1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
The glorious Pultec EQ switches and knobs have the empowering effect of making you feel like you’re doing something meaningfully right. It’s a cruel lie unfortunately.
Pultec EQP-iA3 Program Equalizer
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
The Roland SH-1000 is a magical wild beast. It has it all, mojo-wise and sound-wise – but lacks midi, stable oscillators and a decent keyboard.
Roland SH-1000
Also – Dear Elektron please add 1 more LFO to the Rytm. It’s so close to perfection.
3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
On holiday I will usually try and revert to my other senses, and give my ears a bit of a rest.. but I will occasionally bring a portable recorder to capture a few interesting sounds. (Like my father’s old Kenwood cassette recorder). On tour (it constantly changes..) – Elektron Rytm/Analog4 + Roland AE7 + Moog Phatty/Jen SX1000 + Korg Wavedrum.
Kenwood cassette recorder
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I wish we had more old school “ethnic” arranger keyboards in software emulation. Love those sounds.. and I can’t live without my quarter-tone mini keys:)
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
Yes, stupidity was inevitable, but regret is pointless. Lately I do wish I had my old Oberheim SEM to play around with.😢
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
I would have to give this one to the almighty Tascam 424. It’s how I got my first experience of producing and multitracking music, back in my teen years. I recently recorded my “film Grain” album, on 2 cassettes, tape loops and bucket-brigade delays, so occasionally, it still puts its enchanting spells on me.
Tascam 424
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
I’m pretty sure starting over with only a laptop, or a couple of groove boxes, would not feel limiting in any way.. as boring or predictable as it sounds. But in case of a climate catastrophe or zombie apocalypse, I would probably be stringing a tortoise shell, at some point, and be fully happy starting over as the local weirdo bard.
Tascam 424 and friends
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
I don’t think I’ll get any arguments against this one – surely, it has to be cables.
9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Delay – it makes you play less. Also, manipulating tape speed and sculpting reverb echo repeats, it really wonderfully showcases how music can explore the human concept of time.
Lexicon model 200
Artist or Band name?
LennyTunes
Genre?
Bellydance music Organic House Folktronica Warped Pop Indulgent Ambient
Selfie?
LennyTunes
Where are you from?
I grew up, mostly bare-foot and happy, in a communal agricultural cult, called a Kibbutz. And been living most of my life in the musical, strange and wonderful 4000yo city of Jaffa. It is still my main inspiration and muse.
How did you get into music?
No point in lingering over past mistakes. I formed my first punk band with my school friends at age 10. Since then, I’ve never obsessed over anything as much as I did over music..
What still drives you to make music?
When you love something, you want to study it forever.
How do you most often start a new track?
Usually when I play and stumble on to something I like, find a pretty sound or have a melody in my head.. I keep a short recording of it as a note, and come back to it later, if it’s any good. I have a million of these, because it rarely is.
How do you know when a track is finished?
It’s never finished. You just have to let go. I’ll just (sort of) quote the great Ben Burtt here – Songs are never released, they escape.
Show us your current studio
LennyTunes StudioLennyTunes StudioFender JazzmasterRhodes and Minimoog
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
“Stay true to what you are representing, it’s not about you”. Someone luckily told me that early on.. On a more practical level – If you feel burned or musically empty inside, try just picking up a new instrument to play. Or buy a new synth.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
With my latest release “Fine Sands”, I tried to prove to my self that club/dance/house music can be created with only live-recorded acoustic middle eastern folk instruments, and acoustically amplified synths. I had a great time trying my best. was I successful in any way? Please check it out, my music friends – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3YYNR3x Album Visualizer on Youtube: https://bit.ly/3Xfif8C Tascam Cassette ambient extravaganza: https://spoti.fi/3rSLnzo
1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
Bellari RP220 tube preamp
The gain knob on the Bellari RP220 tube preamp is so damn delicious, especially when hooked to a guitar. What you get is the unique crunch of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Aeroplane Over the Sea. It’s a crunch that I’d been looking to emulate and when I read that Robert Schneider (the producer of that album) did not use any guitar pedals and only used the Bellari RP220 preamp (cranked to the max!), I was determined as a dog to get me one. I found one used and it’s been a love affair ever since.
