ambient music Archives - Page 3 of 3

[Editor: Hey! Look everybody… it’s Hainbach! Wuhu! – But seriously. It gives me great pleasure to present to you this interview with the wonderful artist and inspiration to so many a music gear junkie… Mr. Hainbach101 himself]

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

Genrad 1516. turn one knob and the other knob moves too. Magic!

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

Rohde und Schwarz UBM, best Bassdrum in the world. I only wish it was not 18KG.

Rohde und Schwarz UBM [*Editor: Note the bend in the metal shelf!*]

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

OP-1 for the longest time.

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

Sonic Charge Permut8 should be a hardware box.
I am also working together with SonicLAB to turn an important piece of test equipment music into software. Fundamental it will be called, release is a few weeks away.

[Editor: This is a bit of an exclusive look at the upcoming VSTi. It has a lovely design and I really look forward to trying it out. Will stick a link here when it is released]

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

I wish I had kept my Roland SH2000, but I did not have the money to have it repaired then. Worst purchase was the Roland MC-303.

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

Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus, the endless machine.

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

Koma Elektronik Field Kit and Field Kit FX. These have everything to make a whole lot of music at a decent price.

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

Probably any computer I ever had.

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

Phasers are awesome drum machines.

Artist or Band name?

Hi, I am Hainbach, electro-acoustic composer from Berlin and I talk experimental music and gear on YouTube.

Genre

Experimental and ambient music.

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Berlin, Germany.

How did you get into music?

I started with piano at age six and got hooked at 15 playing keys in a psychedelic rock band.

What still drives you to make music?

If I don’t make music I get withdrawal symptoms and get sad and grumpy.

How do you most often start a new track?

I write every day I can, starting with either a concrete idea or an experiment I set for myself.

How do you know when a track is finished?

A track is finished when I feel it does not want anything from me anymore, and vice versa.

Show us your current studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Best technical advice was three level technique for mixing, which I was introduced to by Tobias Levin. Basically by watching a peak/rms meter and grouping instruments into three level sets you can get a good mix going easily. Here is a video I made on that: https://youtu.be/FZ4XwbCI0Lw

Best Creative advice was a Little Plaque in my parents kitchen that read: the mind grows by what it feeds on. That had an impact on me as a kid, as corny as that phrase might be. It’s in this video: https://youtu.be/fCJdXA0wNTI

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

Check out my new album „Assertion“, wild oscillations and piano loops combining in a colourful world of hope against the the darkness of current events

www.bandcamp.com/album/assertion

[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]

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

Knobs on my Nagra feels very nice to my fingers…. I mean, the whole machine looks aesthetically pleasant. I look at every single detail of it and appreciate all of the design decisions which they made, as well as the rigid construction. And of course it sounds amazing. It records and plays with wonderful tape sound that no software plugins can emulate.

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

I think that’s the essence of the eurorack system! My case never stays the same; it’s always evolving with my taste and creative directions. I can’t put in whatever I want, since the space is always limited, but that’s the best part of it; I use my brain, not computers that can accommodate everything.

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

OP-1 would be my first choice. Mine is full of samples I recorded, and it’s nice to use along with my eurorack system, but of course you can even write a whole song in it. It’s such a rare combination of powerful sounds and nice design. I got mine before the price change…, which was one of the best choices I had ever made.

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

I like Borderlands Granular…., but I think it’s just impossible to realize it on anything other than iPad platforms.

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

I used to own a Martin HD-28. It was a custom design model from the 90’s that came with a bigger sound hole. It had an amazing sound, but I had to sell it for my moving purpose.

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

Eurorack. Every single module I have.

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

There’re too many…, but I think I’ll pick ER-301, because it helps me achieve so many sounds with my eurorack, and I know it’ll never leave my case.

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

Taylor T5. It’s an amazing instrument that does pretty much everything… As an acoustic guitar, it sounds pretty authentic, and as an electric guitar it’s very versatile. With EQ/Preamp knobs on it, you can have both a powerful humbucker sound and a strat-y single-coil sound. I like to browse new guitars and watch demos, but always come back to my T5 and think I may not have to buy anything new… (see photo 5).

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

It’s really small thing, but I recently discovered that the Gozinta, a preamp eurorack module, has jumper switches in the back, and it can push up the input signal up to +36 dB. I often use it to increase input from line-level instruments to eurorack level, or just to crank it all way up to add distortion.

Artist or Band name?

Hiroshi Ebina aka. He_soundvisual

Genre?

Ambient

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Japan

How did you get into music?

I bought my first guitar when I was 12.

What still drives you to make music?

Tons of good music, regardless of genres, that people today keep making.

How do you most often start a new track?

I post videos on my Instagram, and they’re often about seeds of my new ideas. If it turns out well, I record it for my future works.

How do you know when a track is finished?

That’s very tough to say, but I don’t think I can really finish a song within a day or two, since I need to leave it for a while to really decide if I’m doing it right. It could be a few weeks, a few months, maybe a year. I need some time to leave it under a bed to look at my own work from a different perspective.

[Editor: I really dig how Hiroshi’s visual and sound aesthetic ties in so nicely with his concept of using time to create perspective]

Show us your current studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Limit your choices, or something like that, said by Brian Eno. I definitely agree with his ideas, that a lack of options is the best tool to get inspired to set a direction for creative works, not an abundance of options.

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

I’m releasing a new album very soon via KITCHEN. LABEL (once this virus outbreak settles down…)

https://www.kitchen-label.com/artists/hiroshi-ebina/

[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…]