Martin Yam Møller

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

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

Florian Meindl – Technaustrian

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

The large volume knobs on the Rane 2015 mixer – they are a combination of metal and rubber I think that’s the best it gives the solidness of metal and the isolation and softness of rubber. It’s a shame that often 100% plastic knobs are being used and if they wobble it feels really bad and cheap. The only plastic knob I like is on the 303.

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

The Erica Synth Zen Delay, I would use metal rubber knobs of course and add some CV inputs to be able to connect it with the modular synth.

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

Nothing because holiday for me is about forgetting all things related to Techno

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

Arturia Efx Motion would be awesome in the hardware world in one box, parts of it can be built in the modular synth but it’s complicated and needs a lot of modules.

Hardware I think everything is already existing which I have but I use the hardware in case. Maybe the Tube Tech Multiband compressor but I guess there is a software emulation already.

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

I sold 3 near mind Technics 1210 when I moved to Berlin in 2006 for all together 750€ and then I had to buy 3 turntables back years later in worse condition for the same price per turntable so 3 times as expensive. But I was not able to transport them back then anyways and I needed the money.

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

The modular synth.

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

If I had nothing then of course speakers (Eve Audio SC4070) and a budget Audio Interface and to start to produce music I would get Ableton plus some Riemann Kollektion Techno sample packs because it gives the quickest and best results for the investment – but the next thing would be stomp box effects and a modular case and modules and analog synthesizer. Last I would get outboard effects like compressors.

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

The Boss KM-60 Mixer – it’s amazing for saturating sounds but it distorts very fast if the input is too loud and it has too much noise and mine also crackles if I move the volume knobs. But I would not sell it it does amazing saturation, wet soft and silky.

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

An extremely simple trick not many people use but they should: Routing a copy of the output of a synth or headphone output back into an external input of the same synth – this way a really nice internal saturation can be archived. And also adding in this chain a stomp box like reverb, chorus or delay can give really nice or wild results.