This time, we’re joined by musician, producer, internet personality and Sonicstate head honcho Nick Batt. Nick had his first brush with fame in 1990 when, as one half of electronic duo DNA, he remixed Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega. Since then, he’s remixed Kylie Minogue, worked with Goldfrapp and even won an Ivor Novello award. With his music technology site Sonicstate, he’s become a YouTube celebrity and even a meme. In this episode, find out which hardware polysynth he’d take into eternity, what the 'tambourine test' is and how he would continue operating Sonicstate within the six-item constraints of the Forever Studio.
This time, we’re joined by musician, producer, internet personality and Sonicstate head honcho Nick Batt.
Nick had his first brush with fame in 1990 when, as one half of electronic duo DNA, he remixed Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega. Since then, he’s remixed Kylie Minogue, worked with Goldfrapp and even won an Ivor Novello award. With his music technology site Sonicstate, he’s become a YouTube celebrity and even a meme.
In this episode, find out which hardware polysynth he’d take into eternity, what the 'tambourine test' is, and how he would continue operating Sonicstate within the six-item constraints of the Forever Studio.
NOTES [BEWARE, SPOILERS]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Pigalle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Korgis
https://www.midasconsoles.com/product.html?modelCode=P0C8H
https://vintageking.com/atc-loudspeakers-scm50asl
https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-AW-UE150-Professional-12G-SDI-Optical/dp/B07QHD8GKQ
https://www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/polybrute/overview
http://www.vintagesynth.com/korg/ms50.php
http://www.vintagesynth.com/korg/sq10.php
http://www.vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/ens_mirage.php
https://sg.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/pianos/grand_pianos/index.html
Swimfinity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3lnkHVxLlI
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, engineers, DJs and industry insiders about their fantasy forever studio.
Will Betts:
The studio that our guests invent will be one that they have to live with forever. But there are some rules in studio forever land. Totally reasonable and rational rules.
Chris Barker:
Yes. Our tricky rules. Our guests can select a computer, a DAW and an audio interface. Those are standard. Then they have the imagining mission of selecting six little bits of studio kit plus one non-gear related luxury item.
Will Betts:
But there is one rule. One rule to rule them all. No bundles. That's it. A collection of software or hardware sold as a single item is strictly prohibited.
Chris Barker:
Today we have musician, producer, internet personality and Sonicstate head honcho Nick Batt.
Will Betts:
Nick's first brush with fame came in 1990 when as one half of electric duo DNA, he remixed Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega. Since then, he's remixed Kylie Minogue, worked with Goldfrapp, and has even won an Ivor Novello Award.
Chris Barker:
But you also might know him as the bloke from the pulse width modulation meme.
Will Betts:
Chris, I wonder how many synths he's going to choose.
Chris Barker:
What a legend. This is My Forever Studio with Nick Batt. Welcome, Nick.
Will Betts:
Welcome.
Nick Batt:
Hello, chaps. I feel like I've just has my life flash before me. You've just sort of summarised my entire existence on this planet there. I'm glad you actually added at the end of your producers, engineers and artists, and just industry insiders, because that makes me feel unqualified. I was a bit worried when looking at the previous guests.
Chris Barker:
You are more than qualified. No, come on. We have every type of studio nerd on this show. That's our remit. That whole thing is just an excuse for me and Will to nerd out with people that we like, so thank you so much for joining us. You know the format. Well, I hope you know the format. If you don't, it's still quite exciting. We're going to build your fantasy forever studio, but there are some limits and there are some rules. Before we go into that, let's talk about the vibe of your dream studio. Where would you put it in the world? I mean, you've travelled a little bit with Sonicstate I guess mainly to NAMM, but you've travelled a lot in your life. I mean, any particular places you wish you could have built a studio and-
Nick Batt:
Well, it's interesting. I've thought about this quite a lot, because I was just thinking, "Well, what?" I've approached this more from a kind of almost like a desert island thing. It's like, "If that's what I'm stuck with, then I really have to think about what it does, and where it is, and all of those things." Well, I had two choices for the studio. It's got to be near water, because I like to go fishing, but also it's just nice to see stuff.
