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When you are making music,
you make the music for the dance floor.
When you are on the dance floor, you learn
from the people and their reaction,
how to make better music.
It's all connected.
Hi, we are once again in Queen's Club, It's early December and
This time here with us is Dr. Kucho!
Nice to meet you.
I know yesterday you played in Bucharest.
How do you find the Romanian clubbing scene?
I played in Romania
as far as I remember long time ago, like 6 years,
it was Kristal Club, and it was good too.
And than yesterday, so, this is my whole experience,
I'm talking about my experience
And it was very nice. Mostly yesterday was a really nice crowd
It was a small club,
but, the atmosphere was incredible.
Screaming all the night, really nice.
Where did you come up with the name of "Dr. Kucho!"?
The... question that everybody asks.
It's just a name. It's an artist name.
It's a...
Well actually it's a...
I picked it up
from a comic. A friend of mine was doing these comics
not commercial, it was just an amateur comic.
Comics about 2 stupid guys starting a "kucho"
So, kucho sounded good.
When I started in Spain, 20 years ago,
everybody was using fantastic, artistic names
No real names, right?
Today you can,
You know a lot of D.J.s with their real name, but...
In Spain 20 years ago, that was not an option.
Was not cool.
Can you tell us how did you start your career?
And when did it happen?
I started making music with a software
for...
Commodore Amiga computers.
A computer that is
gone these days,
but...
For that age, that computer was the...
one that
could make digital sound
with a...
built in... You didn't have to buy anything.
So, the computer was really amazing.
So they made this software to use this digital chip
to make music.
I started playing with it,
because I actually, got the computer to play videogames
I was just a kid, so...
But this software was intersesting, and...
I was trying to do Acid House
that was the sound that...
I was listening on the radio, and...
I couldn't make it. I couldn't make anything that sounded like that, but
the new Dance music scene
started to grow up in Spain.
Because I was listening to this music, just in one show on the radio
That was... the only place, you could hear House music in Spain, but then
the scene in Spain changed, growing up this new kind of sound
So I could...
I could make something
that fit in that style.
So I released my first record with them, and with... the acid label
And that was the beginning.
I...
don't like to make the same style of music
all the time, I think that's boring. Mostly when you...
are making music for so long,
You need to find different kinds of inspiration.
If you... make all the time the same style, it's... like
Really really not funny.
Dance music became so popular,
but it's not made with love.
It's only made to get money.
You can feel that on the harmonies,
you can feel that on the melodies...
It's all the same formula...
I don't like that. I like to look for something...
That can tell you
a story...
That's the real music.
I know early this summer, you held a contest,
a remix contest.
Can you tell us more about it?
First of all I have to apologize, because I promised to...
give the results of the... of the contest
but this is still not done. Because...
I was expecting a lot of remixes, but not that many.
There are about 150 remixes,
and it's myself who is listening to all of them
And... The problem is, you cannot...
listen to more than 10 remixes of the
same track the same day,
and still be able to say
if it's good, or not.
Because you get sick of the same song, the same melody, the same...
Oh my God! Not again. So...
Even it is my track.
Yes, but is not possible, so...
If I listen to more than 10...
The rest of... It will be... Will not be good to me.
And that's not fair, so...
I do it slowly... and I'm also traveling a lot, so...
I'm taking so long, but I want to do this right.
I was worried, because, I normally don't like my... the remixes
they... they do to my... to my tracks.
That's... why you can't find any...
Any remixes to my own tracks, because
I don't feel like... giving them to anyone.
So... the good thing is... that I already found that...
Yes, I love, some of the remixes.
Are you also doing the... managing part?
Are you also the manager?
Yes...
I do the selection of the tracks right now,
I have a person that... that does all the...
paper work.
That's... Yes that's it. I mean... It's a label
These days
it's just not much more you can do about label. At least...
In the way I...
I think the label, it's... It's just a...
