daft punk homework studio

It's a fact - Daft Punk's Discovery and Homework really were recorded in a bedroom (and mixed on a JVC boombox): "That little boombox is what we mixed and recorded both Homework and Discovery on. That was the magic one"

We made LEGO models in ours, they made two multi-platinum selling albums in theirs

"You can do some real lo-fi stuff with two drum machines and an old synthesiser" Thomas Bangalter

Yes, we all know the bedroom studio is 'a thing' and that great albums can be created anywhere, these days, right? But 25 years ago? And twice? Damn you Daft Punk, you've done it again.

We knew it. All that time playing with Lego and dreaming about Star Wars in our bedrooms was a waste of time. We should have been building a studio with a couple of old synths and a drum machine, and creating two of the finest albums ever made instead. Taking a leaf out of Daft Punk's book… 

There were always rumours that Daft Punk recorded their debut album Homework out of a bedroom studio, but it turns that both this and second LP Discovery were recorded in just that way and – get this – mixed on an old JVC boombox. And all this was around a quarter of a century ago, when DIY music making was in its infancy. 

There were, admittedly, big clues back in the day that the duo were taking the DIY route with their first recordings for Virgin Records. 

"We're very keen on recording in the bedroom, not going into studios," Thomas Bangalter told Mixmag in 1997. "It was very seductive to do that with a major record company. You can do some real lo-fi stuff with two drum machines and an old synthesiser."

They even told Melody Maker in the same year: "Our album is cheaper than nearly any rock album. No studio expenses, producers, engineers. We're not saying there is a right way or wrong way to go about things, but this is certainly a way."

But no-one really believed the duo's debut album Homework, let alone its follow up Discovery, went anywhere near a bedroom, such was the quality and impact of both long players. However, in a recent BBC Sounds podcast the truth was revealed. 

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"That little boombox is what we mixed and recorded both Homework and Discovery on" Thomas Bangalter

"The myth is that Homework was all in your bedroom, is that true?" asked the BBC's Matt Everitt in The First Time… podcast with Thomas Bangalter as his guest.

"It's true," Bangalter replied. "Homework and Discovery were done in the bedroom, in the same flat as I was watching [TV show] Modern Times and we had [Stevie Wonder album] Songs in the Key of Life constantly on the turntables. This small bedroom, [and] my parents had given me this small boombox for my 11th birthday, a JVC boombox with a little graphic equaliser, and I kept this thing. 

"One day when we plugged in a few keyboards and samplers, I found that boombox and I put it on the stack of machines. And that little boombox is what we mixed and recorded both Homework and Discovery on. That was the magic one."

So there you have it. If only our parents had given us a boombox when we were 11 years old, rather than Kerplunk, then we too could have had two platinum selling albums to our names. 

Bet we'd beat Daft Punk at Kerplunk any day, though, so we're not bitter.

Andy has been writing about music production and technology for 30 years having started out on Music Technology magazine back in 1992. He has edited the magazines Future Music, Keyboard Review, MusicTech and Computer Music, which he helped launch back in 1998. He owns way too many synthesizers.

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Daft Punk’s Homework Synth Sounds

On January 20th, 1997 – 25 years ago today – Daft Punk released their debut album, Homework . They hadn’t planned to release an album, but they’d spent five months recording tracks and decided they had enough material for an album. In a 1997 interview , Thomas Bangalter stated that “The Homework title relates to the fact that we made the record at home, very cheaply, and very quickly and spontaneously, trying to do cool stuff.” Many of the songs on Homework had been made to play live in clubs, so the album has a raw, live feel to it.

In a 1999 interview with a Japanese magazine , Daft Punk listed all the gear used on Homework and even outlined their typical recording process. The gear listed is mostly vintage Roland, including a Juno-106, MC-202, MKS-80 and a TB-303 alongside a digital Sequential Prophet-VS. 

For drum machines, they listed the LinnDrum and Roland TR-707, TR-808 and TR-909 as the drum machines used on the Homework . They used E-mu SP1200, Ensoniq ASR-10 and Roland S-760 samplers alongside a host of effects, sequencers, and mixers.

This article focuses on the synth sounds of Homework and how to recreate them using modern softsynths. I’ve recreated Da Funk and Around the World  and the presets that I created for the remakes are available for free download at the end of the article. This is a follow-up to last year’s Daft Punk’s Discovery Synth Sounds article, which I recommend checking out after this one!

