Martin Yam Møller

David Lord – Forest Standards

1 .Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?

The on switch on my Manley Variable-Mu. I never tire of hearing the beautiful sound of gentle tube compression. Before selling my MCI JH-24 tape machine, the record button on that machine was my favorite.

2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?

1982 Gibson 335 and Fender Princeton Reverb

Probably my 1982 Gibson 335. It is my most used instrument or piece of gear. But I still feel like I’m searching for my perfect guitar. Although very good, the tone and playability on that guitar both feel like they could be beat.

I also love the Princeton Reverb for recording, but I wish it were louder for performance. Although I don’t use them as much, I can’t complain about my Juno-106 and Fender Rhodes. They seem about perfect.

3 .What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?

For my solo guitar tours, I have been running two amps- a Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Quilter Pro Block 200 with a 12” speaker. I typically play my 1982 Gibson 335, but occasionally play my 1955 Gibson L4C. The pedals that I use the most are the Strymon Flint, Electro-Harmonix Freeze, Strymon El Capistan and Jam Tubedreamer. I create loops using the MXR Clone Looper and use the Eventide Pitchfactor for low end pitch shifting. I recently added a Chase Bliss Mood.

4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?

I would enjoy the Chase Bliss pedals as software.

5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?

I had a Manley Massive Passive that I had gotten at a very good price. I used it in my studio for many years, but decided to sell in order to buy some preamps and microphones. It is the one piece of gear that I miss the most. I also miss the JH24 tape machine, but I don’t miss the constant troubleshooting and repair involved.

6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?

Gear isn’t typically a starting point for me in music, but occasionally a piece of gear will inspire my compositional process, most notably the Electro-Harmonix Freeze and Eventide Pitchfactor. Of course the primary inspiration has simply been the guitar as an instrument, not specific to a particular guitar.

7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?

If I were to lose all of my musical gear, I would probably just buy a nice classical guitar and compose solo guitar music for a while. From there I might look at a simple, high quality recording device like a Nagra and a few nice microphones. Recently I’ve been interested in experimenting with a recording setup apart from the computer. It sounds fun, and the shock of whatever led to me losing all of my musical gear (likely a tornado, given my location), might inspire trying something new.

8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?

I don’t like using a looper, but for my solo guitar set, it is helpful.

9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?

Everything on my new Chase Bliss pedals surprises me currently, because I’m still figuring them out. In addition to learning how they actually function, it’s also fun to pull up a mix I’m working on, run something like a guitar solo through them and just start randomly twiddling the knobs. I’ll print the results as an FX track and have generated some surprising sounds that have been shaping the mixes. On guitar, introducing hi-strung guitars is constantly surprising and exciting, given the octave displacements and close voicings inherent in the tuning.

Artist or Band name?

David Lord

Genre?

Experimental Jazz

Selfie?

Attached

Where are you from?

Wichita, KS

How did you get into music?

Playing guitar in middle school, playing in rock bands through high school, studying jazz in college, pursuing my own concepts, theory systems and compositional concepts.

What still drives you to make music?

It’s my favorite thing to do.

How do you most often start a new track?

I have developed a musical system called Extended Lydian Polychordal System. There is a process involved that typically starts with either warping a standard chord progression or drawing extended lydian chord voicings from my chord bag. Before starting the musical process, I name the song, typically inspired by nature themes such as fungi, trees, butterflies or moss. I then begin running the theme through my compositional process.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I have removed enough unnecessary overdubs for it to feel “right” and I give up on trying to keep tweaking the mix.

Show us your current studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Create your own world. Develop your own concepts and systems.

Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link

My most recent album is Way Over the Rainbow, featuring Jeff Parker, Charles Rumback and Dale Black. It can be found on streaming services or Bandcamp: davidlord.bandcamp.com/album/way-over-the-rainbow

Related Yet Random Interviews

OliverHald – 4 Tracking Duo

1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?

The switches of our Pioneer RT-707 reel to reel that was a gift from Mikkels wife’s uncle Peter!

2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?

Tascam 424 mkiii – Is so perfect, but I really wish it looked like the older brown portastudios with the vu-meters and all the colorful knobs. This model has a very, shall we say, nineties aesthetic. Once we started recording with that instead of an interface, it all just made sense!

