We kick off Season 2 with technical producer and self-professed gear geek Ørjan Nilsen who joins us from his studio on the edge of the Arctic Circle. Listen for tales of vintage keyboards lost, a tough decision about soft synths and learn how travel restrictions are affecting his music.
Chris Barker:
Hi, I'm Chris Barker.
Will Betts:
And I'm Will Betts. And you're listening to the MusicTech, My Forever Studio podcast.
Chris Barker:
In this podcast, we speak with artists, DJs, producers, and industry figureheads about their fantasy Forever Studio.
Will Betts:
This will be a studio built within the confines of our strictest rules and one that they'll have to live with forever.
Chris Barker:
So what are these rules? Well, our guest can choose a computer, a DAW, and an audio interface. Then they can only choose six other bits of studio kit plus one luxury item.
Will Betts:
But Chris, what if they want to have a package of products, say, I don't know, plugins?
Chris Barker:
No, no, no bundles.
Will Betts:
No bundles.
Chris Barker:
Joining us today is Norwegian producer, Ørjan Nilsen, an international DJ and producer who has been releasing records on some of the biggest dance labels for over 15 years. Whilst his current day-to-day production is based around software, his previous studio setup was included hardware sense and more. So what gear will make the cut in his Forever Studio?
Will Betts:
Let's find out. This is My Forever Studio with Ørjan Nilsen.
Chris Barker:
Welcome. Thank you for joining us.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Thank you guys for having me.
Chris Barker:
So you've heard a few of the rules there?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yes.
Chris Barker:
Got some rules a bit further down in the podcast once you start selecting your six items. But I mean, the first thing we like to talk about is if you could put a studio anywhere in the world, where would you have it and why? What would be your fantasy dream studio? I mean, we've had people that have it on boats and have it wherever so the sky's the limit.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Well, I'm a huge Star Wars buff. So I would love to have a studio wherever, it doesn't matter where it is, but it needs to look like the Millennium Falcon, so.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Ørjan Nilsen:
That's what I really want. That would be so cool, just to sit there and have the control panels and everything, and you can just see going into hyper speed at one point when your climax, boom, drops off.
Chris Barker:
So Martin Volwerk has kind of done that already for you.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, basically.
Chris Barker:
So you basically want to steal his studio. That's allowed too, we've had lots of people stealing studios, so.
Will Betts:
But he's got the Death Star, remember. He's on the wrong team there.
Ørjan Nilsen:
You see, I'm on the right team and plus, you can't beat the Millennium Falcon.
Chris Barker:
Okay. But you wouldn't care where the location was? I mean, you're quite near the Arctic circle up there, aren't you?
Ørjan Nilsen:
I mean, I guess if you live up here anywhere is an improvement, especially during the winter time, but I've always been that kind of guy who... I'm a proper geek and nerd, so I'm more of what's inside of a place and not what's outside, which I probably live in the wrong place because it's all about nature up here. And I've become this enclosed kind of person in my own little world.
Chris Barker:
So maybe stay where you are, but it will be the Millennium Falcon studio?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yes, definitely.
Chris Barker:
All right. Okay. So the next question is Mac or PC?
Ørjan Nilsen:
See, now that's a hard one. I've always been on a PC. I've always been on a PC just because back the days it was just, I didn't know Logic. I started on Cubase. I don't know, but I think nowadays, just because I am becoming a proper geek, so I'm learning all the doors, then I need Logic. And for Logic, you need Mac. So I'm probably going to say Mac.
Chris Barker:
Okay. I mean, we did hear off one of our guests last season that if you're using Cubase, which I guess you are, that PC is the one to be on with Cubase because Hans Zimmer uses Cubase and he's always on the phone to Steinberg to get them to fix stuff. So apparently be on a PC if you're using Cubase.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I've heard the same thing. And to be fair though, I have used Cubase. I have a Mac book and I have a PC and it's not that much difference, if you know what I mean. I do agree with the fact that Cubase has been running like clockwork for me on the PC. Maybe they're right.
Will Betts:
So how come you need to be on all these different platforms then?
