XING KONG采访英国新盛DJ/制作人双人组Duke & Jones
图片来自电子音乐资讯 | XING KONG | ESMI 图片版权属于原主
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Why did you choose to start your career as duo?
XING KONG：为什么你们选择以双人组的方式开始你们的职业生涯？
Isaac: We have been friends since we were in primary school, and we used to make music together on the weekends for fun. Once we started to get quite good at it and thought about starting a career, it seemed only natural to carry on together. There are also a lot of advantages to being in a duo. It means we have been able to specialise in different areas of the process. For example, Luke does most of the sound design, but I (Isaac) do the mixing and mastering. We have both been able to gather a lot of knowledge in these areas, without one of us having to be an expert in it all. It’s also really helpful to have somebody who’ll give you brutally honest feedback on your work!
组合成员Isaac：我们从小学时期开始就是朋友了，曾经我们经常出于兴趣的角度在周末一起制作音乐。有一次，我们开始考虑是否要将这作为我们的职业，这使我们非常自然而然地共同开启了双人组项目。双人组其实有很多好处，我们可以让分工更明确。Luke专注于大多数声音设计，而我最擅长混音和母带。我们可以各自在不同领域收集很多知识，其中另一位成员则不必成为这一项技能的专家。当你获得了一些诚实又残酷的反馈的时候，两个人一起解决也会更方便。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: What does your name Duke & Jones mean?
XING KONG：组合的名字Duke & Jones是什么意思？
Luke: When we were trying to think of a name for the project, we knew we wanted to make it clear that it was a duo, and there were two people, similar to Chase & Status, who were a UK act we admired. Also, we liked the look of the ‘&’ sign in the middle. Isaac’s dad used to call me Luke the Duke for some reason, so we decided to try and use Duke as the first half of the name. Jones just sounded good together with Duke – there isn’t much meaning behind that bit!
组合成员Luke：从我们试图为这个项目命名时，我们就必须搞清楚这是一个双人组，它会包含两个人，类似于Chase & Status，他们是我们特别佩服的英国人。另外，我们很喜欢“&”这个符号的外观。Isaac的父亲曾出于某种原因把我叫作Duke，所以我们干脆就用Duke作为组合名字的前面。而Jones和Luke搭配在一起好像很不错，除了这以外没有额外的意义。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: What do you think is the most important thing to being an artist?
XING KONG：对于成为一名艺人而言，什么事情是最重要的？
Isaac: I think patience is really important. There will be days, perhaps weeks, where you try to make a song and nothing comes out right. It can be very frustrating, but you just have to believe you’ll eventually get it and keep trying.
组合成员Isaac：我认为耐心是最重要的。你可能会投入几天甚至几周的时间去做一首音乐，但却竹篮打水一场空。这时会让人感到非常沮丧，但你必须相信自己会成功，而且继续尝试。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: I realized your tracks mixing are really clean, how did you manage to do this?
XING KONG：我意识到你们的曲目的混音非常干净，你们是怎么做到的？
Isaac: Thanks! I think most of this actually comes from arrangement. We used to make songs where the projects would have well over a hundred tracks, with lots of things playing at the same time. Now, our style is much more minimal, with only a few sounds that often play around each-other, rather than simultaneously. The project for “Easy”, for example, has something like 54 tracks, which is pretty low for a finished EDM song. With fewer elements, it’s much easier to find everything it’s ‘place’, and fit together the puzzle so sounds aren’t getting in each-other’s way, which I think is where most of the ‘clean-ness’ comes from. Mastering is just an extension of this, shaping sounds a little bit more so they fit around each-other even better.
组合成员Isaac：感谢！我觉得大部分功劳来自编排（编曲）。我们以前会在工程中制作一百多个轨道，同时演奏很多音色。但现在，我们正在把风格做得Minimal一些，只有极少的音色，彼此之间出现，而不再是同时演奏。比如说《Easy》有54轨，对于EDM成品来说其实并不多。我们使用更少的元素，可以更好地找到它们应该出现的位置，以及更合理地把它们拼凑在一起，这样音色之间才不会打架，我觉得这是音乐听起来干净的主要来源。母带只是对此进行了扩展，更好地塑造声音，使每个声音之间更好地相互适应。
XING KONG: You guys released an EP called Solace this month. VHS has an official MV and it's a cool one. What do you guys want to tell people from it?
XING KONG：你们发布了一张名为《Solace》的新EP，其中《VHS》有一支官方MV，很酷。你们想从MV中传达些什么？
Isaac: The EP is a collection of songs we made over the past year or so, which showcases the more aggressive side of our sound. VHS is a really cool song that was inspired by a terrible horror film about an alien abduction called ‘VHS’ – which is why there’s an alien in the MV! It’s dark, spooky, and quite cinematic. Growing up we were really into classic UK dubstep artists like Flux Pavilion, and I think that also shows through on this EP, particularly on ‘Surrender’.
