Tech Talk: Aquarian (Electronic Beats TV)

Producer and DJ Aquarian steps up for the latest episode of our Electronic Beats Tech Talk series. The Canadian artist is most notably known for his productions on labels such as Dekmantel UFO Series, Bedouin Records and his own Hanger Management, as well as a collaborative project alongside Deapmash called AQXDM for fabric’s Houndstooth. Aquarian’s music has traversed through genre’s over the years with a focus on Techno and Breaks initially, while more recently Drum & Bass productions have been his focus.
Here Aquarian walks us through his production process, solely based in the box using Ableton Live, cutting up drum breaks and how he instills the dynamic grit into his work.

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

All tunes in this video coming out on Dekmantel UFO very soon

[@deepseaminingsyndicate]

Sounds incredible!!!

[@dumafuji]

All these tunes kick ass

[@Daikokuto]

A love letter to Ableton it is then. Kinda refreshing to see something else than gear fetishizing. Ableton is extra powerful in the right hands and that’s a proof right here. Underrated producer :)

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

Fun is most important

[@aquarian4631]

@@ElectronicBeatsTV Agree -- there's no right way, just do whatever works for you :)

[@allyouracid]

@dom anca i prefer the hands on, hardware kind of feeling i have with physical gear. Tried Live (the DAW from Ableton 😁) and Bitwig Studio, but I tend to get lost in details again and again. But someone delivering a great performance on software is equally amazing to me as someone who really understand his hardware. Neither should be fetishized, neither is particularly better or worse. It all depends on the artist.

[@jorisvoorndj]

This guy is amazing!! Such a great sound..

[@IJOSoundVideo]

I have been a fan of electronic beats for many many many years now, pretty much since the beginning of it , which already seems like ages and ages ago. However, the one thing that I didn't like was all the tech talk was done with producers coming from a techno background, and it was always the stuff with 4x4.. This video is different from its core as it dwells in to a mind of a breakbeat, and I wish Tech Talk had a lot, a lot more videos with a break beat scene artists, as this does come from a slightly different place and a though process.

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

All a matter of demand.

[@rogierfrederiks8420]

Really nice! Didn’t know him, but we have very similar approaches to chopping breaks. Refreshing to see someone using software exclusively! Nice tip for everyone, something I’ve been trying to perfect is chopping op your break and putting almost every chop in a different warp algorithm, with different parameters per step. Normally quantizing it first to 95% 1/8 stepped.

[@CT-ho6si]

Post a video of that break technique -- sounds interesting

[@mrfrosty3]

This video came up on auto play and it took a while until I realised that he made some of my favorite music, I love the Snake That Eats Itself. Hoping for more releases.

[@Crackalacking_Z]

Big fan of "The Snake That Eats Itself", I'd never guessed it wasn't made on standalone gear, not that I care, tools are the means, the end results count

[@jesseqrb628]

Extremely underrated album.

[@SunLevi]

Awesome, some of his tracks are amazing.

[@meilstone]

Agree on tape echo for character, got me hooked as well (i only use hardware, h9)...

[@thanqol]

Airwindows shout out, respect to Chris!

[@airwindows]

Love to see it

[@aquarian4631]

@@airwindows ahhhh no way! you're a legend :) ZNotch2 has been answering my prayers lately

[@airwindows]

@@aquarian4631 Way :D I am so thrilled to see people enjoying the stuff and talking about it. and no YOU'RE a legend :D

[@mareikemacinnes7764]

Finally someone says it's hard to emulate an Akai S Timestretch! Otherwise everyone always acts as if the e.g. Akaizer plug-in sounds exactly like my Akai S 3000i Timestretch. But it just doesn't sound like it! Greetings from Germany

[@Strafuzz]

Yep even the newer S5/6000 samplers didn’t have the same classic timestretch sound like the 3000 series

[@RckDtar]

this was really good thanks

[@cuevable]

Lovely lad, I can really relate to what he is saying

[@Emmbedd]

You deserve it my man

[@not-hank-s]

"It ain't what you got, it's what you do with what you have. ... And it ain't what you do, it's how you do it.":

[@ssslace]

airwindows 💜

[@lillepott]

Aquarian is dope!

[@thaiboxing1658]

Magst du hohe Auslastung in Ableton?

[@viviansutherland2169]

Lovely

[@CasperCollins]

This is great to know his process. What's the song at 2:55?

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

Coming out soon

[@everx7]

6:20 better :P

[@aquarian4631]

all tunes forthcoming on Dekmantel UFO very soon :)))

[@PinchHarmonic69]

@@everx7 7:00 is dope

[@everx7]

@@PinchHarmonic69 the same beat, same track, synths added further, aka i think kinda melody, so we agree both that this track is dope :) but diff parts of it still i love when someone can make something sound fresh, even if its a dnb beat, made to death i think, still sounds all that more great, like this Current Value kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnjMlJhpd9Kho68 (dark rain - my kinda DNB) or his other project Underhill, fckin awesome, older but still hits the right spots

[@chrisb6296]

More in the box producers pls

[@tonedecoder633]

The Tech Talk video series is so much fun to watch. It would be even better if you could get Sascha Konietzko from KMFDM on for one, as he lives in Germany these days :)

[@nathansm11]

he stole that Ableton Push from me. I lent it to him 3 years ago and I haven't been able to get it back since.

[@kevindorward]

Wanna see some production videos from you one day

[@lowkeyloki8832]

Wild if this is true 🤣

[@zilver1]

LMFAO this fuckin guy eh?!

[@aquarian4631]

I also still have your frying pan and peg leg. They're in better hands now

[@deepseaminingsyndicate]

Lol hi Nathan 👋🏼 -Evangelos from Calgary

[@sjmaury]

you could get an akai s1000 for €100 and just run your stems or master through it to get that sound? refreshing though, keep it up!

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

If you get one for 100,- take it

[@Asiosky211]

hearing americans pronounce Blawan always makes me chuckle. but this was a great Tech Talk. very refreshing to hear someone not gushing over gear

[@realtonaldrum]

1:12 in what category does he fall? I didn't understand because the music is too present. lel

[@zilver1]

C BOATZ!!

[@justin7332]

finally someone that works the way i do you guys are so dogmatic.... we are in the future renoise + ableton in rewire mode for life

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

Does that make the music better? To each their own

[@justin7332]

@@ElectronicBeatsTV i've been laughing at old heads thinking that about analog for years but wait... you are a cell phone

[@angelmatrizMagno]

LIKE 001, BRASIL 2022

[@KHos73]

I am sure all of this can be done on ipads, what do you think?

[@slicknoize]

want a tech talk with VRIL

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

Take this until then kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5jSq4iomb57bKM

[@quincy3367]

bobox plz

[@pokemon_fan659]

Give me my Robux back 😠

[@ButyrFentanyl]

guy sitting front of studio monitors and wearing headphones...

[@ElectronicBeatsTV]

You know that Monitor speakers can be turned off?

[@aquarian4631]

Good catch :) Sometimes you have to A/B what something sounds like on headphones vs monitors, especially if you work on headphones at home most of the time. Hope that clears it up!

[@EggZema_]

Its very important to also monitor the sounds on the headphones during the mix.. Because unfortunately Most people listen music through headphones nowadays…

[@simonbaff206]

Terrible , worst interview yet

[@sudbenzer6603]

wtf, why?

[@ragnarroeck]

@@sudbenzer6603 He didn't get interviewed so far...

[@Strafuzz]

Nah I thought it was pretty good and will be checking his music.

[@codey1391]

i loved his setup more than most