Category: 9-Odd-Questions-For-Music-Gear-Junkies

A Mess – With A Purpose

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

Fender Twin Reverb

I love my amp Fender Twin Reverb with original speaker parts from the early seventies. I bought it mainly because of its superb reverb. Depending on which band I play in – noiserock with Two Trick Pony – I dial the button to the max – or my current indieproject A Mess – I only turn it to 4 as I like a more dry sound.

It looks cool as well without its coating I think, although I bought it secondhand and didn’t do the make-over.
I am very inspired by the ‘wall of sound’ guitar sound and this reverb does the trick.

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

I have tried a lot of different pedal setups, but now I am quite satisfied. Especially with the overdrive pedals. I miss space for my electro-harmonix tremolo though, but when I play on my own amp I don’t need the Holy Grail and I switch them up.

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

Yamaha Travel Guitar

My travel guitar with a pick up, it fits nicely in on the train, but sadly enough it isn’t small enough as hand luggage on a plane. I sometimes use my iRig pro, so I can record bits on my iPad when I am on the go.

iRig Pro

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

I wish that my Twin Reverb wasn’t that heavy and it would sound as good live on an amp-simulator pad. But it doesn’t. I need that authentic feedback.

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

I love my Bariton Fender Jaguar, but it is very hard to play and I haven’t played on it live yet. I find it difficult due to the different tuning and the neck distance is of course much wider than on my normal Strat.

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

Definitely my pink Fender Strat American model – I choose and mixed the colour myself when I got it repainted. It inspires me, and gives me the ‘don’t give a fuck riot grrl’ push to create when I am low on self esteem and energy.

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

I wish I had invested in the vocal pedal TC Helicon ages ago. I use the dub effect a lot to give my voice a fuller body (yes I am body positive!). And it boosts my perception of my own vocal capability.

TC Helicon Voicelive Play

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

My shoe gazer pedal – custom made – which I found on a venue where a band had forgotten about it and never returned to fetch it. So now I use it for white noise, but it is really sensitive and the buttons are loose, so I never know if I push it to far. And when it is pushed to far, then it is unbearable to listen to.

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

How much easier it is to make lead guitar riffs when you use a loop station, it is great for composing and practice. But hard as fuck to use live.

Artist or Band name?

A Mess aka. Dorte Hartmann.

Genre?

A one-A one-woman army in front armed with electric guitar, honest as hell. The sound relies on early nineties vibes and current indie. Imagine if The Breeders actually breeded Wolf Alice and wrote songs sent with Snail Mail over the Atlantic to arrive in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Northern Jutland in Denmark, but currently residing in Copenhagen.

How did you get into music?

My boyfriend in high school played the guitar very passionately and I made a choice either to hate the guitar and be jealous of it OR get a guitar and learn to play myself. I chose the latter. And these days he is a graphic designer and doesn’t play anymore although he was extremely talented. I still play.

What still drives you to make music?

I am not very good at playing guitar, it has been very hard for me. I am lefthanded but play right hand guitar, so it has always been a challenge to get the rhythm right. I am self-taught as well. A lot of people over the years have laughed at me and my music behind my back, even my own family. I guess I am born very stubborn, they shouldn’t get the last laugh. So I still play.
Though I wish that I had taken some lessons earlier on both guitar technique, audio recording and general music theory, it would have helped me a lot and maybe boosted my confidence earlier on. And I love music, it’s my greatest love and maybe the only one that’ll last forever.

How do you most often start a new track?

By playing around on the guitar until I find a nice riff or chord structure.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I remember it the day after without having recorded it.

Show us your current studio

A Mess’s studio surprisingly not a mess

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

If you apologize to the listeners during a listening session of the track, it is not finished. Finish it and correct the flaws.

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

Are You Allowed:

  • to fuck your way to the top?
  • hate average people, but be quite ordinary?
  • get drunk on life – and on the cheapest champagne you can buy?

YES? Then here’s your soundtrack.

