Joshua Steele, better known as electronic producer Flux Pavilion, smashed onto the dubstep scene in 2010 with his ‘I Can't Stop’ anthem and has since continued to spearhead the genre in the UK and overseas with albums ‘Blow The Roof’ and ‘Tesla’. Now, with the time to experiment in the studio, his sound has evolved. This new stage of the journey has produced the “crowning achievement” of his career. We talk modular synths, building guitar pedals and why he's only now ready to upgrade to some really serious speakers.
Chris Barker:
I'm Chris Barker.
Will Betts:
And I'm Will Betts, and this is the MusicTech, My Forever Studio podcast.
Chris Barker:
In this podcast we speak with producers, DJs, audio engineers, and industry figure heads about their fantasy Forever Studio.
Will Betts:
The studio will have to be created within the confines of our completely non-arbitrary rules, and importantly, it's a studio our guests will have to live with forever.
Chris Barker:
That's right. Our guests can select 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 a selection of plugins combined into, say, a single package?
Chris Barker:
No.
Speaker 3:
No bundles.
Chris Barker:
No bundles.
Will Betts:
Joining us today is Joshua Steele, better known to the world as Flux Pavilion. Quickly rising to the top of the dubstep scene in 2010 with remixes like Cracked by Freestylers and his own tracks like Face Cannon, he's been an impressive force. Since then, he's collaborated with Childish Gambino and remixed Skrillex, MIA and loads more.
Chris Barker:
Not only is Joshua a producer though, he's also a singer/songwriter and owner of Circus Records. Oh, and he's a multi-instrumentalist too.
Chris Barker:
Even more impressively, he's been sampled by Kanye West, Jay Z, and has even been asked to remix the Star Wars theme.
Will Betts:
I cannot wait to hear what his picks are for his imaginary recording space. This is My Forever Studio, with Flux Pavilion.
Chris Barker:
Welcome.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
All right, I didn't know it was no bundles.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, no bundles. Press it Will.
Will Betts:
Oh, no. Do we need to?
Speaker 3:
No bundles.
Chris Barker:
No bundles, yeah.
Will Betts:
It's our rule number one.
Chris Barker:
We put that rule in for the no bundles because it's an easy get out, isn't it? Especially with a software-based studio.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Well I was assuming that software was a given...
Chris Barker:
No. Nothing is a given in My Favourite Studio.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Oh dear.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It was quite irritating to be imagining a perfect studio. It was like, "Oh yeah, I could have a live room with a wicked piano in it. Oh no, but I've got no microphones."
Chris Barker:
You could just have it for your own piece of mind.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
That's what my wife said. She was like, "Oh, just for art's sake." And I was like, "That's not the point of the studio."
Chris Barker:
Art [inaudible 00:02:03].
Chris Barker:
Well, first up let's talk a little bit about you and a little bit about what would make your perfect studio in terms of the location. That's usually how we start the podcast. Before we get to the six items, where would you have your studio in the world if you could? I mean, you must have travelled loads as a DJ and professionally. Where would you have it?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Probably New Zealand.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Why New Zealand?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It seems like the least broken place in the world.
Chris Barker:
Would you have chosen New Zealand before the pandemic?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yes. My wife's from there. We go visit there every year, and I spend quite a lot of time out there. And it's just... Yeah, the main thing I was thinking of is I really like fishing. It's my main hobby at the moment.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Somewhere where I can have access to private fishing. And there's less people in New Zealand, so I'll be able to get better spots basically. That was all I could really think of for my studio. In New Zealand, by the sea and a trout lake, so I can fish a lot, which-
Chris Barker:
I mean, that sounds pretty good.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. It feels un-inventive, because it's like it could be on Mars or something. But I do like fishing.
Chris Barker:
Is there a trout lake on Mars? That's news to me. Trout lake on Mars would be a science-like... That would be a big story for science news.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Well, they found water.
Chris Barker:
That's true, yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
But they've yet to find trout. But never say never.
Chris Barker:
Let's all focus on the word, "Yet."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Martian trout. That's the ultimate fishing win, isn't it?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. That is, that's the trophy that we're all looking for.
Chris Barker:
Just holding the Martian trout on a magazine.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Well into it.
Chris Barker:
And what's the kind of vibe in the studio? How do you like things decorated? And are you a windows guy, a not windows guy, in terms of do you like to see the view? Do you keep like a bunker?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I have a bunker at the moment, and it's filled with plastic plants. And I quite like that vibe, the sort of the forest, or jungle, type atmosphere is quite cool. I think I would like a window, but I am in an industrial estate in East London. It doesn't really feel like it's going to bring much-
Chris Barker:
But for New Zealand?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
But for New Zealand, yeah. Maybe a window would be nice. It might distract me though. Not too sure. Yeah, I don't really have much of a...
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
With such a small studio, I'm imagining this is just a box, because I don't really have much equipment that can go in there.
Chris Barker:
But it is the forever fantasy studio. I mean, we can...
Speaker 5:
(singing)
Will Betts:
You can have whatever you want.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
All right, I'll have a window, which having a studio in London is the dream. That's like, "What? You've got a studio, but all your equipment can fit in, and a window? Wild."
Will Betts:
You're playing safe because you're thinking, "Well, I'm in New Zealand already. I mean, this couldn't get any better." And the window seems like crazy excess to you right now.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I don't really have much of a... I could plan out the most elaborate studio. But-
Will Betts:
Do it. That's My Forever Studio.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No. But I need the equipment to go in it.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
That was where I kept getting stuck. I was just like, "Oh, yeah. I could have a synth room with one ... I can only have one synth." Kind of thing.
Will Betts:
Yeah. The synth room for you.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I feel like the wildness of the studio is limited by the six pieces of gear.
Chris Barker:
Right, fair.
Chris Barker:
We're in New Zealand. We've got a beautiful window and a beautiful view though.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
There's fish.
Chris Barker:
There's fish.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Local fish.
Chris Barker:
Local fish. Have you been fishing in New Zealand yet?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yes.
