RS: When you got the vocals back from everyone, DJ Rap,
Chrissie, etc, which one required the least amount of processing to
get to sound perfect?
D:Fuse: Oh god, like we can answer that.
Mike Hiratzka: We actually tracked all the vocals.
D:Fuse: They were all flawless, they were all perfect.
Mike Hiratzka: Yes, one take wonders, everybody. We actually tracked
all the vocals here at my studio, expect for Kristy. She was in
Vancouver so we just sent her a two-track and she sent back a bunch of
ProTools files that had everything pretty much laid out. Kristy was
coming to LA just before we were getting ready to finish up the album
and have it mastered so we had the opportunity to have her come in and
lay down a few more things.
D:Fuse: To be completely honest, everybody we worked was really
good. We generally do a lot of post-production and everything we do,
whether it be vocals or drum machines, there is always a lot of
tweaking that's involved. All of them were really great to work with
and really professional.
RS: Very cool. You mentioned ProTools, are you strictly
ProTools or do you work in Logic and Cubase?
Mike Hiratzka: We use Logic as a primary sequencer and do some
tracking in ProTools. I like features of both. We didn't really do
the mastering because we went to a third party studio, Paramount
Studio in Hollywood. I did the premastering layout and stuff in
ProTools, so it's kind of two-platform system that I'm doing here at
the studio but I like to be able to use whatever is required to get
the job done. Certain things just handle certain jobs more
efficiently or in a way that I prefer to work so it just sort of
depends on the situation.
RS: D:Fuse, you were involved with the at DJs Are Alive project.
Was that sort of a rough draft from this?
D:Fuse: I think the DJs Are Alive kind of came about from the live
project Mike and I were doing with the tour we did called the D:Fuse
Live Experience. I gave the album of People Three to Scumfrog and all
of a sudden he called me out of the blue with the DJs are Alive idea.
It was definitely a cool project to do, but I think really what we
were doing was really spawned off of Mike and I working together on
the road and touring.
RS: Mike, before working with D:Fuse you were working with
Kazell. This is a very different sound, why the big change?
Mike Hiratzka: I've always had a very diverse musical background. I
played guitar in rock bands for a long time, was a singer for a long
time and I was actually in an opera, so for me constantly exploring
new musical territory is part of who I am as a musician and as a
producer. When D and I first started working together, he was flying
in from Texas because he would play a gig here and we'd work for few
days and we'd always have a great time and were writing stuff that we
both liked. After the experience of doing the People 3 CD, we had
really started to develop this rapport and I have always worked with a
lot of different people throughout my career. With Kazell, I had kind
of outgrown that relationship and I wanted to get into different
musical territory.
RS: What about D:Fuse inspired you to work with him?
Mike Hiratzka: D likes to take the DJ set and turn it into a
performance. He brings an electronic drum kit and really performs with
his set. As somebody who comes from a live performance background I
really saw that it could have potential in so many different
directions. When we're working together, we could always be adding in
live instruments on any project that we're working on. That really
adds a whole other organic element to the electronic music that we're
making and that really appeals to me because then that's something
that we can turn around in the future and translate into a live
performance that goes way beyond just two decks and a mixer.
D:Fuse: As opposed to staring at a laptop screen and kind of bobbing
your head a bit on stage.
RS: With that in mind, how are you touring for the Skyline
Lounge tours? Is it going to be the two of you with instruments and
singers?
D:Fuse: Right now what we're doing is kind of a little bit
laid-back. We've been working hard in the studio to come up with high
energy version remixes of the album and then playing a lot of these
during our sets. Half of our set is all or music basically from the
album and remixes and everything like that. Right now, it's DJ
performance we're both doing as the album gets out there. The thing
is to let people hear the album and understand where we're going.
We're doing a big launch party in Los Angles at Area on July 13th
where we're both doing individual DJ sets but in the middle of that
we're going to come together and do a full on live show. Mike's going
to be singing, I'm going to do the drums, he's going to do the guitar
and we'll do a 30 minute live set. We want let people understand what
the album is and then look at launching a full on live PA tour and
that would be pretty much at the end of this year and the beginning of
next year.
