What Sound cards do artists use from the scene like Feed Me, Skrillex, Zedd & more?

**macbeat** · 06-14-2012

Like it's been mentioned already, they all used what we're using now.

Porter Robinson still uses an M-Audio Fast Track Pro
I've seen pics of Deadmau5 on tour with an Apogee Ensemble (He's upgraded to a Prism Orpheus like mentioned above).
Skrillex used his laptop with the audio running out of the headphone jack into a pair of KRK Rokit's (the right speaker was blown btw). He mostly uses headphones because he's always on the road. (I read on another forum that he's been spotted with a Traktor 2 DJ.

EDIT: In issue 253 of Future Music Skrillex said that he's using a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 and a Shure SM58 for vocals.

Richie Hawtin uses Native Instruments interfaces. I think he's sponsored by them.
Avicii uses an RME Fireface UC.

etc, etc, etc...

The most important thing when picking an interface is doing your research and making sure it's drivers are reliable. Anything below $600 will probably have more or less the same converters, and unless your room is treated and you have really good monitors the more expensive ones won't matter.

And the beautiful mastering you hear is because the tracks are sent to... wait for it... a professional who's only job is to master tracks.

**ultra auris** · 06-14-2012

it doesnt matter what they use when they are just working ITB. laptop with core audio is fine but everyone of these albums hits real gear in the mix and mastering process.

**Yuno** · 06-14-2012

Originally Posted by macbeat

The most important thing when picking an interface is doing your research and making sure it's drivers are reliable. Anything below $600 will probably have more or less the same converters, and unless your room is treated and you have really good monitors the more expensive ones won't matter.

And the beautiful mastering you hear is because the tracks are sent to... wait for it... a professional who's only job is to master tracks.

"Mastering, for me, literally consists of an iZotope Maximizer, maybe with a little bit of EQ and harmonic excitement, but that's it. It's all about what makes you smile at the end of day."
-Skrillex

I'd say a good 50-60% of the releases on Beatport are self-masters. Take it for what it is, I'm just saying.

**macbeat** · 06-14-2012

Originally Posted by Yuno

"Mastering, for me, literally consists of an iZotope Maximizer, maybe with a little bit of EQ and harmonic excitement, but that's it. It's all about what makes you smile at the end of day."
-Skrillex

I'd say a good 50-60% of the releases on Beatport are self-masters. Take it for what it is, I'm just saying.

There's a couple of things wrong with that.

1. He's not Skrillex. Neither are you nor I. We don't hang out with Tommy Lee, Noisia, Feed Me etc. Skrillex masters his own tracks for the same reason he produces on headphones even though everyone says you shouldn't. Because he knows how to and hangs around people that know how to.

2. Unless you have some statistics to prove that 50-60% of the releases on Beatport are self mastered I"m gonna have to strongly disagree. I've watched tons of online seminars and tutorials with DnB and Dubstep producers and they always talk about sending their work to get mastered. It's not as easy as slapping Ozone on something and it sounding great. If that were the case we'd all sound that good. But we don't.

**Yuno** · 06-14-2012

In my personal experience, for every seminar I've been to where ever someone says they send off their mix to a proper ME, I've heard at least another that self masters their professional release. I should retract my 50-60% claim simply because the burden of proof would fall on me to prove my case. I guess what I SHOULD HAVE said was I would guess that at least half of the Beatport releases are self masters. Anywho, it'd be interesting if anyone could find any solid numbers out there.

I do want to point out more of what ol' Skrilly said. The excerpt was from a longer interview where he says, "Maybe there are magic techniques out there that I don't know about, but I think mastering is something that's given too much credit. I always get people asking me about my mastering techniques and where I get my stuff mastered, but for me it's more about getting the mix right.." People in the EDM world where people only really release singles and EPs generally don't need to master the same way they do in the "real instrument world." When working with physical instruments and a band, you have to worry about cuts, noise gating rubbish noise, editing out snippets that the mixer missed, fades, keeping the cohesiveness of an album, and generally cleaning up the crap that might come out of the myriad things that can go wrong with live recordings. Within the dance realm, save for vocalists and the rare live instrument, everything is done within the very precise digital realm that we call the DAW. Unless they haven't developed the ear to mix a proper track yet, there's no reason why a person can't produce, mix, and master their own tracks. Of course "proper" mastering (I use quotes because there are some really bullshit studios out there that will thoroughly wreck your mix) would likely help only for two reasons: 1) better monitoring enviro, 2) fresh ears. Don't get me wrong, there are a number of quality mastering engineers I've noticed roaming around these forums who could definitely add a little something extra if you gave them a good mix. However, aside from those two reasons I listed, 90% of the software you're using for mastering is being used by "proper" mastering studios.