Joachim Garraud is a Frenchman, an alien enthusiast, computer nerd, DJ and producer extraordinaire. Known for his impressive audiovisual shows and high-end production, Joachim has always been drawn to two things in his life: music and technology.
He’s the latest Serato Icon Artist!
“When I was young, I learned to play piano and drums. In ’84 there was the first software on the computer, that was a fusion between my two loves, music and technology. Making the fusion with these two things was like, wow… This is exactly what I want to do! I want to make music with my computer.
“The first track I made, was a real techno track because there was only cheap sounds. Short, because there was no memory. In mono, because there was no stereo, and using only 8-bits, so the sound was like ‘qsh qsh qsh qsh’.
“Even if the quality was bad, I was so excited to use this kind of tool to make music.”
As with many, DJing for Joachim was about being able to share his passion for music. It may not have been in the spotlight or on the festival stage yet, but it was just where he wanted to be.
“At the beginning, being a DJ was not very sexy. The DJ was in the basement and nobody could see him playing, but I was very excited to be a DJ in the dark, I was excited to share my love and my passion of the music.
“Before being able to play my own tracks as a DJ, there were two different jobs. There was the producer and the DJ. Today, these are completely linked. If you want to be famous as a DJ you have to be a producer, and you have to play your own tracks.”
Coming for many more controllers very soon, Serato DJ is launched with a full feature set for the new Pioneer DDJ-SX. Check out this video intro and info below to get acquainted…
Serato is proud to announce the launch of Serato DJ 1.0 for the Pioneer DDJ SX, our newest DJ software for professional DJs.
The most advanced all-in-one DJ controller to date, the DDJ-SX is loaded with features and is built to the same high standard that DJs have come to expect from Pioneer. Coupled with the advanced feature set of the new Serato DJ software, it provides the best combination for Digital DJs.
New Features in Serato DJ
Great new FX Powered by iZotope including: Delay, Echo, Ping Pong Delay, Reverb, Phaser, Flanger, Distortion, High Pass Filter (HPF), Low Pass Filter (LPF), Combo HP/LP Filter.
MIDI Mapping
Brand New User Interface that looks amazing, is simple to use.
More Cue Points, set and trigger up to 8 cue points.
Four Deck Mixing
Velocity Mode
Dual Deck Mode
Channel Fader Start
As well as
Recording
Looping: Manual, Auto and Loop Rolls are all available
Sync and Auto Tempo Matching, less time beat matching, more time to get creative.
Crates and Smart Crates
SP-6 Sample Player
Colored Waveforms
Plug-and-Play Connectivity
Interoperable with Scratch Live, ITCH, DJ Intro and iTunes Music Libraries
One of the few DJs that could be considered a household name, DJ Jazzy Jeff has worn a few different hats throughout his career. From DJing to producing and then all the way back to DJing, his enjoyment and passion for all things musical is obvious in his own reflection of his persona.
“Jazzy Jeff is a music lover, a DJ, a producer, songwriter, music collector, vinyl junkie, gadget fanatic and all around lover of life and happiness.”
Growing up in West Philadelphia, it was the summer afternoon block parties where Jeff gained his love for music and the happiness it could bring. He’s extremely proud of where he’s come from and it’s this pride that pushes him to be the best.
“I grew up in west Philly, Philadelphia has always been a hard town. You try as hard as you could to make people in your home town proud of you. Philly has put that fire inside of you, that you just always want to do a good job.
“You know, you kinda waited for those summer Saturdays that someone blocked the street off and you just pulled some big speakers out and some turntables and just played music for people.
“I remember looking at the guy playing music so passionate that I had someone hold my bike while I danced with a girl and I just wanted that kind affect on people.”
There’s no denying the energy of William Bensussen AKA The Gaslamp Killer, a hyperactive individual who lives to share his love of music, his rhythm and his vibes with the human race. He’s a true eclectic, respecting the past and looking to the future in both his DJ sets and his own productions. The Gaslamp Killer is an artist without a mask, a performer who isn’t afraid to show his feelings and a DJ who connects with the crowd, the music and the earth.
