Sasha and Digweed answer your questions — part I

Sasha and Digweed answer your questions — part I

29 April, 2008 | 1.33AM

• Written by: Industry Boy
• Filed under: Music News: digweed, sasha, sasha digweed tour

Last week we asked Beatportal users to pitch questions to Sasha and John Digweed, which the DJs have now answered.

Check out part I of their answers to your questions after the jump!

Now I’ve got to know this, how do you feel about the burst of popularity in the more minimalistic approach to dance music production and composition, taking into consideration your roles in the industry and the history and evolution of progressive dance music and subsequently dance music culture as a whole? (Tom McGee)

Digweed: I think minimal showed that you can put space in a record and still create energy and feeling.

Minimal Records made correctly work just as effectively as a full on track. 

The main thing is to mix it up; a bit of minimal, a bit of house, a bit of techno.

I think people get confused about minimal though, and what they say is minimal isn’t and what they say is progressive isn’t.

It looks like suddenly the word ‘trance’ has turned into almost a bad word or something to completely avoid for certain DJs, many of whom were totally into it some years ago, and everyone is going minimal now.  What do you think about this?  Is this a trend or is it evolution? (David V)

Sasha: I think it’s an evolution. 

In general, trance records are being made with less sounds in them anyway.

I think trance has always been a dirty word though, hasn’t it?

I know that a lot of journalists in the U.S. when they first saw me and John called us trance DJs, but that was right at the beginning of the Twilo days and they didn’t know how to differentiate between us, and PvD and Oakenfold.

It was not really trance music though.

I think in the Twilo days we definitely played more trancey, but when I think of trance I think of huge breakdowns and ridiculous sawtooth synth lines which me and John have never played.

When you guys we’re first announced as residents at Twilo there was a lot of controversy because you guys we’re considered trance. Trance in New York at the time was not popular. Soon after New Yorkers grew to love you guys and vice versa. Those five years were legendary and also seemed to influence your sound and style as DJs. I would like to know from each of you, how those five years in New York changed you as DJs? (Christos)

Digweed: I think playing in a room like Twilo for such long sets – sometimes we played 12 hours – taught us how to pace the night.

We learnt that you can start somewhere and end up somewhere else.

Plus the soundsystem at Twilo was so good that you could play music in that club that you couldn’t play on any other system.

It was a great experience and something I’m very proud of.

When we first went there because we were British DJs, U.S. magazines expected us to fall on our ass so it was great to be able to succeed because no Brits had ever gone to the U.S. and made a success of it.

Also at that time, NYC was excited to catch onto our sound - not taking away from what Danny Tenaglia and Junior Vasquez were doing – as it was different to what US DJs were doing at the time.

People called it trance, but we’d call it melodic house.

It didn’t have the pace of trance, it was more melodic but still had a hypnotic feel to it.

Sasha: Playing in that club definitely had an influence on our sound.

We would play nine, 10 and 11 hour sets which changed the way we thought of a DJ set.

Plus Twilo had the best soundsystem in the world at that time which definitely allowed us to play music we couldn’t play anywhere else.

I’ve read that both of you rate Fabric [in London] as one of the best clubs about (me too!). As such, is there any plan, notion or desire to play there together?  I’m sure it would go down a treat. (Bsms305)

Digweed: We did play there together a few years ago, so it’s down to Fabric whether they want us back or not. It was really good, I think it was around Christmas time.

Sasha: Yeah I’d love to do Fabric again, especially with John.  As yet, we don’t have plans though, it’s up to Fabric.

How much time do you have for your fans?  I am a big fan of many DJs and I don’t feel like they ever have time to talk to fans, like on Myspace and such. (Drdj420)

Sasha: I don’t look after my own Myspace page.

If I spent all that time on Myspace talking to fans, I’d never have time to listen to music.

I try to give as much time as possible when I’m on the road to fans, but it’s impossible to respond to fans through Myspace and Facebook.

I try to be as accommodating as I can when fans get in touch with me.

Digweed: I have to say there’s an email address that I read out on my radio show each week and I try to reply to as many emails as possible.

But from the sheer amount of emails that come in, it’s impossible to respond to every one.