Chris Barker:
Is it nice?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I go with my father-in-law, and it's a pretty good time. I also go fishing in the UK. And anywhere you go, it's busy. There's always loads of people. And you can pretty much hear cars, unless you're going out into the lake district into the middle of nowhere, you can pretty much always hear cars.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I feel like the UK is so built up. But in New Zealand, you just end up in the middle of nowhere. And I think I quite like that, being absolutely in the middle of nowhere, away from everything. That's where my studio would be.
Chris Barker:
We've got the space. You have three free items of your studio, we give you a computer, an audio interface and DAW for free. So let's run through those. Mac or PC?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
PC.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Would be.
Chris Barker:
We have to talk about this because, as you can imagine, almost everybody else on the podcast says Mac.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Oh right, yeah. Really?
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Most people just go for the $80,000 Mac. What's the PC? Why a PC? What's the spec? What are you running?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I like PC because of the... I don't know, it's got a modular nature I guess. I really liked the ability to change things around.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And when people develop new interesting pieces of software, like say an oscilloscope that can turn images into sounds, they always do it on PC. And it's through programming language, and that's the kind of stuff that really interests me. So-
Chris Barker:
It's kind of open source, isn't it?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. That's the word. That's what I really like about PC. And in terms of spec, I'll just get the best that's possible.
Chris Barker:
The best of everything?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
The best of everything. I mean, that's generally what I do, build a new tower every two or three years. And I'd hope that there would be good enough technology where you can have a motherboard with Thunderbolt, because that's the biggest issue with PC is there's really low Thunderbolt capabilities. And most of the good sound cards all require Thunderbolt.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. It's a strange thing, isn't it that? I mean, I remember I've seen a Hewlett-Packard PC at NAM. And that's when I last went to NAM, so that must have been at least five years ago.
Chris Barker:
And they were like, "It's got Thunderbolt." And I don't think it ever came out. And it's like, "Why don't PC manufacturers have Thunderbolt?" I mean, even USBC, some PC manufacturers. So that's Thunderbolt 3, some PC manufacturers have it. But yet it doesn't support all of the same things that Mac support down that same lead, if that makes sense.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. It's an annoyance. But I think it's just they're a little bit behind basically. But I've managed to get it all working. It was really interesting with my, so my sound card pick will be Lynx Aurora.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And setting my PC up, I spent probably about an hour and a half on the phone, the helpline to Lynx. You know you see those numbers?
Chris Barker:
Yeah. You actually called it?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I actually called it. And it was just some guy in America.
Chris Barker:
Was he like, "Hello?" As in, "This phone's never rung phone..."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. It really felt like that. And we were just talking through the whole issue and he was helping me set up my motherboard, because I was just like, "It's not working."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
We have a PC as well, I would never buy a PC. I'd buy all the parts and sit down in my underwear and build it, because that's as a whole part of the process.
Chris Barker:
That's what I used to do. I've got this big tower down the left of me, I did the same thing. The modular nature of the PC is a blessing and a curse though, isn't it? Because you can do that, you find that like, "Oh, that FireWire card or that USB card..." Or whatever it might be you've selected is incompatible. It ruins the whole process. And you're like, "Okay."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. So I like that. Obviously I don't like it at the time, but there's something about the annoyance and having to solve the problems, like there's old to do mode... I don't know, with studio stream. And to get audio from my DAW to record and go out on the stream, I have to use this old Voxengo VST. But it was only 32 bit.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
So I had to get this piece of software that converts it to 64 bit, and then have it on a specific folder on my computer. And it's just this whole really laborious process of finally getting it to work, and it just feels really good. It's kind of like you actually have to sit down and be like, "Right. I need to understand how this programming language works, and how-
Chris Barker:
It's like an extra layer to your actual music. People don't even realise, they're like, "Oh, it's great music and it's cool because he's written it and he's played all the instruments." They don't even realise, and you built the computer and you did all of that as well.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I've programmed. I'm a massive nerd, I've been building my own synths over lockdown and I kind of have designed my own guitar pedal and have built that as well. Been checking out diodes. My main thing, I fit this guitar pedal that's basically a diode selection box where normally you get pedals and it's like, "Oh, it's got germanium diodes or silicon diodes."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I bought about 40 different types of diode, and I made a really simple Klon type set up, run my guitar through it and wrote down notes on the quality of each diode. And then I've made a selection box, which is eight diodes all asymmetrical clipping, so you can dial in the perfect diode for your needs.
Chris Barker:
That is very cool.
Will Betts:
Do you have a name for this thing yet?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Diodesis.
Will Betts:
Nice, very good.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I really like stuff like that.
Chris Barker:
DAW then. You've got the Lynx Aurora, you've got a PC. And the PC is mega spec, so it's infinite budget. We're just going to say it's a great PC.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And then Cubase.
Chris Barker:
What about the DAW?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Cubase, whatever the newest Cubase is.
Chris Barker:
10.5, is it? 11?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
But I mean in this scenario, maybe when I can finally move to New Zealand, it's on Cubase Pro 15 Studio or whatever they call it.
Chris Barker:
They tend to knock one out every September, don't they? Like a new update.
Will Betts:
We're on 11 now I think.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I mean 11, oh my God. I'm so far behind. I think I'm on 8.5 on my [crosstalk 00:12:22]-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I think I'm maybe on nine as well.
Chris Barker:
It doesn't take long. You blink, and then suddenly you're quite a few versions behind.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Cubase is the one. Other than outside of human beings, where my wife is my one true love, Cubase is my digital one true love. I absolutely love it. It's amazing.
Chris Barker:
Tell us about the Cubase relationship. When did you start on it? And did you try anything else? Have you wavered, have you flirted with other DAWs?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I've been messing around with oscilloscope stuff, making my own oscilloscope patches. Music that you can see. I've been doing that in Fruity Loops. And then I use Ableton for my live show as well.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I do have an understanding of other DAWs. But just Cubase is so solid and just has... I just think they've just done it better than everyone else. There's so many little bits and pieces in there that when I use another piece of software, I just can't find it. I can't work out how to do it.
