DSF Q&A Sessions 9 : Pinch (open for questions)

[pdomino]

This month its the turn of Tectonic Recordings mother hen, Pinch

Pinch Bio
Real name : Rob Ellis is a dubstep artist from Bristol. He is the founder of Tectonic Recordings. He released his first album entitled "Underwater Dancehall" in 2007 on Tectonic records, and has had a string of releases and remixes since then also.


RELEASES
"War Dub" / "Alien Tongue" - Tectonic
Techtonic Plates Volume.1
"Punisher" - Planet Mu
"Punisher" The remixes - Planet Mu
"Qawwali" - Planet Mu
"One Blood, One Source" / "Trauma" - Tectonic
"Pepper Spray" / "Cave Dream" - Planet Mu
"Underwater Dancehall" - Tectonic
"Chamber Dub" - Soul Jazz Records
"Dr Carlson" / "136 Trek" - Punch Drunk
"Midnight Oil" / "Joyride" - Tectonic
"Attack Of The Giant Killer Robot Spiders!" - Planet Mu

REMIXES:
Atki2 "Guilty Pleasures" Pinch remix - Werk Discs
Monkey Steak "Lighthouse Dub" Pinch remix - Punch Drunk
Red Up "Red Up" Pinch remix - NarcoHz
Answer Remixes "Answer" DJ Pinch remix - 2Kings Records
Attack Decay Sustain Release "I Believe" Pinch's I believe in bass therapy remix - Wichita
Skynet "Swamp" Pinch Remix - Argon
Gaudi + Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - "Dub Qawwali" remixes "Dil Da Rog Muka Ja Mahi" Pinch Remix - Six Degrees Records
30hz "Mutate" Pinch Mutated Remix - Lot49
Henry & Louis "Rise up" DJ Pinch remix - 2Kings Records
Tectonic Plates Volume 2 : CD and compilation

Memory Loss anyone ?

FOR BOOKINGS :
rebecca@elasticartists.net

THE PINCH MYSPACE

This Session is OPEN FOR QUESTIONS. It will officialy begin when the producer begins to answer. It's up to the producer if he'll continue answering questions. So don't make silly faces if your question is left unanswered.

[legend4ry]

Qawwali is one of the most SERIOUS tunes ever!

1) How did you go about making Qawwali and the VIP and how long was Qawwali made before you decided to do a VIP, what triggered the inspiration, do you think it was well received and most importantly, what do you think of the track?

2) I'm going to go ahead and admit that I haven't really kept up much with your latest tunes but from what I have heard you always seem to keep the notion of "space, pace and bass" in your music - do you think its important to carry this mind frame in dubstep for all producers or is it just your sound?

3) I heard you was a FL user, are you still using it? What VSTs do you rate highly (if you use any)


I'll stop there even though I have 3498229 more questions.

Major big ups for tectonic - surely one of the best labels in our scene.

[gambledub]

on average how long do you spend working on a tune?

[messdup]

Major big ups for tectonic - surely one of the best labels in our scene.

true that!
+ Please come back to play in Brussels soon

[pinch]

Qawwali is one of the most SERIOUS tunes ever!

1) How did you go about making Qawwali and the VIP and how long was Qawwali made before you decided to do a VIP, what triggered the inspiration, do you think it was well received and most importantly, what do you think of the track?

2) I'm going to go ahead and admit that I haven't really kept up much with your latest tunes but from what I have heard you always seem to keep the notion of "space, pace and bass" in your music - do you think its important to carry this mind frame in dubstep for all producers or is it just your sound?

3) I heard you was a FL user, are you still using it? What VSTs do you rate highly (if you use any)


I'll stop there even though I have 3498229 more questions.

Major big ups for tectonic - surely one of the best labels in our scene.

1. Thanks! It was in fact the 2nd dubstep tune i ever made (the first being a track called 'Deserted island' that never came out). I made it on fruity loops early 2004 and was surprised to be called by Mike Paradinas at Planet Mu to ask about releasing it. I made the VIP as a flipside to the release - if Mike hadn't called I probably wouldn't have made it.. That came around mid 2005 and the release dropped march 2006.