2.1 Hagström Viking Baritone guitar.

It’s so pretty and the perfect size for me (Mikkel) to play. Mikkel plays it “Chalie Hunter-style” with two bass strings and four guitar strings for extended tonal range. A “Submarine Pro” pickup sends the two bass strings out one output and the four guitar strings are sent though another output. I guess it has already undergone plenty of modifications, so no more are needed.

2.2 Volca Beats

It just sounds really cool and dusty – I just wish it could save more than 8 patterns…. And included a mono synth……. So we use it together with a Volca Kick, Volca Modular, a walkman and have an Elektron Digitakt midi sequence everything:

2.3 Jacobs Fender Rhodes MKII from 1985

So so so, perfect…. Except for the weight!!!!!!

3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?

3.1 Mikkel Hald

A childrens guitar and a notebook for gear-dreaming and a Zoom R8 for recording sketches if anything good should emerge from holiday noodling.

Zoom R8, sketch book and acoustic guitar

3.2 Jacob Oliver

Yamaha Reface CP and my notebook for sketches. The Reface is easy portable, runs on batteries and small. The perfect “sketchbook”.

4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?

I really wish we didn’t need software at all.

Trying to get as close as possible with our 4-track tape (Tascam 424 mkiii) setup for recording and mixing down to 2-track reel to reel (Pioneer RT-707) The “mastering” is just a limiter and an EQ to cut a lot of bass before going to the 2-track reel to reel. The output from the 2-track is then recorded to a computer to send to streaming services.

5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?

I regret selling the original MFB Tanzbär. The sounds were really cool and seventies dusty in just the right way, but the build quality, and the sequencer interface put me off.

6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?

I (Mikkel) have always hated delays…… until I “discovered” tempo-synced delays. So an electric guitar with a tempo synced delay and Jacobs Fender Rhodes.

7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?

Mikkel: A nylon string guitar – it’s just such a lovely and acoustic sound.

Jacob: A vintage vibe electric piano, which is a new instrument, that is a mix of a Rhodes and a Wurlitzer….. but it’ so much lighter than my actual Fender Rhodes from 1985.

8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?

Stupid, stupid computer that we need to transfer our perfectly flawed analog creations from tape to wav-files so that it can uploaded to streaming services.

9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?

The Tascam 424mkiii is really great for our creative process. We record live to all 4 tracks at once and do a mix down to a 2-track reel to reel (Pioneer RT-707). The 424 only has a basic eq and for reverb we just send direct to a spring reverb tank and mix that in when mixing down to the 2-track reel to reel (Pioneer RT-707).

Some people are very talented at mixing – we are not. So we try our best to embrace the “demo-sound” in our recordings. We would never ever be able to make it sound any more professional anyways – so might as well embrace the “sound”, mistakes and all:-)

Artist or Band name?

Oliverhald

Genre?

Nordic electro-acoustic jazz

Selfie?

Where are you from?

We both live in the Copenhagen area of Denmark, but met at gymnasium (high school) in Aarhus, Denmark.

How did you get into music?

Mikkel – My father plays the guitar, and my mother played the organ when she was young.

Jacob – My father played the cello and my brother and sister also played music. I was the only one to keep playing. And the real eyeopener was when I started exploring jazz music. That was so nice!

What still drives you to make music?

It’s so cool to actually make something from scratch that you get to take way way too seriously and nerd-out about full throttle.

How do you most often start a new track?

Most of the time one of us brings a tiny groove/chord snippet to rehearsal, and we build melody and song structure together from there. Sometimes Jacob plays something while Mikkel tunes the guitar or Mikkel plays something when Jacob is adjusting the Rhodes with a screwdriver.

How do you know when a track is finished?

With the very limited recording setup (4-track cassette and 2 track reel to reel) we have, there is not a lot that can be done after recording. We listen back, pick the take that we like the most, do small eq adjustments and mix down to 2-track from there. And then it is done.

Show us your current studio

We rehearse and record in Mikkels basement in Valby.

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

“Don’t overthink it and just do something”.

Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link

We just finished playing 3 gigs as part of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival that we are extremely proud of.

