Dom Kane

FX - What first got you interested in making music and did you always want to make electronic dance music?

DK - Actually I was into nothing but classical music until I was about 9 or 10 years old! By the age of about 5 or 6, I used to drag my mum in to my room to listen to my favourite part of Brandenburg's Concerto, to which she would politely humor me, whilst reminding me it was her cassette and she knew it inside out! But even at that age, my sisters used to be able to play the first bar of any symphony and I'd name the composer and all the top-trump info! Haha, yeah so my love for music started out pretty fierce from a young age, and once I'd been bitten by dance music there was no turning back.

FX - How did you approach the remix you did of Halcyon by Orbital?

DK - To be honest, I don't even know how it started... I think I was just fiddling around with some sounds and somehow ended up incorporating samples from Halcyon. I had a few mates round later that day and they jumped all over it so I took it to a few gigs and it just had these huge reactions. Then I sent a copy to Phil and Paul [Hartnoll] (Orbital) and they wrote back saying that they really liked what I'd done. It all just took off from there really, and the next thing I knew, I was hearing it in Pete Tong's Hot Mix on BBC Radio 1, and I guess the rest, as they say, is history.

FX - How did you first get to hear about FXpansion's DCAM: Synth Squad?

DK - I first heard about it from Steve [Duda] and Joel [Deadmau5] as they were saying how great it was and that they'd been using it for ages and were kinda sad to see it go to the public because it had been their secret weapon for some time. This was around the same time as I was doing a club remix for Global Underground so Steve hooked me up with FXpansion and I begged on my knees, haha!

FX - You are an avid DCAM: Synth Squad user, which synth do you use most and what are your favorite features?

DK - Avid? I'd say it's borderline obsessive! Yeah I just love the ‘life’ it seems to offer in soundscapes. The multi-assignable LFO's and Performance wheels allow you to change the whole feature of any given sound, yet the overall GUI stays as simple as you'd expect any VST to be. I tend to use both Strobe and Amber the most. I think Strobe has appeared in almost every track I've done in the last 12 months. I've actually only just felt comfortable enough with the three to start on Fusor now, and I'm loving it.

FX - Do you have any DCAM: Synth Squad tips or tricks you would like to share?

DK - As with every gadget... Get to grips with the basic layout, and then read the manual! You'll be surprised what you might learn!

FX - What are you currently working on?

DK - Right now, I've got a fair amount on! I've been working with Steve [Duda] and Joel [Deadmau5] on their forthcoming VST. I've been lucky enough to be involved from a really early stage so I've done a lot of sound designing from the ground up with that, and Steve has just done the first official test-version, which is fantastic. It's still early days though so I can't really say much more than that yet. Other than that, I've also been doing some patch-designing for Moog to go with their Little Phatty controller. Production-wise, I've got several remixes coming up and my next single will be out in a couple of months on my Xeton imprint. Then on the DJing front, I've just moved over to the Oven Ready booking agency, so watch this space!

FX - What would be your dream line up, to head or support?

DK - Hmmm, good question! As far as other DJ's go, I really appreciate someone who can avoid the pigeonholes and subtly bounce over all the micro-genres whilst maintaining momentum in a set, so I'd have to put Djuma Soundsystem in there! It really bugs me when I see a DJ looking bored behind the decks too, I keep thinking "Jeez all those people are dancing under your control" Enjoy it!.. Smile!" So for that reason I'd have to say James Zabiela would be up there too. Plus he kicks ass, and is possibly more of a geek than me! As for heading or supporting it?.. Well I'm pretty sure I'd have to support those two acts, I could never follow on from them!

FX - How has the Internet as a way of publishing music affected your career today, what do you think of websites such as myspace and last fm?

DK - For me, the internet is an odd one. It offers so much scope in the way of publishing and promotions, but the issue is that it offers exactly the same to those who perhaps aren't ready for it, so as a consumer we get swamped with overloaded dross! I know a lot of people that really push things like myspace and last fm to the nth degree trying to get profile hits and song plays etc. But I think in reality you can have all the good-looking-internet-stats in the world, but they don't mean a thing in the real world. I use myspace and last fm so anyone searching me can find me, but I do little more than that in the grand scheme of things. In the real world I run my label in a tight co-existence with my publishers and my distributors, knowing that the internet is a good contact method and point of reference. So many industry people moan about how times are changing. I just think we need to accept the change and embrace it, while making efforts to future-proof for it. We're at the end of a peak in a technological revolution, so things will start to steady out soon, and I for one want to be there when it happens! I love what I do and wouldn't change it for the world!