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
iPad and hardware
When I had ZERO audio gear, an iPad pro helped me realize sounds that were unavailable to me without hardware (special salute to the independent plugin makers). All I had was an acoustic guitar, a mic, zoom h4 and an iPad (along with affordable plugins). I got so much out of them and being on an iPad didn’t feel like I was on a computer. I still use it for recording, but as my journey rolls on, I have actual hardware that have replaced a lot of the digital plugins.
3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
Lately, I try not to take any music gear to really be present and enjoy the place I am at, but I may sneak one of the Dream Machines (OP-1 Field or the Synthstrom Deluge) and either the ultra portable Martin backpacker guitar or the Screaming Heart guitar.
Martin Backpacker acoustic guitar
Another piece of “audio gear” that’s been surprising is an apple watch. Especially as an unobtrusive recorder, it’s been so damn handy to capture ideas and for field recordings (or for recording doctor appointments!). Very handy.
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
Music is an escape and I fucking hate computer screens! I write emails and work on a f’n computer all day and when it’s time to go in to the happy place of making music and writing poetry, there’s no better ware than hard-ware.
I collect typewriters, tape recorders (4 track and 2 tracks), analog preamps, guitar pedals, among other earthly tools. Don’t get me wrong, digital stuff is still super cool, but there’s nothing like the tactile feel of making music with an actual instrument. So, in short, I’ve spent my musical career converting all the software tools into hardware.
As a side note, I recently bought a Critter & Guitari Kaleidoloop and I’ve been loving the damn thing. The reason that I mention it, is because it brings both software and hardware together to make this unique tool to capture sounds and mangle them on the spot.
Critter & Guitari Kaleidoloop
I truly love this time in our lives where hardware creators make these hybrid software/hardware instruments.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
At a time when I was desperate for money, I sold my OG OP-1 and it felt as if I had sold a friend. Like Tom Hanks losing Wilson. I deeply regretted it.
Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field
Things got better and I got a new OP-1 field and all the gripes and shortcomings I had with the OG were now fixed and I had a new and improved best friend. And if you’re reading this OG OP-1, I am so damn sorry.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Screaming Heart Martin Acoustic Guitar
The Screaming Heart Guitar turns feelings into sounds. She’s a beautiful Martin acoustic-electric and can make sadness come alive, fill the room with angst or make a grown man rage with utter hatred against this cruel world. It is majestic.
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
Another Martin acoustic-electric guitar.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
The Synthstrom Deluge. It is so beautifully annoying. It is a magic machine that is both simple and complex. It is a tactile piano roll that is ready to work at the drop of a hat.
Synthstrom Deluge
What is annoying is my ambition to put in my favorite sampled instruments and make it my go-to instrument that’ll help me create at the speed of thought. A feat that is yet to flourish, but will one day. You’ll see Martin!
When I first saw (21 years ago) how Robert Rodriguez made music for his movies (https://youtu.be/c9-R6Fgzi9c?t=175) I was hooked, now I can achieve this in a super tiny and portable music machine.
9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
I am floored by how cool the compressor sounds on vocals. I have a Bellari Dual Tube Compressor and the sound is magical (paired with the Bellari preamp). The compressor and I are yet to be besties, but every time we work together it is an adventure filled with joy.
Top: Bellari Dual Tube Compressor
Side note: I always had a compressor plugin that works well, but my goal is to get real-time effects (without computers).
Artist or Band name?
Ricky Mendoza on streaming platforms and when performing live we go by Ricky Mendoza and the Screaming Hearts Collective.
Genre?
Folk-Punk
Selfie?
