The production history of Voyager is impressive.

 

The man, from 1994 to now, has released for a choice selection of DnB's most-respected and legendary labels:

 

Propa Talent, R&S, Good Looking, DSCI4, Moving Shadow, Creative Source

 

In 2010, Voyager lives up to his name by producing in new fields. He has created some special samples exclusively for Knowledge readers to download. Let's chart his journey, then bag his digital loot!

 

Tell us what you're up to at the moment, production and project-wise...

At the moment I'm writing and producing some electro/pop/rock stuff with a band I play drums for, called Uturns. We're combining live and electronic instruments, and I'm just finishing mixing tracks for an album. We've been playing some shows in London and it's all going pretty well, the feedback has been really positive so hopefully we can get the album out in 2010. It's an audio/visual thing as well, with a VJ projecting visuals onto a screen behind us as we play, so it all looks like more of a show, instead of just a bunch of blokes up on stage doing their thing. Apart from that, there are always half-finished tracks and ideas on the hard drive waiting for a moment to get sprung into life, but my main focus is on the band now. 

 

You've got quite an impressive, evolving production history. How has your production technique changed over the years?

I like to think my technique has become more intuitive over the years, I've always had a "feel the vibe" sort-of rule to making music and found that the more you have to think and slave over writing a track, then maybe you're trying to hard ... the old can't see the wood for the trees saying. Better to leave it for a while, fire up the PS3, have a cuppa tea or something, or come back to it on another day with fresh ears. Also, one of the great things about making music in the last couple of years is that your knowledge about writing/playing/arranging/producing etc just keeps increasing. It's a modern process that is always evolving and spawning new tricks or methods.

 

Tell us your studio set-up, environment and location...

I'm running a dual 3.2k PC at the moment with 4GB RAM, I've had it a little while, and I keep it off the network so it doesn't get all clogged up. I run Cubase SX3; always been a Steinberg man, even from the C-Lab vs Pro24 days [if you're under a hundred years old, you still won't know what they are]]. I run Reason 4 and Ableton as well through Rewire, so I've got all the looping and sound options I need, as well as plugins and VSTis. I used to be obsessed about getting all the new gear and samples and stuff, but it got to a point where most of the session was taken up looking through endless presets and samples without actually getting much else done! So I try and keep a lid on what gets installed. The audio is taken care of by a Terretec EWS88MT eight I/O card, which is then plugged into a Soundcraft Spirit M8 that has a TLA Ivory Valve Compressor plugged across the main insert outputs and a digital out to a Tascam CD-RW for mixdowns and mastering. The monitors are passive Event 20/20s with some Fostex PMO4 nearfield monitors for referencing. I've also got a bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and Roland TD3 electronic kit here and a Korg Trinity that is sleeping in a flight case until I can make some room for it.

 

Tell us about the samples you made for Kmag...

The samples are all on a deep rollers tip, which was always my kind of thing. So you probably won't be making any tear out Nosia-type tracks with them! They're a mixture of sampled sounds and programmed beats, so if you fancy making something a little bit deeper, you should be able to use them.
I've not gone too heavy on the EQs but they've all been compressed so the beats and bass should sound nice up loud. The plug-ins used were:

• Omnisphere [click here for Knowledge's view on Omnisphere]
• Halion
• Battery 3
• Embracer

Please give us any extra-special studio tips...

• Let the music dictate how it should go, and trust your feeling on the flow.
• When you finish a mixdown and, if you have the time, leave the production untill the following day to master or render, check it one more time with fresh ears.
• Don't give yourself too many options for sounds/samples or signal processors, really know what you have well before leaping for the next newest thing.
• Be experimental with sounds, mix up styles, but be prepared for it to sound sh*t before it sounds wicked!
• Don't stress your ears by listening too loud for too long, work at a moderate level as it trains your ears to target specific parts in the track better. You can then always crank it for a short period to get the full effect.
• Getting lean while writing in the studio may make you think you just wrote a killer tune, but in the morning, the same track may probably not sound quite as sick as it did before.
• Partners and music are both equally demanding, if you can find a girl/guy who thinks that you locked away in the studio for hours/days on end is really cool, marry them!
• Making money from music is a bonus, not a reason.

What are your future projects?

I'm focused on the Uturns stuff at the moment and would really like to stay with the live/electronic thing for a while. I think the whole live-performance side of modern dance music has just started to come of age and clubbers are now used to seeing and hearing that style of music being performed by musicians in big rock-sized venues, which is really cool. I know a lot of people have been doing it for some time now, but it seems that live-performance dance music has really got that energy and vibe that now keeps the rock/indie bands on their toes. So anything that keeps me in with that and I'm all over it. I've also got plans for some new DnB stuff later in the year, and some dirty electro/tech-house stuff with Vlad Sokolov on the way as well.

Shouts and greetz to all, thanks for your support!

 

 

• Voyager
,
• Dee Jay
,
• Lucky Spin
,
• DSCI4
,
• Moving Shadow
,
• Good Looking
,
• Propa Talent
,
• Free Samples

Related Links:

• Pyramid Interview
• Phobia & Jubei Interview
• In The Studio: Lynx
• In The Studio: Ils
• In The Studio: Misanthrop

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