Interview with Erol Alkan
by The Gearspace.com Community
31st July 2024
Erol Alkan is a DJ, producer, remixer, and more importantly a super accessible nice dude from North London. Erol is famous for his London club nights, and notable for producing remixes for such incredible artists as Daft Punk, New Order, Hot Chip, Tame Impala, Metronomy & more, as well as album production for The Mystery Jets & The Long Blondes, among others! We were very fortunate to have him hang out with us for a couple weeks back in the summer of 2016 where he answered and and every question about the dark arts of his creative process, his love for both hardware and software, his favourite synths and loads of other topics veering towards the electronic music spectrum. Check it out below!
For overdriving anything it tends to be The Culture Vulture, something I've had since 2005 and used frequently.. I'll put it across anything, even if used lightly it does something which feels right. I also love pushing the absolute hell out of it, and sometime set up a channel with the Vulture on the most manic, musical setting I can find, but bury the return signal low in the mix. It's musicality within distortion makes it so flexible.
- Erol Alkan
Thermionic Culture Vulture
Just use what ever you have! Even if its an old tape recorder, there will be a way to use it creatively. Just make sure your cabling is right, don't mess up the phase when going in and out of the box. All that cheap **** will come in useful at some point. Old vintage gear is cool but it's not as cool as the combination of your ears and taste when you get things right!
- Erol Alkan
Korg MS-20
DG was a track which had been knocking around for a while, I originally sang it but didn't want to appear on a record *singing*, so Hannah came down and I recorded her with the track sped up around 15bpm, so when it was slowed back down she was in the same register as the demo. The strings are a mixture on a Juno 6 and Logan String Melody, the bubbling synth is a heavily processed MS-20. Think I used the Audiotechniica 4040 on Hannah.
Track was mixed with Steve Dub in the Phantasy studio, it didn't take long as the track was recorded in quite well, we just went round the houses on vocal fx, think there are 2 different reverbs and 2 delays on Hannah, but really subtle in the mix..
Re-Animation took about 3 hours as it was already obvious what it needed to do, so programming it was easy.
- Erol Alkan
A mixture of both. I have external sequencers in the shape of the Dark Time and I also own Connie Planks Arp Sequencer (which has a mod on it which I have no idea what its for) so those do a bit of work, but I then record the sequence into Logic for safety as I end up triggering another synth in tandem to create a more unique sound. One track on the BTWS has a really cranky synth line on it which is actually me mistreating a string on the Fender bass, but then stuck it in the sampler, triggered it off the Dark Time, then ran the sequence into the SH-1 to create a subsonic harmony for it. Both sounds were thrown into the desk to squish them up, EQ-ed to hell and it left me with a really unique sound and sequence. The track is called 'The Soft Bounce'.
- Erol Alkan
At a push I'd say that records by Final, William Basinski, U, and The Cyclist have all made me sit up and listen.
- Erol Alkan
I leave instruments in the studio, never felt that the sound coming from a record needed more. Maybe some sound fx or onboard fx, but that's it.
- Erol Alkan
I like to make sure my sets flow, and that they take people for a trip.. I do use the Camelot wheel to mix records, but I also try things that clash to see how interesting it can be.
- Erol Alkan
Every mix, no matter the type of music, needs to tell a story: each element is a character, and each speaks clearly when their time arrives. Too many voices shouting confuses people, I try to be clear and concise. One character (sound) should clearly be identified as the ***hero***.
- Erol Alkan
Have a vision and work hard! With deals, work with people who you feel genuinely believe in you, don't just sign for money, there are no rainbows once the ink dries, work twice as hard once you find the right people you trust. Agents can only work with what YOU offer, everything is in your hands.
- Erol Alkan
Apple Logic Pro
I use the Logic native 'Stereo Spread' plug in a lot. I almost use it as a form of EQ as you can really place a sound and give it a really natural boost of FQ in certain ways, it works by phasing out certain frequencies which itself enhances parts of the sound. I also use a lot of side chain compression but never to the point where something pumps too much.
- Erol Alkan
Try mono-ing in the bass and lower mid signal, and only widen the top end.
- Erol Alkan
The Left Banke: their music is truly wonderful
Karen Carpenter: One of the purest voices I've ever heard
James Brown: Just to cut a devastating 15 minute club track, having the forsight of the future.
- Erol Alkan
Logic Pro! I think they are pretty excellent! I try to get sounds into the computer as close as possible.
- Erol Alkan
I try to get the sound as complete into the computer without the need to try a thousand ideas or plug ins. The best method of working (for me) is to be excited before heading to the computer, not to lose that (inspiration).
- Erol Alkan
I bought mine second hand so don't have the plug ins, just the unit.
- Erol Alkan
It wasn't long as I already had the remix complete in my head, so putting it together was pretty fast. Not going to the studio unless it's something fully formed in my mind, then use the studio as a place to create it, works for me.
- Erol Alkan
I added my Cat Octave synth to link some sections together, it helped some of the transitions.