Ricky Mendoza
Where are you from?
From the border between Mexico (Coahuila) and Texas (United States). Got the best of both worlds. Currently reside in Austin, Texas.
How did you get into music?
At 35, I was at low point in my life. I was getting a divorce and my passion (up to this point) was making independent films (I had made 2 films). So, I had no more money (making movies was an expensive hobby) and I had all the time in the world, so I bought a guitar and decided to learn how to sing and play guitar at the same time. Thanks to the wonders of ultimate guitar (the website), I learned some chords and some punk songs. As time went on I discovered a sort of a “fraud”.
The “fraud” was that many of my favorite songs used the same chords that other songs used (and many of them used the same chord structures). This was a huge revelation to me.
I had also read that the most popular songs in the world were written in the key of C and G. This simplified things even more for me.
At that time, I had begun to write poetry and one day, in my small apartment a chord structure started playing in my head. As I was playing the chords with the guitar, I sang the words in melody and like magic, I had invented a song.
I couldn’t believe it. In one sitting and in about 4 hours of work, I had a song. In contrast, each of our independent films had taken about 4 years to make. I was stunned and it was a glimmer of light in those dark times.
I began making more and more songs and that has snowballed into 3 full-length albums, tons of of live shows and collaborating with some amazing humans along the way. It’s been 12 years now and it’s been an incredible journey so far.
Zoom LiveTrak L-20R
What still drives you to make music?
Music is life and there is no life without music. It sounds cheesy, but there’s no way around it.
Marantz Casssette Tape Machine
Even though my genre is Folk-Punk, I love making ambient music. As a kid I loved movies so damn much that I would buy the soundtrack to a film to continue the experience into my daily life.
These days, I’ll turn on my music machines and just get lost in drones, in ethereal sounds and just play (no recording). Just like the thousands of meaningful conversations we’ve all had with our loved ones, it’s a deep connection, I feel like I’m connecting with myself at a very deep level when I play.
Elmyra by Neutral Labs
It sounds pretentious, but here’s the practical reason: Some days are just too damn rough for me. Sometimes I’m really overwhelmed with juggling everything that has to do with life (work, business, family, etc) and having a space where I can just go in and play music for the fun of it is so damn stress relieving. It really is therapy for me.
How do you most often start a new track?
If I’m playing guitar and there’s something that excites me, whether it be a riff or a chord progression, I’d get my most recent poems and start joining the words with the music. Most of the time, the tracks won’t work but I don’t judge. I just let it happen, record the track on my voice notes app and let it sit there for a night.
Pedalboard
I come back the next day, listen and if it excites me, I’ll develop the tune. Otherwise it’ll go into the sea of archives.
How do you know when a track is finished?
Until satisfaction levels are at 100. But it’s interesting (with the passing of time) to hear something that was done in the past and think, “I could’ve done better”. I try not to judge too harshly because as time passes, I’m a different person with a lot more knowledge and more experience so it is very unfair to judge my past self like that.
I like to think of my past work as a diary and to be proud of the work that I could (to the best of my abilities).
My main goal is to make the music that I wish my favorite artists could make if they were me. And since, they’re not, I have to make that music myself but still honor how my favorite songs sound and try to capture that sprit.
Show us your current studio
StudioStudioStudio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
I’ve made little labels all over my office that read “Don’t think. Feel.” This is from the legendary writer Ray Bradbury, who had this sign over his typewriter (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ij8ziAN5pTU).
Don’t think, feel
Another label I have around the office is “surrender control”. This is from author Michael Singer. I’ve been learning to be part of life and try not to control every damn thing. It’s a struggle but that’s where I’m at.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
The latest record is called THE NEW HURT and it’s a 32 minute trip you won’t forget. It’s got songs about emotional breakdowns, rough sex, death and journeys into the unknown.
Take a listen and if you like it please add it to your favorite playlist (it helps a lot).
