Episodes

  • I met Jim thanks to the wonderful master of mastering Heba Kadry who's based in New York (whi btw that just finished mastering my new LP!)

    She used him to assist in the making of her room and that set me on a journey to get my place into shape too. Him and his team at Sondhus did an excellent job and I've been loving my light and airy attic so much!

    I've talked about my space a little on the show and I've shared a few pics and videos from the spot so there's evidence of it out there.

    I look forward to being in here every day.

    Jim's story is really interesting and it's an angle that's not been covered thus far on the pod.

    He has knowledge and passion on all manner of issues relating to studio spaces, from the flow to the sound and the minimal aesthetic that is a through line in his work.

    He's made rooms for Martin Gore, Laurie Anderson, Heba Kadry, Philip Weinrobe, the Juliard School in New York to name but a few.

    Wild !

    In this show I demonstrate the sound of my rooms and why using a binaural head for interviews and voice over is a terrible idea :) ha

  • I have Patreon :)

    https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

    You can join now for as little as $1.50 a month.

    All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier and I want to thank everyone for their support! It really helps me keep the show going.

    _____

    Medasin aka Grant Nelson is a feeler.

    I was initially drawn to his sample packs like a moth to the fire.

    The fire it turns out has many a hue and the music goes deep.

    It was excellent to speak to the man himself and uncover his philosophical side.

    We battle for who’s more of a hippy. It was close but

    as all hippies know there is no winner in this game.

    so just jump in the rambling river with us 🙂

    Here’s some useful links to Grants work

    his website:

    https://medasinmusic.com

    his sample packs which are great!

    also he is selling all the stems to his last LP (the one he is discussing in this interview )

    all here:

    https://medasindrumkits.sellfy.store

    he’s a fan of

    Theo Vaughn and the Kill tony YouTube

    I thought I ought to mention that 🙂

    Thanks to Baby Audio for their kind sponsorship of this pod!

    I’ve LOVED using their new synth ATOMS as you can doubtless hear from the fun I had in the intro.

    I literally spent hours just making sounds for fun. It’s such a yielding instrument. I can highly recommend it!

    all the sounds I made go to the patreons on the soul science level of course.

    GOOD NEWS

    If you type AUDIOPHILES in the check out you get 15% off

    here’s the link you need!

    https://babyaud.io/atoms

    YEP!!

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  • If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

    Patreon

    https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

    All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

    There’s over 4GB of audio from the experiments I did with the Oxi one using a custom tape machine, wild analog gear and generally odd stuff to yield those good samples.

    ok, let's get on with the show!

    Kid Koala is not like the others.

    I mean who else gets the idea to do a scratch routine with moon river?

    Who thinks (and pulls off) a show where everyone has their own turntable in the audience to interact with a performance?

    He's the creator of wonderful graphic novels Nufonia Must Fall and Space Cadet

    He’s opened for Radiohead

    He’s worked on movies like The Great Gatsby, Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim vs the world

    Creativity to the max. Joy to the max.

    It really is a treat to have him on the show.

    I’ve always been a big fan and Eric really couldnt be any more humble and wonderful !

    ___

    in the show the MUSIC is back !

    Yes for this episode, the musical connections come from the rather brilliant mind of bossada

    I got the cassette of this btw and it’s a thing of beauty.

    This is great work. Let’s support the good art x

    LINK LINK LINK

    https://bossada.bandcamp.com/album/cantina-days

    Kind show sponsorship comes from oxi instruments

    makers of the excellent oxi one sequencer

    Here’s a link to it

    https://oxiinstruments.com/oxi-one/

    if you want to buy one with a HOWA affiliate link together with perfect circuit go

    here :)

    there's a little video about the oxi as omnichord here

  • Merriment abound ! It's that time again when sonic stockings are stuffed. This time with a fireside ramble twixt myself and the legend that is Dj Shadow as we celebrate his new LP "Action Adventure"

    Welcome.

    I hope this finds you in good health and merry mood as the season sheds it's joy upon you. If joy is in short supply and the period feels claustrophobic and the family is doing your head in then I trust yule be able to duck out for a spell and use this as an escape pod.

    Who am I rambling with on the sonic sleigh?

    Dj Shadow really needs no Endroducing but in case you’re not hip to his MPC60 masterpiece from 1996 you MUST inhale that now.

    What a record. I recall having both of my Christmas stockings blown off by this LP and it’s humbling to be sat on a zoom with the chap now.

