FEATURE

It could be wrong to see someone’s passing he’s been asked numerous times to do but never After a big year – a single in as an opportunity for a new beginning, but found the time for – possibly a good thing for the Top 10 of ’s Hottest the demise of Wally De Backer’s next-door- the poor sod who commissions him. 100, and a management deal neighbour proved to be a career catalyst. The Listening to Wally reflect on the history of recent widower found himself with a stack , while at the same time smelling the – Wally De Backer, aka Gotye, of records that proved a bit too much for the fragrance of wood that permeates the De backs up and offers bereaved. Memory serving him well, he had Backer chalet-style home (single-handedly a young musician living next door; a knock built by his father), you get the feeling that this a recount. at the door drew out a pre-Gotye De Backer. Flemish-Belgian sprite wasn’t raised a lazy lad. The elderly British gentleman, explaining his Text: Mark Davie But like so many other success stories, it took delicate situation and eagerness to get back fated intervention, get-up-and-go pep talks, to Old Blighty, offered De Backer his wife’s persistent friends and allies, the right creative records that would otherwise have ended up partner and the drive to keep him going. One on top of the Montmorency tip. Accepting the thing that must be noted to get a fuller picture offer, the next day crates of records arrived of De Backer’s resolve is that up until two on the front step of De Backer’s residence – a weeks prior to our arrival, he had been entirely musical legacy from beyond the grave. www self managed, spending his own hard-earned Gotye reveals his The vinyl library, still sitting on a bookshelf in on recording, mixing and promoting his two sampling methods De Backer’s home, is predominantly ’80s fare, records: Boardface, and latest release, Like online, direct from his home studio. with more than a few diamonds in the rough, Drawing Blood. This latest recently won Also, have a crack at including The Reddings track, In My Pants, a the Triple J radio Listener’s Favourite Album remixing one of his newer projects; all local favourite of De Backer and his housemates, of 2006 – no mean feat for any Australian audio files are online and one that got plenty of airing during our independent artist. So, how does a young now. two-hour chat. He admits that he’s always musician go from a few crates of records to audiotechnology.com.au longed to play the track in a DJ set – something national success? We found out.

AT 46 BEGINNING WITH BOARDFACE those formative days, lead the way in producing Wally’s Take After early music-making turned to the tracks? Or did you have something in mind Samples are a hard one to get past the watchful eye of disappointment on more than one occasion, early on, like Portishead, and say, ‘well, how can the law. And Wally is no stranger to the ins and outs of Wally realised that attempting insanely I make this work for me?’ the battle between artistic manipulation and original multi-tracked, complex, synth-laden, electro composition. Currently in the throes of trialing a sample WDB: I think I knew very little, and I think I rock recorded in one day at the hands of local replay house in the UK, Wally took the time out to explain still know very little. I felt a bit bamboozled. I the legalese of sampling and royalties. engineers wasn’t going to result in a finished think the Acid software definitely directed me product in the league of Flood or Daniel The Royalty Situation in developing songs a certain way, especially Lanois. Taking the lead from his Nine Inch If I’ve sampled something that incorporates a musical from loops and grabs. But I think I realised phrase or a production element that can be proved to Nails-influenced friend, Wally joined the fairly quickly – maybe more so than some be integral to the original song, and on which my song is legion of home studio owners. Figuring that he people who make dance music using this type trading, then I would probably have to seek publishing liked the sound of his friend’s tracks, the gear clearance and split the songwriting (hence mechanical of software – that it pushes you into doing more he bought was a carbon copy of that setup: a royalties) with whoever owns those copyrights (publishing looped, four bar, eight bar kind of stuff. And I Pentium III 733MHz, Sound Forge, Acid Pro, companies/the songwriter/their estate, if they’re dead just try and find ways to shift out of that and for instance). And they’d probably ask for a flat fee and a an Isis MaxiStudio card, an Audio-Technica make things more organic. Go beyond the grid, percentage of record sales too. AT4033 and a Technics SL-1200 turntable. The I guess. Any instance where I’ve used a timbre from an existing first speakers he had were two old Thorn EMI record (whether it encompasses a musical phrase or not) boxes from the ’70s, shelling out a whole five LEARNING ON LIMITED EARNINGS CURVE technically requires me to seek a license for using that dollars at Savers for the pair. “As long as there It’s not all laughter and high fives though. master recording and incorporating it into my own. Again, was sound coming out of them, it was alright,” a flat fee and a percentage of record sales would be the Cardinal mistakes have been made along norm. Of course, cases of ‘one-shot’ sampling are a waste reflects De Backer. “It was good enough – better the way, as will inevitably happen to any of time when it comes to snare samples, horn stabs… than sitting there with headphones on.” A tent cash-strapped musician eager to get his music building block materials in my opinion. But companies of mattresses served as a makeshift vocal booth, to the masses. The learning process included like Bridgeport Music Inc in the USA are trying to take hip complete with a stocking/coat hanger pop filter. hop artists in the US to court for sampling snare drums paying two different mastering engineers to from George Clinton records; copyrights in which George (If you want to get a better picture of the setup, each work on half of his first album, Boardface Clinton himself, or his drummer, engineer, producer etc head to www.gotye.com and click on visual for a (a self-confessed faux pas), not realising that have no financial/legal interest in anymore, and which, 360-degree view of the old house.) mastering is intended (at least in part) to help an according to a number of sources, Bridgeport Music Inc. screwed Clinton out of in the ’70s. With a library of records and a home studio album gel together. The situation was further exacerbated by the frustrating lack of support As you can see, there are a lot of parties potentially setup going begging, his friend Andy made a involved, and the artist tends to fare the worst. Imagine simple suggestion: start sampling some of the from (supposedly) interested independent record that, creativity and cultural expression not afforded records – a thought that hadn’t occurred to De labels that insisted the disc be remastered, precedence over money and private interests! I can see Backer, despite the fact that he was an ardent backing the suggestion up with zero-dollar lawyers rubbing their hands together already. Portishead and Massive Attack fan. This same friend parked himself in De Backer’s bedroom one night and insisted they sample something. No one told Wally that you Playing back the result of this first night’s work, can pick up a popshield for 20 bucks on eBay. consisting of a drum break with an alternating Actually we’ll throw in a intervallic horn part, and of course, a solid hook real mic stand for an extra 10 bucks. Lurking behind snippet from the hugely-influential In My Pants, is Wally’s main vocal the interview almost ended in tears of laughter. mic – an Audio-Technica AT4033. But the questions rolled on. MD: Obviously you didn’t nail it the first time you sampled and used Acid, but it feels like there’s already a Gotye blueprint there. WDB: Yeah maybe. This was one track of five or six that I initially made and started sending to people. Those other tracks didn’t make it on to Boardface because at that stage I was still trying to find what it was I should be developing, and what worked best. That tune works because of the vocal element, but I was Wally’s priceless copy doing more DJ-style cut-up stuff, where I was of The Redding’s In My Pants goes back into its sampling other people’s vocals. When I had sleeve. about 25 songs finished I had to choose a 10- song album, and I went with all the vocal stuff. They were the most original to me. MD: So you identified the vocals as the defining element? WDB: Those were the things that people were mostly responding too… on these songs anyway. And some of the other tracks didn’t interest me as much anyway. Or maybe it was just chance that some of them didn’t feel like they were produced as well as some of the other tracks that I’d spent more time doing vocals on. MD: So how much did a program like Acid, in

