Small Landscapes studio.
This studio is based on the idea that the studio itself is an instrument. Very much inspired by Eno’s ideas. The studio is built around a Harrison console from the early ’80s. The story about the console itself is very funny. And the story people tell about the console is also funny. Some of it true, some of it not, as all stories are. Anyways, for the full story of the console, please email me and I’ll tell it as truthfully as the day I’m in allows.
Anyways. There is gear in the studio, and it’s organized as creative islands, so one spot offers something different from the other. I’ve worked with NNNN Audio, who make fantastic speakers, so it’s natural that I own a pair of those. I’ve linked to NNNN in Links so you can check it out yourselves. They are fun and smart people.
There are two instruments I would like to talk about, but maybe not in the way most people want or desire or whatever. One is a fairly unmodified 44-space Synthesizers.com instrument. I worked very hard making coffee and organizing cables, mounting speakers and lamps and watching endless great and also not so great contemporary theatre at Black Box (I partly grew up there; the link is in Links, btw). Anyways, I’m a huge fan of Roger Arrick, and that instrument reminds me of hard labour on both ends, me as buyer and Roger as developer. I can also talk about dreaming about instruments for quite a while, and I’ve lost some sleep looking at the old .com website and learning about modules etc. Anyways. A fantastic instrument. I can still go to the Wayback Machine and look at that website from around 2009 and get this warm and fuzzy feeling. Such a great time for me on this planet. That year. 2009 was great.
The other one is also a fantastic two-piece instrument made by Suit & Tie Guy, one of the most fantastic instrument designers I know of, and also a very, very nice guy. The TVS is the nicest-sounding and most beautiful monophonic (normalized) instrument ever made. And the other, in tandem, is the STG Soundlabs 20-space modular I have, which I think is what maybe someone other than me (maybe even STG himself) has coined a Midwest school synthesizer, so neither an East Coast nor a West Coast modular, but the best of both worlds, and practical, and FANTASTIC sounding, never-endingly inspiring.
A link to STG’s new endeavor is also in Links.
The studio is otherwise not very “designed” and bears the fruits of randomness and spontaneity, which I like. And it’s in an old garage, and I often think about how much great stuff has been made in garages (I’m not comparing myself here with people making great stuff in garages, but it is inspiring to think of, to me at least). OK. So that’s the studio. You won’t get a bragging gear list or hidden info on how expensive stuff is here, I’m sorry. The lighting in the room is inspired by the feeling the Miller brothers’ game Myst gave me as a kid.
The studio is also a place for listening, so I take pride in the room sounding great to my ears, and hopefully that enthusiasm bleeds over to the people I work with.
I do not use social media. I tried for a while back in the day. It’s not for me, and it never has been and never will be. There are some accounts floating about, don’t assume they are real. The SoundCloud and the Facebook accounts are real, but I’m never there. This means that the studio and I are reachable via email. Addresses are available in Contact.