From an early age growing up in San Diego, family events, parties and anything involving music always brought Will a unique sense of excitement.
“I always felt drawn to party time ever since I was little. Any kind of opportunity; a wedding, bar mitzvah, holiday. Whatever kind of event that was going on in my little community in San Diego, if there was music, I was dancing. It’s just the way it was. I’ve always been into the energy and the happiness that it brings.”
Will was introduced to a wide variety of music early on through his older friends and siblings. It was these early influences that still resonate today through his performance and his own work. They laid the foundation for his unique understanding of sounds, grooves and the moods and feelings that music can generate in people.
“I always had music around me because of my older friends and older siblings. They were always listening to rap and rock and reggae. If it wasn’t for my friends, I wouldn’t know anything. I definitely gave a lot of credit to my older friends and just my friends in general. They influenced me a lot.
“I grew up with Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, NWA. Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and all kinds popular Rap, and Rock and Reggae. I’m talking at 11 – 12 years old, this is what was around me in San Diego growing up.
“I’m influenced by so many different styles. I’ve always loved the energy of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the energy of Hip Hop. Live performances in general have always made me super excited to be part of the human race you know.
“I’ve always been excited about music and what it does for people.”
VCI-380 is a 2 channel DJ controller with a built-in Digital DJ mixer, powerful and creative, opening the door to limitless possibilities of controllerism. Mix, scratch, cue, effect, sample, trigger, loop and slice. Every feature of the VCI-380 is optimized to enhance the DJs performance and take a new approach in manipulating music. Designed hand in hand with Serato, VCI-380 is bundled with ITCH, providing an arsenal of musical craft tools with perfect integrity, straight out of the box.
Controllerism is the art and practice of using musical software controllers (e.g. MIDI, OSC, Joystick, etc) to build upon, mix, scratch, remix, effect, modify, or otherwise create music, usually by a Digital DJ or “Controllerist”.
Serato offers up some great exclusive video clips for it’s plugin, courtesy of Beeple. Click on the image to go to the download page, and post replies with your video mixes if you make some!
We are huge Erica Badu fans here at DDJG, so it was great to see that Serato chose her as the newest icon in their series!
From her debut album “Baduizm” through to her 2010 release “New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), Erykah Badu has redefined modern soul. Drawing comparisons along the way to many of the greats, including Billie Holiday, she layers her varied musical influences together to create a sound that has crowned her ‘Queen of Neo-Soul’.
More recently, Badu has been on the journey as a DJ, one she embarked on a long time ago through her love of hip hop music and it’s culture.
“When I was in the 8th or 9th grade, hip hop was becoming mainstream in radio… in Dallas, Texas where I’m from. That was in the 80s. Hip hop really emerged in the 70s, with DJs like Kool Herc, Red Alert, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Spinderella from Salt ‘n’ Pepa; all of these people were very inspiring to me, because they were the people who conducted feelings.
“I expanded and explored more and more as I became a b-girl, because the world knows DJing and rapping is something you do, but the great KRS-1 said ‘Hip Hop is something you live’. Once it’s in you, it’s in you.”
As hip hop evolved over the years, so did Erykah Badu’s relationship with it. Even after hugely successful albums and international tours, Badu was still hungry to transcend the music and reach out to those around her through the experience of DJing. Enter DJ Loretta Brown, the alter ego that fuels this desire to personally connect through music.
“Right now, we’re in 2012AD where the DJ is now the star, because of things like Serato and the need of the tribe – that’s the people – to feel good and to feel the music. I wanted some of that, and I decided to lend my time to DJ. I’ve always done after parties after shows and things, but I wanted people to come, listen and feel good. It’s not about what they like or they don’t like, it’s about how they feel. And that’s the Selector’s job, the DJ is the selector and I’m very proud to be a She‑J.”
The connection between singer and audience differs from the connection between the DJ and the crowd, and it brings a whole new musical world for her to explore and her audience to experience.
