In the final episode of Season 1, Grammy-nominated producer, remixer and DJ Morgan Page phones in from his studio in Los Angeles. Find out about the super softsynth that has earned a special place in his heart, and why car-building tech would be essential in his Forever Studio.
Will Betts:
Hi, I'm Will Betts,
Chris Barker:
and I'm Chris Barker and you're listening to the MusicTech, My Forever Studio podcast.
Will Betts:
In this podcast we talked to a wide range of artists, DJs, producers and industry figureheads about their dream forever studio.
Chris Barker:
A studio built within the confines of our strict, strict-ish rules and one they'll have to live with forever.
Will Betts:
That's right. There are strict rules. Our guests can choose a computer, DAW, an audio interface, then six other bits of studio kit, plus one other luxury item. Chris, what happens if they want to choose a package of say plugins?
Chris Barker:
No bundles.
Will Betts:
Joining us today is Morgan Page, a Grammy nominated DJ and producer, and if I'm not too bold to say, a gear nerd like us.
Chris Barker:
That's right. Let's begin. This is My Forever Studio with Morgan Page.
Will Betts:
Welcome.
Morgan Page:
How's it going?
Will Betts:
Very good, very good. How are you?
Chris Barker:
Very good. Thanks for joining us.
Morgan Page:
I'm good.
Chris Barker:
You heard the premise there, you get a few little freebies at the start, and then we'll really dig in, but I guess, first thing we can talk about is where would you build this studio if money was no object, location didn't matter.
Morgan Page:
Well, it's a really good question because you've got to be near an Apple store. If you're a Mac guy, something goes wrong, and I've heard of guys doing desert island studios, literal desert island studios like Maarten Vorwerk in Aruba. There's big problems with power, and access to gear and just getting stuff there. You've got to be... The key to me, and this is one reason I like where I'm at in L.A., is that I'm in a place that's quiet, it's in the wilderness, tucked into a Canyon, but it's away from the whole party scene and the craziness of the entertainment industry. But I'm close enough to the Apple store.
Morgan Page:
Dream studio, something similar to this, maybe even a little more remote, so there's less distractions.
Chris Barker:
Okay, but where in the world, do you stay in the U S do you think?
Morgan Page:
I would stay in the U.S., I would be in L.A., but maybe somewhere in Topanga Canyon, something similar, a little more remote, but maybe not so prone to wildfires.
Chris Barker:
Right. Yeah, yeah.
Morgan Page:
There's no sense in getting a good studio in the path of a fire.
Chris Barker:
Yes. Yeah.
Will Betts:
That's good advice. Solid advice that.
Chris Barker:
Every bit of gear we choose has to be non-flammable.
Morgan Page:
Right. Right, and how do you protect your studio?
Chris Barker:
Exactly. What's vibe like? I went to you studio many years ago, but you had quite a sort of low key studio, like rugs and very sort of... It wasn't the whole, maybe Maarten Vorwerk, Star Wars, kind of... it was kind of an in between that, kind of a little bit more, again, more reserved than the kind of spaceship thing. Are you still thinking that for your forever studio? Would that be the way to go?
Morgan Page:
I could do a little more futuristic. I think, what I've done in my studio lately has been adding more hue lights so I can customise the mood, and at the touch of a button it's like a different studio. Keeping it a little more modular, but yeah, my studio that you saw before was, I think you saw the garage studio. I had theatre curtains in a garage.
Chris Barker:
That's right, yeah.
Morgan Page:
Because I didn't own my own house then, now I have a new place and I've gotten to customise it a little more. But some guys, Second Vigils came to my studio and they were like, "Yeah, this is nice that it doesn't feel like a spaceship." They appreciated that.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I think there's a love/hate thing, we talked on the podcast before. I mean, it works for some people, other people not so much, and get somewhere in between the suits. That sounds nice, so next we move on to, I know that seems quick but it's not. We're getting the free items out of the way.
Will Betts:
Get the easy stuff done first. The computer then. You get a free computer, DAW and audio interface.
Morgan Page:
Well, definitely, if there's no budget, the new Mac Pro fully loaded, I wouldn't get into the video stuff, but if I had no budget it'd be, get that stand that's $1,000 for the monitor.
Will Betts:
Why not?
Morgan Page:
And get the wheels, get those $400 wheels. I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. I mean, so yeah, fully loaded. I'd still be working in Ableton, I don't know if I'd defect back to Pro Tools. Ableton is just an incredible creative resource, so I love using that and it's great for collaborations. Interface wise, I really like what I'm using right now, which is the x8p, the Universal Audio. I've gotten into that whole ecosystem, so I would maybe buy just a few more of those. I have two x8ps, but I would just-
Chris Barker:
Whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa.
