Monday, July 16, 2007

EQ Article on Danja

Check out this article in EQ talking with Danja and going over some of the equipment he uses:

****But with such a lightning quick rise to producing some of the country’s top-selling artists, Hills admits that he is still working on the balancing act of dealing with oftentimes stubborn performers while maintaining the sounds he knows will work best. “It’s a definite challenge,” Hills says, “but if you have a beat that’s strong, you have to keep writing before testing vocals to match [the beat]. There are tons of ways to process vocals, to make them shine, and you want to make the track solid first.”

Hills’ workflow is obviously producing something right, considering the 70-plus tracks he has produced or co-produced in the last three years, consistently blending fresh beats with addictive melodies. But he puts surprisingly little stock into the tools of his trade, save for, of course, his trusted Akai MPC-4000. “I don’t need anything but my MPC-4000, my laptop, and Sonar,” Hills assures. “Everything I do is built around that. I’ll use the Triton for strings and horns, but nowadays I’m mostly using it as MIDI controller.”*****

Full Article

What do you all think of the MPC-4000?

3 comments :

  1. I thought I was the only cat who used 2 use the Casio keys 2 lol. That's crazy. Danja seems like a cool ass dude...

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  2. Ionno, vfrom what various frineds told me, the 60 and 3000 are best, considerring timing and the quantisation(Dre,Dilla,...).
    Other than that there hardly are any advantages to modern software plugs and fx's.
    But very often its more what one grew to be comfortable with and what one knows best, or which machine or program provides the best workflow for oneself. Not regarding the actual pro's and con's.
    So if your not depending on the amount of features in one machine and its opverall performance, then its just a matter of handling and workflow Taste. IMO



    PS. for example, atm I'm using the E-Mu romplers though all sounds are available on CDs already.

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