Art + Music + Technology

J. Anthony Allen is a busy guy - teaching at a university, in private lessons and at the Slam Academy. He also balances the teaching work with his own composition/performance work, and is the businessman behind some of these ventures. Makes me tired just thinking through his day... In this conversation, we discuss the differences in teaching in different venues, how someone gets into composition in the first place, and how to manage the balance of composing and commerce. We also talk about developing new performance systems, and J. gives me the scoop on the Minneapolis scene. This is one of those interviews that makes me want to work harder - or maybe smarter. I hope you find it helpful for yourself! Enjoy!

I first got to know Jesse Terry during a trip to Berlin, and we've remained in contact ever since. The product 'owner' for the Ableton Push, he has been involved with hardware controller design and development since the Akai APC controllers. So when I got a chance to chat with him about his method - and interests - it seemed like a natural fit. Jesse has a long background with 'knob-ful' designs (he's an old-time analog head, like me) as well as 'pad-ful' designs (he and I also share a background with MPC devices), so he was probably an obvious choice for working on the Push controller. However, it is his attention to detail and tireless search for perfection that helps push the envelope of what we consider 'state of the art' controller systems. If that sounds like a sales pitch for Jesse - well, I'm sorry. But I really like Jesse's work a lot, and his willingness to talk about the fun and the pain in creating the Push and Push 2 controllers might help you understand why I feel that way. Enjoy!

Gregory Taylor was at my house last week to work on an upcoming show, and I pinged him for his third AMT podcast interview. This time, though, I had something really specific in mind: I wanted to know more about how he did his radio show, how he selected music for it, and what he used to determine material that would capture his attention. As before, he did not disappoint! Gregory's work in broadcasting is quite astounding. He's run the same radio show, with a few short breaks, continuously for 30 years, programming interesting mixes of experimental music on a Madison-based community radio station (WORT FM, 89.9), and has listened to more of this music than probably anyone ever has. His knowledge of both labels and artists is encyclopedic, but his discussions of them are - as always - interesting and story-filled. Gregory's show, RTQE, is from 9-11pm (CST) Sunday Evenings, and the shows are archived and streamed for off-time listening for up to two weeks. I hope you enjoy this discussion about the development

I first heard about the TANK a while ago, but it was recently re-initiated in my brain by Jane Rigler, who reached out about the recent Kickstarter for it. It is a huge (and I mean HUGE) water take from days of old, and it has been re-purposed into a performance/recording space. This effort has been led by Bruce Odland - today's interviewee. Bruce started this project as a sound artist touring the west, but has become entranced by the sound - and the performance opportunities - provided by The TANK. In this chat, we hear about how the TANK changes the people that work with it, and how individuals become part of a bigger instrument in a way that we don't get to experience in our laptop-based studios, or with our Walmart-purchased musical artifacts. I hate to talk more about this when Bruce speaks so eloquently about the beginnings and the futures of The TANK Center for Sonic Arts. So listen to the podcast for more insight. And when you want to dig deeper into The TANK, check out their site at: http://tanksound

I love when one of my chats gets opinionated. It always leads to an interesting discussion, and it always ends up revealing more about a person than expected. Anyone that knows Suit & Tie Guy will know that he's opinionated - galore. But his opinions are well-formed, well-researched (often through hard-learned lessons) and well-presented. In this interview, we wander all over the landscape. Why do mid-90's Lexicon reverbs sound so great? What makes the Juno 6 so special? How many gigs do you have to do with a Hammond before you won't carry it up stairs? What is the purpose of deconstructing a sequencer into its component parts? All this - and a lot more - is revealed in our chat. Awesome, awesome stuff. If you aren't familiar with Suit's work, you will want to check out STG Soundlabs to find out more about his modular work (including the amazing Mankato filter and the STG Soundlabs Modular Sequencing System), and the Suit & Tie Guy website for his personal work. It's fascinating to see the work of som

Trond Lossius has been in a similar orbit to me for a long time. I've known him (virtually) because of his activity within the Max world, but I also know that he was a primary figure in the Jamoma modular patching project. Then later, I found out he was also into a lot of surround environmental work, and I realized that he'd be a good subject for a chat. My friend Tim Place pointed out that he's got a fascinating story, so I went for it. And I'm glad I did. I really enjoy the stories of people that deal with significant transition in their lives, and Trond definitely has seen this. Having started in the sciences, he transitioned into music composition out of sheer will. He also found a way to pull himself out of shyness, and is always pushing himself by transitioning away from comfortable territory and into new challenging work, technology or collaboration. I really respect this - it can be scary, but Trond has developed it into an artform. So here's a great interview with him - enjoy! And to learn more about