Ørjan Nilsen:
It's sort of to challenge myself. And also, if I ever come into a position where I'm sitting with different people in a studio doing colabs and stuff, I don't want to be the useless guy pointing, "Do that, do that, do this." I want to be hands-on. I always have been hands-on. So if I don't know at least the basics of the stuff that I know in Cubase on other doors and it feels wrong, if you know what I mean.
Will Betts:
Yeah. Yeah. Hang on. You got to pick one though.
Chris Barker:
I was going to say you only get to choose one door. So this is kind of a killer question.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, okay. Then I'll revise my answer and go to PC then.
Chris Barker:
So you're going PC and Cubase, I guess?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yes, definitely.
Chris Barker:
Okay. And then the final free item, before we start going on your list is audio interface. Which audio interface? And don't forget, this is dream fantasy studio. This isn't about what you've got now. So you can have whatever. This whole thing is, whatever. The sky's the limit.
Ørjan Nilsen:
The biggest Universal Audio, I think, I'm pretty sure. What is it, 16?
Will Betts:
The X 16. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:04:55]. The X 16 is the big one. Yeah.
Ørjan Nilsen:
The X 16. Yeah. That's the one I want. That's the one I want. Definitely.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
No, no bundles. No bundles.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Damn it.
Will Betts:
This is going to see you wrong because we do have the strict, no bundle policy. So you can't take all of those plugins with you.
Chris Barker:
Well, they come with some though, don't they?
Will Betts:
Some. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Not as a bundle, but they come with some, so you're good.
Will Betts:
You're okay.
Chris Barker:
So we've got a PC. We're on the Millennium Falcon, we're running Cubase with the... Apart from the Millennium Falcon, it's all pretty doable so far. It's not too crazy.
Ørjan Nilsen:
What do you mean besides the Millennium Falcon? I'm pretty sure there's an engineer out there who can help me.
Chris Barker:
He's got a lot of hair. Okay, fine. Fine. So here we go with item number one. So you've only got six bits of other studio gear or software. Now that's plugins, hardware, no bundles. And you're going to need some monitors as well or some headphones. So item number one, what do you think it would be if you only had six items?
Ørjan Nilsen:
And that's including speakers and everything?
Will Betts:
Oh yeah. I mean, two speakers count as one item.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Okay. You need them in pairs. This is my dream studio, but you know what? I'm still loving my Monkey Bananas.
Will Betts:
Those sort of crazy hexagonal speakers.
Chris Barker:
I remember seeing those at Music Messer.
Ørjan Nilsen:
They're amazing. They can handle so, so much pain because I tend to go into overdrive after a bottle of red wine in the studio, and they just handle it. You can't see them. No, they're just perfect. And they're still as loud as ever. There's no muffling or any ruined membranes on... None of the parts are ruined.
Chris Barker:
And are they the top model that they do? You wouldn't go bigger or they are there already-
Ørjan Nilsen:
These are the top model. This is the Turbo 8s and the subwoofer. So yeah.
Chris Barker:
Okay. So, so far, again, apart from the Millennium Falcon aspect, you're just describing your studio. Okay. So we'll move across from the... So how did you even discover the Monkey Bananas?
Ørjan Nilsen:
That's the thing though. I was talking to this guy, he's a Norwegian distributor and he was also the distributor for Adam and Eve monitors. And he told me about these guys from Monkey Banana who apparently left Adam, because they wanted to make a different sounding type of monitors. And he told me, "If you listen to these with the music you're making, these are perfect." And I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb. I'm going to trust you," and I got them. And because I had the Adam speakers before, the small ones, I think it was seven or something.
Chris Barker:
7Xs. Yeah. A7X.
Ørjan Nilsen:
And then all of a sudden he's just sent me these and they were worlds apart and it just fit perfectly for me because I love it when I can get a club feeling, but also when I take the volume down, you can hear every aspect of the track and these just gave me that so. They can play loud and you can barely hear any details and you can just turn it down and you can hear every single detail.
