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‘ACO’ >> First Album >> ”Beach Music, Cafe Music & Bar Music Collection” Out Now on iTunes & Amazon

Interview Part I/Part II

Part I

Self confessed synth fans, ACO talk about gear, song writing and music production in this series of short interviews.

What was you first synth?

My Dad brought me a Moog Prodigy, I was about 13 or 14.  I’d played home keyboards, I think a Bontempi Air Organ was my first.  My dad told me if I could master the Moog then I would know everything I needed to know about synths.  Shortly after that I got a Korg Mini 700 and a Roland SH101. I spent every waking minute mastering them, programming them and learning about all the eccentricities of analogue synths; tuning problems, the same settings creating very unpredictable results.  My dad was right though, once I had mastered the Moog, I had the confidence to tackle any synth I came into contact with. 

Do you have a view on how people use synths today?

The way that people use synths has changed a lot in recent years.  You buy and workstation or a soft synth and you get literally thousands of preset patches.  Few people need to edit them or customise them at all, you just flick through the 200 lead patches for the right one.  I have always been a bit of a control freak when it comes to sounds, so I regularly get stuck in and edit a patch to get exactly what I want, rather than toggle through the 150 synth bass presets.  I also aspire to have sounds that other people haven’t heard before and therefore need to be original, creating my own patches.

Kit List?

I’ve always been a synth man and over the years I have had gear from all the big synth names, Moog, Roland, Korg, Yamaha & Kawai.  I have often ended up working for gear, when there was no money about – so have built up the collection that way too.  My set-up is predominately synths with a Apple G5 Logic Studio at the heart of the set-up running some soft synths. 

Previously owned synths: Roland SH101, Korg M1, Roland, Kawai K1, Korg X5D & Yamaha TX81z.

Current Synth line up: Moog Prodigy, Korg Mini 700, Roland XP80, Roland JP8000 & Roland Fantom G6.

Is there any kit you’d really like to get your hands on?

Yes, in recent years I think Roland have pushed the boundaries in sound creation there at two bits of kit I would buy the Roland V-Synth GT – it will create sounds you have never heard before and can actually stop sound – very cool.  The second one would be the Roland V-Piano.

What is your favorite piece of kit?

Naturally I have a soft spot for my earliest pieces of gear (Moog Prodigy) but I think the coolest synth that I have ever owned is the Roland JP8000 is was the first analogue modeling synth, around 1998, and had such a fat sound whether it was leads, basses or lush pads.    

Next month ACO discuss inspiration and creating the Beach Music, Cafe Music and Bar Music Collection album.  Subscribe to receive it in your inbox.

Interview Part II

Why chill out?

I love chill out stuff. It's so diverse and touches on so many other genres I love, like jazz, funk, balearic, acid jazz.  It always makes me feel relaxed, if the sun shines and I'm in the garden on a Sunday morning, it makes me feel like I'm in a cool bar or hotel, or drinking coffee outside a cafe shop on the sea front.  I guess its a bit of escapism.

What were your influences for the album?

Well as the title suggest bars and cafe bars.  I spent a couple of years in France and love the cafe bar culture. I came back to France this year, for the first time in years, and straight away felt at home drinking and eating olives all evening.  It was a  combination of that and the feeling you get walking between

Bars on holiday - you drift from one groove to another but the feeling you get throughout is similar.

Who are listening to?

I listen to a lot of Internet radio, depending on what style of chill out I’m in the mood for, Chill Radio, Groovera, Sofaspace, and last fm on my iPod Touch.

How do you compose a track?

For me 95% of the time it will always start at the keyboard. Keyboards and drums are my strongest instruments so I will start by either playing chords or a drum groove on the keys.

Do you mean a preset drum rhythm/style?

No I was a drummer before mastering keys and have always played the drums from the keys like a real kit in real-time.  It's a handy skill to have because it has a more authentic feel than looping 8 bars and just doing bass drums kicks, plus the fact that I am mindful of what a drummer can really do, so wouldn't hit more things than I have arms.  I have no problem with using electronic drums and creating a drum machine feel for some songs, (bass drum rolls etc) but when it's grooving like it would have a live drummer I want it to be as authentic feeling as possible.

...Back to the song then, you start on keys then what?

I like my music to have either a strong melody or strong  chord progression, some kind of a hook, so I will work around the chords for some time, probably just on hardware.  I just got a Roland Juno G last week so I'll let some of the new patches inspire some chord progressions.  I love it happening that way, it's kind of organic.  Once the chords are taking shape I will bang them into logic fast, just incase I forget anything.  At this stage my memory is quite destructive and I can easily lose great ideas forever.  If I come up with another nice progression I will record than too, just 16 bars and drag it out to bar 200, and forget all about it, if I get stuck for inspiration I sometimes have a pool of ideas there from the session.  The track will start to take shape quite quickly, I understand song structures really well and I will record 80% of the structure in one take with the chords.  Here I will count out 16 bar breakdowns or drum fills in order that I don't lose the continuity.  I'm not a fan of coming up with a 16 bar loop and then repeating it over and over, I think music needs subtle nuances as the tracks progresses, chord inversions and light arpeggios. You can hear when these should happen without resorting to the obvious 16 bar patterns.  I still believe music should be made with your ears not your eyes.

Is that a pop at other dance producers?

Not at all, there is no shortage of brilliant music out there, my preference is to play and listen and I can work really fast like that. It's like I'm arranging on the fly.  If you arrange visually you still have to listen afterwards so it's whatever your personal preference is.

...Back to the track:

Once the chords and structure are in place I will try and get the main groove happening, this will be in 16 bar loops typically.  Again these will be played live with a bit of tweaking or quantizing afterwards.

I try and hold off with too many effects at this stage unless they are critical to the sound.  If the track is really grooving then I get to the fun bit, cool sounds, side chain filtering and arpeggiated synth parts.  The arpeggiation is funny for some reason I have never mastered it in Logic Pro so I play in the arpeggio parts live, I might have to drop the tempo by 10-20bpm depending on what the arpeggio is, I can play pretty fast so it's not too much of an issue.

The very last stage is the production.  Here I will start using effects, automate pan or filtering in logic, add special FX if I feel the track is missing something on a build or breakdown.  Finally I will do a mix down and put the track on my iPod.  I'm in the car a lot and will hear it in the car over the next few days, this is where the fine tuning happens, I'll make some notes on my dictaphone on what needs tweaking and it's should be job done.  Sometimes the process in the car can take months, I have loads of tracks awaiting vocal parts or hooks to finish them.

Do you have any tips for budding composers/producers?

The great thing about music is that there are few rules, I would have said a few years ago that you should try and reflect the instrument you are replicating, don't stab a guitar patch for instance, instead strum the keys by rolling your right hand from thumb to little finger, but now if playing it with your elbows sounds good for the track then do it.

ACO - July 2009

We catch up with ACO and talk about gear, song writing & music production in an exclusive 3 part interview >>