QZB Join the Team!
:: Announcement 4/6: We bring you the exciting news that QZB are joining our new team for the next round, they are working on lots of new material at the moment, so it’s a great time to be inspired and taught by them… two in depth tutorials plus some next level production tools and samples are incoming…
Such a fresh sound about their music; working tight grooves and deep techy vibes together in the way they do, it’s no wonder they have been regularly releasing on many massively respected labels such as: Flexout, Demand, Shogun and currently with two full artist EP’s out on Critical. Working together as a duo – two talented solo producers in their own right: QBig and Zenith B; before they forged their Brainchild of QZB resulting in a sound and style that is currently knocking it out of the _____ With their stripped back, deep rhythm and blues vibe, set in HD.
We think they have big and exciting things ahead of them, their musically considerate sound and solid technical skills combined with a real vision for what they’re making are just some of the ingredients that make us seriously look forward to working with these guys on the new season!
We caught up with them for a few pre-season questions:
Your sound seems to have evolved over the years as individuals, and now into the smart sounding duo that you are. How would you describe this evolution from your point of view, and how would you describe your sound in your own words as it is today?
QZB: It’s now been nearly 7 years since we decided to roll on as a duo. We took a lot of musical and technical approaches to production from our past aliases and backgrounds in the first years of our new moniker, but with every big release we created a certain sonic aesthetic which is can be described as the best of our both worlds. We always wanted to be able to do whatever music we like and that’s always been the major aspect our production: No tune starts the same and we always try to make production as fun as possible for ourselves.
Three words describe our current music the best: Clinical, forward thinking and precise.
How did you move into production, and what’s your current set-up?
ZB: It’s been about 8 years for me. I started with analog hip hop production during my teens and found my way to Drum & Bass at some point.
Q: Almost the same for me. I started getting into production through recording Hiphop vocals and producing beats in a very small, very budget studio about 11-12 years ago. It then took some years to gain the knowledge to really produce Drum & Bass, which I always loved and wanted to produce.
Our current setup is based in the basement of the venue where we’re doing our monthly night and contains of 3 rooms with their own purposes. We have a main production area where we work on a very powerful PC, Quested monitors and some selected hardware synths and effects. Since we share the studio with several other people, we have a lot of gear which we wouldn’t be buying but that is still a lot of fun to use. Fun things to use are definitely the Novation Ultranova, the KORG Wavedrum, Sherman Filterbank II, Elektron Rytm, Roland SH 01A and the many others. It’s nice to have something to do while the other Person is on the mouse and keyboard, so enhancing the session with some analog gear always helps to keep both of us active in the studio.
What is your creative process and workflow as a duo? Do each of you have certain strengths? How do you approach making music together?
QZB: We both live near to each other and spend a lot of time together. With time we found several constellations which work very good for us. Both of us are equally skilled in production, there’s not “one on the buttons”, that’s why we can progress very fast and easily once someone has a promising idea or a vibe going.
Nowadays we split the sound design / resampling-sessions from the building phase of a real tune and really try to check out new plugins, get some fieldrecordings done or just mess with what’s available etc. It’s all about fun!.
Your music has a super clean and defined finish to it. How do you get that sound that’s so loud n clear, yet minimal at the same time?
QZB: All you need is a good ear and a knowing that every element has to have a certain function and at least sound very good on its own. Try to sculpt your way already from the beginning, so you don’t need a big mixdown phase. Go for a surgical -6db kick in the beginning which you know is working and gets your vibe going. Go for a snare which hits in the right “musical distance” to your kick and you’re set for building up on it. Just remember to always be mixing “ad hoc” when you’re doing the tune. And dont’t listen to every rule out there, find your own way of making the music work.
ZB:
Enei, Eastcolors & Noel – Cracker
Enei was the first ‘deeper’ drum & bass-act I’ve seen back in 2012 after a long musical socialisation through early jump up, techstep and the commercial stuff. Legendary tune!
BTK – Things I Do (Spectrasoul Remix)
We played at the same gig when we first met. We looked at each other’s playlist and knew we had the same musical vision. That one also came out on one of the few swiss labels: Demand Records
Q:
Probably the main song that pushed me into getting minimalistic and clean with my music. Skeptical has always been amazing at getting the most out of just a few, but very defined sounds. Keep in mind that back then there wasn’t as much clinical, deep & minimalist dnb as there is nowadays; so discovering and playing out those tracks felt so special.
Martin (Mefjus) really changed the scene since he crashed on to most poeple’s radars with this neodigital release. Just a perfect balance between forward going dance floor and deep vibes combined with amazing production levels, that have even improved further since.
What can our members look forward to learning from you this season in the tutorials: what areas do you feel have something cool to share? (we love detailed tutorials btw;)
QZB: We will show you our mindset on how to approach sound design and how to stack up on your own samples and then use them appropriately. We show you how we start a track and deconstruct an old one. When you reach a certain technical skill level of production, the only thing bringing you forward is the mindset which can spark a lot of creativity without revolutionising the way you work.
In terms of samples… what should we be looking forward to ? What areas are you most excited about bringing the freshness to?
QZB: Mids, bass, weird shuffles, hitting snares, some surprises and some simple utilities which are more functional than aesthetical.
SO YOU HEARD IT FIRST! SAMPLE GENIE SEASON No.6 KICKS OF FROM 2 -7-18
More announcements dropping in the coming weeks!
