Artist Interviews 🎶 Studio Tours 🎛

Hello music people 👋

Today in the spotlight, Teder & Three Colored Squares

Previously featured artists on GAS Newsletter, Teder & Three Colored Squares met through GAS and arranged to connect their gear and jam. Of course, I had to know all the details and this was the perfected opportunity for a special issue. Enjoy 🎶

Interview & Studio Tour

Describe your approach.

Teder:

As you probably expected, the approach starts far before what you see on the recording. The process starts with the most challenging part: discovering jam-willing musicians and reaching out to them. Discovery is much easier with newsletters such as GAS, Instagram hashtags and groups such as Petite Victory Collective. However, sending a first message out of the blue is scary, even though people are often willing to try it.

Each rendezvous starts with the setup. My setup is quite ready to go, but I always have to find out how to sync MIDI and how to record the collab tracks. After setups are synced and the camera is set up, we usually just start jamming off-camera. During setup, I discuss if there is a certain vibe, bpm or key my jam partner has a preference for.

Depending on the participant's experience level, I'll let something emerge freely, or apply more structure, for instance, by labelling a specific part as a "part A" and suggesting changing up some sounds to create a B section. Usually, I will adjust my choice of instruments to the gear my jam partner has brought. In this case, 3CS did not bring in a poly pad, so I had room to fill it in. This way I avoid setting strict "rules" for who is allowed to do what:

Three Colored Squares:

At first, we synchronised our setups via MIDI clock and agreed on the key we would play in. We agreed that Pieter (Teder) would work on the low side of spectrum and the drums, whereas I would take care of the highs: chords, melody and some additional percussive noises.

What expectations did you have in mind before going to jam with each other? How did it went, compared to the final result?

Teder:

I go into these jams with as little expectation of the end result as possible. My main goal is to meet new people, get inspired by other people's sound design and discover new ways of playing electronic music together. I prep each jam with the preface that I will always set up a camera and recording equipment to capture part of the jam, and afterwards verify if we both feel comfortable publicly sharing the result or parts thereof.

We had a lot of fun and created a new friendship, which is an excellent result! Every jam is different, and some jams suit my personal taste better than others. Again, the goal is not the end result, it is more about the jamming experience itself and having a way to look back on that experience. No matter the jam or context, there is always a point at which the jam and collaboration have a climax, and these are the moments that I value most when looking back at the resulting material.

Three Colored Squares:

I barely had any expectations at all because for me it was the first experience of jamming with someone together like this.

I guess most of all I expected to make a new connection and to learn something unexpected in the process of creation. These expectations were fulfilled, and the musical outcome concerned me way less than that, although it too turned out to be very dreamy and enjoyable.

What challenges did you face? And what kind of compromises did you make?

Three Colored Squares:

I did not bring a MIDI keyboard with me, and programming melodies on Elektron devices without it is a nightmare, especially when the time is limited.

Another challenge is, of course, coordinating actions with each other. And it's an amazing feeling to realize that you can communicate through music itself even when the patterns are programmed and the synth settings are set. Sometimes you both just feel what exactly you need to do in the moment.

Teder:

Every jam starts with 2 technical challenges:

how do we route a midi clock and how do we route the audio signal?

Depending on setups it often makes sense to use the hapax as a source, as it has all possible sync output options (DIN, TRS, CV) and multiple midi outs that don't interfere with my own setup.

For the second challenge, I usually sacrifice 2 channels on my Bluebox mixer to record a stereo pair signal from my jamming partner. Added bonus is that the signal of the jamming partner is also optionally side-chained and treated with limiting in the main output.

Any surprises you had?

Three Colored Squares:

When you have so many moving parts and are acting in a new environment, it's easy to forget something obvious. Like, the first time we forgot to press the record button.

Teder:

Only happy accidents! I think most surprises happened off camera in this case, such as pressing record on the camera but forgetting to press record on the mixer in an earlier jam, a beeping noise in the office we couldn't quite figure out or turn off: all the stuff you instantly forget once you start playing music together.

How did you connect and record the whole thing?

Teder:

Midi clock was routed from Hapax to the Digitone and from these 2 devices routed to the rest of our gear.

All channels were mixed on the 12-channel Bluebox mixer in the Teder setup, with two channels with summed input from 3CS's Digitone. All channels but the drums were routed through the FMR RNC compressor and side-chained with a separate kick output from the Blackbox.

Both the separate stems and the summed output were recorded. For convenience, the summed main output was then imported into Cubasis (on iPad) and mastered mainly using ToneBoosters AUv3 plugins: equaliser, compressor, and barricade. Then merged back with the video and (albeit painstakingly) re-synchronized with the video in Premiere Rush (on iPad).

