DSF Q&A Sessions Vol. 13: Akira Kiteshi (closed)

[akira kiteshi]

Musical background? I know its large I read a post from you mentioning splicing reels together. So i just want to know how you got where you are now

I've been obsessed with all types of music since about 4 years old. Grew up around it with my granddad playing in jazz bands, my mum was part of the Edinburgh northern soul movement and one of my aunties was a full on punk when I was a kid in the 80's. I moved to Germany in the late 80's and happened to be there when the summer of love was happening and that was my first exposure to dance music and even as a kid I fell in love with it....
I started making music at 14 by splicing drum breaks and random loops from soul records etc together on a old 1/4" Teac I had. Then I got a Roland MC303 and a couple of other bits of gear and started making hardcore and gabba and hip hop and when I got a computer with logic and a tracker I started making random types of electronic music which I've been doing up until now really......

[akira kiteshi]

Same as above really. I'm presuming the Vads remix was one of your first releases and is how I first heard about you , albeit by accident(I was after the Pain Struck Stanley Dumb version!), and have noticed your productions getting stronger and stronger and also hearing more of you, most noticably via regular plays on, aswell as your mint mix on Electronic Explorations. Let's face it Rob Booth don't play no shit and in my eyes if you get played on EE, well, you've made it!

I'd had a couple of things out under different names before the Vads remix, Mainly stuff that I had produced as The Icarus with a couple of friends who sing and rap (http://www.myspace.com/theicarus) which got used by Fox in their 'Bones' series and a couple of other tv shows, but yeah my first release as AK was the Vadz remix.
Rob Booth is a total legend and has been supporting my tunes since day 1 as AK and I deffo owe him a beer!

[akira kiteshi]

never knew you used renoise, big ups to so another user! congrats on the wedding btw.
curious about a couple things, the beginning of the special branch mix. was that live recording into a mic messing about (and what was the first tune)? also on stripper did you mic up a blown speaker for the bassline or just use some sort of digital clipping or something like that?
ez,
mike
(one day i'll send ya a tune pack of shit i'm happy with so you can have more to listen to )

Hey Mike!

Feel free to fire some tunes over!

Yeah that was a live recording at the beginning of the mix. A mate of mine was filming me in the studio for a laugh and I was playing around with making a tune using a bass sound using a Stylophone plugged in to a Korg MS10 (which is the random sounds of me patching it in you can hear) thrown in to Renoise and resampled.
The 1st tune was the result of that with all the bass being from the Stylophone. I never finished the track off but Raffertie is now finishing it as part of our e.p together...

There were 8 bass sounds (I think) on the Stripper remix. The sound I think you're talking about was a square wave from the Korg through a flanger tuned to the frquency of the note with tons of feedback then distorted and put through a formant filter as well, and ran to tape for more grit...

[akira kiteshi]

What's your favorite track that you've produced? Why?

What currently active artist or group do you look up to? Like the one that makes you feel like you're still a student and they're the teacher?

I don't really have a favourite tune that I've produced. I'm never 100% happy with them even as I'm mixing the pre masters to be sent off for pressing! I guess I owe a lot to Pinball, but I think technically my best tune is Ming the Merciless. I used to write breakcore so it was nice to get some of those influences in there....

There are so many people that I look up to such as Squarepusher, Reso, Aphex Twin, Noisia, Venetian Snares, Burial, Leftfield, Madlib, Raffertie, Sluggabed, Loops Haunt, Dabrye, Kode9, Eskmo and tons more that I can't think of right now....

I always feel like a student with production. They'll be at least 1 point each day when I hear something and get inspired by it, and a lot of the time it's not any of the big guys signed to labels....

[Danger Co]

hi there,

Cheers for this, very interesting...

You mentioned that you chop your samples in Reaktor...What ensembles do you use for this? Also, what are some of your favourite ensembles in general.

Cheers in advance!!

Respekt for the Q&A,

Just wanted to add to this question about Reaktor...Do you make your own ensembles or download user ensembles from NI e.g? Or do you build upon pre-exsisting ensembles to find the sound your looking for?

Also how long do you usually spend on a tune?

Thanks heaps
Cheers

[Mad_EP]

I guess my question(s) is / are in several parts....



1) What is it EXACTLY (being so many reasons) that you admire most about me?

2) How many of those tips (including the one using the double-gauge stapler, bald tractor tire, salad cream & Pacific moray eel) did you actually use on your honeymoon?

3) Belly-button: Inny or Outtie?

4) When can I start dropping "Teraohm" in DJ sets?

5) Being Scottish, if England (the oppressors) had actually played America (the liberators) in the World Cup, who would you have rooted for. Hint: don't betray your ancestors...

6) May we please see a photo of your family tartan?




Lots of love -
Matt

[Disco Nutter]

What's the story behind the "Akira Kiteshi" name?

[compact71]

yet another renoise user

which internal renoise devices/fx u like/use the most & why?

what do u think bout the "bus-compressor"

many thanks 4 this!

CoMPACT

[nowaysj]

The Icarus with a couple of friends who sing and rap (http://www.myspace.com/theicarus) which got used by Fox in their 'Bones' series and a couple of other tv shows

How did these deals come about?

[akira kiteshi]

hi there,

Cheers for this, very interesting...

You mentioned that you chop your samples in Reaktor...What ensembles do you use for this? Also, what are some of your favourite ensembles in general.

Cheers in advance!!

I don't cut samples that often in reaktor, I mostly use Renoise for that unless I want some extreme effects such as granular manipulation. I normally would use something like white grains or graincloud for that.