Plus so much of my time is taken up by traveling.  When I first started DJing I only played in England.

Now all my gigs are abroad so every weekend I’m out of the country traveling.

Most people have to travel when they go to work, I just have to travel a lot further.

Do you read messageboards and / or pay attention to the comments posted on there about yourselves? (Deacon78)

Digweed: I read them, but it’s water off a duck’s back to me.

Sasha: No I never read them.  If I did, I’d probably throw myself out of the window.

Sasha, are you surprised that digital is sometimes regarded as cheating?  Even by big names such as LTJ Bukem. Do you think there will come a time when there is less stigma attached? (DJvicar)

Sasha: It feels like DJing to me.

When I first started using Ableton it did feel strange and it didn’t feel like DJing, but then I built my controller.

I don’t see it as cheating.

If the computer is going to choose the records I play and put them in key for me then maybe.

I still put as much thought into my sets as before.

It doesn’t matter what you play on, it’s what you’re comfortable with.

Sasha, have you considered using other digital DJ platforms such as Traktor? (DJvicar)

Sasha: Not really. For the moment I’m happy using Ableton.

But if something comes along that offers another new unique way to DJ I’ll take a look at it.

Sasha, will your MAVEN controller ever be available to the public as a product? (kr3gzd3)

Sasha: We’re working on it. All in all, each one cost me about 15,000 pounds or $30,000.

I bought two.  The first one was the basic model and didn’t have a great soundcard in it so almost immediately I wanted to upgrade it.

John, do you have any specific reasons whatsoever as to your decision to stick to CDJ-1000 MK3s and an Allen & Heath Xone:92 mixer while Sasha has taken advantage of new DJing technology like Ableton Live and his MAVEN controller? (iamc8ged)

Digweed: That’s just what I prefer.

I’m happy with the set up we’ve got and I feel like we’ve got a set up I can be pretty creative with – with the Pioneer EFX-1000 and the SoundBite loop machine.

I’m not the most animated of performers anyway, so if I started to use a laptop it would make me even less animated!

Sasha, I read you keep all your music on a LaCie external HD, have you considered Apple’s new Time Capsule which is a Wireless external HD with either 500G or 1TB of space?  I just got the 1TB model so just curious as to why or why not you’ve considered the Time Capsule. (Dubefresh)

Sasha: I wouldn’t trust anything wireless in a live environment.

The LaCie is just my backup, I run all my sessions directly off the laptop’s HD.

Do you use iTunes to organize your music? (Dubefresh)

Sasha: Yes. I don’t like the browser in Ableton. I have a separate laptop which has all my music library on it.

I can also use it to burn CDs in an emergency if anything goes wrong.

So how do you manage that? A constant clean up of your MacBook music library? (Dubefresh)

Sasha: Yeah, the hard drive is full and I need a new one. I’m always constantly cleaning up my music on there.

But I’ve been lucky, just as one hard drive gets full, Apple comes out with a new HD. I guess I just time it right. I normally buy a couple of laptops per year.

Have you guys got to use any new soft synths lately? If so, which ones sparked your interest? (AmmoForFire)

Sasha: My favourite is a drum machine called MicroTonic.

We (me and Charlie May [Baz]) also use Ableton Live’s Operator synth quite a lot as it’s so solid, especially for bass.

We normally do everything in Live and then rewire it into Logic sometimes.

We also run a lot of stuff through an analogue circuit and use a lot of analogue compression and EQ because it makes it sound better.

It takes out all the digital processing, and takes the spikes off the digital sound.

It’s also easier to mix down if you run it through analogue circuitry.

How does the word Roland make you feel? Pretty good. How about the word Moog? As good? How do these classic goliaths compare to your ears? (AmmoForFire)

Sasha: I own a Jupiter 6 and a Jupiter 8.  I love them. 

Even though soft synths are good, nothing compares to tweaking an analogue synth.

They do unexpected stuff every time you back go to them, whereas soft synths always do what you expect.

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Check back for Part II of this exclusive interview with Sasha & Digweed on Beatportal, covering their approach to gigs, Sasha’s trouble crossing the border between Canada and the United States, their new studio productions and Sasha’s recent change in musical direction.

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