Art + Music + Technology

Luke Thornton, one of the three people that make up the band Elder Island, perfectly embodies the self-learning/DIY perspectives that are fueling the exciting edge of current music making. Outfitted with a studio full of interesting gear, a lineup of dedicated friends, and the time to focus on production, Elder Island is producing some gorgeous house-infused pop music – and pushing the envelope on both sound design and production quality with their work. In our discussion, we talk about how Elder Island operates: how they work up their songwriting, how they develop tracks, and how they do their unique sound design work. We also discuss creating their near-cinematic tracks while still leaving room for a vocalist/cellist, and how they use (and learn from) outside production and engineering resources to bring home their work. This discussion was really interesting, because I don’t talk to pop-oriented artists very often, but the perspectives and goals are remarkably similar to everyone else that I talk to – rega

Lisa Bella Donna is somehow algorithmically connected to me – her work shows up consistently in my social media feeds, the sites that I read cover her work, and (of course) the music really speaks to me. So it’s kind of odd that it has taken so long to get her on the pod. Maybe it’s because she’s pretty laid back about her self-promotion, and maybe it’s because she is very busy. But in any case, I’m really glad to be able to talk with her about her career, her background, and her love of synths. In our discussion, we talk about coming up through “the system” – a system that included hotel gigs, regional and national touring, and hours spent in jingle studios. It is also a story of a self-educated musician that has captured the imagination of both listeners and synth manufacturers, leading to work as a demo artist for Moog and a promoter for all-things-ARP. It is also a picture of someone that has been unrelenting in finding their passion and staying true to it. Learn more about Lisa on her website (https://li

Tim Exile has been involved in the Music Tech world for a long time. As the developer of a number of effects and instruments for Native Instruments (including Flesh - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/flesh/ and The Finger - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/the-finger/), he became well-known for pushing the envelope on what we considered to be ‘normal’ devices. And after some great videos, we also saw his Flow Machine in action, where he took live looping in a completely new and interesting directions. Now he is working on a platform, called Endlesss (https://endlesss.fm/) that brings all of this together. It combines some of the interesting interfaces of his NI work together with the depth of live performance tools that were part of the Flow Machine, and has developed a live, flexible and collaborative system for recording. To consider this a DAW would be a mistake – rather, it is more like an alternative to the DAW that helps you work ‘in the mom

Recently, the Mute label reached out to me to see if I wanted to interview Alessandro Cortini, I had to chuckle a little to myself. Alessandro and I have had great conversations over the years, and I jumped at the opportunity to talk to him about his newest release: Scuro Chiaro. It’s an amazing work – added to an already amazing body of work. Of course, in addition to talking about release info, we also rambled into discussions about the systems that he’s been using, how he approaches sequencing, effects use with modular, development of the Make Noise Strega, and even his history with guitar. As always, fascinating stuff – and clearly one of the best interviews in our stack. Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0358.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

I’ve been a synth-head for a very long time. As a result, I have these little personal dropping-off points of favorite bits of gear: Ensoniq ESQ-1, Roland JD-800, E-mu Proteus and Morpheus. So imagine my surprise when a recent parcel of Facebook paraded all of my favorite synths. And it was put out there by today’s guest – Drew Schlesinger – who was deeply involved in sound design for synth preset for all these devices! Starting with the Casio CZ-101, making patch sheets and patch carts, Drew ended up as a working sound designer throughout the digital MIDI synth golden years. In our discussion, we talk about how he got started, the kind of machines that he found himself working on, highlights and lowlights of sound design, and how he moved on from there. We also talk a bit about his work with David Torn in a little apartment studio. You can follow the discussion/history on Facebook by following Drew on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/drewschlesinger1), and you can also hear the Torn album (Summer Synthesis