Chris Barker:
So you were fully sold to speakers then in terms of somebody... It was a full sales pitch and it worked. That's good.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah. And he sent them to me for free to check them out, [crosstalk 00:08:20] and I sort of became this is a proud sponsor of them for a while. And I was just sold on them. The only ones I've heard reassembling the kind of sound that I want is the new Adams, I think. It's the eight ones. They're kind of cool. They have the same thing. I haven't checked the subwoofer yet, but yeah. So maybe I would try those, the new eights from Adam and their 12 in subwoofer. That would be kind of cool, I think.
Chris Barker:
Do the Monkey Bananas have ribbon tweeters or the kind of coil tweeters? Or are they normal tweeters?
Ørjan Nilsen:
They have the round ones.
Chris Barker:
The circular ones?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, the circular ones.
Chris Barker:
So they're different tweeters to Adams, then?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, they're totally different tweeters, like the ones on the Adams, they had a very nice little sound to them, but I felt them lacking in some certain middle areas and especially the low ones, for me, at least.
Chris Barker:
Well, it's the first, it's the debut of the Monkey Bananas. I love saying the name, Monkey Banana speakers on the podcast.
Will Betts:
But are you sticking with the Monkey Bananas, or are you going to the Adams though?
Ørjan Nilsen:
A Forever Studio?
Will Betts:
For your Forever Studio.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Well, that's the thing. I think My Forever Studio needs to have a sound that I'm very comfortable with and the Monkey Bananas does have the sound that I'm comfortable with. So even you can show me speakers that's worth like $50,000 or something like that. If I don't like the sound, I'll be like, "No."
Chris Barker:
Yeah. And it is forever.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
Flying through space forever.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I should have chosen a cabin in the woods or something.
Chris Barker:
Right. So moving on, that's one item down. Item number two.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, let's see now. Well, obviously you will... I don't have to bring up monitors, like screens and stuff, right? Of do I have-
Chris Barker:
No. No, no, no.
Will Betts:
That's all included in the computer. Furniture and all of that, don't worry about that.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Okay, perfect. Well, definitely if I'm going to go with the first three synths that I use all the time, Sylenth, I don't care what people say. I love Sylenth.
Chris Barker:
So item number two is Sylenth? Item number two is Sylenth? Okay.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
So tell us about Sylenth, when you discovered it and what makes it a must-have in the Forever Studio?
Ørjan Nilsen:
I think it was a [inaudible 00:10:40], the guy from Intuition Recordings back in the days, he told me about Sylenth and that I should check it out because I wasn't too into it. Let's face it, I was all alone up here. So when I first started talking to real producers and stuff, they showed me a lot of stuff and they told me, "You have to get this Sylenth thing, it's not that expensive. It's very good. And it just has all the sounds you need." I'm trying to figure out when that was. It's many, many years ago now. And this was, I think, during a time where they just treated Sylenth... There was a project for students or something, the guy who made it. And it just blew me away because I remember it felt like a proper hardware-
Chris Barker:
Was it emulating Virus? I mean, you had a Virus, right?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yes, I have the Virus still. It was emulating Virus and a little bit of a JPA 1000.
Will Betts:
So all the Supersaw kind of stuff?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Exactly. And because of the pitch modulation on it, they also had the same kind of click that the Clavias was so known for. So basically you had these three monsters in one. Of course, there was a bit of a difference because it was all digital. It was not none of the so-called virtual analogue kind of stuff, but it just blew my mind.
Will Betts:
So it literally changed the way you made music after getting that plugin? That's kind of a-
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, without a doubt. I can already tell you that 90% of the bases that I have in my tracks comes from Sylenth still.
Will Betts:
Wow. Even the latest release?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Instinct, yes. Instinct, the sub-base is Sylenth. If I'm not mistaken, the layers of it, there's two layers of base on Instinct, and I'm pretty sure it's Serum inspired.
Chris Barker:
Okay. So does that move us onto item number three? Is it going to be another software synth?
Ørjan Nilsen:
It is. It's going to be Serum. Definitely, combining those two are absolutely... It has to be there. I don't know what it is. It's two different kinds of synths. Your one that is more analogue and that sounds a bit more analogue, and the other one, who's just technically a rompler. So Serum is completely... Of course, Sylenth is as well, but it's a different kind of engine in those two. So Sylenth is more your standard virtual analogue feel, and you have Serum, which you can do almost whatever you want to, modulation wise. So I mean, Xfer really nailed that one.
