Hailing from Austria, rising duo Darius & Finlay are quickly becoming one of their country’s finest Dance music acts, exporting their music onto the international scene. Since joining up in 2008, Christian Gmeiner and Johann Gmachl, the men behind the Darius & Finlay moniker have been the creators of some top-notch material such as: ‘Rock the Beat’, ‘Show Me 10’, ‘Do It All Night Volume 1 & 2’, ‘Phenomenon’ , ‘San Franscisco’ and ‘Sniff It’. Their efforts have been noticed by top labels and A-list DJs alike and they’ve managed to land multiple accolades such as the: Amadeus Music Award and Austrian Dance Award.
Having seen Darius & Finlay‘s rapid ascension in recent months, we’ve decided to have a chat with them on the production side of their career.
Hey guys, thanks for sitting down with us to tell us more about the world of production and sound. When did you get your first interest in production and how did it all start?
Darius: Hi ! nice to speak with you 🙂 It was in 1990 when we saw a famous DJ and producer playing in one of the most modern clubs in Austria, with state-of-the-art laser lights and a massive sound system. It was amazing, people from the whole country, as well as people from abroad came, just to visit this club from another galaxy – there was nothing comparable with it at that time. The name of the club was Dorian (Q) Gray, based around 15 km outside of Vienna and the name of the DJ of this club was Stevie B. ! At that time he was the godfather of the DJs and producers in our country as well as in Germany and a few countries abroad. From this time onwards we got infected with the DJing & production virus. Every Friday and Saturday we visited this club, for years. Most of the time we spent it behind the DJ‘s desk to see how DJ Stevie B. was mixing and playing his own productions. It was a great time for us and it will always stay in our hearts, it all started there.
How long have you been producing individually and then as a duo?
Darius: I started producing in 1996 with my mate Claudio. Later, in 2004, Finlay looped in and as from this year we are working together as a team, but until we had the break through with Darius & Finlay, in 2009, we worked under a few other pseudonyms like Nightbass Dj Team, Gambas, Bonito & Trooper, DJ Shredda, Jordan & Baker and others.
Working in tandem involves different dynamics when compared to an individual effort. How do you guys go about producing tracks?
Finlay: It all starts with a good idea. If we both like this idea, we start things in the studio. If just one of us is convinced, we will not work on it – we both must agree to get a track started.
Do you guys produce in the same studio or do you work separately?
Finlay: We have two studios – one in Salzburg and one in Korneuburg, a small town 15 km outside the heart of Vienna, and both studios are identical. That means same laptop, same programs, same plugins and same monitor speakers. We also have a cloud for uploading projects and ideas and with this cloud we can exchange ideas and work on projects simultanously.
How long does it typically take for you to complete a track?
Darius & Finlay: Sometimes 2 days, sometimes 6 months. It is always different.
Do you guys work differently when producing instrumentals and tracks containing vocals?
Darius & Finlay: No, not really.
What does your current studio setup look like?
Darius & Finlay: Since 2012, we started working with Ableton Live. Before we had Cubase for nearly 14 years and in between we used Logic for around 6 months.
Walk us through the software and plug-ins you are using right now and the main function you give to each.
Darius & Finlay: We really love the Bass Imperator plug-in – it gives a massive and warm punch on the low end of a bass, but we use it also on snares and other percussion – it is a workhorse. On our sub groups we use the AL Mulitband compressor and the AL Glue compressor the get the sound more compact and phatt, sometimes we grab also the AL Saturator. Luftikus is one of our favorite plug-ins for crispy high frequency boosts. We also use the Brainworx series for special stereo effects. The original AL EQs are really phatt, we use it always and in each stem, sometimes several times in the insert. Ohmforce is a nice plug-in for distortion and the Izotope bundle is perfect for our mastering. Beside all of these we use different tape machines to create a special suit around different sounds, really important for us.
Which plug-ins would you say are essential to achieve your desired sound?
Darius & Finlay: There are too many, but as we describe above, we love the Bass Imperator, AL Saturator, Luftikus as well as a few other really old, cool compressors, tape machines and EQs – now available in digital form.
Are you eying any new piece of software to add to your setup?
Darius & Finlay: Currently no. We work with Ableton Live and many separate plug-ins – that’s a big universe!!! Enough for the moment.
When listening to other artist’s productions, what ticks your boxes in terms of your liking towards the track production wise?
Darius & Finlay: That always depends on the track we hear. If it is a mainstage festival smasher, we expect roaring Bass-lines, more powerful, strong sawteeth and distorted sounds than we hear a tropical house track with Legoland sounds and melodies 🙂
Putting aside the actual songwriting aspect in a project, who is your favourite producer when it comes to the sonic treatment of a track?
Darius & Finlay: Swedish House Mafia or actually Axwell Λ Ingrosso.
In your opinion, which characteristics make a great producer?
Darius & Finlay: Having a feeling for the music, having no fear, able to try new things and gut feeling.
The production industry has taken a huge turn some years ago, passing from analogue to digital. What are the pros and cons of such change?
Darius & Finlay: In the digital world you need less space, just a laptop, a controller and good monitors. When we started producing, we had a big mixing desk, racks full of synthesizers, tons of cables…oh my god… really hard, anyway it was an exciting experience but no more necessary for our music now.
Can you give us a few tips to make productions sound better?
Darius & Finlay: Having good ears ! Always use a reference track you like ! Buy real good monitor speakers ! We use Adam S3X-H and Adam A8X speakers, furthermore the Bose Companion 5 Sound System for our productions – one of the most important things in our studios.
Thanks a lot guys!
Darius & Finlay: Thanx also and have a good week !!! 🙂
Darius & Finlay Online
www.dariusandfinlay.com
www.facebook.com/DariusandFinlay
www.twitter.com/DariusandFinlay
www.soundcloud.com/darius-finlay
www.youtube.com/user/DariusandFinlay