Da Funk was the first single to be released from Homework and was played live from as early as 1995. It features a distorted guitar-like melody playing over a relentless 4-to-the-floor beat before a famous acid-bass synth line ends the song. Before I start talking about where the sounds came from, here’s my remake, created from scratch with no samples from the original song:

The distorted synth line has a characteristic band-passed sound run through distortion, which creates a sound similar to an overdriven electric guitar. The melody is played in perfect fourths throughout, so the original patch likely had an oscillator tuned to a fourth.

The common belief is that the Da Funk lead synth sound is a Korg MS-20, but the MS-20 wasn’t listed by Daft Punk on their Homework or  Discovery gear lists. There are no photos of them using a Korg MS-20 and they’ve never mentioned the MS-20 in their interviews.  Although the MS-20 is a strong contender for the Da Funk sound because of its high-pass filter and the ability to patch in distortion. I think it’s more likely that they used their Roland Juno-106 or MKS-80, both of which have high-pass filters, run through a distortion pedal such as the Ibanez Fat Cat Distortion seen in the below live pictures:

The Da Funk lead synth also sounds like it’s been sampled and played back from a sampler. The beginning note of each phrase has a slightly different envelope time – the higher note’s envelopes playback faster than the lower note envelopes, which is characteristic of vintage samplers. The may have sampled the sound play a fourth, letting them play or program the melody using only one note. Note that I didn’t sample the sound for my remake, so the envelope times are a little off compared to the original.

I recreated the lead sound using TAL U-NO-LX , a software emulation of the Juno-106 run through Brainworx bx_greenscreamer plugin, which emulates an Ibanez Tubescreamer pedal. Onboard  distortion and overdrive effects in g uitar amp simulators like Guitar Rig or Amplitube would also be suitable. Most of the sound comes from the character of the distortion pedal, so experiment with different models for different sounds. Here is the sound before and after distortion:

• Single Line Clean 00:00
• Added Fourth 00:00
• Tubescreamer 00:00

Da Funk 303

Halfway through the song, the kick drum drops out and an acid bassline is introduced. Interestingly, the bassline wasn’t programmed with Da Funk in mind, it was just one of a few bass lines that Bangalter had programmed on his TB-303, and the one that best fit Da Funk .

“The bassline itself was from a 303 l’d bought in 1993. I’d just made all these random patterns, so when we were looking for a bassline, we listened to some of the ones I’d already programmed and took the one that fit best.” – Daft Punk, Musik (1997)

The Roland TB-303 is a monophonic bass synthesizer originally intended to emulate bass guitars, which it does a terrible job of. It was quickly discontinued, which allowed cheap units to fall into the hands of electronic musicians who favoured it for its aggressive, screeching filter and onboard sequencer.  Because the 303 is such a simple unit with only one oscillator and one envelope, the magic lies in how you program the sequencer. Notes can be set to glide and this can be combined with big octave jumps to create dramatic slides.

303 synth parts are usually recorded by programming a 16-step sequence and changing the filter settings manually while the sequencer plays. The 303’s sequencer only has a three-octave range from C1 to C4 and the Da Funk bassline, which runs from F1 to F4, was likely sequenced in another key and transposed using the 303’s tuning knob to help it fit the key of Da Funk .

Below is my patch for Da Funk using AudioRealism’s ABL3 plugin, an accurate software emulation of the TB-303. Similar to the lead sound, the 303 in Da Funk has been run through a distortion pedal. The ABL3 plugin features onboard distortion which can be added via the small drive and distort knobs at the top-right, which I’ve cranked to almost the maximum settings.

• Da Funk 303 00:00

I also used TAL U-NO-LX to recreate the bass synth. It’s a simple patch using a single sawtooth wave, and the filter os closed almost all the way to let only the bass frequencies through. The ADSR envelope is set up with medium decay and sustain at halfway, which is applied to the filter and VCA to create a subtle plucking motion.

• Bass with Beat 00:00

The brass hit sample that plays through most of the song is from the Zero-G Datafile Three sample CD from 1992, where it appears as track 63, Dance Stabs . All credit to Aguila909 on Reddit for unearthing this sample!

The drums are a mixture of sampled drum breaks and programmed drum machines. The main beat is sampled from Vaughn Mason And Crew’s  Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll  and the drum fill at 0:23 is sampled from Barry White’s  I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little More . The hi-hats that join the beat at 1:43 in my remake are from the Roland TR-909.