Qawwali is def one of my favourite tracks that i made - it came together effortlessly and i feel it has a genuinely optimistic feel to it that isn't really easy to plan to do - i just made it for myself to listen to really and thats what came out. the production is fairly amature but it has a good vibe to it. I guess its sold pretty well too and I often get kind comments about that track when i go to play gigs - seems to be one that a lot of people can relate to in some level.

2. One of the things that attracted me to dubstep was its minimal production ethic. Too much music is busy and confuing and piles so much stuff into the mix that you can't really appreciate the individual elements in the track. I do like to give sounds space to breathe and in doing so it means you have to make an effort to use just what you need to make the track move - and for each of those elements to sound as good as possible. I really don't think that its for me to say what other people should do with their music tho - thats up to the individual making it. Just do what feels right i guess and make it for yourself not for how you imagine other people want stuff sounding.

3. I've just bought a mac/logic and coincidently my pc hard drive committed suicide the other day - so my fruity days are numbered now.. But yes I've used it as the main sequencer for all my tracks so far and ran a bunch of vsts and various eqs/compressors with it - i often just used the fruity 3 x 3 oscillator or albino for basses. I like to use different reverbs and delays for different situations - you can get a great sound out of the oxford reverb, some of the waves stuff is pretty addictive - esp the SSL bus compressor - has a nice warmth to it.. otherwise the camel phat is good for distortion... there's tons of stuff really...

[pinch]

on average how long do you spend working on a tune?

varies a lot to be honest - can be a week or a month or longer. i tend to take about a fortnight on a remix as an average - but thats not working constantly.. i tend to take the track, cut it, play it out and see if anything else needs doing based on how it sounds (which it usually does!) - make the tweaks and (time permitting) cut it again. as time has gone on this process hasn't taken quite as long as it used to (i've cut, re-tweaked tunes and recut tunes up to 3 times previously!)

[pinch]

I love your electronic leanings - who are the minimal and techno artists that have inspired you to make the style of Dubstep you produce?

Also was this electric style planned or was it just the way it came out when you started writing??

Love the Tectonic stuff big ups!

I don't really know that much about minimal/techno to be honest. I was hugely influenced by Basic Channel and related deep dubby house and techno but I came from more of a jungle background than a techno one.

I'm not sure I really understand the second part of your question sorry... I don't know what you mean by electric style..

[pinch]

Thats interesting in itself - cos I always think theres a bit of a detroit influence but I guess thats just my ears!
Basic channel is a great dubby techno influence tho so I guess thats my answer - by electric I just meant the types of sound you use and whether you planned that before you started writing or if it just happened

i do like a bit of detroit too - underground resistance, plastikman, derrick may etc.. basic channel left the biggest impression on me tho.

im still not sure what electric means here but to be honest i dont really tend to plan my tracks - i just sit and jam with a few sounds until things start to gel..

[slevarance]

How did the release with Fly Lo tune come about?

[pinch]

How did the release with Fly Lo tune come about?

I got chatting to steve last year and we've been exchanging music for a while now - really liked the glendale galleria one i felt it fitted nicely with the Tectonic sound - he said cool, and a few friendly conversations with warp later - here we are!

[legend4ry]

Qawwali is one of the most SERIOUS tunes ever!

1) How did you go about making Qawwali and the VIP and how long was Qawwali made before you decided to do a VIP, what triggered the inspiration, do you think it was well received and most importantly, what do you think of the track?

2) I'm going to go ahead and admit that I haven't really kept up much with your latest tunes but from what I have heard you always seem to keep the notion of "space, pace and bass" in your music - do you think its important to carry this mind frame in dubstep for all producers or is it just your sound?

3) I heard you was a FL user, are you still using it? What VSTs do you rate highly (if you use any)


I'll stop there even though I have 3498229 more questions.

Major big ups for tectonic - surely one of the best labels in our scene.

1. Thanks! It was in fact the 2nd dubstep tune i ever made (the first being a track called 'Deserted island' that never came out). I made it on fruity loops early 2004 and was surprised to be called by Mike Paradinas at Planet Mu to ask about releasing it. I made the VIP as a flipside to the release - if Mike hadn't called I probably wouldn't have made it.. That came around mid 2005 and the release dropped march 2006.

