We’ve had lots of DJ-oriented How I Play interviews, but today we’ve got a special treat – Keys N Krates explain their full live band setup, featuring a drum kit, Ableton Live, Serato, and a whole lot of collaborative practice between the three band members. Put it all together and you get awesome live trap music performances, a truly unique experience for the genre of music that is usually full of traditional DJing.
In the Keys N Krates band, there are three distinct players, each of whom have a unique role that they take on.
- Adam Tune is the drummer, rocking a set of Roland electronic drums, playing in time with the triggered samples on the other two setups.
- David Matisse rocks an Akai MPK61 with custom laid out samples across the keyboard for each individual song, all triggering in Ableton Live. It’s a very non-traditional setup, but it works well for what he needs to do.
- Jr. Flo is the most “DJ” oriented of the entire band – with a set of turntables running Serato control vinyl. He scratches samples and manipulates them with effects on an Akai MPD26. He also has a guitar reverb pedal (watch more on using guitar pedals in DJ sets here) which allows him to apply some solid reverb to samples when needed.
More Keys N Krates Tunes
We love sharing new music from the DJs and producers who we get to interview, so here’s a taste of what the guys from KnK are putting out right now:
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Special thanks to 1015 Folsom for the header photo and allowing us to shoot at soundcheck.
