According to Billboard magazine, "After more than 30 years on the charts, comedian-singer 'Weird Al' Yankovic earns his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as 'Mandatory Fun' debuts atop the list [for the week ending July 20, 2014]. The album is the first comedy set to top the chart since 1963, and logs the largest sales week for a comedy album since 1994." MOTU user Jim Kimo West, who plays guitar and programs synths for 'Weird Al', explains how MOTU products helped produce yet another #1 album.
"Mandatory Fun" is the third top 10 album for Yankovic and his first #1 debut album.
In addition to his own solo career, Jim Kimo West has been playing with Weird Al since 1984. Jim, Al, and Weird Al keyboardist Ruben Valtierra have been MOTU users for many years.
"Friends may disappoint you. Loved ones may betray you. But Digital Performer will NEVER LET YOU DOWN."
— “Weird Al” Yankovic
Jim tells us:
"I do all the guitars and most of the synth / keyboard programming at my studio using DP8, although a few tracks are from the demos that I did on my laptop while on the road last year, using DP7.
"Once my parts are done and approved by Al, I bring them to the final session on a hard drive rendered as WAV files. I used DP for tracking on most of the songs on the album, including Tacky, Handy, Inactive, Foil, Mission Statement, My Own Eyes, Lame Claim To Fame, First World Problems, Jackson Park Express and Now That's What I Call Polka.
"Weird Al" Yankovic Music Video: FOIL (Parody of "Royals" by Lorde)
"I also used MachFive 3 on Inactive, Foil, Tacky and Handy for some of the sounds. I have to do a lot of sound design to create the synth sounds on Al's parodies and I know my way around MachFive pretty well.
"On the input side I use the MOTU HD192 interface. I track through a variety of preamps and compressors including Neve, API, ADL, UREI, etc."
So congratulations Jim, Al and Ruben. May the hits keep coming and thank you for using Digital Performer and MOTU hardware to get the job done!