Chris Barker:
Like what?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Like you can choose any piece of audio, and then in the top bar you can change the pitch of it. Kind of like, let's say I had a vocal sample, I could change it and move it three semitones up. Not like Ableton, basically you only have a few algorithms to choose from and it can be quite dodgy. Whereas the Cubase version, there's so many different algorithms. You can always get a really perfect time stretch.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And you can select a whole project and do that, and it does it in a second. And you can just retune stuff, and it's completely removed the need for me to use a sampler because I can pretty much chop and change pieces of audio around and retune stuff on the fly.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And it just does it so well, I'm surprised that no other software can really do that. Ableton can to a point, but it always feels like I get artefacts and dodgy-ness with it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I mean I found Studio One pretty good. But they're ex-Cubase guys as well, aren't they? [crosstalk 00:14:39]-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Studio One is one I haven't used.
Chris Barker:
I mean, it feels really natural to me as a Cubase user.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
There's another thing I use quite a lot, which is the virtual VST, I think they call it. Where basically you have ins and outs on your sound card, and you set up this kind of virtual VST where you set it up to go out of two outputs and take in from two inputs, so like an actual send.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Let's say I've got my Neve 33609, that will be on outs one and two, ins one and two, and I'll have that set up so I can just put it on the track like a VST. You don't have to bother with any rooting or anything. It just operates as a VST, like it would any other thing. And you can take it off and put it on another track and stuff like that.
Chris Barker:
I think it has all the latency and that kind of-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah, it does it all for you.
Chris Barker:
That's banging.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Which I haven't seen in another one. Studio One, maybe. I'm just basing it off FL studio and Ableton. They just have this quality to them, which I quite like for just messing around on. But in terms of actually setting a studio up, Cubase just feels like a really good brand.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I work on pro tools when I'm tracking vocals and stuff, just because that can be quite handy when you've recorded something 10 million times. But it just doesn't compare to Cubase.
Chris Barker:
Big love for the Cubase. Sorry, I'm well on board with this Will. Will's sat there silently with his logic hat on.
Will Betts:
No judgement , it's fine. It's just a tool, it's just a tool.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Everyone has their thing. And it's kind of like over all those years of messing around with different pieces of software, it makes me like Cubase more, which is an interesting thing.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Because no one really uses it, so sometimes it feels like they're the underdog. I want to represent the Cubase as much as I can, because every time I say I use Cubase people are like, "Oh, okay. I didn't know that was still going."
Chris Barker:
It's huge in the drum and bass community as well. I found a lot of drum bass guys use Cubase.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Like Nossier and Rob Swire from Pendulum two guys, and Nero, that when I was coming up as a producer, they were some of my favourite producers. And I'm like, "Well, they all use this, so I'm going to stick with it." And now it's just kind of like, I've gone too far now with Cubase. It's mine forever.
Chris Barker:
Item number one.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It seemed like monitors weren't a given?
Chris Barker:
No, they weren't given.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've chosen a pair, because I'm allowed to pair?
Chris Barker:
Yeah, a pair is fine.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Are you sure?
Chris Barker:
Just not a bundle. A pair is normal for monitors, yeah. We're not that brutal, that would be harsh.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
A pair of Kii Threes-
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Which I don't own because, they're very expensive. I've got Adams at mine, which are very lovely. But my friend Jon Feed Me just showed me his pair of Kii Threes. And I listened to a track that I just got mastered, and it's one of my favourite mixes that I've ever done. And then I just heard everything wrong with it, but not in a bad way. I was like, "This still sounds really good, but I can actually hear everything."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I didn't expect, I stepped from KRKs to Adams and I had this big jump where all of a sudden I was EQ-ing less, compressing less, doing everything less because I could actually hear the music that I was working on. And I didn't really imagine there'd be that big of a jump again. But the Kii Threes really was just like...
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It seems like the kind of thing, the better monitors you have, the less work you have to do, because you just hear everything for what it is and you choose the right samples, right mic placement, all of that, thanks to being able to hear it properly. And I've just never heard anything like it. Half an hour of listening to those speakers I was like, "These are the best speakers I've ever heard in my entire life."
Chris Barker:
Not an unpopular choice, we've had them a couple of times on the podcast so far. I know the Strong Room guys love them. And we've had someone else choose them as well. Again, they're kind of, I guess because they're price, they're not that popular in terms of commercially popular. They're very high-end, but yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
But also they're not super, well-known. It's not a brand that everybody's like, "Oh yeah, I know that the Kii Threes." But it's becoming in certain circles, especially in the UK it seems. Everyone's like, "Oh my God, these things sound amazing."
Chris Barker:
So it's K-I-I for anybody listening, right? It's not K-E-Y, just for anybody googling.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
K-I-I.
Chris Barker:
K-I-I speakers. Have a little Google. And if you get chance to have a listen to them, like Mr. Flux Pavilion has said, they're unbelievable. I've heard them once in Strong Room. They're kind of like Voodoo level.
Will Betts:
But the question here, I guess, is when you were starting out, when you had your KRK, if you'd made that jump from KRK right up to Kii Threes, would it be a bit like you wouldn't understand all the stuff that was going on? Or was it useful to have that middle point to go up to the Adams, to then understand what's more?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah, it's kind of like guitars. You have to get a crappy £70 Squier to start, because you literally have no idea how anything feels. You just have to, that's where you start because it is the cheapest option. I think it's taken over.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I got my KRKs hen I was 16. So I've been producing properly for about 15 years now, and only now am I ready for Kii Threes, I think.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's a really good point, that often enough you just don't know enough about all of your gear and all of how everything works that that super piece of equipment that's going to make everything great, is completely unnecessary. That's mainly when I do my studio streams, I'm surrounded by all my gear. And some people in the comments just like, "Yeah. How are we meant to match up to this? This is so expensive."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's like, "No. I only have to have this gear in the past couple of years. I was using just purely massive, and inbuilt soft synths in Cubase because I just didn't know any better." And you can write some of the best music of your life with that equipment.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I think a lot of YouTube comments and people that... Me and Will have been in this industry, on the other side of the coin, for a while now. And we've experienced a lot of those comments when you interview artists and they go like, "Well, I'd be able to make a hit record if I had all of that stuff."