AT 47 AT 48 FRANC TETAZ – MOOSE MASTERING Franc Tetaz: We mixed track by track over two or three months. Wally transferred the multitrack files out of Acid (16-bit wav files) and I imported them into ProTools HD. Wally also brought in rough mixes that he’d spent hours on, which meant there was a pretty clear vibe for most of the tracks. I always had these rough mixes inside the sessions so I could compare and reference them while mixing. They gave me a solid reference of how Wally heard the tracks. I also had both the effected and dry tracks in playlists so I could compare and use whatever I thought was working. Straight out of Acid, the tracks sounded pretty flat and two dimensional, as a lot of the sampled material was sourced from records or MP3 samples off the net. The mixes primarily needed clarity, depth and more punch – more dynamic, less compression – so I initially worked on getting transients on the sounds that needed it, shaping envelopes on drums, getting tone and balance. I added production touches too like low 808 kicks. I chopped loops up into individual elements and produced up the kick, snare and hats separately. The main production also involved lots of subtle spatial effects with compression, distortion, delays and verbs to get some depth and movement in the sound; manipulating and layering sounds with each other. WALLY VOX Wally recorded his vocals at home where there was plenty of computer fan noise. These needed a little TLC, and on some occasions they simply weren’t salvageable. In those situations Wally was good enough to re-record vocals when required. Having the mix sessions spread out over a few months also meant Wally could take mixes home, listen to them and say: “it’s not good enough”, whereupon he would re-record certain elements, and we’d put them into the mix during the next session. COLLABORATIVE MIX I like the collaboration of mixing, the melting pot of possibilities. Wally and I budgets and zero suggestions of whom that discussed how we both heard the record. I “I just t r y a nd f ind ways mastering engineer might be. would work on a track until I was ready for Wally to listen and give me feedback. He to shif t o u t o f t ha t With no release slated and the record ready to would listen on speakers and headphones a nd make t hing s mo re go, the next step seemed to be tantalisingly out of and note down any comments. We’d reach, until the intervention of yet another friend discuss and address the issues and he o r ganic . G o beyond t he would take a mix home. Any other tweaks inspired De Backer to take this next step himself. we’d do at the beginning of the next g rid , I g uess” He recounts the pep talk like it was yesterday: “It session. Wally is a perfectionist and into took a friend who said, ‘you can put records out detail, which I really enjoy. He demands yourself. If you’re prepared to invest in it, you can the music to be the best it can, which I’m always happy to help with. press stock, put it out, and send it to people… if you’re prepared to spend the time’. That was a The album was mixed on a ProTools HD system mainly ‘in the box’. The only momentous afternoon session, having a coffee, outboard gear I used was a Roland RE301 going, ‘Yeah, I can do this’.” Space Echo and an AKG BX25 spring reverb. I summed the mixes through Wally’s focus then turned from music creation a Crane Song Hedd with some tape to music distribution, spending as much time saturation and a bit of triode drive. The making CDs and mailing them to radio stations mastering process happened a couple of as he did tinkering on Acid. And it worked. weeks after all the mixes were finished, with a fresh perspective. I try to get the THE PERFECT PAIRING mixes very close to how I want them to sound on the album, so the mastering Moving on from the entirely self-produced, process is very simple: match volume and engineered and mixed process of the first EQ to make it flow in the chosen order. album, the second release, Like Drawing Blood, afforded a different approach. Retaining the same gear, De Backer tracked to Acid, arranged