I think I used my Trident Fleximix pre amps to get the fullest tone I could, then just jammed across the tracks till I hit upon something nice!
- Erol Alkan
Doepfer Dark Time
We've both got Dark Times, I also own an Arp, and program stuff in free hand too.
Main synth for GC is his Korg Monopoly, a great and underrated machine!
- Erol Alkan
Each DJ situation is different, so I tend to read the room in order to guide where I go musically, which tempo to use, fast/slow mixes. It always varies.
- Erol Alkan
I use a mixture, I record a lot of my own live drum sounds, so I've built a bunch of sound modules which I use over and over, but change compression and treatment along with the tuning of each part which makes a small selection of sounds really versatile. I also record my own drum machine sounds in, often layering them to create 1 sound, and again, they may get processed through various boxes to get them sounding right.
'Less is more', you don't need more than 5 or 6 different sounding drum machine modules to virtually cover a seriously wide array of sounds. If you want the swing of a machine then just source a machine, as I can tell the difference between a real Linn swing and one being spoofed on a computer.
- Erol Alkan
Process for kick and snare: tune it, compress it, EQ it, then maybe a limiter. Then a parallel compression buss for movement.
- Erol Alkan
Octave The Cat
I currently have 2 actually, I'm looking after another one for a friend. I tend to use when I want something quite demented, as it has a beautiful way of sounding in sync when deeply out of sync, so you really never know what you will get. I have a Transcendent Polysynth which can do something similar but the Cat has such a grain and depth to it which is always there.
- Erol Alkan
For me, its all about if I like the music. It begins and ends with that. I'm not bothered about an artists profile or social media numbers. I care about what their music will do for people when they eventually hear it.
- Erol Alkan
I find it quite natural, it all comes from the same place for me, and I've always seen myself as having 1 hat, and that it there to just be satisfied creatively. I really see no difference in being in a studio with a band and Djing, as i am just trying to reach some type of conclusion or resolve something within.
- Erol Alkan
It's obvious streaming is a major part of the future, but it also seems the model in how artists get paid isn't in a place where musicians and writers from every level are happy with. It feels like it may take more time for it to all balance out.
- Erol Alkan
It was always great fun with Alex. He's really smart and a lot of fun to work with. My main memory was after finishing Lemonade we were a bit unsure if we should release it, as it felt too over the top. We were perhaps going to release it another name we used, Dance Area. It wasn't till that same night that after I played it (in a back to back set with Xavier from Justice) and we both witnessing the crowd reaction that we decided to put it out on our own names. Even then we stuck it as the B side!
- Erol Alkan
Trident Audio Fleximix
I just bought a UA, but that is spectacular! I also use my Trident Fleximix which I find to sound really warm and bold.. I also have some Schlumberger pre's from the late 60s which are brutal, I used them across the drums on the Late Of The Pier album. The Schlumbergers are also mic amps (I have 4 mic amps, 4 line amps), very rare and insanely different to anything else I've used . Other than that I sometimes just use the ones on the front of my RME 800 as they hit the spot if I want something transparent.. I believe a mix of old and new, expensive and cheap always covers every base.
- Erol Alkan
A mixture, depends on the part.But I like to have the midi even if its played in, so I can layer the sounds, so the rule is capture what you can unless its spur of the moment.
- Erol Alkan
The lines are far too blurred for me to be able to choose one, I see them as all as part of being creative.
- Erol Alkan
Yes, Hannah did sing all the vocals on that track.. She provided other vocals on the record and at the 11th hour we asked if she could do one more session with us. Originally, the verses were to be sung by a man and the chorus parts by a woman. I had demoed it already in the same vocal range, and still wanted something similar but without me on the record, as I have no ambitions to be seen as a singer.. Anyway, Hannah came down, I played her the demo and wrote down the words, I sped the track up by 15 or 18bpm and measured her vocal tone with mine, so essentially her slowed down vocal would match my range and tone. She then put down a couple of takes, recorded the chorus in normal pitch and it was done.
- Erol Alkan
Essentially the creative chain of James/Dan and I are quite effective and we reach results pretty fast.
- Erol Alkan
I say don't try and control it. Just balance it so it sounds exciting musically and then just record it in with a nice pre amp and a touch of compression. If its jumping around too much then it maybe a musical problem rather then a dynamic one (?).
- Erol Alkan
It varies to be honest. Not everything goes through there, and less so at the moment as I've been working on the BTWS album. But ideally the studio is a stepping stone for artists to be able to get their own thing going later down the line. I feel my studio has serious limitations but that works in its favour.. We mixed the record with Steve Dub (he mixes The Chemical Brothers, so he knows his thing) and he loved the studio, which was really nice to hear.. A mastering engineer once commented that some of my mixes coming out my studio were far better than mixes coming out of ***** (i won't name names) Studios which costs about £1k a day to use, so it just goes to show its not so much the studio.
- Erol Alkan
Its not easy, but when its right its rewarding.. Thankfully the label is growing and we have a good team behind it, so my work can stay focused on the musical side.