Despite the fact that I feel like I’m ‘dialed in’ to everything going on in the MI (Music Instrument) industry, sometimes I just get whacked in the head by something unexpected. I got an out-of-the-blue contact from some people in Argentina; when I started digging into https://yaeltex.com/, I was kind of blown away by what I saw – a ‘make what you need’ on-demand MIDI controller company that creates some of the coolest hardware imaginable. I chatted with Alejo Yael, once of the team that builds the Yaeltex devices. We chat about hardware development, software integration of controllers, the evolution of their business and the nature of doing it in Argentina. But it’s also interesting to hear the passion that is clear in Alejo’s description of what they do – and what they are planning. It also is interesting to see where the imagine their work going in the future. Enjoy this one, and make sure you check out their work at https://yaeltex.com/! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcrip

Gary Chang says it himself: “I've always portrayed myself an obscure electronic music composer, whose side gig is scoring Hollywood movies and tv shows.” I don’t think I could frame his work – or his attitude – any better. He takes an artist’s view of everything he does, whether it is his own music, the music he does for ultra-popular directors (like John Frankenheimer), or even assembling the musical instruments that fill his studio. A quick peek at his IMDB entries (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005999/#composer) will give you a sense of his ability to ‘get it done’, and to do so at a very high level. I first ran across Gary as an owner of Wiard Synthesizer modules (most of which are modified versions of the blue-plate units Grant Richter created); but also tracked him as he pushed the envelope on great uses of modular gear in many different areas. In our chat, we discuss his background, how he got into music technology – and music composition – and how it all came together for him in various places around t

As the head of content development for Nonlinear Educating (the home of MacProVideo, Ask.Audio, Ask.Video and more…), Steve Horelick has been in the media tool education game for a long time. He’s had his eyes on music software since Logic was an Emagic product. But he also has a long history as a musician and sound designer, with some pretty impressive scoring projects under his belt – most notably, the musical world of Reading Rainbow! In our discussion, we talk about his history in music and scoring, his love and respect of All Things Buchla, how he transitioned into education, and how he keeps his musical chops sharp. During all of this discussion, he also reveals a lot about collaboration, and opens the door to a lot of information about being yourself in the crazy world of music and composing. If you aren’t familiar with Nonlinear’s offerings, you can check it out at my favorite: MacProVideo (https://www.macprovideo.com/), or get some reading in at Ask.Audio (https://ask.audio/). There is so much there

KamranV is dedicated to new technology for music. From his work at Interscope New Media, through his work on the Phonocut vinyl lathe, Kamran is pushing envelopes at every turn. One of his on-groing projects is the QUARK plug-in system, which provides and easy-to-assemble toolkit for quad encoding and decoding of tracks. The stuff is ‘cooked’ enough that it was used for Susan Ciani’s Live – Quadraphonic record; if it is good enough for Susan, it’s good enough for me! In our interview, we cover everything from Kamran’s time growing up in Oklahoma, through his time at Interscope, and into the world of studios, hardware development and software experimentation. Through all of it, you get an impression of Kamran’s dedication to the “new” in New Media, and his entrepreneurial approach to anything in his path. You can find out more about everything that Kamran is up to by visiting his namesake website: http://www.cykik.com/ Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0353.html Exclu

For my audience, Anthony Rolando probably needs no introduction. As the product designer at Make Noise Music, his work is found in almost every modular system you’ll run across. From his earliest designs (such as the Maths) to his latest (like the Morphagene), he’s helping to define the future of modular systems. Recently, Make Noise has come out with a new standalone device – the Strega. This is a remarkable system-in-a-box that includes integrated effects and tone generation, and is particularly focused on live play. As a collaboration with Alessandro Cortini, the Strega is a deep, opinionated view on noise/sound manipulation, and launches a new perspective on what an ‘instrument’ is all about. In our discussion, we dive into depth on the development of the Strega, Tony’s personal musical adventures, and a bunch of follow-up from our previous podcast (https://artmusictech.libsyn.com/podcast-152-tony-rolando-of-make-noise). As with any discussion with Tony, it was revealing, challenging and inspiring. Enjoy!