Besides that, we have released our first EP on vinyl and CD:

https://elasticstage.com/oliverhald/releases/sma-album

Our music is of course also on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/70bhgkzt4Sguy8HsNXRWoY?si=kzrtLyDDQYifDa_8g42ycg

Related Yet Random Interviews

Luke Shenton – Breakmaker

1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?

Being relatively new to the world of home studios and recording there aren’t many physical knobs involved in my workflow. HOWEVER, the ‘drive’ knob on decapitator by Soundtoys has really taken a beating over the years. Everything from light saturation to extreme gnarly harmonics and everything in between. I think it was one of the first plugins I bought and has been on every channel strip ever since!

2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?

I am absolutely obsessed with this Meinl Tamborim. For such an affordable little instrument it sounds amazing. The only thing I would change is to add a more durable head but then again it probably wouldn’t sound as interesting as it does. (I don’t think they’re designed to be whacked with a 5B drum stick haha)

3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?

My go to touring set up is a Gretsch Catalina Club. It has been my main kit for a number of years and I don’t really have any intention of changing it. It sounds great in any context and doesn’t take up too much space in a van. Honourable mention to the workhorse that is the Roland spdsx pro.

4 – What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?

I love Yak delay by safari pedals – it would be great if it was a physical pedal that you could manipulate in real time and Death by Audio Fuzz War would make a great plugin.

5 – Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?

I remember my dad having a Sunburst Gibson Les Paul growing up but I was way too young to fully appreciate it. If I could go back id ask him to hold onto it. Don’t have any pictures but I remember she was a beaut. I regret buying budget IEMs. Near enough every show I do is run to a click track so it can be pretty distressing when they start to break. I have since upgraded to a pair of Sennheiser IE 100 Pros and it has been a big relief.

6 – What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?

That’s a very good question. It probably sounds like a very obvious answer but I purchased an sm57 and an Audix d6 in 2020 when I had no gigs and lots of time on my hands and it completely opened me up to the idea of recording from home and I have been obsessed ever since.

7 – If you had to start over, what would you get first?

If I was to start all over again I would get myself some recording equipment from the very beginning of my drumming career. I think being able to hear yourself back is one of the best ways to improve as a musician and really lets you dig into the details of what makes things sound really good.

8 – What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?

By far the most annoyed I have been at any inanimate object is the Roland SPDSX. I absolutely love it but after 10 years of taking it everywhere with me it started to just randomly not turn on. I run tracks on it pretty frequently so that obviously became a living nightmare. A lot of people still use the older model with no issues, but I have upgraded to the newer SPDSX Pro and it has saved me a lot of hassle.

9 – Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?

It’s not something particularly groundbreaking but I really like detuning one or two lugs on a snare drum and leaving the rest at a normal tension. At least from what I can tell it’s not very common tuning practice but I think it’s a great way of achieving a big chunky snare tone.

Artist or Band name?

Luke Shenton

Genre?

I do lots of recording in any genre. My solo work and sample packs tend to gravitate towards electronic music and hip hop. Anything breakbeat related.

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Oldham, UK

How did you get into music?

My dad is a musician and avid gear collector. I spent a lot of my early years surrounded by music and when I was 7 he bought me my first drum kit. I remember seeing him absolutely shredding on it and I was immediately hooked.

What still drives you to make music?

I am constantly experimenting with drums and production techniques and I am always trying to learn. A lot of the time I will just sit down with a record technique I want to try or maybe some software and this more often than not will turn into a more fully formed project. I also just love jamming with my friends and other musicians. I think if I was only ever making music by myself it would be much harder to find the motivation.

How do you most often start a new track?

I think I might have covered some of this in the previous answer but a lot of the time it is just jamming over and chopping up drum loops. There are sessions I have done that will start with a nice chord progression or even just a nice texture or sound. I think as long as I have a rough idea where I want the track to go, the initial inspiration can come from anyway.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I do find this quite challenging as I have a tendency to sit on things for too long and overthink stuff. I think sometimes you just have to say “okay thats done” and leave it alone. Let it exist for what it was at that specific moment in time and move on.

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

“Thought is the enemy of flow” – Vinnie Colaiuta

LINK TO SPLICE PACK

Luke Shenton ‘Northern Breaks’: Drum And Bass Sample …

Splice:

https://splice.com › sounds › packs › test-press › samples