“When I DJ… I’m paying attention to my mixes, I’m paying attention to my choices and selections. That’s my main focus. I do it fearlessly, because I never underestimate the audiences’ ability to feel. Music is the sixth element; it brings nostalgia, it brings healing and it moves us.
“It’s different from when I’m on stage live singing – I’m expressing emotions and feelings; performing is therapy for me. But DJing is allowing me the chance to be free, with no expectations, especially from myself. It’s just about having fun at the party, and I like having fun at the party.”
Freestyle and improvisation is an important element in Badu’s DJ sets and the traditional hangups that come with being a DJ fall away to allow for a more organic, fun approach to performing.
“I put absolutely no preparation into my sets at all. When I get to the club, I peep the audience, scope the atmosphere, I listen to what the DJs did before me and I just basically remember that it’s about having fun and I free myself enough to begin.”
For Erykah, this approach is key to the success of any set. It’s admirable that in the DJ industry, where skills and image are constantly judged by peers and critics alike, that Badu focusses on the selections and the energy that a DJ creates by simply playing songs that you love to people who want to hear them.
“The DJ is the weatherman; the DJ basically dictates what the weather is – what we play is how people feel.
“To me, what makes a DJ a good DJ is that he or she pays attention to the crowd and their movement, response and applause. And the applause doesn’t come in the form of an applause, it comes in the form of a groove. A good DJ feels his or her groove and eventually gets a flow and begins to connect with the music which connects to the audience. In my case, I’m a selector – I select what I like. People who come to the shows either love it or they learn it.
The future looks bright for Erykah Badu and Loretta Brown, two artists working together to weave live performance and DJing into a rich textured experience for people around the world to enjoy. Seeing Erykah Badu DJ as Loretta Brown will by no means be a traditional DJ set, but it will be unique.
“There’s a big difference between being a DJ and being a selector. I don’t really even know if I consider myself a DJ because DJing is a skill and an art form that is highly technical. There’s scratching involved, there’s blending involved, there’s accuracy and syncopation involved.
“Those things I’ve learned over time, but as a Selector, you’re just narrating the emotions of the crowd. I am becoming a good DJ – I’m a great selector.”
The fine folks from Serato in NZ have just announced the release of the long awaited upgrade to VideoSL, simply named “Serato Video”. The new plugin is purchased direct from Serato only, but on top of integrating all the features VJ’s have been asking for that may have been missing on previous versions, the new plugin now works with Itch and Scratch Live the same.
Since some of us here at DDJG are Video SL users, we found out quickly that Serato offers the luxury of a free upgrade from VideoSL to Serato Video, so definitely grab yourself the new version if you are a previous user, or grab the demo at no charge to test it out with your system and see if stepping in to video is right for you.
To celebrate the release, they have launched the new “Icon Artist” series highlighting some of the DJs who have been continuosly embraced technology and pushed the boundaries for all of us in the industry. Who better to kick it off, than the man himself… Fat Boy Slim? Video below…
MANUFACTURER’S DESCRIPTION:
Serato Video is a software plug-in for Scratch Live and ITCH enabling you to manipulate video playback with Serato Control Vinyl and CDs or an ITCH Controller.
Add visual effects and transitions from the library or your own images and text and store them with each video file for instant recall.
There’s a Serato library of video content that you can download to get you started and with a choice of configurations for external connections to monitors, screens or projectors you’re always in control.
Manipulate video playback with Serato Control Vinyl and CDs or an ITCH Controller.
Visual effects library of transitions and effects.
Add your own images and text to your video mix.
Store effects within each video file for instant recall.
Serato video library of video content to get you started.
Choice of configurations for external connections to monitors, screens or projectors.
Minimum Specs
Mac
2GB RAM
5GB free on your hard drive
OSX 10.6.8 or higher
2GHz Macbook or better
Windows
2GB RAM
5GB free on your hard drive
Windows 7
2GHz Core Duo or better
Recommended Graphics Cards
Nvidia 8400 or better
ATI 1650 or better
Note: Windows computers using Intel graphics cards
are not currently supported by Serato Video.
