Bad Boy Bill
Occupation:
DJ, producer
Official Website:
http://www.badboybill.com
Background:
Bad Boy Bill was voted “America’s Favorite House DJ” in 2006 by the readers of BPM Magazine
Bill got his start DJing as a teenager, joining a DJ crew in the neighborhood and spinning at DJ battles. Only a senior in high school, Bad Boy Bill started his own record label. He eventually became a household name on Chicago’s B96, using his “Bad Boy Bill” audio ID as a way of distinguishing himself from the other DJs on the radio.
Voted “America’s Favorite House DJ” in 2006 by the readers of BPM Magazine (an award which he also won in 2003), Bad Boy Bill also released his first live mix album and concert DVD, Behind The Decks LIVE that same year. With Bill’s reputation built upon his phenomenal club sets that incorporate extravagant visuals and live dance performances in addition to Bill’s fierce turntable prowess, it was only logical for Bill to release his first live performance audio/visual set. The DVD features footage shot from over 10 cameras captured in stunning Dolby 5.1 and DTS Surround Sound.
From the start, this mix grabs the listener’s attention with its banging electro house vibes. Bill effortlessly weaves outstanding tracks and remixes from current house music heroes Eric Prydz, Green Velvet, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Paul Woolford, Fedde le Grand, Kurd Maverick, Joachim Garraud, JJ Flores and Steve Smooth into a very “now” sounding club set, all the while incorporating his traditional use of multiple a cappellas to create on the fly mash ups. The mix album also features the exclusive new original productions “Just Like I Want” and “Someday” from Bad Boy Bill himself.
Bill spends most of his time producing tunes in the studio or out on the road, playing up to 150 gigs annually—everywhere from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to international hotspots Peru, Columbia, Germany, England and Spain.
Bad Boy Bill
Bad Boy Bill on M-Audio hardware: “My personal studio has old and new gear living together. The core of my studio is a Mac G5 running a Pro Tools HD system and lots of plug-ins. I use the Studiophile BX5a reference monitors—they are really clean sounding and I love to compare them against my Genelec and Mackie monitors. They sound amazing! “On the road is really where my M-Audio products get a workout. I use the Transit with Pro Tools M-Powered on my laptop, which replaced having to lug around my older, much larger interface. The Transit makes using Pro Tools on the road a breeze and is very compact. I use the MicroTrack 24/96 to record my live sets—it sounds amazing and is so easy to use. I used to carry around a portable DAT machine to record my sets, and the MicroTrack blows away the idea of recording to tape! Sometimes I use the analog 1/4” inputs, but when the mixer has a digital output I use the S/PDIF digital input to record, which sounds amazing. I even used it to record the main stereo mix of my new CD/DVD Behind The Decks LIVE!” What he is proud of: “My most recent endeavor Beatport, that I co-founded and am a partner of, is really breathing new life into the dance music industry. Being able to do what I love to do—DJ all around the globe and continue to release projects that I am proud of, like Behind The Decks and Behind The Decks Live, is really a blessing.” His songwriting process: “My philosophy is to make tracks and songs that move me. If I would play the track or enjoy listening to it, that is enough to keep me interested. I work primarily in Pro Tools, although I do have a bunch of vintage gear and synths (I pulled out my Roland TB-303 the other day while working on a Nelly Furtado remix). I think the combination of old and new technology keeps the production process interesting and very unique sounding.” Why M-Audio? “While recording my new CD/DVD Behind The Decks LIVE, we recorded the stereo mix to three different mediums—a Pro Tools M-Powered system running on a laptop, an Alesis 24-track digital recorder, and the MicroTrack 24/96. The laptop crashed, so we ended up doing an audio shootout between the Alesis and the MicroTrack—the MicroTrack won hands down in terms of sound quality. “To me, M-Audio is mobile audio. M-Audio has freed me from being locked in the studio, and makes recording my live sets easy. M-Audio makes music production mobile and sounds great.”
