91 - Gabe Churray

Author

Giannis Kampiotis
July 04, 2023

Artist Interviews 🎶 Studio Tours 🎛

Hello music people 👋

Today in the spotlight, Gabe Churray

Coming from the United States, he’s been making music since forever. He’s been through the journey and he now knows what he want out of music 🎶

Read Time: 5 minutes 📰

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Interview

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

My name is Gabe Churray. I'm a musician located Virginia, 20 miles (32km) due south of the District of Columbia, U.S.A.

Music blankets my existence.

I clearly remember the day I wanted to make music all of the time. I was trying out the "Band/Music" class in middle school and the teacher invited everyone to come up and play an electronic drum pad. I volunteered immediately. The teacher was on an acoustic drum set and we started improvising duets right there.

I was sold.

I've had MANY odd jobs to this point, but music is my sole profession and I feel VERY lucky everyday to be able to do it.

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

Rhodes Piano.

It's in almost everything I produce and I work out ideas on it all the time.

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

Probably the Juno 60.

They're expensive now, but when I picked mine up in 2005-ish, it was $300.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

It really depends on what I'm working on.

When I do work for specific projects/clients there is a strong focus, so the vibe/feel is mostly taken care of and it's easier to work in a framework.

For my own creative projects, it's so varied.

It could be a chord progression, a patch on a synth, a field recording.......basically a spark. Something to build around. "Pilates For Birds" is built entirely around bird calls I recorded on my iPhone and then sampled with the OP1.

What is a production technique that you always come back to?

Doubling a track, then hard panning, adding a pretty heavy Hi Pass Filter, then finally offsetting the doubled part slightly to give a far off slap. Sometimes the track could be tripled or quadrupled and panned all over the place.

How would you describe your style?

Someone once said "Sonic Experimenter". That's pretty open ended, but accurate.

What is a big challenge you have as an artist?

Pressing the record button.

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

At this point I've essentially gone through the process of buying things and selling them to finally land on the fundamental tools I need to make music.

I'm pretty happy with everything I have.

I'm of course curious about what every new instrument does and would love to play them but in my current state of life, I'm trying to make more music, not acquire more stuff.

One tip on how to spark creativity?

Take a walk.

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

Zen in the Martial Arts - Joe Hyams

Anything else you'd like to say?

Thanks for opportunity to share with everyone! Have fun out there ya'll!

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

In Case You Missed It

For jams, knob-twists and pad hitting videos go to G.A.S. Instagram

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