You can listen or watch the music videos here: rickym.org
1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
The RANDOMISE button on the Korg Opsix
You want a gateway to all possible multiverses of music? The RANDOMISE button on the Korg Opsix will take you there.
Maybe you just want to go to the universe next door. Korg has got you covered: You can set the level of randomisation, giving you everywhere from the tiniest variation on your current sound too.
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
Chase Bliss Dark World
Chase Bliss Dark World. It’s an ugly/beautiful reverb that makes anything sound cool. But … I want it in stereo. DARK on the left. WORLD on the right. Let ‘em twist and twirl together. Let them have babies with two heads and two dark hearts . I digress…
PS. An adjustable loop length on the Chase Bliss Habit would be dope too…
3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
If I need to be agile/mobile/hostile I stick with this: Korg Volca Keys paired with a Zoom G1 Four. The Keys was my first synth, and it was cheap. The Zoom has pretty much every standard effect under the sun – and a 30 second looper. I’ve recently added the Arturia Keystep as a keyboard, because the patented Volca keyboard is a flaming trash heap.
Korg Volca Keys paired with a Zoom G1 Four and Arturia Keystep
Give it another couple of weeks and it might be the Volca FM2 instead though…
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
If Puremagnetik’s Driftmaker delay was a pedal I’d pay a ridiculous amount of money for it without a second thought. It adds such a gritty, messed up ambience to whatever it touches. Blankfor.ms had a hand in it, so you know the lofi is legit.
Puremagnetik’s Driftmaker
I don’t wish any of my hardware was a software plugin* This is not to say that I’m dismissing the digital side of music making in any way, shape or form. Plenty of great artists use it to great effect. I don’t use these tools because I just don’t have much time to play music.
Booting up a computer, opening up Ableton, selecting one of an infinite array of software synths, worrying about CPU usage or RAM – all of this takes time and energy to deal with. I ain’t in a headspace (or a techspace) where I can do any of that quickly or efficiently currently.
My hardware setup can go from POWER OFF to ready to play in about 10 seconds. Maybe a minute if I’ve got some super crazy stereo stuff I want to dial in.
If I had a small, always on computer with enormous processing power next to my synth setup, then I’d definitely be integrating more.
*although I am intrigued by plugins that work in tandem with my hardware pedals. When I have world enough, and time, I’ll be doing some weird n’ wild stuff with the Chase Bliss Plugin for Gen Loss 2 , as well as a user created plugin for HABIT…
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
Moog Mavis
Moog Mavis is the perennial underdog of my setup. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful as a single module in a larger modular setup. Oora Music gets a ton of mileage out of it as part of his suitcase of modules. On its own… you don’t have much to work with and I’m not fully ready to commit to it. In retrospect, I wish I’d saved an extra couple of weeks and grabbed a Make Noise Strega instead. Alas, currently Mavis is a humble lowpass filter for my drum machine.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
I refuse to read the manual for Matt Bradshaw’s Drumkid because I wanna believe that it has a mind of its own. Sure, it’s supremely limited, but everything it does it nails. I randomise a drum pattern, and now I have a drummer that will flick in a little something extra from time to time. It’s a true collaborator – spitting its endless rhythmic ideas my way to play off. I need a good collaborator with an excellent brain to get my fingers working. Drumkid is both.
Drumkid
Heck, a lot of the time I mute the drum channel – all I need is the groove that the Drumkid thoughtfully provides.
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
I started off many a year ago with just a Korg Volca Keys and nothing else for like 5 years. Please note that the Keys sounds like a squealing pig until you grease it with heavy reverb.
Korg Volca Keys
Can you blame me? I was seduced by that wonderful word: ANALOG.
Now I just want a usable sound that I can dial in quickly.
If I could turn back time I’d grab a Volca FM instead and have every DX7 preset ever made loaded onto it. Who needs to properly learn FM synthesis if you’ve got some great presets, right?
