1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
The Cut-Off knob on my Dave Smith – Prophet 6. I use this a lot when I play around with arpeggiators.
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
No, I’m always looking for new things/stuff, although I’m really happy with my Prophet 6 and Korg Poly 61 synthesizers.
3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
My MacBook, a microphone and a guitar to write the basic of a new song/idea.
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I don’t really have a wish like that at the moment.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
Yeah maybe the Roland MC-303, it’s really difficult to program it, so I don’t use it a lot.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
I started playing guitar and I still do, so I guess guitar is the most important instrument for me. Ableton Live made me develop my production and beatmaking skills.
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
Still a guitar, a computer with Ableton and a microphone. And I would still want to learn how to play guitar first, it’s great to learn an instrument so you can play and sing your own songs.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?v
I guess microphones, it is a constant search to find the right one that completely suits your voice.
9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Use Guitar Rig on other instruments than just guitar. You can get crazy sounds when you put a Guitar Rig on synths, vocals etc. and tweak them to a cool sound. And of course the reverse knob in Ableton, who can live without that these days 😉
Artist name
PYN
Genre
Pop/Disco
Selfie
Where are you from?
Bloemendaal, The Netherlands
How did you get into music?
Playing guitar since I was 10, writing and singing since I was 15 I guess 🙂 When I was 21 I started my study at the conservatory.
What still drives you to make music?
Listening to new and old music of other artists drives me to be create, and ideas that pop up in my head drive me to stay creative.
How do you most often start a new track?
It can start by an instrumental idea I have, or a melody or line that pops up in my head.
How do you know when a track is finished?
This is the most difficult part of music. It is never really done, so at some point when I am happy and my team is happy, I send it to mixing and mastering engineers and they finish it.
Show us your current studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Make room for playing while you’re creating. The fun of creating must never disappear.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
My latest releases are the song ‘Spring Fever‘ an up disco track and ‘Night Drive‘ an 80’s duet with MATTEO.
[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…]