• Dance Stab 00:00
• 909 Hats 00:00

Around the World

Around the World is a classic French House banger that featured a Michel Gondry (of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame) music video. The song is simple and highly repetitive, featuring only one vocal line repeated 144 times in the full 7:44 album version. There are a minimal number of sounds in the track that get played in various combinations, proving that if the groove is right, repetition can work. Here’s my full remake:

Around the World is built around a simple bass sound that plays three different bass lines throughout the song. The main bassline shares a strong resemblance to the one in Good Times by Chic, whose guitarist Niles Rogers the duo would collaborate with on 2013’s Random Access Memories.

Daft Punk could have recorded the Around the World synth-bass on any of their synths, but I’ve recreated it in TAL U-NO-LX. To create the patch yourself, start with a simple sawtooth wave, lower the filter to 2.7 and crank the resonance to the point where it’s high but not quite screeching (6.89 in TAL U-NO-LX). Add a tiny amount of envelope modulation by raising the ENV fader to 2 and set the ADSR envelope with an attack time of 1, decay of 6 and no sustain to give the patch a subtle pluck. Here are all three basslines played using my TAL U-NO-LX preset:

• Bassline 1 00:00
• Bassline 2 00:00
• Bassline 3 00:00

Funky Leads

Four funky lead sounds play throughout Around the World , with two only appearing during the outro. The main synth lead is a bouncy lead that uses high filter resonance and a synced delay effect to create a funky, rhythmic effect.  I again recreated this sound using TAL U-NO-LX, this time with the square wave DCO waveform selected. Set the filter to 3, resonance to 6 and envelope modulation to halfway. The envelope has attack time set to 2, which works with the resonance setting to create a funky wah-wah sound.

• Organ 1 // Organ 2 00:00

The delay effect is a tempo-synced stereo delay with a 1/8th note delay time in the left channel and a dotted 1/8th note delaying the right channel. The mix level is 25%, feedback is 40%, and I adjusted the delay’s onboard filter to roll off the high frequencies. Here are my settings using Ableton’s Delay effect:

Towards the end of Around the World , the beat drops out and two new outro synth parts get introduced. The two sounds work together to create a musical sequence reminiscent of some later melodies on Discovery , such as Aerodynamic or Veridis Quo , both of which I covered in my Discovery Synth Sounds article.

• Outro Synth 1 00:00
• Outro Synth 2 00:00
• Layered 00:00

Downloads & Related

Thanks for reading! The recreated Juno patches for TAL U-NO-LX are available for download below alongside the Da Funk 303 patch for AudioRealism ABL3.

Download the Presets

Download the synth presets created for this article here. Alternatively, you can find them in the Synth Sounds Collection , a free download containing all of my free synth presets.

Get the Ableton Projects

Get the Ableton Live Projects for these remakes on the Projects Store. All projects have frozen tracks in case of missing plugins and all downloads include stems and MIDI files for use in other DAWs. 

Read Me Next

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out my first Daft Punk article, covering the synths from Homework’s follow-up,  Discovery.

Buy Robot Funk

For even more Daft Punk sounds, pick up Robot Funk , my preset pack for Arturia Analog Lab V, featuring faithfully recreated sounds from every Daft Punk album in one pack.

Header artwork by Makarxart  

Comments on Daft Punk’s Homework Synth Sounds

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Unearthed ’90s magazine clipping reveals daft punk’s homework studio set-up.

A rare glimpse into the workflow of the robots.

Before they donned the helmets, acquired an ungodly amount of studio gear and blurred the boundaries between man and machine, Daft Punk were no more than a funky duo of Frenchmen armed with a light arsenal of Roland gear.

Discovered via Reddit , a clipping from a feature on the duo in a Japanese music magazine from 1999 offers an insight into the workflow of Guy-Manuel de Homme-Christo and Thomas Bangalter.

While some pieces of gear listed are pretty predictable – obviously there’s a bunch of TB-303s and TR-909s across the record – it’s certainly interesting to read about the process of the pair before they became the dons of electronic music.

Check it out below.

Sequencers:

• Alesis MMT-8
• Apple Macintosh + EMAGIC MicroLogic
• E-MU SP-1200
• Ensoniq ASR-10
• Roland S-760

Synthesisers:

• Roland Juno-106
• Roland MC-202
• Roland MKS-80
• Roland TB-303
• Sequential Prophet-VS

Drum Machines:

• Roland TR-707
• Roland TR-808
• Roland TR-909
• Alesis Microverb III
• Alesis 3630 Compressor
• Behringer Compressor
• Behringer Parametric EQ
• Ensoniq DP/4+
• Lexicon Vortex
• Lexicon JamMan
• LA Audio Gate/Compressor
• Waldorf MiniWorks 4-pole
• Yamaha Digital Delay
• Mixers/Recorders
• Mackie. MS-1202
• Mackie. CR-1604
• Panasonic SV-3700
• Iomega Zip Drive

This article was originally published August 6, 2018.