Will Betts:
Whoa, whoa.
Recorded voice:
No Bundles.
Chris Barker:
One audio interface Morgan. Come on.
Will Betts:
You can have one.
Morgan Page:
Oh, one. Oh.
Chris Barker:
There are some rules here.
Will Betts:
Yeah. Strict-ish rules.
Chris Barker:
Strict-ish.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. One interface. I don't think that the high end stuff is really needed. It's kind of like the converters are so good now on all these things. Yeah. One Apollo x8p. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
Okay, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
It's the one with the eight preamps. The 8p, eight preamps.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Okay. You're using all of those preamps?
Chris Barker:
Well, we'll see.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Okay. Okay. Fine.
Chris Barker:
Might use six of them.
Will Betts:
I'm just interested to know, that's all. Oh well.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, it's just going to be six microphones on the next...
Will Betts:
Somebody's tried it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, like a press conference.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
We've got a pretty nice start there already. I mean there's a lot of stuff you can do with that as... Well, that Mac's about 90 grand straight away.
Morgan Page:
That's the whole budget.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. That's fine.
Will Betts:
It's fine.
Chris Barker:
Item number one, we're guessing you probably need some headphones or some monitors, one or the other.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. Monitors. Maybe the new Focals, I have the SM9s right now, but there's always a bigger, better version of what you have. Maybe the high end, extra high end Focals.
Chris Barker:
That's exactly what the podcast is about, the bigger, better version. Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Right. Always. Never making the most of what you have, but just the next, what's next?
Will Betts:
Absolutely.
Chris Barker:
What's the point in that? There's no fun in that.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. You know what's crazy too? You know what I might get, that is, no one will mention on this, is the Tesla Powerwall.
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Morgan Page:
If I was really to go out there, because-
Will Betts:
Off grid.
Morgan Page:
Yesterday, I have battery backup in the whole studio, everything turned off because we were having these crazy storms right now in L.A., and everything turned off, and you only get an hour to kind of preempt that and shut your computer down, even with these heavy duty battery backups. I don't know, I'm mean, I might get a couple of those, but you got to get two if you're going to be running your whole house and not just a studio.
Chris Barker:
That leaves you with three more items.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. No bundles.
Chris Barker:
We're really whizzing through this Morgan. Let's step back to the Focal. I don't think you had Focals when we met. I know that was many years ago, so what's your monitoring journey been like? How have you ended up with the Focals? Who introduced you to them? Or...
Morgan Page:
Luca Pretolesi, from Studio DMI got me into them. He probably got a cut of that. Some interesting stuff happened though, because I think when you saw me, I may of had the Barefoots, I may have had them, I had the Mackies for a little while. Yeah, maybe it was the Mackies. I had an Ikea desk with the Mackies. It was pretty low budget at the time, and then I had the Barefoots and I had problems with the Barefoots blowing up because of the power. It ties into the whole power in L.A. thing. I think the power just blew out some of the components of the Barefoots, but I think that those were a little too flat for my tastes. There just weren't as fun for me to work on. Other people love them, but for me it wasn't for my tastes, so the Focal was exactly what I was looking for.
Chris Barker:
They're the ones where you can cut them into... They go from three... Are they the SM9s, the one that goes from 3 way to a 2 way design?
Will Betts:
A lot of them have that, don't they?
Morgan Page:
Yeah, the 3 way, and honestly every studio is a very biassed opinion. Every set of monitors is... There's no flat monitors. I think that's total nonsense. And your room changes them completely, because when I talk to people that work on SM9s and I hear them in other studios, they sound pretty different. But that's anything. I built the room, this room, initially around the Barefoots and wasn't happy with them, and then got the SM9s.
Will Betts:
What is the next step up from there?
Morgan Page:
The Trio6 Be.
Chris Barker:
Yes.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. That looks like bad arse. Or actually there's the Trio 11 Be too. That's the one, that's the big boy. Focal Trio 11 Be.
Will Betts:
Those monitors then, why specifically the Focals then? In terms of the kind of music that you're making, is that important to have something that can push some air?
Morgan Page:
Yeah, right now I have them set up as midfields, so they've got to push some sound, just because the acoustics of the room. We moved everything around. I have a Sterling modular desk, there's a lot of stuff that's kind of in the way and a big 30 inch cinema display. Yeah, the set up is midfields, so they've got to push some air, and I just like the sound of it, the profile of the sound.
