In the Studio With Caspa TECH
“For subs, which is really important, I use Logic’s EXS 24. It really gives a great sound. Some people dismiss it — as it’s free with Logic, they think that it isn’t any good, but that’s not the case. All my subs come out of it. For drums I use samples from Vengeance Dance Drums, which are good for hits, cymbals and hats, and the REFX Nexus has some great drum patches, which I also use for kicks and snares when building my tunes.”
Do you always use the same kit in order to capture that Caspa signature sound? “No, not really. Sometimes I throw things up that I haven’t used before, like recently, I used a synth called Gladiator by Tone 2. I used it for a pad sound. I suppose it depends on the way the mix or track is going, I think the ‘Caspa sound’ just comes down to the mix, the style, the way I like the drums to sit in the mix, the sub, the type of drum sounds, how I EQ them and reverb them.”
So it’s the way you mix your tracks that defines your sound?
“My sound is based on drums. I am really into having clean and snappy drums and big warm
bass. The secret for me is that I don’t push my tracks. A lot of people are always pushing their drums, synths and bass sounds into the red. I am the complete opposite — the new style of mixing is to be louder, louder, louder but that’s not for me, it’s not loudness, it’s dynamics I am after. “If you keep your channels out of the red, you’ll feel and hear your dynamics a lot better than if you’re pushing everything so hard. I want the subs to be pulsating and hit people in the chest, the snare to whack them across the face and the kick to be banging them in the stomach. For me, it’s more important to have these dynamics in a tune rather than just loudness. “If you take a track to a mastering engineer that’s maxed out, there is nothing that they can do with it, just limit it so it doesn’t damage people’s systems. All the mastering engineers I talk to say the same thing: that they love having tracks with dynamics so that they can bring out the best and completely polish it off, rather than a track that is loud and squashed and lifeless.”
Tell us a little bit about your label Dub Police? “From the get-go my whole ethos of the label Dub Police was to showcase new talent. I wanted a platform prepared to take the risk of putting out great new music. I started up Dub Police to sign new talent and release some of my own tunes as well as others, like early Rusko, L Whizz, Distinction — a lot of up-and-coming guys from the day. I’ve always looked for new talent, and now with the team at Dub Police, the idea is to find good music and good artists to develop, and make them flourish and get a branding behind them. We’ve got The Others, Trolley Snatcha, Subscape and a whole new roster of people ready to come through the ranks.”
Who is Techno Terry? “I’ve been experimenting with the 4/4 thing for a while, Dismantle has blown up over the last few years and we are both into each other’s music, so we just thought, ‘Let’s go into the studio and have a bubble, have a laugh and see what happens’. The whole Techno Terry thing is actually me on the vocal.”
djmag.com 089
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