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No rules: how Daft Punk's 'Homework' changed dance music forever

The album is 20 years old but its influence hasn't diminished one bit

• Matthew Collin
• 20 January 2017

Two decades ago, there were no robots.

The artwork for Daft Punk’s first album, ‘Homework’, released exactly 20 years ago, featured no gleaming android figures; those would come later. Instead there was an embroidered logo on satin, a black-and-white photo of two callow youths performing in a nightclub and cutesy snapshots of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo as toddlers.

But the stylistic obsessions that have remained with them to this day were all discernible back then: vamped-up house and techno grooves, tweaked disco basslines, twinkles of melody and their soon-to-be-trademark flair for an irresistible hook. Tracks like ‘Da Funk’ and ‘Around the World’ were credible enough to bang the party at some of the dankest of basement dives but populist enough to become chart hits.

When ‘Homework’ was released in January 1997, they were both just 22 years old, but it was already clear that among the cluster of French house producers gaining renown at the time, Daft Punk were going to be the big deal. At that point, however, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were still steeped in the DIY culture of the rave era. The album was recorded at their home studio - hence its title - and sounds almost subversively spiky compared to the sumptuously-upholstered arrangements of 2013’s ‘Random Access Memories’, especially the flaring noise of militant stompers like Rollin’ & Scratchin’ and ‘Rock’n Roll’.

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Homework: How Daft Punk Schooled Us In The Future Of Dance Music

With their debut album, ‘Homework’, Daft Punk cemented their place in history, even while shaping what that history would become.

There are those who ride the waves of a scene, and there are those who create a new scene in the first place. Daft Punk have always been the latter, particularly in the formative years surrounding their debut album, Homework .

Listen to Homework here

Scrappy, raw and experimental.

Few musical acts have changed so much between albums as Daft Punk did in the four years between the release of Homework , on 20 January 1997, and its follow-up, Discovery . Reinvention is often the key to longevity in music, but it usually comes after years of exhausting the same tried and tested formula. For Daft Punk, however, their first two albums feel like the works of entirely different artists: meticulously detailed and polished, Discovery was stuffed with instant classics that aimed for the big leagues. Homework , however, represents everything that’s exciting about the best debut albums: scrappy, raw and experimental, it perfectly captured the spirit of Daft Punk’s live sets in their early years, with tracks mixing into each other perfectly, building and maintaining energy as if tooled for a club appearance.

Video footage from a live show in Wisconsin, in 1996, demonstrates this perfectly. Claiming to be the earliest evidence of Daft Punk on stage, there isn’t a mirror ball or robot mask in sight. Aesthetically, it could be any boiler-room gig – a small audience going wild as Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo rip through their set with absolute conviction. Sonically, it’s a wild ride: the beat is the only constant; everything else can be thrown in and pulled away again in an instant. Tracks like Homework ’s Rock’n Roll, with its pulsating scratch loop, brought the excitement of these shows to listeners’ stereos.

Hints of the Daft Punk to come

However, Homework isn’t just a recorded version of an early gig. Across its 75 minutes, there are plenty of hints of the Daft Punk to come, particularly with the standout hits Alive, Da Funk and Around The World. The ambition alone of these early singles was enough to change the dance music scene at the time, pushing house back into the mainstream.

Recorded on the cheap at home (a process that gave the album its title), Homework wasn’t truly intended to be an album: the singles are placed between the more experimental tracks in an attempt to form something that felt more traditionally cohesive. Even so, it’s clear there were two very difference sides to Daft Punk, even in these early stages.

Few artists could produce their debut album at home while ensuring it sounded perfect wherever it was played, but, channelling huge amounts of energy and live experience for the recording, Bangalter and De Homem-Christo already knew what would work and what wouldn’t on their limited set-up. It’s this adaptability that made Daft Punk’s journey from club act to festival headliners a smooth one. But while it’s one thing to make an album at home, it’s an entirely other thing to have it cement your place in musical history.

Here are some of the standout tracks that make Homework a lesson in the evolution of dance music…

Homework : the tracks you need to hear

Revolution 909.

There’s a drum sound so industrial it could have been recorded in a factory, landing with such a satisfying clang that it’s hard to focus on anything else. Revolution 909 sits perfectly as one of Homework ’s opening tracks, setting the energy for the rest of the album and leading flawlessly into Da Funk…

… Which is not only a highlight on Homework , it’s a highlight of Daft Punk’s entire career. When a band discovers a truly great riff, they strip down everything else and squeeze every last drop out of it. Da Funk is one of those: instant, direct, and memorable – everything you want from a house track. Also, shout-out to the music video by the masterful Spike Jonze, in which a dog with its leg in a cast gets treated with complete indifference by a load of strangers.

