MY WORKPLAYCE: DZ
Name: DZ
Location: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Occupation: Producer
Affiliations: Mixtape Riot
Background: DZ is an aspiring musical producer and writer. Recently, he interned for renowned producer Waajeed from the Platinum Pied Pipers where he assisted him with making beats. He is also a contributor to the music blog, Mixtape Riot, where he released Agony and Ecstacy, an indie electro pop mixtape done with friend Ixley. On top of that, DZ is currently taking a screenplay writing class at the Gotham Writing Workshop where he hopes to write his own screenplay. I caught up with him and his “Hacintosh” to see what he was up to.
What’s on his desk: 1. Staples Desk Chair $250 2. Customized Hacintosh Computer (Mac+PC) 3. Samsung 23″ Monitor w/Mac Keyboard 4. KRK Rockit 5 Speakers 5. M Box 2 6. M-Audio Axiom 49 Midi Keyboard 7. AKG Headphones 8. iPod 80GB 9. Writing Movies by Gotham Writers Workshop 10. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein 11. Liberte Peach&Passion Fruit Yogurt
Q1. You made a point to state how expensive your chair was… You trying to floss? or are you just into chairs?
DZ: I went chair shopping with my friend Nicole and ended up dropping $250 on this office chair from Staples. Look, it’s not one of those Aeron chairs, but it’s comfortable, and that’s what’s important. It enables me to spend long periods of time in front of my computer with no break, doing productive things like watching Hulu or browsing through my friends’ facebook status updates.
Q2. … And for the Yogurt? Why the calories?
DZ: In the summer of 2008, I decided to put my skinny ass on a weight-gain diet, which means consuming 3,000 calories a day (50% more than the daily recommendation). These yogurts have 14 grams of fat per cup. That is a lot. So I attribute my newfound gut-pudge to eating one of those almost every morning.
Q3. What made you get a mackintosh? and how did you get one?
DZ: I got a “hackintosh” because I could no longer update the OS on my old G5 since it was not Intel-based, and because I am too broke to afford a new Mac. A computer-genius friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, assembled a bunch of PC parts, including a quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM, and a terabyte internal drive. It cost about $1100 and I basically run it as a Mac. There were some bugs at first, but my friend, “The Computer Whisperer”, was able to work it all out. It now runs smoothly and I love bragging about how cheap it was. $1100 in case you forgot.
Q4. How was working with Waajeed?
DZ: For a few months I was assisting Waajeed, a really talented producer who people might recognize as the main man behind Platinum Pied Pipers. Not only is he one of the most prolific dudes I’ve ever met, but he’s a stand-up guy with no ego. He’s a rare personality for someone involved in the music industry and from day one he treated me with respect, as opposed to a meager underling. We worked on a handful of beats together, none of which I’m sure will ever see the light of day. But who knows! Either way, people should definitely check for his music.
Q5. What was his workspace like?
DZ: Waajeed’s setup was actually pretty similar to mine, which is why I think he felt comfortable bringing me into his home studio. We met up and had a conversation and I realized he was using the same software, even the same MIDI keyboard. He’s moved apartments since I stopped working with him, but his studio space at the time was pretty small, so he just had to organize things in a spatially efficient way. I thought it was pretty badass that he had two computers running simultaneously throughout the day. One he would use for production and the other he was using to digitally archive his massive record collection. It was cool hearing some of Waajeed’s stories surrounding particular records and discovering classic samples with the legendary J Dilla.
Q6. What’s Mixtape Riot about?
DZ: Mixtape Riot, at the moment, is primarily a music blog, though there was a monthly party as well. The idea is basically to showcase artists we love. I contributed a post here and there at the start, but it’s been more than a minute since my last entry. The credit really belongs to Ixley, who designed the site and fresh logo, and Captain Planet, who is responsible for about 90% of the content. You can always find new music as well as some original remixes and mixtapes. Check out the mixtape by Ixley and yours truly that we did last year, called Agony and Ecstacy!
Q7. Are you working on any music projects of your own?
DZ: As far as personal music projects, I’m working with a singer friend of mine right now on some tracks. It’s my first time working outside the realm of hip-hop, and also my first foray into the process of songwriting. She is really talented and I’m looking forward to amassing a collection of hit ringtones with her.
Q8. What made you enroll into a screenplay writing class? You planning on writing a movie?
DZ: Since middle school I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of writing a screenplay. There’s something very satisfying to me about writing good dialogue, and I’m gradually learning the art of structuring a story for film. My friend and I were talking one day about how self-indulgently awesome some of these Apatow movies are, where the characters generally just play themselves and talk shit through every scene. And that’s when we realized we could also be self-indulgent, so our story is based loosely on a road trip we took through Israel a couple summers ago. Turns out writing a movie is actually not that easy, but I’m still enjoying it.
