Interview with Big Wiz - November 2006

While the manufacturers have labs full of worker ants chained to drawing boards rattling out ideas hoping for the next big things in the DJ scene, often the important and vital missing ingredient is the DJ. Luckily Rane happened across a team of DJs and drafted them in to shape the TTM range. One such DJ is Big Wiz. We asked him about his involvement in Rane's journey into the scratch hardware hall of fame...


Big Wiz - Rane have cited you as a key player in the development of their range. How did you get involved?

I met the guys from RANE at an AES convention in NYC in the late 90's with 3 other DJ friends of mine... MARZ 1 (in my crew STEELWORKERZ), Sugar Cuts (founder of Tableturns Open Table event) and Peter Parker. We were going to start a Tableturns magazine and were there to find sponsorship. We were talking to a lot of different companies about taking out ads in our magazine. When we started talking to the RANE guys, they kept on trying to sell us on this new mixer they had and we kept trying to sell them on taking out ads with us... it was like 2 totally different conversations going on. We didn't care about the mixer because it was not a performance mixer and was useless to us. They kept asking us, "What do you think about our new mixer?" So, we finally told them it was no good for us. They couldn't understand this. As far as durability, reliability and sound quality goes, RANE is in a class by their self so they couldn't understand how their mixers were no good for us. We explained what we do and how a 19 inch rack mount mixer with knobs in the way of the cross fader that didn't have a sharp cut in time would not be useful for us. I told them that I understand they are a great company and make a great product but for what we do, it's useless. I had always loved and hated RANE at the same time for making such a great product but one I couldn't use.. while the companies that made performance mixers basically made a inferior product. A RANE mixer (pre TTM) to me was like some one giving you the hottest car in the world but locking the doors and not giving you the keys... yeah it's a great car but you can't do anything with it. They were interested in what we were saying and started asking us what we would want in a mixer and why... we explained some things to them and they liked what we were saying and asked us to design what we would want in a mixer. So the 4 of us got together in Sugar Cuts' basement and the result was the TTM series mixers.

Having used all sorts of hardware in the past, what was letting you down on existing hardware?

That's a hard question to answer because there was and still is always something I didn't like about any piece of gear. I don't think there is a perfect anything. (but the RANE TTM mixers are damn close!) I was that kid that was always going to equipment stores and playing with all the new gear I couldn't afford. I would spend hours there playing with and looking at samplers, drum machines, keyboards, mixers, turntables... whatever. People would come in and have questions about things and think I worked there and I would be able to help them out... sometimes even when the people who worked there couldn't. I loved being around gear. I would get all the information I could on things I was interested in. I would even buy manuals for products I didn't own just so I could know what they did and how they did it. One thing I always noticed was that no matter how cool something was and how bad I wanted it, I would always find myself saying... man, this is real cool BUT... they should have done THIS... or, that would have been a great feature if they would have only did THAT instead... and I would think... if I ever got the chance to design my own equipment, it'd be great.

Did you go into the design process with a clear idea of what the end products would look like or did they just evolve from the combine input of the assembled DJs and Rane people?

We had a very clear idea of how it would look. My DJ partner MARZ 1 (STEELWORKERZ) is an amazing graphic artist as well as an amazing DJ. So, after we decided what we wanted, he laid it all out.. size and everything.. even the color scheme. We knew exactly what we wanted and where it needed to be and how it should look etc... even down to the placement of the EQ knobs and the how the knobs for the faders should be... no one made fader knobs like we wanted so RANE had them made especially for the TTM mixers. I still have all the original info we sent to RANE.

How did the end products compare to your original ideas?

The end product is a little different than what we sent but not by much. The color scheme is different and the dimensions are not exactly the same and some of the features aren't there but overall, they did a real good job in keeping true to what we had sent them.

Were there things that you wanted to see but were left out?

Yes, at the time, there were things that weren't yet cost effective or able to be done in the time frame they wanted to get the mixer out by or things that couldn't be done within the size of the mixer. As time goes on, technology gets better, more affordable and smaller so, as the TTM series grew, we saw more of what we wanted originally but couldn't be done at the time. The TTM-56 is a lot more of what we wanted the TTM-54 to be.

If you could change them now, what would be different?

If I design what I think is the perfect mixer today, tomorrow I will think of something that makes it even better so, I can't really answer that. Plus, a lot of other mixer companies reading this need to get their own ideas lol. RANE knows who to call when they are ready to change the game again. ;)

How does it feel to have your name associated with what is considered to be the ultimate scratch mixer?

It feels GREAT! Like I said earlier, back in the early 80's I would always day dream about how I could improve on what was out there and make the ultimate mixer, sampler or whatever. Now it's like my ideas are validated. I have confirmation that what I thought would be so great really is! Everybody has an opinion on things and think they know what would be good... some of them are right but most of them are wrong. I now know mine are right on the money and that feels good.

So we're careering towards an all digital future. Is this good, bad or just different?

It's all of the above. It's good because it allows creative people to take the game to the next level. It's bad because it lets lazy people not have to learn their craft and pay their dues and makes it easier for anyone to front. It's different because it gives us options that didn't exist before.

How has the digital revolution effected your musical output? Will we be seeing Big Wiz video shows?

Hahahaha.... Well, it allows me to be able to do things I could only dream of before. As far as Big Wiz video shows, who knows? I doubt it but... never say never ya know.

Purely on the shameless self promotion tip, what's going on with you right now?

I have been touring with Mr. Lif and Metro (from S.A.Smash) for Lif's new album Mo' Mega. (Definitive Jux) We did a US/Canada tour earlier this year and just got back home from a month of touring in Scotland, France, England, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark. I'm about to fly to Cali to do some work on Aesop Rocks new album then start another US/Canada tour with Mr. Lif along with Metro and it looks like Prefuse 73 may be joing us. I'm also trying to chip away at some projects of my own as well as doing some work on Lif's next album and getting ready for a very busy 2007. People can see what I'm doing at www.myspace.com/DJBIGWIZ (that is, when I update it... which I know is no where near as often as I should. I try but hey, I'm busy. I was at home a grand total of 2 days this month...