Will Betts:
For you, that's where the power is in Serum, then it's in the modulation?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yes, basically, because I think I actually did that for the tutorial as well. I can basically go into Serum and I make a mid to high base kind of thing that sounds like three different basis, but it's just one sound, thanks to the modulation.
Chris Barker:
So all I'm going to say is this is your fantasy dream, no holds bar studio. And you're going for stuff that... are you not tempted by a big vintage synth?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, I'm getting there.
Chris Barker:
Okay. All right. Okay. I'm backing off.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Don't jump the gun.
Chris Barker:
I'm backing off.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I thought that would be my luxury thing, but because it's... But yeah.
Chris Barker:
Well, your luxury item is actually meant to be a non-studio related item, but we'll get to that when we get to it. So far we've got some monitors, we've got Sylenth and we've got Serum. And so that's three down. Item number four.
Ørjan Nilsen:
You're making this hard. Okay. If I really can choose from whatever I want, Jupiter 8.
Chris Barker:
Yes. There we go. Dreams have been sold.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Do you want me to hear how my dream got crushed a few years back?
Chris Barker:
Yes, we do.
Ørjan Nilsen:
So there's this guy and not too far from my city, actually. He wanted to sell some synths or keyboards as he called them on this local selling spot thing, Marketplace. And he had a Juno 106 and he had a Jupiter 8.
Will Betts:
Very nice.
Ørjan Nilsen:
That his brother, apparently they used to have, and he wanted to sell them for 50 quid a pop.
Chris Barker:
What?
Will Betts:
Is this a scam? Is it going to be a scam?
Chris Barker:
Something's up with that.
Ørjan Nilsen:
No, no, no, no. That's the thing. I saw them. So it was fine. And he's like, he knows they're worth more, but he just can't have them in the house. And I was fine. And I wanted to buy them and then apparently when they were supposed to transport them, they were on top of something else because they sold away a lot of stuff. And both the synths fell down into the snow. It was -30 and they both cracked.
Will Betts:
Oh my God.
Chris Barker:
That's tragic.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I even got a picture of that. Apparently they broke a table and a couple of shelves too, but who cares? I mean, the Jupiter and the Juno, both dead.
Will Betts:
That's probably one of the saddest stories we've ever had on the podcast.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, I shed a tear. I can tell you that.
Will Betts:
Now you have the chance in your Forever Studio. So you're going for the Jupiter 8. So have you ever played one? Have you ever had one, have you ever rented one or loaned one?
Ørjan Nilsen:
I've been lucky enough to try it once. And even though, of course I have the software versions of them, it's not the same. Just the wild behaviour of the analogue filters are insane. I just love that. You have no control. You think you have control, but then all of a sudden you don't. It's pretty cool. So yeah. No, definitely my dream synth. I want that.
Chris Barker:
You've got it.
Will Betts:
It's on the list. Out of interest, have you heard about this Soundforce Jupiter 8 midi controller? It's got all the controls-
Ørjan Nilsen:
No.
Will Betts:
And it plugs into Arturia V collection and it also plugs into the Roland cloud stuff. So you've basically got all of the hardware controls. This is quite cool. Obviously it's not necessarily going to be dream territory, but for a lot of people, it might be an interesting way-
Ørjan Nilsen:
But it is as close as.
Will Betts:
Yeah, exactly, in the real world. But yeah, just an aside.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Actually not a bad idea if I can't find one, but I'm still on the lookout for one.
Chris Barker:
Well, I'll let you know if one comes up on our journey through music nerd land and send you some links.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Please do.
Chris Barker:
They come up occasional. Great investment as well. You've said that you're in the Arctic circle. Whereabouts are you exactly?
Ørjan Nilsen:
I'm not just above the Arctic circle. I'm basically what you would call the end of the world. I'm the last mainland before the North Pole.
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Ørjan Nilsen:
The logistics might be a little bit challenging at times.
Chris Barker:
But it looks beautiful though, like you say.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I can already tell you, coming home from a tour and coming up here is bliss. It's home and it's quiet and it's beautiful. And it's home.
