btwnymoeu86
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~!~DanCe~4~LifE~!~
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Post by btwnymoeu86 on May 7, 2006 1:00:31 GMT -5
Valentin, the dj who has worked with Lucas Prata, Reina, Kim Sozzi, on Britney's Everytime... I can't find out ANYTHING about him anywhere, and I am a HUGE fan of his mixes. Does anyone have a discography of songs he has done? A site you could refer me to? Anything?
Thanks, Justin.
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Chelsea Press 2
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I will beach both of you off at the same time!
Joined: May 2005
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Post by Chelsea Press 2 on May 7, 2006 1:18:34 GMT -5
Here's a discography I put together of his remixes based on data I found on Discogs, Promo Only, and through the mixes I have by him. The listing is not complete. But I tried to be as thorough as I could. The only website I could find for him/them was for their group Qed (made up of him and Kristine Hendricks). www.qedmobius.com/Picture of Valentin: RemixesGeorge Lamond - Without You Christina Aguilera - Beautiful Qed - Love Bites Deborah Cox - Something Happened On The Way To Heaven ESP vs. JVA - U Got Me Dana Rayne - Object Of My Desire Britney Spears - Everytime Tina Ann – Rise Again Qed - Hardly A Day Sheila Brody - U Ain't That Good Lucas Prata - Never Be Alone Anna Vissi - Call Me Dan Balan & Lucas Prata - Ma Ya Hi (Dragostea Din Tei) Reina - Forgive Qed - Islands Lucas Prata - And She Said... Mynt featuring Kim Sozzi - Stay Jenna Drey - Why Should I Believe You Sarah Atereth - Out Of My Mind Kristine Hendricks – You Got It All Judy Torres - Faithfully Kim Sozzi - Alone Debbie Loeb - Faraway 4Strings - Until You Love Me Sarah Atereth - Fade Away Natasha Bedingfield - The One That Got Away
As Qed, him and Kristine released an album called Mobius.
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Chelsea Press 2
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#LiteralLegender
I will beach both of you off at the same time!
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 69,070
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Post by Chelsea Press 2 on May 7, 2006 1:27:29 GMT -5
DJ Ron Slomowicz conducted an interview with him some time back.
Few American producers have mastered the epic trance sound like Valentin has, and even fewer have been able to make the sound palatable for mainstream audiences while staying true to their authentic musical vision. Teaming up with Kristine Hendricks as QED, their cover of Love Bites and new single Hardly a Day are just the first tastes of their dynamic debut album Mobius. As a producer/remixer, his remixes of Deborah Cox, Christina Aguilera and Lucas Prata have raised the profile of dance music on radio.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: How did you get involved with dance music? Valentin: Ever since I was a little boy and I had my first tutu on, I said this feels right, this is for me. As I’ve been developing my chops, I’ve always produced and written in a number of different styles and I just started to gravitate to dance music. Actually, what really drove me nuts was when I heard a couple of Delirium tracks that were playing in Hot Topic, and I had to ask the people, who is this? I was blown away by the epic European trance sound and I got totally into it. I work like a sponge. If something appeals to me on a gut level or on a creative level, and I soak up everything I can find out about it, that I just immerse myself in it, just study it and go nuts.That’s how it happened.
RS: So you're like a real musician, you play all kinds of instruments, you don’t just bang a computer keyboard. Valentin: Exactly, yes. I am classically trained and my main instruments actually are guitar and drums. I taught myself to play keyboard for the purpose of sequencing and production chops. I also sing. Kristine sings, she's classically trained and has her degree in vocal performance so she just kicks butt. I have been singing for years in everything from madrigal choirs in high school to singing rock with my brother, whatever worked. Any music that’s well crafted to me is what really gets me charged. So it isn’t just about dance music, rock or hip-hop, anything that was inspiring enough to get somebody to put their point across in a really compelling way, I get totally into. There are hip-hop artists that I think do great stuff and there are rock artists that have been great for years. I’ve approached music from the standpoint of learning all the instruments that I could and putting them together and getting my chops together from a production and engineering standpoint. I program it, arrange it,play all the instruments so I go nuts and have a good time in the studio.
RS: Well how did you meet up with Kristine? Valentin: She was working at a Sam Ash music store and I went in to look for a particular piece of equipment and we got to talking. At the time I was working with a couple of other people and the vocalist that we were working with had decided that she wanted to move on to a slightly different style. We were talking about getting into more dance music and really working at it. Kristine and I clicked so we started working together. You can hear in the result, her voice is just amazing for so many different styles and for the dance/pop sound we’re doing she’s brilliant. She has this incredible energy and glorious sound that comes out and it was a great match.