组合成员Isaac：这张EP集合了多首我们在过去一整年内制作的单曲，也表现出了我们比较有攻击性的声音的一面。《VHS》确实是很酷的一首歌曲，灵感来源于某个恐怖电影，讲述了被称为“ VHS”的外星人绑架事件，MV也出现了外星人元素。黑暗、诡异、电影配乐般的氛围也是为此打造的。长大以后我们一直很喜欢像Flux Pavilion这样的经典UK Dubstep艺人，像这样的情况也有表现在我们的EP中，比如说《Surrender》。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Which of your releases is your favorite so far?
XING KONG：在你们已经发布的作品中你们最喜欢什么？
Luke: Detox, on the new EP! It’s a great example of our minimal style and it’s been amazing to see it get so much support from other DJs since it’s been released.
组合成员Luke：最新这张EP！这是我们落实Minimal风格的最佳例子。令人惊讶的是，这张EP在发布后被很多其他DJ在表演中播放。
Isaac: I like Fall Right In the most. I love the vocals from Sydnee Carter and the song as a whole has a really melancholic feel, but still has energy on the drop. I think the lead sound on the drop is really unique.
组合成员Isaac：目前为止我最喜欢《Fall Right》。我特爱Sydnee Carter的人声，整首曲子的氛围就很忧郁，但又矛盾地充满活力。而且Drop处的Lead非常特别。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Why do you like bass music?
XING KONG：为什么你们喜欢Bass Music？
Isaac: I think there’s something really special about how international it is – it doesn’t matter what language you speak, because everybody can understand bass! I also love how powerful it is live. Not having instruments means you can achieve a much louder, clearer sound that really hits the audience. Also, there aren’t any gaps between songs so you can really get lost in the music and in dancing.
组合成员Isaac：Bass Music的“国际性”使它非常特别——你说什么语言都没关系，因为每个人都可以听得懂Bass Music！我也喜欢它在现场所带来的力量感。没有声学乐器，意味着你可以实现更大的响度、更清晰的音色、然后让群众们更好地被打动。此外，这些歌曲之间其实没有什么间隙，所以很容易使人们迷失在音乐中并为其跳舞。
图片来自Instagram 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Do you have any suggestions for doing sound design?
XING KONG：你们对声音设计有什么建议吗？
Luke: In ‘Detox’ on the EP, you can hear a classic Duke & Jones trick. Modulate a synth’s filter cutoff or level by a weird LFO shape (easiest in Serum), then put some distortion on it (we usually use Trash by iZotope). For some extra variation, we also like to add a reverb with the wet level automating up towards the end of 4-bar sections. If you then export this to a separate audio file, you can cut the reverb precisely on a snare or kick, which creates a really cool contrast of space and silence.
组合成员Luke：就说《Detox》这张EP吧，大家可以听到Duke & Jones的某些经典技巧。通过奇怪的低频振荡器（LFO）在Serum中塑形，调制合成器的滤波器截止或电平，然后对其进行变形（我们最常使用iZotope的Trash）。除此之外，我们还会添加一些混响，使湿声的电平在四小节结束后自动向上调整。然后，如果将其导出到单独的音频文件中，则可以在Snare或者Kick上更精准地剪切混响效果，从而营造出超酷的空间感和静止感对比。
Isaac: More generally, if you have a nice sound that doesn’t quite seem to fit in the song, whether it’s percussion, or an atmosphere, or a vocal chop, we often find that pretty much anything can be blended in by cutting off the high end and adding some reverb. This means you can quickly thicken out your song by adding layers that sit in the background.
组合成员Isaac：更多一般情况下，如果你有一个很好的音色但是却不适合这首歌曲，无论是打击乐、氛围音色（我们常说的Atmo）或者人声切片，我们通常会使用切断高音的方式，几乎可以让各种音色更好地融合，搞定后再加点混响。这意味着你可以快速地使不同的音色融入成为背景（铺垫）中的一部分。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Do you want to do a show in China someday?
XING KONG：你们期待未来有一天在中国演出吗？
Isaac: Of course! Everybody we know who has played in China says it has been an amazing experience, so we’re keen to come too!
组合成员Isaac：当然啦！每个人来中国演出后都说是一场非常惊人的体验，所以我们一直也希望去试试！
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: What do you want to say to your fans in China?
XING KONG：你们想对中国的粉丝说些什么？
Luke: Thank you for all the love on our tracks and hopefully we’ll be out there soon to play them out for you!
