Roland U.S. Blog » Michael Schack

On the Road with Netsky LIVE!

OV Valle [Roland US] — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:29 +0000

Michael Schack talks V-Drums and SPD-SX

Netsky Live at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, CA.

A celebrity in his native Belgium and growing in popularity worldwide, Boris Daenan—better known as Netsky—has received numerous awards and accolades for his new-school brand of drum and bass. In 2009, Hospital Records signed him to an exclusive deal, and his first release with the influential UK label was the highly successful single “Memory Lane,” followed soon after by the chart-topping debut album “Netsky.” In 2012, sensing that he could take his show to another level, the DJ and producer put his turntables aside and unveiled Netsky LIVE!, an EDM stage show featuring a complete band.

What’s the difference between the SPD-SX and the SPD-30? Find out here!

Netsky LIVE uses a full arsenal of Roland gear

Netsky plays the SPD-30 and A-500 PRO, keyboardist Babl plays the JUPITER-80, VP-770, and A-800 PRO and drummer Michael Schack plays the TD-30KV V-Drums and SPD-SX Sampling Pad. Michael has a long history with Roland, both as as a product demonstrator and advisor. We caught up with him at a recent show date in Los Angeles for some insight into his gig with Netsky, including how the band uses Roland gear to deliver a more rich and dynamic live EDM experience than a one-man DJ show can.

Q. How do you prepare your V-Drums set for the Netsky show?

A. Actually, there’s this incredible thing that happened a few years ago: I was playing V-Drums with Kate Ryan, who is really popular in Eastern Europe. We arrived with the tour bus, and I see all kind of microphones set up close to the V-Drum pads. So, a very strange situation, because the guy didn’t actually realize that it was an electronic drum set!

With electronic drums, and especially the TD-30 today—which is fast, low-latency, the best SuperNATURAL [sounds]—you can go single outs for everything. For instance, I’m using the kicks and snares in stereo, layered with the TD-30, but they’re coming out of the SPD-SX. So [they’re] triggered at the same time. And then we have the toms on separate channels, we have the hi-hat on a separate channel, the ride on a separate channel, and the two crashes on a separate stereo channel. [With] so many separate channels, [the sound engineer] can actually make it sound very wide.

You can adjust the panning to every concert hall. You can totally go wild in making the sound as broad as possible, which is much more impressive than a USB stick just playing a stereo out through a DJ mixer. Same for the keyboards—it’s hardware and software combined. So all the synth sounds, all the pianos [have] separate stereo channels, so that’s really a very important main difference with any DJ set, which actually sounds a little bit more compressed, and not so wide-spectrum, not so dynamic.

Q: With all that Roland gear on stage, how long does the sound check usually take?

Michael Schack, drummer for Netsky Live

A: Actually, we have a very good system. First of all, we don’t have to put mics on the V-Drums, which is already a big time saver. We have all the sounds and patches very well prepared, [and] everything connects very easily to the laptops. We have a flying rack with us, which holds some very nasty sound cards and everything, so it’s actually jut a matter of getting the engine started and then really tweaking the PA for what’s coming out of these instruments for the front of house. Frank, our sound guy, is a champion in tweaking a PA for really good drum and bass vibes. It’s very important with electronic music that everything is very consistent and very glued together, and that makes the people dance. It takes us not too much time to really get going.

Q: What’s your involvement with Roland V-Drums?

A: My involvement with Roland V-Drums has been a love story [for] 20 years. Before the V-Drums came out, I became a demonstrator in Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg through Roland Benelux, when the TD-7 came out. I was a very young guy, but I was interested in electronic drums. Most of my colleague musicians, they named me “Mr. Tupperware” because they didn’t believe in the potential of electronic drums. Then the V-Drums came out [in 1997], and in 2001, for the very first time, I was invited by Roland Japan to play at the Frankfurt Musikmesse.

Netsky Live on stage

From then on it took off—I got to know the engineers more personally, [and] they were asking me things about the music I was playing. They found it really strange that as a drummer I was also interested in using samples and triggering samples, and not just playing along with linear tracks from a CD or whatever. I’m really a little bit freaky on how it sounds and how it’s compressed and how fat you can go, and it took off from there.

I [also developed] a very good relationship and [friendship] with Steve Fisher from Roland U.S., who has been a main guy in getting the V-Drums program going, [and] also Tommy Snyder, another very important Roland demonstrator. I learned so much from them. In 2004, I had the incredible opportunity to play together with Steve when the first TD-20 set came out, and then again the success story continued.

I’m so happy that I could serve along on this wave of continuous development. The engineers in Japan, they’re just great, and they dig electronic music, acoustic music, old-school blues—they really have their thing together. I try to [advise] them [based on my experience]: “Hey, this kick sound, you need to make the people dance, this needs to be a little bit more punchy, more in the face, less effects, more compression,” and so on. Johnny Rabb is also a very important contributor. Through all these people working together, the presets in a V-Drum set are actually very representative of what it already can do, and then the user, the drummer, can go as far he wants. That’s my role in this story.