Will Betts:
How much does the environment influence your music? Do you think that it has an impact at all?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, a lot. Definitely. I can see myself every single time, maybe in January after Christmas and stuff, I have so many impressions. We also have the thing up here, right now we don't get darkness. The sun doesn't go under the horizon. It just goes... If you have the horizon here, you have the sun here it comes to about... no, let's go there. So that's what it does.
Will Betts:
So it just skims the horizon and then it's day again?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, back up again.
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Technically we have a 24 hour party and you won't even feel tired. I know, I've tried.
Chris Barker:
I've been to one of those in Finland, in Ilosaari in Finland, and the sun only set for 20 minutes or something like that. And yeah, it was crazy. Crazy. So if that location influences you so much, what's your music going to sound like when you're on the Millennium Falcon flying through space?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Probably what crashed work would sound like in 2020. I'm not sure.
Will Betts:
Nice.
Chris Barker:
That's good. I think it's going to work. The Jupiter 8 suits the Millennium Falcon vibes as well.
Ørjan Nilsen:
It does, doesn't it?
Will Betts:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ørjan Nilsen:
It has all the nice knobs and everything. So yeah.
Chris Barker:
So what's that? We've got two more items left.
Will Betts:
We have four down.
Chris Barker:
So item number five, this is where it starts getting difficult as you get towards the end. And you'll probably start changing your mind on earlier items, we find. So what do you think?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, this is really difficult because there's so many things I would want and use.
Chris Barker:
You've only got Cubase's built in EQs and compressors and all of that.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Okay. So I probably would have to go FabFilter now, probably.
Will Betts:
But you have one, no bundles, remember. No bundles.
Chris Barker:
No bundles.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, this is torment. Yeah. But I do need an EQ that never fails me. And that would be the FabFilter Q3.
Chris Barker:
So what did you use before the Q3 and what changed when you got it? Do you remember what you used?
Ørjan Nilsen:
I didn't use a lot of the stock ones from Cubase. I did. They worked in many ways. I think the one that I used the most, the API, probably. That's the one I used the most before, but for some reason I just think that also the side and wide EQ-ing of FabFilter is a lot better. I love the fact you can actually just enhance stereo on a normal sound just with the EQ. So I changed that and like I said, I've always used a lot of the stock ones. It's just because they were good. I mean, they worked. They did what I wanted them to do, so I never felt like I needed a super third-party and stuff like that, but yeah, the FabFilter Q, definitely. Yeah. Q3.
Will Betts:
And can you tell us a little bit about how you're doing that with the side information? What do you do with pro Q3 that feeds into your sound?
Ørjan Nilsen:
First of all, one thing that I think that Q3 does well is the fact that they can show you peak points. You can see, for example, in a vocal, you have a vocal and you see, okay, at that spot, you could hear something, you go there and you see exactly what frequency that actually stands out and makes it harsh to your ears. I go there and I just take a bell thing and I just take it down.
Ørjan Nilsen:
And I can see, okay, maybe this lead sound it, it's all in the middle, but it doesn't sound big enough. So I'll try to increase, let's say from 1500 to 3000 hertz, I try to increase a little bit on the side to make it sound a little bit more massive on that lead. Maybe I'll just put the EQ in the chain so that it EQs reverb and delay. So the reverb and delay gets wider.
Will Betts:
Cool.
Chris Barker:
Nice. I guess it's one thing that's sort of the big arena sounds that you make and the big festival sound and the big club sound, it's the thing that all producers at your level are chasing is that kind of how do you get it to slam, but also be super wide and fill the room?
Ørjan Nilsen:
I have this philosophy that an image of the sound is supposed to be like a fan. It's supposed to go out and it's supposed to go out in a way so it works. If you have everything put in there like crinkles and stuff, something is wrong, so you need to stretch it out. And I use the spectrum analyzer to double check that if everything... It goes around, it's sort of like this little square thingy that goes there, and you can just see how much it feels around, underneath, on top, on the sides. And usually I want it to have this nice little circle going around, so I know that everything is filled up.
Will Betts:
Okay. So that's your goal then to, when you look at the spectrum analyzer, the goniometer, then you basically filled up all of the frequencies in it. Is that the plan?