RS: So do you all meet in Miami or New York? Valentin: New York.
RS: OK, because I keep thinking you're based in Miami. Valentin: You know it’s funny, some mornings I wake up and say to myself you know what, I think I’m based in Miami. Actually it’s funny because with Love Bites and everything, Miami has been so hugely, hugely supportive. We went down there in December to do a show with PYM, and they especially have been very supportive of just what we’ve been doing musically. They really got on Christina Aguilera mix that I had done and then the Deborah Cox mix. Now they’re on the Lucas Prata mix that I did and that station and the whole town has a vibe that seems to click really well with what we’re doing musically. It’s exciting, we went down there and people knew who we were. We were like wow, this is great!
RS: So why did you decide to cover Love Bites, what was the inspiration behind that song? Valentin: It’s an interesting story. We had been working with Hosh Gureli from J Records and he was helping to guide what QED was doing. He said we should do a cover, just make sure it’s the right cover. I let it gel in my head for a little while and it came to me out of the blue. I was going through the idea on a long drive upstate New York, just driving by myself cruising along. I was just going through songs that I felt melodically were really strong and from a musical standpoint had that drama and angst that with the proper arrangement could really come out. I was thinking of big power ballads, because I think that they have the right pace and about the right feel that with the right treatment they can really come across really well. I hit on Love Bites and called up Marc Benjamin, my partner, immediately, and I said that’s it, we’ve got to do this song. I just knew, you know. It wasn’t long after that, I started playing around with the ideas and then the concept of throwing the voice back and forth between Kristine and myself, and it was boom, there you go. It was a total inspiration and that tends to be how I work.
I’ve been doing work for other clients now and that’s a very different vibe, but when it comes to almost anything that I do musically, I really like to work entirely from inspiration. If it gets me excited honestly and really gets in my gut, then I have a feeling that other people will like it. It was the same thing with the Deborah Cox mix, their label called up, said do you want to give this track a shot? I sat down at the keyboard and started playing things, it was like boom. The whole concept of what I was going to do with it was there in seconds flat, the rest of it was just fleshing out the production and arranging. But how it started was just complete inspiration.
RS: So you sing as well as you produce, is it hard to work with your own vocals as opposed to working with a stranger’s vocals? Valentin: No, not really. Even when I talk to people I’ve always amused myself, and hopefully a few other people, by doing voice characterizations and impressions of people that I know or famous people and I tend to be a bit of a ham anyway. So in vocal performances I’ve always tried to be a little bit of a chameleon and get a kick out of committing that to a record and being able to listen to it and sculpt it. Most of it is understanding what I need to do to translate an emotion across. I started doing vocals and guitar, when I was in college playing coffee houses with an acoustic guitar. So I’m very familiar with the concept of emoting through my voice and this is an opportunity to take it to the next level, polish the performance and make it something that hopefully people will want to listen to over and over again. In the course of working back and forth with Kristine in the studio, because she’s able to do so many different things with her voice, we get on a roll and pass the idea back and forth. Hopefully we end up with something recorded that people can really relate to and enjoy and, God willing, listen to over and over again.
RS: What does QED actually stand for? Valentin: Ah, the important question. Actually QED is Latin, it’s quod erat demonstrandum. What it means, roughly translated, is "that which was to be shown." There’s a whole bunch of reasons of why QED and why Mobius, which is the name of our album, why it all just kind of made sense. But QED is basically, it’s something that goes at the end of a mathematical proof, because I’ll place it in some context and end up like a big geek. I’m into technology and learning and I like to delve into things at avery analytical level. Outside of the more artistic and creative side of me, there’s definitely the more technical side. I did stuff with QED because QED was conceived from the ground up to be a multimedia artist. There’s a lot more to it than just dance music, there’s a lot more to it than just the music itself. There’s also the visual component which we integrate into our live performances.
RS: Is there a video coming? Valentin: There is a video actually for Love Bites, which I believe is just now being introduced into the European and Asian territories that we’ve licensed and we’re seeing about how that’s going to roll out in the US as well. The video is unique because most of it we shot ourselves, actually Kris and I working the camera and doing our thing. It was edited together using a patented system that I developed called MediaXtasy, which we use for live performances. Not only for QED, but we’ve used it for celebrity parties and events all over North America. It basically allows a Me-J, media jockey, to trigger visuals in time with the music. It allows them to organize visual images into different pallettes or groups that they can set up to be themed according to the music that they’re playing with. So that if you're me-Jing, as it were, for a DJ, you can follow what they’re doing as they build up the set and tear it down, you can follow their energy level and you can play really precise syncopation. A lot of people who are drummers and DJs, also want to be me-Js because they can really mess with video in really cool ways with this system.
