Having begun DJ-ing at parties as a youngster, German composer and producer, Juh-Dee soon entered the orbit of contemporaries including Farid Bang, Manuellsen, KC Rebell and Summer Cem. A a testament to the popularity of rap music in his native country, he now has his own beautifully equipped studio in Duisburg, complete with Genelec 1234 and 8331 Smart Active Monitors.
‘The first time I made it to number one with a single was actually in 2020. That was with the song ‘90-60-111’ from Shirin David, and that was a great feeling,’ he recalls. ‘Then with Apache, we were three weeks at number one, and that song was replaced at number one by another Apache song that we produced. And the next tune after that also went straight to the top spot.’
It’s evident that Juh-Dee sees Germany’s love for rap as more than a passing trend: ‘I don’t see this as short-term popularity,’ he confirms. ‘That hype has actually been there for a long time, since 2008/2009. It just never reached the masses because back then the distribution wasn’t there. Kids didn’t buy CDs; they just downloaded the songs illegally at that time. But when that started to subside, people bought more CDs again. Now, in the era of smartphones, with streaming and YouTube, that’s the reason it won’t go away. It’s become the new pop music.’
Juh-Dee’s preference for studio monitoring has always been large, wall-mounted main monitors, so the Genelec 1234s were an obvious choice.
‘In a great studio, there has to be speakers in the wall,’ he insists. ‘I did my first mixes here and I was really surprised at how “real” the 1234s sound, even at high volume. Having heard my first mixes, I realised what made the difference. You can hear clearly the whole frequency spectrum and the tweeters are really nice. They don’t bite – they are really honest. That was important for me.’
The 1234s are complemented by a 7370 subwoofer for LF control and precision. ‘I usually use the subwoofer when I’m working on deep 808s, for example, so I can really hear the whole spectrum down to 20Hz and I can absolutely hear if they sound okay, or if there’s any strange frequencies going on,’ Juh-Dee explains.
And his 8331 coaxial close-fields from Genelec’s The Ones series allow him to dial things down when he needs to. ‘I use The Ones to double-check things at a lower volume, so when I don’t need the full blast of the big 1234s, they are really good for details,’he explains. ‘Also, when I’m mixing for too long with too much volume, I use the 8331s – and I can also easily control them using Genelec’s GLM software. It’s super-easy to quickly dial-in changes, tweak the frequency response, change the volume, and do adjustments.’
Aside from the joy that they bring Juh-Dee, his monitors are also good for business, as demonstrated by the reaction of artists visiting the studio recently: ‘The reaction was awesome – they all wanted to stay here. I think I worked with three new artists at that time, and they all called their management and said “Hey, you have to book us here for another session. We’re not going anywhere else. Please, we need to come back next week”.’
More: www.genelec.com