Morgan Page:
I tried a bunch of other pairs monitors and you've got to go with what speaks to you, and same with headphones too. Like V-MODA. I've tried $3,000 headphones, didn't like them, and I use the V-MODA for everything now.
Chris Barker:
I love those V-MODAs as well. Really big fan, yeah.
Morgan Page:
Incredible. $200. It's insane.
Chris Barker:
Apart from the classic thing that all headphones have where it feels like they just, one day just completely crumble and fall apart like dry bread.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Do you know what I mean? What is that?
Morgan Page:
Yeah, I've got that right now.
Chris Barker:
It's like they haven't figured out that material where it's so nice, and it happens even if you never wear them. I had some, the Philips Armin van Buuren one's, really good and then you take it out of a drawer one day. It's like, "Oh, they've gone like stale." They just crumble.
Will Betts:
There is a thing where certain plastics degrade in sunlight.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, and the rubber gets like, it turns into an adhesive almost. Have you seen that happen?
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was...
Will Betts:
Yeah, yeah.
Morgan Page:
It's like the half life of rubber or something.
Will Betts:
That's a great name for a book.
Morgan Page:
That's the episode.
Will Betts:
The Half Life of Rubber. Yeah, Morgan Page and the Half Life of Rubber is definitely...
Morgan Page:
Stay tuned for more.
Chris Barker:
Harry Potter and the Half Life of Rubber. Yeah, it's a secret episode.
Will Betts:
I don't think I want to read that one actually.
Chris Barker:
That sounds all right. Yeah. Maybe, it's more a 50 Shades of Grey thing, isn't it? Anyway, moving on.
Will Betts:
Swiftly.
Will Betts:
Number two.
Morgan Page:
All right. Number two, would probably be the Moog One, just because that is usually out of the typical price range for a synth, but if you've got unlimited budget, eight grand, let's go for it.
Chris Barker:
That's the perfect My Forever Studio synth there, I mean.
Will Betts:
It really is. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
What actually tops that? I suppose you go vintage, you could CSAE Jupiter-8s.
Morgan Page:
Synclavier.
Will Betts:
Yeah. That'll do it. That's do it.
Chris Barker:
That would change your style of music quite dramatically. I imagine, a Synclavier. I'd like to hear Morgan play this... Orchestral stab seven or whatever it is. Is that... Am I on the right synth?
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
I think I maybe am, I think I was getting fair muddled.
Morgan Page:
I get the two mixed all the time.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. But yeah, that's-
Morgan Page:
They're so affordable.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. It's weird that we don't know them so well.
Morgan Page:
You know, what really good though, that I liked? I'm surprised they priced it as cheaply as they did. It was the Hydrasynth.
Chris Barker:
Yep.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Do you guys mess around with that?
Will Betts:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah.
Will Betts:
It's incredible.
Morgan Page:
It's incredible. I'm making some patches for them right now, and it's like getting into... Once you really drive that thing, you just distort it and push it. It's pretty amazing.
Chris Barker:
I mean, it's great value that synth, but it's still not a cheap synth, so that's quite a... It's still a dream synth for many a person, that is. It's an investment synth, for sure.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Moog One.
Will Betts:
The Moog One, you've tried it, but what was it about it that's really drawn you to the Moog One? It's just that you have the opportunity to have one. Is that it? Is that the big draw for you?
Chris Barker:
We don't want you to use the dream studio as a situation just to eBay stuff after we get off air.
Morgan Page:
Right, right. I'm not renting the gear. The reason for the Moog One, I think polyphonic Moog, because I have a Voyager in my studio and I love it, but if it's... I'm just not really that big on monophonic analogue synths, they're great, but I like... I'm a chord guy so I got to be able to play chords. That's a whole other beast. For years Moog was saying it was too expensive to make a polyphonic synth and to justify it.
Chris Barker:
Eight grand later they were right.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, they were right.
Chris Barker:
We do love Moog. It is expensive, but that's what you get. It's a Moog synth.
Will Betts:
It's a flagship synth.
Chris Barker:
A flagship. Exactly.
Will Betts:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Morgan Page:
Yeah. I still think they could do a polyphonic one a little cheaper. It's like, "Come on guys." You could cut... I mean, you have to cut some corners, but you could do a-
Chris Barker:
But they're not into cutting corners though, are they?
Morgan Page:
You could do a slightly cheaper one.
Chris Barker:
Maybe they'll do a-
Morgan Page:
I think that's on the way.
Chris Barker:
Maybe they'll do a half. A Moog half.
Will Betts:
A Moog half, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Chris Barker:
Item number three.
Morgan Page:
Item number three. Okay. I think every studio needs a flagship mic.
