Music Production, DJ, Live PA and Random Ramblings
Doron Dusheiko
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Home page: http://www.dorondusheiko.com
Posts by Doron Dusheiko
My Music Production Setup
5865 days
Nearly the end of work for 2009 and the start of 2 weeks of nothing but music making madness! (ok its already 2010 by the time I have finished writing this)
I thought I would describe my home “studio” to anyone who may be wondering what kind of stuff is needed to create music nowadays from home.
First off, I will show you what I wish my home studio looked like:
and….
At this time though my studio is comprised of 5 simple things namely:
- Laptop (the same one I use for work)
- Sennheiser HD 25-1-II Headphones
- M-Audio Axiom 49 Midi Controller
- Ableton Live Suite 8 as my sequencer
- Wide variety of VST instruments, processors and effects
At this point in time, you will not have heard any of my tracks because I have not put any of them anywhere. In due course though, I will start bombarding every available web avenue and social media platform until hopefully a label bites 
In terms of instruments, effects and processors, I make use of the big names:
VST Instruments
Subtractive
- LennarDigital – Sylenth1
- Novation – Bass Station
- Novation – V Station
- ReFX – Vanguard
- Rob Papen – Predator
- Fab Filter – Twin
Wavetable
- Native Instruments – Massive
Harmonic Component Modelling
- Tone 2 – Gladiator
Frequency Modulation
- Native Instruments – FM8
- Rgcaudio – Z3ta+
Percussive Synthesis and Sampling
- Native Instruments – Battery 3 (Sampling)
- Waldorf – Attack (Synthesis)
Orchestral
- Miroslav Philharmonik
In terms of effects and processors, I am using a variety of stuff from SoundToys, Sonalksis, Waves, Flex Development Labs, FabFilter, PSP and Oxford. These comprise compressors, limiters, phase and frequency shifters, fancy filters ,gates, transient designers, expanders, multiband EQ and top class echoes, reverbs, delays, doublers, flangers and a million other things.
The thing that I have realized over the last 8 months since I started my music production journey is that your processors and effects are crucial to obtaining that professional sound but using the latest, greatest outboard gear is not.
Music theory is important but not as important as being spontaneous and learning as much about sound engineering and production techniques as you can.
I am not yet at the point where I have made a professional sounding track with all the polish that you would expect from a top tune but this year is the year!!
Stereotypes
1913 days
The stereotype has such a strong presence in much of society. Right or wrong, they dictate a lot of perceptions and belief systems which can be both amusing and catastrophic. I will use some of the stereotypes of Jewish people as an example since I am a Jew so I can J
Us jews are seen as somewhat a thrifty bunch. Knowing a few jews I can both confirm and deny this stereotype in equal amounts but of course, the collective mind likes to generalise about a few examples and in a secondary fashion, generalise about the most recent occurrences as well. By this I mean that most people will take the most recent memory of something occurring such as a person being sick and go make the generalisation “you are always getting sick, what wrong with you”. In fact, all that needs to happen is that the mind attaches the stereotype of sickness to that person when it happens in recent memory and perhaps once before, possible even quite a while before.
The generalisation powers of the mind are some of our greatest strength and greatest egoic weakness.
Based on partial information we are able to generalise a system, situation or action to the point where we can plan, strategise and apply logic. Our ability to do these things is why we are so successful as a species. We are able to generalise the action process needs to track a ball travelling through the air and actually catch it through a reactionary instinct that has taken millions o years of evolution. It sounds so trivial but try get a robot to do the same thing. Yes you are right, it hasn’t been done yet because the mind’s parallel computer and vision system and mechanism by which actions performed over time become “common sense” are pretty hard to replicate.
Of course, the greatest weakness comes in when the stereotypes lead to a desire for separation and an incorrect feeling of superiority caused by the ego’s need to distinguish itself from others. With specific references to the Jews, the Holocaust is an easily identifiable case in point.
But between both extremes lie some of what effects most of our life. Those little generalisations that come out after a few too many drinks or in casual conversation. Those stereotypes of jews, blacks, whites, women, homosexuals etc etc. You know those ones, you have them too. We all do at some time.
Of course they affect how we interact with people who are part of that generalisation and it is pretty difficult firstly, to realise that a certain reaction is due to the stereotype you have and then secondly, to acknowledge it and try make a decision independently of it.
I have a particular issue with a very specific person at present and although I am aware of the stereotype in my mind and the effect it’s having on our interactions, I still choose to act in a certain way because of it. That is my fault and I need to resolve it. I cannot change them but I can change myself and how I respond to this person. Again this is my ego’s need to separate at work in trying to prove to me that because I do not act like them, I am therefore “better” than them. This is all ego, this is not me.