Dorte Hartmann is the woman behind A Mess. The name ‘A Mess’ is in Danish called ‘Et Rod’ – the same as D o r t e spelled backwards.  She is head on and fucks with predefined notions and expectations. A one-woman army in front armed with electric guitar, honest as hell. The sound relies on early nineties vibes and current indie. Imagine if The Breeders actually breeded Wolf Alice and wrote songs sent with Snail Mail over the Atlantic to arrive in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark.

A Mess already received Danish national airplay even before her first single is out: A Mess is loaded with feminine stories on topics such as not wanting to have kids, binging sex partners and fucking your way up the career latter. Her upcoming release ‘Snapshots of a WO/man’ – is in the making. It is a crossover of music, web-documentary and gender discussions. Live in concert, A Mess is a two-piece, with just drums and guitar.

I am working on releasing my first debut single as a part of a art project ‘Snapshots of a Wo/Man’ which is in the making. It is a crossover of music, web-documentary and gender discussions.  So follow my insta account. Here the beast will be released in 2020  – loaded with feminine stories on topics as not wanting to have kids, binging sex partners and fucking your way up the career latter.

Find me on:

Instagram

[Editor: Do you have any of the gear in this article? Then why not share a tip or trick? Leave a comment below]

R Beny – Ambient Auteur

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

It would have to be the giant knob on the Orthogonal Devices ER-301 Sound Computer. It’s exceptionally smooth, without feeling loose or wobbly. Its size and feel are welcome, considering it’s the only way to navigate throughout the module.

Orthogonal Devices ER-301 Sound Computer

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

I’ve tried out many reverbs throughout the years, and the OTO Bam is probably my favourite. The one thing that’s keeping it from being perfect? There is no continuous control over the filters, only switchable settings. That’s not enough to keep me from loving it though.

Oto Bam

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

I can’t remember the last time I went on holiday that didn’t involve playing shows/touring. The setup always varies depending on travel. If I’m travelling within the United States, I tend to bring out my 7U eurorack case + an Analog Heat (my secret weapon during live shows) + another piece of gear that rotates out depending on what I’m working on at the moment. If I’m travelling internationally, I have a smaller eurorack case I bring out, and a few other smaller items like pedals and CV controllers.

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

Maybe Borderlands Granular on iOS. But part of what makes Borderlands so great is its touchscreen controls, so maybe it wouldn’t be as good without an iOS screen. It’s one of my favourite implementations of granular.

It would be really interesting to have the Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus in software. Sometimes it’s so beautifully unpredictable, but I wouldn’t be lying if I sometimes wanted some kind of predictability in certain situations. I really like tape and cassette emulator VSTs for much of the same reason. There is some kind of magic with unpredictable devices, but sometimes that requires getting through the issues (“where is that noise coming from?!”).

Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus

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

Anything I’ve ever regretted selling, I bought back again. Mutable Instruments Elements would be an example of that. Bastl Microgranny another. For the most part, as long as something wouldn’t be hard to acquire again, I don’t have an issue moving on. I don’t like to keep things around that I’m not using or intend to use actively.

I can’t say I really regret buying anything either. If it turns out I’m not gelling with something, I don’t feel regret. It’s easy enough to move onto the next thing.

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

Mutable Instruments Clouds. What can I say? I love effects. I love granular. Clouds has been a staple in my setup on every release I’ve put out. It just has a certain magic to it, a certain character. Like how tape or old samplers have a certain character. Whatever sound source I run through its many different modes, I still feel inspired.

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

Honestly, I don’t think I’d change a thing. My first hardware electronic instrument was a Korg Volca Keys (the MicroKorg I bought and didn’t understand a couple of years earlier doesn’t count), and it was the perfect instrument to test the waters of synthesis and hardware electronic gear. I didn’t know if I would gel with synths, and coming from the guitar world, I knew I would better understand something with a physical interface, rather than something in software.

