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Alex Pall and Andrew Taggart are members of a music production duo called The Chainsmokers. The group was formed in 2012 and originates from the USA. They concentrate mostly on EDM, pop and electropop music.
The group was initially made up of Alex Pall and DJ Rhett Bixler. Pall started DJing at a young age and eventually attended New York University to study music business and art history. On the other hand, Taggart, who attended Syracuse University, developed an interest and released some songs via SoundCloud. He interned at Interscope Records.
After Bixler left The Chainsmokers, Taggart was made aware that a replacement for Bixler was required and he soon joined. Taggart and Pall initially remixed indie bands they went on to collaborate with an Indian actress by the name of Priyanka Chopra on two songs, Erase and the Rookie.
The pair's first live performance was held at a music venue called Terminal 5 in New York, where they were the opening act for Timeflies. Their track #Selfie was released in 2014 and was a great success for the group. It charted globally and sold 2.6 million copies in Denmark, 1 million copies in the USA, as well as 200 thousand copies in the UK.
They released a few more singles, and in June 2016 they released another big single titled Roses. The song hit the number six position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It went on to sell 3 million copies in the US, 600 thousand copies in the UK, 280 thousand in Australia and 200 thousand copies in Germany.
That same year they reached the 18th position on DJ Magazine's annual Top 100 DJs list. They released an EP titled Collage on November 4, 2016.
They released more singles before releasing their debut studio album titled Memories…Do Not Open on April 7, 2017, via Disruptor Records and Columbia Records. It hit the number 1 position with 221,000 album-equivalent units sold in the first week. It has since been certified platinum by the RIAA for moving more than 1 million album-equivalent units.
In March 2018, The Chainsmokers were ranked first among dance musicians by Billboard in the Dance 100 list.
The Chainsmokers have been spotted using a Shure SM57 microphone for recording some elements of their music. Drew has mentioned using an Apogee Duet 2 to handle some audio input/output tasks.
The group has been seen with an M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 key MIDI controller. Drew has also been seen with a Fender Telecaster guitar.
Unsurprisingly, like many electronic musicians, their DAW of choice Ableton Live which hosts numerous software instruments and effects.
Some of these software instruments are Reveal Sound Spire, Xfer Serum, Native Instruments Reaktor, Massive, Sylenth1 and Omnisphere.
Effects processors available to the group include Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5, Celemony Melodyne, Nicky Romero Kickstart as well as various Waves plugins.
Genelec 1031A monitors, Behringer Behritone C50A, Focal SM9 and Yamaha HS80M, are part of the group's monitoring setup.
Their DJ setup runs on Pioneer hardware such as the Pioneer CDJ-2000, while Serato DJ handles the software side.
The Chainsmokers Gadgets & Studio Equipment
What kind of headphones does The Chainsmokers use?
Sony MDR-7506 Professional Headphones
10 used from $79.99
V-Moda Crossfade M-100 Over-Ear
What kind of studio monitors does The Chainsmokers use?
Avantone Pro MixCubes Buttercream
What kind of laptop and computer does The Chainsmokers use?
Apple 15" MacBook Pro
What kind of DJ setup does The Chainsmokers use?
Pioneer DJ DJM-900NXS2
Pioneer DJ CDJ-2000
Pioneer RMX-1000 Remix Station
What kind of keyboards & synthesizers does The Chainsmokers use?
Korg MicroKORG Synthesizer/Vocoder
Roland Juno-106 Synthesizer
Access Virus TI2 Polar Synthesizer
What kind of music production software does The Chainsmokers use?
Propellerhead Reason