Some of my fav ensembles are anything by Dieter Zobel, the electronic instruments packs, Newskool (all versions) Massive, Limelite, Loveandloops, Spawn Synth, and some of my own funky inventions

[akira kiteshi]

Respekt for the Q&A,

Just wanted to add to this question about Reaktor...Do you make your own ensembles or download user ensembles from NI e.g? Or do you build upon pre-exsisting ensembles to find the sound your looking for?

Also how long do you usually spend on a tune?

Thanks heaps
Cheers

Yeah I mainly take apart ensembles that I like and try and do my own thing with them. Sometimes they're so good that I end up just making them worse and go back to using the original ens. I build some of my own synths but they're so basic compared to what you can get from the NI User Library, and I don't have the time to spend hours on end building my own from scratch that often.

I'm really slow at writing tunes. It will normally take me between 2 weeks and 2 months to finish a track whilst working on other ideas. I'm always a bit wary of producers that bang out 6 tunes a week tbh....

[MineOurArc]

Why do you use a Tracker and what do you feel are the pro's and cons of using this method?

[akira kiteshi]

I guess my question(s) is / are in several parts....



1) What is it EXACTLY (being so many reasons) that you admire most about me?

2) How many of those tips (including the one using the double-gauge stapler, bald tractor tire, salad cream & Pacific moray eel) did you actually use on your honeymoon?

3) Belly-button: Inny or Outtie?

4) When can I start dropping "Teraohm" in DJ sets?

5) Being Scottish, if England (the oppressors) had actually played America (the liberators) in the World Cup, who would you have rooted for. Hint: don't betray your ancestors...

6) May we please see a photo of your family tartan?




Lots of love -
Matt

hahahahaha!

1) The main thing I admire about you is your really hard finger tips from playing the cello

2) The salad cream and the bald tire went down a treat with the missus but she ran a mile when I whipped out the eel!

3) Belly button has to be a inny and nipples are preferred when they are pink, but not really fussy.....

4) You can drop Teraohm any time you like me ol buckfast swiggin half Scott American Brother

5) I wouldn't root for either as I would be too busy making sun ra style free jazz with my vuvuzela

6) Douglas Tartan....True Scott style....

[akira kiteshi]

yet another renoise user

which internal renoise devices/fx u like/use the most & why?

what do u think bout the "bus-compressor"

many thanks 4 this!

CoMPACT

I like all the Renoise effects. They aren't very good which is why I like them, they have a definite character. The main ones I use are the Ring modulator, eq10, scream filter, flanger, guitar cab, lfo device, automation device and filter.
I don't really use the bus-compressor but I do use the standard insert one from time to time.

[akira kiteshi]

The Icarus with a couple of friends who sing and rap (http://www.myspace.com/theicarus) which got used by Fox in their 'Bones' series and a couple of other tv shows

How did these deals come about?

A friend of mine worked at a publishing company in Edinburgh that deals with Fox, Warners etc. He heard my tunes and commissioned them. I now have a publisher in London that takes care of my sync work.

[akira kiteshi]

Why do you use a Tracker and what do you feel are the pro's and cons of using this method?

It's what I have used the longest really (apart from a proper mixing desk and a 24tk Otari)
I've recorded projects when I worked as an engineer in Logic, Protools, Cubase etc and my workflow is not any slower with those programmes. If I have a song with a lot of tracks, say over 80 or so I do my mixing in Sonar.
For me the main advantage of using a tracker is the speed at which you can manipulate a sound or a break and turn it in to something new. It's great for resampling which I do a lot of so it's the right tool for me.

[setvice]

5) Being Scottish, if England (the oppressors) had actually played America (the liberators) in the World Cup, who would you have rooted for. Hint: don't betray your ancestors...

Sorry to butt in, and i don't have a question but England did play America in the world Cup!
It was 1-1 as i recall, famous for the Robert Green Howler.
Maybe im missing something

[faultier]

first off, thanks a lot for doing this q+a

so i got a few questions:

u said u used to write gabba and breakcore, were some of these tunes released ? is there some place on the internet we can find some of these ?

what are u listening at the moment ? any groundbreaking next level thing u want to recommend (even if its actually an obscure polish jazz band from the 50's) ?

What's the story behind the "Akira Kiteshi" name?

hmmm u didnt answer this one... i used to refer to you as "that japanese producer i just found out about"

[Mad_EP]

Hahahah Tommy!

You always put up with my shenanigans with such grace!


But seriously - much respect for doing this Q+A, you have some of the best sounding mixes of anyone in the game and beyond. There are lots of specifc things people can learn from you, but you said it best when you mentioned that even though you have been doing this for 14 or so years, you still are learning and every day try to make your mixes better.

5) Being Scottish, if England (the oppressors) had actually played America (the liberators) in the World Cup, who would you have rooted for. Hint: don't betray your ancestors...

Sorry to butt in, and i don't have a question but England did play America in the world Cup!
It was 1-1 as i recall, famous for the Robert Green Howler.
Maybe im missing something

No - you are completely correct. There was a typo in my typing.. I meant to include the very important word "again".

Regardless, it actually had nothing to do with the World Cup and was just playing on some inside jokes Tommy and I have about me being an American living in England, the fact I have some Scottish ancestry, similarities between our hometowns, etc.


Anyway - back to the Q+A!

[compact71]

yet another renoise user

which internal renoise devices/fx u like/use the most & why?

what do u think bout the "bus-compressor"

many thanks 4 this!

CoMPACT

I like all the Renoise effects. They aren't very good which is why I like them, they have a definite character. The main ones I use are the Ring modulator, eq10, scream filter, flanger, guitar cab, lfo device, automation device and filter.
I don't really use the bus-compressor but I do use the standard insert one from time to time.

i kno exactly what ur doiN´... the bus-compressor is very unique and versaitile, imo.

thanks, again!