It was a great first synth and its interface was simple enough to help teach me the basics of subtractive synthesis, all without breaking the bank.

[Editor: This is sage advice. Knowing what you need to progress, when you don’t yet know so much, is often clouded by what you want]

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

Cassette Tape Varispeed Knob

I guess if anything, some of my cassette recorders. Sometimes there are noises and hums and issues that are seemingly impossible to diagnose. But I can’t imagine not having any of them. Each of them has their own importance and place in my studio.

8. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of gear?

Using tape loops as an effect, rather than just for looping. With 3-head tape recorders, they often have a setting to monitor the tape as it’s being recorded to, allowing you to have the playback head and record head active at the same time. If you use an endless looping cassette, the tape will just keep going through the machine; through the record head, to the playback head (and to your ears), and getting erased again as it heads back to the record head to repeat the cycle. If you use a cassette that has been played a lot, or has been beat up, you can get some awesome character. This allows you to get that character for whatever you decide to run through the tape machine, instead of being limited to the length of the cassette loop.

Marantz 3- Head Tape Machine

This is probably common knowledge, but I also haven’t seen many people using the endless cassette loops in this way either.

Artist or Band name?

r beny

Genre?

Ambient electronics

Selfie?

R Beny

Where are you from?

San Jose, California

How did you get into music?

I grew up playing guitar and had family members that were musicians.

What still drives you to make music?

The need to express myself and connect to people in a way that I find difficult with words.

How do you most often start a new track?

First, I will try to find a sound I like by making a new patch on a synth, or running something through a sampler or effects. Once I reach that point, I will try to come up with a melody or at least a part of the track to start building around. From there, it’s like doing a puzzle, adding and subtracting other sounds and arranging them until the track match the mood I was trying convey, or if it makes me feel something. There are many parts to this process.

Conversely, sometimes I will start from the point of having a melodic idea or track part before having any sounds in mind and try to find the sounds that fit.

How do you know when a track is finished?

It’s hard to explain. It’s similar to feeling full after eating a meal, but in your brain and heart rather than your stomach. It’s all based on intuition for me…for better or for worse.

[Editor: It is nice to know that the completion of a track or song can come with a sense of fulfilment. So often the process is plagued by frustration or boredom. So this is a nice, positive way to measure the end]

Show us your current studio

Studio Table
Studio Table 2
Tasty Electronics GR-1

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

It’s okay to not feel creative and to take breaks. Keep working on it, but don’t overwork yourself.

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

The label, Dauw just reissued my first 4 albums on vinyl for the first time. Packaged as a 4xLP collection called Seafoam & Dust, each album is also available individually. Beautifully remastered by Ian Hawgood. This has been a project over a year in the making and I’m incredibly proud of how it came together. It can be found at rbeny.bandcamp.com or dauw.bandcamp.com

I also have a new self-released album called Natural Fiction, out now on digital and cassette: rbeny.bandcamp.com/album/natural-fiction

[Editor: There are affiliate links to the relevant gear throughout the articles. It helps to support this blog. In fact, should you be needing some patch cables or guitar strings. Then clicking on one of the above links and buying any product that you prefer, will help the blog… doesn’t even have to be the ones in the link. Thx]

Tæt- a Tete

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

There are two of them – I just can’t choose because they’re like apples and oranges.
The first is the big Level knob of some of Universal Audio devices. A big black knob to control the volume from a microphone! The best I can imagine.

Universal Audio knob

The second is a protected switch you can find on Neve 54 series consoles originally made for broadcasting. It’s red and it’s do something you can regret later – like 1000 Hz tone to line or talkback to line. And you just can’t resist to try it!

