Makhlouf: The workflow was great and you could also program beats in there. A lot of times we would sync it with FruityLoops or Ableton via ReWire—we were using Reason for a lot of stuff—but the host was always Cubase so we stuck with it over the years.
DJ Times: What about your preferred DJing setup?
Makhlouf: We keep it pretty simple: just four [Pioneer DJ] CDJs. We’re not one of those artists that will freak out when the rider’s now right. We’re simple, man! We show up and put our USB sticks right in. We do some cool stuff, like running our own visuals, which is dope. We just started doing that after the “Untouchable Tour” with Tritonal.
DJ Times: What does that entail on your end when you’re up there?
Makhlouf: It doesn’t really change anything. It’s all in the computer. We literally make our own visuals—Sam makes them himself and you link them to a song. It takes a little extra work beforehand, but it’s cool because you still have flexibility to do whatever you want. And you then don’t have to worry about a VJ knowing what you’re going to play next and having to coordinate with him—it’s all linked up. We do fun stuff like visuals of us just messing around. Lyrics are cool, too, because people start to sing back. We feel like it just really stepped up our game, and we definitely have to thank the Tritonal guys for that. It was one of those things that seemed really hard to do, but then they passed down the knowledge and said, “You can do this, too!”
