Making the move from writing to DJing and producing may seem like an odd transition, but when you consider the career arcs of Dave Dresden, Bill Coleman, and Joe Bermudez, it starts to make more sense. As contributing editor for Keyboard magazine and writer of three books, Francis Preve covers the latest technologies. As a sound designer for Korg and Ableton, he creates the sounds that other producers use. As a producer, he has worked with circuit DJ Roland Belmares and commercial DJ Joe Bermudez. With a diverse range of styles from tech to discohouse to pop, Francis Preve is one to watch as a rising star in the electronica world set to explode on the international scene.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Producer. Musician. Writer. Remixer. Programmer. How did you
get started in the music world?
Francis Preve: My first break in the music world, as such, was in a
boy band during the 80s called "Beat Goes Bang." We had the usual
label-inflicted horror stories and ultimately broke up, though we did
have the dubious distinction of performing the theme song for "Don't
Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" - a cover of Tommy James' "Dragging
The Line." That experience taught me tons of things about the music
industry and made me realize that focusing on remixing and production
was more in line with my musical meanderings.
After that, I took a few years off, then snagged a contract with
London/ffrr records, doing remixes and production under the name 1926
Productions (with hip-hop producer Jeremy "Cochise" Ball). At London,
I ended up working on remixes for Orbital ("Lush"), Utah Saints ("What
Can You Do For Me") and a hip-hop group called "Poverty."
Then during the 90s, I took a detour through the music technology
industry. I'd always been obsessed with synthesizers and sound itself,
so after being approached by NemeSys (now a division of Tascam), I
took the position of Program Director and helped them to develop and
market their PC-based software sampler, called "GigaStudio." After
they were purchased by Tascam, I got back into music production and
remixes, and here I am now.
RS: What inspired you to start producing dance music?
Francis Preve: I grew up on 80s dance music like Depeche Mode, Duran
Duran, and New Order. So it was sort of a natural outcome of that. I
remember hearing house for the first time. Tracks like "Baby Wants To
Ride," "It's Alright," and "That's The Way Love Is" and fell in love
with the combination of soulfulness and technology.
I was very young at the time and it all made a HUGE impression.
RS: You are definitely a proponent of pushing the boundaries of
technology with music. Tell me about some of the work you've done with
Ableton and Korg.
Francis Preve: Well, since 2004, I've been one of the principal sound
designers for Ableton, designing a huge portion of the synth sounds,
drum kits, and effects presets that ship with Live. I love that shit.
Just sitting in my underwear at 2 AM, thinking "Oh this sound would be
cool in a dance track" and helping musicians and producers make their
own tracks.
In 2006, Korg approached me about contributing a bank of sounds for
their PolySix software synth. Since I was an owner of the original
analog hardware version, that was a no-brainer. They liked those
sounds, so they added me to the team that developed the sounds for the
MonoPoly softsynth and their flagship mondo synth, the OASYS.
It's funny, 'cause Ableton is my favorite software company and Korg is
my favorite hardware synth company. I definitely don't take that stuff
for granted. I'm very very lucky to be able to do this kind of work.
RS: In your quest to help musicians and producers, you've also
written books and for the magazine Keyboard. Do you think writing
influences your production or your production influences your writing?
Francis Preve: That's a tough question. See, when I was growing up, I really didn't have any resources to learn sound design, so I had to
rely on Keyboard magazine - and trial-and-error - to learn the craft
of creating dance music. I read every issue cover to cover multiple
times, so it all came full circle when Keyboard approached me in 2000
to do reviews and write tutorials. It might sound silly or uncool, but
it's such an honor to be able to give back to the dance community by
giving away my bag of tricks every month. The free software doesn't
hurt either (laughs). Basically, the two aspects - writing and
production - dovetail nicely.