Nothing sums up the early Daft Punk sound quite like Phoenix. Though subtler than some of the Homework ’s later tracks, it’s fully earned its place amongst the group’s bigger hitters.

Around The World

What more is there to say that hasn’t already been said? Around The World remains a juggernaut in dance music. Every part has been tightened to perfection, making it the perfect instrumental for the duo to introduce their trademark robot voice on.

With a twitching bassline that props up an ever-growing beat, Burnin’ is surrounded by all kinds of pops, scratches, slides and squeaks. If Homework builds in intensity as a live set would, this is the peak of that experience.

One of the original singles dropped ahead of Homework’s release, Alive still sounds as huge as ever. There’s a reason they name their tours after this song…

Check out the best Daft Punk song of all time to discover how they got harder, better, faster, stronger.

• Album Stories

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Homework (Daft Punk album). 1997 Vinyl rip

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Homework is the debut studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 20 January 1997 by Virgin Records and Soma Quality Recordings. The duo produced the tracks without plans to release an album. After working on projects that were intended to be separate singles over five months, they considered the material good enough for an album.

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SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

Studio Equipment 54

Software plugins and vsts 4, headphones 4, keyboards and synthesizers 22, microphones 9, studio gear 2, studio monitors 1, modular synthesizers 3, effects pedals 10, amplifiers 2, bass guitars 3, drum sets 1, live setup accessories 2.

Alesis 3630 Dual-Channel Compressor/Limiter with Gate

Effects Processors

From a 2001 interview with Daft Punk: "We have a really small compressor, the Alesis 3630, which is $300. That's the main one we used on Homework and Discovery. The one we used the most is one of the cheapest ones on the market."

Submitted over 10 years ago

Roland Juno-106

Synthesizers

Daft Punk "...brought their own synths into the studio, with a modular synth and things like an Oberheim OB8 and a Juno 106 and quite a few old polyphonic analogue synths."

Ibanez FC10 Fat Cat Distortion

Distortion Effects Pedals

in this picture you can see the fc10 in front of the juno 106

Submitted almost 7 years ago

Mutronics Mutator

Per the official Mutronics website, Daft Punk are listed as Mutator customers. Good of Mutronics to keep the page alive despite the Mutator being discontinued in 2007.

Submitted about 3 years ago

Moog Minimoog Voyager Rack Mount Edition

Several Moog Voyagers can be seen in photos of Daft Punk's pyramid, i.e. their live gear setup.

E-mu SP-1200

Drum Machines

In this 2001 interview with Daft Punk about Discovery, they list some of their preferred samplers; the 1200 is listed.

Submitted over 8 years ago

Roland S-760

Audio Samplers

In this 2001 interview with Daft Punk about Discovery, they list some of their preferred samplers, the Roland S-760 being on the list.

Ableton Live

DAW Software

In a two-page spread image pulled from Mixmag, Thomas Bangalter says about Daft Punk live shows, "The show revolves around Ableton Live software on custom made super-compute...

Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer

At 7:26, in this performance video by Daft Punk, one can see the TR-909.

Submitted about 9 years ago

Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer

In this 2001 interview with Daft Punk about Discovery, their main synths are listed. The 808 and its cousin the 909 are both mentioned.

DigiTech X-Series Bass Synth Wah

Bass Effects Pedals

This isn't proof, but uncanny resemblance. Multiple sources claim Daft Punk used the Digitech Bass Synth Wah the entirety of the album Human After All.

Submitted over 7 years ago

Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

In this article on a Daft Punk fan site, it says that the duo used a Boss MT-2 Guitar Pedal with a Juno 106 synth to create the sounds heard on their song "Rollin' And Scratchin'"

Roland TB-303

Tabletop Synthesizers

This thread contains an old article from technorama that explains all the gear Daft Punk's old live setup, including the TB-303.

Ableton Operator FM Synthesizer Plugin

During an interview, Thomas Bangalter mentions his fondness for Ableton's Operator synth:

While Daft Punk record analog synths for thick melodies and lead lines, they're also fans of Ableton's built-in synthesizer. "Operator is one of the best soft synths out there, and I hate soft synths...

Submitted almost 9 years ago

Linn Electronics LinnDrum

Daft Punk has a LinnDrum in this image of one of their performances from the 90s.

