Vincenzo Gabriele – Estelle Avenue

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

Akai s612 sampler

It would have to be the start and end sliders on the Akai s612. I love the immediacy of playing with those sliders and reversing the sample with my fingers. That tactile feel lets me feel more connected to the sample.

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

It would have to be the EMU Command Station. I love the sound it puts out. Plus the 16 track sequencer and hands on real time sound manipulation that can be had. If I could change something about it, it would be to save presets and programs better.

EMU Command Station

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

Just my iPhone running Koala sampler with either AUM or EG Nodes. I usually can create something I’m happy with using that, without the worry of having expensive pedals/synths/samplers broken, lost, or stolen.

Koala sampler

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

BACKMASK by Freakshow Industries. It’s some type of reverse, but more than just a regular reverse. Whatever it’s doing is usually pretty wild, but sonically pleasing.

Backmask by Freakshow Industries

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

My brother and I bought a Studer A820 8 Track 1 inch machine from a local radio station. Low hours, pristine condition. We made some great recordings, just recording super hot at 30ips. We never did any maintenance on it and so one day (surprise, surprise), it stopped working. I definitely don’t regret buying it, and we haven’t sold it, so I can’t regret selling it. LOL!!
I regret not being able to fix it. (but hope to one day)

Studer A820 8 Track 1 inch machine

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

The Hologram Electronics Microcosm. Once I got that, it allowed me to start thinking outside the box. Giving old cheap keyboard/samplers a whole new lease on life. It inspired me to try and run different things through it to see the outcome.

Hologram Electronics Microcosm

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

Most likely the most powerful iPad Pro I could possibly afford. I believe they are capable of producing incredible results, in such a fast, efficient, portable, and sonically pleasing way.
I just enjoy plugging and unplugging things more. Twisting knobs and pushing faders is satisfying too.

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

Chase Bliss Habit. I don’t know exactly what it’s doing, but I need it on all the time.

Chase Bliss Habit

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

If you split your bass into two channels and run one into the mic input of the Akai S612, and the other direct, (essentially using the Akai as a distortion) you get a bass that really rips and cuts through the mix.

Akai S612

Artist or Band name?

Estelle Avenue

Genre?

Experimental Lofi Ambient Sound Texture Moments

Selfie?

Vincenzo Gabriele aka. Estelle Avenue

Where are you from?

Italian descent
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada

How did you get into music?

My parents bought my sister, brother, and I a Casio keyboard when we were young. I didn’t think much about at the time, but it must have had some affect on me.

What still drives you to make music?

I love creating something new when I can. It’s very therapeutic. A creative outlet.

How do you most often start a new track?

I try to go and create whenever I get the itch to.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I don’t really create tracks. Just moments.
Create something. Upload. Gone forever.
I’m not going to play it live or try and recreate it somewhere else.

Show us your current studio

Tempera Beetlecrab Audio
EHX Q-Tron and Memory Man
Walrus Audio R1 and buddy
Rack FX

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Enjoy the process and have fun.

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

https://www.instagram.com/estelle.avenue


Hissquiet – Blissed Moods

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

Chase Bliss Mood

I’m always fascinated by the range of knobs that there are, but I think my favorite knobs are the ones on the Chase Bliss stuff, I currently have the Mood. They are just so smooth with the ideal amount of tension. They just feel sturdy a well made, like I’ll fade into an effect perfectly every time.

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

Bastl midi looper

I think probably my latest bit of kit, the Bastl midi looper, does almost exactly what I wanted it for, which is to more organically make sequences with midi and overdub CC parameters. It perfectly pairs with my hydrasynth which doesn’t have a sequencer, but I wish it recorded the polyphonic aftertouch of the hydrasynth pads on the initial record. Idk maybe it does and I just haven’t spent enough time tweaking the settings, but that would be really really nice. But other than that it’s brilliant.

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

Elektron Digitakt and iPad

I think my favorite things to bring, are my digitakt and/or my ipad. With a myvolts power cable, a portable charger and some samples, I could really make a whole album on the digitakt. Ipad also is very powerful and has so many music apps that I use in my recordings all the time. Some of my favorites are Spacecraft, Tardigrain and Fugue Machine.