- Erol Alkan
Audio-Technica 4040
I love my Audiotechnica 4040, that gets used a lot.. And I bought an old Sony which belonged to John Entwistle from the Who which I use on male voices which sounds good.. Other then that its whatever is in the studio, we loved the Lomo on Sam Eastgate (Late Of The Pier) and the Shure SM7 on Blaine from the Mystery Jets.. I always favour an inverted Yamaha NS10 cone with a RE-20 on kicks, and then use whatever else is around on the other elements of a drum kit. I also try to find the worst mic in the studio and have that on the snare as well, and mix a bit of that in alongside a SM 57 and whatever else we use on that drum. We once wired up a dictaphone as a room mic which was great.. I'm happy to have limitations and be as creative as possible.
As a side, I think its always worth to collect a few crap mics to use alongside great ones, you never know what you'll get.
- Erol Alkan
The Ensoniq DP4, as it can kinda do everything pretty well, plus there are so many possibilities you can never get bored... I've used the phaser and flanger on it a fair bit, and love a lot of the presets which it came with. I'm a big fan of finding the pre set I like then working into it. I've had mine since 2005 and it's been a constant in the studio.
- Erol Alkan
Ensoniq DP/4
Acoustic guitar, any keyboard, any drum machine. I'm not picky when it comes to getting down ideas.
- Erol Alkan
I firmly believe there is something essential happening at any given moment, you just need to find it. But right now I think it's pretty strong within electronic music.
- Erol Alkan
Artists need to be able to live from their craft, and unless they have the ability to play live or dj, its had for them to get by. It's also why we've lost a certain strain of guitar based music over the last decade. I remember when really strange bands were getting decent record deals which you don't see much of these days.
- Erol Alkan
It keeps changing, but we wanted to make records made within a certain era work in a different way for a different dance floor. That was the original plot.. Since then its grown, and our album is a really varied mix, I'm not quite sure what people will make of it as we are completely out of our comfort zone with it.
- Erol Alkan
Yeah, there is a lot of panning, and a few tricks to create a strange sense of stereo by using sample delays.. also a lot of super fast side chain compression to get precedent to sounds from one another.. I'm really happy with the dynamic range of that track, it really does pack a punch.. It was made in about 5 hours from what I recall, and mixed really fast.. Maybe 90 minutes.
- Erol Alkan
Korg Mono/Poly
Yeah, the Korg Mono/Poly is a big part of James and Dan's music, it's a beast of a synth and far more versatile then people imagine. Most of the time the sounds are just explored until it lands on something special, usually whilst a sequence is playing. The oscillators are all slightly out of tune from one another, filter is usually cut back, bit of resonance etc.. Just about finding the special sound which hits the spot.
- Erol Alkan
OK, to rework a track I try to reproduce it in a way that I feel the track could work but in a different vein, sometime its merely extending it for the dance floor but using the original elements in the way somebody like Francois K did back in the 80s, his extended mixes of The Cure, Depeche Mode and The Smiths had a big influence on me.
Or sometimes I feel that writing a dominant element and having the track (and some of its original parts) hang off that could work well, that's kind of what I did for the Connan rework. I aim to have a piece of music in my head before I start work, but it sometimes doesn't go that way. I was lucky that I had every note written for this mix so putting it together was simple. I also had the tone worked out, so the whole mix took me around 8 hours to do, everything slotted into place easily.
I remember having to put the original parts into ableton as it wasn't recorded to a click. Then I wrote the baseline and ran the midi into my SH1 which gave me the bass I wanted, it had to feel warm and pulse in a certain way that only that machine could give me at that stage. I remember editing a lot of the original audio so it swang in the correct way against the baseline and gave it space. I think I made a aux send which went to my Lexicon which I randomly sent a piece of each element to, and chose a really bright reverb till I created a wash of tone which I then made sound much duller, and thats really quiet in the mix... The last part I put down was the guitars at the end which I plugged straight into my Korg Stage Echo and then into the computer, and played the melancholic part twice.. I was trying to get the same feel as what Johnny Marr did so beautifully on the Meat Is Murder album, I must have had Well I Wonder in my head as it always reminds me of that whenever I now hear it.. When Connan heard the mix he was confused as he didn't recall putting those guitars down, I took that as a compliment as Connan is a seriously great guitarist
I mixed the track on my Trident Fleximix, it gave it that real dusty glow, and I remember being quite unconventional on the EQs to make sure each element gave space to one another, as the original parts are so ambient in their recording. Otherwise the bass and drum machine parts would sound too dominant.
There's some other parts I added, but can't remember where they came from, it was 5 years ago so my mind is a bit hazy.
- Erol Alkan
Synth wise I am a big fan of the Juno 6, MS-20 (I have the new one which I think is great) and my Roland SH1 which I use more for altering sounds via the audio in and envelope. I prefer Logic 10 over anything else and get by with the native plug ins, if I want something a little quirky I aim to get it into the computer that way rather then fiddling with plug ins. I find that these decisions are the most important aspect of production.