Mackie CR-1604

this japanese interview shows daft punks equipment used to record homework

Submitted over 5 years ago

Studio Electronics Midimoog

Per this photo dated 23rd of September 1995 and a ...

Roland SVC-350 Vocoder

Used on Discovery , as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview.

You use vocoders and phase shifters on many of your tracks. Bangalter: People always ask us what vocoder we use, but every one of our vocal tracks uses a different vo...

Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2.8

Synth Plugins

According to the spectrasonics website, Daft Punk is known to use Spectrasonics products including Omnisphere.

Submitted about 6 years ago

Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter

Ensoniq DP/4+

Oberheim DMX

You've also broken away from the standard house music instrumentation. For example, you used Oberheim and Linn drum machines on several songs instead of the usual 808 and 909. ...

Linn Electronics Linn 9000

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR) , Daft Punk employed a Linn 9000 during the recording of Discovery .

Valley People Dyna-mite 440

In this enlarged photo from a French music publication you can see the familiar black and silver cosmetic and distinctive font of a Valley People Dyna-mite on the piece of gear 2nd from bottom below the Composer. Full CODA magazine page here: ...

Avid Pro Tools

Daft Punk use Pro Tools to record ideas and demos, which they then take into the studio to record properly. Pro Tools was used during all stages of recording the tracks for Random Access Memories.

Alesis Microverb III

A Microverb III can clearly be seen in this photo of Daft Punk's late-90s live rig - courtesy CODA magzine. Note: the article cites this as a Microverb II, which was half-rack size, but the photo in question clearly shows a rack-sized Microverb III.

Sequential Circuits Prophet-5

Daft Punk's Thomas and Guy-Manuel used the Prophet-5 in early recording sessions for Random Access Memories.

Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier

Daft Punk record bass guitar via a Neve 1081 and Teletronix LA-2A. The LA-2A was also used to record a couple of vocalists, and during the mixing process it was used for parallel compression on the kick and snare.

Yamaha CS-80

"Thomas and Guy-Man had a bunch of keyboards during these early [recording] sessions, like the [Sequential Circuits] Prophet 5, [Roland] Jupiter 6, Juno 106, Yamaha CS80."

Roland Jupiter-6

Daft Punk use the Jupiter-6 synth in recording sessions.

This is a community-built gear list for Daft Punk.

• Find relevant music gear like studio equipment, software, headphones, DAW & software, plugins, and other instruments and add it to Daft Punk .
• The best places to look for gear usage are typically on the artist's social media, YouTube, live performance images , and interviews.
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Homework (Remixes)

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Homework (Remixes) is a remix album by Daft Punk , containing material from their first studio album Homework . It was released on February 22, 2022, in digital market stores and later on November 25, 2022, on CD and 12" formats.

It's their first release after their separation in 2021. It follows as its Tron: Legacy Reconfigured on their series of remix albums, and its the third remix album based on one of their studio albums, after Human After All: Remixes in 2006.

Tracklist [ ]

References [ ].

• ↑ Homework: Remixes Digital Edition on Discogs
• 1 Veridis Quo
• 2 Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
• 3 Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Homework (25th Anniversary Edition)

Few records combine sonic innovation with veneration for what came before as succinctly as Daft Punk’s 1997 debut, Homework. The title itself implies this duality: It’s a reference to both the bedroom studio where musicians Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo recorded their early house and techno productions, and a nod to the older artists the duo studied in preparation for their dance music breakthrough. Many of those musical ancestors are name-checked on the Homework track “Teachers”, on which Bangalter and Homem-Christo salute the (mostly) electronic music producers and DJs who inspired their work. That includes plenty of semi-obscure Chicago house music heroes and Detroit and UK techno champions, many of whom predated Daft Punk by a decade—but who were still active in the late-1990s rave scene. By tagging their peers, the members of Daft Punk were expressing solidarity with the many BIPOC artists whom they’d obsessed over for years. It was a declaration of belonging that could have come off as appropriation, had Homework not so fully elevated the genre. Bangalter and Homem-Christo might wear their influences on their sleeve, but their music transcends mere tribute; it’s some of the most unforgettable hook-laden house and techno ever put to wax. When it comes to the dance floor, if a record’s hot, that record is hot. And DJs across the globe pumped Homework’s 16 tracks, which included everything from playful filtered disco (“Revolution 909”) to throttling acid techno (“Rollin’ & Scratchin’”). Meanwhile, radio jocks and MTV programmers on the lookout for format-friendly versions of popular rave sounds swooned over Homework cuts like “Da Funk” and “Around the World”, which became breakout hits, thanks to inventive videos directed, respectively, by Spike Jonez and Michel Gondry. That near-impossible confluence of talent and timing allowed Homework to achieve its position atop every list of 1990s electronic music. As time went on, the members of Daft Punk would prove themselves worthy of every accolade Homework received as they continued to evolve from students to teachers to masters—elevating the state of electronic music every step of the way.

