year: 2020
materials: music: track ‘G-String’ by Inpetto.
video: Laidback Luke vlog (episode ‘Sound design hate AND Soundcloud rips!’)
tools: Serato, MixEmergency, Ableton, Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator
pt av: This video is the final composition of the dj performance + the video output. In short, I manipulate the video, live with my turntables.
pt a: This video is the live recording of the dj performance, which besides audio, also has a video output (part V.)
pt v: This video is the visual output, coming from a live dj performance (part A.)
I started this project two years ago after watching the weekly vlog by Laidback Luke*. In this episode he talks about ‘sound design’ and at one point he says: ‘I can make a sound from scratch’. That line got stuck in my head and I immediately knew it could be dope as a vocal during a dj routine. I decided to take it a step further and I use it to build a new audio visual scratch routine.
To create the ‘chorus’ parts I used some other vocal parts from the vlog and combined them on the track ‘G-String’ by Inpetto. Besides the track, I wanted to somehow incorporate the artwork into the routine. I used the artwork as a background layer to create a ‘parallax’ effect. I experimented with visualising and scratching waveforms. After making screenshots in Ableton, I vectorized the waveforms in Illustrator.
The goal was to layer the ‘scratch waveform’ on top of the ‘beat waveform’, combining it together with the ‘Luke visual’.
I used the Echo FX to loop the sample variation because ‘it’s nice to switch it up now and then’. In the past two years I rebuilt this routine at least 4 times, making a lot of files in many different programs, learning a lot of new techniques in video editing. Some projects are like workouts to sharpen my workflow and explore new editing techniques.
A couple of years ago I went through time. Real life sh*t. During this period I got a lot of inspiration from watching Laidback Luke his vlogs. Seeing the amount of work he processed in one week was super motivating to watch. Each week he blew my mind on many levels. From his gig straight to the hotel room to recording his vlogs. I never saw this kind of balanced work ethic from a touring DJ up close and it motivated me a lot.
The track used for this routine is ‘G-String’ by Inpetto. Such a dope track. Listen to this with headphones for a premium audio experience.
Minutes from disaster
While recording this final version, I completely forgot about the pan with oil I left burning on the stove (while making french fries).
While listening to the recording of this take, I suddenly remembered the stove, dropped my headphones and rushed to the kitchen which by now was filled with dark smoke. I quickly turned off the gas, put a lid on the pan and opened the windows.
It was a matter of minutes or this situation would have ended in a huge fire. Really minutes from disaster.
Now we have an Airfryer.