Ørjan Nilsen:
No, it's not just to fill it up just to make it like a big thing. It's to see how it works together. Because it has this vibrant thing, so you can see how it goes from in the beginning. It's a little bit more there. And then when it comes to a full top, it just goes, boom, on the side.
Will Betts:
Much wider. Yeah. Right. Okay. Awesome. Right. One more. You've got one more gear choice left, Ørjan.
Chris Barker:
And this is forever.
Ørjan Nilsen:
There's so many things. See, that's the problem, there's so many things.
Chris Barker:
He says with head in his hands. Tell us what are in the list. And then we'll narrow it down so people can find out a bit more about what you need.
Ørjan Nilsen:
To be fair, Cubase have all the samplers and stuff. I'm trying to deduct the things that Cubase has good enough that I don't have to get. I need a reverb, but I'm not sure which reverb, probably something from Valhalla. Suitable since I'm Norwegian.
Chris Barker:
A Viking reverb. That's good.
Ørjan Nilsen:
And I couldn't have the bundle, which annoys me.
Chris Barker:
No bundles. No bundles, that's one of the rules. This podcast would be far too easy if we were allowed to bundle. So which Valhalla? I mean, did you have one you use regularly? Because I mean, reverb is one of those things where there's a million choices of reverbs and there's lots of good... I mean, even the Cubase ones again are pretty good.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, they are. But they still lacked a little bit of edge that Valhalla has. I love VintageVerb. I use VintageVerb and Shimmer quite a lot. I use those two. Shimmer I mostly use on synths, basically just to add this a wider effect sometimes. It's like using that all the time, it might just... I don't know. It just fills it up too much and it becomes a bit too noisy, I think. But having it as a set and just using it sometimes it's really cool.
Chris Barker:
So which one is it going to be?
Ørjan Nilsen:
It has to be VintageVerb because overall it's better. It's more easy to modulate than Shimmer.
Chris Barker:
Do you find yourself mainly using DSP reverbs rather than convolution reverbs, rather than modelling actual spaces?
Ørjan Nilsen:
To be fair though, I had the Ether. You know that one?
Chris Barker:
No.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Back in the days it was the reverb to have. You had the ArtsAcoustic and you had this one, Ether. And that one is basically where you [inaudible 00:24:38] space. And I think it's cool, yes, but it wasn't really necessary for my line of work. So I ended up having something where, as long as I can EQ the damping and the reverb itself, it's cool. Then I understand how I want it and how to get it. But building spaces, like you have in Ether, that's... Yeah. I mean, it's cool. But then again, this is My Forever Studio and I need...
Chris Barker:
You need your Valhalla.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah. I need a Valhalla.
Chris Barker:
So we raced through that pretty quickly. So Will, give us a bit of a rundown of where we're at with the list so far, and then you might change your mind when you hear it. You might change your mind when you hear the list.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Most likely.
Will Betts:
Okay. We are on the Millennium Falcon with a PC in the cockpit, running Cubase, with Universal Audio, Apollo X 16. You have a pair of Monkey Banana. Now remind me, what's the name of the Monkey Banana whats?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Turbo 8s and the subwoofer.
Will Betts:
Turbo 8s, excellent. Then our digital Sylenth, Xfer Records' Serum. Roland Jupiter 8, beautiful choice. The FabFilter Pro Q3, and Valhalla VintageVerb.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I know the last two aren't really that spicy or cool, but they're still awesome. I'm still thinking about maybe exchanging either Serum or Sylenth with Omnisphere 2.
Will Betts:
Curveball.
Chris Barker:
Very different. But yeah.
Ørjan Nilsen:
That's why. That's why, because it's so different. Serum is different from some of the stuff. I probably would go with Sylenth and Omnisphere 2 then.
Chris Barker:
So we're getting rid of Serum. We're changing Serum? Okay.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Which I still love, but just for the sake of diversity.
Will Betts:
Yep. That makes sense.
Chris Barker:
I mean, that's a pretty nice list. And it's interesting that the Millennium Falcon runs on a PC.
Will Betts:
It runs on Windows.
Chris Barker:
It's Windows-based. Who would have thought?
