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To music purists nothing is scarier than when a legendary artist embraces new technology. I still talk to people who think Bob Dylan lost it when he went electric. Certainly DJ Sasha surprised everyone and angered many when he decided that he was going to be doing his live shows using the Ableton Live software with a custom-built Maven midi controller and an Apple G4 laptop.
I got a chance to talk with Sasha about using those tools to play live and how it affected his new album, Fundacion NYC.
Check out the official website for DJ Sasha
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Sasha, what are you up to today?
Sasha: I’m just chilling in London and doing some press. I had gigs over the weekend so now I’m seeing my buddies and stuff. I’m getting ready to leave for Lisbon tomorrow.
DRE: How are the new shows working out?
Sasha: Yeah, it’s really worked out great. It’s reenergized me and got me back into my music. I’m really on top of my game and I’m really enjoying it again.
DRE: Were you getting burnt out?
Sasha: Maybe just bored. I’ve been DJing for 17 years now. I did like 108 shows in nine months in 2002 so that definitely wore me out. I’d set a load of goals for myself and I achieved a lot of those things in 2002 so I got to 2003 and I was like, what’s next? I spent half the year scratching my head and I was a bit lost. I don’t know if it was burnout but I was definitely looking for the next thing that would help me move my career forward. Then this program came along in mid-2003 and I started using it in the studio. I realized that I could use it to DJ with so I spent most of the first half of 2004 preparing to go out on the road with it. It took a lot of work getting all my music chopped up and transferred to the digital format but now I’ve got 200 gigs worth of music on my hard drive.
Then customizing and building my own controllers took me a good nine months. But my last gig with CDs was September 2004 and since then I’m pretty much all digital except for a couple nights where things haven’t gone so smooth technically.
DRE: Is anyone else using the technology?
Sasha: No it’s a custom made thing. There are midi controllers out there on the market so I’m not the first person to customize my own thing by any stretch of the imagination, but there was nothing out on the market that interacts in the way that this does. The way I see it, it’s the same as a guitarist having a custom built guitar made. I just had to have it set up exactly how I wanted it.
DRE: Does the music come out any different?
Sasha: It definitely changed my sets. I’m still gravitating towards the same kind of tunes even though it’s evolving all the time. But I think it’s allowing me to be a lot more eclectic and be a bit more diverse and dropping things in that I might not normally think of doing. It’s allowing me to push the boundaries of what I can play within my set.
DRE: What does Digweed think of it?
Sasha: I think he’s definitely interested. I saw a quote somewhere that he was definitely interested in using it in the future. Once he gets his hands on the equipment, it’ll be exciting. I think that this technology at the moment is still very much kind of studio based, but once something cheaper comes out to the market and the software is really tailor-made for DJs then I really think it’ll catch on. At the moment the amount of work and resources that went into getting this thing together makes it something not everyone would be able to do.
DRE: Did you throw all your vinyl away?
Sasha: No, of course not.
DRE: I’m kidding!
Sasha: I’ve got my library and I still buy a lot of vinyl but now everything gets recorded and dropped into the computer. I’m still a vinyl junkie so I buy loads of vinyl every week.
DRE: Do you still play the older songs in concert?
Sasha: No, that’s the good thing about it. I can dig out some old classics, chop them up and drop them in over newer songs. You can reenergize some of those old songs.
DRE: How are people taking it?
Sasha: It’s definitely causing some arguments and it’s creating some dialogue. I can’t imagine everyone’s suddenly going to jump on it just because I have.
DRE: Of course, they will.
Sasha: Well, I don’t know. I’m not the first person to use that software but I definitely think I’ve been getting a lot of press about it. Though I definitely think I’m the first person who’s gone out in front of thousands of people and road tested it. The first night I used the Maven, I had it in my hotel room for a couple of days then I just took it to the Avalon in Los Angeles and plugged it in. I really was like “Ok, if I’m going to fall flat on my face, I might as well do it in front of a decent crowd.” But it’s been great.
DRE: How did the Maven change the recording of Fundacion NYC ?
Sasha: It allows you to capture some moments that you do spontaneously. Normally what I would do is a compilation. I would record my mixes on decks then just splice it together in the computer and use effects afterwards. Whereas, now it’s already in the computer so it allows you to go for some spontaneous moments and that is pretty much what the album is about really.
DRE: What else you been up to?
Sasha: This past summer was my first out on the road DJing with my computer. So I’ve really been putting it through its paces. Then I’ll think about maybe what the next project is going to be.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
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Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]
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