DJ Kroll

Websites:

Claim to Fame

I am a recording artist. A recording artist is a music composer who can also perform or otherwise play the music he writes. But it goes far beyond that: Recording and mixing is an art and a science all unto itself. This is me and this is my music!

Biography

I grew up in scenic south central Alaska, which has influenced the music quite a bit. There was lots of fishing, hiking, and camping. Notably, there was a lack of television and other forms of conventional entertainment were scarce so we learned to entertain ourselves. My dad has a piano and he actually plays pretty well. The family used to gather around and sing. I would dread those times but, when I got older, I learned to sing a little better.

Hobbies

EverQuest: I have a 65th level wizard named Yorn on the Torvonnilous virtual world. It's been some time since I've played. EverQuest takes too much time investment to get anywhere.

Electronics: I enjoy studying and learning about electronics, designing and building circuits, radio, robotics, etc. I am also studying to be an electriciain.

Computers: When I'm not working with computers I'm playing with them. Most people don't understand computers or what they are. Actually they have always been around in one form or another. Computers are direct descendants of clocks. They still are clocks actually. At the heart of every computer is something called a clock chip. The clock makes it so that each instruction is processed in order.

Another descendent of clocks is the music box. Perhaps you've seen one with the little wheel with bumps on it that turns. The little bumps are instructions to be carried out and it's all regulated by time. Time is best understood with music. That is why computers make the best music.

Dancing: I sometimes go out just to dance. Many people avoid bars because of what goes on in them but I'm not afraid. Besides, it's good exercise...

My Print Shop / Studio Gear

Custom-built PC workstation / digital audio / video recording studio / web server / Webcam / CD Burner

2 Backup web server & networked graphics workstations

HP Color LaserJet 4550 network printer for color promotions, CD covers and presskits.

Martin Yale 7000E industrial (guillotine) paper cutter

KORG KARMA keyboard synth (lead)

Yamaha PSR 420 (backup midi controller)

SHURE SM58 studio mic custom-wired for digital.

Technics SA-EX300 AV control unit

AR/2 Classic bass reflex monitor speakers

Signal-Flex digital headphones

Generic (cheap) computer speakers

Mixing Technique

The cheap computer speakers are often used during final mix down: A good mix will even sound good on these and when if it sounds good on these, trust me, it will sound good on ANYTHING! First I will usually play around with various keyboard presets and combinations. Maybe I'll come up with one or two patches that sound good and I'll record them, trim off the excess noise and make them into a sample I can cut and paste. Then I'll loop the custom samples and experiment some more, playing along with them with the keyboard.

I keep coming up with more samples and loops this way and eventually it turns into a song. Somewhere along the way I usually think of words to go along with it and I have something that sounds like a hit, at least to me. This is all stuff I listen to. I try to make each song something I would listen to and enjoy later.

Finally, I'll lay down the vocal tracks. I'm getting much better at this. I used to have to record the same vocal track over 100 times before I would get a sample I was happy with. Now I can often get it right the first time. Once the vocals are right, I use digital filtering to remove noise and add effects, like reverb, echo, phasing and placement. These effects are important. They keep the vocals from sounding flat and this also gives perspective to the mix. I do most of my mixing in Samplitude Studio. It is a very good program for dealing with digital audio and there really isn't any program like it with all the professional effects available. I use directx filters hacked from cakewalk for all the vocal processing effects, however.

Update: I've since switched to doing most of my mixing in Cakewalk Home Studio 2002. The sound quality is vastly superior.

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