AKAI MPX16
I built my own compressor which I use on every master bus mix I do, its basically a supercharged SSL clone with a width module to check clocking and whats being lost in the mono register. I also have a tube tech valve compressor which I put across drums if I need to cook it all a little more. I'm a huge fan of cheap 80s Efektron boxes, they sounds like **** but in a good way. You used to be able to pick them up for £50 a while back but I think people have got wise now.. Everything goes through a Chandler Mini Mixer which I think is worth every penny. I have a Trident Fleximix which is mainly being used for pre amping these days, although I may go back to it.. I mixed my Connan Moccasin rework through that and it has that sound, something dusty and dream like, if you push it in the right way.
If I had space I'd bring the DP4 as it was some great effects on there... Also my AKAI MPX16 (I think its called that) sampler which is really basic but has a magic to it. Oh, and my Schlumberger EQs as they sound quite API-ish and do some pretty excellent things across the master.
- Erol Alkan
Yeah, I have a lot of great memories from that session. The making of that record was a lot of fun, a real experience for both me and the band. Being a second album is always a bit of a crossroads for any band, and we had to be really careful to not throw the baby out with the bathwater as such, so we boiled down the best elements of the band and their songwriting to see what there was. I always felt the Jets were a folk band, in the sense they speak to their audience in a non abstract manner, so I encouraged them to take that approach in their writing.
We had the album all finished when we all felt it maybe a good idea to try and record another track, and distill everything we had learnt from making the album into one song. We set Blaine the task to write a song over the weekend and he came in with the demo of 'Girl Next Door'. We then set up a rehearsal session so the full arrangement could be agreed on before recording (a VERY important factor in us being able to record quickly and all be on the same page) as some tracks were written whilst recording and we found that to be a bit of an expensive luxury.
Once we demoed a full band version, we booked the Square in Hoxton (which I hear is no more, massive shame..) and recorded it in a day and a half.
Originally, we didn't have the big sax break in the middle, the band wanted a saxophone of some type, and we managed to find a played 4 hours into the session who came down that same evening. Of course, we wanted something quite cool and abstract, but halfway through we did a massive 180 turn and decided we should go full on Whitney Houston, as the song was a celebration of some type, we got 2 takes down and I chopped it up to make something as over the top as possible. I also remember adding the part just before the last chorus which rips of a drum part from Bowie's Lets Dance so there was more of a climax.
We did this really cool thing with the snare in the chorus, setting up a snare overdub in the long outside corridor and placing 4 microphones in a long line with a gate on each, so when Kaps hit it at its loudest all 4 mics would record and the signal would be fuller, its subliminal but we know its there
The feeling in the studio was great, we had no idea what anybody else would think of the track and I find that having no idea what people may think is the best.
If you peel through the layers of the track, there are some beautiful sounds curtesy of Will, they really help soften the pop sensibility of the track in a sublime way.
The opening drums aren't actually drums, but an mp3 of Blaine hitting his guitar from the first demo. I loved the sound and felt it sounded like the girl playing the drums next door, which is the narrative of the song ('when I hear those drums late at night').
- Erol Alkan
[top]What's your go to unit/pedal for driving drum machines? - wisdom
For overdriving anything it tends to be The Culture Vulture, something I've had since 2005 and used frequently.. I'll put it across anything, even if used lightly it does something which feels right. I also love pushing the absolute hell out of it, and sometime set up a channel with the Vulture on the most manic, musical setting I can find, but bury the return signal low in the mix. It's musicality within distortion makes it so flexible.
- Erol Alkan
Thermionic Culture Vulture
[top]Could you let us in on a few tricks / tips you employ in the box (to dirty up may signal)? - testpatterns
Just use what ever you have! Even if its an old tape recorder, there will be a way to use it creatively. Just make sure your cabling is right, don't mess up the phase when going in and out of the box. All that cheap **** will come in useful at some point. Old vintage gear is cool but it's not as cool as the combination of your ears and taste when you get things right!
- Erol Alkan
[top]Could you tell us more about how "Diagram Girl" that you produced with Richard Norris came about? - Reptil
Korg MS-20Track was mixed with Steve Dub in the Phantasy studio, it didn't take long as the track was recorded in quite well, we just went round the houses on vocal fx, think there are 2 different reverbs and 2 delays on Hannah, but really subtle in the mix..
Re-Animation took about 3 hours as it was already obvious what it needed to do, so programming it was easy.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Do you use an external sequencer before recording sounds in, or do you prefer Logic Pro for sequencing? - Denski
A mixture of both. I have external sequencers in the shape of the Dark Time and I also own Connie Planks Arp Sequencer (which has a mod on it which I have no idea what its for) so those do a bit of work, but I then record the sequence into Logic for safety as I end up triggering another synth in tandem to create a more unique sound. One track on the BTWS has a really cranky synth line on it which is actually me mistreating a string on the Fender bass, but then stuck it in the sampler, triggered it off the Dark Time, then ran the sequence into the SH-1 to create a subsonic harmony for it. Both sounds were thrown into the desk to squish them up, EQ-ed to hell and it left me with a really unique sound and sequence. The track is called 'The Soft Bounce'.
