News
TODAY'S NOMINEE: DEADMAU5
- Words
- News
Joel Zimmerman is a former computer coder vocal in his criticism of dance’s holy cows, particularly “play/stop/pitch” DJs. Yet his irreverent attitude is a breath of fresh air, a disco-punk boot up clubland’s rear that's defined a generation. His live show is stunning, and his head-gear is the most distinctive since Daft Punk’s.
Defining moment: The birth of his ‘flying wedge’ show.
Cast your vote in the Greatest Dance Act Of All Time Poll here
This time last year we caught up with the man who consistently puts on one of the greatest shows in dance music.
How has your live show evolved?
“It evolves by me keeping an eye on technology and music software, getting that one cool thing and finding some weird way to use it that the other guy hasn’t.”
What does the visual show consist of?
“I think there’s over a billion LEDs now! The cube is made up of Pixled F-11 panel-sets all moulded into a cube and we use an LED curtain at the back and a whole truss full of versa tubes [LED piping].”
What do you control from behind the decks?
“I’m running a PC with Ableton Live, then a few control surfaces as well as analogue filters. I’m sporting an Allen & Heath S6 [mixer], two Vermona action filters [frequency controllers] and an EFX 1000 [effects unit] just for laughs. The LED head I wear has another computer. It all connects to my [master computer] brain which is running Ableton Live, but the most important pieces of equipment are the touchscreen controllers: I use a Lemur and I’ve also taken a liking to the iPad.”
How do you keep each show fresh?
“It’s kind of hard because there are a lot of hands involved. I used to enjoy writing a new track, sticking it on a USB key and playing it, but I can’t do that live any more because I have to get visual content created for it. My guys are production guys, not VJs, so if I deviate all hell would break loose and it would look like a mess.”
What can go wrong?
“Every day we find something new that goes wrong. I spent more money on a mouse head than stupid rich people spend on cars. It looked great, then we get to Europe and the first show in London we plugged the thing in and it just fried, the whole top half of the LEDs just smoked, literally, the inside of the helmet was all black and melted. It was the voltage – you guys are on 220 and we’re 110! Fortunately I had a talented electrician on my team who hacked it back together with some tape and a soldering gun.”
How many people work on each show?
“We have four or five technical crew, including the two guys from Big Sexy Light Design who were also responsible for the Daft Punk pyramid and Nine Inch Nails’ shows. And then there’s my tour manager who I might as well get married to.”
How much gear has to be carted around for each show?
“It’s all on a sixteen-wheeler truck – it weighs a lot but packs up nice and neat.”
What’s the best show you’ve played so far?
“I think Coachella because it was the first one. The crowd were thinking, ‘OK, this guy’s going to come out with a laptop, set it up on a black table with an LED screen in front’. They never saw the cube coming. It was really cool, nobody had any idea.”
Originally published in Mixmag November 2010
Comment
Recommendations
Archives for News
- 2012(660)
- 2011(1095)
- 2010(1037)
- 2009(1926)
- 2007(99)
- 2006(102)
