“I come from the world of analogue gear, and there are certain pieces of famous gear that have a certain sonic signature that I like and a lot of people like, so I think that’s why, primarily, we’ve done that in our virtual analogue line. Virtual instruments? That’s definitely an area we’re interested in. There are processors like FG-Bomber, which is a whacky creation of mine that does expansion, dynamics, harmonics and transient enhancement all in one processor.
#SLATE VCC. AAX SERIES#
The Custom Series EQ was my design where I took curves I liked from certain EQs and made an all-star equalizer. “You’re right that, primarily, we emulate famous gear, but there are some exceptions. Why emulate instead of making something new - especially with that attitude of looking where the industry’s going? You’re best-known for plugin emulations of studio hardware. We’re releasing a whole new vision that’s based on the shifts of the industry.” You’re about to see something in about one month which is the result of that strategy. There are new things, new people, new data, new music styles, and it keeps changing and creating new opportunities. What is it that motivates you to create the things you create now? It’s still one of our big flagship products.” “Yeah, this month was called Drum Month here at Slate, and we sold more of our Trigger and SSD programs in this one month than we had in the previous year alone - it was a huge month for us. Then someone called me about a Kelly Clarkson record that was happening, and then a Nickelback record… and I said, ‘OK, I guess now I make audio products.’Īnd it’s not like you’ve put that side down - Steven Slate Drums 5 came out about six months ago. For instance, I remember Mike Shipley calling me about a Santana record he was doing, and he needed a certain style kick and snare, which I then made for him. “No one wanted to hire me as their protegé, but people did call me to get more drum samples. Instead of just saying, ‘Hey, hire me,’ it’s, ‘I’m giving you something to show my value’… and the plan backfired. I would sneak into these music industry parties, and I would hand out this drum sample CD to a bunch of famous producers and mixers in the hopes that they would hire me as their protegé - that they would see this as a motivated and hardworking thing for someone to do. “So anyway, I had this drum sample CD and I used it as a business card. When I was producing a song, I would just replace all the drums with Nevermind-style sampled drums, which would drive people nuts - I thought I was doing them a favour, but I really wasn’t. When I was producing a song, I would just replace all the drums with Nevermind-style sampled drums, which would drive people nuts - I thought I was doing them a favour, but I really wasn’t. It was out of necessity… and also because I wanted a drum sound like Nirvana’s Nevermind. “At the time, I had a really crappy drum recording room in Boston in this warehouse, so I started making drum samples in an attempt to try to improve the sound of my drums.
And so my plan was to go to Los Angeles and become a protegé to a famous producer or mixer. Performing wasn’t as much of a passion as being behind the scenes. “When I started my own little studio back in Boston, I realised this was my path. But beyond that, in Boston in the late ‘90s, early ‘00s, I started making records recording, interning in studios, assisting in studios. “If you want to go way back, I started playing guitar because I thought it would help me get chicks.
Was that your first involvement in the MI industry? You might be into touch displays and plugin emulations right now, but you started in a completely different space with Steven Slate Drums. It’s 43 inches, and it costs $3,000.” The Slate story It was a very expensive device, but here were are now, seven years later, and now it’s a 1.5-inch thin projective capacitive touchscreen panel. “So when we first came out with the Raven in 2012 it was a $16,500 device, a 46-inch infrared screen, and a commercial display. How has the Raven line changed over the years? In 2019, touchscreens are a completely accepted way to get things done. So we’re the only thing standing between the MTZ and the world right now… “We have a big release today actually, we’re releasing the MTZ, the newest large-format Raven console, right after I’m done talking to you.”