The vinyl countdown

When not jetting around the world for club appearances Phil Kieran is to be found in his studio creating the beats and sounds that will inevitably be heard on dance floors. According to the DJ List website, a Phil Kieran set “can confidently guide a dancefloor through a labyrinth of emotions using Techno, Electro and House as signposts with the odd detour via Joy Division and Depeche Mode”.

“My main focus is making records and producing things but DJ-ing is something I really enjoy,” he says. “And it makes me money too – I recently played a festival gig in Madrid with 20,000 people and they were well into it. I write music but there’s a part of me that is passionate about being a respected producer. And there’s always this element that if you make a good record there’s the possibility that people will listen to it again and again. If you do a good live set it can be forgotten the next day.”
Though he’s been steeped in all things dance for the past decade, Kieran reveals that as a young teenager he was more into indie.
“I pottered about with bands and I was listening to the Smiths and Pixies at the time,” he says. “I hated dance with a passion – I imagined guys in tracksuits. All that changed when I was about 16. I always go back to Primal Scream’s Screamadelica as a turning point. I remember going to see them live and Andy Weatherall was the support act. But even then I wasn’t at all interested and I stayed out in the hallway for his set. But that turned my head and a couple of weeks later I started getting into things like the Orb and Orbital. I decided It was what I wanted to do"
These days Kieran has an array of equipment, both hardware and software, at his disposal in his home studio but when he started out he struggled to get some gear together.
“I saved up every penny even working in McDonalds, just to save up money. I was that determined. I remember I’d have all this expensive equipment in this room and I was sleeping on the floor. Then I started doing student discos to make money.”
Kieran’s modus operandi in the studio is to make records in an organic fashion, blending vintage gear with the up-to-date software. “It used to be just sampling with me – the stuff I made up to four years ago was very sample-oriented, ripping bits from here and there and making up sounds. Now I do everything from scratch. You get a loop and build stuff around it or you have an idea and you build up a few sounds
“I have an old Soundcraft desk from the 1970s. I don’t use it all that much but if I make something up on the computer I’ll generally put it through the desk. I have some old compressors and valve things that I put them through then I send them back to the computer. It gives it a nice analogue warmth, otherwise everything is digital sounding and clinical. I don’t think you can emulate the real thing with soundcards though I’ve got some plug-in valve compressions. The best way is to have a computer running Cuebase and some analogue warmth if you can get hold of it.
“Doing the Alloy Mental thing was a big learning experience for me - to actually leave room for vocals. I can see where I went wrong and where it was good but that’s what everyone has to do in order to learn.”
Though vinyl is his preferred playback medium, Kieran concedes that it’s not always practical, especially when it comes to DJ-ing abroad.
“The vinyl market has shrunk over the last couple of years as far as dance is concerned. I’ve done about 800 to 1,000 copies in the past but it’s getting more into downloads these days. I had an argument with a friend of mine recently – they tell me I’m like someone’s dad, reminiscing. But it’s depressing that music is going to end up on a USB key. I love vinyl, the smell of the cover and cardboard. There’s about four senses involved – you get touch, smell, sight and sound. Each record is personal – when you get a record you feel you own a piece of history.
“It’s still big in the live area,” he adds. “In Germany if you arrive to do a gig with CDs you’ll get a dirty look. Vinyl can be fantastic if the record player in the club is set up well and there’s no feedback. The other problem is carrying it around especially through airports. You get bruises on your shins and marks on your shoulders from carrying heavy bags of records. You get home and your girlfriend thinks you’ve been ravaged by someone.”