words: MICK WILSON pics: GARETH SPREY TECH
can be made in the comfort of any recording environment…
Can you give us a run down of what equipment you use to produce? Dan: “We both have our own studios, situated five minutes apart. Phil’s just moved into a new studio, and I’m currently on a makeshift set-up whilst I renovate my room. We both run custom- built PCs running Windows 7 and Cubase 6.5. “Monitor-wise, I am still using an old pair of Fostex PM1s that we love too much to get rid of. Phil uses KRK Rokit 8s, but we mix everything down using a combination of the PM1s and our headphones. We use a Steinberg UR824 soundcard, which is a lovely-sounding little beast. And lots of plug-ins, of course...”
What’s your favourite plug-in? Dan: “There are so many fantastic plug-ins about these days, it’s hard to choose. One plug-in we almost always use is the Ferric TDS plug-in from Bootsy. It’s a saturation and dynamics effect that just sounds great on so much sonic material — and it’s free! We use it on almost every track, particularly for drums and other transient material. I’d recommend all of Bootsy’s plug-ins. The new Density MK2 compressor is a current fave as well.”
BROTHERS IN ARMS
Dan and Phil Brookes, aka the Brookes Brothers, have been carving out a unique niche in the liquid drum & bass world since 2006. Smashing up the d&b arenas with their DJing and production skills, this year sees their stock rising still higher…
T
he Brookes Brothers have had a meteoric rise in the drum & bass scene. After initial releases on Futurebound’s Viper imprint, plus the head-turning
Sub Focus collaboration ‘Verano’, the UK duo were snapped up by DJ Fresh and Adam F and signed exclusively to their Breakbeat Kaos label in 2007. The first release, ‘Hard Knocks/Mistakes’ sent the outfit global following sustained radio support from Pete Tong and leading d&b figureheads including Andy C and Grooverider. In 2011 they released their self-titled debut album to critical acclaim. It fused the classic and the innovative by successfully incorporating elements from other scenes, with an original ear for melody and a technical prowess that left dancefloors in a frenzy. Since then, the boys have been DJing relentlessly across the globe whilst holding down their residency at Fabric nightclub in London, doing remixes, and producing chart-busting pop hits for the likes of Example.
With tracks like ‘Tear You Down’, ‘Beautiful’ and more recently ‘Loveline’, the Brookes Brothers have cemented their place at the cutting edge of drum & bass and dance music at large, using a combination of professional and home-based
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studios. DJ Mag USA took the opportunity to interrogate the Brookes Brothers about producing between studios, and how chart-busting tunes
You have an interesting method when it comes to plug-in intensive sessions... Dan: “Yeah, unruly projects can cause a huge amount of hassle! Our projects tend to get pretty big (normally over 200 tracks and loads of plug- ins), so it’s essential to keep them organized and clearly laid out. One thing we do to help with this is to create each section separately in a different project. This also enables us to use more processing power earlier, in order to get things to sound right straight off the bat. These parts will be bounced out to the main project, and we can go back to them later if we need to change any elements.”
You use quite a lot of vox in your productions. Do you prefer to work with your own recordings, or with samples? Phil: “We like doing both. Recording ourselves is more laborious, but more rewarding. It’s often good to come up with ideas using samples, and
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