1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?
Korg Minilogue Filter/Resonance/EG Knobs. Being that this is my only piece of gear that has knobs, I am more than satisfied with the sounds that can be achieved. The possibilities are infinite. I look forward to purchasing knobs in the future and creating my own modular synth unit. I recommend the Korg Minilogue as a great start for anyone interested in enriching their sounds.
Filter Cutoff Korg Minilogue
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
Korg Concert 3500. At the moment I am building my studio so all my equipment has a unique use for now. Unfortunately the sound quality of this vintage piece is of poor condition and needs heavy repair.
3. What setup do you bring on holiday/tour/commute etc.?
Akai MPK Mini
Laptop/Akai MPK Mini/Casio MT-240. For travel sake the Akai MPK Mini and the Casio MT-240. Both are lightweight and when combined, provide the essentials needed for recording ideas outside the studio. I have yet to perform and personally prefer making sounds as a therapeutic outlet.
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
Garage Band is the only software I have been working with and it’s running a very old version of the program which I am not complaining about.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
I could eventually regret all the cheap gear I am purchasing right now. Most likely I will hand it off to someone starting their own set-up. I personally don’t regret my buys because I learn from them. I have not sold anything at the moment.
Keys galore
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Korg Minilogue. This is my first and only expensive piece of gear as of now. Most of my equipment has been collected and repaired.
Korg Minilogue
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
A new laptop. I still need to buy one with better music software that doesn’t run at a glacial speed. It’s been a challenge but I’m surprised at what I have produced.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
My damaged Korg Concert 3500.
Korg Concert 3500
9. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
All my cheap equipment surprises me if used properly. It’s not the gear it’s the artist.
Artist or Band name?
ARC Ambient
Genre?
Ambient/Dark Ambient/Other
Ashely Cronon
Where are you from?
California
How did you get into music?
I’ve been a band nerd since 3rd grade.
What still drives you to make music?
MUSIC
How do you most often start a new track?
It’s a therapeutic process for me so it depends on my mood.
How do you know when a track is finished?
I make short samples. I tend to let the tracks sit for a while and open them back up with fresh ears.
Show us your current studio
ARC Ambient Studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
I don’t like to waste notes not even one – Johnny Marr.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?
The Davies 1600 on my spring reverb drive/recovery box. It’s a clone of the large knobs used on the old buchla modules. Great size and grip.
A sweet Davies 1600 perfect for a spring reverb
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
My Les Paul is my favorite instrument. It’s got a 50’s style round neck, which is just the best thing I ever played. It’s hard to keep in tune and makes weird ground noises sometimes, but I have no plans to change anything on it except the knobs which I switch out at least once a month.
Gibson Les Paul
3. What setup do you bring on holiday/tour/commute etc.?
This summer holiday I brought a mic, mixer, reverb, looper and a recorder. I’m staying at my parents house for a few weeks and there are a lot of instruments here, so I only brought “utilities”.
TC Ditto X4 and an Shure SM57
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I have a lot of digital recreations of classic compressors that would be great to have in real life. Of course they are all crazy expensive so that’s never gonna happen, but generally I wish I had more hardware compressors, both pedals and rack gear.
A crappy speaker
For software I would love a “crappy speaker” simulator type thing. Like a combination of eq, distortion, compression, noise and whatever else. Maybe with an overdrive or a “slash the speaker with a knife” option.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
I think both apply for my Lyra 8. I don’t really regret buying it, it’s great and sounds amazing, but I never found a way to use it in any of my setups. I was convinced it would be perfect for me, but I never really became friends with it. It’s been with me for a year now and I think it’s time to let it go soon, but I know I’ll regret selling it. Buying the wrong gear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you’ll learn about what fits you and what doesn’t.
Lyra-8
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Loopers. Ditto x4 is my main one at the moment.
TC Electronics Ditto X4
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
Guitar, amp and a DD-7, just like the first time around!
Boss DD7
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without
The entry level Acer I’ve been mixing on for the last 8 years. The amount of hardware errors and lack of processing power justified switching it out maybe 5 years ago, but I’ve made it a challenge for myself to keep old computers alive. I can spend money on more creative equipment and as long as it does not slow me down too much and I’m still outputting a fair amount of music, I’ll use whatever switches on. That said, I plan to build a proper production computer this fall.
Acer PC
9. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Relating to the previous question, mixing with very little resources teaches you a lot of tricks. E.g mixing vocals and music for one song in different project files. I do a hip hop project on the side with my friends and it’s just not possible on my crappy computer to mix all the tracks of a hip hop song in one project. What I do is mix in parallel in two different project files, so I do the beat in one project and the vocals in another. Once I have a rough mix of the vocals I export that as one track into the beat project, then do adjustments to the beat, export just the beat and put it in the vocal project, then do adjustments to vocals based on the new beat. And I go back and forth like that several times.
Bonus: I just discovered a new stereo spread mode on my DD-7 after having owned it for maybe 15 years.
Artist or Band name?
Gard Osen
Genre?
Experimental and Ambient
Selfie?
Gard Osen
Where are you from?
Bergen, Norway
How did you get into music?
Started with guitar when I was 13, playing rock.
What still drives you to make music?
The reasons to make stuff change all the time but I still get the same feelings now when I’m making something new as when I first started writing songs.
How do you most often start a new track?
Practically, it’s different every time. Sometimes it’s inspiration and sometimes it’s necessity.
If a sound is inspiring, I start from that. If something just needs to be made, I usually come at it from a mixing perspective, probably starting with drums.
How do you know when a track is finished?
Depends on the project. I’m usually happy when there is no element in the mix that can distract you or take you out of the experience, and there is a distinct sound and atmosphere.
If I do deep and long mixing processes it’s mostly for the learning experience, but that’s a luxury I rarely afford myself.
