Frankie Loscavio - “Here is an interview with Adam John Newberg, a very talented electronic music producer and DJ. I really wanted to get some insight into how Adam works and what some of his techniques are. Along with that I also wanted to see what inspires him and where he is at right now in his music production. Adam was very forthright and willing to share with us his methods of working and how he does what he does. He has been around for a long time and I actually found myself listening to mixes from Coresplittaz and DJ G.I.S way back in the day and hearing tracks I thought were hard as F@K but didn’t know at the time those tracks were actually Adam John’s! Well, lets get to it hear some of what Adam John’s all about :)”

Q: Hey Adam. Can you tell us where you live and how old you are?

I can! I live in Arizona, around the Phoenix area and I'm 29 years old.

Q: What go you into electronic music and how old were you etc..?

An old friend of mine by the name of Dave Janossy, hope I spelled his name right. At the time I had just started college and was in and out of bands as a drummer. I was active with DCI (Drum Corps International) for a couple years as well, and during that time my friend had been introducing me to electronic music. He noticed my frustration with not being able to find a stable band - all I wanted to do was write music. So he played me some records from DJ 3D and B Boy 3000 - I was floored! That was the first time I had heard drum and bass. I was about 19 y/o at the time, and prior to then the only electronic music I had heard was really, really cheese cheerleader style music. When I was younger in High School & Jr. High I mostly listened to Hard rock, Grunge, Metal, Ska, Punk Rock and some Hiphop. When Dave introduced me to Jungle and Drum and Bass I was thrilled - I finally found a style of electronic music I liked, and according to him, it was something I'd be able to pick up quickly.

Adam John - Devour (Sample) by Adam John

Q: What inspires you and influence your work?

My inspiration typically comes from life experience and other forms of music. Sometimes I get stuck where I'm just not feeling creative, and I think many artists probably go through the same experience. Typically when that is happening I just try to get out more - go camping, spend more time with friends/family, watch more movies and just listen to new music in all kinds of styles. My friends Noel & Frank, of The Outside Agency, are also pretty influential and inspiring in my work. Both of them are hard working, solid producers who write in various styles - their work helps push me to challenge myself and try new things, whether it's writing music in other genres or working out new techniques to create better sounds.

Q: What tools do you use to produce?

Currently I'm using Ableton Live as my main production environment. I'm in the process of preparing to do some live performances down the road, so be on the look out for that.

Adam John - Tear This Up (Sample) by Adam John

Q: What are your favorite synths, vst's etc..

I love using Massive to create bass sounds. I use it for Bass, Leads and random SFX for the most part. I also use Absynth to create lush sounds and pads, or just strange noises that I can glitch out later. Kontakt is another one I use for a Sampler, but I do find myself using Ableton’s built in sampler often as well. It really depends on what I’m trying to achieve and which tool will give me the best outcome.

Q: I first heard your tracks in some older DJ G.I.S mixes but didn't know it was you at the time. It seems your style has evolved and changed since those days. You seemed to use more processed Amens back then and less of those now instead using cleaner harder hits?

This is true, over time my style has definitely changed and evolved. When I first got into production I was enthralled in the idea of chopping up breaks and trying to glitch them out. I did a lot of my early beat chopping using CoolEdit Pro and SoundForge, before there was a Dr. Rex! After awhile I had been listening to more experimental music and other genres and I just wanted to do something different. So I started trying out new styles of writing, just getting more experimental. Lately I've been making a lot of experimental music and Dubstep under my name, Adam John, as well. I've been tossing around the idea of working on some Drum and Bass / Darkstep along the lines of what I used to make back in 2002-2005. We shall see, anything can happen! Could be fun, it's been awhile since I did a proper amen tune.

Elephant Man vs Ed OG - Haters Wanna War / Just Call My Name (Adam John Remix) 2008 by Adam John

Q. Describe the life of one of your tracks. How dos it begin, how does it evolve roughly and how do you get to the mastered piece that users can purchase? I think some readers will like to hear your mastering process as this is usually the hardest in some peoples minds.

Tough one! Honestly all my tracks tend to start differently. Some of them start with me just messing around creating breaks or keying out long, sustained melodies for a background or even a lead. I'll have moments, which I'm sure many artists have, where and idea just hits me out of nowhere, and I'll quickly key out the drop as I'm hearing it in my head. There were times when I first started where I'd actually sketch out the idea on paper - kind of similar to when I wrote percussion pieces in College and High School. As for mixing, I am working on that progressively while I'm writing it - I like to have my levels and a good range when I'm writing the music because it allows me to easily fit in new sounds as I go. When I think it's ready for mix down, I'll usually take a break from it before I go back and put in the final mix, making sure all the sounds and levels are right where I want them. I'll also go through and A+B the tune with other songs I like.

