115 - Chelidon Frame

Author

Giannis Kampiotis
September 26, 2023

Artist Interviews 🎶 Studio Tours 🎛

Hello music people 👋

Today in the spotlight, Chelidon Frame

Coming from Italy, he makes music, sound art, installations, blends code and art while being a full-stack developer. He has found a way for his clear and analytical way of thinking to allow him and be creative on his explorations. A lot to take from this interview 🎶

Interview & Studio Tour

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

Hello, I'm Chelidon Frame, a sound artist, experimental electronic musician, and digital artist from Milan, Italy.

I started making music almost twenty years ago when I first started playing the guitar; after some solid years between jazz, post-rock, and stoner, I've been intrigued by musique concrète, synthesizers, and sonic experimentations, laying the foundation of the project Chelidon Frame.

Since 2016, I released albums with various labels, both Italian and international, focusing on sound manipulation, drone music, ambient soundscapes, guitar explorations, and field recordings, using synthesizers, guitars, found sounds, and various array of sound-manipulation techniques.

Nowadays, my main focus is divided into three directions: studio works, from drone and electronic explorations, also working as a media composer, live electronics and free improvisation, both in a solo and in an ensemble context, and data-sonification for installations, where using code I transform raw data in electronic soundscapes, to experience the original information anew.

Apart from music, I'm a freelancer full-stack developer, and I try my best to work in the intersections between art, digital art, and code.

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

More than a piece of equipment, I find essential a spirit, an idea, that I follow when it comes to my production process:

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everything should be at hand and easy to include in the flow

There should not be "friction" between having an idea and translating it through an instrument: it means having everything cabled and ready to play, without boxes to open and cables to arrange.

For sure, this is not possible 100% all the time, but I try to keep this in mind when I organize things.

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

I always say "chopsticks"! I use them to prepare my guitar and hit things when I record samples. I also use them if I need to block something when tape is not an option.

If you're asking for a more specific piece of hardware, I think the PRO1 from Behringer never stops to amaze me and has ended up in most of my tracks since I got it.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

It really depends.

Sometimes, I gather and organize samples, both recording or processing them, so I can have a library of raw materials to browse and inspire me.

Other times, I explore a patch or a sound, playing or sequencing it, and this becomes the foundation of a track.

Sometimes, I try to replicate a technique or a sound that I'd like to include in my technical knowledge, and if this is inspiring, it can end up in something more specific.

Other times, in the end, I just turn on some synths and improvise with them.

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

I find myself frequently returning to granular synthesis in recent times. It always opens up so many possibilities and new sounds that I think it is simply inexhaustible. I am also trying to include it in my live sets using Eurorack modules and software plugins.

Another thing that I do quite often to clear my mind and to separate myself from DAWs and screens is working with magnetic tape: the process is so different than usual that is some sort of meditative process that lets new ideas flow easily.

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How would you describe your style?

I think I am mostly an explorer:

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I like to explore new sounds and techniques, and try my best not to repeat myself or linger on something that works fine

I leave that kind of things for more work-related productions, where time is of the essence, and it is better to work with something solid and reliable. But for the Chelidon Frame project, exploration is of the essence.

What is a big challenge you have as an artist?

A great challenge is surely promotion: being completely independent and finding the right way to reach your listeners or those who may be curious about your journey.

A more music-related thing is consistency: to keep the momentum running and remain on track with what you really like to do and to explore.

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

I don't think it changed my view on music: I started making music by playing an instrument and exploring techniques and solutions to reach the sounds that I wanted to use. I found it easy to translate those ideas in a hardware setup, but the challenge was "reconfiguring your brain" and adapting to a completely different workflow when it comes to play things.

One tip on how to spark creativity?

Do something different, unplug yourself: read a book, watch a movie, or go for a walk.

Your brain works in the background and consolidates things: you'll find yourself with new ideas that no one knows where they come from, but are there for you to investigate.

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

Science fiction is always inspiring, more in a frame-of-mind point-of-view way than in a practical one.

Also, great artists' bios: both Miles Davis' and Fela Kuti's one has been so intriguing, letting you see how much space there is in one life to explore music and how in harsh time there's always that spark of light that can move you.

Anything else you'd like to say?

A lot of the gear and techniques I've discussed can be found in my latest release, Nobody Lives Here, out with Humanhood Recordings

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

Gear List

I frequently use:

I frequently use:

  • Tascam - 4-track tape deck (for tape loops and lofi things)

  • Korg Volca Keys & FM

  • some hand-build instruments

  • a lot of acoustic instruments that I buy in flea markets or garage sales, including a couple of native americans flute, an Ukranian harp and some unknown percussive instruments

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