley byrouting I.E kicks, snares, hats, or do u just eq the break as a whole,

I eq breaks when they are looping as that depends on the sound of the break itself. If I were to back a break up

I then just eq certain hits IE Kick drums etc.

do you use much layering and processing on your bass or do you keep it rarely simple.

I keep bass simple. Sometimes I might use Sine wave notes underneath other bass's for just a little morebottom end

Speaking of complex beats.....

How do you make them? I read your earlier posts about re-creating breaks, but how do you go froma break to the complex drums we hear on your records?

My breaks are not complex. They are simple drum patterns that appear in music 24-7 either it be pop or funk,just at a higher tempo. I've never considered my programming as complex.

Do you arrive at that sound by playing around with edits to the break you just made, or do youprogram it from scratch? Also, when you edit, are you chopping the Midi sequence or the audio ofthe break?

I re-arrange the midi triggering of the break. A very simple process. Its abit of both really talking of making

from scratch and moving slices etc.. really depends on the break in question.

do you quantize rolls/fills that you sample? Or do you grab the whole fill and play it as one sample?

I always sample a fill-in and then re-play them [exactly the same way] with the exact slices needed

What's a swell way to get a break to sound good at both 180 and 90 bpm.... so hits sound similar inpitch...and methods to tighten up the transitions? A quick tip on how to get 120 bpm breaks tosound good in this sense, too.

Well I take it you mean the same break at both EXACT pitches...

To slow the break down to 90bpm you will have to replace air parts to get the break slower without sounding

'gappy' etc.. as there will be gaps between the samples if sliced individually, again it totally depends on thetype of break itself.

At 120 it's as easy as pie. Get the break into the according 'in time' slices and slow the tempo down..

Does that sound easy?


15/16

Out of the all the breaks you've heard, are there any other breaks where the ride ambiance blendswith the kit in the same way that amen does?

I haven't sampled a break that has the same ambiance, but I did however re-create one myself on the

Reinforced track 'Give the Drummer Some

how were the vocal effects achieved in its not a dream?

The vocals on the film samples we're pitch shifted and phased to make the female vocals sound more like male.

how do you determine which frequency ranges are cut or boosted within a break- for instance doyou sweep through the frequency with a parametric eq searching for nasty resonances? what is themost you would normally boost or cut a frequency by and how wide a Q would you normally set thisto?

When eq'ing breaks I listen to them totally flat for a good while. I get the feel of the original funk version and

try to retain some of that grit. Some breaks need to be a little flat/distorted and and louder on purpose to givethem true identity [depending on the sound of the loop].

There is a break that cuts in occasionally in a track I done called '96 Paragons' on Freak where it's purposely

louder than all the main breaks and underneath it is a real 'FFFHHH' hum to give it abit of warmth. It almost

sounds like a VHS tape underneath.

Searching for that eq by ear without staring at the Hz crunchers adds to the sound that myself and Nucleus

create.

what is the break you use on "aries maze", as well as the lil' ride you throw in as a fill from time totime (it may be a part of the same break)?..

The Ariez Maze break is 'Can we Rap' by Karleen and the Groovers. The fill-in was also taken from the break in

the form of an edited roll of Can we Rap.

How to melt beats together? Is it through use of reverb?How would you do it in 5 steps?

To melt them together you layer 'air parts'

What desk do you use

I mix down on a Behringer Eurodesk 32:8

What would you describe as being your 'divine' tempo? A lot of the times when I start a mix orlisten to a tune I tend to end up playing them at 168 BPM

Yup 165-168 is the perfect tempo in my opinion. 'Play twice before listening' was 168

What kind of effect would you use to give a beat more punch / warmth. Or a bit of distortion /compression?

I use aural exciter fx sometimes on the breaks to give it warmth and punch bro

What synth / sampler did you use for the baseline on move on and what processing was in itssignal path?

We used a Korg plug-in on the bassline. Can't remember wot it was to be honest. We tweaked it for ages.. At

one point it was very angry sounding and we [s+p] just looked at each other and both muttered 'What the fuck

are we doing?'

Do you re sample the bass from these synths or go straight from the synth outputs?We go straight from the synth outputs [or output lol]. Sometimes we have sampled from them etc.. but we like

to use the CAT the way it is.. hum and all..


16/16

How do you arrange your sounds? (Biggest question) Do you start a track in the middle or do youbegin with the intro? How do you typically "build up" a track? How do you know if a track iscomplete? What do you do if you feel it lacks some background / ambient? Don't you get off track,the more you try to add stuff to a track or is it all a big complete thing in your head?

Do you have some tricks of the trade how to get a mix down in general?

I start programming a track from the beginning. I mean that I start sequencing from there and move on etc..

Sometimes I work on a certain idea for a while layering etc.. but usually I like to feel the progression ratherthan work on the middle of a track and then sequence a intro out of it etc..

I add eerie tones to add ambiance Usually I have the whole thing in my head beforehand.

What I love doing is ending samples with a 'dead' finish. Most of the 70's film producers used this technique in

their scores etc..

Nowadays if you go and see a horror film and you're watching a tense scene it may end in a sharp sample of

whatever, nowadays it will probably be drenched in a reverb trail and 'fade' nicely out into the next scene. What

all these old films did was to have complete dry scores that cut into the next scene almost like a 'bad cutting

room edit'.

A great example of this method is in the original Amittyville Horror film where the women is taking the newtenants up the stairs showing them around the house at the start of the film, and flashbacks of a murder splice

in with Lalo schifrin violins.

Watch it and listen. Some people might think the method sounds 'old' and low-budget, but that's exactly what itisn't. It's all about the tension. I picture my tracks along those exact same lines when I'm creating a tension.

You mention you use some vintage synths for your baselines. Is this because they just sound fatterthan virtual analogue and softsynths?

Not really. I'm just an old schooler and I don't like change. Although the old synths that Nucleus and I use

DEFINATELY have a different grain to them

Do you still use hardware compressors, EQs etc / Which ones?

TC Electronics and Zoom compressors and Finalisers.

What bits of kit could you not live with out?

I couldn't live without my 4 synths to be honest. I like going through the screen pages etc.. not looking at a

VDU all the time. I spent a lot of hard earned cash on getting my studio together and what with pc/mac music I

try not to make my gear redundant. At school many, many, many years ago I 'd be drawing 'Yamaha DX7' logos

on my text books whilst others we're into Duran Duran or ssomething. I'm still like it now kinda, although I

don't fantasize about the dx7 anymore.

Do you dedicate, bounce and re sample each part as you make changes?

Nope.

What DA/AD converters do you use?

Use Universal Audio converters from time to time. Alot of the time we go straight into the desk RAW

For summing, would you recommend a proper analogue desk or a summing box?

Desk bro.

q&a session 02 - paradox

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