Chris Barker:
I think it's an easy get-out to not accept that it's talent, and think it's about gear. It's a nice thing to think, go, "Oh, it's not me. It's all of the other stuff."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah, definitely. I think it's where gas gets unhealthy, because you think it's going to make your music better. For me, I only want new gear because it helps me get new ideas. And then it's up to me to actually turn that into something good at the end. But yeah, the whole attitude of, "I'm not very good because my equipment is not very good." It is absolute crap, I can testify to that.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've been working on just a variety of really broken projects. I Can't Stop, biggest track ever, project would crash after 20 minutes. I'd have to work on it quickly, so that mix... I remember Nossier hit me up was like, "Oh man, it's such a good mix." And I was like, "I did it so quickly because the project was about to crash." And it's just like yeah, things aren't that big of a deal.
Chris Barker:
Sometimes you need those limits as well, to force your hand.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Exactly. You can only do what you've got in front you, so just get on with it.
Chris Barker:
Item number two.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
This is my cheat.
Chris Barker:
No. Well, we'll see.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
That I'm having... This is something that does exist, and I'll show you guys. It's called the polymath, and this is the fact sheet for it. I had these made by this-
Chris Barker:
It's laminated.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's laminated. I had this made by this crazy guy, there's a pair of them. And they're both mono, but what he did is he tried to basically successfully combined some of his favourite pieces of gear and gave them some extra.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
He sort of edited them a little bit and then put them all into one box. So it's basically a five band Pultec EQ that goes into a Urei 1176, and then into an LA-2A with a really nice preamp in it as well for mic. You basically got everything in there.
Chris Barker:
A whole signal channel?
Will Betts:
It's the most ludicrous hardware bundle, I don't know how you've done it. This is really stretching the terms of the podcast.
Chris Barker:
But it's actually legal though, isn't it?
Will Betts:
It is.
Chris Barker:
[crosstalk 00:23:52] Well, we're allowing. This is a proper-
Will Betts:
It's not in the spirit of the law though, is it?
Chris Barker:
This is probably the best cheat we've had on the podcast so far. This is a piece of hardware, right?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. It's a pair of them. They're both mono. But yeah a piece of hardware, so it basically it is EQ into an 1176 into an LA-2A. And he sourced all of the original parts as much as he could and then changed-
Chris Barker:
Is this available for somebody who isn't Flux Pavilion? Can people buy this?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No. There's only three in existence. I have two of them, and unfortunately the guy passed away about three or four years ago.
Chris Barker:
Oh god.
Will Betts:
Oh no.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
So there will be no more, there's only three of them and I've got the only stereo pair. He made a matched pair for me.
Chris Barker:
Oh my God.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And I was like, "Would I choose my Neve 33609?" And I looked over to the polymaths and was like, "Oh, there it is. That's my forever thing. These will keep me going."
Chris Barker:
I mean, the guy's passed away. Can we do a shout out? Do we know his name? Can we big him up?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's through a friend of mine called Robin, Robin Harwood, who is a wild synthesiser man. You pop round to his house, and I think his current addiction is guitar amps. He's just acquired about 15 different guitar amps. And he makes his own equipment out of them.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
He put me in touch with this guy, and he was really good friends with him. I don't actually even know the guy, I never met him. It was all Robin's idea to put it all together and was like, "Josh, I really want one of these, but I can't afford one. He'll only make me one if he has to make more. Can you commission to have these amazing things so I can get one?"
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And that was basically how they were created. This guy had just been noodling away and put it together. And then he had them built, and they were amazing.
Will Betts:
I don't want to be difficult here, but you're only allowed one.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I disagree.
Will Betts:
I mean, you can have it as items two and three. That's fine.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I'm quite stubborn.
Will Betts:
You drive a hard bargain.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
I feel like Joshua could have lied here and said that they come as... Because it's [crosstalk 00:26:24]-
Will Betts:
No one can get it, it's completely unverifiable.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. All I've got is a laminated...
Chris Barker:
He could have just said, "Oh, it comes as a pair."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
A laminated imagining.
Chris Barker:
For those listening, he's just holding up a laminated fact sheet. We don't even know if this actually exists. It could just be laminated fact sheet. It just exists in Joshua's right now.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Well yeah, you guys can believe I only have one for the purposes of your mental health. But I can believe that I have two for the purposes of my mental health.
Will Betts:
Lovely bit of relativism there. Lovely.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. This is a good example of what it's like to work with me. I've found that when I am in the studio and someone's like, "Nah, we can't have that." And I'm like, "Yes, we can. This is what the song sounds like now." That's always the way I like to live. And when something feels undeniable to me, a pair of polymaths.
Chris Barker:
We know the facts that unfortunately the inventor passed away and such, but it is a forever studio and it's a custom bit of kit, so there's no reason why you couldn't have a custom stereo version of this bit of kit anyway.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yes. True, although they do exist. I wouldn't look at it as one. It is two separate things. But actually they're both powered by the same power as well.
Will Betts:
There's your get out, that's it. There we go. I'm happy with that. I can sleep at night now.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
All right Will.
Chris Barker:
Will can sleep soundly tonight knowing that the rules have been abide-d by.
Will Betts:
Appreciate it.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Perfect.
Will Betts:
That was really close though guys, thank you.
Chris Barker:
Item number three.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Item number three. For synth choice, I only really went for one synth. And I've chosen the Moog One 16-voice.
Will Betts:
Nice.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Because I would have gone for a Prophet-6, because it's just amazing. But I already know it so well, I think I'd choose that if someone was like, "Quick, one synth for the rest of your life." I'd be like, "Prophet-6." Because I just know it so well.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And then I slipped off to UDO Super 6, because it feels like a really nice elaboration of that. And I only just got it, and there's more to learn about it and I really love the quality of it.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And then I just got thinking. I was like, "I've only played on the Moog One once, and the absolute depth of it was so intimidating." I was like, "I just had one opportunity to play it." And was like, "No, I need 10 years of my life with this."
Chris Barker:
Or forever?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Or forever. I found a patch, and I edited it, and I was playing something. And it made me cry when I was in that session. And I was like, "I don't like any of the demos I've ever heard with the Moog One." I would say I don't really like its sound. But when I actually got to play one and made a few tweaks, it had this massive emotive sensation, which I don't get with synths very often.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And I haven't got one, because they're very, very expensive. And then if I've got eight grand, I'm going to buy 15 other pieces of gear before because it's like, "I can get way more for that money than this one thing." It is a bit of a dream of just being able to have, if I've got no other choice and I have to make every sound on a synth, I think the Moog One, the depth that it has would be a really good choice for that.