Neve console knob

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

Off course I like my equipment and yes, it’s ‘almost’ perfect for me. It has a lot of limitations, but as many musicians I’m keen to explore new ways to make something with them. However since I’ve dived into the eurorack world I discovered how one single new module is able to change everything else in your setup, both in terms of working style and sound at the same time. For example, Synthesis Technology Morphing Terrarium was a whole new world for me and I changed some of my LFOs and filters. Later I moved to E370 which is pretty the same but has more voices, so I had to get several additional modules each with new options, then a new case because the systems gets bigger, and so on. That’s how I learned to control the size of the system.
Recently I’ve started experiments with quadraphonic sound and I definitely have to change my understanding of the mixing process, but it’s a different story and I feel myself at the start of the road again.

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

Every time it’s different: Lap steel guitar or Linnstrument and laptop or baritone guitar with looper. Last time it was a 92hp 6u case with eurorack modules I wanted to learn deeper.

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

For me it actually happened once. When I was looking for an ideal sequencer for my system I found a description of Five12 Vector Sequencer. It was pretty close to the time of the start of it’s production. But it was not clear for me what is VS what it was capable of doing, and also which way it was going to grow by software updates. So I bought the Numerology software just to understand the developer’s way of thinking about sequencing. After that I was so excited about it and now the Vector is one of my best friends. Brilliant piece of gear by Jim Coker.
Also I think that hardware version of Ableton Live workflow would be revolutionary and is a ‘must have’ device for many many musicians.

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

I still miss my black and gold Make Noise Cartesian System. Almost every module in there is awesome.

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

Literally every piece of gear I ever had. It’s quite the same as musical instruments. Synths, guitars, amps, stompboxes… It used to be Oberheim SEM (I’ve started my eurorack journey with trying to find a synced LFO for), Linnstrument, Roland TR909 with SH01, BlackCorporation Decard’s Dream. When I get my Deckard’s Dream it was.. well, sometimes I was not able to stop myself even to hit the record button. I tried new things every day and constantly felt that I live in the science fiction movie (I’m afraid I still feel like that though) DD is the only synth I use now regularly – all the rest stuff is in eurorack.

Black Corp Deckards Dream
An agent of Black Corp

I also should say that I am just delighted by the Strymon BigSky reverb guitar pedal. I can’t resist to use it everywhere – it’s crazy beautiful for ambient parts.
And of course there are so many really inspirational eurorack modules and cases (I have several MDR.modular and Doepfers – love it). Latest module I’ve got is the Dnipro Modular DOT – charming little trigger machine and really useful drum sequencer. In general, from sequencers to mixers – every new single module brings something you have to learn and experiment with. More time you spent – better results you get – it works for me.

Some of them:

  • Doepfer – all modules I have
  • Five12 – Vector Sequencer
  • Synthesis Technology – E352, E370
  • Roland 521
  • Xaoc Devices – Batumi, Tallin
  • Intellijel – Metropolis, Quadra with Expander
  • Mutable Instruments – all I have from them
  • WMD – Performance Mixer
  • Malekko – Voltage Block (a masterpiece!)
  • Eventide – EuroDDL (the best classic delay in euro)
  • Make Noise – QPAS, Mimeophon
  • Winter Modular – Eloquencer
  • Hexinverter – Mutant BD9, Mutant Hi-Hats
  • Audio Damage – ADM14 Boomtschak
  • Noise Engeneering – Basimilus Iteritas Alter, Sync Bucina
  • Dnipro Modular – DOT

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

Oh, It’s simple. Eurorack case 104hp 9u fully loaded and a decent recorder.

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

I think it’s my laptop. I definitely don’t enjoy making (or even just recording) music with computers, but sometimes I have to do it. For example when I am asked for stems, then I’m just not able to proceed with by preferred way (live recording of the only one stereo track) I have to manage a boring multitrack session and all that kind of stuff, just to recreate in software, what I’ve just played.

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

Every session brings something new and seems like it’ll never stop.