Will Betts:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Morgan Page:
And I'm trying to think. I have some pretty nice ones in the studio right now. I use the Manley Ref C, I have a C12, but I would want a vintage mic. One that is hard to buy like a U 47, or an original C12. I'm missing one, there's got to be another higher. I think those are pretty high up, up there, $20,000 vintage mic. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
You work with male and female vocalists, right?
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
I mean, is that going to make much of a difference to what you mean? You broke through working with female vocalists I guess, but you've done other stuff since.
Morgan Page:
I'm really big on the one mic thing, even though I have a couple choices here. I think less choices really helps, and some people like-
Chris Barker:
Welcome. Well, this is perfect for you, then this studio, isn't it?
Will Betts:
He's in his element.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. Yeah, I think to have a vintage mic that I wouldn't normally have access to, and they are, let's just say in a perfect world that has, there's no maintenance needed and it just works fine.
Will Betts:
Indeed.
Morgan Page:
I think that's what keeps me away from buying some of the vintage stuff is they're delicate, they need maintenance, and then if they break you can't use it in sessions. You got to use your backup.
Chris Barker:
Well, I suppose you've spent 90 grand at the Apple store, so maybe they can fix the mic for you if it goes wrong. Just say, "Look guys, you're geniuses."
Will Betts:
I think you've gone to the wrong shop there, honestly.
Morgan Page:
Right. They'll say, "Get a USB mic."
Will Betts:
Yeah. They'll send you some AirPods Pros.
Chris Barker:
For 10 grand. No, it's good. It's good. Cool.
Will Betts:
So which one is it going to be then, the U 47 or the C12?
Chris Barker:
Oh yeah, that's true.
Morgan Page:
I think the U 47, just to have something in its own category like that. Just a classic.
Will Betts:
Have you used the U 47 much in your time?
Morgan Page:
Never. I just know the hype from what I've heard. "U 47, that would be pretty cool." If not that, then one of those classic ribbon mic.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Like a Coles?
Will Betts:
Or like a RCA 44, something like that?
Morgan Page:
Yeah, a real vintage one. I don't even know them well enough.
Will Betts:
It's very coloured...
Morgan Page:
I've never really had a chance to experiment.
Will Betts:
It's quite a coloured sound, you're going for there.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
You're just going straight into the Apollo with that. Are you happy with that, or is the next item going to be a preamp?
Morgan Page:
Next would be probably a 1073, just a good preamp. I'm trying to think what is the top of the heap if you had no limits. But I think the beauty now is... It's crazy. You can plug everything in with that Unison and stuff sounds pretty damn good. It gets to the sweet spot and you can skip a lot of the stuff in between. It's really close.
Chris Barker:
Not to scare you, so that would leave you two items left.
Morgan Page:
Okay, I've got some...
Will Betts:
Thank you.
Chris Barker:
You've only got the stock plugins in Ableton so far.
Will Betts:
Hang on. You're saying-
Morgan Page:
No bundles though.
Will Betts:
No bundles.
Chris Barker:
No bundles.
Recorded voice:
No bundles.
Morgan Page:
Is it too vague to talk about bundles? Is that the point?
Will Betts:
It's just that you're cheating.
Morgan Page:
Oh right.
Will Betts:
Because there's more than one thing in a bundle, so are you having the 1073 then or do you want to keep those last three options open?
Morgan Page:
Oh man.
Will Betts:
Are you saying that Unison is enough or do you want the real Neve 1073?
Morgan Page:
I think you've got to have the real thing, but if I were to pick out some software, it's good to have a backup, because I kind of use both of my set ups. I have an Avalon 737, I've had that since college. It's still kicking. It's the old standby, it doesn't have any latency, and it doesn't need any firmware updates or software updates.
Morgan Page:
Okay. Software wise, I'm big on the UAD stuff, and I can't pick bundles. I think all the plugins that are Unison enabled, like the API, the SSL and the Neve 1073 are all go to. Got to have those, and is it... Oh and I really got to count, but I only have two left. Right?
Will Betts:
You've got two left.
Chris Barker:
If you're taking that 1073 real preamp, then yeah, you've got two items left, and you've only got the one for sounds. Oh, Ableton's. I mean, we love Ableton, but maybe not notoriously known for their stock plugins as maybe there's a lot of...
Will Betts:
You've got Drum Rack. I mean, you can do a lot with Drum Rack.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Logic for the stock bundle though, I think is usually a little bit more premium.
Morgan Page:
Oh, you know what I would do? Also, on that retro angle is a real hardware spring reverb.