Show us your current studio
My 30m2 apartment functions as both workshop and recording studio. A lot of stuff gets packed up and down from storage boxes on a daily basis, so I don’t have a permanent setup. This is my current writing/playing stand:
Gerd Olsens Studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Something that television creator Dan Harmon said in an interview really resonated with me.
It’s about writing for television but it can definitely apply for music as well. He talks about how one source of procrastination can be that you have too high expectations of yourself and on which level you should be able to produce. Working a lot with music but creating very little output was definitely a problem for me for a long time and I think he hits on some great points that I have thought about a lot.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
Besides making music I also make music equipment under the name Tilde Elektriske Kretser. I’ve made a lot of guitar pedals, but the latest thing is the Fjærlett – an audio feedback instrument using reverb springs. Check it out here:
1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?
The speed selector of the Uher 4000 Report-L. You have to push it down and drag it like a gear lever, so satisfying.
Uher 4000 Report-L
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
The Tascam Portastudio 424. It’s a 4 track tape recorder, you can adjust the pitch by more or less 4 semitones, you can switch the speed from « high » to « normal » and to « slow », that’s pretty unsusual for a tape recorder, it distorts well when you record a hot signal, it has a good and effective EQ, panning for each track. Only regret is that there is no xlr input and no phantom power to use condenser mics with it – but this is not really a problem, I use a portable phantom power supply -.
Tascam 424
3. What setup do you bring on holiday/tour/commute etc.?
For sure my Volca FM, a tape recorder or a dictaphone, my shortwave radio and a Zoom MS70. (However, when I’m on holidays (which is rare), I don’t do music that much (if I do, its generally field recording))
Volca FM, tape recorder, shortwave radio and Zoom MS70
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I don’t use that much my computer when I produce music. Of course, I edit/mix my tracks with it, especially when tape recorders are too noisy using a denoiser or to compress a little bit using Klanghelm’s MJUC, or to arrange the stems. However I tend to say that iZotope’s Iris 2 would be great in hardware.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
Not really a regret because it’s objectively a great synth, but the MS20 (mini) doesn’t really suits me. It’s the first synth I bought when I started – because it looked cool with the patch panel, I felt like a mad scientist or some shit – but I rarely managed to use it in my music, even though some patches are unique and amazing. Sold it 1 week ago because I’m low on money.
Korg MS20 mini
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
The Minilogue has definitely inspired me a lot, especially the mono voice mode – highly underrated imo -. You can bring a sub oscillator, detune you 2 vco a fourth, a fifth or just a little bit, affect your lfo to the pitch or the shape – to get some shifting in the sound – at a really slow rate and you get a massive sound on the lower notes. Also, the sweet spot on the Q of the filter is really nice. The built-in delay is incredible too, noisy as hell and dirty, absolutely perfect.
Korg Minilogue
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
I would get the Yamaha VSS-200. The sampling section is insane on this one, I use it a lot in my music production. I sample basically anything and everything, from other synths to acoustic instruments such as flute, guitar, even my voice, and it sounds so gritty, lovely. I made this demo on my YouTube channel, to show how it sounds like: https://youtu.be/vxlvFDanYbo
Yamaha VSS200
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
The Casio CZ-101. I love this synth, great evolutives sounds and has a warm character for a digital one, but it erase all the presets you’ve done if you don’t use it for two days. It uses those big expensive batteries (type D I believe), and I didn’t figured out yet how to mod it so it can use standard AA’s batteries. It’s a pain to program too, especially the enveloppes, so I use my iPad and Patch Base to edit my presets and manage them.
Casio CZ101
9. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
The generation loss technique. It’s mostly known for vhs, but it works with regular cassette tapes as well. When you record something into a tape, and sample it back into another tape, you experience the generation loss. And each generation sounds « worse » than the previous one, with more artifacts. I use it a lot with my two vcrs, but sometimes I also use two walkmans and bounce my stem from one to another. Experienced it on this little snippet on my Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/p/CBLj1X9o4De/
(you can hear the dropouts and the subtle wow and flutter as soon as I engage the vcr)
VCRs
Artist or Band name?
PROJECT NULL
Genre?
Electronic
Where are you from?
Draveil, France
How did you get into music?
When I was 17 years old, I watched on YouTube a drum solo by Joey Jordison, drummer of Slipknot, I was impressed and I wanted to play drums.
What still drives you to make music?
Making stuff that I would like to listen to, I mean, I put a lot of pressure on myself, I don’t want to share anything if I am not ok with it.
How do you most often start a new track?
I start by finding a chord progression or a melody. Then, I work the sound on a synth, depending on the type of sound I’m looking for I’m gonna use a different synthesizer or a different effect chain. Finally, I record it into my tape recorders, reel to reel or vhs, and if I want to give it some mood I resample it again and again, degrading it until I like the result. Then, I add other stems, like some noises, samples from my own stuff, some radio interferences, field recordings… Recently, I even tried to add subtle rhythm (recording real drums/various percussions mixed with electronic sounds) but I’m not really satisfied by the result.
How do you know when a track is finished?
Honestly, I don’t know, I am never satisfied by how my track ends.
Show us your current studio
Project Null StudioProject Null StudioProject Null StudioProject Null Studio
Sorry for the bad light, its a very tiny room (less than 7 sqm) without any window, so no natural light. Lots of mess too, especially on the last photo, and the « light spots » I use for my videos are two Ikea’s light with tissue to avoid too much reflection (hmm I should buy proper lights at some point)
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Less is more. I often want to add too much but I realised that, sometimes, when I « clean » my Ableton session by removing stems, it sounds much better.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
I released my first album on march, you can listen to it on every streaming platform you use – I put a Spotify link here but it is on every streaming services -.