Phelan Kane is a force of nature – when he recently signed up for the Max Certified Trainer program, I got a chance to see him in teacher-action, and also got a sense of his writing and presentation styles. Wow! Adept at everything from cogent DSP explanations to crazy Max DSP external development, he blew me away with all of the stuff that he could pull off. Then the interview – and I find out about his prior work in the studio. A-maz-ing! I had no idea about his background as a studio rat, but he was In It – right up until Napster kneecapped the whole industry. Speaking with someone that has such serious teaching experience (15+ years), massive studio experience, his own personal music exploration and a complete obsession with synths – well, you can imagine how that was going to go. We got along like old friends, and I was just consistently knocked out over the stories he was able to tell. Check out the interview, and check out Phelan’s teaching over at Music HackSpace: https://musichackspace.org/whatson_l

Yay! It finally came together! I’ve been working on getting James McCartney  for a while, and it happened! And the chat was as good as I hoped – we got to completely geek out on music/audio programming discussions, he introduced me into a class of new instruments, we talked about the past and the future… It’s what makes this podcast so awesome to produce. As I said, we wandered around the landscape, talking about his interest in the Jankó keyboard (and his acoustic piano of the same), how he got started in computer music programming, the early development of SuperCollider, and his current exploration into new programming languages. I came out of it understanding both James and his work much better. Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0350.html

Joshua Hodge is someone that is dedicated – dedicated to helping people learn to do what they love. Oh, and to get a job, too! His project – The Audio Programmer (theaudioprogrammer.com) is a central location for learning about how to become an audio programmer, and it combines his passion for music with his love of programming, and teaching. In our discussion, we talk about his background, how he got involved in programming, and why he decided to take on audio programming as a vector for his teaching. We also learn about his musical history as well as his own personal programming practice. All-in-all, it’s a good view of someone that is “all-in” on audio programming. You can check out Joshua’s work at The Audio Programmer (theaudioprogrammer.com), and take a peek as his programming tutorials on his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpKb02FsH4WH4X_2xhIoJ1A). In addition to the free YouTube videos, he also has a series teaching JUCE plugin development that is pretty powerful. If you are into pr

If you listen to any of the music that I do, you have seen the name of this week’s guest: Taylor Deupree. He is a mastering engineer extraordinaire, but he is also an amazing artist and collaborator, as well as running the 12k label. But for all of this work, Taylor is amazingly laid back, and our discussion was fantastically chilled. During our talk, we go through his background, getting started as both an artist and mastering engineer, how he approaches collaboration and what it is like to live in rural New York. Each part of this discussion is filled with surprise, and the whole interview really helps you understand – and appreciate – his work and his perspectives. Warning: it’ll also drive you into listening to a lot of his work, too! You can learn more about Taylors work at his site (http://www.taylordeupree.com/), his mastering site (http://www.12kmastering.com/), his bandcamp page (https://taylordeupree.bandcamp.com/) and his label site (https://www.12k.com/). Enjoy the exploration! Transcription avail

I doubt that I have to introduce Andrew Huang. His online entries are a strong contender for “YouTube Channel Most Responsible For Music-Making Coolness” (https://www.youtube.com/andrewhuang), and he simultaneously does tutorials, gear demos and production technique tricks/tips. This is one of the few people that I’ve interviewed that all of my kids knew – which is a pretty serious barrier to beat! Andrew has just finished up work on a new iOS app called Flip Sampler (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flip-sampler/id1486629619): a sample-based music making system that is super-intuitive while still being functionally significant. I got a chance to play with it for a week-or-so before our discussion, and was amazed at how easy it was to use, but was still useful for serious work. So we had a chance to talk about the development of that app. We also, however, spend a lot of time talking about his background, how he taps into creativity, and how he balances his channel work with his own musical creation. An interest