20 January 1997 31 Songs, 3 hours, 2 minutes Distributed exclusively by Warner Music France / ADA France, ℗ 1997, 2022 Daft Life Ltd.

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Air's Moon Safari is an era-defining French album worth celebrating, 25 years on

There's no telling how many special moments have been soundtracked by Moon Safari, the acclaimed 1998 debut album from French duo Air.

An era-defining record of pristine, space-age lounge music delivered with cinematic atmosphere and a distinctively French je ne se quios , Moon Safari was a universal critical and commercial success upon release.

The lush easy-listening music was perfectly suited to post-club comedowns, hip cafes, and make-out sessions: smooth and dreamy enough to be played in the background, but singular and masterfully crafted enough to reward close listening.

It proved highly influential, too. But the wave of mellow, down tempo imitators and 'chill out' CD compilations it spawned struggled to surpass Air's chic, exquisitely woozy beauty.

'It was not meant to be played live'

Jean-Benoît Dunckel, one half of Air alongside Nicolas Godin, never expected Moon Safari's enduring success.

"We never imagined this album could work that way worldwide," he tells Karen Leng on Double J Lunch. 

"It took time, it took decades, [but] the success is not by us, the audience made [it]."

This year, the duo has been playing Moon Safari in full around the world on their first tour in seven years, including Australia.

"It was not made to be played live," says Dunckel. 

"We had to adapt it for the live [setting]. That is what the people want to get — this special feeling they heard the first time… to live again these feelings."

Having played two nights at the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Live , Air will live-stream their show at London's Royal Albert Hall this weekend.

"It's a beautiful venue," says Dunckel, who is keen to preserve a pristine performance of the album online for future access.

"It's really important to do that because… people can also discover the band live. Some people appreciate the live versions more than the recorded versions."

Performing as a trio, alongside drummer Louis Delorme, Air play inside an oblong box adorned with dazzling lights and visuals, which morph from swathes of minimalist colour to the perspective of a spaceship enjoying interstellar travel.

"We play in a box of light. It looks a bit like the studio on the cover of 10 000 Hz Legend," says Dunckel, referencing the band's second studio album — a weirder, wilder reaction to Moon Safari.

"It could be a home, it could be our world, our head, our architectural concept. It helps for people to enter into a world… people like [that] intimacy."

Dunckel says people often ask: "Are you not bored to play these songs you play for 20 years now?"

"Sometimes I struggle — because you have to concentrate, and you have to play. But I'm never bored. It's always a pleasure."

Moon Safari is a product of its era, but it's also aged beautifully.

It's an evocative listening experience, from the moment lengthy opener 'La femme d'argent' ushers you in with the sounds of water and slinky bassline, through to the weightless pop and robot-voiced melodies of 'Kelly Watch The Stars' and 'New Star in the Sky'.

In 1998, its retro-futuristic arrangements already sounded timeless. 25 years later, its ability to transport your mind and imagination elsewhere hasn't dated one iota.

"It could be a journey, a love story," remarks Dunckel. "That's why we're really attached to it. I think the audience is searching for that, too.

"It helps human relationships in every way," adds Dunckel. Over the years, Air fans have shared "so many stories" of what the album means to them.

"Most of the time it's for love. It's always, 'I met my girlfriend or wife this time'."

Back in 1998, Dunckel told triple j that while hiking in Iceland, his guide revealed Moon Safari was his love-making soundtrack.

There's "probably" plenty of babies in the world with some of the album's DNA in them since, Dunckel estimates of a new generation discovering Air for the first time.

"As we are getting old now, it's becoming that people say, 'oh yeah, my parents were listening to Moon Safari when we were travelling in a car; this family time'."

Sexy Boy, the surprising queer anthem

For many, debut single 'Sexy Boy' was their first introduction to Air. A seductive slice of synth-pop that brought vocoder back to the pop charts and sung in both French and English.

It's a seemingly simple song but Dunckel notes there's "a lot of tolerance and freedom" embedded in it.

"Sexy Boy, first of all, is a strange title because it breaks a certain taboo. The taboo is that heterosexual boys can check out other boys," he explains.