RS: Are you saying VJ or Me-J? Valentin: Me-J, media jockey.
RS: OK, I’ve never heard that term before. Valentin: It’s a term that we’ve coined because we were expected to call ourselves VJs, but then we said well, VJs are the silly people who do stuff on MTV so we said why don’t we call it media? Because it really is about, in the context of a QED performance and where we see a lot of performing going, rather than relegating video to the backstage tech thing, we really see media jockeys, or Me-Js as being the people who will be added to the performance entourage on stage. A lot of the concerts and live shows now are integrating video, but a lot of it is sort of what I would term ‘wallcandy’.
RS: Or wall paper. Valentin: Yes, it’s neat looking stuff that’s up there, but it’s not really closely associated with the music. At its best, it sort of captures some of the mood. The idea with the Me-J performance is that they have instantaneous control of literally thousands of video clips and can call upon them in real time to actually play video like an instrument along with the music. The video is never the same thing twice and it’s also very tightly integrated with the music, because as good as the Me-J is, if they’re good enough, they can really follow and work back and forth. They can jam with video along with the other members of the performance whether they be vocalists in a track act or a DJ or a full band. To make a long story long, that’s the concept that we’re putting forth with QED and that we’d like to also get other artists interested in. Video creation is part of the whole creative process and not just a video director coming along and with their interpretation after the fact. Part of this whole thing is envisioning the video up front as part of the means with which an artist expresses themselves, not only through music but also through video, and tying it all together and making it something that’s completely memorable. In a live performance context, its never the same thing twice, so by design, it’s something that’s always fresh and interesting.
RS: Wow, that’s totally much more than I expected. I VJ in addition to DJing, so the whole idea of the media jockey is a really interesting and unique concept. So QED is the artist name of you and Kristine and Valentin is you solo doing remixes, is that correct? Valentin: Yes, basically remixes and also production. I’m in the process of producing probably what will end up being the entire album for a young pop artist named Jaimie Lee. We’re doing some very interesting tracks with her ranging from hip-hoppy pop type stuff to almost kind of rock type songs. She’s got a good breadth of talent that we’re covering. So, I’m basically doing remix and production and that’s the whole Valentin thing.
RS: Because I know your mix of Deborah Cox “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” spent like three hundred and seventy-five weeks at number one, something insane like that. Valentin: I was really psyched to do that mix because I have always been a Deborah Cox fan and the opportunity to do the song blew me away. I sat down in the studio with her amazing voice coming out of the speakers, a capella at me and I was just inspired and amazed. As I said before, it was a complete inspiration and the track came together. I was excited about it, I really felt like I had something. When the opportunity was there for the track to get some exposure, it took off. I’m so thankful that people really enjoy what I did and what she had done, which clearly was a lot of what’s going on there, I mean it’s just an amazing vocal performance. I’ve had the opportunity to meet her a couple of times since I did the mix and that’s surreal for me. I know at some point, I’m sure in the near future, we’ll end up working together again because I was excited about her voice and she seemed very pleased with what I had done with the production. That was a very good collaboration by two people who never met up to that point.
RS: You took her in a direction that she’s really never been before. In the past her club remixes were more tribal, house and disco oriented and she’s never really been taken in the more trance-pop direction. Valentin: I try to be very sensitive, being a vocalist, and when I listen to a track it’s important to me that if the song is there and the vocal performance is there, that whatever tempo ultimately the track is at, I’d like to stay as close to the original as possible. Sometimes, as I’m sure you can appreciate, that’s very difficult. I just did a remix for Britney Spears and it was kind of hard to re-envision where it was going to go because the track was a ballad, as are a good number of remixes I suppose are. I was almost tempted just from a hey, I’d love to do something a little more housey standpoint to bring down the tempo a bit and do something more housey. But he song and vocal performance dictated to me that it would be closer to the trance thing, so be it, it’s really a matter of inspiration. I just go with where the music takes me and thankfully I think I’ve developed the chops where I can realize what the song will be as a completed recording. Hopefully we’ll get the opportunities to continue to do that. It’s all about the music and the music just kind of happens, when the vocal performance is there, the music almost does itself.
