Luke Shenton - Breakmaker - Martin Yam Møller

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