    Such is the mystery of the digital time ghosts.

    Twas a mighty pleasure to chew the cud with such a master of the chops.

    I hope this offers you some sonic solace this holiday

    ______

    I wish to alert you to a new way to give to this show, should you find it appealing :)

    https://www.patreon.com/howa/membership

    It's the new $1.50 tier on Patreon, a wonderful idea that came from Hainbach.

    A way to chip in and directly support the show as a kind of digital high five :) I really do pour my heart Into the HOWA podcast. As you can imagine, it all takes loads of effort. From finding the guests and organizing the chats, to trying to find new areas of sonic joy to explore and share in the episodes. Then there's all the time editing, uploading, promoting and all that. If you enjoy the show and feel you can spare a little over a dollar a month to help me carry on, that would be rather ace! thanks!!

    _____

    Sponsorship comes from Distrokid

    Did you know that there's a new iOS and android app that lets you

    - Upload

    - Find out when money hits your bank

    - Check streaming stats and loads more

    Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya!

    Use this 30% off code

    http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell

  • Quiz time. Who's recent LP did Thom Yorke executive produce? Answer: Clark. Pretty obvious from the title of the show but think about that for a minute. Thom Yorke. Bloody hell. I mean in terms of endorsements, there's few higher and there's good reason for TM to be Clarking, the C man is pumping out the goods and has been for yonks. Ack eye. We met an age ago me the C and shared a path in certain ways as label mates on warp records. I used to play shows with him and we both flocked from Brighton to Berlin and he back to Brighton in search of the muse. His work for dance, film, TV and video games is just one side of his polygon talent and we roll the dice here for a good while catching up as old pals whilst it's caught on tape. It's one of those chats that's a little more personal than some others as we haven't spoken in ages and just mostly linger on ideas like mushroom hunters. Catching sonic fungi here and there for appreciation before consuming and staggering/rambling on. Lovely to reconnect and good news his new LP is out NOW! Here's a perfect link for yahttps://throttleclark.com/album/cave-dog/

    Thanks to Soundtoys for their kind sponsorship. This episode is the last in a six part dive into their excellent plugin line. This time I mangle it with alter boy :) Head over for a free trail and see if it's your thing. They craft some of the best plugins in the known universe if you ask me ! https://www.soundtoys.com

  • He's worked with Donny Hathaway. That's it. That's all the intro he really ought to need. I mean can you IMAGINE being in the room with Donny singing? Too much. Ah but Jimmy has worked on music from Aretha, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones not to mention his extensive collaboration with Timbaland. Yeah, Jimmy is heavy. What's more he's a very friendly and engaging chap that has a pioneering spirit and he is not overly nostalgic in that way that can hold a person back. No wonder he's been so busy and in demand for all these years. A true master. Jimmy's in the HOWA house (literally.. this was a rare face to face. So fun)

    The show is kindly sponsored again by the excellent Soundtoys.

    I delve into the world of the panman to do things other than just your average spinning.

    Micro nitty!

  • Great to chat with Brian and Josh from the band !

    we talk minidisk, the joys of analog, hurdy gurdy and fish. I mean if that doesnt tickle yer fancy I dont know what to say :)

    Various links feel like they cropped up in the show

    --Valentin Clastrier - Master of the Gurdy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRsJw7UW98g

    --TAGO MAGO by can - go and listen (you can find it with your preferred music environment )

    --If you need good tinned fish in the USA go here !

    https://rainbowtomatoesgarden.com

    --MODBAP - OSIRIS badass oscillator

    https://www.modbap.com

    --JORANALOGUE DELAY 1

    https://joranalogue.com/products/delay-1

    ___________________________

    kind sponsorship comes from the excellent SOUNDTOYS

    https://www.soundtoys.com

  • My guest on the show is James Ford who is really one of the most badass producers in the business.

    Im talking about the kind of low key English badassness and not the Tarantino variety if you know what I mean. James is involved in so many things and yet he does it without needing a big spotlight on himself. Humble badass. That’s the one.

    He’s been active for many years. I mean we used to see each other in that classic ships in the night stylee when I was touring with Cristian Vogel back in the late nineties. We are talking about a man with Multiple decades of energy dedication and knowledge a go go!

    He’s got the quadfecta mad skills as composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter which is probably one of the reasons he’s been able to be so nimble and effective working with a huge range of incredible artists from Arctic Monkeys to Depeche Mode via Foals, Gorillaz and Kylie Minogue.

