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>> Montreal DJ/producers talk about the their work in the
studio and the club

by SCOTT C

I don’t think I’m wrong if I say that most of us know at least one person who spends a lot of their time recording music in the studio, or sitting in front of their computer with the latest sequencing software. Montreal seems to be riddled with the makings of a bedroom-production uprising, but the results remain to be seen. I spoke to four such people, all very active in the art of playing records, while striving to make sure their own music gets played right alongside the rest.

Name: Nicholas Elgin Vernam Foster

DJ Name: Professor Groove

Where? Rockdeep, Tuesdays at Saphir, WeFunk (radio), Fridays, midnight-2 a.m. on CKUT 90.3 FM

Weapons of mass production: Reason, Cool Edit, Acid, FruityLoops

Fav MTL spot: Blizzarts. “Nice vibe, nice people, good music...”

Philosophy in a nut: “Make it funky.”

Influence of the moment: Eugene McDaniels

Do you produce the same kind of music that you DJ?
“No. I’ve been making music a lot longer than I’ve been going to clubs, and I’ve always found that there’s a big difference between what I make and what I’m listening to. I play hip hop and funk, but I’ve always had a hard time fitting my music into categories.”

Do you play your own productions in the club?
“Rarely. I’ve tried a few things out. Sometimes I feel like my stuff isn’t developed enough to play in the club. It’s hard to step back and see how your own stuff fits into everything else sometimes.”

“By the book” or “fly by night” producer?
“I’m a combination of the two. The process of making music on a computer can be a very cerebral thing, especially if you’re not using a controller keyboard. If you’re not working with live instruments or a hands-on approach, I find you have to analyze things a lot more.”

So much MTL talent, but where’s the product?
“There are a lot of people here that are into the bedroom production thing to different degrees. I don’t hear as much MTL stuff as I’d like to, but if you can feel the music, you should make it.”

Good DJ = good producer?
“It helps. The most important thing for both of them is just that ability to feel the music. Part of being a good DJ is recognizing how music is structured, and how different songs fit together—being able to hear in your head what a set will sound like. There’s a large degree of overlap between that and what goes into producing a track. But it’s not a given.”

Name: Thoreau Richard Albert Bakker

DJ Name: Krinjah

Where? Urban Sound Resistance/Hangrenade Records, Fridays at Bluedog

Weapons of mass production: Reason, Sound Forge, Acid, Logic

Fav MTL spot: Tiffany’s in Côte-des-Neiges. “Dancehall uptown...”

Philosophy in a nut: “Hype! Hype! Hype!”

Influence of the moment: Reggae 45s

Do you produce the same kind of music that you DJ?
“Yes. I play jungle two or three times a week, so the stuff I do is strictly 180 BPM and running to hype the place up. I don’t have time to make cerebral music. It definitely has to pump.”

Do you play your own productions in the club?
“Everytime. I always drop acetates of my own stuff. It’s original, exclusive and nobody else has it. I used to cut dub plates with Jack Beets at Chopstix Cutting Room here in MTL, but since he moved to NYC, I use this place in Toronto called Scratch Free Press.”

“By the book” or “fly by night” producer?
“I used to fly by night, but I’ve started conforming to technical standards to ensure that other DJs can mix my shit. I used to deliberately make changes in tracks very spontaneously and randomly, but that was more in response to all the predictable dance music out there. Now I’m much more aware of how things affect the finished product.”

So much MTL talent, but where’s the product?
“I think right now that the vinyl manufacturing industry in MTL is so small that it makes it difficult. You’re going to pay a lot more to put out a 12” than you are to put out a CD, and the profit margin on a CD is so much higher—not to mention the bigger buying audience.”

Good DJ = good producer?
“It does. It’s all about knowing what frequencies are going to come through on different systems. Every club sounds different from your studio, or your headphones, and I think both involve being able to recognize similar qualities in a sound.”

Name: Moss Benjamin Evett Raxlen

DJ Name: Mossman

Where? Dub Lounge, Wednesdays at Jupiter Room

Weapon of mass production: Soundcraft 200B mixing board

Fav MTL spot: His studio El Grotto. “I’m kind of a recluse.”

Philosophy in a nut: “Give up now and you will succeed.”

Influence of the moment: Cedric M. Brooks, “Light of Saba”

Do you produce the same kind of music you play in the club?
“I live, breathe, eat, sleep and shit dub.”

Do you play your own productions in the club?
“Every week I’ll play my own stuff once or twice in the course of the night. I don’t think people really notice at all, they just keep dancing.”

“By the book” or “fly by night” producer?
“I’m all about constant experimentation, so I’m always trying to out-do myself. I learn as I go along, so I guess it’s kind of “fly by night” in that respect, but I’ve been studying engineering for the last seven or eight years of my life.”

So much Montreal talent, but where’s the product?
“Everybody that I know is contributing to the Montreal music scene in their own way. I heard Millipede for the first time the other day, and that was cool. Haig from Zoobone should put out his solo album.”

Good DJ = good producer?
“Hell, no. There’s all kinds of dudes who can play records but fucking suck when it comes time to produce, and vice versa. The two have nothing to do with each other.”

Name: Christian Pronovost

DJ Name: Christian Pronovost

Where? Presently a freelance DJ and owner of InBeat Records on St-Laurent

Weapon of mass production: Akai MPC 2000XL

Fav MTL spot: Il Soleil Italian Bistro on St-Laurent

Philosophy in a nut: “It takes a lot of ingredients to make a good dinner.”

Influence of the moment: 4Hero’s “Hold it Down,’’ Bugz in the Attic remix

Do you produce the same kind of music that you DJ?
“I produce the kind of music I can afford to produce. I’m happy where I am, but I can’t do what I want to right now, but it’s important for me to keep perspective on exactly where I want to go with this.”

Do you play your own productions in the club?
“Always. I will always do that. I come from disco, remix and re-edit culture, and I’ve been doing re-edits for a long, long time. I’ve played stuff in the club from reel-to-reel tapes that I did ages ago, and I’ll continue to do it.”

“By the book” or “fly by night” producer?
“Technically, I have an engineer that I’m always working with, this guy Yoni Marsilian. I get an idea and go through the process of making the beat, arranging the track, bringing in musicians, but it always sounds better after the engineer does his job. I use my ears. Twenty years of playing in clubs allows me to pinpoint exactly what’s going to sound good for me, and hopefully with the musicians and the engineers help, we can make it happen. There’s a lot of experimentation, too.”

So much MTL talent, but where’s the product?
“Miguel Graça once said to me, ‘Whenever you start something, finish it!’ Even if you lose interest because technically you’re limited, or you get into DJing or whatever. Just finish your tracks, and give it up! Send it! Do something with it! You may have lost perspective on your work, but somebody else is going to call you up and say, “You know what, that shit is dope.” Plus there’s no infrastructure here, and I’ve been hearing some crazy shit lately! It’s not like you’re gonna hear it on the radio, so you have to be hungry enough to get it to those people that you think should hear it.”

Good DJ = good producer?
“Never. Not never, but it’s not an automatic equation. It’s very easy to make a certain kind of dance music today. Home studio or computer and bang! You’ve built a demand around you, and when you step out into the world you can’t mix. There are hundreds of them. Of the top 50 DJs in the world as listed by DJ Magazine, half of them cannot DJ to save their life.” 7