Will Betts:
Hmm.
Chris Barker:
You've got a 1073, a real 1073, and then a hardware spring reverb.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, hardware spring reverb, and if I was building a studio, if I had a space where I could reamp stuff, and store that spring reverb... Do I get one more? If I had one more it would be a-
Will Betts:
Oh, hang on, hang on. Before you get there, tell us about the spring reverb then. Why the spring? Because I mean-
Chris Barker:
Again, it's not notorious for electronic music and a real spring.
Will Betts:
Is there a lot of spring on your tracks at the moment, or are you just going down a whole different avenue with this? You're going to reinvent yourself as the spring reverb king?
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
The spring king.
Morgan Page:
I'm guessing you're going to hear more of a comeback with guitars, even though... I used to spring...
Chris Barker:
You don't have a guitar, remember.
Morgan Page:
Right, right.
Will Betts:
I think we're going to revise...
Morgan Page:
It's so limiting this fantasy world.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah.
Morgan Page:
I think the stuff is making a come back. I mean, I just love the sound of spring reverb on stuff. It's so different. It's not really a reverb to me. It's not really a delay. It's kind of like this weird in between, so I love spring for... I don't know if mono spring is what I always go towards, but I think it just adds vibe instantly, and you can sort of bury stuff in that sound, and use it as a layering tool.
Chris Barker:
It's kind of old spring, because it's kind of... It's obviously real when you get the physical ones, but it's fake. That's what you said, it's like that hybrid sound between the real and fake.
Will Betts:
Sort of electromechanical thing.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It makes you quite an-
Morgan Page:
You know what? I just pre-ordered that new Gamechanger light pedal.
Chris Barker:
Oh yeah, yeah.
Morgan Page:
Have you seen that?
Chris Barker:
Yep, yeah.
Will Betts:
Which one, the plasma pedal or the new one that they brought out?
Morgan Page:
It's the new one that's got the spring in the pedal and they're using infrared. They're using light somehow through the spring to get more sound out of the spring itself. It's crazy.
Will Betts:
Nice.
Chris Barker:
So the light analyses the movements of the spring or something like that? Like a laser tracked spring.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
I still liked what they did with the motor synth, which was using the infrareds. It's like a light detecting resistor. Am it... That's right. Yeah. Then they spin these little plates round to create the waves. That's nuts as well.
Chris Barker:
That is nice.
Morgan Page:
Is that cool? I didn't get a chance to try that. It looks amazing.
Will Betts:
Oh, it sounds bonkers, because there's... They're moving from one note to the next, because it's a motor, you can't do it immediately, so it sort of has to gear down, so it sounds, everything sounds like a car revving. It's mental. I love it.
Chris Barker:
It's kind of like the future Mellotron kind of idea where the things that actually physically move.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, it kind of is. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Do you like the Plasma Pedal? Is that good or does it just sounded like digital distortion?
Will Betts:
It sounds gross in a really good way. I think. I love it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, I liked it, I liked it.
Will Betts:
It sounds wicked.
Chris Barker:
I know the guitar guys like it as well. It's a real nice hybrid thing for synths and for guitars.
Will Betts:
And there's the rackmount one as well.
Chris Barker:
Ah, I did not know that.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Very cool.
Will Betts:
If you're into music production, you should also check out MusicTech magazine. In this month's issue, we explore sound for screen with practical tutorials on setting up templates, tempo mapping, and more. We interview top composers, including Tyler Bates who scored the John Wick trilogy and Guardians of the Galaxy. We also talk to Stormzy collaborator Chris Andoh about producing the smash hit Vossi Bop.
Will Betts:
Plus we give our verdict on Korg Wavestate, the Evo 4 audio interface from Audient. Oeksound's Soothe 2, Spitfire Audio Albion NEO, and Novation's Launchpad Pro Mk3. Beyond that, we have a tonne of DAW tutorials for Logic, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One, Pro Tools, and FL Studio.
Will Betts:
You'll find all that and more in this month's issue. Subscribe now @musictech.net.
Will Betts:
Okay, so we've got the spring reverb, and of course it's your forever studio. You can have a spare room-
Chris Barker:
For a spring.
Will Betts:
... as part of that for a spring if you want it. Do you want a spare room?
Morgan Page:
I think definitely a spare room. I always track vocalists in studio even though these days it's like everybody's got a Apollo Twin and they're tracking amazing vocals in their bedroom. There's less of a need to bring vocalists in to track them, and I feel like less of a need for vocal booths somehow. Just the mics and the software, just so good.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. And computers aren't as noisy as they used to be.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, exactly.