    You may know him as one half of Simian Mobile Disco, alongside longtime creative partner Jas Shaw or perhaps as a touring member of The Last Shadow Puppets.

    The hat cupboard in the house is ample!

    I was lucky enough to feature on a track with SMD a while back and got to see the studio when it was at the Premises in Hackney.

    Now he’s got a supreme attic room that is beyond decked out. We have a little tour of that for anyone who is curious about his gear choices after all this time.

    Then we get deep into the world of making, art, the hurdles, the path. The good stuff of rambling! Welcome to the mind of a sonic chef.

    His first solo album “The Hum” is out now on warp records and it’s a corker!

    https://www.jamesellisford.com

    ________________

    If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

    Patreon

    https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

    All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

    ________________

    Id like to thank show sponsors

    SOUNDTOYS

    https://www.soundtoys.com

    KORG

    https://www.korg.com

    STAGER MICS

    http://stagermicrophones.com

    _________________

    NITTY!!!

  • Jon Hopkins pays attention. He has a ear for the smallest details and a deft touch both as a pianist and a producer.

    I feel this interview is very timely as the rise of psychedelic therapy has caught the imagination of so many.

    Jon has made music that is so perfect for those wishing to go deeper with their experiences in that hugely rewarding domain.

    His is the mindset that wants to expand and to meditate instead of flex and win the popularity contests in the game of music. Very refreshing.

    We get into his beginnings in the classical world, his lack of patience with distracting factors and on to his success story and on to his musings on the current state of being a musician releasing music in this arguably confusing time.

    ____________

    The nitty returns !

    I was fortunate enough to get an early copy of Andrew Huang’s first plugin :)

    It's a collaboration with Baby Audio called “Transit”

    It really inspired me to get my hands dirty and to explore it’s outer ways.

    I stacked up about 30 or so instances to pull off a tonal transition that is rather epic !

    I learned from an older me on this one. In EP 58 I explored a related idea in Melodyne.

    Here’s that show

    ******

    ****

    **

    *

    SPECIAL DEAL !!

    I’m happy to be able to offer listeners to the show a 10 % discount on TRANSIT when using the code

    BABYHOWA

    at check out

    Here’s the plugin!! Check it :)

    https://babyaud.io/transit

    Also..

    Here’s the Ableton session called “The Bends” that I made to demo this

    (sadly I forgot it’s the 11.3.10b5 Beta version of Ableton you’ll need to run this .. oops!)

    _____________

    Big ups to Catechism and REZN for their music on this show.

    It’s from an album called “Infected Ambient Works”

    Here’s the link to it

    https://rezzzn.bandcamp.com/album/infected-ambient-works

    _____________

    A massive shout to show sponsor Soundtoys!

    At the start of this episode I add the New SUPER PLATE and the classic PHASE MISTRESS plugins to a tape jam that’s fresh from my new studio and it just enters into a whole Different dimension.

    These are Shockingly good plugins! Some of the very best you can find.

    That’s why I’m so chuffed to work with these legends !

    Check their masterful work here

    https://www.soundtoys.com

    ____________

    If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

    Patreon

    https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

    All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

  • DESCRIPTION

    After a hefty and well needed break I’m back

    The pod returns :)

    I trust y'all are hanging in.

    I hope in fact you’re more than just hanging in.

    I hope you are diving in and thriving and embracing the endless realm of possibility that presents itself to you.

    Don’t worry, I’ll not linger on the guru talk. Just stating the obvious !

    As you can see from the show title I got to finally chat with the brilliant Benn Jordan.

    We met at NAMM a couple of years back (I’ve had some great hangs at NAMM I must say)

    He’s a smart, witty man with endless curiosity and it’s really fun to explore all manner of mind realms with him.

    We can TALK! Oh how we can talk. This conversation was at least 3 hours long and it’s been cut down a fair bit but there’s no end of tangents and insights into

    The mighty Benn. I think those of you who are familiar with his excellent YouTube material will enjoy hearing an extended ramble portal into his many ways.

    It’s great to be back

    This show has 2 excellent sponsors

    1st off I’m super happy to get to work with my pals at Soundtoys for a few shows.

    They agreed to come on board and I couldn’t be happier. Just love them and their excellent plugins.