Will Betts:
You don't want the blue screen of death when you're in hyperspace, do you?
Chris Barker:
But then again, if it was Mac based it would be a nightmare to charge it from galaxy to galaxy, because it would be a different adapter. So it swings in roundabouts, what your power the Millennium Falcon with, isn't it? There's always a compromise.
Chris Barker:
So as we move on to the final. So this is a luxury item. So you don't have to break up your friends and family here. You're not on your own. Pets, they're all allowed. It's more like something that you might have always had in your studio that could be, I don't know. We've had everything from slush puppy machines to fancy chairs or all sorts of stuff. So whatever you think would be your ultimate luxury item on that Millennium Falcon. I mean, Millennium Falcon is pretty kitted out already.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah. How about a wine cellar? I'm a huge wine buff.
Chris Barker:
There you go. Let's talk about that. A wine cellar on the Millennium Falcon.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah. See, this is going somewhere now.
Chris Barker:
This is it.
Will Betts:
Wow.
Chris Barker:
Send Chewie down to choose a lovely red. "The Châteauneuf-du-Pape, please Chewie."
Ørjan Nilsen:
I mean, why wouldn't you want that on Millennium Falcon? I mean, it has a nice seating area. So, I mean...
Chris Barker:
Do the wines age as you go through space time, do they age faster?
Will Betts:
No, slower.
Ørjan Nilsen:
It's slower. Yes.
Chris Barker:
That's annoying, isn't it as an investment?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Actually. No, it's cool because you're going to buy some really nicely aged wine and they will stay fresh forever.
Chris Barker:
Okay. All right. And so red wine, white wine, any preference?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Well, I am a red wine kind of guy and I'm a huge fan of Italian red wine.
Chris Barker:
Chianti or...
Ørjan Nilsen:
No. For me, it's Amarone. Tommasi Amarone, that's my favourite. [inaudible 00:28:46] Tommasi, they can do no wrong.
Chris Barker:
So I know you're a very successful guy, Ørjan, but let's be honest. It's not cheap in Norway for alcohol, is it?
Ørjan Nilsen:
That's why I love duty-free.
Chris Barker:
I was going to say, the travelling DJ. That must be a real treat for you, because I've been to Norway and it was a shock for the Englishman.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Everything is expensive here.
Chris Barker:
Yes, that's true.
Ørjan Nilsen:
But yeah. Alcohol, especially. Yes. They add taxes on it. I don't know.
Chris Barker:
So be honest. Have you ever taken a gig in Italy that you didn't want to do? Just so you could get some wine?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Well, if they asked, I would.
Chris Barker:
That's fair. That's fair. So a wine cellar is a luxury item. That's fantastic. Tell us a bit about though, before we end, how's lockdown and this coronavirus been treating you because we're doing this remotely. We usually do these podcasts in person, but it's a change of pace for series two. So what have you been up to?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Well, where I'm sitting right now is in my studio and this is where I spend probably 90% of my time. There's a lot of things coming and stuff. And to be fair, I think every producer in the world considers this, like, "What? What do you mean lockdown?" I think that's the reaction we all have. It's just like, "What?" I love this, this sitting in the studio. What I do miss is just going on the road, seeing people, being at parties and stuff like that.
Ørjan Nilsen:
At one point, like, because I travel a lot, I have for four past of these 10 years. And at first when this lockdown happened, it was just after a month, I felt like, you know what? This is actually good for me. I could feel myself coming a little bit more back to the world because I've been quite tired and all of a sudden I'm like, okay, this is not too bad. And then May came and I could see all the festivals getting cancelled and I could see everything happening. And I was like, okay, this is not good. And I think about three weeks ago, I had those shakes where I really wanted to just stand there on the decks and just play and to see the crowd because I had so many tracks. I really cannot wait for the world to come back to somewhat normal.