- Erol Alkan
[top]What current producer(s) do you think are creating exceptionally unique sounds/productions? - Denski
At a push I'd say that records by Final, William Basinski, U, and The Cyclist have all made me sit up and listen.
- Erol Alkan
[top]You're mixing as a DJ on the standard setup of Pioneers; what are your ideas of adding instruments on stage like a sampler? - Reptil
I leave instruments in the studio, never felt that the sound coming from a record needed more. Maybe some sound fx or onboard fx, but that's it.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Can you tell a bit more about how you put your DJ sets together? - Reptil
I like to make sure my sets flow, and that they take people for a trip.. I do use the Camelot wheel to mix records, but I also try things that clash to see how interesting it can be.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Do you have any tips when producing electronic dance music? - Reptil
Every mix, no matter the type of music, needs to tell a story: each element is a character, and each speaks clearly when their time arrives. Too many voices shouting confuses people, I try to be clear and concise. One character (sound) should clearly be identified as the ***hero***.
- Erol Alkan
[top]How can beginning artists, producing or playing live (or DJ-ing) best setup the business end of things? - Reptil
Have a vision and work hard! With deals, work with people who you feel genuinely believe in you, don't just sign for money, there are no rainbows once the ink dries, work twice as hard once you find the right people you trust. Agents can only work with what YOU offer, everything is in your hands.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Please explain what your techniques are to achieve a sense of depth and width on your mixes, without losing the punch and power, so required at clubs? - adidoplacido
Apple Logic Pro- Erol Alkan
[top]Can you help me understand the Stereo Spread tool in Logic? - JamesTinney
Try mono-ing in the bass and lower mid signal, and only widen the top end.
- Erol Alkan
[top]If you could take your gear and time travel back to the 60s/70s. Who would you like to produce and why? - Denski
The Left Banke: their music is truly wonderful
Karen Carpenter: One of the purest voices I've ever heard
James Brown: Just to cut a devastating 15 minute club track, having the forsight of the future.
- Erol Alkan
[top]What you're favourite/ go to plugins are, both in synths, effects and mixing? - testpatterns
Logic Pro! I think they are pretty excellent! I try to get sounds into the computer as close as possible.
- Erol Alkan
[top]How do you normally arrange your tracks when it comes to electronic music. Do you run your synths/drum machines live and then record them when you have your basic sounds done or do you just track one part at the time? - justjoo
I try to get the sound as complete into the computer without the need to try a thousand ideas or plug ins. The best method of working (for me) is to be excited before heading to the computer, not to lose that (inspiration).
- Erol Alkan
[top]Which plugins are you using from your United Audio interface, and are you using it as a satellite or a full blown interface for your mics as well to utilize the unison tech? - akdigital
I bought mine second hand so don't have the plug ins, just the unit.
- Erol Alkan
[top]How long did that take you to make the rework of the track “Forever Dolphin Love”? - Energizer bunny
It wasn't long as I already had the remix complete in my head, so putting it together was pretty fast. Not going to the studio unless it's something fully formed in my mind, then use the studio as a place to create it, works for me.
- Erol Alkan
[top]In your Fabriclive compilation you've used a lot of additional synths tracks and efx's over original mixed tracks? Please tell what (synths) you used, and how you mixed, processed it? - GrandMasterStorm
I added my Cat Octave synth to link some sections together, it helped some of the transitions.
I think I used my Trident Fleximix pre amps to get the fullest tone I could, then just jammed across the tracks till I hit upon something nice!
- Erol Alkan
Doepfer Dark Time[top]What sequencer is your go to? For example on the new “Ghost Culture”club track? I've seen pictures of you using the Doepfer Dark Time sequencer. Did you use an SH-09? - wisdom
We've both got Dark Times, I also own an Arp, and program stuff in free hand too.
Main synth for GC is his Korg Monopoly, a great and underrated machine!
- Erol Alkan
[top]About Live set arrangements: Are there some "general" patterns you follow in order to better manage the "energy" of your set? - DamZ
Each DJ situation is different, so I tend to read the room in order to guide where I go musically, which tempo to use, fast/slow mixes. It always varies.
- Erol Alkan
[top]What is you main source for drum sounds? a drum machine? Samples? - dchalfon
I use a mixture, I record a lot of my own live drum sounds, so I've built a bunch of sound modules which I use over and over, but change compression and treatment along with the tuning of each part which makes a small selection of sounds really versatile. I also record my own drum machine sounds in, often layering them to create 1 sound, and again, they may get processed through various boxes to get them sounding right.
'Less is more', you don't need more than 5 or 6 different sounding drum machine modules to virtually cover a seriously wide array of sounds. If you want the swing of a machine then just source a machine, as I can tell the difference between a real Linn swing and one being spoofed on a computer.
