My favorite thing about running this blog is discovering how my favorite sound designers work and where they got their start... and today's 10 Questions is no exception. Dave 909, founder of ReasonFreaks.com and SampleBasement, is an elder statesman on the Reason scene. He's responsible for the stellar Elements free refill series and has a new commercial refill, called Electric Avenue, coming soon!
- Where are you located and what's the music scene like there?
I’m located in Belgium (Flanders). I’m originally from Holland but i’ve been living here for about 10 years now. The music scene in Belgium is actually quite interesting as you have many really artistic people here with their own individual style and sound. I wouldn’t say that there’s one musical genre that really dominates here. I guess the people here just appreciate good music which can come in all flavours. If you are into clubbing you also won’t be disappointed around these parts. The Belgians know how to throw a party!
- What was your first instrument?
I think my first “musical instrument” (if you can call it an instrument) was a tape deck! I used to record pieces of music from various tapes to another so they would form a mix. I got really good at it but it was of course nothing serious. After that i got into real DJ’ing. First with 2 low end Technics turntable’s which were soon replaced by SL1200MKII’s and a Dateq mixer. Been DJ’ing for a long time with that setup. The DJ’ing evolved into interest to produce music and that was when i slowly converted to the production side instead of mixing other peoples music.
- I know you've been on the Props forum since at least 2001 (statistics date 2001-12-28) when did you start using Reason and what attracted you to the software?
Not long after Reason 1.0 was released i bought it. A friend showed it to me and i was sold immediately. It really was what i had been looking for for a long time. First i had been using a tracker on the Amiga (can’t remember the name), then another tracker on the PC. Then Reason came along and i stuck with it. The idea of having a software studio that looks and feels like a hardware setup is just brilliant! If you know how to connect hardware you know how to use Reason. It’s the simplicity which makes the program so powerful.
- What other software and hardware makes up your home studio?
My setup has been evolving ever since i got into producing. There was a point where i had a 25x25m room literally filled to the rim with gear. I had like 7 hardware synths, a full blown Tama Rockstar drumkit with mics on each drum and racks full of outboard gear but it wasn’t ideal. Having to deal with all the different interfaces and cabling made it take way too long to set everything up to get something i had in my head translated into music/sound. I now have a pretty compact setup which is at least as powerful as the room full of gear but way more flexible and direct.
Here’s a list of the most prominent things i use these days:
Software:
Cubase SX
Sound Forge
Reason
NI FM7
NI Pro 53
NI Reaktor
NI Vokator
NI Absynth 2
VirSyn Cube
Waldorf Attack
Arturia Moog Modular
Arturia CS-80V
Hardware:
DSI Mopho
Novation K-Station
M-Audio Oxygen 49
Various stomp box effects like analog chorusses, tube overdrives and more.
As you can see a pretty compact setup which is more based on software than on hardware. I believe it’s all about knowing what you are doing with the stuff you use. And i also believe that many software instruments can sound really, really good. Thor for instance is one of the very best analog emulations i have encountered. And that’s not a fanboy talking (or maybe just a little bit) ;)
- Now most people know you from SampleBasement, but you also were responsible for the stellar Reasonfreaks 1001 series (Subtractor and Malstrom) and RF-01; how did you first get involved in Sound Design and do you have any tips for anyone interested in making their own patches?
Ever since i got into producing music rather than playing it while DJ’ing i was intrigued with the creation of sound. But it wasn’t until i founded ReasonFreaks and did the Refills you mentioned that things really got focused primarily on sound design. For people who want to program their own sound i advise that you really learn how a subtractive synthesizer works. If you have that down you can expand your knowledge by adding other types of synthesis like FM and additive. Don’t be afraid to experiment either. By just listening to what all the parameters on your synth do to the sound, you can really learn a lot!
- I started off in electronic music with a Roland MC-303 groovebox and probably as a result of that I absolutely love your groovebox style patches, both in the fantastic TekkBox refill and Thor Vol. 3, what can you tell me about the sound design concept behind these combinator patches and how do you go about creating these multi sound patches that mesh so well together?
I used to own an MC-307 which i quite liked. It had the buttons to enable or disable tracks in the loop. It really feels like being on the decks where you can add or remove bits in the performance. My GrooveBox patches are ideal to quickly get a song structure in place which you can edit later. The real time feeling of it makes it feel like DJ’ing to me. When creating them I usually start with the drums on which i place the bass. I then make these play nicely together before i add another part to it. This can be a synth riff or sound effects. It’s hard to explain how i create them really. Once i have the drums down the rest just follows. I just keep tweaking things untill i like the way the whole groove sounds.