Related links and articles:

Netsky Live On Tour – Autumn/Winter 2012

OV Valle [Roland US] — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:13:36 +0000

We just received a really cool update from Michael Schack who’s currently on tour with Netsky (Boris Daenen). Micheal is responsible for keeping pace with the frantic drum and bass BPM that Netsky is known for. In our iPad user’s group magazine we asked Michael how fast he has to drum to which he answered, “The average tempo is like 175 beats per minute, but after an hour it feels more like 198!”

The band consists of drummer Michael Schack on the TD-30KV drum kit and SPD-SX sampler, and keyboard player Babl on the VP-550, Fantom-G7, and an A-800PRO MIDI controller. Boris himself uses an AX-Synth and an Octapad® SPD-30.

Published on Nov 1, 2012 by NetskymusicTV:

Netsky News, Live Dates & More - http://netskymusic.com
Filmed behind the scenes at the recent sold out show at Electric Brixton in London, Netsky and the band tell us the story behind the live show.
Shot & cut by Nezih Savaskan http://redhavoc.co.uk

From watching this video, it’s interesting to learn how the band came together. Michael explains how he met Boris:

It was really weird. Boris and I got in touch through Facebook. I was posting on his wall and at the exact same time he was posting a comment on one of my demos. We arranged to meet up the next day, we lived nearby, and that same evening I was on stage with him. Boris already had it in his head to do a complete live show, so we just started jamming and took it from there.

Michael is also a Roland artist and product specialist. Please visit Roland’s YouTube channel to view some of his product videos and stay tuned for a full Netsky interview on Roland User’s Group iPad magazine out soon.

This just in:

Published on Nov 3, 2012 by SKKaddy

Looks like SKKaddy took this video from his phone. The audience is really into the Dub Step and Drum & Bass coming from Netsky’s band. What do you think of Dub Step and Drum and Bass drumming? Drop us a comment.

Pick Your Poison – SPD-SX versus SPD-30

OV Valle [Roland US] — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:13:52 +0000

As we head into this year’s V-Drums World Championship U.S. Finals it’s worth mentioning that every finalist has to incorporate the use of either an SPD-SX or an OCTAPAD® SPD-30 into their sets. Upon winning their semi-final competition, each contestant had a choice between these two units as their winning prize with the caveat of having to integrate it as part of their finals performance. Both units have tons of features that appeal to their legions of users.

Here are a few videos by Michael Schack demonstrating the SPD-SX and the SPD-30, Michael is Netsky’s touring drummer and also a Roland product specialist, demonstrator, and overall drum enthusiast.

SPD-SX: Michael Schack – “Do Me SPD-SX”

Whether you’re firing off one-shot samples, looped phrases, or complete audio playback tracks, the SPD-SX is loaded with the latest technology and tools to get the job done with speed, precision, and convenience. It is equipped with nine highly sensitive rubber pads with two independent real-time control knobs and four dedicated effect buttons. This is a sampling powerhouse with 2GB of internal memory that provides about 360 minutes of audio. If you still need more sounds, the built-in USB ports lets you directly import audio files from a thumb drive or from your computer. For a complete list of features visit the SPD-SX product page.

OCTAPAD SPD-30 – Michael Schack Performance Vol.1

The OCTAPAD combines cutting-edge drum and percussion sounds with the latest triggering and Phrase Loop function, it is a rugged instrument that’s versatile for any musical application. The on-board Phrase Loop function is a powerful creative tool that lets you quickly record your playing in real time. Each pad is a separate, isolated unit, providing the ultimate in sensitivity with complete crosstalk rejection. There are thirty types of internal multi-effects, plus EQ, limiter, and seven Ambience types. Most importantly, the Octapad has more than 600 drum and percussion sounds from around the world suited to cover any musical style. And, the Octapad just got an upgrade with the addition of the new Version 2.0 System Update which adds 99 new preset kits, new world percussion sounds, plus many more new enhancements. For a complete overview of the SPD-30 visit the SPD-30 product page.

SPD-SX with SPD-30 – Performed by Michael Schack

Conclusion:

So, what’s the difference between the SPD-SX and the SPD-30? The SPD-SX is a powerful sampler with sound import functionality. The SPD-30 is a percussion pad with on-board sounds and phrase loop technology (sounds cannot be imported for sampling like the SPD-SX.) Another difference is that you can trigger up to four external sound sources on the SPD-30, or trigger two external sources on the SPD-SX. (See Roland’s Acoustic Drum Triggers and the vast array of drum pads and controller options.) In either case, adding an SPD-SX and SPD-30 to your existing drum rig will greatly expand your sound options and open up your playing to new possibilities.

Michael Schack looping on the Octapad

OV Valle [Roland US] — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:06:34 +0000

Michael Schack demos the Roland SPD-30 Octopad. Michael is currently the drummer for Drum and Bass producer Netsky (Boris Daenen). I asked him to show off the electronic sounds and capabilities of the Octapad. Check out what he came up with.

More of Michael Schack: