85 - Three Colored Squares

Author

Giannis Kampiotis
June 13, 2023

Artist Interviews ๐ŸŽถ Studio Tours ๐ŸŽ›

Hello music people ๐Ÿ‘‹

Today in the spotlight, Three Colored Squares

Coming from Amsterdam, a software developer that finds the Netherlands a supportive atmosphere for his creative. He started making experimental records and now is having fun with gear and creating more structured music ๐ŸŽถ

Read Time: 9 minutes ๐Ÿ“ฐ

Studio

Gear List

Synths

Effects

Other

  • Harley Benton - SpaceShip 60XL (pedalboard)

  • 1010music - BlueBox (mixer)

  • M-Audio - Oxygen Pro 49 (MIDI controller to use in the studio)

  • Novation - LaunchKey Mini (portable MIDI controller to take on gigs)

  • Zoom - H1n (field recorder)

I almost always buy second-hand and often sell things I donโ€™t use or donโ€™t like.

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Interview

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

I reside in Amsterdam where I moved from Russia three years ago and I work as a software developer there which, certainly helps me fund this rather expensive hobby.

The Netherlands is a great place for an aspiring musician as it has and a very friendly and supportive atmosphere. Everywhere I go: be it community radio, concert venue or a vinyl shop, or just interacting with other artists, I get enormous support. I feel it especially acute in contrast with my homeland experience.

I was fascinated with music since I was a child and while my family wasn't musical and I did not have any musical instruments at hand, I had a cassette recorder and had fun recording my favourite songs from FM radio with silly voice inัuts between them.

Eventually, I somewhat learned to play electric guitar and use a DAW as well as grasped basics of music theory, I experimented with effects and DIY electronics but the main turning point was when during a week in-between jobs I made an experimental record of five tracks, around minute each. It was rather funny than any good, but funny is also sort of good, and I enjoyed the process a lot. It was the first time I used stand-alone synths along with live-played guitar and programmed drums: they were Korg Volca Sample and Volca Bass.

Then I realized the part I enjoyed the most and that gave me the most interesting results was programming patterns without a computer, but with physical buttons and knobs. Here I am, three years later, sitting in the attic cluttered with cables and small devices working on a new album. At least I keep resisting the urge to go modular.

Which piece of equipment in your studio is essential to your production process?

Easy one. Digitakt. It is the centre of my current setup and I use it as a sound source, as a master controller as well as a sketching tool.

Last year it was the Teenage Engineering OP-Z that I used for everything starting from sketching ideas to tweaking sounds and have even played several live shows using only it.

What is the least expensive piece of gear that gave you the most results?

Zoom H1n handheld recorder.

I bought it B-Stock for about 80โ‚ฌ and it turned out to be the main missing piece of my sonic puzzle. My music last years might have been interesting harmonically or rhythmically but it often lacked atmosphere. Now I use pitch-shifted and distorted field recordings as background for my tracks and it seems to do the magic.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

More often than not, I start with a chord progression. Usually it's a four chord loop I play on the guitar and hum nonsense or whistle along to come up with a fitting melodic idea. At some point, I like what I'm hearing. Then I program the chords into, say, Teenage Engineering OP-Z and try to reproduce the melody I hummed. Sometimes I succeed, often I make mistakes because I don't have perfect pitch and my relative pitch is also a thing to improve. Although sometimes those mistakes suddenly sound better than what was intended.

Then I add drums: sophisticated harmonic movements tend to work best with simple four-on-the-floor whereas straightforward progressions sound best with complex rhythmic patterns.

I try to use counterpoints almost in every song I make, so, usually I add another melodic line on top of the pattern to have sort of conversation with the first one. I don't do any sound design at this point. For every part I choose a preset that is similar to what it is intended to be (e.g. "Soft kick" or "Bright analog synth").

When a pattern sounds good to me, I copy it a couple of times and make melodic and harmonic variations to create sections that would relate and contrast with each other at the same time.

Then comes in the sound design. I start with broad strokes: breadth first, then depth. At some point I leave the track and listen to it the next day.

And at every single step I make lists of what I would like to change later. The most important thing at every given moment is to keep focus, meaning that if I am writing melody, I don't start choosing the kick sample and vice versa.

How would you explain your style?

Music to think along.

I always try to make music that invokes feelings but doesn't interrupt thoughts. So, it's almost always melodic, introversive, reflective, often melancholic and hypnotic.

What is a big challenge you have as an artist?

As an unsigned musician, releasing and promoting myself, I find it hard to maintain the artist-label duality.

To produce music that is special, music pushing boundaries, I need to forget about business side of things and not let it intrude the process of creation. I will never make any good art if I think of playlist placement and what blogs or magazines will think of it. I should focus on ideas, feelings and how to express them in sound.

When the music is done and I do all the post-production errands, I need to get in a totally different mindset: reaching out to media outlets as if responses or lack thereof could not hurt feelings, describing my own work in the most accessible form, filling in endless forms, planning meetings, talking money, talking dates. And this part is done best when you're acting like a businessman, not an artist.

Has building a hardware setup changed your perspective on music or life in general?

Not much.

Hardware is just a very enjoyable way of making music and it boosts creativity in certain directions while limiting the others which might be or not be a good thing depending on what you find interesting.

One tip on how to spark creativity?

Set meaningful deadlines and meet them, making the best you can out of what you have within the time limit. New ideas will be piling up unless you give them way by getting old ones out of the way.

Done is better than perfect.

A book, movie, article, or album that has inspired you?

Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers

Where can people find more of your music and connect with you online?

In Case You Missed It

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