Dr. Cecilia Suhr is an amazing individual: academic, performer, installation artist, painter, recording musician – she’s found herself in the midst of so many artforms. When one of my listeners pointed her work out to me, I was fascinated by the breadth of the work – but also the focus on interactivity, and the ‘honoring of the audience’. Whether it is the high-velocity painting series, ‘happening’-like event installations like “I, You, We” or her variety of augmented reality pieces, Cecilia’s work is highly personal while still being really engaging. She’s found a way to draw people into her performances, and is able to take advantage of interactivity to produce complex artistic result. In our discussion, we talk about her musical journey, how she ended up in academia, how working in Ohio affects her art efforts, and how she is planning to expand her vision for intermedia work. It really makes me want to track this work down (once COVID isolation is behind us…). You can learn much more at https://www.cecilia

Tlacael Esparza was introduced to me by my friend Dave Hill Jr. – he pointed to Esparza’s Sensory Percussion as an example of the new electronic music instrument industry. This system (which you can check out at https://sunhou.se/) uses a sensitive microphone, combined with bleeding-edge machine learning software, to map a drumhead into multiple playable zones. And with that comes flexibility and creativity! A brief tour of the drummers that are taking advantage of the Sensory system points to individuals pushing the envelope of performative musical work, and blurs the line between percussion virtuosity and extreme sound manipulation. And it’s that kind of blurring that really defines the direction that development is moving. Tlacael has a great story behind the creation of the software, but it also points to the fact that, beyond being entranced by getting some coding out the door, he is dedicated to making the system more artistically satisfying for its users. This means constant redefinition of the goals,

Rachel Palmer is originally from my neck of the woods – the Minneapolis area. But she’s now in Cologne, expanding her visuals-for-music practice, and – germane to this interview – promoting her new music release: Antecedent, on Modularfield Records (https://modularfield.io/rachel-palmer-antecedent). It was just released on November 27th, but I had a chance to check out the pre-release, and was quite drawn in by the work. The music has many of the cinematic qualities that I think of with Modularfields’ releases, but the tracks are also unique in the individuality – each one sets itself as a unique entity, and it harkens to both Rachel’s personal story and her history in songwriting. In our chat, we discuss her background – which includes serious live visual work as well as a long musical history, her struggles finding a musical voice, and some of the concerns that exist for artists living through a pandemic. A thoughtful chat with an artist unafraid of exploration. Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.

I was first drawn into the music. The album “Pineapple”, by Grand River, has been part of my playlist for a while, and has embedded itself into my subconscious. The concept behind the One Instrument label jumped out at me, and I was intrigued by everything that I heard. When I reached out about the label, I was blown away to know that I’d be talking to the artist as well. Lucky me! Aimée Portioli is a busy soul. One Instrument (https://oneinstrument.bandcamp.com/) keeps up a steady stream of output, featuring individuals willing to dedicate themselves to making a track using only a single instrument – and, in the case of modular synths, a single oscillator. The limitations also limit effects usage to only a reverb, which greatly changes ones approach to the single-instrument concept. The work that Aimée has collected is super-interesting, ranging from laptop junkies to vibraphone masters. The selected artists work through the process thoughtfully, and Aimée’s curation holds it together. As Grand River (https:

One of the most enduring record series from the late 90’s and early 00’s is Pole’s 1/2/3 combo. These albums turned people’s heads when they were released, and remain often-mentioned favorites of the introspective ambient/glitch world. Stefan Betke – aka Pole – has just released a new album, Fading (http://mute.com/mute/has-announced-the-brand-new-album-fading), and opened the door for a chat. Woot!! In our discussion, we spend a fair amount of time on his production process, learning how he builds a track, some of his tricks for honing the work, and how he sets things up for live performance. He also fills us in on his history – and why his famous 4-Pole Filter failure could speak to him when it would have felt like a failure to most of us. You can learn much more about Stefan on the Pole artist site (https://pole-music.com/) and Bandcamp site (https://pole-stefanbetke.bandcamp.com/music). And, of course, the release is available on Mute Records: http://mute.com/ Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.