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10 questions with Olivier Giacomotto
With releases on Definitive, Cr2 and Toolroom as well as regular appearances in the Beatport top 10, Olivier Giacomotto's name is synonymous with electro house belters. We caught up with the Bordeaux-based beatsmith to chat about the future of clubbing, why his studio's all-digital and how to gaurantee a great low-end.
Who's currently rocking your world as a producer and why?
For a long time I've appreciated what D.Ramirez produces. His mixes are always well balanced, his tracks sound great on every soundsystem and he's had a strong sonic personality for the last decade.
What is the key ingredient in a track? Breakdown? Style of production? Bassline?
It's all about drums, rhythm and low-end impact. A good kick drum and bassline is what makes the dancefloor move; if that's not working then it doesn't matter how good the rest of your ideas are. When you've got that solid base, the rest is about technique and creativity: taking an idea from your head and working it into a track.
When building a track how do you normally work? Do you start with the drums and build from that?
I don't have a fixed way of working. Sometimes I start with the rhythmical elements, get a groove going, then add a bassline and synth sounds on top and develop the track from there. Other times I might start by programming a synth sound, get a phat sound and work the drums around that. Occasionally I take a vocal approach: load up a vocal sample, get a vibe from it, and then develop the groove second.
Do you mainly use analogue or digital soft synth sources? Do you think analogue makes a difference?
I'm 100% digital. I like the idea of being able to take my studio with me. Being able to compose on a train or plane, in a hotel, in Paris, London or Miami is priceless to me. At home I have a Fireface 800, Mackie HR824s, Genelec subwoofer and a Macbook Pro running Logic 9. When I'm away I do all mixdowns using an Audio8 soundcard and HD25 headphones.
Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? Do you prefer flat and boring speakers, headphones or big, phat and chunky monitors?
Be careful of your ears. My monitors are usually pretty quiet - and almost always under 60dB. However, I do crank them up once in a while to fine-tune the levels of each instrument at the end of the production process. I try to listen to the track on different monitors, and even on headphones to make sure it sounds right in any environment. If the acoustics of your room aren't perfect then listening on headphones is like looking through a magnifying glass, allowing you to spot and correct little elements and fine-tune FX. Having the Genelec subwoofer is a huge advantage as I can listen to mixes at low volume and still feel the low end.
What sounds do you find are the hardest to create from scratch?
Kick drums are a challenge to create from scratch. You can spend hours layering four different kicks, using low-pass filters, EQs, and FX in search of the perfect kick. However, I've recently started using Vengeance's Metrum - a plugin dedicated to kick drums, which is saving me a lot of time.
When mixing, what do you find the hardest thing to get sounding right?
Definitely the bassline. The aim is to create a sound that works organically with the kick and that also sounds massive on all kinds of dancefloors. But it's easy to overdo it, and you can end up with something that sounds muddy and dull. It took me years to learn how to develop solid sounding basslines and in the end I found it was best to focus on the frequencies of the notes you use. You have to bear in mind that C2 lies at 65 Hz - lower than many smaller speakers reach - and that E2 is at a higher 82 Hz, which means a bass playing E2 will sound good on all kinds of speakers - in clubs, in bars - even home stereos. F2 (87Hz) will sound even better.
What's your opinion on processing the mix bus? Leave it clean or drive it to the extreme?
When I start a track there is already an EQ, compressor and a limiter on the master output. I like to work on a finalized sound from the beginning. My settings aren't that extreme: the goal of the compressor is to reduce the dynamics a little in order to boost the limiter at the end. The limiter never goes above 4dB boost.
What do you believe is the secret to your success as a producer?
The key to any kind of success is a mix of hard work, technique, creativity, and meditation. If you work hard, if you study the techniques, if your creativity is strong enough then people will recognise your work, and if you know where you are and where you want to go, then you'll find yourself on the right path.
What's the future for dance music?
Digital technology has its good and bad sides. On the plus side, artists and labels can release their songs more easily now - there is a real feel of creative freedom. The flip side of this is online piracy, which is not going to go away. Some solutions exist, but they have a cost and most labels can't afford them.
In the clubbing realm, a DJ on stage is not enough anymore. We need to see more interaction between the crowd and DJs, with SMS, or live emails, to influence music or visuals. Ritchie Hawtin did it really well on his Contakt tour. I'd like to see the crowd getting more involved too - maybe they could have remote controls in order to start smoke, bubbles and CO2 machines.
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More from Olivier: www.myspace.com/oliviergiacomotto
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