- Erol Alkan
[top]How you usually process kicks and snares? - dchalfon
Process for kick and snare: tune it, compress it, EQ it, then maybe a limiter. Then a parallel compression buss for movement.
- Erol Alkan
Octave The Cat[top]You have an Octave Cat in your studio. Which revision is it and how do you use it? - Equalizer85
I currently have 2 actually, I'm looking after another one for a friend. I tend to use when I want something quite demented, as it has a beautiful way of sounding in sync when deeply out of sync, so you really never know what you will get. I have a Transcendent Polysynth which can do something similar but the Cat has such a grain and depth to it which is always there.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Can you please give any advise on how to approch a label (like yours or others) with demos? Is it the music that matters the most, or is it that you have a folowing (on social media) or played at big name festivals? - jaycee21
For me, its all about if I like the music. It begins and ends with that. I'm not bothered about an artists profile or social media numbers. I care about what their music will do for people when they eventually hear it.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Do you find it difficult to differentiate between the different jobs as producer, remixer, music fan/crate digger, and label head? - Mild
I find it quite natural, it all comes from the same place for me, and I've always seen myself as having 1 hat, and that it there to just be satisfied creatively. I really see no difference in being in a studio with a band and Djing, as i am just trying to reach some type of conclusion or resolve something within.
- Erol Alkan
[top]What's your take on the whole streaming artist renumeration issues in this day and age? - suspect1
It's obvious streaming is a major part of the future, but it also seems the model in how artists get paid isn't in a place where musicians and writers from every level are happy with. It feels like it may take more time for it to all balance out.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Can you give us some wild and crazy anecdotes regarding collaborations with Boys Noize? - rmj
It was always great fun with Alex. He's really smart and a lot of fun to work with. My main memory was after finishing Lemonade we were a bit unsure if we should release it, as it felt too over the top. We were perhaps going to release it another name we used, Dance Area. It wasn't till that same night that after I played it (in a back to back set with Xavier from Justice) and we both witnessing the crowd reaction that we decided to put it out on our own names. Even then we stuck it as the B side!
- Erol Alkan
Trident Audio Fleximix[top]You mentioned using a nice pre amp. Do you have a goto piece of kit, or do you vary, depending what the source is? Which are your favorites? - suspect1
I just bought a UA, but that is spectacular! I also use my Trident Fleximix which I find to sound really warm and bold.. I also have some Schlumberger pre's from the late 60s which are brutal, I used them across the drums on the Late Of The Pier album. The Schlumbergers are also mic amps (I have 4 mic amps, 4 line amps), very rare and insanely different to anything else I've used . Other than that I sometimes just use the ones on the front of my RME 800 as they hit the spot if I want something transparent.. I believe a mix of old and new, expensive and cheap always covers every base.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Do you ever record midi or is it all about the performance for you? - suspect1
A mixture, depends on the part.But I like to have the midi even if its played in, so I can layer the sounds, so the rule is capture what you can unless its spur of the moment.
- Erol Alkan
[top]If you had to only be one, are you the producer, artist or DJ? - WildOneTruss1
The lines are far too blurred for me to be able to choose one, I see them as all as part of being creative.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Where do we find lyrics for artists on Phantasy including BTWS? Hannah Peel did all vocals (male/vocal) on Diagram Girl if I remember reading correctly? What was that process like and is it something you do often? - akdigital
Yes, Hannah did sing all the vocals on that track.. She provided other vocals on the record and at the 11th hour we asked if she could do one more session with us. Originally, the verses were to be sung by a man and the chorus parts by a woman. I had demoed it already in the same vocal range, and still wanted something similar but without me on the record, as I have no ambitions to be seen as a singer.. Anyway, Hannah came down, I played her the demo and wrote down the words, I sped the track up by 15 or 18bpm and measured her vocal tone with mine, so essentially her slowed down vocal would match my range and tone. She then put down a couple of takes, recorded the chorus in normal pitch and it was done.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Could you give us some more insight into how the sound on the albums from Daniel Avery/Ghost Culture was crafted and how much of the sounds takes place at your north studio in London? - akdigital
Essentially the creative chain of James/Dan and I are quite effective and we reach results pretty fast.
- Erol Alkan
[top]How did you control that synth with the crazy filter jumping around constantly? Is it something you do in multiple takes and adjust volume on the synth during each piece, or is it some type of hardware compressor? - akdigital
I say don't try and control it. Just balance it so it sounds exciting musically and then just record it in with a nice pre amp and a touch of compression. If its jumping around too much then it maybe a musical problem rather then a dynamic one (?).
- Erol Alkan
[top]Do most of the Phantasy artists record out of the north studio in London or is it all over the place? How much of Phantasy sound is based on the awesome gear you have available in that studio and in your opinion what sets your studio apart from others? - akdigital
It varies to be honest. Not everything goes through there, and less so at the moment as I've been working on the BTWS album. But ideally the studio is a stepping stone for artists to be able to get their own thing going later down the line. I feel my studio has serious limitations but that works in its favour.. We mixed the record with Steve Dub (he mixes The Chemical Brothers, so he knows his thing) and he loved the studio, which was really nice to hear.. A mastering engineer once commented that some of my mixes coming out my studio were far better than mixes coming out of ***** (i won't name names) Studios which costs about £1k a day to use, so it just goes to show its not so much the studio.