Three Colored Squares:

Mostly, Teder was taking care of the recording. He brought and set up the camera, the lights and 1010music Bluebox that served as the main mixer and the recorder. We sent MIDI clock from Teder's clock device to the MIDI input of my Elektron Digitakt which is my master device controlling all other gear.

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What will you do differently the next time?

Teder:

I'm considering getting a separate mixer to multitrack record the channels from my jam partner, resulting in more clean stems and the ability to fully re-mix a jam later on. Also, enabling each jam participant to control their sub-mix might improve control over sound and smoothen the introduction of new sounds; you can often see me use closed filters and opening them up when introducing new sounds to the mix and dialling them back subtly if they don't fit.

Three Colored Squares:

Next time I will first agree with my jamming partner on the timeline: how long are we going to prepare the material and how many sections we expect to have. Like, to have a rough outline before starting anything.

Also, I will prepare a melodic sketch or a cool rhythmic hook beforehand to have a starting point right away. Certainly, it will spontaneously evolve during the jam, but

Anything else you’d like to say?

Teder:

Thank you for the opportunity to share some insights into the beautiful process of collaborative live electronic music improvisation. Ever since I started with electronic music I was longing for the magical moments that occur when you play and improvise music with others.

Even though most electronic music producers work solo, or collaborate asynchronously in studios by sending back and forth music projects, there is something very special about meeting new people and connecting through musical improvisation.

Syncing setups with MIDI and technical improvements such as scale models on sequencers also reduce the barrier for people to get started with jamming, even if you aren't yet experienced. The joy of producing an unexpected result is hard to describe but is far better experienced.

If you are up for a jam, get in touch and we'll make it happen!

Three Colored Squares:

I admire the amount of effort Teder put into building his setup. It is nerdy in the best way possible: like, who would cut out half of the MicroFreak body to save save space on the pedalboard? He certainly did.

Also, I appreciate his willingness to connect with other artists. Jamming together is fun and cool. You meet, you learn, you discover something you never expected to discover.

We should do more of that.

Gear List

Teder:

• Squarp Instruments - Hapax - midi sequencer with terrific pad play mode and (euclidean) midi effects. Also the only device in my without a tiny footprint: no compromise on the heart of the setup.

• 1010music - Bluebox - 12-channel multitrack mixer, with Novation Launchcontrol connected to control EQs as filters and sends for reverb

• 1010music - Blackbox - sampler, used as drum computer with multiple audio outputs

• Roland & Studio Electronics - SE-02 - A miniature bass synth with a big sound and program-changeable presets.

• Audiothingies - Micromonsta - a boutique digital 8-voice poly synth that sounds like a prophet  

• Empress - Zoia - I didn't get to use this one in the jam, but it has amazing sounds and can act as an interface for analogue input such as guitars or voice

• Arturia - Microfreak - Took the keyboard off and 3dprinted Nanobod enclosure to make it fit, great for on-the-fly sound design and live tweaking  

• FMR Audio - RNC1773 Real Nice Compressor - acts as sidechain compressor for all channels excluding the drums, triggered by the Blackbox kick and keeping an eye on the meters to stay at +- 6db reduction at all times - Rockboard - Cinque 5.3 - The gear is mounted on this guitar pedal board. Wall warts are hidden on the backside. And the whole thing still fits the bag!

• Edirol - UA-25 EX - hidden audio interface with hardware limiter for the best control over the output to the monitors or headphones if necessary -

• IK Multimedia - iLoud Micro - The portable studio monitors that pack the biggest punch and still fit in the bag

• Canon - 5D MKIII EF50mm 1.2f - Always running magic lantern firmware and using the ack-e6 adapter kit to keep it powered during longer sessions *

• Aputure - MC lights - portable lights with a powerful magnet that spruce up the visuals of any location

Three Colored Squares:

• Elektron - Digitakt

• Elektron - Model:Cycles

• 1010music - nanobox Fireball

• TC Electronic - MojoMojo

• TC Electronic - Hall of Fame 2

• Strymon - El Capistan

• 1010music - Bluebox

Everything is arranged on a pedalboard hence I was able to bring it in a bag using public transport.

I was going to bring a keyboard but ended up leaving it back at the studio.

It would be either M-Audio Oxygen Pro 49 or Novation Launchkey Mini MK3.

In Case You Missed It

127 - Martin Yam Møller

GAS Interviews from: Teder | Three Colored Squares

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Giannis @giannis.kampiotis