Watch DiViNCi Perform an Awesome Ableton Live Set & Learn About His Workflow
Producer/DJ DiViNCi has gained notoriety by using multiple MPC’s in ways the world has never seen before. He has been revered by music fans, aspiring electronic performers & veteran musicians which have led to collaborations with Ms. Lauryn Hill, MF Doom, Kool Keith, Darryl Jennifer of Bad Brains and more. He’s also a member of Solillaquists of Sound.
Check out this incredible video of DiViNCi performing live with the Ableton Push at this year’s SXSW:
We were lucky to catch a bit of his time to learn more about his workflow, using Ableton, and what inspires him.
Blend: How did you go about creating your set for the Ableton Live Boat Party at SXSW?
DiViNCi: It really started in August of the previous year. I knew I was going to be doing demos of the Ableton Push at NAMM 2015 and I wanted to come up with some new routines to perform. Before that, I was using a bunch of different controllers and toys along with the Push to perform. For this though, I really wanted to see what I could do with just the Push and a laptop. So from August to January I locked myself in my studio and created and performed solely using the Push. By the time NAMM rolled around I had some pretty solid foundations to work off of but I had yet to actually perform any of the stuff live, or in front of people. But figuring stuff out and improvising in context is half of the process for me. For two weeks I did nothing but perform my new set, and each time I would stumble on to something new. It was super exciting to be performing in a way that I had envisioned transitioning to since my days of using just MPCs and to be having so much fun doing so. By the time SXSW came about, this material was in full swing and my boat party performance was one of my favorites for sure. This became the basis for the rest of the sets I performed throughout 2015.
Blend: What controllers do you use often for live shows and production?
DiViNCi: In the studio these days, it's just the Ableton Push 2. That thing has revolutionized the way I work again and again. But on stage I also use an MPD32, MPC Studio, a handful of Kaoss Pads & pedals and an iPad running Lemur in addition to my Push 2.
Blend: When did you begin producing music?
DiViNCi: I might have been 13 years old when I first started making pause tapes on my sister's karaoke machine. I was 14 when I got my first drum machine (a Boss DR660), 4-track and keyboard. Then the summer I turned 15, with the help of my parents and saving money my own money, I bought my first MPC2000.
Blend: How has your workflow evolved?
DiViNCi: All throughout junior high & high school it was all MPC2000, a crate of records leftover from my dad's old collection, a Yamaha PSR Keyboard and a Tascam four track. Since I didn't have enough tracks to really track out my beats, I used to play my MPC arrangements live to tape, doing drops, adding drum fills and changing sequences while the guys in my group would rap their parts. I didn't realize it then, but I think this process was the impetus for me becoming a performer years later.
By the time I was 18, this practice of performing my productions in the studio had developed to a really energetic level and became integral to my creation process. So when it came time to do shows with Swamburger—the rapper with whom I started Solillaquists of Sound—it made sense to just take that process to the stage. That's when I really started to enjoy myself. The urgency and energy that the stage environment provided me took everything to a level I could have never dreamed of when I first started making music.
That was 15 years ago (wow!). Since then my live setup has seen many incarnations. Starting with a single MPC2000XL, to three MPCs, to a completely Ableton-centric setup with anywhere up to five controllers being used at once. My current setup is the best it can be at the moment thanks to Ableton Live & Push 2, and I only see things getting better as I forever refine and learn.
Blend: When you perform live, one can tell you really feel the music. I want to know what music means to you and what’s your favorite part of playing live?
DiViNCi: My love for and relationship with music has deepened and evolved alongside my perspectives in life. When I first started, I was just reacting to the inspiration I had gotten from hip hop. I poured all of my creative energy previously used for inventing & Martial Arts into listening to, learning and making music. At some point, I realized that I never stopped inventing or practicing what I had learned in Martial Arts. That music was just another context in which I could expound on those same concepts, and that all of it was just a way for me to understand life better. So in that way, music means nothing to me and everything to me all at once, if that makes sense. Because by itself, it doesn’t really match its significance when looked at as a tool or another aspect of learning and enjoying life. The more I’ve learned in life, the better my respective crafts got and vice versa.
The greatest example of this is when everything in my life culminated to achieving absolute freedom through music, and that is something I think is really special. That’s why I look the way I do when I perform. I think other people feel it as well when they see me. In fact, I’m not convinced that my music is really the thing the people in attendance like as much as they do enjoying watching someone be free. So that’s my goal every time I play; to lose myself and exhibit freedom. It’s not only my favorite part of performing but it has also set a bar of expression in all the other areas of my life that I try to match the best I can. It’s definitely something I can reach more easily through music, but I’m constantly learning how to tap into it better within other contexts.
Blend: What advice do you have for aspiring producers coming up?
DiViNCi: Make tons of mistakes. I’m not saying chase failure so much as I am saying to chase success and know that the road to it is paved in failure. Appreciate it and know that the more failures you collect the closer you are to whatever idea of success you’re after. Also, make sure you don’t ignore life in pursuit of your art. Both art and life feed each other, and you can advance in both areas exponentially when you realize how connected they are. This is true for whatever craft or art in which you involve yourself.
Stay tuned for an upcoming Blend feature for DiViNCi’s new single!