RS: You also just did the Lucas Prata single “Never Be Alone.” Do you notice any difference working with male vocals versus female vocals? Valentin: Male vocals are a lot lower. Most male voices that you're going to hear in pop, rock and hip hop are baritone voices. They’re not equipped to do that sort of vocal gymnastics that a lot of the female vocalists seem to be able to do. There is definitely something about that that translates to being a little bit harder, especially in a dance mix, to get the fire and the incredible sense of energy out of a vocal. You have to take a slightly different approach with the arrangement because if you have somebody who’s just wailing like Deborah Cox, Christina Aguilera, or Kristine in QED, when they belt it out the microphone is ready to pack up and go home. You get so much emotion out of their performance that it drives the track. With the male vocals youreally do have to be careful, even if it’s a passionate performance and it’s genuine just by its nature, the fact that it’s a step lower, you don’t automatically get that energy. A lot of times you have to build that into how you envelope the melody, let the melody work more even in a sense than the performance does. Did that make sense?
RS: That makes perfect sense. Let’s talk a little geek talk. What’s your favorite piece of studio equipment? Valentin: My favorite piece of studio equipment? Well I have to say I’m a huge, huge Apple Macintosh fan, like huge, like the hugest. I’m like 6’4”, so if anybody’s bigger than that as far as fans I want to know about it.
RS: I guess that answers the Mac or PC question.. Valentin: I have my MAC G5 which I got recently and I’m totally thrilled about it. I’ve got to put in a plug for them because Apples are what computers should be. Aside from the sheer horsepower that you get out of a Mac and the happiness just from seeing that little apple on it, there are two things that have made a huge difference in my ability to hear what I am doing which I have found very crucial. First are my monitors, I use Hafler TRM-8s which were a recommendation from a friend of mine, Tom Salta, who co-produced with me on a couple of the songs on Mobius, he’s a very talented guy. Those speakers are key and I’m nervous mixing on anything else because the Haflers tell me what I need to know. Even though they’re not, in some contexts, as pleasant to listen to as maybe the higher thing Genorack speakers, they tell me what I need to do to get a translatable mix. The other thing is I upgraded my D to A converters in my studio to Apogee PSX100, and that made a huge difference in being able to hear the bottom end so that my mixes came out I think a lot more solid. They’re tight and really fine resolution. There’s probably something that’s three times as expensive that I’ll find out about that will be even better but I seem to be getting great results on radio and in the clubs. I’m very, very thankful for any success I’ve had so far, it’s really thrilling at this point.
RS: I can go into a direction with that but I’m not going to. Are you Logic, ProTools or Cubase? Valentin: Logic.
RS: Logic, yes. We just switched from ProTools to Logic so I know what you mean. OK, what advice do you have for aspiring producers and remixers out there? Valentin: Let’s see.
RS: Besides from that equipment you just told us to buy. Valentin: By the way, I should tell you I’m a big fan of plug-in synths. I used to have all virtual analogue hardware synths but I got rid of everything except my Waldorf Q. If I am developing something of a signature sound, at least in the trance tracks that I do, it’s all about Waldorf Q. But other than that, everything I use is plug-ins, I don’t have another thing in the studio that I use for synth sounds or anything like that. It’s all about plug-ins. Obviously, where there’s guitar I’m playing guitar, whether it’s nylon string or electric and I’ve got my faves there, but that’s a story for another time. But with synths, the Waldorf Q is all about what I like to do. It’s so pleasant, something magical and emotional about it, if you tweak it right then that’s just, that’s a beautiful thing.
Now, let’s see, as far as advice that I would give people? It probably sounds a little cliché but listen to everything that you can that you consider is great, that’s in the style that you're trying to work in. Don’t be afraid to try things, don’t be afraid to be creative. No matter what anybody tells you, if you know in your heart that creatively you're onto something, just go for it. The worse that’ll happen, especially with computers, is that you will create a complete pile of crap and you’ll say it’s a pile of crap, and you’ll know it, and then you won’t put it out. But you're very likely, when you just play around with things and tweak them, to get creative, and really have fun with it and let your inspiration drive you.
Aside from that, learn everything you possibly can by listening to other people’s work. I mean there's great people out there doing really great stuff. There’s so many DJs and producers, DJ/producers and remixers, and every one of them has at least some tracks that are great. I’m sure not everything that I did, have done or will ever do is great, but I try to do my best with everything I can and there are a lot of other people who are doing that, and there’s so much you can learn by just listening to it. Listen carefully, don’t just pop it on and say I like them. Sit down and study something that you think is really great and you’ll learn a lot about what’s possible and maybe how they do what they’re doing. Then play around with stuff in your studio, and mess with it.
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