#INTHESTUDIO: ITALO BRUTALO
Hello Vincent, Hello Italo Brutalo. What a barbarity of laboratory you have. You are the perfect candidate for our section in which you are the protagonist today.
How would you describe your studio?
I have a modular studio. Not even one modular synth but a modular studio. Every single machine is connected to different patchbays, there are several different mixers (analog and digital), cascaded audio interfaces, different sequencers, etc. This way i can very fast experiment with sounds, route them through different effect units or samplers, etc.
My studio gives me the possibility to work in basically three totally different ways:
– First one is using the computer and Cubase as master sequencer and recording unit. Normally i am mixing single tracks within Cubase and routing 8 stereo stems to my digital mixer where i put hardware effects on it.
– Second workflow is using a groove box like Akai MPC3000 for example as master sequencer and recorder, that controls all synths and drumcomputers by clock or MIDI sync. When i do this i am mixing on an old analog rack mixer from the 90s, where i also add hardware effects, compressors, etc.
– Third workflow is a mixture of the other two workflows. Syncing all the sequencers, using analog and digital mixers at once, etc.
What are the most important machines over there?
The most important machines are my samplers indeed. When i started making music in 1995 the most important gear was a sampler. I recorded lots of stuff from records because i had no money to buy drum machines and tons of synthesizers. This is what i am still doing it but also with sampling my synthesizers.
Most people don´t know about the possibilites and speci fic sounding of old samplers. In contrast to them synthesizers feel very limited to me. Where the synth stops – the sampler starts. 😉
To name just a few: Akai MPC3000, E-MU Emax I, Ensoniq ASR-10, Akai S3200.
When you started to set it up, anything missing?
I built several studios over the last decades due to the fact of moving around. This studio here i set up in 2015. All gear that i ever wanted is here.
Do you spend hours in front of the computer for working on details?
No i never did that. This bothers me. Instead of doing that i program new sounds on my machines. Very often i record lots of sounds with effects on it. It´s a good way to go further. I am not a friend of having one billion possibilites till the end of the production process.
Do you use the same gear for every song you produce?
No i don´t. I like switching units. To be honest i know that i have a „little“ choice of gear but sometimes it happens that i don´t use one of them for years and then rediscover it with a totally different point of view.
Why do you use hardware and no plugins?
It´s not the sound but the way of creating music. There are several softsynths that sound great but i need to touch the instruments. It´s the same as making love: Touching and feeling a real person is million times better than watching porns on the (same) computer (you use for making music).
Any new projects you are working on?
Together with my girl friend I just started my own vinyl label called Bungalo Disco. First record will be out in October.
Units:
Akai MPC3000
Since 20 years i love this machine. It´s the one that i would take with me on a lonely island if i could just take one single unit with me. The sound, the workflow and the possibilites are superb and not that less limited as many people think. You
can even program awesome resonant filter envelopes with it. Lot´s of my tracks are just made with a few sounds i sampled in the MPC.
Roland DEP-3
I bought it because of its coloured knobs. They have the same colours like the ones of my Jupiter-8. After a while i played around with it and i loved it. Now i use it in most of my tracks for delay and bit crushing, that obviously every digital machine from the mid 80s does.
Ensoniq ASR-10
Using it as filter and effects unit. The sound of it is amazing. Everything processed by this machine sounds so much warmer and fatter. The reverbs are amazing.
Korg Poly-800 MK2
Totally underrated synthesizer. Many people hate the interface and way of programming it. I love it. The sound is great, sounds very warm and analog.
Roland SRE-555 Chorus Echo
The biggest space echo. Not that well known but the biggest machine of Roland´s tape echo series. Got it from my father who bought it in the late 70s as guitar effect. The good thing here is that there are two separate outputs for reverb and echo what helps a lot in the mixing process.
Ursa Major Space Station
One of the first digital effect units from the late 70s. More than 40 years later it´s still sounding fresh and deep. There are not many delays around that sound a characteristic like the Space Station does.
