Fanu - Facebook Q&A

[wub]

Keeping it studiogeekish. What's your studio set up for 2014? And the follow up: Pics please?

The pic shows most of it. Access Virus Indigo, Soundcraft 200SR desk, Maschine Studio, Arturia Microbrute, Akai s3200XL, Emu E5000 Ultra, Akai s950, MPC Renaissance, UAudio Apollo Twin Duo interface, Audeze LCD2 headphones.

how much time music making has gotta be goin or needs to be

I do it every single day. Almost. In a way or another. If it's not writing a track, I'm going thru the gigs and gigs of samples I have, I may design something with a synth etc, and most importantly, I keep a notepad of all the good ideas and/or sounds/samples I should be using in the future. That way I never run out of inspiration.

top 3 plugins?

Hmmm! If we go in terms of what I've probably used the most…in no order:
1) EQuick by DMGaudio. Quick, light, very visual, easy mid+side processing. Use it for every EQ job, pretty much.
2) Izotope Ozone, for mastering (I mostly just use the Maximizer after mixing and EQing the master as well as I can).
3) A saturator plugin to warm up / beef up the sound. I've been using OHMforce's PredatOHM to beef up breaks or drum sounds, but also recently I discovered a freebie, Massey Tape Head, which is great for that and I really like its sound for certain beats. But as for really warming up your mix and go for a more analog sound for each track, one of my "must" plugins today is Slate Digital's Virtual Console or their Virtual Tape Machine. Sorry for not settling for just one here, but these are all important to me and I couldn't do without them, TBH.

what is "fanu threshold" for the amount of akai gear in the studio? isn't it time yet to sell some in favour of investing in acoustic treatment?

Haha. Well, I'm just about to sell my MPC 4000 – to a girl! So how's that? That's because I feel Maschine Studio made it sort of redundant.
Anyways, I've never had a rrrreally good acoustic treatment (I've always been a bedroom / living-room producer, literally, and that's how it has to be for me), but I haven't worried about it too much, either. BUT. What really means a lot to me is knowing how your music should sound from your speakers, compared to a few well-selected reference tunes. That's by far THE most important thing for me. Your ears. As well as very decent headphones; I'm using Audeze LCD-2 for that.

Hey Fanu, how did you start out in the music world?

I started making music in 1992-ish if I recall correctly. It was a whole new world to me and something that really kept me from falling into the pit of endless boredom in a small countryside town with not much to offer. I started getting demos out (CDs, email, AIM) around maybe 2001 and got my first proper release in 2003, I think. Back then we did a lot of music forum talk, spreading and swapping tunes with producers, and forums in general had way less spam in there. We had a nice little thing going on, which inspired me a lot. So my music was spreading thru the wires, and I got encouraged to send it out more. It's been going from there. That's it in a nutshell, I suppose!

Best studio snack?

I didn't realize until I thought of the answer to this that I haven't been doing any "studio eating" for a long time. I guess it's because I've realized it's better to eat elsewhere. However…COFFEE! Fresh poooots!

do you play on electric bass guitar? would you like to use it in your productions?

No, never tried! All up for decent organic bass samples, though!

What inspires you the most?

Music itself. From early age on, I've had the feeling that I want to be a part of the "collective musical consciousness" or whatever, and I can't stop contributing to that as I'm constantly hungry to write more music of my own. Verbally I don't have that much to say, but musically I have a lot to contribute.

Have you ever considered playing with live band and what's connetected to that question - how would you describe your Lodge LP experience? as it is ( dunno if u knew that ) the only release of yours thats somehow familiar to "commercial" listeners

TBH, not really! Sorry, I dunno why, but the band idea doesn't grab me at all. As for Lodge: I did the breaks at home, sent to Bill Laswell, and he got together with his bunch and did the rest, inspired by the breaks. Unrelatedly, in a way, I did meet Laswell on another occasion in Manhattan, just getting hammered in bars.

what music do you listen to?

