{"id":415,"date":"2014-07-29T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T14:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.splice.com\/?p=415"},"modified":"2026-01-23T12:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:43:09","slug":"nicole-moudaber-collaboration-carl-cox-green-velvet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/nicole-moudaber-collaboration-carl-cox-green-velvet\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicole Moudaber Talks Collaboration: Carl Cox, Green Velvet and Working with Ableton Live"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Splice took a moment to catch up with DJ \/ Producer and Electric Zoo <\/a>festival <\/a>headliner Nicole Moudaber<\/strong> to learn more about recent studio projects and workflow with collaborators. Her debut album, Believe<\/em>, <\/em>released last year on Drumcode and topped dance music charts. We learned what Nicole has been up to lately and what she has in store for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nate Mars<\/strong>:  Can you tell us a bit about what projects you’ve been working on lately in the studio?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole Moudaber<\/strong>:  I’ve been working with Skin<\/a> from Skunk Anansie<\/strong> in the studio. I produced about three tracks with her. Funny enough, yesterday I was punishing both of them by inviting a rapper called Zebra Katz<\/strong>. He’s from Brooklyn, and he came down to the studio and recorded his verses on those two tracks that I did. They’re not your dance techno that I normally make. They’re a bit more you can say, electronica\/house vibe. It’s a little bit crossover-y than the normal stuff that I do, but I try to keep it cool and edgy… obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nate<\/strong>:  It sounds like you’ve been collaborating a lot. When you work with a collaborator, can you tell us what’s one of the first things you tend to notice? What is your workflow like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole<\/strong>:  Normally I get something ready before I invite anybody to come along. I’ve done that with Skin. I had the backing tracks pretty much there as a guide. Then she comes in. She vibes to it. She takes out a pen and a pad, and she writes her lyrics there and then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s much easier to work with songwriters because they just do things instantaneously, and they just jam and the words come out, exactly like what happened yesterday with Zebra Katz. He just jammed and did improvisation and just things flow. It’s a blessing to click with someone in the studio and to feel that you’re on the same wavelength musically and creatively; when you have the same vision of where this project should go. I haven’t had any clashes yet with people I’ve worked with so far. All good on that front. [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nate<\/strong>:  Can you tell us a little bit about some of the tools you’re using in the studio? What’s your primary DAW, for example?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole<\/strong>:  Normally, it’s Ableton Live<\/a>. When vocalists come in I’ll work sometimes in Logic<\/a> and sometimes in Pro Tools<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Ableton
Ableton Live – Arrange View<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Nate<\/strong>:  Can you tell us what draws you to Ableton Live for your workflow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole<\/strong>:  I learned Ableton Live a while back. I took a course with some of the Ableton trainers. That’s how it all began for me. All this huge…all the productions and all the DJ mixes I used to do on Ableton Live. Now DJ mixes are done with Traktor, that is one of my other favorite programs I use for DJ’ing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nate:<\/strong> What about third\u2011party plugins? Are there any production plugins that are a go\u2011to for your sound? What about hardware?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole<\/strong>:  I mainly use the plugins in Ableton Live. As for hardware, I’ve been using this old MPC 2000, back from 1989. We’ve created those grooves on that one for the new Skin projects there. The sound is just so raw, and it’s totally different than the sound of software.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Akai
Akai MPC 2000<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Nate. A little bit of a true analog warmth? [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole<\/strong>:  Rawness. It’s cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nate<\/strong>: If you had to pick one of your own tracks to play for someone who hadn’t ever heard your music before… you were personally introducing someone to your music for the first time, what track would you pick to play for them first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole<\/strong>:  Wow. That’s a tough one because I do house, and I do techno. For the techno, probably the one that I’de pick would be “Roar,” a track that I did for Intec. It got nominated this year for best techno track in IDMA Awards.  I would say “Roar,” because it’s got vocals, and it’s got the techno. House DJs can play it, and techno DJs can play it, so it’s like a bit of a crossover in between the two genres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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