EM: Do you use any sort of mastering service for your final tracks? And what advice would you have for aspiring DJs in terms of setting levels, choosing content, and any other studio-type tricks or techniques.
AtD: Not anymore, I do it myself currently. I used LANDR for a while, and it was useful at the time, but I get much better results myself these days, after refining an incredible and incredibly OP master chain, with the help of a good friend, and a couple of thousand dollars worth of very amazing plugins. The innovations in mastering software lately are mind-blowing. Truly we are living in the future, and truly, it is wonderful.
Tips for aspiring DJs? Know your music. Listen to music with the same feverish all consuming passion you did as a teenager. Connect the dots between where music is now, and where it came from. Never lose contact with where it is now. Otherwise you will be cast adrift, useless, floating ever further away from the people you want to connect with.
If you make music, and don’t DJ, start Djing. It will force you into that teenage mindset. It will show you what works, and what doesn’t. It will teach you the mysteries of what plus what equals what. There is a strange, beautiful math in music that becomes apparent when you’ve been DJing for a while.
Work out why you are doing this. Is it because you truly love it? Are you sure? Nietzsche said, He with a “why” can withstand any “how.” You will need to invest decades of your life if you are going to get to a level where it will work for you, unless you are very, very lucky.
Study people. Assemble an army of mentors. They are all there for you on twitter, on YouTube, in podcasts, in books. Read about psychology and persuasion. Read Scott Adams, Nassim Taleb, Robert Cialdini. This is far more important than what DAW or plugins you use. Those are all tools. There are many makes of hammer in the tool shop. But if you build a house without a foundation it will collapse, no matter how fancy the hammer.
Most importantly of all, “follow your own obsession,” as Naval Ravikant says, and be yourself, in as pure and uncompromising fashion as possible. Nobody can compete with you on being you.
EM: For anyone else considering a Meaningwave-style production for YouTube, what hassles and benefits would they likely encounter?
AtK: Each journey is unique. Each person’s process is unique. Each person’s obstacles are unique. Speaking for myself, I release an album a month minimum and each experience is different to the last, in every area. Every single time there are new problems to overcome and new things to learn. Creation. execution, release, reaction… Different every time. The most important thing is to learn, and refine one’s methods based on those discoveries.
EM: Have you dealt with any of your content being pulled down over infringement? I’m mostly curious how anyone feeling inspired to fire up a DAW and make some music would be sure they’re making something that won’t just get taken away.
AtD: Of course! A few years ago I had a DJ partner and we were really beginning to make headway with our remixes, then one day we woke up and our whole Soundcloud account had been terminated by UMG. These days I get permission from anyone I want to sample before I release anything, wherever possible.
It’s a constantly shifting landscape. What’s acceptable one week is not the next. I’m looking forward to the inevitable future Jaron Lanier proposed at the dawn of the internet, that of micro-payments for everything, where AI will be able to dissect a track down to its every component, and divvy up the proceeds fairly between the creators of each part. The guy who invented the Chop Snare (maybe it WAS, Young Chop, maybe someone else) will be very wealthy…
EM: What’s the right way to clear licensing and copyright protocols for the next generation of Internet DJs who might want to make a career of it?
AtD: It depends what you’re sampling. The thing about the internet though, as Naval Ravikant noted in a song I sampled him on, is that it connects everyone to everyone. That is its superpower. We’re all connected now. So getting permission is often as simple as emailing the rights holder.
EM: Since my audience includes studio and stage, I have to ask when we can expect a tour with Akira the Don and a few heavyweights like Peterson, Jocko or Rogan? Maybe the idea that a DJ backing up a world-class psychologist, or podcast host, or personal trainer could be done on an arena scale is something we need, in a way we might not be capable of articulating.
So, is it yet time for Akira to full-scale?
AtD: YES, is the short answer. We’re looking at venues right now!