    Top shelf stuff! In this episode I show off 2 of my faves, decapitator and devil lok.

    They are both such wonderful tools. Potent and endlessly useful in equal measure.

    Like Salt in cooking, they amp up the tasty.

    Head over to Soundtoys if you know what’s good for you!

    I’d also like to thank “a tasty pixel” for sponsoring the show.

    They are makers of the unbelievably good LOOPY PRO.

    Absolutely stunning software for anyone who really wants the last looper.

    It is the most fully featured pure looper Ive ever used.

    Beardyman uses it. If you were wondering if it were capable I think that’s all you need to know!

    Interested in looping?

    Let me save you some time.

    All you need is LOOPY PRO

    Click here for more info!

  • Tycho is Scott Hansen and

    Scott is a deeply friendly and humble chap.

    I didnt know too much about his background or what made him tick but I tried to get to “know” him and makes some guesses about that by tuning into his music.

    It’s clearly so well crafted and put together with meticulous attention to detail that this man had to be fastidious but how would that quality manifest?

    He manages to ride us on a carpet of textures which guide the process of musical flight, once a mood is found, it’s held with patience so the listen can dwell in a land. It’s a style that has been really honed and has found a large following for good reason!

    It was a real treat to get on the ramble road with him. I left the interview unedited for maximum deviation potential (you’re welcome)

    _____

    This episode is sponsored by A tasty pixel and their excellent

    LOOPY PRO!

    As many of you are aware, I’ve spent years of my life with loopers of all kinds from the crudest guitar pedals to my own Max/MSP effort in 2000 to Tim Exile’s wonderful “flow machine”

    Making a looper setup that fits your style is everything and to do that, a tool that is very flexible and open to configuration is needed. I’m happy to report that this is perfected inside loopy pro. I’m also happy to say that It’s one of the best loopers I’ve ever used and has become the heart of beardymans new setup so you know it’s capable.

    Needless to say Im really happy to be working with A tasty pixel.

    _______

    I made a new video to highlight a specific use of Loopy Pro that came to me one evening.

    There’s plenty of excellent tutorial videos to get started online so I wanted to show something a little unique.

    I took 4 instances of the Chamberlin M1 samplepack I made (which is now available at decentsamples.com!)

    fed each to an array of 4 speakers around a Neumann head for some quadra funky tape loopidelic delightfulness.

    Yes, it’s A little nitty basically :)

    Watch

    HERE!!

  • Hainbach must be such a busy man!

    Just today I received a post on his patreon that he uploaded to Medium where he eloquently described the history and character of the electronic music company Vermona that started in the GDR and now lives on. It was a review of sorts of the DRM drum machine from 1987 but he surrounded that feature with some wonderful insights into the company’s history whilst painting a picture of former East Germany.

    He put all this together after having made a highly compelling video on the same subject for his now legendary youtube channel where so many of us find ourselves happily gazing in on his wild sonic adventures.

    I’ve learnt so much from him over the years and feel a undeniable connection with him.

    I certainly share his passion for beguiling tone and that marveling at human inventiveness and endeavor.

    A tremendous story teller and tireless adventurer, we could have discussed any number of things. There was absolutely no plan to this chat and you’re going to hear what is essentially our first phone call. Yes there's Ample deep dives a tangents a go go.

    It was a great pleasure to speak with this fountain of knowledge.

    It gives me great pleasure to welcome on to the show

    Hainbach

    Nitty 109 is all about Tape Delay. I put the new Echofix EFX3 through its paces in some odd ways! This nitty is also a rare VIDEO nitty. Link to that here

    I have an affiliate link to the Echofix machine I used here

    or for the rack version here

    buying a unit from that link helps the channel :) thanks!

    Music for the show comes from

    https://atlanticrhythms.bandcamp.com/album/eraserhood

  • Carl Craig worked with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson back in the day

    I mean that could be all the intro you need to hear to know how heavy he is!

    Wait til you find out about the HANGS they had in Detroit. They were cooking up a sound of techno that has never been surpassed in my opinion.

    Mr Craig has really never stopped. It’s pretty mind blowing to me

    He’s already left behind a superb and ultra varied stack of music that springs from an insatiable hunger for the new. I mean the sheer number of aliases he has is hard to keep up with!

    Not content with just putting out bangers, he’s been expanding his experience to fill a museum and the process is truly epic. We get into what went into his work called Party/After Party which was commissioned by Dia Art Foundation and is opening soon at Moca LA.

    and is on view APR 16 – JULY 23, 2023. Here’s a link!

