DARGZEffortless collaboration & seamless routing with AudioFuse 16Rig
Originating from New York the now London-based DARGZ blends a deep knowledge of 90s hip-hop with London’s vibrant jazz scene, resulting in a timeless fusion sound epitomized by his 2021 release, ‘Lou’s Tune’.
Harnessing the powerful interconnectivity of Arturia’s AudioFuse 16 Rig, DARGZ lets us be a fly on the wall as he leads a multi-talented cast of musicians towards a state of effortless downtempo flow.
The sound of fusion
DARGZ started out with the indie-rock band The Postelles and after successfully touring with the likes of Kings of Leon, The Kills, and Interpol, he headed to London. There, he was an apprentice at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, later moving into music production, and never looking back.
His unique outlook fuses influences from hip-hop and indie rock with London’s innovative and up-and-coming jazz scene, leading to a totally fresh and contemporary sound with unique appeal.
I feel I could apply the 90s hip hop beat with the jazz happening now and come up with something.
All your connectivity in one place
Music production has evolved significantly since DARGZ first started composing back in NYC, with new ways to enhance your workflow and interlink a room of gear or live ensemble. This is why he chooses to work with the AudioFuse 16Rig, Arturia’s mastermind interface.
It gives this one-stop shop where I can just have everything ready which is really, really nice because you don’t need to get removed from the creative flow.
When working together in a session, not everyone needs to hear the same thing. The AudioFuse 16Rig lets you handle every input, create custom effects chains and control every level with the Cue Mixer, allowing musicians to hear what they need and enter truly creative states of synchrony and improvisation.
The routing matrix on the AudioFuse allows artists to have full command over their connectivity and audio configuration, where you can fuse inputs and effects in a novel and intuitive fashion and let inspiration and effortless collaboration be the focus of a jam or studio mix.
I think the routing matrix is a really unique way to kind of have limitless functionality. You can constantly find different ways to use it.
Letting the groove emerge
For DARGZ, performing with other artists is when music really comes to life, where newly inspired riffs and rhythms can emerge in a jam unannounced leading to a totally fresh and unforeseen end-result.
Music is the artform that I’ve chosen because of the way it allows you to collaborate with people.
Whether sharing a stage, studio or jam session, many things can influence the evolution of a track, from new ideas, happy accidents and unadulterated improvisation and experimentation.
I decided to get a bunch of friends together and perform ‘Lou’s Tune’ in a different way than I’ve ever done before. A very live version of it, because on the AudioFuse we can all get plugged in and do our thing.
We see DARGZ’s syncretic jazz sound truly come to life in this session, where a poetic rework of ‘Lou’s Tune’ is enabled both through the complimentary additions of a muted-trumpet, upright piano and rapped vocal, as well as the reliable integration of inputs from the AudioFuse 16Rig.
Inevitably, after ten, fifteen minutes of playing together, there’s something completely new in the room that wasn’t there before.
Lou’s Tune renewed
We see DARGZ’s syncretic jazz sound truly come to life in this session, where a poetic rework of ‘Lou’s Tune’ is enabled both through the complimentary additions of live drums, bass, muted-trumpet, upright piano and spoken word, as well as the reliable sonic integration afforded by the AudioFuse 16Rig.
Inevitably, after ten, fifteen minutes of playing together, there’s something completely new in the room that wasn’t there before.
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