- Erol Alkan
[top]How hard is it managing both a label and yourself as an artist? Do you find that now you're exposed to even more opportunities to get to hear/collaborate with artist because of the label? - akdigital
Its not easy, but when its right its rewarding.. Thankfully the label is growing and we have a good team behind it, so my work can stay focused on the musical side.
- Erol Alkan
Audio-Technica 4040[top]What is the mic out of the vast amounts out there, old and new, that you choose first for any application? - vintagetones
I love my Audiotechnica 4040, that gets used a lot.. And I bought an old Sony which belonged to John Entwistle from the Who which I use on male voices which sounds good.. Other then that its whatever is in the studio, we loved the Lomo on Sam Eastgate (Late Of The Pier) and the Shure SM7 on Blaine from the Mystery Jets.. I always favour an inverted Yamaha NS10 cone with a RE-20 on kicks, and then use whatever else is around on the other elements of a drum kit. I also try to find the worst mic in the studio and have that on the snare as well, and mix a bit of that in alongside a SM 57 and whatever else we use on that drum. We once wired up a dictaphone as a room mic which was great.. I'm happy to have limitations and be as creative as possible.
As a side, I think its always worth to collect a few crap mics to use alongside great ones, you never know what you'll get.
- Erol Alkan
[top]If you could only have one effect unit to use what would it be and why? - elasticc
The Ensoniq DP4, as it can kinda do everything pretty well, plus there are so many possibilities you can never get bored... I've used the phaser and flanger on it a fair bit, and love a lot of the presets which it came with. I'm a big fan of finding the pre set I like then working into it. I've had mine since 2005 and it's been a constant in the studio.
- Erol Alkan
Ensoniq DP/4
[top]Name 3 bits of gear to write a track? (Apart from a computer) - Kansaispirits
Acoustic guitar, any keyboard, any drum machine. I'm not picky when it comes to getting down ideas.
- Erol Alkan
[top]What's your honest opinion of the music scene in the U.K. at present? - Kansaispirits
I firmly believe there is something essential happening at any given moment, you just need to find it. But right now I think it's pretty strong within electronic music.
- Erol Alkan
[top]What changes do you think need to happen culturally to enable more positive shift in how music is created, distributed and consumed? - Kansaispirits
Artists need to be able to live from their craft, and unless they have the ability to play live or dj, its had for them to get by. It's also why we've lost a certain strain of guitar based music over the last decade. I remember when really strange bands were getting decent record deals which you don't see much of these days.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Can you tell us a few things about the Beyond the “Wizards Sleeve” project, it's a really amazing mix of ideas, what your inspiration is how you go about making the tracks, deciding what to sample, etc.? - msl
It keeps changing, but we wanted to make records made within a certain era work in a different way for a different dance floor. That was the original plot.. Since then its grown, and our album is a really varied mix, I'm not quite sure what people will make of it as we are completely out of our comfort zone with it.
- Erol Alkan
[top]There are some absurd panned sweeps/wobbly uprisings in the track The Emperor Machine - RMI is all I want (E.A. Extended rework), that really stand out, any chance you could give me a little insight into how you manipulated these sounds? - masaski
Yeah, there is a lot of panning, and a few tricks to create a strange sense of stereo by using sample delays.. also a lot of super fast side chain compression to get precedent to sounds from one another.. I'm really happy with the dynamic range of that track, it really does pack a punch.. It was made in about 5 hours from what I recall, and mixed really fast.. Maybe 90 minutes.
- Erol Alkan
Korg Mono/Poly[top]Daniel Avery/James Greenwood(GC) both use the Korg mono-poly. I've read that James picked it up and basically mastered the synth and became crazy familiar with it. Can you give us a little bit more information on how the sound is created? I noticed in the futuremusic article that there was a Korg mono-poly in the studio with a dark time hooked up to it was curious how it all flows. I believe I read in an article that you spent quite a bit of time with both of them in the studio. - akdigital
Yeah, the Korg Mono/Poly is a big part of James and Dan's music, it's a beast of a synth and far more versatile then people imagine. Most of the time the sounds are just explored until it lands on something special, usually whilst a sequence is playing. The oscillators are all slightly out of tune from one another, filter is usually cut back, bit of resonance etc.. Just about finding the special sound which hits the spot.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Can you please take me through the process on how you make remixes?Do you have a general method how to approach this? In particular I want to ask you how you did the reworks (I found 2 versions) of this beautiful "Forever Dolphin Love". - Reptil
OK, to rework a track I try to reproduce it in a way that I feel the track could work but in a different vein, sometime its merely extending it for the dance floor but using the original elements in the way somebody like Francois K did back in the 80s, his extended mixes of The Cure, Depeche Mode and The Smiths had a big influence on me.
