Salar Ansari lives quite the musical life out in Detroit. Be it working on sessions with long-time Eminem collaborator, Luis Resto, making electronic music with techno pioneer, Derrick May, or recording bands in his home studio, there is always one constant: his DiGiGrid DLS.
At the time of writing, Salar Ansari is recording a four-piece rock band; it’s a classic, ‘stay late in the studio, go home, come back, then do it all again’, he says. A day in the life of a hard working studio guy, then?
“Yeah, pretty much,” Ansari smiles. “But what’s really changed things for me is bringing in the DiGiGrid DLS. It’s great, as we use one Ethernet cable for dialling into the patch bay. We have the main computer that has I/O, and a DLS, so we just connect my laptop via Ethernet to the DiGiGrid, and suddenly it dials into the entire studio. And that is one of the best things I have witnessed in music technology in the past five years.”
DiGiGrid is rock solid, Ansari insists, so studio life has become more flexible as a result, with a dramatic improvement in workflow.
“First of all, having a long single cord or wire that connects to an Ethernet port is fantastic; and then suddenly you have all the ins and outs and plugin capabilities, plus the ability to use the SoundGrid application,” Ansari enthuses. “Then you’ve got all the pre-amps, the rack-mounts, the compressors, and all the other outboard gear, all through one Ethernet connection.”
Having confidence in the product is critical when working such extensive hours, and on major projects, Ansari explains. Thankfully, DiGiGrid has revolutionised everything.
“I have complete faith in my DLS; I now have 16 individual channels going to my Pro Tools rig, and it has made combining my whole studio and Luis Resto’s studio totally seamless.”
Much of Ansari’s day to day work is in cahoots with Resto, or techno music pioneer, Derrick May; when he’s not with one of those guys, he’s at his own place, with DiGiGrid dialled in, of course.
“Anything acoustic, it’s Luis, everything else, it’s Derrick,” Ansari explains. “I have a lot of keyboards at my place, so if I write a song, I’ll often take it to Luis’ studio, and then dial into his computer via Ethernet anything up to 16 channels. There is no hard drive to move things to or import and export to, and I don’t need to worry about converters either. Amazing.”
For Ansari, making music is about fusing three main elements: sound development, production, and his fascination with audio:
“My process of production has a huge influence on the process of the mix down; you have to discover new boundaries in sound, so sometimes you have to produce it to make it happen. Sometimes musicians walk into a specific room with a specific kind of technology, and it really helps with the personality of the music. So pro music recording shouldn’t ever leave the scene quietly, even though production and consumption in today’s world is very digital, and all in one box. Big studios are still necessary for big experiences.”
For more information, visit www.digigrid.net
