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.
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