————————————————————————
文章版权归《电子音乐资讯》品牌方所有
XING KONG采访英国新盛DJ/制作人双人组Duke & Jones
图片来自电子音乐资讯 | XING KONG | ESMI 图片版权属于原主
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Why did you choose to start your career as duo?
XING KONG：为什么你们选择以双人组的方式开始你们的职业生涯？
Isaac: We have been friends since we were in primary school, and we used to make music together on the weekends for fun. Once we started to get quite good at it and thought about starting a career, it seemed only natural to carry on together. There are also a lot of advantages to being in a duo. It means we have been able to specialise in different areas of the process. For example, Luke does most of the sound design, but I (Isaac) do the mixing and mastering. We have both been able to gather a lot of knowledge in these areas, without one of us having to be an expert in it all. It’s also really helpful to have somebody who’ll give you brutally honest feedback on your work!
组合成员Isaac：我们从小学时期开始就是朋友了，曾经我们经常出于兴趣的角度在周末一起制作音乐。有一次，我们开始考虑是否要将这作为我们的职业，这使我们非常自然而然地共同开启了双人组项目。双人组其实有很多好处，我们可以让分工更明确。Luke专注于大多数声音设计，而我最擅长混音和母带。我们可以各自在不同领域收集很多知识，其中另一位成员则不必成为这一项技能的专家。当你获得了一些诚实又残酷的反馈的时候，两个人一起解决也会更方便。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: What does your name Duke & Jones mean?
XING KONG：组合的名字Duke & Jones是什么意思？
Luke: When we were trying to think of a name for the project, we knew we wanted to make it clear that it was a duo, and there were two people, similar to Chase & Status, who were a UK act we admired. Also, we liked the look of the ‘&’ sign in the middle. Isaac’s dad used to call me Luke the Duke for some reason, so we decided to try and use Duke as the first half of the name. Jones just sounded good together with Duke – there isn’t much meaning behind that bit!
组合成员Luke：从我们试图为这个项目命名时，我们就必须搞清楚这是一个双人组，它会包含两个人，类似于Chase & Status，他们是我们特别佩服的英国人。另外，我们很喜欢“&”这个符号的外观。Isaac的父亲曾出于某种原因把我叫作Duke，所以我们干脆就用Duke作为组合名字的前面。而Jones和Luke搭配在一起好像很不错，除了这以外没有额外的意义。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: What do you think is the most important thing to being an artist?
XING KONG：对于成为一名艺人而言，什么事情是最重要的？
Isaac: I think patience is really important. There will be days, perhaps weeks, where you try to make a song and nothing comes out right. It can be very frustrating, but you just have to believe you’ll eventually get it and keep trying.
组合成员Isaac：我认为耐心是最重要的。你可能会投入几天甚至几周的时间去做一首音乐，但却竹篮打水一场空。这时会让人感到非常沮丧，但你必须相信自己会成功，而且继续尝试。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: I realized your tracks mixing are really clean, how did you manage to do this?
XING KONG：我意识到你们的曲目的混音非常干净，你们是怎么做到的？
Isaac: Thanks! I think most of this actually comes from arrangement. We used to make songs where the projects would have well over a hundred tracks, with lots of things playing at the same time. Now, our style is much more minimal, with only a few sounds that often play around each-other, rather than simultaneously. The project for “Easy”, for example, has something like 54 tracks, which is pretty low for a finished EDM song. With fewer elements, it’s much easier to find everything it’s ‘place’, and fit together the puzzle so sounds aren’t getting in each-other’s way, which I think is where most of the ‘clean-ness’ comes from. Mastering is just an extension of this, shaping sounds a little bit more so they fit around each-other even better.
组合成员Isaac：感谢！我觉得大部分功劳来自编排（编曲）。我们以前会在工程中制作一百多个轨道，同时演奏很多音色。但现在，我们正在把风格做得Minimal一些，只有极少的音色，彼此之间出现，而不再是同时演奏。比如说《Easy》有54轨，对于EDM成品来说其实并不多。我们使用更少的元素，可以更好地找到它们应该出现的位置，以及更合理地把它们拼凑在一起，这样音色之间才不会打架，我觉得这是音乐听起来干净的主要来源。母带只是对此进行了扩展，更好地塑造声音，使每个声音之间更好地相互适应。
XING KONG: You guys released an EP called Solace this month. VHS has an official MV and it's a cool one. What do you guys want to tell people from it?
XING KONG：你们发布了一张名为《Solace》的新EP，其中《VHS》有一支官方MV，很酷。你们想从MV中传达些什么？
Isaac: The EP is a collection of songs we made over the past year or so, which showcases the more aggressive side of our sound. VHS is a really cool song that was inspired by a terrible horror film about an alien abduction called ‘VHS’ – which is why there’s an alien in the MV! It’s dark, spooky, and quite cinematic. Growing up we were really into classic UK dubstep artists like Flux Pavilion, and I think that also shows through on this EP, particularly on ‘Surrender’.