A long time ago, Gregory Taylor set up a dinner hang-out with Arjen van der Schoot, from Audio Ease. They had just released their ground-breaking Altiverb, and it blew away everyone at the AES show. We chatted over pizza, and I learned a little about the process, their plans for the future, and how much fun they were having. Jump forward a decade (or more...) and I get a chance to catch up with Arjen in this podcast. He is still dedicated to great sound, and is still having a lot of fun. We talk about the process of doing IR shoots, how he chooses a place to record, and some of the complexities of the job (this is one of the few recording jobs where you have to be a little scared of wildlife...). But he also gives a great overview of how convolution reverbs work, how impulse responses are created - and he also gives a great introduction to the Speakerphone plug-in, which is Audio Ease's second product. I now know what I'm getting myself for Valentine's Day! I've always enjoyed interacting with Arjen, and this

Anna Weisling is a typical Wisconsinite: she downplays her accomplishments, points out her flaws and mostly talks about how others really did all the work in her career. But when you look at her work (http://www.aweisling.com/), much of it speaks to a depth that is exceedingly artistic. Or let me say it this way: I like her work! In any case, in this chat with Anna, we talk about her trek through a variety of places, people and projects as she's become a busy and active artist - even as she pursues a Georgia Tech PhD. I actually resonate with a lot of her story, since it is that rural-to-not track that I took as well. Hearing how someone from a similar background found a completely different way to succeed is very interesting to me - and I trust it is interesting to you as well. Enjoy!

Ricky Graham is someone that I came to respect through his work. My friend Gregory turned me on to his music, and listening to it became part of my daily routine. Then I reached out to him about doing the podcast, and was happy to get his consent. I needed to get ahead on recordings, so this one was done while visiting LA for the NAMM conference. I was intrigued by Ricky's work as a guitarist that is also, clearly, neck-deep in technology. I was also drawn in by his hacker-like mentality in finding ways to make things work - and work together. This chat was as laid back as could be, and I quickly forgot I was talking to anyone but a good friend, because he's as engaging to talk to as can be. We ended up talking guitar synths, rugby, guitarisms within software and even balancing tech with playing. As happens so often with great guests, this discussion immediately got me interested in trying out some new techniques, doing some actual recording and just plain getting-off-my-duff. Whether you are into guitars or

Douglas Repetto is quietly putting together an outrageous CV. He was the originator of the music-dsp mailing list, the seedbed for tons of music coders. He was also the founder of dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity, one of the first Maker-style organizations, and a great way of meeting other artists. He is a crazy-prolific media artist, and also the director of the Sound Arts MFA program at Columbia University. So yeah, he's busy. But he was also nice enough to do an interview with me twice. The first interview, in early September of last year, went wonderfully - but was also lost because of a problem with the recording software. This, along with the problems during Miller Puckette's interview, let to the Kickstarter campaign that purchased a Zoom H2n for the podcast. But this interview was awesome, and I was really glad we could pull this together. You can learn much more about Douglas at his online center-of-info. Enjoy!

A short time ago, I saw something on my Facebook feed that caught my attention: Gino Robair had been named Editor in Chief at Keyboard Magazine. Since this magazine had been at the center of my early obsessions with synths, and Gino had sort of 'grown up' in front of me as a contributor to these magazines, I was pleased to see this happen. It was as if my generation had finally taken over...! So I reached out to Gino, hoping to talk to him about magazine arts and stuff. But I also knew that he had an active performing career - and I ended up focusing on that part of his background and work. He's an amazing performer, has a lot of insights on improv and compositional techniques, and has had a chance to work with some really amazing people. I'll bet you'll be as surprised as I was about the depth of his work. Enjoy this podcast - it's a killer!

One of the most prolific people I've talked to is Julien Bayle. First interviewed for podcast #17, I decided to revisit Julien's story because of a text interview I'd done of him for the Cycling '74 site. He'd been reworking his systems and performance techniques because of a renewed interest in "everything modular", and I wanted to see where that had taken him. I also like talking to Julien because he is always willing to talk about his future projects - he doesn't worry about people grabbing his ideas, because he recognizes that it is the voice of the artist, not the name of the concept, that is important in doing art installations and performances. In this chat, we end up talking a bit about the creative process and different issues that need to be balanced. I think we get a good insight into Julien's way of thinking in this insightful interview. Enjoy!

Ícaro Ferre is one of those people that I ran across because of his work, and we've ended up getting to know each other a bit. His work on the CV Toolkit was an eye-opener, and it turned me on to working with a computer in a way that was different than I'd ever approached. All of a sudden, the computer was an assistant (rather than an overlord), and I really liked the feeling. I've also started playing around with his MFL devices, and am finding them equally enjoyable to work with. You probably should take a look at his site: http://spektroaudio.com/ In this chat, we talk about Ícaro's background, his perspective on software development, and the state of the music/music-tech scene in his native Brazil. He also lays down some knowledge about interesting ways to approach creating variation during performance that immediately had me patching my modular. A great guy, some great products and an easy style translate into an excellent podcast. Enjoy!