Also I’d get a MIDI keyboard for the thing because no-one deserves to be punished with the standard Volca ribbon keyboard.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
Chase Bliss Mood
I love the Chase Bliss Mood. I still don’t know what I’m doing with it half the time. I just did a session where it seemed like all the settings were reversed and maybe the thing is trying to gaslight me. I dunno man…
But when it hits, it breaks through the fabric of reality. Even that basic reverb sounds so weird and warped and wonderful. To say nothing of its DELAY or SLIP modes.
9. The Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Chase Bliss Habit
Treat it right and Chase Bliss Habit can be a mono synth. Firstly you need: ⦁ A constant(ish) sound source/tone. ⦁ Chase Bliss Habit.
Here’s how you do it:
⦁ Set the MODIFY switches to A1. You are now in pitch delay mood. Twisting between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock will pitch your echoes down. Twisting it further either side will pitch your echoes up to the heavens. ⦁ Set the DRY KILL dipswitch up to ON. Now you have no dry signal. This is very important. ⦁ Set SIZE and SPREAD to minimum. ⦁ Set LEVEL to maximum. ⦁ Run your signal through HABIT. ⦁ I like dragging my input cable over a surface for extra loftiness. Radio static is also cool. ⦁ Twist the MODIFY knob to get your note of choice.
Artist or Band name?
the_washington_monument_amb
the_washington_monument_amb
… in retrospect, this name makes me incredibly difficult to search google for. But hey, it’s mine now.
Genre?
Lo-fi ambient. Lofi is a fine way to hide my (currently) novice playing skills.
The Fauna of Lo-fi ambient
Selfie?
[immediately before an exorcism]
Dean Fuller
Where are you from?
The land I live on was called Boorloo before colonisation. Nowadays it’s called Perth.
Perth
How did you get into music?
My parents played me stuff that blew my mind*. My sister played me stuff that blew my mind. My friends played me stuff that blew my mind. I feel obliged to return the favour.
*specifically, in no particular order: Elton John. Frank Zappa. Queens of the Stone Age. King Crimson. Heather Nova. Foo Fighters. South Park: Chef Aid. The Goon Show. Tom Waits. Goreki. Massive Attack. Godspeed You! Black Emperor. David Holmes. After Dinner.
What still drives you to make music?
Vanity. I like that people like my work. Shouting into the silent abyss can get dispiriting.
Progress. Seeing improvement today over yesterday and the day before is awfully gratifying.
Meditation. It’s been a strange few months. I’ve been keeping too much in my mind. The act of creation wipes things away, if only briefly…
How do you most often start a new track?
Korg Opsix
I’ll hear something on my way to work from tybo_ambientsky or shimmery.mp3 or kaicarsonwest do something cool with a piece of gear that I have. I’ll spend the day consumed by the thought. I crib the settings in the margins of my workbook. I imagine all the ways that I can take this and break it and then go ham with distortion and layers until I have an ungainly tower of grain and fuzz. Then I go do it.
How do you know when a track is finished?
When my darling tells me to go to bed.
Bedtime
Show us your current studio
Desktop setup
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Create incessantly and with intention. Be like Prince – record all the damn time, release only the gems. And release gems all the darn time. You are an iceberg; you are a vault. The little that the public sees is supported by the vast volume of work that you toiled on out of sight. Constant introspection and evaluation will make your work better. But only if you make your work.
All but shadows and lights
I’m paraphrasing Father Bronques here. His advice took me from an unemployed student to a photographer charging $200 an hour in the space of a year.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
I have a YouTube that would love a few more followers. Feeling like long, long lofi ambient pieces to sleep to? Do you need to hear tape loops looping forever? This is the place to go.
Spaceman explorering the synthverse
Also @royriverswhite is a good mate of mine doing fabulous art on an early 1980’s Apple MacIntosh. We’re gonna be doing something weird. Together. Soon.
[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]