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**hanging out with audiophiles – hanging out with audiophiles**

My name is Jamie Lidell and I’m gonna delve into the heady magic of creating music in a modern studio, probe the depths of production, get tech crazy with mixing tricks, studio skills and equipment. I’ll be joined by fellow musicians, engineers and all-round audiophiles who kindly share their tips, stories and ingenious insight from the bizarre world of music production. I shall answer questions and seek knowledge from other music makers on a quest to discover how to make things sound RIGHT. I will also share some studio trickery on each episode as I explore some of my favourite innovations in music tech and my creations… outpourings from the weirdo brain! Welcome to a place for musicians, producers and listeners alike as we “cheers” our love of everything audio.

Latest Episodes:

HOWA EP 111 - BENN JORDAN Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

DESCRIPTION

After a hefty and well needed break I’m back

The pod returns :)

I trust y'all are hanging in.

I hope in fact you’re more than just hanging in.

I hope you are diving in and thriving and embracing the endless realm of possibility that presents itself to you.

Don’t worry, I’ll not linger on the guru talk. Just stating the obvious !

As you can see from the show title I got to finally chat with the brilliant Benn Jordan.

We met at NAMM a couple of years back (I’ve had some great hangs at NAMM I must say)

He’s a smart, witty man with endless curiosity and it’s really fun to explore all manner of mind realms with him.

We can TALK! Oh how we can talk. This conversation was at least 3 hours long and it’s been cut down a fair bit but there’s no end of tangents and insights into

The mighty Benn. I think those of you who are familiar with his excellent YouTube material will enjoy hearing an extended ramble portal into his many ways.

It’s great to be back

This show has 2 excellent sponsors

1st off I’m super happy to get to work with my pals at Soundtoys for a few shows.

They agreed to come on board and I couldn’t be happier. Just love them and their excellent plugins.

Top shelf stuff! In this episode I show off 2 of my faves, decapitator and devil lok.

They are both such wonderful tools. Potent and endlessly useful in equal measure.

Like Salt in cooking, they amp up the tasty.

Head over to Soundtoys if you know what’s good for you!

I’d also like to thank “a tasty pixel” for sponsoring the show.

They are makers of the unbelievably good LOOPY PRO.

Absolutely stunning software for anyone who really wants the last looper.

It is the most fully featured pure looper Ive ever used.

Beardyman uses it. If you were wondering if it were capable I think that’s all you need to know!

Interested in looping?

Let me save you some time.

All you need is LOOPY PRO

Click here for more info!

HOWA EP 110 - TYCHO Apr 23, 2023

Show notes

Tycho is Scott Hansen and

Scott is a deeply friendly and humble chap.

I didnt know too much about his background or what made him tick but I tried to get to “know” him and makes some guesses about that by tuning into his music.

It’s clearly so well crafted and put together with meticulous attention to detail that this man had to be fastidious but how would that quality manifest?

He manages to ride us on a carpet of textures which guide the process of musical flight, once a mood is found, it’s held with patience so the listen can dwell in a land. It’s a style that has been really honed and has found a large following for good reason!

It was a real treat to get on the ramble road with him. I left the interview unedited for maximum deviation potential (you’re welcome)

_____

This episode is sponsored by A tasty pixel and their excellent

LOOPY PRO!

As many of you are aware, I’ve spent years of my life with loopers of all kinds from the crudest guitar pedals to my own Max/MSP effort in 2000 to Tim Exile’s wonderful “flow machine”

Making a looper setup that fits your style is everything and to do that, a tool that is very flexible and open to configuration is needed. I’m happy to report that this is perfected inside loopy pro. I’m also happy to say that It’s one of the best loopers I’ve ever used and has become the heart of beardymans new setup so you know it’s capable.

Needless to say Im really happy to be working with A tasty pixel.

_______

I made a new video to highlight a specific use of Loopy Pro that came to me one evening.

There’s plenty of excellent tutorial videos to get started online so I wanted to show something a little unique.

