DSF Q&A Sessions 2: Ramadanman

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:57 am

Based in London.
David 'Ramadanman' has been DJing from the age of 14, beginning with deep house and hip hop, becoming attracted to hip-hop and jungle as he grew older. After learning how to make music on computer, Ramadanman started to use his brother's copy of Fruity Loops at around the age of 15, and is still using the program today. Inspired by a Mala set after reaching FWD>> for the first time in April 2006, Ramadanman became involved in the dubstep scene. He has released tunes on Soul Jazz Records and Tempa, as well as through the label Hessle Audio which he co-runs. He has enjoyed DJ support from Ricardo Villalobos, Skream, Chefal, Craig Richards, Francois K, Kode9, D1, Mala, Distance, Mary Anne Hobbs, Rob da Bank, Gilles Peterson and many more. He is involved in organizing the Leeds' night 'Ruffage', as well as hosting a weekly show on internet radio station Sub FM. Ramadanman DJs often both nationally and internationally, including regular dates at FWD>> in London.
You can see his full discography here @ Discogs.

You all know who he is, and you all have heard at least one tune he has made. So I dare you to ask your questions to him now!

Ramadanman on MYSPACE

Booking Ramadanman for your event / party:
bookings@twuagency.co.uk
dubstep@twuagency.co.uk

You have to thank pdomino for making a lot of this possible!

Be aware that Sessions will run officialy for one (1) week per producer. After that it's up to the producer if he'll continue answering questions. So don't make silly faces if your question is left unasnwered after 1 week passes

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:12 am

So... the usual - what's your setup like?

How do you go about making a tune? Do you start from somewhere or is it a different thing every time?

What's you usual way of sounddesigning a bassline?

Cheers for taking a part in the series

Jason

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:34 am

big up for the take remix

erm, something i am trying to do is work towards getting my own sound, so that people can hear a bit of one of my tracks and recognise it as mine. do you do this, if so how? using the same drum sounds / reverbs / warming on every track?

string · Post by **string** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:39 am

I'd like to know your process of making a bassline in fruityloops? What tools do you use, how do you use them etc?

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:53 pm

Have you received any good advice from Mastering Engineers that have really helped your mixdowns in preparation for mastering?

mumble · Post by **mumble** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:58 pm

How long did it take you to create tracks that you felt were worthy of releasing and playing out ?

Do you use the standard FL compressor, EQ etc plugins ?

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:08 pm

What's your opinion on presets? Do you use presets on instruments?

dubsteptim · Post by **dubsteptim** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:36 pm

why are your tunes so damn sexy?

what inspired u to start hessle audio?

do you cut dubplates/acetate?

have you played stateside yet? and if no, you need to bro!!!!!!

pdomino · Post by **pdomino** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:28 pm

Who inspires you ?

-dubson- · Post by **-dubson-** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:28 pm

how often do you make tunes good enough to be played out, do have have lots of idea's that you don't finish?

legend4ry · Post by **legend4ry** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:38 pm

Firstly, Carla is amazing!!

Your sound has changed a lot from that early banger Hungarian Skank.. What was the progression from that to the deep techy stuff you're doing now? was you just finding your feet or just started to get the sound you wanted or something else?

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:47 pm

hi people, am in berlin at the moment for the weekend. questions will be answered on monday!

macc · Post by **macc** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:11 pm

You KNOW I dig your stuff man.

That's not a question is it

Ok so, why do you look so bloody young? Or am I getting old?

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 8:02 pm

You playing at Berlin? How's the crowd there?

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:54 am

Johnny Beat wrote:So... the usual - what's your setup like?

How do you go about making a tune? Do you start from somewhere or is it a different thing every time?

What's you usual way of sounddesigning a bassline?

Cheers for taking a part in the series

Jason

i have some free time so i may as well start!

my setup is simple: pc, soundcard (focusrite saffire le), monitors (adam p11a) and fruity loops. occasionally use some random hardware - ie kids keyboards, tape recorders, theremin, but not that often

when making a tune i will often start with just making a beat and it will progress from there, but sometimes you find a specific sample that you'd like to base a song around so you start it that way. then again sometimes you find a sample like that, build a song around it, and then end up changing the original sample. so yeh, it kinda depends

not quite sure what you mean by soundesigning a bassline, but i am definitely influenced about how a tune will sound on a system, i guess that is my primary concern when making my bassline. im very interested in which frequencies hit where. i have a big subwoofer at my parents house which is useful for getting some idea of how it will drop in a club

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:56 am

james fox wrote:big up for the take remix

erm, something i am trying to do is work towards getting my own sound, so that people can hear a bit of one of my tracks and recognise it as mine. do you do this, if so how? using the same drum sounds / reverbs / warming on every track?

i don't really know how you get your own sound, i guess it's by finding something that only you can do. ie you can often tell a d1 tune for example cos he has a very individual way of making his drums, as well as a few trademark samples which get sneaked into most of his tunes. i do sometimes think when making a tune 'does this sound too much like someone else' as originality is important to me. when making a tune i do generally use the same reverbs / eqing techniques on my elements.

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:00 am

String wrote:I'd like to know your process of making a bassline in fruityloops? What tools do you use, how do you use them etc?

i think making a bassline in fruity is the same as making a bassline in any other program. personally i like the 3xosc for a simple sub bass, but i do use other synths occasionally for sub bass, as well as 808 hits. i did go through a phase of using just 808 hits in a variety of different ways for a bassline (offal , kablammo eleven , drowning etc) . the 3xosc is a bit underated i think, it's a realy good tool. as i said earlier i think that the frequency that the bassline hits at is very important so i will try to vary the ntoes / make sure it's going low enough etc. but yeh it does depend on the tune a bit

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:02 am

Whineo wrote:Have you received any good advice from Mastering Engineers that have really helped your mixdowns in preparation for mastering?

yes definitely, i think you always learn something new each time you are at the mastering house. some things ive learned are:

being careful about hi frequencies and anything particularly resonant (in terms of preparing for vinyl)

bouncing out your tune at a decent volume. as long as you leave -0.3 headroom then its cool. if you bounce out at -6db you are just losing quality.

going easy on limiters / compressers. no point in trying to do the mastering job for them.

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:05 am

Mumble wrote:How long did it take you to create tracks that you felt were worthy of releasing and playing out ?

Do you use the standard FL compressor, EQ etc plugins ?

hmm i guess it has taken a while. but i have never really been part of a scene before dubstep so i was never really doing anything with my music in the past, it was more of a personal thing. i guess maybe dubstep gave me an audience? but yeh ive been using fruity for 6 years now and im still learning new stuff so i think its a slow process. i don't think you can ever be 100% happy with your tunes anyway, so sometimes i think it is best to just let something go rather than just frustrate yourself trying to improve it

i use some fl plugins, such as reverb and delay, but for compression / eq i use others. the FL ones arent too bad really

DSF Q&A Sessions 2: Ramadanman

DSF Q&A Sessions 2: Ramadanman

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