Will Betts:
Here's a question. When you made yourself cry in the studio with the Moog One, what did you do? Because like you say, I've heard some of the demos as well. And they're a bit hit and miss, so for people who maybe have a Moog One, what did you do?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It was just a pad, I played some really sad chords on a pad. And with the after-
Chris Barker:
D minor?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah, just one D minor chord. And the after touch, that's what I was messing around with, is what happened on the after touch and the ability to play it just emotively, dynamically. It got me, I got all caught up in it in the moment.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It wasn't even a sound that I've made, it was just one of their presets. And I think I messed around with the filter a little bit, but I was playing around with the after touch settings. But I was just I got really, really into it. I could just really feel what I was playing. And it felt like a really special moment.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I like I say, I've never wanted a Moog One at all because of all the things that I heard. I was like, "I don't like the sound of this thing." But when faced with it, I just had a completely different experience. I'm going to get one at some point.
Chris Barker:
It's mad that you can still invent a dream synth, because usually on this podcast when people go to dream synths they go to the past. They go to CS 80s or Jupiter 8s.
Will Betts:
Or 2600s, yeah
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
For somebody to invent something new that is one of these choices on a podcast like this, it's really impressive that you can kind of go, "It's new and it's a dream synth."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah, old synths are cool. I would like a Jupiter 8, for sure, if they weren't like 15 grand now. I had a Deckard's Dream, and I sold it just because I didn't like the UI, the way of patching stuff in. I like playing along with settings, so writing down some midi and then playing the midi through the synth. And then when I'm recording my take, playing along with it all so I get a dynamic kind of take from it.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And the Deckard's Dream, I didn't enjoy the way that felt, even though it sounded lovely. I found myself never really going towards it, and I have played on the CS 80 once and felt the same about it. And I did have a Whiteface 2600 and just didn't like that either. It had a sound, and it was cool. But it's just not for me. I didn't find myself yearning to use that sound as much as I could, so my experience with old synths.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
My favourite synths are the UDO, the Prophet-6, the OB-6, obviously the mini-Moog reissue, and just the Elektron Digitakt new FM synths and stuff. I really like new things, I've got a massive wall of modular where anytime Make Noise talk about doing something new, I'm just right on it. They're just pushing boundaries of what is possible, I don't necessarily think looking back is for me. I like to look forwards.
Chris Barker:
Tell us about the wall of modular, and how many? It is in use? Is modular in use?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's HP, and yeah. I guess it's-
Chris Barker:
How much HP source do you have?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I don't even know, but it's big.
Chris Barker:
Is it as big as three people?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's got out of hand. It's not massive, it's not like Hans Zimmer.
Chris Barker:
I love to talking to people about modular, because it does feel it's kind of a therapy group. As soon as you start talking about it, the person who collects the modular is always like, "It's fine. No, it's not that bad to be honest. I mean, it could be worse." That's always what it's like talking to somebody with modular.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
The main thing I've been interested in is actually Look Mum No Computer. He's been doing his own Cosmo format, and I've built everything that he's released so far. I've bought all the parts and built that, so that's been the one that I've been most fascinated with.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And the funny thing is I've built it all, and I work on it, and it sounds just like Look Mum No Computer. I'm like, "Oh, yeah. This is his sound." He's just selling his sound basically. If you can be bothered to solder together all of the parts, you can buy his sound with that.
Will Betts:
Have you done the thousand oscillator yet?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No. Well, I've got the one that's... I think it's only 10 oscillators that he sold, which is like, that's the next one that I have to build.
Chris Barker:
You just need to buy 100 of them?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've got to buy 100 of them, yeah. I'll just go down to his museum of everything else and play on his one, I think. But yeah modular, there's no modular in here because it's too hard.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. And it's a bundle situation, potentially, if you go modular-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. It might be something like the Cwejman S1 would be what I would choose if I was to go modular. Whatever grand, scale, all in one thing that Cwejman has done, I'd go for that, because his stuff, the oscillators and the filter, the stuff that I do have from him is just some of the best sounding gear that I've got. If I was going to, I'd choose that. But I'm not.
Chris Barker:
Item number four.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Four is either, you guys can help me choose, a Line 6 Helix for all of the guitar possibilities, because I do quite a lot of guitar stuff.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've got one. I use it for amp bottling, because I can't be bothered to ship 10 million amps into my studio and chop and change. And their modelling is really good.
Chris Barker:
That's fair, yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I just really like how they've done it. Or, which I reckon this is probably what I'm going to go for, is just a single Klon Centaur. What a choice, because that is to me the best guitar sound ever to me of what I like, how I like to play my guitar. Just going for a Centaur is amazing, it feels amazing every time.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Line 6 gives me all the choice. I would say a pretty good quality choice as well, I do like what they've done. But if it's my forever studio, then it just feels right to just go for my forever guitar sound and be like, "This is it. This is all I've got now." I think I'd go for the Klon Centaur.
Will Betts:
And you can have an original?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
What's that?
Will Betts:
You can have an original one as well, obviously.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Will Betts:
They're ludicrously expensive.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Tell us about when you discovered though. When was the first one you plugged in, and you played it, and you were like, "Holy shit, this is amazing."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
What was I doing? I bought just a bunch of pedals, and I'd heard about the Klon Centaur so I bought a Klon and just played on it and it just felt really nice. I don't really know that much about guitar pedals. I've learned a lot more since I've been building them, but to be honest I've only really been focusing on the Centaur as well, because it's actually designed by... I can't remember the guy's name, but he did it with a bunch of scientists from... What's that famous Boston university?