组合成员Isaac：这张EP集合了多首我们在过去一整年内制作的单曲，也表现出了我们比较有攻击性的声音的一面。《VHS》确实是很酷的一首歌曲，灵感来源于某个恐怖电影，讲述了被称为“ VHS”的外星人绑架事件，MV也出现了外星人元素。黑暗、诡异、电影配乐般的氛围也是为此打造的。长大以后我们一直很喜欢像Flux Pavilion这样的经典UK Dubstep艺人，像这样的情况也有表现在我们的EP中，比如说《Surrender》。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Which of your releases is your favorite so far?
XING KONG：在你们已经发布的作品中你们最喜欢什么？
Luke: Detox, on the new EP! It’s a great example of our minimal style and it’s been amazing to see it get so much support from other DJs since it’s been released.
组合成员Luke：最新这张EP！这是我们落实Minimal风格的最佳例子。令人惊讶的是，这张EP在发布后被很多其他DJ在表演中播放。
Isaac: I like Fall Right In the most. I love the vocals from Sydnee Carter and the song as a whole has a really melancholic feel, but still has energy on the drop. I think the lead sound on the drop is really unique.
组合成员Isaac：目前为止我最喜欢《Fall Right》。我特爱Sydnee Carter的人声，整首曲子的氛围就很忧郁，但又矛盾地充满活力。而且Drop处的Lead非常特别。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Why do you like bass music?
XING KONG：为什么你们喜欢Bass Music？
Isaac: I think there’s something really special about how international it is – it doesn’t matter what language you speak, because everybody can understand bass! I also love how powerful it is live. Not having instruments means you can achieve a much louder, clearer sound that really hits the audience. Also, there aren’t any gaps between songs so you can really get lost in the music and in dancing.
组合成员Isaac：Bass Music的“国际性”使它非常特别——你说什么语言都没关系，因为每个人都可以听得懂Bass Music！我也喜欢它在现场所带来的力量感。没有声学乐器，意味着你可以实现更大的响度、更清晰的音色、然后让群众们更好地被打动。此外，这些歌曲之间其实没有什么间隙，所以很容易使人们迷失在音乐中并为其跳舞。
图片来自Instagram 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Do you have any suggestions for doing sound design?
XING KONG：你们对声音设计有什么建议吗？
Luke: In ‘Detox’ on the EP, you can hear a classic Duke & Jones trick. Modulate a synth’s filter cutoff or level by a weird LFO shape (easiest in Serum), then put some distortion on it (we usually use Trash by iZotope). For some extra variation, we also like to add a reverb with the wet level automating up towards the end of 4-bar sections. If you then export this to a separate audio file, you can cut the reverb precisely on a snare or kick, which creates a really cool contrast of space and silence.
组合成员Luke：就说《Detox》这张EP吧，大家可以听到Duke & Jones的某些经典技巧。通过奇怪的低频振荡器（LFO）在Serum中塑形，调制合成器的滤波器截止或电平，然后对其进行变形（我们最常使用iZotope的Trash）。除此之外，我们还会添加一些混响，使湿声的电平在四小节结束后自动向上调整。然后，如果将其导出到单独的音频文件中，则可以在Snare或者Kick上更精准地剪切混响效果，从而营造出超酷的空间感和静止感对比。
Isaac: More generally, if you have a nice sound that doesn’t quite seem to fit in the song, whether it’s percussion, or an atmosphere, or a vocal chop, we often find that pretty much anything can be blended in by cutting off the high end and adding some reverb. This means you can quickly thicken out your song by adding layers that sit in the background.
组合成员Isaac：更多一般情况下，如果你有一个很好的音色但是却不适合这首歌曲，无论是打击乐、氛围音色（我们常说的Atmo）或者人声切片，我们通常会使用切断高音的方式，几乎可以让各种音色更好地融合，搞定后再加点混响。这意味着你可以快速地使不同的音色融入成为背景（铺垫）中的一部分。
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: Do you want to do a show in China someday?
XING KONG：你们期待未来有一天在中国演出吗？
Isaac: Of course! Everybody we know who has played in China says it has been an amazing experience, so we’re keen to come too!
组合成员Isaac：当然啦！每个人来中国演出后都说是一场非常惊人的体验，所以我们一直也希望去试试！
图片来自Duke & Jones 图片版权属于原主
XING KONG: What do you want to say to your fans in China?
XING KONG：你们想对中国的粉丝说些什么？
Luke: Thank you for all the love on our tracks and hopefully we’ll be out there soon to play them out for you!
————————————————————————
文章版权归《电子音乐资讯》品牌方所有