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Christian Colabelli – Metalicious Pedaler

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

I would have to say that it’s the pickup selector on my guitar. I think a five-way super switch is essential to my style. There is so much sonic territory and versatility on tap simply by switching pickup positions. It allows me to become a chameleon and tackle any genre I’m trying to cover. I should add that in conjunction with the tone and volume knobs, the tonal possibilities are endless. I feel this is often glossed over by the vast majority and I can never understand why!

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

I’ve been endorsing Strandberg Guitars over the last several years. I love everything about them: the ergonomic design, weight relief, playability and sound. Maybe I would drop a middle pickup in on my seven-string version… I don’t know though… It sounds incredible as is.

Also, I have to give a shoutout to Pickboy Picks which I’ve endorsed for ten years now! The Pos-A-Grip Jazz 1.5mm in Tortoise Shell is unrivaled in my opinion: http://www.osiamo.com/christianColabelli I have a graveyard of picks that I’ve spent an inordinate amount of money on over the years in search of the perfect plectrum. I feel that tone is in your hands and the right pick is essential. I’ve tried pretty much everything out there and I can honestly say that this particular pick is the one for me. I can’t live without it!

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

The above picture displays my board from 2020 NAMM. I built this for Eventide demo purposes, and it magically fit into an overhead bin on the plane! My fusion band, Surreal Measures also played at the Eventide Booth and this setup covered everything I needed sonically. This was one of the last live shows I played before the pandemic hit so I’m looking forward to taking this rig out again soon!

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

The luxury of working at Eventide is that we have such a wide range of hardware and software available. I truly feel like I’m covered. Not to mention, we have some crossover between the platforms in certain products. I think I’m spoiled!

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

Hmmm… I used to be a guitar hoarder of sorts (I still am). I sold a Peavy EVH Wolfgang, Gibson Les Paul Standard, Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, PRS Custom 22 Brazilian Limited, Ibanez Prestige S5470SOL and this wild high-end USA parts-telecaster called a Voodoo Special that some guy on ebay used to sell years ago that I probably should have kept! I miss them all. Oh man… I can’t go down this road again… It’s a dark void…

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

This is a really tough question… Maybe the Yamaha THR10X practice amp/interface purely because of the ease of use (for recording purposes)… not to mention… it sounds great!

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

I don’t know if I would do it differently. My first electric guitar, a Gibson “The Paul II” is still very near and dear to me. I actually used it for the Eventide Blackhole demo content! I have no regrets and I feel this instrument really shaped my playing.

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

Probably a USB mini cable because it’s essential to link the Eventide dot9 and Rose pedals to Eventide Device Manager – our free editing software… I have five of them now because there was a period where they would just inexplicably disappear into the ether. They are truly the bane of my existence!

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

This: https://www.talkingbass.net/grolsch-straplock-trick-for-bass/ This is INVALUABLE! And… you kill two birds with one stone… or… something like that!

Artist or Band name?

Circuitry – https://circuitry.bandcamp.com/

Sightharvest – https://sightharvest.bandcamp.com/releases

Surreal Measures – https://surrealmeasures.bandcamp.com/

Genre?

Circuitry – Progressive Metalcore

Sightharvest – Instrumental/Progressive Metal/Fusion

Surreal Measures – Fusion

Selfie?

Where are you from?

New Jersey, USA!

How did you get into music?

I was exposed to music and music instruction at an early age. My parents were always playing a variety of genres around the house. They initially signed me up for piano lessons when I was 7 years old… from there I transitioned to viola… then to saxophone (which I ended up playing for 9 years). At age 13, I begged them to get me a guitar and finally they acquiesced and there was no turning back. It was full immersion. To say I spent a lot of time in my bedroom, endlessly practicing is a vast understatement.

What still drives you to make music?

It’s a never-ending quest. Music is a lifelong study: there’s always something to learn and perfect. I’m always trying to incorporate new aspects and nuances of the language. There are so many absurdly gifted and inspiring players. I really enjoy transcribing lines from the masters and then making them my own. I think the driving factor is continuously trying to develop my voice. I want to sound like myself! That’s a simple statement but when you dissect it, you realize the quagmire it becomes.

How do you most often start a new track?

It really depends on what I’m working on and who I’m working with. I can easily adapt to other musicians’ workflows as I’ve done a lot of studio work. If it’s my own stuff, I will usually just have a loose goal/harmonic concept in mind and have a guitar in my hands and start playing around until something sticks. Once I get an initial motif, I record a short video so I don’t forget (as I’m constantly writing and everything is in flux) and then I dig in to develop it.

How do you know when a track is finished?

Well, there’s a DaVinci quote that has always resonated with me: Art is never finished… only abandoned… That couldn’t ring truer. A track is finished when every avenue and minute detail is exhausted and you finally decide to walk away from it!

Show us your current studio

I leave the production to the pros… Here is a picture of Matt’s studio (he plays with me in Sightharvest and is also a producer/engineer by trade. This is the setup we used for the EP we just recorded:

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

“Life is full of mistakes. Don’t be afraid to make one in your playing.”