Chris Barker:
Although I don't know, what's that 90 grand computer like? Is it a noisy one? Or is it... You would think not.
Morgan Page:
It's super quite.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, you would think it would be super quiet.
Will Betts:
You're talking the cheese grater, aren't you?
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
New cheese grater.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, because I brought one of those ISO boxes and it's just huge waste of money, because the computers are so quiet now, and if you get an ISO box they make noise themselves. So it's sort of like, "Wait a minute." It has a fan, it's got to move hot air out so you create your own bottleneck. I think I'm all about just simplicity, and it's nice to have, with a fantasy studio here, it's nice to have limited options, because less choices.
Chris Barker:
You could end up with a kind of Russian doll scenario of boxes over boxes, over boxes, over boxes. Keeping the next box cool, until the very final fan was so slow. Yeah.
Will Betts:
You're describing a sort of Chernobyl sarcophagus.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Then just growing, and growing, and growing, until... Yeah. I'm into it.
Morgan Page:
Then get eight times the fan noise. It's a beautiful thing.
Will Betts:
Yeah, it's perfect. It's perfect.
Chris Barker:
I don't know why I'm worried. You've got the Moog One. I guess that's all the synth sound you would ever need. I just always remember you having quite a lot of interesting in the box techniques as well, and you don't have any software synths, but I'm not pushing you down any road. You've got one item left. What's that going to be? Do you want to do a rundown first? Maybe a little rundown, just so you can picture this.
Morgan Page:
Sure.
Will Betts:
Topanga Canyon, in a homely studio full of Philips Hue light bulbs.
Morgan Page:
It's a smart home.
Will Betts:
It is a smart home. Running the biggest, baddest Mac Pro money can buy with Ableton, a UA Apollo x8p, Focal Trio 11 Bes, a Moog One. A U 47, we settled on in the end, right?
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Yep.
Will Betts:
A Neve 1073 preamp, and a hardware spring reverb. Do you know particularly which one you would happen to have?
Morgan Page:
I don't know. I feel like I need a custom one. Somebody built it just for me.
Will Betts:
Okay. Okay. You can have that.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, I'll just get on that. I'll just get on that now. Yeah.
Morgan Page:
A variable spring reverb.
Chris Barker:
No pressure, no pressure. Custom spring reverbs.
Morgan Page:
Got to hand wind the spring.
Will Betts:
Okay, so you've got one gear pick left. What?
Morgan Page:
Okay, I got it. I got the cherry on top.
Will Betts:
Oh yeah.
Morgan Page:
A Phase Plant.
Will Betts:
A Kilohearts Phase Plant.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. That's the move, and because it's so processor hungry once you start stacking those oscillators in the voices. You need that new $90,000 Mac Pro.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Tell us more about that then, because for our listeners who maybe don't know it, what is it that drew you to the Phase Plant and what is it?
Morgan Page:
Well, I was always a fan of Serum. I'm a big soft synth guy in general, but something about Phase Plant, it just sounds huge out of the box before we even do processing to it. You can throw things on like weird comb filters, things where it sounds really wide, but then it sounds perfect in mono, which is the Holy Grail for me, it's always what I'm chasing. It's almost an impossible thing, but somehow it pulls it off-
Will Betts:
And a few ways...
Morgan Page:
... but in the layout.
Will Betts:
And the layout as well. Sorry.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, having it all on one page, so it's almost semi modular and you're not flipping through menus. It seems overwhelming at first, but this one came out of nowhere. This is like the dark horse of the soft synth world.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, 9 out of 10 MusicTech choice award. We love it as well, as a brand. But it did sort of come out of nowhere, for sure.
Will Betts:
If I'm not mistaken, it also won the MusicTech Gear Of The Year Award for best soft synth. And much deserving.
Chris Barker:
What does Kilohearts do then? Okay, Multipass. There is the Kilohearts Toolbox, but we don't allow bundles.
Will Betts:
I mean, what you've done there, you've really bypassed the no bundle rule deftly.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Because that is a single product, but it's basically a whole bunch of products in a single thing.
Morgan Page:
It's like all their products snap into it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. Very cool.
Morgan Page:
With the Multipass, and Snap Heap. You kind of keep diving, and you open up one plugin, like the EQ and it's like, "Whoa, this is a whole other programme within a plugin."
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Will Betts:
Yeah, there's a lot there. You were talking about the Holy Grail being able to have super wide sounds in stereo which collapse down to mono, and that works. In terms of your mix checking, is that a big part of what you're doing?