Will Betts:
MIT?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
MIT, yeah. It was a bunch of MIT guys did it with him. It was like it more than just, "Let's make a guitar pedal." He was like, "Let's make an absolutely banging circuit that is like no other circuit that's ever existed. It was really well thought out.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's actually super complicated for what it is, which is just a diode distortion. If you look at the circuitry, the way it's been pieced together, it's just so comprehensive. And he's just made it absolutely solid. And that's the reason why it's really good. It's like, "Oh, it sounds really nice."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I started looking into building guitar pedals, and then looked into the Klon. And then I've basically been learning everything I know about circuitry by then going back to his circuit and working out what he did. And it's just been a really fascinating thing. I've kind of based all of my nerdery on guitar pedals, on this one pedal.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And now every time I go back, like when I make adjustments to my Diodesis, because I'm trying to get to a less complicated version of the Klon, and then play on the Klon, it's just like, "How does this sound so nice to my ears, to my soul?" I'm like, "This feels like what a guitar should always sound like.
Chris Barker:
Item number five. Let's do item number five.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Number five's a bit boring, it's a Neumann U47.
Chris Barker:
No, it is boring. I'm going to say it is boring.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's not a boring piece of equipment, but there's not much to say about it. It's an amazing microphone and I need a microphone. And I've got my polymath for my pre-amps there, so I don't need any pre-amps or anything like that. So I'll just need a nice microphone. Yeah, the polymath also has phantom power as well.
Chris Barker:
What? U47, the reason I'm saying it's boring is because it is a go-to, obviously in a good way. But do you remember the point when you first tracked a vocal with a U47, or have you used them before?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've got a 87, which I use all the time. And I was just in the studio in Leeds about a month ago recording this band called PENGSHUi, who are a very heavy band. And it's mainly the vocalist is an amazing hiphop artist in his own right, but he does a lot of screaming.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
We basically put him on a U47 on the first day and got him to shout some stuff. And it just sounded like a man shouting at me, it didn't sound like a recording of a man shouting at me. It sounded like a man shouting. And I was just like, "Well, this is unique." Because every time I've recorded him to get demos together, I'm always pushing the vocal sound to get energy out of it because it sounds like a recording of his energy, not his energy.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
But the U47 just sounded like him, I'm sitting there and I'm listening to him. And that was my first experience with it, which makes me chose it. First and only experience, but it was on the first day of that session. I was just like, "Well, this is a very lovely microphone."
Chris Barker:
It'd be a lovely advert for any mic manufacturer, wouldn't it? Just a picture of the microphone, "Sounds like a man shouting at you."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Sold.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Item number six, we are onto the guitar. Item number six.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's quite a hard one really. I went around the houses on so many different guitars. I ended up on Dave Gilmour's Stratocaster.
Chris Barker:
Thief, okay. Good.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Because I do like a Start, I think I prefer single chords over the humbuckers. My gut was to go to the Roxy guitar, Frank Zappa's. I was thinking the Roxy reissue, he had this guitar made that was, I think they only made 100 of them. I was like, "Oh, I could just have the original guitar from his Roxy show, because he has-
Chris Barker:
Was that a Strat as well?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No, it's an SG. And he built into it phase reversal on the pickups, kind of like the Brian May red special where you can do all the phase reversing. That was another one, but I don't like the Burn's Twice Onyx that much. I've got a guitar with them in, and they're pretty ace. They're not forever.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Then I moved on to Frank Zappas. But I don't really like humbuckers, they're always too much for me. I like to be able to have a, I normally just have neck, single coil is my favourite kind of position. Frank Zappa is my absolute favourite guitarist of all time, and probably favourite artist of all time. It was hard to not chose one of his guitars, but I've never heard or played on it. What if it's not right for me? And if I've got to have that forever, that would really suck.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Dave Gilmour's Start, I know I like a Strat and he's got the phase reversing switches as well on his Strat, I do believe. And he's also got the mod to get a seven way switch, rather than a five way switch. So it'll have all of the modes that I would need, and-
Chris Barker:
Is that the one he sold recently at auction?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yes.
Will Betts:
The black Strat.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
The black Strat.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. There was big hoo-hah around that sale, I remember.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Because I've been building my own guitars as well, just by buying some kick guitars and then picking up some electronics and making my own mods and adjustments to sort of mess around with it. My new dream is to have a modular guitar, so where you have a guitar but you can affect the amplitude of the signal with modular signals, basically.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Imagine a tremolo, but instead of just a straight tremolo, you can send it more chaotic interesting signals from modular. So I have a little patch bay on it, effectively. And have the output going straight into modular.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It shouldn't be too hard. All I need to do is work out how to get the voltage from inside the guitar, because you normally only get nine volt batteries. But I'd need to get the 12 volts into a guitar somehow. But if I can do that, then having a modular guitar would be quite fun.
Chris Barker:
Sounds like a project for you and Matt Bellamy.
Will Betts:
It does.
Chris Barker:
Matt Bellamy loves that shit, doesn't he? He loves-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
All that kind of thing?
Chris Barker:
All the modified guitars. Doesn't he have the one with the Kaoss pad built in?
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I can't remember the company, but they sold it as well and I think it didn't do very well.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. But he ended up buying the company, didn't he? Matt Bellamy now owns the company.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. He's a big part of it, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Didn't he do one that had all the arterial plugins built into the guitar as well? So you have a little PC built into the guitar [crosstalk 00:45:20], and he had a switch so he could play the arterial plugins.
Chris Barker:
Because what they were doing is doing is they had midi pickups and then off-stage they triggered the sense as a layer, so he could have a layer under the guitar that was the synths. And then he was like, "Let's just put in the guitar." So, yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I do love Matt Bellamy. And he's a man after my own heart with his mods. I like moding things. And Dave Gilmour's Strat does have a lot of mods. It's got all the modes that I would choose.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I'm not huge Floyd fan, I don't dislike him. But I say I'm a fan of something when I know all of their music intricately. And I've only listened to about five Floyd albums, and there's more to explore. So I like it, but I don't feel like a true fan because I haven't completely consumed all of his work.
Will Betts:
That's like a Greek philosopher's outlook though. You're like, "I don't know everything, so I don't consider myself an expert. But I do know more than most people." It's an interesting way of looking at it.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. That's the thing, yeah. I'd kind of worry less over Floyd to say I'm a fan. They're like, "Oh, yeah. Have you heard this recording of this album?" And I'll say, "No." And they'd be like-
Chris Barker:
"You're not a fan." Yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
"You're not really a fan, are you?" I am a massive nerd, and I tend to surround myself with massive nerds. So I know the kind of scrutiny that I may be under by making a statement of like, "Yeah, I'm a Hendrix fan." "Oh, yeah? What do you know about how he had his pickups?"