    Increasingly on this show, I’ve been trying to stay away from too much gear talk coz it’s really not that interesting often quite frankly BUT in this case I felt like we needed to get somethings cleared up. At least I was really curious about what made it on to those early Detroit cuts. Some of the findings are shocking, in a great way and ought to be inspiring to anyone who feels they need all manner of fancy machines to rock the house. Carl is living proof that you just need to get it all out with whatever you have in front of you but also it illustrates to me the importance of a crew and a little friendly competition. That can really up your game.

    The thing I take away from this chat is just the searching. The fascination and passion to keep making. It’s super inspiring to me and I hope it spurs you all on to dig in and make noise!

    In other news, Im off to superbooth!

    Let me know if you’re going :)

    boring news,,, I've been sick

    good news, new studio looking good

    next show will have a nitty.

    Cheers!

  • Hi ! Yep, a tad delayed this one. I apologize.

    This time I have the wall of blinkers to blame.

    The eurocrack has opened up and swallowed me! Haaaaaa. I've enjoyed being in the belly of the beast though I must say and now Im emerging with many a sonic memory etched on tape. I'll try to share these via a new venture, HOWA records. Yeah, its a new idea. Somewhere to put all this work. I pour so much of my heart and soul into these sounds and pieces that linger on the drive. Perhaps it's time to release them into the wilds.

    EP107 is with Emmy Award winner Angelo Palazzo. He is a sound designer and editor on the highest level. His recent work on Stranger things session 4 was beyond epic. It's a pleasure to have him on to enlighten us about the dark art of TV sound on this grand scale.

    We had the sad news of Dominic Hawkins passing away last week. Really really sad. He was such a positive and uplifting gentleman. I didnt know him well but always thoroughly enjoyed my chats with him on the sonic state pod. RIP Dom.

  • David Haskell is a professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South and a Guggenheim Fellow.

    His 2017 book The Songs of Trees won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. His 2012 book The Forest Unseen was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and won the 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies, the National Outdoor Book Award, and the Reed Environmental Writing Award.

    His new book, Sounds Wild and Broken is out now and I was thrilled to have a chance to sit down in person with him in my studio here Nashville to discuss it briefly.

    Here’s a quick summary of the book from the official press release:

    Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, Haskell illuminates and celebrates the emergence of the varied sounds of our world. In mammoth ivory flutes from Paleolithic caves, violins in modern concert halls, and electronic music in earbuds, we learn that human music and language belong within this story of ecology and evolution. Yet we are also destroyers, now silencing or smothering many of the sounds of the living Earth. Haskell takes us to threatened forests, noise-filled oceans, and loud city streets, and shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. Sound is a generative force, and so the erasure of sonic diversity makes the world less creative, just, and beautiful. The appreciation of the beauty and brokenness of sound is therefore an important guide in today’s convulsions and crises of change and inequity.

    Here’s a link to the book in all it’s various formats (the link is slow but it works)

    I can highly recommend you give it a read. It's just a wonderful read and full of insights that will stay with you.

    There’s a Soundcloud link with sounds pertinent to the chapters which you can check out here

    ______________

    I also wanted to give a shout out to pod listener Simon Taylor and his book

    AUDIO MASTERING IN A PROJECT STUDIO: A PRACTICAL APPROACH FOR A PROFESSIONAL SOUND

    Some great ideas and knowledge that’s not too overwhelming check these whee links:

    US Or UK

    ______________

    As always send music and stuff to

    [email protected]

    :)

  • Merry Chrimble y’all!

    Here’s a sonic present for your ears to unwrap.

    It’s in the form of a nice fireside ramble with the excellent Stephen James Wilkinson aka Bibio.

    He’s a wonderful and thoughtful chap with a very unique touch and a searching soul.

    I love his musical range, his tones, his playing. YES

    He’s rather good!

    Im assuming you all know his stuff? If not you fools!

    You must immediately have a listen

    As in go here NOW!

    https://bibio.co

    It’s super ooper dooper inspiring stuff and I was mighty chuffed when he agreed to come on the pod.

    Our paths never crossed as label mates on warp records which is a shame. God knows why.

    A couple of shy dudes making waves in different countries might have had something to do with it!

    Ha.

    Anyway we are finally in a chat and even talking about working on something together which sounds good to me.