Nick Batt:
I've got my first choice was actually the River Dart. Dittisham. The River Dart is amazing. It's kind of runs its entire course in a very short period of time. You've got Dartmouth, which is lovely and there's a big naval base there and stuff. But you come back and there's Agatha Christie's house. They are really steep kind of gorge-like, and there are all these boathouses and beautiful residencies that you only seem to be able to approach by boat. I quite like the idea. There's a bit of Bond that somehow. Then I thought, "Well, maybe the isolation would be terrible," but I suppose that I could live with that. Either that or Porto, because Porto is such a beautiful city.
Chris Barker:
I was going to say like, "Go for the UK," but Porto is on the list as well. I mean, would you kick Agatha Christie's legacy out and build a studio actually in that house? Is that the perfect house?
Nick Batt:
No, it's a bit musty and kind of Victorian. It's all a bit kind of flock wallpaper. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I'd like some sort of fancy boathouse type. There has to be a launchpad for my motorboat.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. That's quite nice like. It's like a Bond villain that goes fishing to chill out in between programme and synth.
Nick Batt:
That's my kind of-
Will Betts:
Even the villains have to have a hobby, right?
Nick Batt:
Yeah. I feel like I'm painting myself into a corner as some kind of villain here. That wasn't really my intention in any way. If that's what people want to think, that's totally fine.
Chris Barker:
I jumped on that straightaway, Nick. That's the whole basis.
Nick Batt:
Yeah. I'd go for Dartmouth. Let's go for Dartmouth.
Will Betts:
Are you specifically saying Dittisham then, or are we saying Dartmouth to get specific?
Nick Batt:
Yeah. Somewhere between Dittisham and Dartmouth, because Dittisham is where the river starts to narrow, but there's a beautiful little pub there. Then as you go down the river, it comes out into the mouth towards Dartmouth, which is where it gets high traffic and there's lots of twats, if that's not something I can say.
Chris Barker:
That's fine. What are we fishing for on the River Dart? What's it known for?
Nick Batt:
Yeah. Well, I'm a bit worried about that, because it's quite a sea. If I go further up, if I've got a boat, I can go up a bit and catch some freshwater fish. Anything. Trout, salmon, pike, I don't know. Fish.
Chris Barker:
Are you allowed to catch any, or is it a put it back situation? I don't know about these laws, but-
Nick Batt:
I don't know.
Chris Barker:
Mind you, you're the Bond villain. Do what you want.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, I do what I like. I'll just use dynamite. What the hell?
Chris Barker:
Just chuck in dynamite into the River Dart.
Nick Batt:
Yeah. I'll be lighting them on my massive cigar. Just tossing them out of the window. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
While screaming, "Dinner's ready."
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Nick Batt:
Something like that.
Chris Barker:
Lovely. What about the internal vibe of the studio? I mean, you must have worked in lots of... Well, worked in and visited lots of commercial facilities. I mean, in the world, what have been studios that you've walked into or worked in where you've thought, "This is nice. This is the kind of vibe I like"?
Nick Batt:
I suppose the thing is while most studios have highly designed and sort of neat and tidy and 20th century, I'm not a massive fan of that cold atmosphere. I mean, I'm very glad that my camera is slightly out of focus because you can't see what a terrible mess it is here. But then I've been here on my own for such a long time. I like a bit of mess. I don't want it to be pristine and all sharp lines and underlining. Homely I suppose, but functional.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Yeah. Sofas, wood, a mess. Do you think that's conducive to creativity then, having a mess? Is that-
Nick Batt:
Well, people tell me that it's not. It's hard to tell at the moment because a pandemic tends to curb your creativity. I don't know whether is it the mess, or is it just the impending sense of global doom? I'm not sure which one would be the best, the arbiter of creativity? I think creativity comes from your state of mind. I don't want refuse. I just don't like absolute pristine mess. We're not talking kind of take away food cartons all over the floor. We're just talking, "Right, there's that cable that's on the table."
