DSF Q&A Sessions Vol.11 : IKONIKA (open)

[tripwire22]

Hey Iknonika love your music always has the right vibes. i had a simple question, is there any chance of you collaborating with the likes of Zomby, Quarta 330, Darkstar, or 2562 i think it would be interesting if your sounds mixed with any of these guys

[ikonika]

Question i've been wanting to ask you since that night you played in amsterdam,

You quit your dayjob, huge step in my opinion, and cool offcourse, we'd all love to do that, lol

But, weren't you scared of making music too much?
Or do you have any worries on that matter at this time?

By quitting your dayjob you would get extra pressure to perform well, i assume. Wich can lead to crappy music, or other damaging stuff

And you've got mail, if you're still using that hotmail

cheers

you got mail too! lol

I see DJing and producing as any other job. It's a self-employed business now, tax returns and everything!!! obviously i love doing it and I have integrity and passion... but because its my only source of income I do have to put a money-game face on. I am professional and fair.

There is a lot of pressure but it mainly comes from myself, i'm always trying to exceed expectations... creativity comes and goes, obviously I get blocks from time to time...but this is why my studio is so nicely organised. I try and limit blocks by not getting bored in the studio and by having plenty to do.

Quitting my shitty day job was a MASSIVE step. I had to calculate the worst possible outcomes, could i afford to do this? what if i don't get bookings? what if there was an emergency at home? its still not a lot of money but its enough for me to pay the bills, eat and put petrol in my mums car every week.

[ikonika]

Hey Iknonika love your music always has the right vibes. i had a simple question, is there any chance of you collaborating with the likes of Zomby, Quarta 330, Darkstar, or 2562 i think it would be interesting if your sounds mixed with any of these guys

I think a zomby, quarta 330 or darkstar collab would be an obvious one to call...and maybe a bit too obvious... i always get asked about collabs...i think im a hard person to work with though.but me and optimum have been doing a lot of tunes together and we're hoping to get a few releases sorted out pretty soon.

[thomas edison]

Being so tidy and organised in the studio;

How do you sort your samples?
And, do you use one hit samples or loops, other then drums?

I've been wanting to throw away all the crappy samples i have, like just all the one hits i dont think sound cool, not even thinking about how they would translate in a tune.
But it's scary shit. For example; I threw away all the factory presets I had, but now i sometimes want to check some out, to check this setting, and that option.

[ikonika]

Being so tidy and organised in the studio;

How do you sort your samples?
And, do you use one hit samples or loops, other then drums?

I've been wanting to throw away all the crappy samples i have, like just all the one hits i dont think sound cool, not even thinking about how they would translate in a tune.
But it's scary shit. For example; I threw away all the factory presets I had, but now i sometimes want to check some out, to check this setting, and that option.

can't believe you deleted the factory presets lol that takes guts. whenever i use presets i like to disguise them a lil, add effects, reverse them whatever...then save!

i use one hit samples, they are all grouped together, kicks, snares, hats, efx. makes sense, so you can audition them quickly. i haven't deleted anything...you might need them in the future...today i made a hi hat groove out of a really thin snare lol

[thomas edison]

that's good stuff

I deleted all of them to learn the synths myself really, one fm synth and one virtual analog.
I was pussying out all the time and using presets for everything
so that's why

You use logic for arranging your drums right?
Do you use any groove options on your drums?, i think logic has a plug to make your drums a tad random and such

[mumble]

How about a pic of your studio or a screen capture of Logic's arrange/mixer...

Please.

[capital v]

First of all big up!

How do you go about creating your sounds? (other than using your analogue synthesizers)

Are you really strict when it comes to eqing your drums and creating space in a mix? I hear quite a lot of people saying they like their kicks to peak at 100hz and the snares to hit at 200hz.

Why the transition from FL to Logic?

Lastly, what are your favourite VST's?

[mrbeatnick]

favourite djs / people coming up that you're into?

[ikonika]

that's good stuff

I deleted all of them to learn the synths myself really, one fm synth and one virtual analog.
I was pussying out all the time and using presets for everything
so that's why

You use logic for arranging your drums right?
Do you use any groove options on your drums?, i think logic has a plug to make your drums a tad random and such

yeah i use logic for everything. i dont usually use the groove options...its something i want to experiment more on, i haven't been using logic long, theres so much i need to learn...i need to watch more youtube videos i think lol

First of all big up!