"Also, it became a gay slogan in a way. A gay anthem."

The song took on a new meaning in late 90s Paris when the electronic music scene's wider acceptance of the LGTBQI+ community led to more club and techno nights dedicated to queer punters and DJs emerging.

"There was a lot of gay parties," says Dunckel. "Homosexuality is everywhere in the world, and it's always existed, always there. So, it was important to liberate this movement."

Originally, the song's titular phrase was inspired by Parisian fashion culture.

"People are checking each other out all the time… In Paris, when a couple is meeting another couple, the girl is not going to check out the boy. She's going to check out the other girl: analyse what she wears, how she behaves, what is the fashion or type of the boyfriend.

"Sexy Boy is speaking about that. The fact a man wants to be a pretty man and he is checking [out] other boys."

A popular soundtrack choice, featured in teen rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You and noughties TV drama Queer As Folk, 'Sexy Boy' is also a testament to youth.

The French verses are "celebrating that golden age of being young," Dunckel explains.

"When you're young you don't realise you're at the top of your life. You have a lot of power, actually… because you're beautiful. Your skin, hair, you feel great, you have a lot of energy."

The makings of a classic

Despite its iconic status, Moon Safari was actually the last roll of the dice for Dunckel and Godin.

Raised in the conservative suburb of Versailles, the pair began making music together after meeting at school. But after having their demo tapes rejected by every record label they approached, they quit music and instead focused on their studies.

Each had established careers — Godin in architecture, Dunckel in mathematics — when an opportunity presented itself in a close friend landing a role with Virgin Records imprint Source.

They landed a deal with the label but ditching their jobs for a full-time career in music to support their burgeoning families was a gamble.

"We were 26 years old. We were not sure we come be musicians for the rest of our life," remembers Dunckel. "I was already working [as] a physics teacher… I had a baby."

Thankfully, their risk was rewarded when their debut album became a breakout international hit. Air was swiftly lumped alongside a fresh wave of Parisian artists reinventing the electronic music scene in the late 90s.

Dubbed French touch, the movement included Cassius, St. Germain, Étienne de Crécy, and Daft Punk, who recorded their breakout 1997 album Homework down the street from where Air made Moon Safari.

"There was a kind of energy circulating all over Paris," recalls Dunckel. "Paris is kind of small; all the media, artists and business part of it [were] working all together."

The worlds of music, fashion, contemporary art, cinema — "everything was mixed," Dunckel says.

"At this time, new generations of young people coming from the suburbs are even inside Paris and mixing all these rich, futuristic concepts together with new machines, samplers, computer programs to make music."

A fond farewell to youth

Despite being poster boys for the future of French music, Moon Safari was an evocative, nostalgia-drenched ode to Dunckel and Godin's past.

"In a way it was the end of my youth… That's why the songs [on Moon Safari], there are a lot of regrets and it's a goodbye to our youth and the innocence of it.

"It's full of vibrations from teenage times."

Although labelled an electronic act, Air's music wasn't rooted in beats and house music. Instead, they armed themselves with analogue Moog and Korg synthesizers, vintage drum machines, vocoders and the trusty Rhodes piano.

The resulting compositions bore the esprit of Serge Gainsbourg, electronic pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre, and the 1970s film and TV soundtracks of Dunckel's childhood.

There's a fondness for the psychedelic grandeur of Pink Floyd and ELO. But also, Burt Bacharach arrangements, particularly in the wistful French horn topline of ''Ce matin là' (This morning) and the easy-going 'You Make It Easy' and 'All I Need', both featuring the lyrics and vocals of Godin's then-neighbour, Beth Hirsch.

From its lush, otherworldly sounds right down to its title, Moon Safari gives rise to cosmic ideas and conducive to escapism. That spirit is central to Air's entire ethos.

"I think music exists in paradise and you can feel this [album] is in a strange interface between our world and something else."

Such ephemeral expressions might be surprising coming from a former physics teacher, but Dunckel says "both sides of your brain help" when it comes to making emotive art.

"There is a mathematic aspect of music, that analyses and helps you perform and conceive music. But there is something else happening, your heart is talking.

"As a musician you're organising the vibrations of your heart and the feelings into music… vibrations travelling into space and air."

"When I do a song, it's all about 'what do I feel?'" Dunckel concludes.

"For me, good means it affects me. No good means I don't feel anything… if it affects me, it's going to affect others, too. They're going to feel the feelings I do, too."

Air live-stream their performance at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 1 June. Details here .

Hear Karen Leng hosting  Lunch on Double J from midday Monday to Thursday.

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