Chris Barker:
Not having to crawl through a hole over piles of newspapers to get to the fridge?
Nick Batt:
That's right. I'm not like a hoarder. I'm not going to be one of those people that ends up on a specialised programme on daytime TV where somebody comes in and I can't throw anything away. I don't want to be that guy.
Chris Barker:
Well, that's good news, because we'll be getting to your six items soon. Yeah. There's no hoarding with our list. Okay. We've got the studio vibe and we know where we are now. Okay. We'll wiz through the first three, which are the given items. These don't count towards your six. I mean, what computer are you going to be on? Tell us about your computer journey. I mean, what did we do Tom's Diner on? Was that Atari or-
Nick Batt:
Yeah. Atari. Atari 4 track and D-110 and an S900 I would think. Maybe add and M1 as well. I think there was an M1. Yeah. I've done the classic journey from the '90s production Atari Mac. Well, Atari Mac I suppose. That's sort of where it went. Actually, I started on Pro 24 because before I did all of that, I started out as a session programmer, which is hilarious. I apologise upfront to anybody who remembers being on any of the sessions they booked me for back then, because I was terrible. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. But I knew more than most of the clients, so that was the main thing.
Chris Barker:
Where was that, Nick?
Nick Batt:
I did some work at Moles (Studio, Bath), which was I think Anne Pigalle I worked for, and I couple of other... ZTTX. I did some sessions on some stuff that they did. I worked with The Korgis. It was all very local at that time, because there was quite a lot of music stuff happening back then last century.
Chris Barker:
Well, The Korgis know that everybody's got to learn sometime, and you did.
Nick Batt:
You're quite right there.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Nick Batt:
I didn't work on that, by the way. That was before my time. I'd just like to point that out. That was a bit earlier.
Chris Barker:
Just a little qualifier there. Nick is not that old. We can all say that as well, chaps. We've been around. We've all been around. For your forever studio, I guess you're choosing some kind of monster Mac. I mean, are laptops important to you for the studio? Do want the desktop Mac, the big flashy one?
Nick Batt:
Well, actually I'm not going for a Mac even though I use a Mac all the time. The reason I'm not going for a Mac will become apparent later. I'm going for a PC because it does other things that I will need, whereas a Mac does not in this situation. It would be tough I must admit. I mean frankly, most programmes are kind of multi platforms. I'm not going to care what it is, but it's going to be a serious PC. It's going to have the biggest graphics card I can get. It's going to be absolutely stuffed full of whatever I can get into it, to be honest.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Well, congratulations on making this usually quite boring part of the podcast interesting, because most people just say, "Whatever the most expensive Mac is." That's good.
Will Betts:
Yeah. You've joined a very exclusive club here, Nick. You're one of a very small number. It's a very exclusive. It's the PC only club. I feel like it needs a velvet rope.
Nick Batt:
Well, yeah. I suppose the thing is is if I was honest, I would probably stick with a Mac. But the Mac doesn't do everything I need, so unfortunately I have to go for a PC. I mean-
Chris Barker:
I've got everything crossed that the synth king Nick Batt is going to choose a PC FL studio, copy of Sylenth, copy of Nexus, and he's going to make EDM bangers. Dutch EDM bangers in his Dartmouth-
Nick Batt:
How long is this show supposed to be, because you've just basically... That's it. It's over. Thanks very much. Is it my luxury item now?
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Lovely stuff. Right. Okay. We're on audio interface, in fact. Let's talk about audio interface and your DAW of choice for this said PC.
Nick Batt:
Right. Okay. Now, this may also be contentious, but it's something that I use a lot. I've got two choices. Can I have an Behringer X32 with the sound card in it?
