Jungle Music: A studio session with Schematic

We sit down in the Lacquer Channel Mastering studio. “Well, what do you want to hear?” says Dan Dubois, also known as Toronto DnB producer Schematic (or by his House alter ego, Danny Woods).

I look around. We’re sitting in a room with paneled fabric walls.  In front of us is a mastering console - a deck full of knobs, used to process two channels of a stereo mix – the technological equivalent of gibberish to me.  A studio monitoring sound system is facing us....I think I’m about to be blown away.

Marky and S.P.Y.’s “Mystic Sunset” flows loudly from the speakers. The bass slightly shakes the floor as the sound waves hit your chest.This is the way drum & bass is meant to be heard.

After vibing on a variety of beats dark and light, liquid and grimy, we get talking about making music while Dan masters a few tracks.

“I think some people underestimate the importance of mastering," says Dubois. "The subtleties can definitely make or break a tune.” As a trained, freelance sound engineer, he has a keen (and biased) ear. But, I quickly see his point.

As he tweaks “Attack” – one of Schematic's newest and heaviest tracks - I can definitely hear the difference between the end product and the version he began with. Not only does it sound louder, but the bass was fuller and the vocal sample was much more balanced. The fine-tuning of a track is something the listener (including me) usually takes for granted.

To explain why hiring a good engineer is essential, Dan demonstrates that if the high hats in a tune are too loud, then they’ll distract you from enjoying the other parts of the composition. As much as I love bass, I wouldn’t want it to overpower the subtle add-ins or beautiful breaks, so I’m happy someone keeps all of this in mind during the post-production process.

After being schooled on the manipulation of sound, I ask him a few questions about his own sound:

How would you describe your sound?

"In general terms I guess my sound is on the smoother side of things. People tell me I have a sound, but I couldn't try to reproduce whatever it may be; it just happens." 

What puts you in the mood to make music?

"A good night's sleep and a hot mug of black coffee. I know a lot of drum & bass producers work really well when they've had a bad day or are angry about something, and they're able to let it out through their music. I'm sort of the opposite, I work best when I'm in a good mood and my head is clear otherwise I end up sitting around looking at pictures of cats or something."

Where do you get your inspiration while making andmastering tunes?

“For mastering, each track gets what that particular track needs. The inspiration is already in the track, from the artist. You can hear where it wants to be and it's my job to take it there."

“And as far as producing goes, Break is a god among men when it comes to technical DnB. How does he get his bass to sound like that??”

What about your favourite label?

“There isn’t really one label in particular, tunes are tunes.” he admits. “I’ve been really impressed with RAM lately, though. Obviously [newly signed, Toronto producer] Rene LaVice has been killing it for ages, and it's great to see him finally get the recognition. For the past few years though RAM has been on fire, pretty much every single release is top notch."

Why do you produce both House and Drum and Bass? Do youprefer any style in particular?

"Just for variety. It's easy to get too caught up in one genre and you end up making tracks that sound the same as what is already out there. I enjoy listening to other genres, so why not produce other genres too? I switch things up depending on my mood.” 

Give me a shameless plug.  

"Free Me is the big one, that'll be out on Blu Saphir Recordings in May with a great remix by FoxRox and Jay Rome on the B-side. I've also just signed an EP to All Street Recordings that will be out around the same time. Be sure to follow the Schematic & Danny Woods artist pages on Facebook, there will be more news and new, exciting stuff soon."

Enjoy this set of tunes mixed for the jsaltzz drum & bass podcast last month (click here to download):

Jsaltzz Podcast #2 (March 2012) by Jsaltzz on Mixcloud