PlugDeux's Introduction & Studio Gear

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Hi, I'm PlugDeux and I make music (pronounced Plug "Do"). My name is a spin off of the group above, De La Soul, plus a combination of my actual name which has a French origin. For the "Plug" portion, when the group was first starting out, they would go by the names Plug 1, Plug 2, and Plug 3 based on which port their microphones would be plugged into. They drew influences from a wide range of sounds and created a very unique album by strongly deviating from the status quo. Since then, they have dropped the Plug names, but I have adopted it to bring back the D.A.I.S.Y age and make music from "Da Inner Sound, Ya'll" rather than just for profit. "Deux" is French for the number 2, and it also rhymes with two, so it feels the most natural.

I've been on Steemit for a month or so now, I planned on doing this introductory post earlier when I was still new to the site, but got hit with a few nice upvotes on this post which shot me from like 25 to almost 40. Anywho, I have musical examples of my work you can listen to here and here and here and feel free to stalk me here:

Soundcloud
Musicoin
Bandcamp
Instagram
Twitter

I like to experiment with sounds, so you'll mostly find me in the SMA threads participating in music challenges, upvoting stuff in the Ukulele section (if I think you play well), or on Instagram sharing beatmaking videos. I try to keep the content fresh on each social media platform, so if you want to come through and follow me on any of those 5 above, you'll get more and more examples of what I'm doing.

That's the bulk of my main post, I will also share some details about the specific production devices I use to create and how I use them! Just as a heads up, I did not buy everything at full price, if you are buying gear, try to buy 2nd hand, used, or on eBay from trusted buyers. Also, I am not sponsored by any of these companies, I just like their stuff. I hope you continue reading, if not, see you around!!

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Macbook Pro, Early 2015 – Nowadays, many producers are creating within computers. This is mine, nothing overwhelming, but it gets the job done without any hiccups, lag, and it rarely fails me. I rarely point and click, I find it quicker and easier to press buttons and turn knobs on the MPC and SP devices.

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MPC Renaissance – This is the centerpiece of my production. Every sound I use eventually runs through this hybrid of software and hardware. Whether it be individual drum hits (saved as .wav files on my hard drive), instruments (such as my ukulele through TRS inputs), turntable (through the RCA inputs), microphone (through XLR inputs), or midi keyboard (the MPC Ren has midi inputs, but my midi keyboard actually uses the USB inputs); the hardware portion is a monster of an audio interface, I can seamlessly connect damn near anything I want to it, and I've grown very comfortable with using all the buttons, pads and knobs that make up the face of the device.

The 16 squares are programmable drum pads, so I am able to select any sound I want to whether it be a drum hit, a vocal performance, sounds of bees buzzing, a church sermon, the strange sounds my refrigerator makes, or an instrument I just recorded.

The 16 knobs are programmable as well, but I often let the software dictate what it should be. If I am changing the length of a sound bite (we call it a “sample”, since I’m a hip-hop producer), the knobs automatically reprogram to change the length of that sample. If I want to add effects to make the sounds echo, distort, wobble, change pitch, emphasis/reduce bass or treble, or hundreds of other significant or slight alterations, the MPC’s knobs can automatically reprogram to finely make adjustments.

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Mackie CR4 – My studio monitors (speakers), not the best, probably not even the best at this price point, but they get the job done for what I use them for.

Cool, that’s the main tools I like to use. It’s not required to buy any of this exact stuff to make music, I could easily get rid of the MPC and just use my mouse and keyboard in a different Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). I could stop using speakers and just use iPod earphones or whatever brand you like. It’s also possible to go with a less expensive computer or maybe even a tablet to save money. These are just my personal preferences.

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Garageband, another DAW that comes free with Apple products. Very powerful and a great introduction to creating music if you are inspired by this post.

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I have an Alesis V49 midi keyboard, it connects with my software very easily and I like the way the keys feel. They aren’t too fragile, it requires some force to trigger the sounds. I’m able to use the MPC Software and Garageband to pull up a ton of different instruments from guitars, pianos, glockenspiels, brass instruments (tubas, trumpets, trombones, french horns), string instruments (double bass, cello, viola, violin), full drumsets, and a massive amount of synthesizers.

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I have 2 microphones a Zoom H2N and a Sennheiser e935. The Zoom is a portable microphone which has 5 microphones; I use it to record live sounds outside of my home. The Sennheiser is for vocal recordings.

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I have a semi-audiophile listening setup with the Sennheiser HD6xx and an Apogee Groove DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter), basically it's used for "listening in 4k". It sounds really good if you are into that sort of thing. I also have a pair of old Beats Pro; overpaid relative to value and I'm pretty sure it made my shitty hearing even worse, but I did get a ton of listens out of them.

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Up until the point, nothing I've mentioned has been waterproof (and nothing after will), but the Photive Hydra dollar for dollar is the best studio purchase I've made. I like to play my mixes on it to do a bit of mixing to seeing how it sounds on different devices, but I also walk straight into the shower with it because this thing is a fucking beast. It's usually selling for $40.00 and it's worth every penny. It's dustproof, waterproof and shockproof; I need to buy a new one soon, I got into the habit of throwing it like a football. It landed funky a few times, and now it requires some wiggling for the charger to get make contact.

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I have some Analog tools. I have an Audio Technica AT-LP120 turntable and a decent amount of vinyl records. I guess it's in the range of 400-500, and I'll be tagging the collection here at Discogs, so check it out.

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I also have two samplers/effect boxes with the Boss SP-202 and the Boss SP-505. Both are discontinued by the company, which makes them a bit of a relic. The SP-202 (1998) is a shitty device that has a uniquely grimy, distorted, fuzzy sound that makes it great. The SP-505 (2001) is a more advanced device with a lot of built in-effects that can do uniquely strange things if tweaked the right way. These things are cool, I'll make several posts in the future using the devices.

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I also play some instruments. I've been playing the Ukulele for over a decade and I own a Pono TE-D ukulele. I recently got 1st place in the Educator Showdown challenge explaining ukulele techniques. Using this same ukulele, I got 3rd place in the SMA BeatBattle for Tropical Paradise.

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I own a Kala Bakihti Kumalo Signature U-Bass; I don't know how to play the bass yet, but I'll get decent at it soon.

Sometimes I play my Pearl Xylophone, it's a practice version, but it has nice ringing sounds.

I have a plethora of cables and cords used to connect everything together.

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Click the penguin for some jazzy bumps!

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