AT 49 and rough mixed, then took the songs to “Actually it was on that little Kawai keyboard the way I’d like it to. I didn’t have the drum mic François ‘Franc’ Tetaz of Moose Mastering to I’d had since I was six years old,” De Backer setup, nor could I afford to hire the mics. mix the final product. The combination worked says, as he points to a pile of gear in the corner. MD: Talking about the next progression, extremely well for the sample-based Gotye “I didn’t know what key signature it was in yet. including recording some strings and elements songs. Franc’s mastering skills came in handy So I worked out it was in F-minor, plonked and getting Franc to add some expensive when mixing the individual tracks, removing F-minor down, and worked out what I thought effects, does it worry you that the vibe you have or reducing the artefacts on individual vinyl was a really obvious chord progression. I didn’t now might evolve into something that’s too samples and fixing tuning issues before they know how I was going to put this chorus I’d ‘polished’? became constrained to a stereo two-track master. made on this dinky little instrument into Acid where I’d already laid down the spaces and WDB: A little bit. I’m interested to find out “There’s definitely a lot of production elements sounds I wanted. So to realise the chorus, I how I’ll go making the transition to another Franc brought to it,” says De Backer as he pitch-shifted the bass note of the main loop setup – which I intend to do – whether I’ll feel pulled up the Acid file of last year’s hit, Heart’s around, put some temporary piano down to comfortable working with different software or a Mess, to show the pre-Franc mix. “Some of sing to and multi-tracked the part straight into if I should just stick with the current limitations. the songs I would take to Franc with effects the sound card, just two days before we did the But I think it’ll be exciting to find new ways of printed, like vocals on Learnalilgivinanlovin. I final mix. getting vibes, because otherwise I’ll probably went to town trying Quadrafuzz plug-ins and just end up doing the same thing. I’d just love all other sorts of things to try and emulate ’60s “I knew I wanted strings backing it up, so I to have a bit more of a mixed approach. I think desk tube distortion and reverbs. I printed all went into Crazy Links and got all these classical the sample-based element is just how I make of those and took them to him, and I also took records just to find individual snippets of string this type of music, and it’s what makes me most dry parts, but he ended up working with the sounds and single notes, which I then cut and excited about it. effected tracks and just used some compression pitch-shifted to create my own string sampler.” and EQ. Heart’s a Mess was one of the last I don’t feel as excited about standing up in front tracks mixed on the album, so I think I had an FIX IT IN MASTERING? of 6000 people, who have clearly been listening idea what I wanted Franc to do with it by that MD: How did the experience with Franc alter to my record and seem to be appreciating it, stage. But I didn’t print any effects from home, your production methods, if at all? as listening to a record finding a bit, putting it I just kind of new the space I wanted to create WDB: I didn’t take Franc any half-baked ideas down and thinking ‘that’s so cool’, and starting with it.” (Read Franc’s comments on the mixing or tracks, which I think was important, but if I to write a song. That makes me a lot more process in the sidebar back on page 49.) was to work with Franc again – which I’d love excited. to do – I think I’d like to bring him in a little MD: Well I think a lot of our readers would ARRANGING THE MESS earlier for some advice, even with arranging It’s one thing to have a library of ’80s pop probably empathise with you there… even if strings and recording them, rather then stuffing at your disposal, but managing such a vast they haven’t had the chance to stand in front of around sampling them. collection and arranging them into songs that 6000 people. work is quite another. Heart’s A Mess took the MD: I can understand chopping up string WDB: I feel like I haven’t done anything longest to make it through this process, with samples, but as an accomplished drummer, musical for almost a year. Maybe it works for me a gestation period of five house moves. The don’t you find it annoying having to spend days to have a downtime period, where I’m building first loop that kick-started the track was the chopping up drum samples? up this real desire. I’m hoping I get the chance plodding rhythmic bass line. Over the next WDB: No. I actually find it exciting. If you’re soon to stop doing interviews (laughter), put all year he added the verses and pre-chorus of the not too focused on ‘what am I going to do with my current records in another room, and fill my song. But right up until doing the premixes this?’ you’ll honestly come up with things you rack with some new ones! on the album he still didn’t have a chorus. So would never have thought to do on the drum […Watch out grannies, Wally’s looking for some he attempted something he hadn’t done before kit. It’s about a timbre. Regardless, I don’t think new records.] and went to a piano to try another section for I have the means to record the things I want on the song. drums. I struggle to get my drum kit to sound

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