I took 4 instances of the Chamberlin M1 samplepack I made (which is now available at decentsamples.com!)

fed each to an array of 4 speakers around a Neumann head for some quadra funky tape loopidelic delightfulness.

Yes, it’s A little nitty basically :)

Watch

HERE!!

HOWA EP 109 - HAINBACH Mar 31, 2023

Show notes

Hainbach must be such a busy man!

Just today I received a post on his patreon that he uploaded to Medium where he eloquently described the history and character of the electronic music company Vermona that started in the GDR and now lives on. It was a review of sorts of the DRM drum machine from 1987 but he surrounded that feature with some wonderful insights into the company’s history whilst painting a picture of former East Germany.

He put all this together after having made a highly compelling video on the same subject for his now legendary youtube channel where so many of us find ourselves happily gazing in on his wild sonic adventures.

I’ve learnt so much from him over the years and feel a undeniable connection with him.

I certainly share his passion for beguiling tone and that marveling at human inventiveness and endeavor.

A tremendous story teller and tireless adventurer, we could have discussed any number of things. There was absolutely no plan to this chat and you’re going to hear what is essentially our first phone call. Yes there's Ample deep dives a tangents a go go.

It was a great pleasure to speak with this fountain of knowledge.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome on to the show

Hainbach

Nitty 109 is all about Tape Delay. I put the new Echofix EFX3 through its paces in some odd ways! This nitty is also a rare VIDEO nitty. Link to that here

I have an affiliate link to the Echofix machine I used here

or for the rack version here

buying a unit from that link helps the channel :) thanks!

Music for the show comes from

https://atlanticrhythms.bandcamp.com/album/eraserhood

HOWA EP 108 - CARL CRAIG Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

Carl Craig worked with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson back in the day

I mean that could be all the intro you need to hear to know how heavy he is!

Wait til you find out about the HANGS they had in Detroit. They were cooking up a sound of techno that has never been surpassed in my opinion.

Mr Craig has really never stopped. It’s pretty mind blowing to me

He’s already left behind a superb and ultra varied stack of music that springs from an insatiable hunger for the new. I mean the sheer number of aliases he has is hard to keep up with!

Not content with just putting out bangers, he’s been expanding his experience to fill a museum and the process is truly epic. We get into what went into his work called Party/After Party which was commissioned by Dia Art Foundation and is opening soon at Moca LA.

and is on view APR 16 – JULY 23, 2023. Here’s a link!

Increasingly on this show, I’ve been trying to stay away from too much gear talk coz it’s really not that interesting often quite frankly BUT in this case I felt like we needed to get somethings cleared up. At least I was really curious about what made it on to those early Detroit cuts. Some of the findings are shocking, in a great way and ought to be inspiring to anyone who feels they need all manner of fancy machines to rock the house. Carl is living proof that you just need to get it all out with whatever you have in front of you but also it illustrates to me the importance of a crew and a little friendly competition. That can really up your game.

The thing I take away from this chat is just the searching. The fascination and passion to keep making. It’s super inspiring to me and I hope it spurs you all on to dig in and make noise!

In other news, Im off to superbooth!

Let me know if you’re going :)

boring news,,, I've been sick

good news, new studio looking good

next show will have a nitty.

Cheers!

HOWA EP 107 - ANGELO PALAZZO Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Hi ! Yep, a tad delayed this one. I apologize.

This time I have the wall of blinkers to blame.

The eurocrack has opened up and swallowed me! Haaaaaa. I've enjoyed being in the belly of the beast though I must say and now Im emerging with many a sonic memory etched on tape. I'll try to share these via a new venture, HOWA records. Yeah, its a new idea. Somewhere to put all this work. I pour so much of my heart and soul into these sounds and pieces that linger on the drive. Perhaps it's time to release them into the wilds.

EP107 is with Emmy Award winner Angelo Palazzo. He is a sound designer and editor on the highest level. His recent work on Stranger things session 4 was beyond epic. It's a pleasure to have him on to enlighten us about the dark art of TV sound on this grand scale.