A lot! Looking at recent playlists…Klaus Layer, Damu The Fudgemunk, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Om Unit, Moresounds, Fracture, Future Sound Of London, DJ Krust, Marco Polo, Ital Tek, Madlib, Recue, Resound, Boxcutter…

Do you cut up wave forms or drop samples into the drum rack and edit on the piano roll? What is the benefit of your method?

I've been doing both. Midi/sampler is kind of more flexible in a way (automation, for example) but also, using audio is also quick for reversing/tuning hits and doing some glitchy stuff really quick, for example. I'd say I've definitely gone for midi/sampler way more, but recently I've also been experimenting with cutting up audio on an audio track. The last song I finished, I started with a sampler but then I recorded it all as audio into the DAW and completely re-sliced and re-arranged the break as audio…it makes you think of it differently. Was really happy with the result. A disadvantage when slicing audio may be if you have kicks, snares, hats all on the same audio channel and you realize the kick is 2dB too loud, and you have 120 instances of that kick on the channel…that's where using a sampler is way handier.

Can you walk me through how you come up with a bassline? Is it one bass line that your sample and cut up through out the song or is it something that is produced from the beginning to the end of the song

Oh man, can be done in so many ways. Sometimes I sample sounds from my Virus or Microbrute and browse those when trying to work on a song. Maybe use them as audio clips or play them thru a sampler. Maybe get a VST…anything works.

Do you make money off of premium music sites (itunes, spotify, etc...)?

Yes, a bit, thru my distributor.

if you never made music , what is the closest thing to the best job?

Teaching it.

for the weight in Kickdrums;
Do you like to synthesise these frequencies (layer it underneath a snappy midrange kick)

Or do you like to find a perfect fitting sample.

Sample layering, tuning, EQing, saturation, distortion…I barely ever synthesise a kick.

What is your favourite drumbreak of all time?

This one is hard. Maybe Tighten Up? Love how explosive it sounds. Timeless.

I like a lot of the questions that people have asked, and I'm sure I could come up with a long list of things that I'd love to ask you, but this one will be slightly different. If you could ask yourself one question here, what would it be and how would you answer it? What is that one piece of advice that you just wish someone would ask you for?

Wow. This is a good one. One thing I always think I'd ask some veteran producers would be, "What has kept you going for so long?"

My answer would have to do with being in love with music and simply forgetting all music-external factors (fame, "likes", income it might generate etc) and just concentrating on making music for yourself just because you love it. That, imho, is one of the keys to longevity, and I've definitely been shaken by thinking of the music-external factors a bit too much at some stages, but I'm past that and some good lessons have been learned. It's all on a firm basis once you do that.

Okay, I've got brain boiling with lots of question bubbles, but let's start with this one. Do you happen to use low quality sample sources? If so, how do you camouflage those, so they don't sound poor in the mix?

Sometimes. I sample all kinds of shit. You just gotta clean them up (EQ, boost the essential frequencies, cut out the shit). Nowadays I've steered further from using crappier samples, which I did do a lot of before.

Your earlier work which I downloaded from wherever, was really breakheavy. The drums are immense.
Do you ever picture yourself as a drummer, or have you ever pictured a drummer like KJ SAWKA playing your beats??

Can't really say I do? I mean, I don't know to play drums, and probably couldn't mimic one if that's what you mean. That being said, I'm still able to hear different rhythms in my head so I guess that's where the drummer part comes in.

what are three pieces of advice you would give to yourself if you were starting out with music production again?

"Never, ever compare yourself to others. Never give one thought as for what some others might think of the music you work on. Do your own thing."

How do you pick synth sounds. Do you go through each one or do you close your eyes and pray that one works?

If it ain't fitting, no use praying. Sometimes you gotta go thru billions of them. That's how I've always made music anyways…the best ideas/sounds came out of looking for stuff in a pretty random fashion. Then, it's your taste that handles the rest.

Have you ever done or considered removing the bulk of your samples to get a fresh start?

Noooooo! Could delete loads, though.

wht samplers are hiding behind the recz think i spot a s900/950

s950 (mainly for sampling dirt) and s3200xl

Why do you preffer to use Akai hardware samplers when software samplers have insane capabilities? Is it the sound or what?