How do you go about creating your sounds? (other than using your analogue synthesizers)

Are you really strict when it comes to eqing your drums and creating space in a mix? I hear quite a lot of people saying they like their kicks to peak at 100hz and the snares to hit at 200hz.

Why the transition from FL to Logic?

Lastly, what are your favourite VST's?

creating sounds should be the fun part, i always spending hours just experimenting with either logics own synths or on my moog...as soon as i've manage to make something half decent i need to make a tune out of it straight away.

i like those kind of sounds that are easy to play (literally), where the sound syncs with your hands...thats when you know you've a good synth sound lol

i've always wanted logic, but it was too expensive so i thought i'd start on FL to learn the basics. i saw it as an upgrade really and when logic 8 came out it just seemed like the right thing to do.

i don't really care too much for frequencies...thats probably why i have problems with my mixes...so i guess i'm not that strict when it comes to mixing

favourite djs / people coming up that you're into?

kingdom, bok bok, phantom, optimum, ghostleigh, greena, braiden, brackles, mosca & ben ufo

[DZA]

Finally youre playing in Nottingham

[hans blix]

Longest time to make a song?

Shortest time to make a song?

[ikonika]

Longest time to make a song?

Shortest time to make a song?

longest= a year (on and off)

shortest= 1 hour

[thomas edison]

1 hour is sick,

I can manage making some loops in 1 hour, wich together can make the fullest part of the song, but 1 hour to finish a whole arrangement as well, that's sick.

And after that one hour then, do you master that shit yourself? (boost the volume, work on the mixdown etc)
Or do you leave all that work out of the one hour estimate?

[ikonika]

1 hour is sick,

I can manage making some loops in 1 hour, wich together can make the fullest part of the song, but 1 hour to finish a whole arrangement as well, that's sick.

And after that one hour then, do you master that shit yourself? (boost the volume, work on the mixdown etc)
Or do you leave all that work out of the one hour estimate?

yeah dude that's 1 hour in total. it only works if you've got templates and all your sounds there...and if you're using a template then your mixdown should be more or less done already.

[thomas edison]

Tell us a bit more about those templates then

drumkits, synth presets etc i get. In what other ways do you use templates then?

[Pete MacLeod]

Hey, thanks for answers so far, really interesting thread!

Do you have advice on using the Alesis Micron?

I'm tempted to get one as it looks pretty neat and is affordable. The thing is there are vids on youtube of people using it that sound awful and then there is the awesomeness of Dorian Concept... how long did it take you to get good sounds out of it? I'm new to synthesis so any tips??

cheers

[pdomino]

do you have any bookings you are looking forward to?

what's your favourite place to play?

what's your current favourite tune?

[ikonika]

Tell us a bit more about those templates then

drumkits, synth presets etc i get. In what other ways do you use templates then?

I rather not lol got to keep some secrets intact

Hey, thanks for answers so far, really interesting thread!

Do you have advice on using the Alesis Micron?

I'm tempted to get one as it looks pretty neat and is affordable. The thing is there are vids on youtube of people using it that sound awful and then there is the awesomeness of Dorian Concept... how long did it take you to get good sounds out of it? I'm new to synthesis so any tips??

cheers

The only thing with the Micron is that its not very hands on and you have to go through all the short cuts and mayhem just to tweak the simplest things but saying this it is very affordable, I got mine on ebay for like £150. Its nice and cute, the keys feel nice. I think its great for pads and brass sounds. Its entry level but to me its a great secret weapon. The Micron and Mircokorg is where you want to start really.

do you have any bookings you are looking forward to?

what's your favourite place to play?

what's your current favourite tune?

Yeah I got some pretty exciting gigs I'm looking forward to, like this week I'm playing with Dorian Concept in Budapest on a ship.

The best place I've played was at Elevate Festival, where we did a Hyperdub showcase inside a mountain!

Favourite tune of the moment Mosca-Square One or....anything by R1 Ryders

[kuklee]

This might be a stupid question but oh well. I've been listening to your mix recorded in Moscow. Could you tell me which is the first tune, the one before zomby's - little miss naughty?

Thanks.