In the world of nu-skool breaks, Adam
Freeland is something of a legend. From
his 1996 mix CD Coastal Breaks to his
initial productions with Kevin Beber as
Tsunami One, Freeland quickly established
himself as a force to be reckoned with in
the breakbeat world.
The year 1998 saw the launch of his
über-influential imprint, Marine Parade,
which showcased white-hot releases from
Bassbin Twins and Evil Nine. Since then,
his collaborations with BT (“Hip-Hop
Phenomenon”) and groundbreaking
remixes for Nirvana and White Stripes
have earned him his place in the pantheon
of world-class DJs.
This summer, Adam took a few steps in a
different direction with the release of his latest
artist album, Cope™.With guest appearances
that run the gamut from Gerry Casale
of Devo to the needs-no-introduction Tommy
Lee, Cope™ is a star-studded affair that blurs
the line between tough-as-nails breaks and
brooding, thoughtful atmospherics.
We caught up with Adam and got him
to reveal some of the secrets behind his
latest electronica tour de force. Here’s
what he had to say.
More and more, DJs are blending the
intricacies of dance music with their
more private musical tastes. What was
the overall inspiration for Cope™?
It’s my second “artist” album, and I think
my eighth album release. I don’t really see
myself as a “DJ writing an artist album” —
it’s just that I’m more known as a DJ. In my
head, I’m just an artist who also DJs. I’m
really into heavy droney ‘om’-like sounds,
desert rock, and shoegazey guitar tones,
so I wrote a record on that tip, then realized
it was way beyond my audience and
too self-indulgent. So I wrote a dancefloor
electronic album and decided that was just
too “now” with not enough longevity.
Shortly thereafter, I had this epiphany
moment and realized I could do both.
That’s how Cope™ came about.
Gerry Casale of Devo even makes an
appearance. How did that come about
and what were his contributions?
We met through a mutual friend, Matt
Diehl — who’s writing the Devo screenplay
— and really hit it off. I played him some tracks and he freaked out, so we started
working on stuff together. We wrote about
three songs together, but not all were right
for the album. On the record, he performs
the lead vocal on “Only a Fool” and backing
vocals on “Under Control.”
The entire approach to drums blurs the
line between live and sequenced.
You’ve got Tommy Lee at one end of
the spectrum and tightly quantized
grooves at the other. Tell us about the
drum production.
Well, I start all of my beats in the computer.
We wrote most of the album in Apple
Logic. That is, Alex Metric wrote most of it
with me and I also wrote some with
Damian Taylor. In fact, it’s all pretty tightly
quantized! To me, it’s really just the sounds
you choose that give it the more live feel or
electronic feel. For ideas, I’d write general
vibes and play them to Tommy. He’d jam
on them. Then I’d mix and edit his drum
takes and beef up the sounds with more
electronic drums to give it real oomph.
There are a lot of different flavors of
distortion and overdrive throughout
the record. Hardware? Software?
Both. I have some really nice outboard
guitar pedals that I use a lot. We’re also
running synths really hot through the
Roland Space Echo set with no delay or
reverb on, just overdriving it to hell, to get
that really nice warm distortion. [Camel
Audio] CamelPhat and D16 Devastor
plug-ins also played a big role in what
you’re talking about.
The compression and tightness of the
whole album is especially evident in
tracks like “Under Control.” What’s the
secret to nailing those punchy mixes?
Universal Audio UAD plug-ins were really
key to the sound of the record. A lot of
stuff was slammed through the UAD
gate/compressor then sidechained to the
kick using the Logic compressor. But as
far as really nailing down that sweet final
mix on “Under Control,” it’s down to Q
[from Überzone]. He’s been a mentor to
me in how to get things sounding they way
they do. The key to what I do is knowing
my limitations and delegating to someone
who’s really the don of their field, such as
Q and the South Rakkas crew — who did
the final mixes on the album.
The call-and-response arrangement of
“Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada” is quite
intricate. What’s doing what and how
was it arranged?
It’s really a play between Arturia’s Moog
soft synths, and some live guitars which
are going through a lot of reverb. All of it
was processed and then edited heavily in
sections. The breakdown really lets it step
into droney shoegaze territory with layers
of feedback, which can be hard to get
right in such an electronic track, but I think
it works.
What about touring to support
Cope™? Will you be doing any live
P.A. gigs?
We rehearsed for a month solid in Los
Angeles and did our debut shows this year
at South by Southwest in Austin. We
played to a way bigger and more receptive
crowd than anticipated, which was great.
We’ve also done a couple of short U.K.
tours and are now gearing up for a big
European festival summer. After that we’re
planning to do more comprehensive U.K.
and U.S. tours with Spinerette this fall.
The live setup includes Kurt Bauman on
lead vocals and guitars and Hayden
Scott on drums and backing vocals. He’s a
bad-ass drummer, and people have been
comparing him to John Bonham. I’ll be on
computers, effects, and synths.
Will you also include DJ gigs in your
touring plans?
Yes, I DJ a lot still. I’m lucky to have this
option, as touring the way we do is
expensive, so the DJing kind of bankrolls
the live shows.
Song-by-Song Sound Secrets
The huge synth pattern that runs through “Do You!”: That’s the [Arturia] Moog
programmed in Logic and used in arpeggio mode with a tickle of CamelPhat distortion,
a load of compression, and a hint of reverb.
The stabs in “Do You!”: That’s a random sample, edited and distorted.
The granular effects in “Bring It”: Minimoog Voyager hardware synth, through
tube warming and distortion pedals. Then we ran it into the computer and edited
and chopped it to hell. After that, we distorted it more with CamelPhat in sections
and jammed through the UAD Dreamverb. There’s also me whispering through a
mic, compressed and chopped up. All our edits are manual — we’ve never used
glitch-type plug-ins.
The ethereal vocal treatments in “Wish I Was Here”: The key ingredient there
is a great vocalist: Kurt Baumann! That’s many layers of his vocals through the UAD
LA-2A and then UAD Dreamverb.
The beautiful, layered, evolving pads in “Mancry”: Surprisingly, not so many
layers on this one. That main riff is a toy Casio synth that cost two pounds in a jumble
[garage] sale playing chords and jammed through Alex Metric’s broken Roland
Space Echo, which added the beautiful harmonic distortion. We were trying to do
something heavy for this Marilyn Manson remix we were working on but it came out
too beautiful, so we used it for the album. The other layers that come in later in the
track are pads, plus Tony Bevilaqua playing guitars through lots of UAD Dreamverb.
Gear to Cope™ With
Hardware
Mac running Logic and Ableton Live
Event ASP8 and Yamaha NS-10 studio
monitors
TLA Audio M3 Tubetracker
Lynx Aurora 8 sound card
Korg MS-20 analog synth
Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor pedal
VHT Valvulator pedal
Electro-Harmonix Memory Man and
Germanium pedals
Oohlala Truly Beautiful Disaster pedal
Roland RE501 Space Echo
Software
Apple Logic Pro
Ableton Live
Arturia Moog Modular V2
Camel Audio CamelPhat
Universal Audio Powered Plug-ins:
Dreamverb, Neve88RS, LA-2A, and
Gate Compressor
Live’s Resonator effect is also used a
lot for rich harmonic drones