Partially a sound, partially an old habit. I think they are punchy, and their lowpass filters are killer. I don't use them that much these days, but every now and then,

How do you go about mixing down a tune? Do you start with drums, then bass, then mid range. Mid range intro, bass, drums? Just some tips. Please do a youtube tutorial for mixing down drum and bass.

I don't really "start" with anything – I partly mix as I go, and then also have a separate mixdown session a few days after finishing the song when my ears have rested and gained distance a bit.

Do you use Maschine? What advantages do you think it has over using the in built sampler in Ableton? What features within Maschine do you use regularly and make the most out of for D&B production?

I mostly use Machine for hiphop. I love how easily it lets you both categorise and browse your samples. That's by far its main advantage. Also love its controller; Ableton Push isn't bad but its user-sample-browsing isn't as efficient and there's no way to edit your samples with it so that's a big minus in my book.

Do you use reference track when mixing?

Yes, I have around 10 tracks in folders for dnb / hiphop.

How much in % is your production hardware/software?

It varies. Sometimes I start and finish a tune in software, sometimes I really feel that I want to start something with hardware, then I do maybe 30% of the tune, I record it on my DAW and go from there and finish it. No fixed method. Basically I'm switching between gear and DAWs all the time (hardware, Ableton, Maschine, MPC) just to keep it interesting (not because I'd *need* that many). In general I'd say one shouldn't have too much stuff, but as long as you know how to make music with what you have, it's all good and can really contribute to your productivity as you don't get "bored".

What is your opinion of DnB/Jungle producers who leave the genre for good. I feel like anything an artists uses to express him/herself in is a platform from which to learn and grow from so why leave it completely behind? Obviously learning from other genres/bpms/inspiration etc is an obvious move for any artist but why would picasso leave painting behind when he found sculpture? he didn't because it was part of who he was so why does that happen with our beloved genre?

Personal choices. Whatever inspires you. Don't force it. Go after what feels natural. I have seen people leave a genre, and sometimes they come back but sometimes it's for the better. I remember Tes La Rok, who made dnb as DJ Dice before, leaving dnb and saying he has to do it to fully concentrate on dubstep back then. I remember commenting and saying that's not clever. How wrong was I…

and also second question probably kinda weird one - as youre surely inspired with ethno/folk music ( i really hear that ! ) what would u say to producer thats using ethnic vibes too? I mean, whats the best way to keep it non cliche and universal to the listener?

what would I say? Go for it! That's amazing!
*ALWAYS* do what you like – don't give a f00k about what anyone else would think about your choices. Don't think about the listener – think about your musical soul or whatever.

When it comes to mastering stage - are you trying to do it yourself or leave it to professionals and/or labels?

Been doing it more and more myself as I want to be capable of doing it myself. As for vinyl mastering, that I'll leave for the pros.

What is usually on your master bus? Do you like to start the mix with full master bus chain or adding the effects later?

These days I put a Slate Digital Mixbus and/or Virtual Tape Machine on my master. That's about it. Also. at some point I also add a master EQ that I use to do a lot of narrow-band-sweeping to find and cut out annoying frequencies off the song; I also use it to high-pass the side (stereo) signal maybe around 150–200 Hz or so to get the mud out of the stereo field.

Any advice on how to manage a full time job, a family and music production together?

I wish I could answer that! I don't have a family to manage and don't have a 9-5 job, either. Music is a full-time activity for me.
But I hope anyone who has what you do gets a lot of good vibes out of them!

This is late but do you like Pendulum?

No, I don't; they represent the style I dislike the most. They took the "white man's sound" the farthest; they're very far from what I consider jungle / DNB. Want to add that there's no disrespect involved! I appreciate their work, and it seems they've made it.

Taken from here - https://www.facebook.com/FanuMusic/phot ... tif_t=like

Other Fanu threads worth checking;
35hz: Q&A with Fanu - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=283869
Fanu - Taking a break, and the new album - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=279584
[VIDEO] 5 Questions To...Paradox & Fanu - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=268413

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

That last question was amazing haha