We had the sad news of Dominic Hawkins passing away last week. Really really sad. He was such a positive and uplifting gentleman. I didnt know him well but always thoroughly enjoyed my chats with him on the sonic state pod. RIP Dom.

HOWA EP 106 - DAVID HASKELL Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

David Haskell is a professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South and a Guggenheim Fellow.

His 2017 book The Songs of Trees won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. His 2012 book The Forest Unseen was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and won the 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies, the National Outdoor Book Award, and the Reed Environmental Writing Award.

His new book, Sounds Wild and Broken is out now and I was thrilled to have a chance to sit down in person with him in my studio here Nashville to discuss it briefly.

Here’s a quick summary of the book from the official press release:

Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, Haskell illuminates and celebrates the emergence of the varied sounds of our world. In mammoth ivory flutes from Paleolithic caves, violins in modern concert halls, and electronic music in earbuds, we learn that human music and language belong within this story of ecology and evolution. Yet we are also destroyers, now silencing or smothering many of the sounds of the living Earth. Haskell takes us to threatened forests, noise-filled oceans, and loud city streets, and shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. Sound is a generative force, and so the erasure of sonic diversity makes the world less creative, just, and beautiful. The appreciation of the beauty and brokenness of sound is therefore an important guide in today’s convulsions and crises of change and inequity.

Here’s a link to the book in all it’s various formats (the link is slow but it works)

I can highly recommend you give it a read. It's just a wonderful read and full of insights that will stay with you.

There’s a Soundcloud link with sounds pertinent to the chapters which you can check out here

______________

I also wanted to give a shout out to pod listener Simon Taylor and his book

AUDIO MASTERING IN A PROJECT STUDIO: A PRACTICAL APPROACH FOR A PROFESSIONAL SOUND

Some great ideas and knowledge that’s not too overwhelming check these whee links:

US Or UK

______________

As always send music and stuff to

lidellmakeswaves@gmail.com

HOWA EP 105 - BIBIO Dec 24, 2022

Show notes

Merry Chrimble y’all!

Here’s a sonic present for your ears to unwrap.

It’s in the form of a nice fireside ramble with the excellent Stephen James Wilkinson aka Bibio.

He’s a wonderful and thoughtful chap with a very unique touch and a searching soul.

I love his musical range, his tones, his playing. YES

He’s rather good!

Im assuming you all know his stuff? If not you fools!

You must immediately have a listen

As in go here NOW!

https://bibio.co

It’s super ooper dooper inspiring stuff and I was mighty chuffed when he agreed to come on the pod.

Our paths never crossed as label mates on warp records which is a shame. God knows why.

A couple of shy dudes making waves in different countries might have had something to do with it!

Ha.

Anyway we are finally in a chat and even talking about working on something together which sounds good to me.

Watch this space.

He’s a wise lad so of course he has a nagra. A stereo nagra in fact.

In fact it was this conversation that really made me want to find one of my own which thankfully I did.

He’s the one guest that actually recorded a backup to the tape machine. Proper legend

Roll it

____

Thanks for tuning in folks!

It’s been another bonkers year and having this show has been a huge part of keeping me going.

Cheers to all the wonderful patrons for helping me keep this dream alive

Thanks to distrokid for their continued support as the most epic and long running sponsor of the pod.

If you make music and need it putting out, just use distrokid! It’ll be everywhere like Santa before you know it

Dropping that sonic magic down the chimneys of the world.

Thanks to Bibio

And I’ll catch you in 2023!

Make merry y’all

HOWA EP 104 - RED MEANS RECORDING Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

Such a treat to chat with Jeremy aka Red Means Recording. Now you must know who he is right? If not well you're in for a treat. He's an amazing creative soul and funky chap that makes excellent music, teaches and creates exceptional YouTube videos that go deep into the synth and electronic musical world. Highly recommended viewing. He's just great.

Link to his YouTube here

HELLO!

