Bloody Mary and Attan show us around their Berlin studio, which features essentials from analogue synths to a rubber chicken named Bobby.
My Studio – The Jaydes
The Jaydes is a collaboration between two friends and studio partners, Bloody Mary and Attan. As we decided to work together on an album, we moved our respective equipment into the same studio. The Jaydes Lab was born in late 2012. We’re based in Berlin, a city where we’ve both lived for the last few years.
Roland TR-505, 606, 707, 909
Here are the drum machines that we use in our production. No need to explain what they are and what they do but we all know how much they’re needed. We use them all synchronised together as we like to use different parts from each of them depending on the project that we’re working on. Our favourites on the 909 are the hi-hats and the kick. On the 606, the snares are really crisp and metallic, which makes them very useful to bring aggression to a track. It’s all about the cowbell and toms for the 707 – that’s became a signature sound on our productions, like on our remix of Anaxander’s ‘7 Ways’. We got the 505 for live use.
Roland Juno-106 & Access Virus
We use the Juno-106 a lot for its deep and versatile sound. It’s a killer for pads, bass and lead melodies. A good example of its skills is our track ‘Step On Light’, on which we used the Juno for the bass, the pads and the leads. The Access Virus is also a versatile synthesiser that we use mostly when we need an up-to-date sound. We like to use it for strings and arpeggiated lines.
Workstation & Nord Modular
On our left rack is, at the top, our patchbay, one of the most useful elements in our studio. It allows us to get really fast access to the signal routing of all our instruments in real time and create a smooth workflow. Underneath the patchbay is the MOTU MIDI Express 128, a MIDI hub which allows communication among instruments. At the bottom left of the rack is the Nord Modular synthesiser, which allows you to create your own synthesiser using virtual patches. It’s interesting when you want to take your first step with modular synthesis. On the right you can see our UAD Apollo HD sound card. It was a big step forward for us. The DSP card lets us use UAD plugins – the emulations of famous analogue effects sound perfect on this project. We couldn’t do a mixdown without them any more. Only if we had the real analogue ones!
Akai MPC1000 & Korg Electribe ES-1
The Korg Electribe and the AKAI MPC1000 are mainly used for our live act. Having said that, we really like the MPC1000. It’s a huge piece of equipment and could easily be the centrepiece of a studio setup.
Monarch Mixer
The Monarch MMX 2000 was made during the late 80s. It’s a twenty-channel mixer that fits perfectly with our sound thanks to its sonic colour and its warmth.
Mo-Stern Monitors
This pair of speakers are hand-made in Berlin by the brand Mo-Stern. One of the most reliable and realistic sounds we’ve heard from any speaker, they’ve got a flat response with no holes in the frequency range. We love them and recommend them.
Classical Piano
This one is not in the main studio but in a room next door. We don’t use it for production but it’s always good to practise the basics of music theory.
Ghetto Blaster & Mascot
As we love Grandmaster Flash, the ghetto blaster was a must in our studio. And the little yellow one at the front is called Bobby – he’s our mascot from the USA.
The Jaydes’ self-titled album is out on February 10th on Dame-Music. Find them on Facebook and SoundCloud.
03.37 PM
I’m confused. how they were able to mix up the low end of their tracks with such a small speakers with no subwoofer? Do you guys use kind of rental studio for final mixing?
06.36 PM
Hi Vitaly, yes we made it in our place. No rental studio, we do all here 🙂
08.44 PM
And you don’t mention your cs1x, poor little unloved synth!! 🙂
11.28 PM
Just saw the cs1x too, have one back in NY. I dig it!
https://soundcloud.com/ben-r-brown
09.25 AM
lol, you never need a sub to understand what’s happening on the low end if you understand basic mixing. both these artists have so much experience, i doubt they need a sub to understand how the low end is working itself out.
i rarely see project studios with a subwoofer by the way. most artists just use near field monitors 🙂
12.39 AM
The Area 89 track is really good.
06.20 PM
Please take the stickers off your Apollo already.
11.58 AM
In so many studios I see drum machines. How boring is that. Can´t you guys afford a real drummer?
01.23 PM
hi guys,
where can i find th mo stern manufacturer. Do you have any contact?
thanks