Chris Barker:
Sounds like a bundle. Sounds like-
Will Betts:
It does sound a little bit-
Nick Batt:
It's not, because they come with a USB card as standard.
Chris Barker:
Will, I'll let you make the call on this. I'm always too quick to please the guest, but Will is the bastion of the harsh rules.
Nick Batt:
It's wouldn't be an X32, it would be an M32, which is the Midas version, but it's still got the sound card.
Will Betts:
Oh, M32. So you're talking about a 32 channel disc with an audio interface in it.
Chris Barker:
Right?
Will Betts:
It does feel a bit like a cheat.
Nick Batt:
I thought you might say that.
Will Betts:
Yeah. Okay. What's the other one?
Nick Batt:
The other one is an actual MR18, which is just the box, which is a sound card with 18 channels I/O.
Chris Barker:
I think the mixer thing is okay, Will. Surely because if this was my-
Nick Batt:
Either one is fine. Either one is fine by me, but I would prefer the M32 because it's got a lot more faders that spit on MIDI, which I could use.
Chris Barker:
Let's do that. I think that's fine. It's a single product, right?
Nick Batt:
I do feel a little bit like I might be judged for choosing a Behringer product, but actually, the X32 and the M32, they are a... Well, the Midas ones, they do sound really good. And there's method in my madness, because you've got eight effect slots in there, and you can run all day with that stuff, and the algorithms, I can make my own like shimmer reverb. As you know, I'm very fond of that kind of sound. I can make one out of internal routing and harmonizers. I can do almost anything that I might want to do that I can't do in plug-ins. I mean obviously, it's a different thing. The mic amps sound pretty good. Obviously, it's not a Neve, but it's-
Chris Barker:
I mean, it is a very creative manoeuvring of the rules, Will. That's why they're there is to find those clever choices. It is a clever choice. It's clever like picking the Kronos.
Will Betts:
Yeah, I guess. But it's also got like a villain vibe to it, which I think is in keeping-
Nick Batt:
No. I'm not sure I'm into this kind of persona I've seemed to have randomly created for myself, but I'll run with it. I'll let it flow. I want to see the poster frame before this goes out, though. I've just got a horrible feeling you're going to give me a white cat and a cigar, right?
Chris Barker:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've already emailed the art department to get that sorted. I love the fact that you're suggesting that we have to actually Photoshop that in.
Nick Batt:
I haven't got-
Chris Barker:
Just for anybody listening, he's actually got the white cat right now. We had to RX this podcast because of all the-
Nick Batt:
The purring. Yeah. It's true.
Chris Barker:
Okay. What DAW are you using?
Nick Batt:
I think I'm probably going to go with Ableton just because it's got all the stuff. It's not the one I use really, to be honest much. I use REAPER generally, but REAPER doesn't come with much. I'd go with Ableton because it's got more or less everything that I would need. It's got instruments, it's got a tonne of stuff that I could make music with and record clips and whatever. But I'm not that wedded to it. I used to be a total Logic head. That was most of my professional life, programming, working in studios was as a sort of Logic pilot for Goldfrapp or whoever. But I haven't used it for years. Just don't feel the need.
Chris Barker:
And obviously with your PC choice, that's not an option with-
Nick Batt:
Exactly. Yeah.
Will Betts:
When did you move to REAPER, then? What spurred that decision?
Nick Batt:
It wasn't really a question of moving to it. It was more I ended up using it in a few places just because it came up. I think what happened was is I used to run Logic. I changed Macs, and then I wasn't running Logic anymore, and I couldn't find the installer, and then it was just like, "Oh, I need to get something done." In the end, it just faded away. Also, to be honest, if I was working back in Logic, I would get into that kind of I am that guy that sat in front of a computer moving high hats by numbers of ticks. I don't want to be doing that if I'm honest. I'd rather use something that I don't really know how to use that well. So it's just like I'll throw something into it. Does it sound good? Does it feel right? Okay, that's fine. If not, I'll record it again. I've moved more into that way of working.