Chris Barker:
Obviously the most important question was guitar, and it's always very important for many guitarists is, what colour are you having the guitar?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I quite like black. My favourite guitar-
Chris Barker:
Oh, you're just going to go for the black? The original?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Well my favourite guitar that I own at the moment is the Ibanez Tim Henson from Polyphia, the THBBY.
Chris Barker:
Oh, right.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
His Ibanez custom, and that's black with gold bits. And it's very nice.
Chris Barker:
All that's left is your luxury non-studio, so this isn't a piece of kit. It's just something that you want in your studio. Well it can be a piece of kit, but just not studio kit.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've gone for something, so I was thinking like you've got your fishing rods, maybe a vending machine. I've kind of got stuff like that, but what I ended up on was an absolutely apocalypse-proof internet connection.
Chris Barker:
Okay, we're doing the apocalypse again. We try and avoid the studio theme, but people love going to the apocalypse with our Forever Studio podcast. They're building bankers-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No. I only say apocalypse-proof in that it's, I want to use the word inscrutable but I know that's not the right word. But just an internet connection that, it's super-fast and there's no way it's going down. But this-
Chris Barker:
Okay. I'm going to give you that for free so we can move on the interesting item that you mentioned, which is the vending machine.
Will Betts:
Yeah, please have that.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Well there's all sort of interests, like a vending machine could be pretty good. But then-
Chris Barker:
What's in the vending machine?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I don't know. Scotch eggs.
Chris Barker:
Scotch egg vending machine.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Like a Ginster style? Ginster's, is it?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Like maybe bakery goods that arrive. One of those could be pretty good. I've got quite an imagination, so having a luxury item was actually quite painful because my brain just went literally all of the possibilities that could exist. And I was up until about two in the morning. I'd written all the rest out, and I was just awake for ages thinking about just what could I do. And it was quite a nice thing.
Chris Barker:
And yet you settled on an internet connection, like the most boring thing?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I was just like, "I have to duck away from this. It's too much. There's too much possibility."
Chris Barker:
I love the vending machine. And so there's scotch egg in there. What else is in the vending machine? Come on, we've never had a vending machine. It's such a good idea.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Well, it wouldn't be a vending machine. I guess it would be one of those things on Star Trek where you just say whatever you want, and you can get it, basically.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I'd just be like, yeah. I wouldn't even need to go fishing. I'd just be like, "Martian trout."
Chris Barker:
"Slightly smoked."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And there it is, lightly smoked martian trout.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Before we finish up though, we've got this Star Trek machine doing your meals. Let's give us a dream studio breakfast, lunch and dinner for Flux Pavilion.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I'm quite a classic British boy, I'd go for a full English breakfast.
Chris Barker:
Any particular weird things on the English breakfast, because it does vary a bit. Are you a black pudding guy?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I like a hamburger patty.
Chris Barker:
But sausage based though, not beef based?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Beef. No, beef. A beef burger.
Chris Barker:
Okay. That is weird, yeah. Okay, we're going to focus on that.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Beef burger as part of the experience.
Chris Barker:
A full English breakfast with a beef burger?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No bun though.
Chris Barker:
Of course, no. Definitely.
Will Betts:
That's blown my mind.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. And then probably for lunch a roast, like a roast dinner basically.
Chris Barker:
That's good. What meat?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Normally pork with crackling.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, okay.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Would be the way to go. Yorkshire puddings, just all the trimmings, all the things. And then for dinner, maybe a curry.
Will Betts:
Nice.
Chris Barker:
How spicy? Where are you on your curries?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I'm a Korma, I'm a king prawn Korma kind of guy.
Chris Barker:
Okay. So relatively mellow.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Very mellow.
Chris Barker:
Rice or bread, or both?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
This is another one of the things where it's just like there's so much opportunity to get so many different things. I feel anxious all of a sudden being like, "Oh, no. What could I imagine that would be perfect?"
Chris Barker:
It's one of your most anxious situations. Is Flux Pavilion at the buffet an anxious time?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No. Because I'll just get everything.
Chris Barker:
Okay. So buffet is good?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Buffet is pretty ideal.
Chris Barker:
But a menu is anxious?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
A menu in a slightly higher pressure podcast environment I reckon is not an ideal situation for me to choose my perfect meal. I reckon that's what we've established. Which is why the Star Trek machine is ideal, because I don't have to make any of these decisions.
Chris Barker:
Perfect.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I can just, on the fly, be like, "Right. I want a Heston Blumenthal meat fruit, give it to me."
Chris Barker:
You've come a long way from having a beef burger with your English breakfast to requesting Heston Blumenthal meat fruit. That's great.
Chris Barker:
The machine is going to be like, "Who is this guy? Who is this guy? He wanted a burger with his breakfast, and now he's ordering meat fruit."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I could get whatever I want. We'll do another podcast on that. Give me a month, I'll get all my notes. I'll get all my memoirs together, my meal memoirs, and we can get to the bottom of this. Because it feels like, I'm a fan of food. I'm an overweight man because I've eaten too much food for my body to be able to handle, because I like it so much.
Chris Barker:
That's fair, I'm down with that. I agree with this. [crosstalk 00:52:53]-
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It took me a few days to come up with my best six pieces of gear. I reckon I'll need at least as long amount of time to plan my perfect meal.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Will, let's finish this off. Let's run through the studio for us. Let's set the scene. Will, take us through it.
Will Betts:
We are in a small studio in New Zealand with a window overlooking the sea and a fishing lake. We're running a very highly spec'd PC. Your interface is a Lynx Aurora. Your DAW, Cubase 11. In the studio, you're listening back on Kii Three monitors. You have an insane, one of a kind, hardware device called a polymath, a stereo one, one stereo, custom designed with a... Was it Pultec five band EQ, an 1176, and an LA-2A in it?
Will Betts:
You have a Moog One 16-voice polysynth, a Klon Centaur pedal made by Bill Finnegan, a Neumann U47. You have Dave Gilmour's Black Start, and we didn't quite decide whether you wanted the modular in it. Should we just put the modular in it as well? The option for modular?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No. I haven't got any Urei rack to do it with.