I keep my over all mix at about -3db before I send it to mastering. My goal is to get the mix, without any compression/limiting on the master fader, to sound as good as I think I can possibly make it. Once I get there, I render out a 32bit wav - sometimes a couple versions, and send those off to someone to be mastered. I don't technically "Master" any of my music - but I do a bit of compression and EQ for the tracks I bounce out just for DJing. Usually I'll run a hi-cut at about 17-18KHz, cutting out all the real high end. I also run a low-cut around 30Hz to get rid of any unnecessary low end.

Currently I lack the tools and the listening environment to do any real mastering - when I need that, I find a professional with the right equipment and space.

Dizzee Rascal VS Neptunes - Fix Up Like This (Adam John Remix) 2008 by Adam John

Q: Any tips on how you get some of those clean hard drums like in "Foreign Skin"

Layering and Eq! I look for and use the best sounds I can get. I layer in other drums as I see fit and use subtractive EQ to get rid of unwanted frequencies. Those are some of the key things - I make sure, for instance, that on my hi-hats I remove all the frequencies below say, 300-400Hz or so, because there is no need to have those low end sounds on a hi-hat. I'm sure other people out there that have those samples where you have all this unwanted low end that just muddies up everything else. I find it in Snare samples sometimes as well. I just try to get my drums to sound as clean as I can, making sure all the levels are nice and using compression when needed. I bus all my drums to one channel and put a compressor and EQ on there - it helps beef 'em up and round out the sound. If the drums sound shitty with the original samples, it's probably going to sound shitty in the tune.

Kid Kryptic – Foreign Skin

Q: Can you tell us about how you got the Nasally synth in "Northbound". It's sick and that in particular was one of the tracks I first heard of yours.

I'm assuming you mean the sound that runs on top of the bass? Actually that wasn't to hard a sound to make :) I just took a couple 808 sounds, one of which I added a TON of distortion and did some extreme EQing to get that sound. At the time, I thought it sounded sweet - and I still like it now. Just one of those days where I was messing around and came across something really quickly that I liked. I was pleasantly surprised to find out other people where digging it as well - it's always a nice feeling when someone tells you they like your music and enjoy listening to it.

Listen to North Bound >>

Q: Adam do you perform live? If so how do you go about your shows and performances?

Currently I don't do a Live PA, but that is something I'm currently working on. At the moment I just DJ when I play out - it's fun, but I want to get into the live show aspect - the possibilities with what you can do seem endless and I'm excited to dive in.

Adam John - Fog by Adam John

Q: Who have you performed with and who or where was your favorite show you played at.

I haven't had the opportunity to play along side many big name artists, but a couple of the best shows I had where out-of-state. I got the opportunity to DJ at a club in Texas with UFO! and Friction. Both of those guys where great to hang out with and very humble people. Another fun show was in California with DJ Hidden. That guy is a great artist and it was nice to finally meet him in person and party a bit. Most recently I've played alongside Danny the Wildchild and E-sassin. A few years ago I got to play a show in Tucson with Stu from C4C, that was definitely a wild time. Out of all the shows though, the most fun I had was when I got brought out to San Diego - those guys know how to party!

Q: Do you make a living making music? If not what else do you do?

I wish I did! No, right now I work in a print shop to pay the bills - I spent my evenings and weekends working on music and DJing. Most of the extra income I’ve made throughout the years has been solely from shows. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much money for me on the sale of tunes.

Q: When did you first hear Dubstep?

First heard Dubstep in 07-08 from a couple local producers, UltraBlack. They are friends of mine and had been sending me these tunes they had been making - when I heard it I was pretty interested. It was something different from what I was writing most of the time, so I started to investigate the genre more. It took me about a year of digging before I had a solid collection of Dubstep I liked and really started working on making it. With anything I write, I have a particular ear for what I'm into and what I create - Dubstep has such a wide selection, it reminds me of the versatility in drum and bass as well. The genre is very open to make just about anything you want. I was attracted to the space in the music and the incredibly deep, evolving bass as well - it just felt so open and the bass on a proper system is amazing. Now when I DJ out I tend to bounce around between Dubstep and Drum and Bass..

Adam John - My Love by Adam John

Q: What got you into Dubstep? Were does Drum & Bass and Dubstep go from here?

That again would be my friends from back home, Ultrablack. First AZ group I heard to really get it going out here and they brought the genre to my attention. As for where the genre goes, who knows! That is the beauty of the music - it can go wherever the artists want to take it. It's already in so many directions now, but honestly I wouldn't mind if some techstep sounds from back in 2003-04 started to come back. Maybe I'm just nostalgic for it, but to me that was some great music. Both styles influence my music, and you can definitely here the DNB influence in my Dubstep. There seems to be some hate out there for producers who are doing that, but I honestly don't care. It's fun, and that is the point of writing music in my book - having fun.

