A recent episode of Mylar Melodies’ Why We Bleep podcast features a great in-depth interview with electronic musician BT.
The interview digs into his extensive studio and Eurorack modular setup, goes deep into BT’s approach to organizing his studio to make it an effective tool for making music, explores how to make the most of your time when you’re not feeling inspired and more.
BT also raises his concerns over the use of AI to clone a musician’s personal signature, which could lead to piracy not of specific recordings, but of a specific musician’s approach to songwriting.
You can listen to the interview via the embed below, or via Apple Podcasts or on Youtube:
Links referenced in the interview:
- BT’s new album The Lost Art Of Longing
- BT’s ambient experimental album Everything You’re Searching for Is on the Other Side of Fear
- BT’s studio tour
- A link to AI-generated music BT shared, illustrating what is possible right now
Enjoyed it.
if you have to “Intelligently organize” your studio in order to produce music, you have already lost imo.
And that’s why BT has released more than a dozen albums, scored major motion pictures, been nominated for a Grammy and released several electronic music applications – and you’ve made snarky comments on the Internet.
> that’s why BT has been nominated
> for a Grammy – and you’ve made
> snarky comments on the Internet.
True, but I am the wrong person, comparison-wise. Take Martin Garrix, for instance. He won three MTV Europe Music Awards, three International Dance Music Awards, was ranked number one on DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years and headlined Tomorrowland. He doesn´t need to “intelligently organize” his gear. He just uses FL Studio on a Macbook and a couple of plugins. Fun fact: He doesn´t even need a controller keyboard — just the piano roll editor of FL Studio! Take a look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75w5LdX8OxA
DAW: FL Studio 10
Synth: Sylenth 1
Presets:
137 – Fifth Prophet
148 – Rain Drop
Long story short: Having a huge setup in the first place is not a goof idea. Ask Junkie XL.
To paraphrase your argument: “Some guy makes good music with software, therefore hardware is not a good idea. Ask a famous person who uses hardware but recently decided to sell most of his hardware except for the really good hardware.”
?
A process is a process, and everyone has one; his works for him :).
If there is one thing I have learned making electronic music for pleasure over the last 45 years (insert Munch Scream image here), it’s that there is no one right way to do things – today, especially, all the tools are so malleable, optimum workflows grow organically from experience. Also: it’s always a really good idea to keep an open mind & be willing to step outside your comfort zone. Eno’s Oblique Strategies helped point the way for me in this regard – http://doctechnical.com/oblique
It’s like BT is still living in the same house he grew up in. Every piece of equipment is part of the family, with its own stories.
In many professions, people have conversations and exchange ideas. We talk about the tools we like, we talk about the workflows that are effective for us. Organization and ergonomics are pretty important subjects. It’s a valuable conversation.
The subjects can go from devices, cabling, routing choices, clean power and stands into the nitty-gritty like file naming systems and backup.
Of course not all of what one expert says will be universally applicable or useful to someone else. But it’s likely a person can take away something useful, even if it is just, “Nope, I like my way better.”
exactly!
my point was that there´s zero need to “intelligently organize” your studio setup. don´t be a hoarder. make music instead.
that was a GREAT interview – you don’t have to be a fan of his art to get a ton out of the thoughtful approaches to working, studio organization, machine learning, etc. I almost wanna listen for a second time, it was rich w rad ideas.