A selection of the music
that I will... I will be
proud to, to release... It's
I'm not making this for the money, because,
Many labels, mostly these days,
to survive, you have to release
a lot of music! Because...
You get a little bit, from each track, so, how to survive to realese a lot, a lot, a lot?
Before it was completely different.
To make 1000 copies of a vinyl,
you had to invest 3000 Euros. More or less.
So it's a risk! It's your money!
So you select the music!
This track is good,
I'm gonna, recoup the money...
Yea! So, I'm gonna give it to this D.J. and this other D.J.,
select it, because...
So there was... The label was releasing only selected stuff.
But these days, they don't select, they just...
push s#!+ out.
And...
I don't like that. I mean...
I prefere to release only few tracks, but, people always got, a...
good memory of the tracks... that they bought from my label, so...
They will always, think that the label is good.
Being a D.J. is so nice,
it gives you...
good experience,
exciting experience.
When you play for people, and people...
scream on the dance floor,
You feel... really really nice
And that's a good experience.
But, I'm a creative person.
I need to... make things. I need to create things.
When I was young, I was making... comics.
But now, I... even create parts for radio controlled cars.
I need to invent things.
I need to make things, put things together, and create.
I don't think I will be able to live without... without creating that
and creating music.
But... these days,
both things are so related.
I mean, you cannot be a D.J....
as good as you...
you are, if you are a producer too.
It's very easy to...
start a track.
It's very easy to have ideas and how to make a track and to start a project
and to make some beats and put them together.
But it's very difficult to finish a track.
You have to find a way, to do it
as fast as possible.
Please don't get this wrong! Is not... fast...
because you don't put so much love on it.
You have to put all the love you have.
But to put that love in the track as fast as possible.
And this includes the software. You need to be fast with the software.
You need to be fast with your studio configuration
Some people... love...
Analog synthesizer and all the cool stuff they say
they feel better
doing it. But...
That is not good to me, because it's too slow.
And, the problem is: If you listen your to own track too much,
you lose the right point,
you lose the perspective.
You get stuck! At some point.
You get sick of your own song. So you have to be fast,
so you don't listen the same. Because when you're making music,
you listen to the same part again and again.
Because you are perfectioning it, and
you are doing loops, working on the drums,
and you are listening the same drums, the same bass line
like a thousand times. So...
If you don't have a method to be fast,
you are in the risk to get sick of your own song
and you will never finish that song in the right way.
You will finish it like, yea, yea, yea, yea, yea.
But... it's not gonna be good, so...
Whatever the software you use,
whatever the studio you use,
whatever the equipment you use,
you'll have to be fast with it.
Make a selection, and toss the things are making you slow.
Because it's very very important.
How much time do you spend on a track?
Could be... 2,
3 days, could be just 1 day.
I wouldn't ever recommend 1 day. Because some people say:
"Yea, I only have 1 day to make this track and I did it."
Yea but...
It's better always to listen the next day.
Or even, leave the track
2 - 3 days, work on another one,
and then you go back to the first one, and listen again.
Because you will listen to it with a fresh ear, and you will make improvements.
You are never sure if...
how it's going to sound the next day.
That's the thing. You get involved on something,
and you lose the perspective.
You get too much close to it. So...
I prefere playing digital.
For many reasons...
Main reason...
People don't consider these reasons.
But I think there are so important.
Main reason is the space.
If you are a traveling D.J., you...
You'll have to carry cases with you and...
It's not only because of the effort. It's because of the problems at the airport.
It's because they always want you to check-in the record bag.
And you say: "No! Listen but..."
"I am a D.J., I need this to work"
"What happens if... you lose it?"
"No! No! We're not losing it. We will send it to you..."
"Yes but I have a short connection, I have a one hour connection only,"
"and I'm sure I'm gonna get to the... to the plane."
"But if I check-in my luggage, I'm not gonna get it", I know how it works!
"No! But no problem. We'll put it in the next plane."