Q: What do you listen to on a daily basis. What tracks or artists get you hyped?

I usually listen to thrash metal/hip hop in the car. Lately I've been listing to this Lazer Sword CD, Nosaj Things new album, Drift, and a bunch of stuff from the members of the Glitch Mob and artist on glitchhopforum.com. I found this great group of artists called Omega Clash and was able to find their latest EP to pick up.

Q: I know you use Propellerheads Reason. Now that they are coming with "Record" that allows you to use reason and record audio together. Do you ever wish they would just add vst support directly instead of making people use rewire?

I do - The new audio functions sound good, but since I've been using Ableton I can't see myself going back to reason until they upgrade the sound engine and add VST support. I can definitely hear a difference in sound quality between Ableton and Reason.

Adam John - Wander (Sample) by Adam John

Q: What advice would you give to kids and aspiring electronic music producers that are serious about making music? If you're like me you learned the hard way. Are there any tips for them that you learned in your journey they need to know?

Practice! Take time to learn your instruments, eqs, compressors, etc. Learn about the art, take recording classes if you have the time and money. I found them to be very useful when I started out - helped me better understand frequency ranges and EQ my tunes better. Study music as well, listen carefully to the styles your into and try to write as much as you can. There are many times when I start a track and then end up rewriting entire sections of drums or bass all over again because I no longer like the way it goes. You don't have to own your original idea, feel free to change things up if you want. Save multiple versions of a tune incase you don't like the changes you made! Always SAVE! It takes time to get good at producing music, so don't get discouraged in the beginning.

Q: Ok, let's take your track "Foreign Skin". It might be one of my favorite tracks you made. Can you tell us about this track and maybe go over how it was made, where you were in your life when you made it and how it was received by other DJ's. How long it took to make, tools used etc.. I personally thinks in clean hard hitting and very well produced structurally. I listen to this track a lot in my car, it just seems to get me hyped.

If I can remember most it! I wrote that track almost 5 years ago, so it's hard to recall exactly what was going through my head. I was in a lot of dark times in my life when I was making most of my drum and bass, especially when I made that tune. I wrote that one with Reason and did the mixing for it in Nuendo, though I don't use that program anymore. That one went through a few changes before I finally finished it - the final was probably the 7th version I made. My goal was just to make something that would work on the dancefloor and hit heavy as hell and to get out some of that frustration and anger I had in me. Most of the DJ's I sent it to gave me a good response, but there are always people who weren't into it. Mostly because of the style, it was better received in the Darkstep / Techstep circles. I made that tune around the same time I wrote "The Way", so they both have a similar feel to them.

Adam John - Holding Hands with Death by Adam John

Q: Do you have any upcoming events people should know about?

I have a show at Earthdance in Phoenix on Sept 25 where I'll be playing Dubstep and glitch, then on Oct. 30th I'll be playing my first show in ATL, which I'm very excited about.

Q: In general where do you think electronic music is headed? I know this is a very general topic but maybe you have some feeling based on how fast technology has changes and even how people use Ableton for live performances etc.. instead of vinyl. Are there things you see in your future that you are trying to achieve we should know about?

Hard to say, it's evolved so much already! I like how Ableton allows people to do more of a live show with their music, and that is a direction I am looking to take my future productions. I'd like to incorporate more live vocals into my sets by working with local artists in my town. I'm excited to take that up and it's just going to take some time on my part to get everything ready. When I first started DJing I used vinyl exclusively, I only moved to CDjs because it was more cost effective and it allowed me to play my newest music out without having to drop $50 on dubplates. Soon I want to just do completely live shows and on-the-spot remixing with Ableton. There are some local crews, like Crusher Sound System, that incorporate live instrumentals & vocals with a DJ on stage - it's a great time when they have a show!

Thanks for the opportunity to have this interview people can find my mixes and free tunes of mine at adamjohnmusic.wordpress.com. I also have a myspace page at myspace.com/kidkrypticaudio where everyone can hear some of my new stuff.

As always, I appreciate all the support from the labels that release my music, and most of all from the fans who support what I’m doing.

Adam John - Winter Screamed Last Night by Adam John

Here are links to Adam’s sites, music and contact info:

Blog
Kid Kryptic @ MySpace Page
Kid Kryptic @ ViRB Page
Adam John @ ReverbNation Page
Adam John on Last.fm
Kid Kryptic on Last.fm
http://soundcloud.com/adam-john

All music Copyright 2002-2009 Adam John Newberg