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

Here is a link to my website: https://www.christiancolabelli.com/ which links to everything I’m working on…

I just finished recording the newest Sightharvest EP which is a melting pot of genres. It’s a heavy instrumental project that was originally going to be video game music. However, during the writing process of the first record, we realized that it was destined to be more. It became the aural equivalent of the premise of a video game meaning: each track is like a video game level, that progresses in intensity. Hopefully we will have a release date soon!

I also started my own fishing website/brand: https://www.bigfishsynergy.com/ I’m an avid bass fisherman and it’s been fun to immerse myself in finally devoting the time to making these fishing videos that combine fishing education, comedy, music and art.

Christian also plays the 1-string for super heavy bass!

[Well, hey-deli-hoo dear Reader – Who would you like to see do an 9 Odd Questions interview? Throw some suggestions via comments below…]

Joseph Willem Ricci-Anima&Ennui

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

Fender Ramparte goes all the way up to 16!

My amp goes up not to 10, not to 11, but all the way up to the hilariously arbitrary number of 16. It’s a Fender Ramparte, and although it looks like it belongs on the stage of a hushed, smoky, late-night show at an upscale 1950’s jazz club, it—well… as Music Radar puts it—”requires anti-social volume levels to avoid intrusive hum”. Honestly, it’s a bit of a gimmicky amp which I’m not particularly proud of, but I do genuinely love that its two volume knobs are its only knobs. No tone, no drive, no reverb. Keep it simple.

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

The Walrus Audio Slö reverb pedal is my baby. It’s whole thing is that it pitch-modulates the wet signal. I plug my acoustic guitar into it when playing live, and when subtly mixed in, it creates the subconscious sensation that everything is slightly moving, like a boat in an easy current. It’s a really musical pedal, and I like to adjust the mix while I’m playing to give the guitar an element of changing depth, but holy hell do I wish you could plug an expression pedal into it, because turning the tiny mix knob with my right foot while playing a difficult guitar part and singing requires way more concentration than is actually reasonable.

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

I’m one for bringing a guitar with me just about everywhere I go.

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

Well, the hardware of this software does already exist, but I don’t own one and sure, I wouldn’t mind if I did. That’d be the hardware version of the Minimoog iOS app.

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

In October I had a really remarkable week in which I broke my Martin (like, I mean smashed it), computer, phone, bike (twice) and rain jacket. I panicked and sold my classical guitar, a really nice Takamine TH90. I wish I would have just taken a couple extra days to breathe before letting it go, because the world always has a way of coming through for you when you need it to.

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

Lately, my newest toy, a Korg Minilogue XD has been opening up a whole new world for me. I don’t know how to play anything on the keys except for the intro to “Roses” by Outkast, so it’s been an amazing exercise to sit down and write with no focus on melody, chords or structure, and instead get my head deep into exclusively texture, color, tone, and movement. And it’s been interesting to discover that, after years of writing songs only on guitar, a piece can feel complete without any of the former qualities, as long as it meaningfully explores the latter ones.

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

One good microphone. I recorded most of my band’s album on one of those cheap Audio Technica mics. There’s a lot that I would do differently if starting over, but at the very least I wish I knew that as soon as that precious frequency spectrum enters that black hole of a microphone, much of it is never coming back.

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

My Martin 00-15. Although I had already been playing guitar for almost fifteen years before getting it, it was my first ever really nice guitar. It’s warm, responsive, has subtle, nuanced overtones and overall is just a joy to play. But, what I didn’t expect when I got it, is that it shows me how much better I could play. On a shitty guitar, the difference in sound between playing something well and playing something poorly isn’t really that big. But on this one, a perfectly played chord or passage—with just the right fretting pressure and position, just the right picking contact point between fingernail and fingertip, just the right balance in emphasis of the bass, middle and treble lines, just the right transition between chords while the resonance from the last one lingers in the body for a moment… you get the idea—sounds and feels SO good that, while it has taught me to become a more sensitive player, it has also made it abundantly clear how much subtlety there is to the instrument, and how far there is to go.

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

If you have a guitar, buy a gig bag and go for a bike ride. At some point during the ride, fall off your bike directly onto your back so your guitar catches your fall and smashes under your weight. Then find a luthier or repair person to fix it, and voila: your guitar will sound even better.

Jk. Def don’t do that. Maybe a more useful tip: I always wanted to play the sounds of nature on my analog instruments. This little set up gets pretty close to that. I take a cassette with the sound of running water, birds chirping, or wind in the trees, and merge the signal together with the signal of my guitar or synth. Then I run the merged signal into my Walrus Slö reverb pedal on auto-swell and with 100% wet mix. Since the auto-swell reverb tail is triggered by change of amplitude, it acts as a gate for the soft, ambient nature sounds. But when you play your instrument, it triggers the auto-swell, letting through the merged signal of the instrument plus the sound of running water.