Up next on Artist Toolbox… it’s Siege! The DJ, born and bred in Belgium, he has been working for over 17 years crafting a sound that is uniquely his own. For an artist like Siege, it can seem like his entire life has led up to this moment.
From recording tracks off the radio on a tape player given to him by his grandfather, to buying a mixer to try to learn to mix with this and a CD player, the desire to play music has always been with him.
Siege has had releases on Adam Beyer’s True Soul, Alan Fitzpatrick’s We Are The Brave, Yousef’s Circus Records, Nic Fanciulli’s Saved and of course his home label Toolroom Records and Toolroom Trax. He has recently collaborated with Toolroom boss-man Mark Knight, and the great Eli Brown.
We have caught up with Siege to ask him a very important question… What are your top 5 tips for music production?
What is it? My preferred DAW
What you use it for? Basically everything. For me this is the best DAW out there – you don’t really need anything else to be fair. With Ableton you can do everything in the box if you want.
Why you like using it? It’s fast, it’s straight forward and I’ve been using it for years so I know it inside and out.
How does it integrate into your set up? It’s my main hub.
Why is it a MUST HAVE for you? Because it’s the best DAW 😉
What is it? VST-synth
What you use it for? If I wan’t to create a sound from scratch I usually go for Sylenth1. Again I’ve been using this for so long that I know it inside out so it’s easy for me to start from scratch and design a sound I have in my head.
Why you like using it? It’s a straight forward synth with an interface similar to hardware synths. It’s simple and easy to use once you get the hang of it.
How does it integrate into your set up? I just run it in Ableton Live.
Why is it a MUST HAVE for you? Cheap & easy to use.
What is it? A suite of FX-plugins
What you use it for? All the plugs are good but some of my favorites are Decapitator, EchoBoy JR. and Crystallizer.
Why you like using it? Decapitator is great for subtle (or extreme) saturation – you can give a sound a gentle boost or crush it to bits if that’s what you want. EchoBoy JR. is an easy to use delay plugin with multiple emulations built in. Crystallizer is great for weird reverse delays that give a great atmosphere to your sounds.
How does it integrate into your set up? I run it as a VST in Ableton Live.
Why is it a MUST HAVE for you? They’re great plugins but the key is to grab them during Black Friday as they’re super cheap then.
What is it? A sidechain plugin
What you use it for? For sidechaining bass, shakers, percussion loops etc.
Why you like using it? It’s very easy and quick. You can sidechain with the Live compressor but when using Kickstart you don’t need a ghost kick channel so it’s very fast. You just smack it onto the channel you want to sidechain and you’re good to go.
How does it integrate into your set up? Again I just run it inside Ableton.
Why is it a MUST HAVE for you? Saves you a lot of time!
What is it? Behringer’s clone of the legendary 303 from Roland
What you use it for? Basslines
Why you like using it? I do most of my stuff in the box because it’s very convenient but sometimes it’s just fun to play with something out of the box. When you’re uninspired it’s sometimes helpful to grab a synth, play with it and see what happens.
How does it integrate into your set up? It’s hooked up to my sound card to capture the sound – it’s also plugged in via USB to get midi info from Ableton Live.
Why is it a MUST HAVE for you? Again, it’s cheap and it’s fun. It’s totally different to other synths and you need a manual to use it but this makes it so much fun.
