RJD2 has had quite the curious career. The Eugene, Ore., native lives in West Philly, has transitioned from dirty, jazzy hip hop to wonky electropop, leapt from El-P’s Def Jux label in 2004 after several critically acclaimed albums to his own RJ’s Electrical Connections in 2010 (with his The Third Hand LP at the XL label in between). Though he doesn’t think of himself as a film composer, he has one of the most recognizable theme songs ever: AMC’s Mad Men. Now, he’s changed his sound around completely with one of the most compelling albums of 2013 in More Is Than Isn’t. RJD2 will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
RJD2: So this company Drip, who very well may just be a person or two, has done some pretty awesome things in the world of DIY electronics. They have essentially made DIY project builds for every desirable tube compressor ever made. (If your eyes are glazing over, you have permission to tune out now.) Compressors are recording tools, and some of the desirable vintage ones can get into the $4k – $20k range. Drip does runs of circuit boards to build your own—they include instructions and build notes so if you can read and follow instructions; it’s really not hard. Assuming your soldering skills are decent. I finished a build of an LA2A recently, and it was a lot easier than I expected, even using original transformers. I’ve been build modular synth stuff for a while now, and working on solid state gear refurbishing projects, but those run on a pretty low DC voltage range, so they aren’t quite as dangerous as the tube stuff (these are in the 250-400 VDC range, so yeah, not to be taken lightly). After finishing one of these, I kinda want to take on a few more.
Video after the jump.
