NoiseTheorem

My studio has changed a lot over the years, mainly driven by my participation in various bands.  Going full on into drone music, as I am, means it may be time to shed some of the extra stuff I have lying around that I don’t have any use for going forward.

Now, if you think this is going to be a post where I announce that I am going to sell my M3, PEK or Prophecy, then you are going to be disappointed.  This is not going to happen, simply because those instruments still speak to me an my goals.  I actually intend to make better use of them going forward.  This post is about what I need in my creative space, gear and otherwise, to enhance my productivity.

If I could picture in my head, my ideal create space it would actually be rather small and tight with all of the equipment at arms reach.  I would have an area for writing and an area for mixing/editing.  The writing gear would almost all be hardware based (hardware samplers, drum machine, modular synth, etc.).  If there is a computer in this space, it has a small display and is basically a MIDI sequencer/editor/audio capture device.   If I could get away without this last part, I would do so gladly.  This is a space where I would have nothing except the gear to speak to.  When I sit there, music is the sole activity I could partake. 

As I picture this space, it would be in the back corner of my studio space, low light (small lamps) with the modular synth on a table.  I see a laptop there for the audio capture.  The keyboards are an an a-frame stand (DAMN MYSELF FOR SELLING THEM) to the left.  A rack with the FX in it is to the right.  Also in the rack is hardware sampler (Yamaha?), a rack mixer & patch bay.  MIDI is done simple in this setup, with my Roland UM880 acting as a basic router. Laptop?  Maybe.  Probably on top of the mixer rack.   I’d probably have the EMX1 on the desk.  Maybe an MPC1000 next to it. Nah, that’s just silly…

Ideally, I’d be able to record without a laptop.  That is an ideal I will probably not achieve.  In fact, Ill probably still need my regular PC for those duties.  I just need to figure out how to keep it FAR away.  Maybe if I could get the right kind of remote control for the PC that would work.  I just don’t want to have to figure out how to fit a keyboard, mouse and display over there. 

Taking a quick inventory, my shopping list is pretty simple:  A desk/table, A hardware sampler, A rack mixer and a recorder.  The rest of the gear I have.  I will also need a different sent of monitors over there, since I would want the big ones to stay with the mixing machine.  Guess I could push those Alesis Point7s that have been on the shelf for the last 10 years back to use…if they even work. 

There are a lot of other things I would like to adjust my space for as well.  I’d like to have *some* kind of aesthetic which spurs creativity, something more than the ‘basement gray’ that I currently have.  That’s a whole other ball of wax, though, and one I am particularly poor at (I am definitely not known for my sense of visual aesthetics). 

It’s a lot to think about, really.  But I really want to get it right this time.  I feel very close to it.  Close enough to picture it so vividly. 

Time to get a notebook and make some drawings.