Gunrose

My studio

My studio is in my house. I’m lucky that I don’t have neighbours who complain about the music being too loud. The space is strictly for work and I really don’t have many extra things in the room except records, which I listen to for fun and sometimes to get inspired. I also have some music-related books and magazines.

I use Adam A5 monitors with a Sub 7 that I only turn on here and there when I’m working on final mixes. I used to work with Dynaudio BM6As in my old studio but they were too powerful for this smaller room, so I bought the new Adams and they sound just right.

Korg MS20

For my new EP on BNRTRAX I tried to capture the old-school spirit of techno and jack – almost one-take recordings with very few  effects on them, a true tribute to the beginning of dance music and culture. Those guys used to make great records by just programming drums, playing some synths on top and recording everything straight to  tape.

Synth-wise I love my Korg MS20. I use it in pretty much every track I make for noises, rhythms, FX, filtering and leads; it’s on all three tracks on the new EP.

The Roland SH-101 on the left is another of my favourite synths. I used it on ‘Tears of Pleasure’ for the intro leads. It’s great for FX and noises, and it can serve up very tasty basslines.

303, 606 and 909

The Roland TB-303, TR-606 and TR-909 form a classic trio that I love. Of course the 303 was used on ‘Tears of Pleasure’ and ‘Acid Waves’ and the 909 is also on ‘Acid Waves’ and ‘Techno Party’. Another drum machine I love is my Sequential Circuits DrumTraks to the left. It’s so dirty and crispy – I use it all the time.

Kawai 100-F

The Kawai 100-F is great for dirty bass and crazy FX. I used it on ‘Tears of Pleasure’ for small appointments on transitions.

Juno 106

My Juno 106 wasn’t used on the new EP but I’m sure it will have a chance to shine again in the near future! It’s another one of my all-time favourites.

My MacBook’s on the left but it’s being used for Facebook rather than recording! I record almost everything through my Universal Audio LA-610 and then through an Apogee Ensemble into my iMac. I record everything as audio and then edit it in Logic Pro. I used to glue the final mix together with an SSL Stereo Buss Compressor but there are so many great compressors plugins nowadays that I’m mixing everything in the box now.

Technics SL1200s

Finally, I can’t live without my Technics SL1200s, where I can listen to some of my favourite old school tracks. Right now I’m listening to ‘The Climax’ by Carl Craig. A classic from 1995, reissued in 2001 by Planet E.