Chris Barker:
Do you think it's going to affect the music industry long-term in how it operates? I don't just mean people will lose money. I mean, do you think it could be an opportunity for different things?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Of course, it is. Well, every new reality is a new opportunity as well. And we have in your reality right now, and it's a very stream and computer, well, phone-based reality. And to be fair, I've seen a lot of people who probably prefer that. There are people who are sitting at home that don't like being around a lot of people, don't like being in clubs or festivals, that are really enjoying watching streams online and listening to new music and stuff like that. And to be fair, us DJs as well, we need to keep our A game up. When we're standing here, if we do like three streams a week, you can't do the same stream. You can't just keep playing the... So you have to switch it up, maybe even switch styles. So in many ways it opens up a lot of possibilities. I just really hope that people don't forget to have fun in real life too.
Will Betts:
Yes. But what's interesting about this is, you were saying about your playing out and doing the live streaming. Are you finding that the way that you write is changing because of having to address an audience that's primarily at home?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah. That's actually a very good point because I've just started on a track that is more back to my roots, which is just melodic, kind of progressive. It takes its time to get where it's going, it doesn't stress. And a year back, that would never be the issue. I would probably make a track that I knew was going to work really well at a festival for the people that I'm playing for. But now this track is just meant for people to listen to, all the little bits and bobs coming in after a while and just back to basics.
Chris Barker:
You can go more detailed and more intricate and more melodic rather than trying to push ideas home.
Ørjan Nilsen:
I've become more of a geek now than I've been in years just because of the fact that I'm home. I also have time to sit down and... Well, of course it might be a bit tedious, but when the end result becomes really good, because you're taking that extra hour to just do some fine polishing, then yeah. No, I think it's probably good for the music industry. I think we're going to get more high quality productions because of this.
Chris Barker:
So what's coming up for you? Let's finish this off, and where can people find out about you? Have you got loads of records stacked up then coming out?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, that's funny.
Chris Barker:
If only the listeners could have seen your face when you said that. He was like, "Yeah. A lot."
Ørjan Nilsen:
Yeah, there's a lot of things coming. And to be fair though, it's been sort of like a dream scenario for the first two months of lockdown where I could just sit down and just go nuts and also have time to listen to demos from other people like vocalists, especially. So there's going to be a lot of vocal tracks. There's going to be a lot of instrumental tracks and it's going to be colabs because now all us DJs are home. We actually have time to do stuff together, so that's cool. People have a lot to look forward to if they like my music. If they don't, then they're going to hate it. It's going to suck. It's going to be terrible.
Chris Barker:
Excellent. So, Will, do you want to run us down the final list of everything? Let's hear it back and see what your opinion is of the final Forever Studio.
Will Betts:
Okay. Cubase on a PC, on the Millennium Falcon with a UA Apollo X 16, listening on Monkey Banana turbo 8s, with Sylenth, Omnisphere 2, Roland Jupiter 8, FabFilter Pro Q3, Valhalla VintageVerb, and a wine cellar.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Isn't that the dream? I mean, come on.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I mean, you said you were going to find it difficult, but you raced through it. And I think that the wine cellar was... What a choice that is.
Will Betts:
Inspired.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Inspired. Well, all that's left to do is say thank you so much. And to everybody listening do check out all the new thousand records that are coming out soon, it sounds like.
Will Betts:
And where can people find more, Ørjan?
Ørjan Nilsen:
Oh, of me? Well, basically all my stuff is on Spotify, but if they go to my Instagram, @orjann82, then I'm going to post stories as soon as stuff comes out. I also do sneak previews there. I sometimes scare the hell out of my manager by just showing a tonne of records on Instagram stories. And he's like, "No, no. Too soon. What are you doing?"
Chris Barker:
Are you going to become like Prince where you've got this vault and nobody lets you release it because you've got too much stuff. And everybody goes, "we don't..."
Ørjan Nilsen:
I actually still have maybe four or five tracks that I haven't released yet, that was supposed to be released like two years ago. I make too much, I don't care if it's too much, it's too much. Fuck.
Chris Barker:
Maybe you are on the Millennium Falcon already and time is slowing down. Maybe that's what happening.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Well, I dot have a wine cabinet, but not cellar.
Chris Barker:
There you go. Right. Well, thank you so much for joining us on the My Forever Studio podcast.
Will Betts:
Thank you.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Thank you guys for having me.
Will Betts:
Thank you, Ørjan.
Ørjan Nilsen:
Love you guys.