Morgan Page:
It's a big part, probably to a fault, where I will probably... I probably need to have more of a balance of the side information to the mids, because it's just something you hear very strong opinions about. The live sound guys will say, "Well, it's all mono so you're going to lose all that information playing it out," and then you'll talk to other people that say, "No, our venue's wired in stereo," and then just the lows or some to mono, and you're like, "Well what is it?" It's a complex thing. It's more complicated than people think, but I think you listen to pop music and you almost hear no difference when you collapse to mono and you go "Wow, that's kind of like black magic. How'd they do that?"
Chris Barker:
That's the important balance I guess, because you've got your music coming out of TV's, phones, and huge nightclubs, but also people that are DJing, or enthusiasts at home that have a decent system and want to hear it as wide and as stereo as it can be.
Will Betts:
Anyone on ear buds.
Chris Barker:
Yep. Yeah. Or headphones as well. I mean, headphones is the... That's nearly everybody listens on headphones now and you can create some very interesting things that maybe won't translate outside of headphone world.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, it's hard. It's a balance I think everybody wrestles with and I talk to some producers and they say, "Oh we don't even check our mixes in mono." Guys who have great mixes. I'm like, "That's crazy to me." Because if your big elements are disappearing in the mix, it's a problem. I think it's a matter of what do you compromise? The shakers can sound less wide and it's not going to kill the impact of the song.
Chris Barker:
Yep.
Will Betts:
You say that. The shakers are critical.
Morgan Page:
Shakers are... The whole song is resting on castanets and shakers.
Chris Barker:
Will is a session shaker player.
Morgan Page:
Oh man, I touched a nerve.
Will Betts:
Seasoned.
Chris Barker:
Seasoned. That's how it started, with salt.
Will Betts:
Yeah, that's right, that's right, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Shaking the old salt box, and now you've got a gig. Right.
Will Betts:
You've got to have a niche.
Chris Barker:
Moving onto the final non-gear related luxury item.
Morgan Page:
This is a weird luxury, but I have no natural light in my studio.
Chris Barker:
We're willing to let you have a window though.
Morgan Page:
Can we have a window.
Will Betts:
Please sir, can I have a window?
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah, you can.
Morgan Page:
There is a thing.
Chris Barker:
When we said that the-
Morgan Page:
Have you heard of this? It's a fibre optic thing where you can bend the light from outside so it's acoustically sound, but you can bend the natural light with fibre optics into your studio.
Will Betts:
What?
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
That makes sense, doesn't it.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, it makes sense, right?
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
So you can get the natural light, but you're not hearing your neighbours. Your neighbours aren't hearing you.
Chris Barker:
I bend the light into my studio with this thing called glass and it's kind of...
Morgan Page:
Magic.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. It's crazy, man. You should check it out.
Morgan Page:
I could do the one way glass, I could do that.
Chris Barker:
You will have windows, or you can have that panel as part of that dream studio design that we talked about at the beginning.
Morgan Page:
Well, I have this huge TV in my studio that does not work well. It doesn't work in my workflow because it's too slow, so I think, one of the maybe newer ones that's more compatible with the Mac Pro that has a higher refresh rate, so I'm not getting this lag. That's a luxury, because I don't even use the one I have that much, because it's a little bit sluggish.
Chris Barker:
Do you usually go for the big screen to produce on then?
Morgan Page:
I have my 30", dinosaur, old Apple display that's still great. Still flickers, but I had this... I thought I would use this big giant TV, and I ended up just not using it.
Chris Barker:
But I guess you get the £1000 stand screen with your bundle.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, you can-
Chris Barker:
Maybe not as a bundle.
Recorded voice:
No bundles.
Chris Barker:
Not as a bundle.
Will Betts:
You had to stop yourself.
Chris Barker:
I just bundled myself there. No, but when you buy that computer, it comes with a screen, right? I know it's strict-
Morgan Page:
No, no.
Will Betts:
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, we need to...
Chris Barker:
I think the computer is a free item that comes with a screen now.
Will Betts:
Yeah, the monitor and the computer that's a one thing.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Okay.
Will Betts:
Otherwise, you can't really use it, can you?
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Right.
Will Betts:
Yeah. You can have a nice big screen.
Chris Barker:
That would be cruel, wouldn't it. A £90,000 computer and no screen.
Will Betts:
And your luxury item has to be the screen.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
To use it.
Will Betts:
That feels unfair.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. It feels unfair.
Will Betts:
On you.
Morgan Page:
I'd probably like a really fancy espresso maker.
Chris Barker:
Oh, there we go.
Will Betts:
A coffee man.
Chris Barker:
Big into the coffee.
