Salar Ansari lives quite the musical life out in Detroit. Be it working on sessions
with long-time Eminem collaborator, Luis Resto, making electronic music with
techno pioneer, Derrick May, or recording bands in his home studio, there is always
one constant: his DiGiGrid DLS.

At the time of writing, Ansari is recording a four-piece rock band; it’s a classic,
‘stay late in the studio, go home, come back, then do it all again’, he says. A day in
the life of a hard-working studio guy, then?

“Yeah, pretty much,’ Ansari smiles. “But what’s really changed things for me is
bringing in the DiGiGrid DLS. It’s great, as we use one Ethernet cable for dialling
into the patch bay. We have the main computer that has I/O, and a DLS, so we just
connect my laptop via Ethernet to the DiGiGrid, and suddenly it dials into the entire
studio. And that is one of the best things I have witnessed in music technology in
the past five years.’

DiGiGrid is rock solid, Ansari insists, so studio life has become more flexible as a
result, with a dramatic improvement in workflow.

“First of all, having a long single cord or wire that connects to an Ethernet port is
fantastic; and then suddenly you have all the ins and outs and plugin capabilities,
plus the ability to use the SoundGrid application,’ Ansari enthuses. “Then you’ve got
all the pre-amps, the rack-mounts, the compressors, and all the other outboard
gear, all through one Ethernet connection.’

Much of Ansari’s day to day work is in cahoots with Resto, or techno music pioneer,
Derrick May; when he’s not with one of those guys, he’s at his own place, with
DiGiGrid dialled in, of course.

“Anything acoustic, it’s Luis, everything else, it’s Derrick,’ Ansari explains. “I have a
lot of keyboards at my place, so if I write a song, I’ll often take it to Luis’ studio,
and then dial into his computer via Ethernet anything up to 16 channels. There is no
hard drive to move things to or import and export to, and I don’t need to worry
about converters either. Amazing.’

For Ansari, making music is about fusing three main elements: sound development,
production, and his fascination with audio:
“My process of production has a huge influence on the process of the mix down; you
have to discover new boundaries in sound, so sometimes you have to produce it to
make it happen.

Sometimes musicians walk into a specific room with a specific kind of technology,
and it really helps with the personality of the music. So pro music recording
shouldn’t ever leave the scene quietly, even though production and consumption in
today’s world is very digital, and all in one box. Big studios are still necessary for
big experiences.’

For more information, visit www.digigrid.net