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

Spacecraft app

I wish the Spacecraft app was a pedal or a feature of some groovebox. It’s this granular synth that you can record anything into and make beautifully textured ambient or noise soundscapes. You can get a wide range of sounds out of it. I seriously oftentimes don’t even bother with hi-fi samples and just use the ipad mic, because it just adds extra texture.

VCV rack

This one is kinda silly, but I wish VCV rack was hardware, like, it is hardware right? But the part of it that I want to bring into hardware is the low cost (haha) and also the ability to save patches and arrangements. Which I guess is the point of a modular synth, but still. I haven’t gone down the hardware modular synth rabbit hole yet, but I’ve been using VCV Rack as a way to learn exactly what I want from a system some day.

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

I regret selling my Digitone. It was a really great groovebox synth. I made a whole album on it, Sublunar Reverie, so I decided it was time to sell it and try something else out. Selling stuff is how I justify getting something new and making sure I actually really want the new thing. It went towards the Hydrasynth which I definitely don’t regret buying, but I just wish I had them both haha.

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

Hologram Electronics Microcosm

Hologram Microcosm for sure. I almost don’t want to bring it out when I’m working on something because I’ll spend hours tweaking the modes wondering if the next tweak might be even better than the last, but it all just sounds really great! I have a bit of a thing for granular gear can you tell?

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

I think learning a dynamic instrument like the clarinet was super important to the way I do music, even if I rarely bring it out now. Some folks have said that I have a sort of classical music dynamic going on with the kind of music I make and I probably agree with that. Second though, I’d probably get into synths rather than a guitar, maybe a groovebox like the Digitone or Digitakt if something like that had come out then.

Clarinet

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

Any piece of gear with cat hair on it, haha, no but for real though any connectivity stuff, cables, midi, bluetooth. I think I spend 1/3 my time reserved for making music just making sure things are connected correctly. My studio is not only used for music, but I do my freelance graphic design work there as well, so I can’t really have it all out and connected. In an ideal world things would just work ya know!? 

Cables of all colors

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

The random button on the Hydrasynth is wonderful. It will create a patch for you or you can tell it to scramble up a patch that you already have based on percentages. Sometimes the patches are too wild and I have a blast reeling them into something more palatable to use, but you can end up creating something that you wouldn’t have easily come up with any other way.

ASM Hydrasynth

Artist or Band name?

hissquiet

Genre?

Hmm… maybe ambient music that isn’t really background music? More dark ambient, drone or sometimes I like to get noisy and cinematic.

Selfie?

Ash Farrand aka. Hissquiet

Where are you from?

I grew up and live on the East Coast of the States currently, but I’ve been all over the States. The East Coast feels like home though.

How did you get into music?

I did the whole orchestra/marching band thing when I was younger, but more recently (5ish years ago) I got into music, because I found folks like Hainbach, Anne Annie, and Amulets back in the day when they were doing more “no talking” hardware jams and quickly got a DAW and a midi keyboard and the rest is history.

What still drives you to make music?

Music is my therapy, it allows me to express myself. I really enjoy getting lost in a moment while I’m improvising sound and everything else in the world kind of goes to the wayside for a few minutes. I do it for me first and if others happen to like it that’s a definite bonus.

How do you most often start a new track?

I can start with a sound that’s interesting to me which can kind of evolve into a certain mood all on its own or sometimes I already have a mood that I want to try to capture with a sound. From there I think about how adding effects or layers could elevate or evolve or contrast with what that mood. That’s usually how a track emerges; it’s very emotion-based.

How do you know when a track is finished?

There are 2 criteria for this. When it sounds perfect and there’s nothing I want to change about it or if it’s nearly perfect and I’m simply done working on it. Some might call that laziness, but I can be a bit of a perfectionist on some things so sometimes it’s just best to let go, nobody will notice.

Show us your current studio

Hissquiet studio
Hissquiet studio 2
Hissquiet studio 3

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

I had a rad guitar teacher that really introduced me to the idea that everything can be music. I remember he started riffing off of a fan that was making a rhythmic sound and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities of music.

Slot Drum

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

I’ve got some tapes available of my latest album Solastalgia with Mystery Circles: https://hissquiet.bandcamp.com/album/solastalgia

All the links are here on my website: https://hissquiet.com/