    Watch this space.

    He’s a wise lad so of course he has a nagra. A stereo nagra in fact.

    In fact it was this conversation that really made me want to find one of my own which thankfully I did.

    He’s the one guest that actually recorded a backup to the tape machine. Proper legend

    Roll it

    ____

    Thanks for tuning in folks!

    It’s been another bonkers year and having this show has been a huge part of keeping me going.

    Cheers to all the wonderful patrons for helping me keep this dream alive

    Thanks to distrokid for their continued support as the most epic and long running sponsor of the pod.

    If you make music and need it putting out, just use distrokid! It’ll be everywhere like Santa before you know it

    Dropping that sonic magic down the chimneys of the world.

    Thanks to Bibio

    And I’ll catch you in 2023!

    Make merry y’all

  • Such a treat to chat with Jeremy aka Red Means Recording. Now you must know who he is right? If not well you're in for a treat. He's an amazing creative soul and funky chap that makes excellent music, teaches and creates exceptional YouTube videos that go deep into the synth and electronic musical world. Highly recommended viewing. He's just great.

    Link to his YouTube here

    HELLO!

    Yes, I realize this has been a lonnnnng time coming.

    What's been up?

    The studio build is now hitting a new level of intensity and my Mum just left after a long visit and things have been a tad upside down so Im off my funk but here we are!

    LINKS

    Please go and grab this new release from friend of the pod Marta Salongi and Floating points.

    It's a fund raiser for the charity Free Youth Orchestra which focuses on removing financial barriers between children and access to musical equipment and lessons

    so cool.

    the music is here to buy and thus support

    looking for something to fill the digital stocking?

    I can recommend this max for live device from the wonderful friend of the pod Ned Rush. It's called MIDI WAVES and it's ace and not expensive. grab here

    Jim Keller has been helping me design the new studio. Great to work with him. So much knowledge! Check his beautiful work here

    Thanks for Diana Walsch for pod support. Find her here

    Website: dmwalshmusic.com

    IG: @dmwalshmusic

  • Hello!

    Jamie again.

    I caught up with this busy Fred on his current US tour.

    He’s been busy you ask?

    Oh yes. I mean so so busy.

    For one thing he’s penned massive pop numbers with Ed Sheeran, Stormy and other huge acts

    Did you know that?

    I mean BIG BIG songs.

    And YET his mentor and good friend is none other than

    Brian Eno!

    Wait.. what? Ah yes, all shall be revealed.

    See the thing about Fred is he will write a huge song for an act like Clean Bandit in the afternoon, then be on the phone to fourtet for arrangement advice on his solo work by dinner time.

    He can write on the road, he can write in the club. He’s prolific as they come this man!

    Fred has been doing so well and it was great to get this chance to chat with him

    What an exceedingly positive and fun chap he is. So much talent and a very good outlook

    Lots of nuggets in this chat. Obv we get into the Eno connection and the come up and

    Fred reveals some massive beat making secrets he learned directly from Boi-1da.

    I get some advice mid show too which I think might be a first :)

    We are here in part to discuss his ace new LP “Actual Life 3” which you can find in the usual streaming zones.

    It’s a real pleasure to welcome on to the Show for the first time Fred….. Again

    _____

    Making music? Want it out in the world?

    Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya!

    Use this 30% off code

    http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell

  • Max Tundra is Ben Jacobs

    A man that was a child that grew up in London.

    As pointed out on his bandcamp, he went to the same school as Jude Law and a Chemical Brother, but didn’t know them.

    In this disposable content age, there’s an undeniable urge to go for quantity over quality is there not?

    The music Ben makes as Max Tundra comes as rarely as a celestial event.

    We forget the rising and falling of the sun each day but we don’t forget a total eclipse now do we?

    This is how it felt when Mocky and I came across the LP “Mastered by guy at the exchange”.

    We were without sun for a while. In an unknown land that felt Most welcoming and yet most peculiar.

    It was genuinely new music. Something so rare that still feels fresh all these years later.

    Here’s what hyper pop bloke A. G. Cook said of Max Tundra’s legacy:

    “‘Mastered by Guy at the Exchange’ is a true cult album - a playful monolith that sounds both nothing and everything like the 2000s. Stumbling across it as a teenager, it reinforced a hunch I had: that music is a place where anything could happen, and total chaos could be held together by the lightest of pop hooks. There’s an oddly British quality to Max Tundra’s work, a soft and polite maximalism - pioneering, eccentric and infinitely remixable.”