Chris Barker:
Almost going back to using it like a tape machine properly, rather than-
Nick Batt:
Well, kind of. I mean, and I couldn't frankly play an entire song in time, so it's unlikely to be that.
Chris Barker:
Well, Ableton will sort you out with that anyway with... Yeah. Yeah.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, exactly. That's what I figured. It would give me everything I need there.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, lovely. We've got those three down. Now we get to the six items. Now it gets interesting. Nick, for your forever studio, item number one?
Nick Batt:
Okay. Well, I thought I'd start with speakers just because that seems to be the form. I'm going to go for a pair of ATC SCM50A Pros, which are 12 grand. I've never ever ever been able to afford that generally. There's a story here because ATCs have always sort of featured in my professional life. When I was a kid, I was in college and I did a course in media studies, and we had to make a video as part of the final thing. I chose to do a little piece on Crescent Studios, which was in Bath, which was quite a famous studio.
Nick Batt:
I went in there and they had a pair of ATCs. Big, massive ATCs. I've seen them throughout my career in various places, and I just think they sound fantastic. They've just got the reveal, the clarity. I mean, they're not very vibey, but you can't hide with those. There's just like, "Okay, I understand what's going with the bottom end. I can fix it." I just thought, why not? I'm going from some massive ones of those. Because they're big enough to turn them up loud enough to be vibey, and I do like the sound of them. Just the mid and the imaging, everything is just peachy on them from my point of view.
Chris Barker:
Another excellent choice I think. In a way, I don't have anything to comment on that. It's a great choice. Great, great choice of speakers.
Will Betts:
And very popular with people in the UK as well we've found. Yeah.
Nick Batt:
Yeah. Also they're self-powered, so that means I don't have to have an amp, obviously, which is a... Yeah. I mean, I'm sitting here looking at a pair of really old Genelec 1029s, which I bought, I don't know, God knows, 20 years ago because somebody had listed them on the website as a pair price but on a single price. Me and a bunch of mates all bought a pair of Genelecs because we got them for half price effectively, and I've had them ever since. I mean, and they're not great for telling the bass, but I'm just used to them, and they fit in my setup at the moment. It'd be nice to have something that I can actually hear the bottom end on finally.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. You can disturb those fish. If it's not dynamite, it's bass. It's fine.
Nick Batt:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
What about item number two? What's up next?
Nick Batt:
Okay. Let me see where I'm going here. I'm going to get a mic because I need a mic for some of the stuff. My other thinking about this is what I do is yeah, I review gear, I make some music, but most of what I do is video-based. I need some video stuff and I'm going to need a mic. I was listening to your podcast with Drew Behringer, and he said, "The Sphere L22," and I just thought, "Yeah, that sounds like a really good idea," because I can do my dynamic mic for my voice where I'm podcasting or broadcasting, because that suits that thing, and it cuts out all the noise of the fans and whatnot. Then I can make it fancy if I want to record, I don't know, something that I need to record in condenser mode.
Chris Barker:
That's another little hack, isn't it? That mic. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah. It is. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
It was Drew's little hack on the rules.
Will Betts:
That's a smart move.
Nick Batt:
I suppose you couldn't argue that it wasn't allowed, because it's been allowed.
Chris Barker:
No.
Will Betts:
Exactly. You found the precedent–.
Chris Barker:
Your honour
Nick Batt:
It's a bit dull. I mean, admittedly I thought, "What a great idea." It's also stereo, so that means I get to at least use two channels of my-
Chris Barker:
Have you actually used it, Nick?
Nick Batt:
Nope. Never. Never used it. I think there's a misconception that I'm somehow an audiophile, and that's clearly not the case. I just thought, "That's actually kind of pretty cool." I have to say that if I've got the M32, which has got Midas preamps, they do sound pretty damn good. They've always passed the tambourine test. I mean, they're not going to be class A APIs, but they are more than adequate for something like that.