- I'm very impressed by your kick drum patches, particularly 'Kick Lab 1 & 2' in the SB Elements Combinator Bank - both of which use the Basic Analog oscillator in the Wavetable Osc Bank. When designing drums sounds, which by nature are shorter quick bursts of sound, how do you go about choosing which oscillator you are going to use as the basis for your patch and at what frequency it'll be tuned?
I mostly always use sine waveforms for my kickdrums as these are the best for pure kickdrums. In the Kick Lab patches i used the wavetable sine because it’s a sampled waveform which always starts at the same position. This makes for a more precise initial click. You can also use the analog osc’s sine wave (which i used more in the Thor Sounds ReFill) but it’s less predictable, which can also be nice of course. You can get some nice results with triangle and square too, but the use of these is more limited to distorted kicks which have a pretty narrow usability. With kick drums based on sine waves you get the pure kick drum which you can distort using a distortion later. That’s much more flexible. The tuning is all done by ear. I usually add the pitch mod depth control to the patch which enables the user to tune the kick to their song. Sometimes i also use some noise to add a bit of grit to the sound but the basis is the sine wave.
- Who are your main influences musically, both in sound design and daily listening?
I like good music. I don’t really have a favourite genre. It’s really dependant of the mood i’m in. At the moment i listen to a lot of Rock and Rap. My favourite Rock artist is Anouk who is a great Dutch Rock singer. She has a great voice and her songs are very powerful. I can also appreciate the Electro House wave which has been going on for a while; there’s some very interesting sound design going on in this genre. But the biggest influence for me and the way i look at sound has to come from my days at the decks and the numerous dance tracks i have played.
- You have a new refill coming out soon called Electric Avenue, which you've put up a demo rps file of on-line. First off, being a reggae man, I've got to ask is the name inspired by the Eddie Grant song?
Haha, no it isn’t actually (love that tune by the way). As the sounds in Electric Avenue are all generated electronically and it’s a really broad spectrum of sounds i thought of the name Electric Avenue. Going thru the sounds is like taking a walk on Electric Avenue. I also just like the way it sounds.
- While checking out the demo of "Electric Avenue" I was initially impressed with the arpeggio patch '005 Pitch Hiker' in which you have a Mod Env controlling the pitch of Osc 2 by 40 in Thor's Modulation Bus Routing Section. Now this would normally create a wildly out of pitched oscillator, but in this case Osc 2 is synced to Osc 1, so instead you get this tone that is still pitched wildly, but the syncing to Osc 1 keeps it in tune and in time with the song. I'm curious to find out if patches like these are the result of experimentation or research or a bit of both and what can you tell me about your usual method of patch design? Do you start off with a set-out idea for a patch?
I really love oscillator sync. I have to watch myself to not add to many sync sounds. The timbre you get when you sync 2 oscillators and have the slave’s pitch modulated is really special. It’s a very full and sharp sound which cut’s thru a mix easily. Most of the sounds i create are the result of experimentation, research and experience. Using synths for quite a while now i really know how to get a specific sound and how i can make a sound the way i want. I sometimes program a simple sound and then do all sorts of crazy modulation to make it more interesting. By doing that you really get to know the synth you’re working with and can use that knowledge to apply these things to get a certain sound.
- I know you recently picked up a DSI Mopho and it's going to play a part in the "Electric Avenue" refill bass patches, what software do you use when recording samples and trimming them down to size for refills?
I only mentioned it in the description of the Bass Machine but it won’t only get used for bass sounds as this thing can spit out some really cool leads and pads too. But bass is where it really sounds the most powerful indeed. I tend to program a lot of sounds and then tweak them until i’m really satisfied with them. Then i will start up Cubase and record them. I usually sample every other white key so that each sample only has to span a few notes in the NN-XT, this makes for a very accurate reproduction of the sound i originally programmed. Sometimes i will also sample multiple velocity levels if i think this is needed to give a more accurate reproduction of the synths filter. I don’t do this with every sound because Thor filters are pretty awesome and many times give me the desired results while using less samples in a patch.
When the patch has been recorded i will open the file in Sound Forge and do the editing there. I create regions of each note which i then export to cut to precision and add loop points to make the sound sustain. This really is a lot of work. Imagine having to edit hundreds of sounds and adding loop points to each and every one of them. Some are easily set but others take much longer to get right, especially with stereo sounds which don’t have clear cycles in the waveform. You really have to rely on your ears to make these loop unnoticably.
- After the release of "Electric Avenue" what can we expect from SampleBasement in the future?
At the moment i’m totally devoted to the creation of Electric Avenue. I haven’t really had the time to work out new projects but be certain to see some interesting things coming as I’m still full of new sound ideas and these can come in the form of full blown library’s like Electric Avenue or smaller ReFills which i will keep giving away for free on the SampleBasement website.
Thanks for the great interview Dave! Be sure to check out his great refills available on the SampleBasement site. Stay tuned to Resonant Filter for another great 10 Questions coming soon.
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