"I will deliver it to you tomorrow."
And you have to have these conversations with the check-in girl all the time.
That's the problem. Sometimes you go with the...
with the vinyls and they put you problems in the... at the border,
at the frontier. Because they think you...
you are going to sell that.
That also happened to me with the C.D.s.
"What are you doing..."
Are you a pirate C.D. dealer? Or what?"
C.D. was better because C.D.s are smaller,
but the problem with the C.D.s is that you have to burn the C.D.s.
And my problem is...
For me it's impossible to remember a track for the track name...
or even to read.
If you give me...
I always had problems when I wanted to rent a movie,
I went to the... to the Blockbuster and...
I had so many things, in a row.
To me it's like... I don't know, I think it's my problem.
I cannot make a selection reading all that...
So, I need to see the cover one by one. Like with the vinyls:
pam pam pam pam, and you see one and you remember.
So that's what I do with the...
with the mp3s. And that's what I was doing with the C.D.s.
I had to make a...
A print of the cover.
Otherwise I was not able to remember.
Sometimes I had no time So I was doing stupid pictures on the C.D.s.
Just random pictures. Because that was helping me.
But anyway, that was not the best way.
With the digital mp3s, you...
You have the covers on them. Well I put them.
Some tracks, when you buy the tracks, some tracks
won't come with a cover,
then I find the cover on the Internet, I put it on.
That's my best way to... to remember the track because...
The most important thing when you are a D.J. is
Not how to mix,
It's the track you are going to play next.
I spend most of my time
looking for tracks
on my selection. I'm making the right decision.
That's what... That... The music is what keeps the...
keeps the people dancing, it's not the way you mix it.
What's your D.J. setup?
Traktor, Kontrol X1,
and... MacBook Air.
And... Audio 2 D.J.... the small one, from Native Instruments.
Because it's... so small. I like small stuff.
That's why I got the MacBook Air, because I want to travel light.
What would you advise new D.J.s to avoid?
If you release a record,
with a company, with a record label,
they will always want... you to give them
everything!
Which includes: no advance,
options for the next single.
That means...
They will have the exclusive rights,
of your next track.
So, if the track is going good, and they want
a follow up,
you will have to give it to them,
to say "Yes" or "No".
I guess, in the beginning is...
You are not well known, you don't have so many opportunities...
You have to dig with those. But as soon as you are,
growing up as a D.J. with your name,
you have to learn to say: "No, I don't want this!"
It's OK! They...
Some people are afraid.
When they go to a label and...
They say: "Yes, this is the way we do things."
But then, there is your way to do things too.
Listen: "This is my way. I want to remove this part of the contract."
"I want to do this way", and they will...
listen to you, if you are not asking too much.
But it's good to start learning how much
they can change.
Just maby a little bit... at the beginning
and then more and more.
Tell us about 2011. How was it for you?
It was chill. It was a chill...
age in...
making music.
Because the previous year, I made a... I made a...
challenge to myself.
I've made a lot of music, I wanted to do 34 tracks
I've put me at that challenge, so I...
I programmed all the year, with the studio time
to get this thing possible.
It was a successful year.
Yes! Yes, but besides
how the music...
success itself, that is something that
some tracks work better than others,
it was busy to me. So busy so...
This year I was like "OK".
This year just chill a little bit, just do the music
whenever you feel
like doing something, or... or not.
So I think next year will be...
I will put myself, some more and...
in the studio to make more music.
Because I think is so important to keep on releasing music and music, for a D.J.
These days there is a lot of
competition. There is a...
So you have to keep on, the way you... you get people remind you
is to never stop, making music.
It's not... about making a track, and wait for the...
super-success, and get millionaire.
That will never happen.
The craziest party of this year!
There is a lot of talking about...
How to mix better... or if vinyl is the real D.J. thing...
I don't think they got this job right,
it's about the music selection.
That's the main thing about being a D.J.