In pictures: Dom Kane's Cardiff studio
Intro
Since the early ’90s, Dom Kane has been obsessed with music production and DJing. He started out playing illegal raves at the age of 14, and quickly made a name for himself both as a DJ, with a residency at Ministry ofSound, and as a producer – he’s one of the original sample content creators.
Having seen his booth morph from vinyl, through CDJs to laptop DJing, and his studio grow from basic MIDI software to the endless options of Ableton Live, Dom has witnessed 20 years of technical trends. After testing software for FXpansion and Steve Duda, he’s now set up his own sample company and is about to launch his debut album. So, there couldn’t be a better time to have a nosey around his music making facility.
The studio
“Back in the day I used to go to friends’ houses who had small setups. I had my own computer and a couple of bits of software and some MIDI keyboards and Yamaha PSRs, but that was it.
“I always wanted to get into production before I got into DJing, but DJing came first because it was more accessible at the time – you needed some outboard gear, synths, a decent soundcard. There was some basic MIDI arrangement software for computers but it wasn’t until Cubase VST that all of a sudden you could make good quality sounds on a computer.”
Samson D-1500
“This has room-testing capabilities but I’ve never used it for that. It’s great to have a visual reference though – you might notice a bassline is protruding too much, or not enough or you might not notice it, but this will tell you.”
NI's Maschine
“I use this more for live stuff, but it’s a great studio tool too, and it comes with a great library.”
Apple iPad
“I have used this in the studio in the past, but it’s more of a live thing too.”
Mackie Big Knob
“Essentially a volume control but the Mono button is really useful. You want your track to sound almost as good in mono as it does in stereo and the button helps me pick up on phase problems.”
The rack
“The E-MU Proteus 1000 is a classic synth and a stunning bit of kit. It’s the Faithless Insomnia sound, but it’s still really relevant today with the Vintage Expansion pack. The Orchestra Expansion pack is good too.”
“Below that is the Roland JV-1080. This is similar to the E-MU in that they’re both sample-based digital synths, but they give a real classic sound and are fun to play around with.”
Moog Little Phatty
“The name says it all really – it’s little, it’s phat. It’s a stunning bit of kit. The signal is 100% analogue flow so you’ve got a genuine analogue sound with digital control.
“It’s got the classic Moog ladder filter that gives it a great sound.”
Focal CMS45
“Focal make some of the best speakers in the world, they’ve got an unbelievable dynamic and a fascinating range.
“They use Beryllium tweeters so they can reach 40kHz, which we can’t hear but it means they’ll have no problem reaching 20kHz accurately.”