Or sometimes I feel that writing a dominant element and having the track (and some of its original parts) hang off that could work well, that's kind of what I did for the Connan rework. I aim to have a piece of music in my head before I start work, but it sometimes doesn't go that way. I was lucky that I had every note written for this mix so putting it together was simple. I also had the tone worked out, so the whole mix took me around 8 hours to do, everything slotted into place easily.
I remember having to put the original parts into ableton as it wasn't recorded to a click. Then I wrote the baseline and ran the midi into my SH1 which gave me the bass I wanted, it had to feel warm and pulse in a certain way that only that machine could give me at that stage. I remember editing a lot of the original audio so it swang in the correct way against the baseline and gave it space. I think I made a aux send which went to my Lexicon which I randomly sent a piece of each element to, and chose a really bright reverb till I created a wash of tone which I then made sound much duller, and thats really quiet in the mix... The last part I put down was the guitars at the end which I plugged straight into my Korg Stage Echo and then into the computer, and played the melancholic part twice.. I was trying to get the same feel as what Johnny Marr did so beautifully on the Meat Is Murder album, I must have had Well I Wonder in my head as it always reminds me of that whenever I now hear it.. When Connan heard the mix he was confused as he didn't recall putting those guitars down, I took that as a compliment as Connan is a seriously great guitarist
I mixed the track on my Trident Fleximix, it gave it that real dusty glow, and I remember being quite unconventional on the EQs to make sure each element gave space to one another, as the original parts are so ambient in their recording. Otherwise the bass and drum machine parts would sound too dominant.
There's some other parts I added, but can't remember where they came from, it was 5 years ago so my mind is a bit hazy.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Have you got some surefire desert island kit you turn to to get the sound you do? - Gunark
Synth wise I am a big fan of the Juno 6, MS-20 (I have the new one which I think is great) and my Roland SH1 which I use more for altering sounds via the audio in and envelope. I prefer Logic 10 over anything else and get by with the native plug ins, if I want something a little quirky I aim to get it into the computer that way rather then fiddling with plug ins. I find that these decisions are the most important aspect of production.
AKAI MPX16If I had space I'd bring the DP4 as it was some great effects on there... Also my AKAI MPX16 (I think its called that) sampler which is really basic but has a magic to it. Oh, and my Schlumberger EQs as they sound quite API-ish and do some pretty excellent things across the master.
- Erol Alkan
[top]Wondering if you had any good stories about making “Twenty One”! The first thing that caught my ear are those 80s-sounding synth notes following the melody on the chorus on 'Two Doors Down' - pretty inspired and adds a teeny bit of a "John Hughes Movie" vibe to it - which is then totally cemented by the sax solo. Very Psychedelic Furs in moments but still has a very modern feel to it. - Whitecat
Yeah, I have a lot of great memories from that session. The making of that record was a lot of fun, a real experience for both me and the band. Being a second album is always a bit of a crossroads for any band, and we had to be really careful to not throw the baby out with the bathwater as such, so we boiled down the best elements of the band and their songwriting to see what there was. I always felt the Jets were a folk band, in the sense they speak to their audience in a non abstract manner, so I encouraged them to take that approach in their writing.
We had the album all finished when we all felt it maybe a good idea to try and record another track, and distill everything we had learnt from making the album into one song. We set Blaine the task to write a song over the weekend and he came in with the demo of 'Girl Next Door'. We then set up a rehearsal session so the full arrangement could be agreed on before recording (a VERY important factor in us being able to record quickly and all be on the same page) as some tracks were written whilst recording and we found that to be a bit of an expensive luxury.
Once we demoed a full band version, we booked the Square in Hoxton (which I hear is no more, massive shame..) and recorded it in a day and a half.
Originally, we didn't have the big sax break in the middle, the band wanted a saxophone of some type, and we managed to find a played 4 hours into the session who came down that same evening. Of course, we wanted something quite cool and abstract, but halfway through we did a massive 180 turn and decided we should go full on Whitney Houston, as the song was a celebration of some type, we got 2 takes down and I chopped it up to make something as over the top as possible. I also remember adding the part just before the last chorus which rips of a drum part from Bowie's Lets Dance so there was more of a climax.
We did this really cool thing with the snare in the chorus, setting up a snare overdub in the long outside corridor and placing 4 microphones in a long line with a gate on each, so when Kaps hit it at its loudest all 4 mics would record and the signal would be fuller, its subliminal but we know its there
The feeling in the studio was great, we had no idea what anybody else would think of the track and I find that having no idea what people may think is the best.
If you peel through the layers of the track, there are some beautiful sounds curtesy of Will, they really help soften the pop sensibility of the track in a sublime way.
The opening drums aren't actually drums, but an mp3 of Blaine hitting his guitar from the first demo. I loved the sound and felt it sounded like the girl playing the drums next door, which is the narrative of the song ('when I hear those drums late at night').
- Erol Alkan