Giorgio Sancristoforo has been on my radar for quite a while - mainly due to his software development work. He uses Max/MSP to develop interesting composition systems. He's probably best know for the Gleetchlab software, but I really fell in love with the Berna software, which provided a chance to experience 'old school' electronic music composition with all the limitations of the original labs. If you aren't familiar with his software, you should check out his website: http://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/ While you are there, also take a look at some of his other work. His music is really interesting, and he was also involved in the creation of a documentary about electronic music, and he is an extraordinarily busy live performer. He's also been teaching, and working with AGON on various works. I hope you enjoy this chat; Giorgio is an amazing guy, and I appreciated the opportunity to dig into the details with him. Enjoy!

It seems like I've known Dave Hill Jr. forever. He was writing magazine articles and book (Ableton Live Power for versions 2-4) about the time that I was writing a lot of magazine articles, running the Creative Synth website and writing about Ableton Live myself. We first met it person at a NAMM conference, and we've kind of been in touch ever since. So when I decided to try something different with the podcast, my first thought was to talk with Dave, and I'm glad I did. It was a great way to get some insight on how marketing works in the music/art software space, but it was also a chance to talk about the past, the future and even the hardware vs. software thing. Oh, and we get to find out that marketing in the music gear space comes via players, not via Wharton School graduates. Whew! Dave's super busy, so I'm glad he was willing to take the time to chat. I hope you enjoy this view into a different side of the creative business space.

William Mathewson is one of the most active guys in the modular synthesizer community. He is one of the most inventive designers (in the podcast, you'll even hear how some modules start off as jokes...), the head of a bustling modular company, and the manufacturing source for a lot of the current modular devices available. I got the chance to spend some time with William at his office/plant, and we had a great chat. One of the things that I'm always fascinated with is the process by which synth designers go about their business, and William was super open about how he comes up with designs, how he actually implements them, and how he sees people using them. It's also really interesting to hear his background: how he got from being a 'coffee guy' at a recording studio to the head of one of the largest modular companies in the States. Very interesting, and very inspiring. This is one of my favorite interviews because William is one of my favorite guys in the business. Enjoy! [Edit: A slight change to the file w

VJ Manzo in an incredibly prolific individual - he's written several books (two out this year!), kicked off a major initiative with his EAMIR.org website, and has developed some extensive Max object libraries. He's also taking over the maxobjects.com site, which is a relief to many that depend on this resource. So how does someone develop all these skills - and keep on generating new stuff? In VJ's case, it's a combination of drive, excitement and a desire to help people learn music technology. Enjoy this all-over-the-map chat with VJ as we talk about history/background, his ideas for education, and why he wants people to learn to make their own tools. This is a fun interview with an important voice in music tech education. Enjoy!

I've gotten so many requests to interview Leafcutter John - but it really blew up after his recent work at the Ableton Loop conference. I reached out to him and he was nice enough to say "Yes" to the interview request. What was cool is that it started out like an interview, but quickly turned into a chat about how we do our respective things. This was a great one, and I can't wait to meet John in person. Awesome guy - and someone that has been quite thoughtful about what and how he does his thing. If you know Leafcutter John's work, this won't surprise you. But if you are new to his work, I think you'll really get into this talk. Enjoy!

Mark Egloff has, quietly, inserted himself in many of our lives. As a Ableton-ista, he has worked on Push design, worked on the interface system for other hardware devices and even gotten involved in the manufacture of the new Push 2. But he's also taken an interesting path to becoming a serious (and prolific) Max for Live programmer, and has started az-labs.com, an outlet for the Live utilities that he enjoys building. So how does a university business graduate become a critical cog in the world of hardware/software hybrid systems? And what does he think the future looks like? You may be surprised at his answers! I always enjoy talking to Mark, but this opportunity to dig into both his personal and professional history was really special. Having just gotten my new Push 2, it is awesome to talk to one of the people with their fingerprints all over that system. Enjoy!

I've been following Kerry Leimer's work for some time; after several friends simultaneously pointed to his work (and his label), I became a big fan. Therefore, I was especially pleased when I got a chance to release a duet album (with Gregory) on PoL, tourbillon solo. But in addition to running one of my favorite labels, Kerry is also an incredible artist, weaving relaxed but deep sonic cloth out of his unique sound design. This is one of the great interviews of this series, because it hits all my prized marks: we talk about history, but we also talk about the process of doing work, and the mindset that makes it all come together. Kerry was incredibly open about how - and why - he does the things he does, and I felt fortunate to be on the listening end of this inspiring message. If you've not yet experienced the Palace of Lights sound, or Kerry's music, you will want to check out these links: The Label: http://www.palaceoflights.com Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/k_leimerBandcamp: https://kleimer1.bandcam