CJ Weaver is part of a new generation of drum’n’bass producers that have cropped up in the DC area in the past few years. He has been active in the local scene for several years, but at just 22 years old, he had a few years where getting in to shows was near impossible with 21+ entry requirements. With a heavy focus on production and experimenting with sound, CJ Weaver’s name is popping up on release schedules for several established and up & coming labels, including Tech:noir, Buried Audio, Alphacut, and many more.
To check out CJ Weaver’s work, check out his soundcloud.com page (check out “Bioluminescence” which he just put up for free this week) and myspace.com page. He also has free tunes available on absysrec.com and nerverecordings.co.uk, plus a recent mix done for the Translation Recordings podcast.
Here’s the Q&A between DCDNB and CJ Weaver for this week’s Five For Friday:
DCDNB: As a relatively younger dnb artist in the DC area, how did you initially get in to drum’n’bass?
CJ Weaver: Well, the short answer is Pendulum. A friend showed them to me right around the end of high school, and I thought it was fairly interesting. Not my favorite, but I got into it enough to find Noisia right when they were launching Vision. I loved that stuff, and kept looking for more on through my freshman year of college. Soon I found all the old school neuro I had missed when I was 12, like the old Teebee and Polar stuff. I also have a clear memory of the Buzz tent at the HFStival, always used to stop by there to jam. Hearing dnb in a “rave” setting really got me into that sound. I was into more house and generic alternative rock at the time, so this was like nothing I had heard before.
DCDNB: Has your family been supportive of your music production and DJ’ing? Did you have to make any assurances or deals regarding university work?
CJ: Oh yeah, my parents have always been really supportive. I was interested in production (got into that first actually) and DJing since I was like 12, so they always used to take me to Guitar Center or old audio retail shops just to look around. My first set of decks were actually my 13th birthday present from them (one of those Numark DJ in a box things). Even my sister was supportive in that my studio was directly beneath her room, and I was never shy about the volume. I don’t know how she could stand it.
I am usually pretty good about school work, so my parents were generally not worried about that kind of thing when I got to college. Music was pretty for down on the list of things that screwed up my grades. I always found a way to separate music and school; I was on campus in Williamsport, PA, so it’s not like there was a huge dnb scene to get lost in. I will be off to get my masters soon, so I will probably have significantly less time for music then, unfortunately. There is also a distict possibillity that I will be moving away to a research station on an island off the coast of Panama for a little while. Hopefully I’ll be able to fit music into whatever the hell I end up doing over there (some jungle actually made in the jungle perhaps…).
DCDNB: What is your current production set-up and work flow for writing music? How do you like it and what would you like to do to improve it?
CJ: Right now I have a laptop with Vista 64 bit (which blows for music by the way) and FL Studio, with a NI Audio Kontrol 1 and a pair of JBL LSR4326 monitors. I’m for the most part quite pleased with my setup, it seems to fit my workflow well. FL Studio just makes sense to me, I really like how easy it is to get a basic Idea down, then elaborate on it afterward. With other programs the big pictures just get lost in the details for me.
My workflow is not particularly interesting, I can’t imagine it being much different from that of most other producers. I usually start with either a basic rhythm or some simple melodic elements, and add one hits or synth sounds until I have a decent 32 bar loop or so. Once I have that I generally stretch it out into a basic arrangement, adding textures and atmospherics as I go.
As for improvements, an operating system capable of playing and recording music without skipping, crackling, and generally losing its shit would be nice. I have a nifty little portable recorder coming in the mail so I can record random noises and textures, which should add an interesting element. I recently was given this old Yamaha mixing desk too, so I’ve been building up a collection of microphones to record my various odd instruments (lots of African drums and a few didgeridoos) and fit them into my music.
DCDNB: What influences your music, outside of drum’n’bass itself?
CJ: I draw inspiration from whatever music appeals to me most at the time. Before I got into dnb I was really into anything Ninja Tune and the more hip hop edge of Warp, so that I know had a large influence on me. Right now I’m really liking early Flying Lotus, Prefuse 73, and most anything J Dilla or Madlib had a hand in. Oh No’s Stones Throw compilation is up there with my favorites. Amon Tobin has been hands down my favorite artist for like 7 years now, I know I draw plenty from his stuff (If you don’t know him, get on that). Ive also been getting into some ambient stuff recently. Oh, and Babatunde Olatunji, the legendary Nigerian drummer. Some of the rhythms I’ve used are basically me trying to loosely recreate rhythms I’ve heard of his with my percussion and breaks. Rage Against the Machine is also very close to my heart, but I would have a hard time explaining how that comes across in my music.
DCDNB: What was your personal highlight of 2009? And goal(s) for 2010?
CJ: My highlight of this year technically happened at the end of last year, I think. It was meeting Gremlinz, who just contacted me out of the blue and asked for just about everything I had made. He signed a couple of mine for one of his labels (that was this year), Tech:Noir, which surprised the hell out of me at the time. He also sent my stuff around to some giants in the scene, like Loxy and D Bridge. That event really got things in motion for me. Soon after this, I started getting contacted by literally dozens of labels. My tunes started getting out there on various podcasts and mixes (like Loxy, Resound, ASC, Morphy, people I really respect). And these were tunes I had finished years ago. One of the ones on Tech:Noir is like four years old, I just had never sent it to the right people.
As for goals of next year, I mostly just want make more good music. I definitely want to get a solo record out at some point, and I think that that is entirely possible. I have a ridiculous amount of music coming out in 2010, so that should help put my name on the map. I also would like to distance myself a bit from the minimal dnb thing, and forge a distiction between it and what I do in my music. Some of it is alright but most of it is just way too bleak for my tastes, and I seem to have been pigeonholed into this style somewhere along the way. Another big goal of mine is to get some more bookings. I love playing out, but I’m still trying to establish my presence in the area as a DJ. I’ve played a few KJDC things in the past, Alec has been really supportive there and I’m quite thankful for that. Raul (RenderOne) has been booking me as well too, but thats just about it. I’ve always been a producer first so not too many people see me as a DJ, but I’m certainly no stranger to the turntables.
A big thank you to CJ Weaver for taking the time to do the Q&A! Make sure you check out his links, and come back to DCDNB next week for a Five For Friday with Translation Recordings.