Chris Barker:
Tell us about the tambourine test.
Nick Batt:
Tambourine test is where you're testing the mic amp and you're testing the A/Ds. Basically, you shake a tambourine in front of the mic, and it if sounds like a horrible, horrible thing when you've recorded it, then either the A/D can't handle the transients, or the mic amp can't handle the transients and it sounds horrible.
Chris Barker:
Or you've got a terrible tambourine player in.
Nick Batt:
Well, it's not really a timing thing. It's more like a, "Does it not sound like a kind of scrunched up distorted mess?" This is when Gaz Williams told me, he said, "Do the tambourine test." Also if you're reviewing something, it's pretty boring to do a video and a mic amp. But at least if you sic a tambourine on it, you're actually doing something that's sort of... You can demonstrably go, "Okay, and listen. There it is, and it's okay." The tambourine test I'm sure would pass. Well, it has passed because I've done it.
Chris Barker:
I never knew about that. That was a genuine education. Thanks, Nick.
Will Betts:
No, I never knew that either.
Chris Barker:
It's a tambourine test. Yeah. I wonder who was the first person to do the tambourine test. Was it Gaz? It can't be Gaz, was it?
Nick Batt:
No. I'm pretty sure it's probably some old school BBC engineer or something. You can imagine. I imagine recording a tambourine is quite difficult. The transients are off the scale. It's ridiculous.
Chris Barker:
They're also ridiculously loud. Like I have one in a drawer down here, and I open the drawer and-
Nick Batt:
It's still too loud there.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. You open the drawer and it wakes everybody in the house up. It's crazy.
Nick Batt:
Even when you're not using it, it's too loud.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, it's too loud. It's just too loud.
Nick Batt:
Maybe they should create some sort of tambourine storage area case that you could just keep it like in foam and suspended.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that would work in your super villain house. You open the case.
Nick Batt:
I'm not going to waste an item on that though, to be fair.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Okay.
Nick Batt:
I don't even want a tambourine. It's not one of my six.
Chris Barker:
So where does that take us? Item number three, Nick.
Nick Batt:
Right. Okay. This is continuing my video stuff. I'm just going to get a top of the range 4K PTZ robotic camera, because that'll do loads of stuff. It means I've got a video component to what I'm doing. Means I can record videos. That means I can produce videos. It means I can stream videos. All of that stuff, so that's why I'm getting that because it's important to what I do. I mean, I think there's a difference here because obviously, a lot of the people that... I haven't listened to all of the podcast, but they're mostly audio professionals, so they're focusing purely on their mixing or their recording. This video is a big part of what I do.
Will Betts:
Just talking about your setup then, this particular camera, the PTZ camera, can you tell us a bit about this? Have you tried one of these out, and what's so good about it?
Nick Batt:
I'll tell you what, it's the sort of thing that they use in reality TV shows where it's just a super high resolution robotic. It's essentially it moves left, right, up, down and round and round. And it's got a zoom in it. Pan-tilt-zoom is what it stands for. It runs over an Ethernet cable. All the video comes, or whatever you've got. You don't need a video interface to record it. I'm thinking ahead, you see. I just plug it into my network port on my computer, and it turns up in the software that I'm going to use.
Nick Batt:
I've never used it. We used to have one here, but we couldn't afford a good one. This one cost like nine grand. They're really expensive, and they've got great glass in them. As we know, glass is where most of the video is done these days. That's where you get the quality of image. I think it's called a Panasonic AW-UE150. I mean, I've never used it. I've never seen on, but I'm assuming it's brilliant, and that's all I'm going to have, so that's what I'll have.
Will Betts:
Beautiful.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Nice. Does it do audio as well, or is it just pure video?
Nick Batt:
No, it would just do video. I've got an audio interface.
