Desimal

The story of Desimal can be compared to the legend of a highly skilled, first-class assassin. Discovered on the vast plains of Winnipeg, Canada, by Cyanide, but still little-known, he was immediately accepted into the ranks of drum and bass musicians and became an exclusive act for Armada Recordings. However, the insufficient number of releases on the aforementioned label forced the future dancefloor assassin to look for other, more promising options and offers. As a result, tracks by Desimal were recently released on Black Sun Empire’s label oBSEssions and on Renegade Hardware’s sublabel Barcode. Citrus Recordings and Vibez Recordings also planned to release this producer’s material in the new year. Desimal has developed his own sound and style; his music destroys standards and norms on impact. From the very first bars, it becomes clear who wrote the track being played. It is becoming obvious that Desimal has reached the next level and is now speaking on such a difficult subject as defining his own sound. So take a few minutes away and learn a little more about the producer who can deservedly be called the discovery of the year.

Few people have enough information about you. Please tell us in more detail: what is Desimal all about?

My strongest and clearest desire is to write music that frightens old people. I constantly feel disappointment and anger when I hear the so-called “fashionable” music on the radio that the media is conditioning us to accept. Pop music, contemporary rock and hip-hop are so standardised, banal and devoid of any originality or life. I’m very sorry that this is the only kind of music filling most people’s minds, especially young people’s. And they don’t know anything better, because they simply haven’t heard anything else. I consider drum and bass a fundamentally new, evolutionary style whose goal is to open people’s minds to fresh ideas and new places. But most people simply won’t be able to adapt mentally or get used to this music; they’ll listen to it and regard it merely as incomprehensible noise, because drum and bass differs so much from the norm. It can be compared to a situation like this: some people see a UFO and start thinking, “Hmm… what could this mean?” They try to understand it and make sense of everything. Others may see something similar too, but their minds simply aren’t capable of comprehending it, so they prefer to ignore the unknown as though they had never seen it at all… Better not let me develop this subject…:)

How would you describe your music yourself?

At the moment, I’m trying to make my music into a kind of intermediate stage… Let’s say, as if something were light and dark, or simple and complex, at the same time. I usually lean towards one thing or the other, but I’m trying to combine contradictory elements, so the tracks are ambiguous. I’m actively fighting excessive complexity. I started out when demo music was popular—music that was too technically processed, with five synths playing simultaneously and changing every three seconds, followed by endless spheres and so on.

Now I’m trying to simplify things a little and make the tracks more danceable. I really want to write music that makes people want to dance. Music that gives them energy—and I suppose that at the foundation of this sound is a simple, constantly repeating beat. Imagine wild tribes dancing around a fire to simple drumbeats that have a certain effect. So I try to make the drums repetitive (but not intrusive), while changing the hats and percussion every few bars. If I wanted to, I could write incredible fills and drums that constantly change, but that is precisely what rules out “danceability”. As for everything else, I try to include lots of different elements in a track so that it isn’t monotonous. This is how I plan to maintain interest in my work.

Which representatives of drum and bass culture influenced you, and who influences you now?

I really began taking an interest in drum and bass when I first encountered Ed Rush & Optical. Before that, I wrote various kinds of music, including trance, breaks and hardcore. But afterwards I decided to focus exclusively on drum and bass. This style has everything I love about electronic music: incredible energy and danceability, but at the same time originality and variety. Drum and bass makes you think and captures your consciousness. I was also inspired by Konflict, Stakka & Skynet, and of course Bad Company. Dark, dirty sound.

Other musical influences?

I mainly listened to Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM and Pop Will Eat Itself before I started going to raves regularly. I still really like “industrial”, and to some extent it influences the sound of my tracks. I also try to bring elements of all the styles I was interested in previously into drum and bass. For example, the techno sound of demo music, the melodicism of trance… So many musical styles influenced me that it’s difficult now to name just a few and single out any specific ones as the main influences. People constantly try to build a wall between different kinds of electronic music and make them independent of one another. Which is strange in itself, since every style borrows details from another, sometimes unconsciously.

