dimanche 6 mars 2022

Kitchen Notes : M‡яc▲ll▲ on new condition

En attendant encore plus de musique de leur part à venir cette année, le projet M‡яc▲ll▲, spécialiste en fabrication d'ambiance de malaise post-wichouse nous expliquent ce qu'ils ont mis dans la marmite de leur dernière production New Condition.

Waiting for more music to come from them during this year, M‡яc▲ll▲ project, specialist in building very personal post-witchouse malaise mood since a while explain us what they put in the cauldron for their latest release New Condition.

Gears and software

What gears/software did you use for New Condition ?

Hardware : Neutron, Mopho, MS2K, ART fx & compressor, Mooer Red Truck fx.

Software : NI Battery 2, Reaktor, Albino, impOscar, Arturia Minimoog. TAL fx, Valhalla fx. Cubase is our DAW.

Your favorite gear(s)/software(s) ?

We do not get hung up on favourites, we use whatever works. Analogue sounds best as analogue, digital as digital. The only two devices on every M‡яc▲ll▲ release are Battery 2 with custom drumsets loaded, and the Arturia Minimoog. Specifically in Battery we use samples of our own drum machines (Drum Brute, Volca Drum, as well as set built from a modular system, and a set built from sounds on a Roland Juno synth.

Any evolution in your setup ?

Not really, we have had the same gear since the beginning save for the Neutron and Drum Brute. These were not extreme additions though, more textural.

Sound Design

Do you use/tweak presets ?

We do both. Whatever works :) We tend to start with presets on the Albino (pads & soundscapes) and the Minimoog (arpeggios).

Do you design you own sound ? On which synth/plugin in particular ?

There are times where a custom patch is necessary. It's depends on the mood we are going for. In that case we just start with an initialized patch and build from there. Usually this is the case with the Mopho and NI Reaktor (Soundschool Analogue, Mono FM).

Personal synth story

Synths are tools, you just have to dig in to learn them. You do not need any special tools to make music. Just be creative. :)

Writing/composing method

What would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ? ...

M‡яc▲ll▲ is all about creating a mood. Compare for example the scenes in a David Lynch film that are forboding or unsettling just by showing a mundane situation and applying the right sounds. We build a lot of our tracks around movie samples and environment samples (freesound.org) a lot like the artist Burial does. Then we put a song idea on top of it all. For other tracks we start with a drum & synth bass structure and then fill it out with sound. Overall, we do not start with a preconcieved idea of the destination. We just start the journey and see where it takes us.

Producing/mixing method

Do you produce/mix in the box or do you use mainly external gears (effect/comp/eq...) ?

About 50/50. We record hardware though rack fx and then mix and master everything in Cubase with PSP plug ins.

What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?

We love every step of writing the tracks. Mixing can be a challenge because we try not to make everything sound too polished. We want to capture that raw audio feeling that we had when creating.