    Ben Jacobs invented hyper pop

    As they say in the UK

    FACTS

    It’s a good time to be a Max Tundra fan as domino has reissued his first three studio albums to be found HERE

    2000s Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be,

    2002’s Mastered by Guy at the Exchange,

    and the 2008 masterwork Parallax Error Beheads You.

    We get into a lot of his formative years and thankfully he kept so much of his sonic ramblings from that time and they can be found on his band camp page

    It’s a real treasure trove.

    Here it is

    What a legend. If you’ve never heard of him before, I’m so glad I get to make the intro.

    He’s a true original and a very nice man

    Please welcome on the show

    Max Tundra

  • Nigel is my kind of producer He has a strong sense of quality, a strong sense of who he is and what potentials artists have to be cultivated and captured. He’s my kind of producer because he gets his hands dirty and doesn’t just act as a fan of the band and take on that guru role but he’s in the trenches, setting up the mics for perfect phase alignment, getting all the sonic chains correct but without a limiting rule book. There’s so much inventiveness in the productions alongside the incredible, undeniable tone. Of course there’s that ego and strong sense of self and I ran into his resolute perspective a couple of times by asking questions he deemed sub par or misguided. Let’s put it this way, you know where you stand with Nigel and of course he has a strong perspective. Imagine the courage and strength of conviction it would take to tell Thom Yorke or Paul McCartney that they could better a take or that a lyric felt cheesy or what have you. We might all think we want to be told yes all the time but Nigel, it feels, understands when to say no and let his point be known and I love that about him. I have immense respect for him. He's made some of my favorite records and I think it's fair to say that he's my favorite living producer. So needless to say it's an absolute thrill to have him on the show. It’s even more special to me that he agreed to do episode 100. NIGEL!!!!! Nitty 100 is a BIG one I get my hands on a rare Chamberlin M1 from the excellent Rob Burger and sample it in a most painstaking manner yielding a set of 8 instrument captures that showcase the sounds on the tapes in a way that’s never been heard before. I sent the finished pack to some amazing musicians and they all came back with beautiful music to demo the sounds. You’ll hear tracks from Dave Sitek Hainbach Dana Wachs Andrew Huang RJD2 Money Mark and I also made one that sneaks in at the end of the show 🙂 EP 100 Baby! bringing the heat!!! I only managed to make all this with the expert kontakt and decent sampler scripting help of Owen Bolig and GUI design from Tobias James. In the sample instruments you can blend 3 different layers. The DRY is a direct output from the instrument running into a Telefunken V72 preamp The DIRT is the signal processed though a silvertone amp head into a Roland RE-201 space echo in spring reverb mode 3+4) The DUAL MONO ADT NAGRA recordings are the star of the show and the motivation behind the instrument. The output of the Chamberlin was sent to 2 nagras at the same level. I played with the varispeed of one nagra tape machine and not the other so when the NAGRA channel on the kontakt or decent sampler is set to mono you hear unique ADT style phasing that’s varied per key press using scripting magic (Kontakt only). So there’s 3168 samples that make up the 8 instruments with a total of 4.62Gb of audio. Get ready! The Chamberlin ADT is available to Patreon members on the soul science level! Music for EP100 comes from Lok44 who’s LP 44problems is to found on TRUST. I was bugging out to this. I think he triggered something from my youth and I very much enjoyed the flashback! Thanks to sonible for their kind sponsorship Their plugins are well worth checking out. smart, clear and good sounding. Triple wammy! check them out 🙂 Thanks also to access analog for THEIR kind sponsorship Good news! They have given me a code to share with you all at check out so you can try this wild service for yourself and remotely control a pye compressor from the comfort of your studio or roaming about with a laptop with wifi. True 2022 business. The code you need at check out is....... trial-howa enjoy! Drums from this ad spot are from the That Sound “Hanger” library here shouts to my studio building crew! Jim Keller at Sondhus and Matthew Marinelli at coral sound thanks to Diana Walsh for cleaning up the audio as ever Last my most certainly not least, thank you to my lovely wife! Without her this show never would have been. Just would not have ever reached episode 1! Im so proud of her. She’s having her first solo art show as a painter here in Nashville at the brand new ZieherSmith Gallery. The show is called STIM and it’s going to be up from the 24th September. Check this link here for info! BYE x