Seann Graddy aka Gradee is from Florida, USA – while Rubén Gómez aka Trukers is from Seville, Spain. Don’t think that the whole Atlantic ocean between these breakbeat aficionados was capable of avoiding them to make some highly danceable tunes as duo. No one said it was easy, as they use different DAWs and mostly have to send big files back and forth, but despite the difficulties the first release is imminent on Rune Recordings. Individually they have already released some cool tracks on several different labels. During this interview they tell us a bit more about their current collaborative work flow, and what are their main expectations about the Ohm Studio…

How did you meet each other and how the collaborative project started?
We met through Soundcloud. We both have a slant towards breakbeats mostly of the progressive style. So far we have just been remixing each others work for independent record labels. Recently we decided to work on a track together, which made us start looking for a DAW with collaborative features – if there would be any. Ohm Studio looks like the perfect fit, for instance we had to found some other ways to do it.

What is your current collaboration method?
Currently we’re just passing stems back and forth and working in our respective DAWs. Obviously it’s hard to get a shared arrangement in this way. In terms of who does what we’re just experimenting. Trukers is better at the overall arrangement so he’ll focus on that. I’ve got a bit more experience with mastering. We both like breakbeats so we collaborate on the rhythm programming.

How do you manage the mix part of the process?
Right now it’s done mostly by one person once the arrangement is finished. With Ohm Studio I could definitely see this being much more collaborative depending on how it handles the plug-ins that the other may not have.

How the fact of using two different music workstations (Live and FL) affect your collaborative work flow?
We’re both very strong and very comfortable in our respective DAWs so of course we both wish the other worked in the same DAW. It makes what you can pass back and forth somewhat limiting and like I said it makes it very difficult to collaborate on the arrangment.

Between Live and FL Studio, which one is currently more suitable for collaborative purposes?
LOL, I think we’d both argue in favor of our respective DAWs but honestly unless both of you are working in the same DAW neither of them is super collaborative friendly and frankly neither is really set up to collaborate yet. It definitely requires you to keep the setup somewhat simple.

Beside the DAWs, do you share the same plug-in setup and/or same additional hardware?
We both have different VSTs so we usually just flatten tracks down to a stem and pass it back and forth fully processed. I’m very curious to see what kind of mechanism Ohm Studio has for users that don’t share the exact same VST library.

What are your main difficulties/frustrations about your current setup and collaboration method?
Basically we want to work together in real time. I want it to be like I’m almost in the studio with him if though we’re in two different countries halfway around the globe. I’d like to be able to do both voice chat and text chat while working on a track. I’d like him to be able to hear my VST process on an audio part even if he doesn’t have it. If he likes it then I could flatten the track and save it.

Regarding the analysis you could make of nowadays music collaboration scene, there would be more demand for a workstation providing seamless project sharing features (for an asynchronous work) or for seamless real-time features, allowing people to work together at the same time?
I think its all about having the option to do both. There are going to be times where you want to work in real time together, but there may be times where one person is working on the track independently. Giving the users the ability to both is truly where the power is at. Since real time collaboration has never been done that well yet , I can tell you we’re very excited about the potential of Ohm Studio.

So what are your main expectations regarding the Ohm Studio?
It just works. It somehow shrinks the globe and puts Trukers and I into the virtual studio together at the same time for the first time ever. It’s got to be stable. Bugs and performance issues can kill a potentially great piece of software where you first impression is bad and you never come back. I find Live incredibly intuitive to use. I’m hopeful that OhmStudio is similar. Don’t over complicate it!

Do you see the Ohm Studio more as a good way to make music with the people you already know, or as a good way to find new people to collaborate with?
Again I think it’s both. I find it extremely exciting to think that the virtual studio is now opened up to literally anyone in the world that has the same musical mission as yourself.

Where could we listen/purchase music made by you?
Both Trukers and I can be found on Soundcloud, respectively here and here. There you’ll find tracks we’ve done with each that are appearing on labels such as Rune Recordings, VIM Records and Breaks.sk.

What are your plans for 2011?
Trukers and I both getting a bit more recognition in the breaks community and we hope that something like OhmStudio will help us take our game to the next level. Bigger and Better!

Aural Massage – inspired by Dub Reggae by Paul from England

tides and ripples of aural massage
soothe the frayed ends of the day
rhythmic, phat pulses of audio honey
with frissons and teases of subtle distortion
and crystalline echoes, impermanent sweeps
gently lift all the tensions away

Sturdy roots of choppy percussion
syncopate just off the beat
woven with streams of Ambient bass
kneaded and mellowed with hints of reverb
soft-padded out with subliminal wool
and physical stress shall retreat

But lo, a laser of sawtooth attack
repeating with sweeping refrain
vestigial bounces with structured degrade
looping across the binaural divide
fuzzing perception of spatial position
caressing all woe from the brain

Scintillant flushes of water-borne noise
defy our mind’s parallax
encompassing, edging and bounding our sound
ebbing and soughing, pushing, retreating
reaching, withdrawing, disturbing, resettling
and our entire world shall relax.

OHM and my music and my DAW,
PLEASE my ears and make me awe,
MAKE me creative, make me happy.

THIS bundle of instruments makes me combine the future and the past,
THE voice of my muse in my head forever will last;
BEST heard with a headset, and best played at full blast.

CHRISTMAS carols, grinding metal, or sweet electro,
EVER since I use Ohm tools, there’s nothing I can’t do.
AND to make music just for fun ?
PICK the right Ohm tool, and make it happen !

ME and my home boys, using the Ohm tools,
UP to sky, we make music with our own rules.
AS the melody is born and gets out of our mind,
A bundle of Ohm instruments will truly make it one-of-a-kind.

WINNER of a Grammy, or only for my pride,
OF all things, music starts with a stride.
ONE after all, the Ohm plug-ins are used,
OF course none of their features will ever be refused.

THE wordplays for the plug-in names, are – if I may
BUNDLES of joy, in an electronical way !
I could never dare to ohmit such a fantastic tool,
WOULD you believe that it makes this musician drool ?

BE happy, oh my muse, and keep on inspiring me,
SO long as the Ohm tools in my DAW are loaded fully,
GRATEFUL will I be, even when dead and buried !

Listen

Listen Listen Listen
Listen to the sound of the world
See
See See it!
Shimmering from the center of your life
Touch
Touch, Touch there!
Put Your finger on this tiny hole.
Silence…
Do you hear it!
Do you feel living, alife, real.
It smell beauty.
It’s like all these silly plugins.
Put your finger on them and you wont ever remove it.
Just to keep this feeling
the Ohm Force
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The taste you never get tired of

Living fear was always your strongest suit.
Squirm to avoid the crush of the nazi jackboot.
Hoping things will get better
Wondering what really matters
You make as much sense as the mad hatter…

Sorrow is the taste you never get tired of.

Mr. Gilman believed strange things
We talked a few times in a dream
He spoke of OhmForce in a poetic fashion
Your comments are over the top in reaction
Too late to cancel the transaction…

Sorrow is the taste you never get tired of.

Decay spreads over the tottering cities of men.
The sword is so much mightier than the pen
White is black
And black is white
Dead relatives beckon you into the light
I don’t really want to fight…

Sorrow is the taste you never get tired of.