Qawwali is def one of my favourite tracks that i made - it came together effortlessly and i feel it has a genuinely optimistic feel to it that isn't really easy to plan to do - i just made it for myself to listen to really and thats what came out. the production is fairly amature but it has a good vibe to it. I guess its sold pretty well too and I often get kind comments about that track when i go to play gigs - seems to be one that a lot of people can relate to in some level.

Without insulting you - I do agree the production isn't as good as it is on your music now but i agree with you also that there is a vibe about it! As soon as someone puts it on, everyone just kinda goes silent and listens, it does carry a very amazing vibe about it! And the fact its your 2nd tune just makes me like it a bit more!


Oh and I completely agree with you about the space thing - I do something forget about it completely, make this immensely busy track then I get to the final mix down stage and I'm like... "well now I gotta subtract half the tune just to get some breathing space in there. I guess it just comes from being into the scene from pretty roots level and just keep hearing this word "space, space, space" everywhere.

Sorry about your hard drive too, didn't lose anything totally irreplaceable did you?

[mumble]

Can you give us any advice or slice of knowledge you wish you would of known when you started making music ?

What do you feel is your strongest aspect of production ?

How do you approach a mixdown ?

Do you still cut dubplates or do you use cd's ?

Whats your DJing ethos ?

Whats the most frustrating thing about running a label ?

Theres quite a few so go in to as much detail as you want

[pinch]

^lost a couple tunes i was working on but c'est la vie - time to move on!

Can you give us any advice or slice of knowledge you wish you would of known when you started making music ?

- spend some time setting up your room correctly, getting good monitors and making sure that you reference things that you trust sonically that you want your tracks to sound like. i also spent ages trying to work out what compression is and how to use it - all compressors do is make loud things quieter and quiet things louder..

What do you feel is your strongest aspect of production ?

-i'm not so sure u know! difficult to say...

How do you approach a mixdown ?

it realy is good to listen to something you trust the sound of b4 u do a mixdown. give yourself up to 2 hours to do the mix and hit it with fresh ears - after about 2 hours your ears will tire and you'll end up ruining the mixdown - making it brighter and brighter the longer you go on.

Do you still cut dubplates or do you use cd's ?

c'mon - dubplates everytime star!

Whats your DJing ethos ?

pace it right - i generally like to start deep and build up from there but sometimes you need to come heavy and take it down later in the mix - and back up again perhaps! its all about dynamics for me - i get bored if its just one sound for an hour whatever that sound is..

Whats the most frustrating thing about running a label ?

digital metadata - f'ing boring...

Theres quite a few so go in to as much detail as you want

[__________]

nearly all of the producers on tectonic are well established as far as dubstep goes.
is this intentional, because you've got mutual interests and understandings, or do you just release the best music you're sent regardless of who made it or whether you agree with their musical philosophy?

more crucially:
double decker or mars bar? which is the greatest?

[antics]

Do you get annoyed when you see your music on youtube? consequently are you more interested in people hearing your music or do you think they should have to pay for the privaledge?

[j-sh]

What do you think is the best way to establish yourself as an artist?
Do you think its more important to promote yourself shamelessly or to spend that time perfecting your craft so the people will come to you?


Also how much graft did you put in to get into the position you are today, are you an every day all day producer or the sort of guy who will sit down when/if inspiration strikes?

big up!

[pidge]

With so many dubstep nights, pretty much much every day of of the week, why did you decide to bring back Dubloaded? Its great by the way, just seems a bit strange considering how crowded the market is.

Also how long have you lived in Bristol and how has living here helped or hindered your creativity/musical career?

[whineo]

Big respect for doing this - Tectonic is an inspiratonal label
..a few questions if I may.

Have you ever used external hardware?

From a lable owners point of view, What advice would you give to people who are getting tunes signed? ...by this I mean developing a relationship with the label?
things to watch out for when it comes to contracts?

One of the things I read in a recent interview with you was about 'feeling comfortable about the sound you're representing' ... when one of your tunes is 'out there' in the public arena, does the fact that you have no control over how other people are listening to/playing your tunes affect you in any way?

Whats the best live act/dj set you have ever witnessed?

Is there a tune that you have always wanted to remix?

What's the best way to send you tunes?