Yes, I realize this has been a lonnnnng time coming.

What's been up?

The studio build is now hitting a new level of intensity and my Mum just left after a long visit and things have been a tad upside down so Im off my funk but here we are!

LINKS

Please go and grab this new release from friend of the pod Marta Salongi and Floating points.

It's a fund raiser for the charity Free Youth Orchestra which focuses on removing financial barriers between children and access to musical equipment and lessons

so cool.

the music is here to buy and thus support

looking for something to fill the digital stocking?

I can recommend this max for live device from the wonderful friend of the pod Ned Rush. It's called MIDI WAVES and it's ace and not expensive. grab here

Jim Keller has been helping me design the new studio. Great to work with him. So much knowledge! Check his beautiful work here

Thanks for Diana Walsch for pod support. Find her here

Website: dmwalshmusic.com

IG: @dmwalshmusic

HOWA EP 103 - FRED AGAIN Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

Hello!

Jamie again.

I caught up with this busy Fred on his current US tour.

He’s been busy you ask?

Oh yes. I mean so so busy.

For one thing he’s penned massive pop numbers with Ed Sheeran, Stormy and other huge acts

Did you know that?

I mean BIG BIG songs.

And YET his mentor and good friend is none other than

Brian Eno!

Wait.. what? Ah yes, all shall be revealed.

See the thing about Fred is he will write a huge song for an act like Clean Bandit in the afternoon, then be on the phone to fourtet for arrangement advice on his solo work by dinner time.

He can write on the road, he can write in the club. He’s prolific as they come this man!

Fred has been doing so well and it was great to get this chance to chat with him

What an exceedingly positive and fun chap he is. So much talent and a very good outlook

Lots of nuggets in this chat. Obv we get into the Eno connection and the come up and

Fred reveals some massive beat making secrets he learned directly from Boi-1da.

I get some advice mid show too which I think might be a first :)

We are here in part to discuss his ace new LP “Actual Life 3” which you can find in the usual streaming zones.

It’s a real pleasure to welcome on to the Show for the first time Fred….. Again

_____

Making music? Want it out in the world?

Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya!

Use this 30% off code

http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell

HOWA EP 102 - MAX TUNDRA Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

Max Tundra is Ben Jacobs

A man that was a child that grew up in London.

As pointed out on his bandcamp, he went to the same school as Jude Law and a Chemical Brother, but didn’t know them.

In this disposable content age, there’s an undeniable urge to go for quantity over quality is there not?

The music Ben makes as Max Tundra comes as rarely as a celestial event.

We forget the rising and falling of the sun each day but we don’t forget a total eclipse now do we?

This is how it felt when Mocky and I came across the LP “Mastered by guy at the exchange”.

We were without sun for a while. In an unknown land that felt Most welcoming and yet most peculiar.

It was genuinely new music. Something so rare that still feels fresh all these years later.

Here’s what hyper pop bloke A. G. Cook said of Max Tundra’s legacy:

“‘Mastered by Guy at the Exchange’ is a true cult album - a playful monolith that sounds both nothing and everything like the 2000s. Stumbling across it as a teenager, it reinforced a hunch I had: that music is a place where anything could happen, and total chaos could be held together by the lightest of pop hooks. There’s an oddly British quality to Max Tundra’s work, a soft and polite maximalism - pioneering, eccentric and infinitely remixable.”

Ben Jacobs invented hyper pop

As they say in the UK

FACTS

It’s a good time to be a Max Tundra fan as domino has reissued his first three studio albums to be found HERE

2000s Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be,

2002’s Mastered by Guy at the Exchange,

and the 2008 masterwork Parallax Error Beheads You.

We get into a lot of his formative years and thankfully he kept so much of his sonic ramblings from that time and they can be found on his band camp page

It’s a real treasure trove.

Here it is

What a legend. If you’ve never heard of him before, I’m so glad I get to make the intro.

He’s a true original and a very nice man

Please welcome on the show

Max Tundra