  • Most recent: combining two harmonically related sequences by sending them to the same MIDI channel of a synth and then playing with general velocity of each sequence and portamento (glide) slider of a synth. Some sounds will really surprise you and I think a lot of expression can be achieved that way.
  • About a two years ago: clocking some stepped LFO by the same trigger as drum module (BIA for example) and modulate several parameters of the drum and Bass VCO and VCF by that LFO. Absolutely awesome with random LFO – every drum hit becomes different and the whole line instantly gets a personality and vibe.
  • Some relatively simple things like directing ADSR envelope to VCF Cutoff CV input instead of VCA (so you need another free VCA again)

Artist or Band name?

TÆT.music – Vladislav Green

[Editor: Fun fact – ‘Tæt’ with that funny ‘a’, means ‘close’ in danish. Dunno what it means in Russian. Google translate was at a loss]

Genre?

How about Modular Wave?

[Editor: Sounds good!]

Selfie?

Vlad Green

Where are you from?

St Petersburg, Russia.

How did you get into music?

Short answer: singing songs, learning classic guitar, playing in a school band, learning piano, playing in Ned Hoper band, learning Kyma, playing as TÆT.
Long answer: my Mother was a music teacher she shared her love to classic composers with me and music was always near me. She used to play piano at home and we listened to some classical recordings quite frequently. When I was twelve my friend suggest me to form a band. We can’t play anything and have no instruments, but we found old drums just on the empty street exactly at the same day. We brought them at home and since that.. (see the short answer).

What still drives you to make music?

I often think about it, but I really don’t know exactly. There is some feeling inside me – like I’m hungry or something like that. I can’t resist and I’m getting upset when I can’t play.

How do you most often start a new track?

Sometimes I have an idea and it’s better to start working while it’s clear.
Sometimes I have no ideas and it is also better to start working just to get an idea.
There is no choice – I have to start working.

[Editor: That answer really appeals to me! Whether you have an idea or not… there is no choice… just get to work]

How do you know when a track is finished?

There are several markers:
1. Wow it’s great now! Time to record!
2. I’ve run out of patch cables – where is my box with consumer cables?
3. I can’t listen to it anymore – it’s better to record it as is and start something new.
You’ll need all tree markers to finish the track.
Seriously I never know – it’s more about feelings and mood.
Typically the patch is finished far before the point you start to think about recording. A good trick to check – mute instruments in different combinations – you can find that there is one needless or just muddy voice, and you’re fighting with the mix instead of cleaning or muting this voice. Just cut without remorse.

Show us your current studio

It’s a dark place, but I’ll try. I try to keep things as simple and clear as possible. My everyday recording setup: line output of my eurorack mixer into line input of my recorder.
But I keep more a advanced setup in case I need to record stems or just in the mood to experiment with some studio equipment. My favourite device in this department is my Neve 54 – an old twelve channel broadcasting mixing console modded with direct outputs and db25 interface. It has all i need – decent EQ with fixed frequencies, nice sounding preamplifiers and two pre/post aux sends. Also it sounds huge when overdriven. I set up a patchbay to manage connections with my Antelope Orion 32 interface and some outboard I have: three Distressors and API Lunchbox (with 4 API Pre’s and SSL GComp). I also love my TC Electronic 2290 – one of the best delays I ever had. I would add a Roland-201 and some big Lexicon reverb, but I’m pretty happy with what I have. I really rarely use all that stuff, it’s more like production headroom. But things are changing and I’m about to use it more in the nearest future.
Recently I’ve got four Dynaudio BM15A speakers with BM10S sub – they are not too expensive these days. It helps a lot to avoid mistakes, when I play and record at the same time keeping good overall volume to feel the vibe, if I need to play loudly.

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Nothing can motivate you to make music more then having a dedicated space. It’s far more important than a new synth or pair of speakers. If you have just a guitar and an amp in empty studio – it’s more inspirational then having thousands devices in a bedroom. Create your music space. Then just start and never stop.

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

I have a couple of albums on iTunes, but actually I invite you to visit my YouTube channel – I’m trying to start live streaming in a nearest future.

I also always have something fresh on taet.bandcamp.com

[Editor: Do you have a favorite tip, trick or way of working with any of the gear from this interview?
Then throw a comment below…]