The below article is an extract from the

fullfour-page Nicolas Jaar interview in

Computer Music magazine issue 178. In the
full article, Nicolas also reveals the gear and
software he uses, his approach to sampling,
the plug-ins he bases his sound around, how
he masters tracks, and more.
Computer Music magazine is on sale now
and available in print and digitally via Apple
Newsstand and Zinio. Full issue details and
ordering info at www.bit.ly/cm178.

NICOLAS
The acclaimed blue wave
producer tells us how he gets
his software-driven, definitelynot-downtempo sound

As befits one of the coolest names in

electronic music, Nicolas Jaar is a difficult
man to track down.
has spent well over a
month on the trail of the 22-year-old producer
and label boss. Countless phone calls and
emails are followed by a long wait for the
arrival of Dont Break My Love a music
album released on Jaars unique Prism
format, described overleaf before were
finally informed that theres a rare 30-minute
window of opportunity.
Sorry about that, Jaar apologises onthe
phone from his studio in Providence. Its been
crazy. Hes not complaining about his packed
schedule, though? No, its great. It means
people like my music.
Indeed they do! As well as the critically
acclaimed 2011 album Space Is Only Noise,
Jaarhas released a string of seemingly faultless
remixes (check out his languid, spacious
reworking of The Bees Winter Rose) and singles
(from the heartbreakingly gorgeous I Got A
Woman to the spirited, percussive Mi Mujer).
The man cant put a foot wrong.
Computer Music / June 2012

JAAR

But with international success comes the

relentless publicity machine. Jaar has endured
almost two solid years of interviews, and we
getthe feeling that he finds talking about his
productions vastly inferior to actually creating
them. Iprefer tobe in the studio making music,
nottalking, he tells us almost straight away.
Thats where I am happy.

: When did you start making music?

Nicolas Jaar: You guys will like this. I was 14.
Myfather had taken me to Portugal for the
European Football Championships. Id told him
that I was interested in making electronic music.
We were in this mag shop and I was looking
through Computer Music. You guys had an ad
for Reason and I thought, Wow, that looks cool
maybe thats what I need. Thats how I got
started. My life changed! Thank you!
: Did you like Reason? Did it do what you
needed it to?
NJ: Reason was cool. I could make music, but
there was another element. Everything changed

when I decided that I wanted to sample audio

too. I realised that I didnt want to use the sounds
in Reason I wanted more.
I wanted to have a mic and record something
and sample it myself. Organic sound making
my own kick drum; banging things; recording
voice. You couldnt do that with Reason, so
Ableton seemed like an obvious choice. For
awhile, I used Ableton and Reason together.
ThenI used Ableton more and more, and then
Imoved solely to Ableton.
Everyone hates Ableton, and you can hate
itas much as you want, but you cannot deny
how important its been to the rise of electronic
music. All those genres, the freedom we have
Live is a big part of that. I love Ableton.

: Youve never tried Logic or Cubase?

NJ: I switched to Logic for a year and, yeah,
its better at sequencing and it handles audio
like noother piece of software, but its just not
as creative. Its still on my computer, and if Ive
got a huge chunk of audio Ill pull it up, but all the
songwriting and creativity happens in Ableton.

Open your ears

Instead of releasing their latest
compilation Dont Break My Love via
CD or download, Jaars label Clown
& Sunset decided to do something
very different: they dreamt up a
unique physical format named the
Prism. This little cube does away with
navigational buttons, only allowing
the listener to adjust the volume or
play/pause the music. It also gives no
clues as to what tracks it contains.
[The Prism] is a way to house the
music in a different format, Jaar
explains. I dont like CDs I think
theyre archaic. I wanted tocreate an
object that housed music in a different
way. So I thought the cube was a
beautiful, perfect format.

Intrinsically, it has to be shared

there are two headphone sockets.
You cant put the music anywhere
else; cant take it out ofthere. It makes
you stop and listen to it, not watch a
screen and fast-forward it.
You dont know the track listing
until you go to the site, so you have to
take the music as music, not look for
names. There are no preconceived
ideas. You have to switch it on and
play; take your time; listen.
Its quite expensive, but we arent
about making money: we tried to
price this as cheap as possible, to give
it to the maximum number of people.
In the fall, well release another Prism
with the full Darkside album.

Clown & Sunsets innovative Prism

format forces you to listen to music
without any preconceptions

: In the same way that Massive became

associated with dubstep, are there certain
bits of software that lend themselves
particularly well to downtempo music?
NJ: I wouldnt know I dont make
downtempomusic.
: Oh dear! Well, your music has a
wonderful, relaxed feel. Are there pieces
ofsoftware that help you get that sound?
NJ: Dont call it downtempo or chillout no
names, just music. Im not sure what everyone
else uses. For me, regardless of the genre, I think
that the most important thing isthe mic.
Its a door. You can do whatever you want.
You can get the best kick, as long as you know
how to EQ it. You can make claps, snares; record
your voice; record a piano on the street; hit a box
or a metal fence and make it sound like a guitar.
The mic is the main tool. I have two Neumanns,
but a friend bought me this AKG C414. I really
got impressed by that.
: Could you make music without software?
Ever thought of going back to tape?

NJ: I love the analogue sound, but Ableton is

my creative tool and Id struggle without it.

and emotion in the kick and the bass. There is a

lot of variation in the way that the bass works.

: Do you have a routine in the studio?

NJ: Its complete chaos. Maybe Ill start with a
record sample, a bassline, a kick it doesnt
matter. I try to keep it that way. Its never
interesting if you have a formula.

: Theres a wonderfully under-produced

feel to a lot of your music.
NJ: What do you mean, under-produced?

: Talk us through a track that really shows

how you work.
NJ: My Bees remix, Winter Rose. I wanted to
make a bassline using 808s lots of kick drums.
You can never have too many theres so much
you can do. I put five-to-six kicks in a sampler,
pitched them up and down, and tuned itto make
melodies. I slowed the singers voice down so it
sounded chopped up.
I sent the Bees my work, which used little of
their track, so they rerecorded the vocal, which
was beautiful. Then I sent them aninstrumental
and they recorded some new melodies for the
remix. It was a very exciting process.
Apart from that, it was a lot of bass work. That
seems one-dimensional, but you canget energy

: They sound real; they sound live.

NJ: Thats because I prefer sound to be muddled;
really contained inside a space. Not a factory
sample any kid can pull up. So, I really process the
sound. I think theres a healthy balance betweena
dirty organic sound thats very consciously dirty
and in that sense its overly produced.
In effect, theres a dichotomy when I produce.
Ispend a long time getting sound right; a long
time getting it dirty and organic. Very produced
to get it sounding, as you say, under-produced.
Itsover-produced under-production.
The Dont Break My Love Prism is available from
http://csa.fm/theprism, priced $40. Nicolas is
playing at Blocfestival, London, on 6-7 July.
www.nicolasjaar.net
www.blocweekend.com
June 2012 / Computer Music