I’d also really like to experiment and try combining different genres and rhythms. I think interesting variations of musical styles could come out of it in the end. But at the moment I’m completely focused on drum and bass and spend almost all my energy on it.

What do you listen to besides drum and bass?

After a night spent working on 175 bpm, I usually listen to ambient or downtempo—Shpongle or Liquid Morphine. It helps me relax a little.

“Desimal is one of the few, rare producers creating a sound that is incomparable to anything else. When listening to him, you won’t say, ‘Hey, this reminds me of……’ because it’s unique. It can only remind you of Desimal himself. When I first heard ‘Zero Searcher’, I was simply shocked by the depth of the sound he had created and by the arrangement. Very unusual.” (El Hornet—Pendulum)

Studio?

I don’t have any special equipment, just a computer and monitors. That’s quite enough for me at the moment. And I like it that way. Of course, I wouldn’t refuse the chance to try various software and equipment, but in the end I’ll still return to Reaktor, because it has a huge library of different sounds to work with, and the sound quality keeps getting better and better. As for mixing, I was supposed to get a mixing desk… But at the moment I’m perfectly happy with the software I use. I started using Renoise as a “sequencer” about a year ago. It has everything I like about trackers and everything I’ve got used to over the past 10 years, as well as a lot of excellent sounds and features.

Describe your sound.

I wouldn’t want to use grand words or describe my sound pompously. I think that once my sound can be characterised unambiguously, I’ll be able to say with confidence that I’ve lost all originality and creative ability. And I’ll start writing commercial music.

Are any releases planned?

I’m working on several projects now, but it’s difficult to say anything definite yet. Perhaps a few more tracks will come out on oBSEssions, Citrus, Vibez and Barcode. At the moment I’m trying to broaden my horizons and find other reliable labels that will be interested in my material.

How and by whom were you discovered?

The first person who was genuinely interested in my music was Cyanide. We started communicating on AIM. He gave me a great deal of support, guiding and helping me in every way. I had never promoted myself before and didn’t understand anything about the music business.

When your first release came out, what did you feel?

I relaxed a little. I’d been writing music for a very long time, so I was quite ready to release on labels. I also thought it would give me a certain amount of confidence and establish me as a producer. Now I’m trying to reach the next level in terms of sound quality. My biggest task is to write tracks that are perfect sonically. I learned so much about mixdown over the past year or two, but as they say, there is no limit to perfection, and I still have a lot to learn. In my view, the most important thing in writing music is using high-quality samples. If you don’t use good samples, it no longer matters how professional you are—you still won’t be able to perfect them. What is really worth trying is to take something that already sounds good and make it even better, rather than trying to somehow justify terrible sound and make it passable.

Which musicians interest you most at the moment?

All those guys promoting neurofunk drum and bass. Noisia, Corrupt Souls, Phace… I’m always interested in their work and admire their uniqueness.

Who would you like to work with?

A collaboration with Noisia was planned about two years ago… We started a few times, but there’s one reason we can’t continue… The same applies to my other collaborations. The thing is, I write in trackers, while the people I want to work with usually use Cubase or Logic. That is the biggest obstacle. In general, I’d like to work with someone collaboratively or write a remix. We’ll see…

Imagine that you found yourself on a desert island with three films, five tracks and a particular selection of food and drink. Name them. What would you choose?

I don’t know that much about films, so I’ll name only ‘Akira’. Every time I watch it, I discover something new and realise how profound its meaning is. Besides, I love that kind of animation. As for music, it would be Konflict’s ‘Gene Sequence’. And for food, probably hot dogs and beer. I really love camping and, believe me, you can live on hot dogs and beer for months.

Any shout-outs?

To the guys from DOA Grid… I’ve completely neglected my website lately and really miss our endless conversations about music… I’d also like to thank E-dub and Dnbnation for giving me the opportunity to tell you a little about myself.

Original interview: DnbNation. Translated from the Russian translation by Lysergic Lady.