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Jon Cyantific
First of all thanks for taking time out to answer these important questions, how you doing? What are you working on in the studio this week?
I'm great thanks mate, havent showered or shaved in days and the studio smells a bit funny. I'm working on a remix for Holdtight at the moment, a track called 9 2 5. I'm trying to turn it into a minimal Matrix kind of vibe thing.
Was your entry into production the same as most people in D&B via DJ'ing? or did you fall into it some other way?
I guess so yeah, listening to mixing to trying to make stuff of my own was pretty much how it happened. I had no idea what you needed, I just turned on my Dad's computer and found wave editor and learnt the hard way.
Can you break down a kit list of your studio?
Ok, let me see, its a studio being used by 4 different groups of people so theres a lot in here. I'll just list the stuff that still gets turned on every now and then.
Dual 867 G4 G5 (appeared under the desk last week...?)
iBook G4
Virus TI Desktop
Dynaudio BM5 Actives
Motu 828 MK2
Emagic A26
Alesis Andromeda
Sequential Circuits Multi-Trak
Roland SH101
Roland JP8000
Roland PC180 Controller
Roland Juno 106
Roland TR-808
Mackie SR24-4
Technics SL 1200
Software: Logic 7; Kontakt 2
The first ever track i heard from you guys was "Neon Skyline" which had the sickest vocal chop ups, can you divulge any info on how you created this?
That was a weird one. We made it and it was kind of this average tune, we'd really run out of steam with it. Then we were listening to a bit of Todd and decided to throw some bits of vocal over it. We were using Acid 2 on the PC at the time so it was a totally different way of working. The samples are all loaded in and you pitch each piece individually. I cant really remember much more, we used to drink in the studio a lot back then.
What is your sampler of choice for you, EXS24 or third party plug-ins? Did you ever work on hardware akai/emu, if so do you miss this way of working?
Never used a sampler sampler. Bit before my time I think. I love using Kontakt 2. I find it a load easier to use than the EXS24 and has so much more capabilities. It does miss the simple filter of the EXS though. Saying that, Matt still uses the EXS24 a lot. I just like being able to drag a sound into Kontakt and start playing it straight away.
I personally feel that Akai/Emu missed the boat a bit by not creating virtual versions of their hardware and running them from DSP cards inside the computer. Do you use any DSP stuff in your mac, are tempted to use a UAD or Powercore card?
Yeah one of the guys who uses the studio thinks the same thing, he has an Akai and an Emu here. Mate if I knew what DSP or UAD Powercore is I'm sure I'd rush out and buy one.
So tell us a little bit about the start of a track for you... is it that you usually start from a break? or sample?
It varies. Sometimes you can find a wicked sample and that will be the first thing you load up. You always end up muting it to work on the beats anyhow. Usually it is beats first. I think that makes it easier to build your mix from the ground up, the beats are the foundation, and I never heard of someone building a house then building the foundations afterwards.
Lately in the last few years you have moved away a little from using breaks and gone into using the kick & snare hits to create this monster club sound, is there a specific way you work to acheive this?
I still like using breaks. Just not in the same way. The hits method is better for getting a louder mix but is definately harder to do. As it goes I've been making a few things with breaks as the backbone of it these past few days. As far as the theory behind hits I'm not really too sure how to explain it, it just kind of sounds 'right'. I would usually use 2 or 3 samples for the snare, one with attack, one with a lot of high end and one with a nice low end then sometimes something with a lot of character if I'm trying for a certain sound. The kicks seem to be easier to do because theres more samples that work than with snares. Once you've obsessed over that for a while you've got to make the break 'move', I usually use a high passed break with a nice top end on it then something with a litte more low end quietly in the mix so it doesn't sound too scooped out. I'll usually compress the kicks and snares and bounce them, then stick them back in kontakt. Then sent them to a bus with the breaks and percussion and compress them some more, and stick a limiter on to squeeze a bit more volume out, being careful not to kill the attacks too much.
Which producers do you look up to and think "how the f***k???????"
In DnB definately Sub Focus (Beats, Sound Design), Ant Miles (Basslines), Matrix (Use of samples), Influx UK (Beats), Ed Rush and Optical (Basslines, Sound Design) & Logistics (Hair). Luckily I got to work with 2 of them and observe their methods up close. I highly recommend collaborating with people for that reason. Plus if they leave any samples on your hard drive, bonus!
What area of production do you spend longest on?
Probably the internet! No, well, yes. Other than that beats I guess, followed by mix downs. My record is 17 versions of a tune. But for time, Don't Follow with Diane Charlemagne took the longest to mix. Probably the best part of 7 or 8 days.
Do you do any mastering on your tracks? What do you use to get your stuff LOUD!!!!?
I try to leave the mastering to Stuart at Metropolis. I do limit stuff before I send it out to people to play though. Then send an unmastered one as the master.
Do you think this loudness war between mastering enigneers will stop soon and we will start to see dynamics coming back into music production?
I don't think it can, people will get better at having really loud dynamics though, like Dillinja does for example. I do miss that '97 era sound, boxy beats and some tunes with way too much bass and some with none at all!
What track are you most proud of production wise?
Don't Follow for the mixdown. Ghetto Blaster for the beats. Coming Unstuck or Disconnected for the volumeness of it all.
Have you ever ventured out of D&B to other musical styles?
Yeah Matt is currently making Techno. I've made a few Hiphop beats. I'm a bit of a slow worker so I don't get much time to focus on other things.
Thanks for your time and a great interview, any last tips you would like to give to producers just starting out on the grind?
Load other mixes you like into your arrange window and compare, always helps. A lot of people do this, I find it invaluable. Listen back to your music in the company of others aswell. You get a different perspective on it. And be original!
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Seminars
NEW SEMINAR ANNOUNCED!
Production Tips and Tricks
Date Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 April 2008
Location Central London (Westminster)
