LennyTunes – Beats from Jaffa’r Away

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 Studio
LennyTunes Studio
Fender Jazzmaster
Rhodes 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


Kevin McKinney – QueTheWash

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

Cooper FX Generation Loss V1 mix knob.  Something about the oversized knob, the smoothness with which it moved, and the symmetry of the 6 knob setup with the mix knob proudly in the middle…I ended up parting ways with it to fund the V2 and i have to say, i miss that knob.

Cooper FX Generation Loss V1

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

The Digitakt is so powerful and versatile, I have used it to make beats, ambient loops, and everything in between. For me, I have always wished that it had more playable keys/pads.  I am actually currently looking into pairing it with some kind of external pad controller to fully maximize it’s performance playability.

Elektron Digitakt

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

The OP-1. I almost put this answer for the previous question as well, because just think if it had bluetooth! That would make the already quintessential travel companion undeniably perfect.

Teenage Engineering OP-1

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

I run my studio completely DAWless via the Squarp pyramid, so I don’t have much experience with software synths beyond some of the ones I play with on the iPad. There was this one I remember playing with, ‘Poseidon Synth’, that had a function where it would just randomize all the settings and leave you with something ridiculous. I think that would be fun on a piece of hardware, like say, my DSI Rev2 😛

Poseidon Synth

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

I regret selling my Tascam Portastudio 424 Mk1. I ended up making a pretty penny on it thanks to the recent boom in cassette music being made, but I definitely miss it. I have other cassette recorders, but that one was something special.

Tascam Portastudio 424 Mk1

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

I compose everything at the piano and then move it to the saxophone, or my electronic gear, or wherever I envisioned it. So, while it might not technically be ‘gear’, it was my first instrument, and everything I do, both electronically and acoustically, stems from the piano.

[Editor: I’d definitely say it is gear 🙂 ]

Kawai Piano

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

If I had to start over I would probably buy a really nice audio interface first. I currently run everything into my studio through an Allen & Heath qu-16c, which acts as both mixer and audio interface for me. I have always wondered what things would sound like and how my workflow would change if I was working with an interface from Universal Audio or something comparable.

UAD Apollo

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

Probably the Keeley compressor on my sax board. I couldn’t live without it because some of the patches I have are really hot and require the use of both a programmable EQ pedal and this compressor/limiter pedal to tame. It’s only annoying because it is not programmable like the EQ, and every time i get my board out of the case I have to readjust the knobs to where I need them.

Keeley compressor

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

A lot of people complain about the OP-1 internal engines sounding extremely digital, tinny, and somewhat like a set of children’s toys. I achieve full, warm sounds on the OP-1 pretty easily with the use of the Elektron Analog Drive at the end of the effects chain. Even just the clean boost setting with a bit of tweaking on the highs and a bit of drive goes a long way and adds a great depth of sound.

Elektron Analog Drive

Artist or Band name?

My name is Kevin McKinney. I play saxophone/effects for the stinky garage jazz band, ‘Doctor Pizza’ in Detroit, Michigan.

Doctor Pizza Stickers
Doctor Pizza Band

Genre?

I am an improviser and saxophonist, although I do a lot of ambient/soundscape work with my electronic instruments.

Selfie?

Kevin McKinney

Where are you from?

I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland Ohio

How did you get into music?

I got into music as a toddler. I had a little toy piano that I carried around with me and played all the time. My parents noticed this and started piano lessons for me when I was 4 years old. I was hooked for life.

Toy Piano

What still drives you to make music?

I am a new father of boy/girl twin babies, so I have a lot of trouble finding time to make music lately. What drives me to make music, when I do have the time is definitely the way it makes me feel, and the way it can make others feel when they experience it. The rush of holding an altissimo note while the crowd screams..or, contrastingly, the calmness of playing piano alone in your studio with all the lights down… those moments are what make music making so special.

Twin Babies… seeing something hilarious

How do you most often start a new track?

I have lot of gear, so sometimes it can be a case of too many options. I like to pick one piece of gear that will be the focus for that session and then build everything around that. Sometimes I will just pick a single pedal, or a synth, or a set of drum samples…anything that can be a launching point.

Novation Bass Station

How do you know when a track is finished?

With my band and often with my own music, songs are an ever-evolving thing…I will bring in a loose idea, or a lead sheet with some basics and then we shape the rest together during rehearsal.  A lot of times solo sections, the general form of the tune, and even sometimes the melodic information are all up for discussion and debate while we are working through the new idea.  I may go back to things I created years ago and change them if I am having trouble coming up with something new.

Kevin’s band at rehearsal

Show us your current studio

Kevin McKinney’s Studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

I forget who told me this, maybe Dave Liebman?… Anyhow, I remember being in a masterclass and being told that you don’t truly know a song, a melody, a transcribed solo, or whatever it may be until you can SING it. The human voice is the most fundamental and primal of instruments and having that connection to your voice before picking up any instrument and attempting to play something is crucial. As an improviser, I try to employ this same thinking… only let out of your horn what you hear in your head as being complementary to the music that is happening around you.

Kevin singing with sax-iness

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

Check out my band Doctor Pizza! We are recording our latest album in mid July and hope to have it out later this year. We are on YouTube, Spotify and all major platforms.
www.doctorpizzaband.com

Doctor Pizza Band

Samplik Prost – Simple Sample

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

Tascam 424 Varispeed knob

This is the varispeed pitch control on the Tascam 424. My favorite knob. I like that you can use it to get a completely different song.

[Editor: This is a classic machine and that knob is a personal fave too]

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

I really like to shoot music videos on the street and I’m missing some kind of rig/stand for my kit.

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

Pocket Operators Operating

This is 3x po33 po-32 po-35, two reverb pedals, a bunch of wires, sony TCS-580V stereo cassette-corder and zoom recorder. Everything fits in one backpack

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

This is a stereo extender for mono devices

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

Yes, this is rk004 by retrokits. Great device, but I didn’t need it

rk004 by retrokits

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

This is po-33. I don’t know how it works, but every time when I pick it up, I create a new track.

Teenage Engineering PO33KO

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

PO400

I think it’s a modular synthesis. Although it’s not too late to get to know it better.

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

Ahahahah great question. This is a po-400. It really helps to understand the principles of working with sound, but sometimes I don’t understand anything at all.

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

On the PO33KO, if you select the filter mode, turn the encoder in different directions and hold the record button, you can get an amazing result. An example can be found here 👉  https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt3cRKzlq8y/    


Artist or Band name?

samplik prost / In Russian it means a “simple sample”.

Genre?

Disco house chill hop.

Samplik Prost

Where are you from?

Moscow, Russia

How did you get into music?

In middle school, my friend taught me how to play the guitar. He’s left-handed and I’m right-handed.It was fun. After that, I couldn’t stop making music.It’s always been a hobby. We played punk rock and alternative. It was a long time ago.But 3 years ago when I got my first pocket operator, I became interested in electronic music. I realized that there are no genres and that you can experiment as you want.

What still drives you to make music?

Most likely, this is a search for new ideas and solutions. It’s like searching for diamonds.You know they are there, but you need to dig a lot. But sometimes you find them right away.

How do you most often start a new track?

I start by searching for a nice chord, then drums and of course vocal samples.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I feel that everything is in its place and I can start making the next track.

Show us your current studio

I want to move some of my stuff to the wall to free up my workspace.

Samplik Prost Studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Steal Like an Artist / True, I haven’t read this book, but I like the title.

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

My first experience in creating music in this style  https://youtu.be/X5oRReeCTMQ
But my main experiments I am posting here:

https://www.instagram.com/samplikprost/


[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…
]