Thursday, September 12, 2013

Albums are often influenced and shaped by the equipment used:


Whenever I get a new piece of equipment, it ends up being a prominent part of the sound for the particular album I am working on at the time.  Very rarely do I use only one specific piece of gear for a song though; usually it is a combination of various pieces of equipment combined together.

For instance:

House of Wires – Monogamy: was heavily sample based because I had just bought an Akai S20 and was going sample crazy.

Travelogue – The Art of Conversation: 90% of this album was done with synthesizers.com modules.

Travelogue – Telegraph:  Much of this album is the Korg Mono/Poly.  Some songs like Seasons are nearly all Mono/Poly.

Travelogue – Braille:  The EML Polybox and various string machines (Moog Polymoog, Roland RS-09, etc) are all over this album.

Jon Sonnenberg/Israel Slick – Prometheus Project:  On the songs of mine, which consist of half of this album, heavily used a Yamaha CS-40M and the EML Polybox.

House of Wires – You are Obsolete, Pivot Clowj (any of the albums), and Travelogue – The Noise is only Temporary: are free-for-alls where anything and everything in the studio was used.

Travelogue – Imaginary Hospitals: a free for all, but strictly analog synths.
 
Jon Sonnenberg – Acoustic Selections: a free for all, but strictly acoustic instruments.

2 comments:

  1. I noticed you didn't mention Fireworks in this list. I recently picked up an RS-09, which I really love. Are the strings on Aside from the RS-09 or some other modulated and chorused saw wave source? I'm currently doing some sound design which is heavy on the RS-09, so I thought I'd ask as it sounds similar to that track.

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  2. I love the RS-09. I just posted a continuation of this entry that covers the Fireworks album in detail. The RS-09 was mostly used in combination with other string machines. An album that uses the RS-09 on many of the songs is the Braille EP.

    What I love about the RS-09 is the portability. It is great for having a string machine live.

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