Will Betts:
Okay, forget it then. Just Dave Gilmour's the Black Strat.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Will Betts:
And then your luxury item is a Star Trek replicator for all of your food needs.
Chris Barker:
That sounds banging, doesn't it? That's a wonderful space to be in forever. That's good.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. I could do that, I liked hearing it in your really relaxed kind of Marks and Spencer's...
Will Betts:
That's what I was going for. I was imagining, I was trying to project Albatross to you. That was my plan.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
We could hear the...
Will Betts:
It's perfect.
Chris Barker:
Will, please don't leave our podcast to work for Marks and Spencer's with your lovely voice. We need you here.
Will Betts:
I can do it on the side, it's fine.
Chris Barker:
This isn't just any studio, this is My Forever Studio. That's what you need to be able to do. Yeah.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
We haven't done that yet. Oh my God.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah. We should record that bit.
Chris Barker:
No. We don't want to get sued by Marks and Spencer's. That's just too far.
Will Betts:
That's true, yeah.
Chris Barker:
But if anybody from Marks and Spencer is listening and wants to send us free stuff, we're definitely up for that.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Well that's end of the podcast, thank you so much Flex Pavilion, Joshua, for joining us. We've had a wicked time, I hope you have too. And you've got new stuff out, where can people find out about you?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Spotify is probably the best place, type Flux Pavilion in and then listen. My new album comes out January the 21st, I do believe, which is a 16 track album. Nearly all analogue written as well, it still-
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Sounds like me. It doesn't sound like all of a sudden I've turned into a Richie Hawtin. I've tried to use analogue in my world. Basically bring analogue music, which I think we're getting into, and bring it into my space so it's still really upfront kind of hiphop, loud, energetic.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
But I've just got more stuff going on. I don't know, I just spent loads of time on tone and timbre and making weird little noises and atmosphere and ambience and just all the things that I felt like my music didn't have, and I did it. And it's coming out and I'm really happy about it.
Chris Barker:
Was this a lockdown project, or did it start pre-lockdown? I mean, I guess the album was going to happen anyway. But was it something that was enhanced, that kind of the deep diving into analogue, was that enhanced by the fact that there was no gigs and no...
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
No, I actually quite Flux Pavilion about two years. And obviously you can't really quit being yourself, but I was just like, "I'm done with this. I've reached the end. I've written all the music that I can write. I've DJ'd all over the place." I know what I'm doing with Flux and it's boring now.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I've started working on some other projects, doing some production for people. And what mainly led me to this, having lots of time to actually sit down and be like, "Oh, I could just spend a whole day playing with delay pedals. I'm just going to do that." That basically became my life, of just exploring equipment, buying new gear, looking into modular and stuff like that.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And then somehow accidentally, I kept writing pieces of music. I was like, "This is Flux Pavilion, I can't help it. This is Flux. And I've got no choice in the matter." And then more of them built up, and then all of sudden I had most of an album and I went back to the label and was like, "Yeah, I've kind of written a Flux Pavilion album accidentally, just because I am Flux Pavilion and I can't help myself."
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And that's what this album is, so it's a completely organic, natural thing that I actually had no intention of doing it. I was just like, "I can't write another album. I've got no ideas." But by basically buying gear and learning more about my craft and what I do in the studio, these pieces of music just kind of blossomed. And it happened really naturally. The easiest album I've ever written.
Chris Barker:
Love it as well? One of your most proudest albums or?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
For Flux Pavilion, this is the crowning achievement of my career, for sure. I've already started writing another one, because I'm in the mood to write, I'm just back on Flux again. There's many years of flying around and doing loads of shows, not really getting to write much music, being in a space where I don't feel like I belong, Flux Pavilion just kind of veered off into this area that I just had no interest in.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I was like, "I don't know who this is." I'm not a DJ that goes jumping around and shouting, "Everyone put your hands up." And all that kind of stuff, there's other people that are really, really good at that. And they do it really well, and everyone has a great time. But I just ended up in that space. And this is really not built for me.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
It's kind of like, that's where I fell out of love with it. This album has really been me falling back in love with electronic music again, and this is an audible kind of, yeah...
Chris Barker:
Do you think that might inspire a hardware based show?
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
I do have it now. My new show is not quite hardware base, but I don't mix anymore. I just have the tracks playing, and then I kind of mix between them on the mixer. But I don't queue them on CDJs. That happens on Ableton, and then I've got a Kaoss pad, a little ROLI seaboard, a Korg monitor amp to make noises, and a guitar. And I basically just play, perform, over the top of all my songs. So it's kind of like a hardware-ish show.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
And as I get used to it, I can add a little modular in there. I could add another synth, and I'm hoping it turns into this really elaborate one man standing around loads of equipment kind of thing. But it'll get there in a number of years.
Chris Barker:
Awesome. Well all that's left to say is, thank you so much for joining us. And I hope you had as much fun as we did. And we've learned loads as well today, it was great. Thank you so much.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Great time.
Chris Barker:
Thank you.
Will Betts:
It's been awesome.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah, awesome.
Chris Barker:
Thank you Josh, thank you.
Flux Pavilion (Joshua Steele):
Yeah. Nice one, thank you very much.
Chris Barker:
Wow, another great episode. Thanks again to Flux Pavilion. If you're a fan of the My Forever Studio podcast, make sure you subscribe using your favourite podcasting app, and maybe give us a luxurious five star rating too. We appreciate every single review.
Will Betts:
Yes, we do indeed. Now next time on the show, we're delighted that we're going to be joined by YouTube production superstar Andrew Wong.
Chris Barker:
Yes, very excited. We've all seen his current setup on YouTube, but there's a lot to carry over into eternity so we're curious on how he'll do it.
Will Betts:
I wonder if he's going to bring his new app, Chris?
Chris Barker:
I think he probably will, Will. I think he probably will.
Will Betts:
He probably will. We don't know. I'm very excited to find out how he's going to do it, what he's going to choose. I guess we'll see you next time.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, same. Excited. Thanks for listening, and catch you next time for more escapades in Studio Forever-dom.
Will Betts:
Bye-bye.