Morgan Page:
You've got to have the lounge. You're got to have the green room ready for guests.
Chris Barker:
Are you into coffee then? What are we're talking?
Morgan Page:
Big coffee guy, yeah.
Chris Barker:
It's a automatic machine, or is it one where you're going to get dirty with? Get a little granules everywhere? One of those Italian ones.
Morgan Page:
I want one that doesn't break down. Here, maintenance is an issue with those things. It's like old analogue gear. But I have a robo pour-over right now. I have a thing called the Ratio. Those are awesome, but I want the equivalent of that for espresso would be really nice.
Chris Barker:
Nice, robo pour. I need to look this up.
Morgan Page:
It's called-
Will Betts:
Yeah. Can you talk us through that, what is that?
Morgan Page:
You can do... Ratio coffee, so it does a pour-over but it's all automated.
Will Betts:
Huh. So it's like the Teasmade.
Morgan Page:
It is kind of funny because it's like of course, you could just get a Coffee Mate, a Mr. Coffee, or something.
Chris Barker:
I'm looking at a review here on Bloomberg that says, "Is a Ratio Eight $408 coffee maker worth it? Answer, "Nope."
Morgan Page:
They're harsh reviews.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. Harsh.
Will Betts:
Brutal.
Chris Barker:
Hang on. This $25,000 robot wants to put your Starbucks barista out of business. Hmm?
Morgan Page:
The Cafe X. That's what I would do. I'll get a Cafe X machine. Actually, no, those guys, they-
Will Betts:
Do you know what we're having to do here?
Recorded voice:
(singing).
Chris Barker:
We've up sold some dreams.
Will Betts:
Up sold the dream.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. You thought you wanted this, and now you've got the Cafe X machine. Cafe X coffee machine. We don't know this.
Will Betts:
What is it?
Chris Barker:
So tell us about it.
Morgan Page:
It's a mini cafe that works with robotic arms that are usually used for a car assembly.
Chris Barker:
Yes. Yes. Hang on, one more time.
Recorded voice:
(singing).
Chris Barker:
Perfect. Continue, this sounds incredible.
Will Betts:
Carry on.
Morgan Page:
The arm, it waves to you... It makes your coffee then it waves to you, and then it texts you when your coffee's ready.
Chris Barker:
Oh my gosh. It's like a friend as well.
Will Betts:
Oh, wow.
Morgan Page:
Yeah. It's essential. I mean, everyone needs this in their house.
Chris Barker:
If you google Cafe X and automated barista, you will get a video on YouTube of this, listeners. Yeah, and that's just one robotic arm. But you could have a two handed friend couldn't you? I mean, coffee machine. Brilliant.
Chris Barker:
That is nuts. That's so cool. You could get it to set up mics for you and do all sorts. It could be your in-house engineer as well.
Will Betts:
It could be your assistant.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Lovely stuff.
Will Betts:
Wow.
Morgan Page:
It'll be good for airports. I think that's really what they're aiming at, because the Starbucks lines are just... People screw up your orders and you're waiting an hour for coffee. But if I could have it here in the studio, why not?
Chris Barker:
Why not indeed.
Will Betts:
Why the hell not?
Chris Barker:
Yes.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Do you want to give us a rundown, Will, of the full lot?
Will Betts:
Okay. We have the Topanga Canyon studio running an Apple Mac Pro with Ableton, Universal Audio Apollo x8p, the Focal Trio 11 Bes, a Moog One, a U 47, a Neumann U 47, Neve 1073, a custom made hardware spring reverb, Kilohearts Phase Plant, and the Cafe X robotic arm coffee maker.
Chris Barker:
Yes.
Morgan Page:
Naturally.
Chris Barker:
That sounds pretty good, man.
Morgan Page:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Actually it's pretty good. I was a bit panicky at first when you had a lot of mics and pres and not many sounds.
Will Betts:
Not many robot arms.
Chris Barker:
Not many... Yeah. I was panicking until you got the robot. It feels like the...
Morgan Page:
It starts humble then gets ridiculous.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Nice, nice.
Chris Barker:
Here we are, Morgan Page. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Morgan Page:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Will Betts:
Thanks for listening to MusicTech and My Forever Studio. That's all for season one, but we'll be back with more later in the year. In the meantime, you can listen to all the previous episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and musictech.net, where you'll also find loads of other interviews, tutorials, and news.
Will Betts:
If you liked the show, give us a rating, and if there's someone you specifically want us to have on as a guest, let us know on the MusicTech, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
Will Betts:
Both Chris and I will catch you soon for season two. Subscribe now to be notified of our return, but until then, take care of yourself.