Hopefully this will be the last post on this current theme that I seem to be on, I will probably be boring all 3 of my readers to death by now J
Problem Solving
0921 days
I have been wondering what the best way to approach any problem is. Is there an optimal way to solve an issue or will it always be context dependant? I think a lot about how I approach things and although I sometimes think that I over-analyse and give myself too much to consider, I am also pretty happy with what I have achieved at this point in my life, which must be at least partially due to how I solve problems.
I do try and see every problem as an opportunity to learn and I am the first to admit that this is not always easy, especially when the pressure is on and I haven’t handled something the way I probably should’ve.
If, in the moment of crisis, struggle or mental upheaval you step outside the thoughts and think about what you are thinking about, you might be surprised how insightful you actually are about the way you do things and the way you think about things. But first and fore mostly, thinking about how you are solving the problem actually takes away the problem to an extent because in that moment, there is no problem, there are only thoughts and thoughts are never the issue, it is your emotional reaction to those thoughts that can be the issue.
Think about that for a second. If you control your emotions, then over time you can control your reactions to any situation even when you are challenged in a way that seems to threaten your ego’s sense of ownership, entitlement and desire to be the victim. That is powerful because you have not only changed how you “think” for the better but you changed it without actually changing your personality or being hard on yourself for how you think.
You can’t really change how you think and by this I mean you cannot control a thought that comes into your head but by changing how you react emotionally, over time, those negative, pessimistic thoughts that cause mental anguish and disease just subside on their own and all of a sudden you realise that you don’t think those thoughts any more.
Negative, compulsive thinking is everything that is wrong with the current world in my opinion and if you look around at the increasing number of people getting cancer, getting divorced and living unfulfilled lives, then surely this is all too obvious.
Knowledge contained in books like “The 7 habits of highly effective people” by Stephen Covey, “Mind Power” by John Kehoe and “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman and “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle should be the foundational knowledge upon which all other knowledge in life is based. Everything else is less important and reciprocally, everything else will become more achievable if your emotions can be mastered.
It’s certainly a life-long battle and I am always learning more and getting it wrong all the time but that what it’s about. Enjoying and treasuring the journey because you will never reach the destination so rather embrace that concept now and let go of the reward at the end of the tunnel. There is no reward at the end, the reward is happening right now whether you are aware of it or not.
Ultimix at 6 on 5FM
5948 days
Getting pretty tired of this crap. I listen every day hoping that today will be the day they decide to play something other then the same crap house mash-ups using the same crap acapella’s. Every day, the same tunes almost, trying to do the same thing….off beat, off key vocals and mash ups. It’s really sad that a DJ in South Africa is someone who does the same thing as everyone else. No wonder we have no one in the Top 100, it’s because we are completely unoriginal in our approach!
I was fortunate enough to go to Ibiza in 2008 and in doing so, one realises just how far behind we are in terms of parties, the atmosphere, the fun and of course, the music. There is only on place in SA that has it and does it right and that is ESP in JHB! They know what music is and how to play and mix it. They know how to drive a crowd wild! They are the only nightclub I will go to because they have a soul for the music.
Everything else in SA is shit!
I don’t know what happened to that rave seen of the 90′s? Those good old Rosebank days of the 90′s! Fuck man, those were the days! Since then, there has been almost nothing new, nothing unique and nothing that pushes the boundaries. Trance and Techno just aren’t accepted in this country and I don’t know why, it has so much depth and character but I guess, one can’t account for taste these days!
I listen to the radio on my way to work and all I hear is Lady Gaga, Britney and other horse shit and I wonder, where have the real musicians and artists gone? Where is the talent, it must still be there surely?
I saw something on Facebook the other day which really pissed me off. Fucking Tiesto is giving away as a competition prize, a personal phone call!!!!! Huge ass WTF!!!!!
How can their egos have gone so far up their own asses that even the guys that are talented, have become shallow, vote seeking, Top 100 thriving assholes!
Good on you ESP and James and Shane and everyone else! You are authentic! Don’t loose sight of that!
The post
0948 days
For many of us, that post to Twitter, Facebook,
What are the emotional and mental ambiguities that are being attached to such an operation? When taking the pics, was “how it would look on Facebook” the concern? Was the effect of jealousy on others something to marvel about? Why do we do it, actually? Well fuck me if I knew, I do it too
There seems to be some sort of social phenomenon going on that is fixated on the need to share “stuff” be it personal status updates, photo feeds or maybe even home-made porn. Why? Are we in general, a society who cannot find sollace in those that surround us or perhaps more directly, can we not find acceptance from those around us?
Acceptance of the norm seems to be crucial to how to survive in this day and age. Acceptance is such a four letter word to me. Normalisation, to me, seems like such a trivial goal. Fuck you and what you think, honestly! You don’t define the rules or how they should be implemented! You don’t define my happiness and solitude! You are a wanker, just like me and everyone else!
Yet your opinion seems to matter, silly really!