Chris Barker:
Well, I have no comment. I don't know anything about cameras.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, exactly. I don't know about this one, if I'm honest. I just thought I'd need one camera that means I can have. The thing is about a massive image, you can highlight small areas of the screen, you can zoom in, and it still looks all right.
Chris Barker:
Without losing any quality. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah, right. Okay.
Chris Barker:
I guess it's all remote control over that Ethernet as well? You have a bit of software, and you can move it around via that.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
How does this compare to what you're running now for when you're doing your walkthroughs of synths and all this gear?
Nick Batt:
Well, it's similar. I mean, and the next piece of item would be the same. I mean, we haven't got one of those. I mean, what we've got here are a bunch of cameras that all go into video capture cards. We've got six cameras here and six... Well, two with capture cards. That would be eight items, you see, so I can't use that. That's why I've got to have one highly flexible camera.
Will Betts:
To rule them all.
Nick Batt:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. The MusicTech My Forever Studio podcast is supported by EVO by Audient. The fantastic EVO Start Recording Bundle and the EVO 4 and EVO 8 interfaces.
Will Betts:
Yes. If you're a beginner, you can enter the world of audio recording with the EVO Start Recording Bundle, a professional, powerful and versatile solution for home recording from studio grade audio brand Audient. This comprises the EVO 4 audio interface, the remarkably robust SR1 large diaphragm condenser mic, the shock mount, and a set of the Audient EVO SR2000 monitoring headphones.
Chris Barker:
That's right. Featuring loop-back and smartgain, the new EVO bundle and compact interfaces make sure you can achieve studio quality recordings from the start.
Will Betts:
Smartgain means you don't have to worry about setting input levels, making it ideal for music makers who want to spend time creating, not engineer. Loop-back lets you record everything you hear through the interface, making it a great fit for home recording rigs, podcasters, streamers and content creators.
Chris Barker:
EVO Start Recording Bundle is suggested to retail at 199 pounds, 220 euros and 249 dollars in the U.S.A.
Will Betts:
Discover EVO online at evo.audio.
Chris Barker:
We're closing in now. There is the-
Nick Batt:
I've got no sense of it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. We can change some stuff up at the end. When Will does the rundown, you'll see. We're on item number four now, right?
Nick Batt:
Okay. Arturia PolyBrute.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Will Betts:
Nice.
Nick Batt:
This was difficult, actually, because I was thinking, "Well, what synth is the one synth that I would have that would kind of get me... " I realised that me answering this question is quite loaded because I review synths, so it might be seen as a kind of... Not an endorsement, but as a kind of, "This is the best synth ever." It's not necessarily that. I reviewed it. I thought it was a really interesting and capable instrument that could do massive mono sounds. I mean, it shook the room. Great internal effects, and some really lovely poly sounds.
Nick Batt:
Only six voices admittedly, but that should be enough for anybody really. I could always multi track it. If I need more notes in a chord, I'll do that. It's also very performative, which is an important thing, which means I can play it in realtime. This is another thing with me thinking ahead, all the controls output MIDI CCs, which means I can map them to all kinds of functions, which means I don't have to have a MIDI controller because I could use this as a MIDI controller for doing other stuff.
Chris Barker:
And the Midas desk as well with the faders there. Yeah.
Nick Batt:
I'm going to be rolling in MIDI control. MIDI is really important to me, the way I work. There are so many ways that it can be used to control stuff that I'm only beginning to explore. In this studio here, MIDI controls everything. It controls the camera switching. It controls all kinds of sick controls. Lots and lots of stuff.
Chris Barker:
I like the idea of your super villain house being MIDI controlled.
Nick Batt:
It could be, couldn't it? Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Like DMX MIDI lights and-
Nick Batt:
Exactly. A 1980s smart house.
Chris Barker:
A 1980s smart house. Yeah. All on MIDI CCs. That's great. Yeah. If you accidentally play the wrong notes or you think you were just in the cutoff filter-
Nick Batt:
The garage door is open.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. The garage door is opening and closing.
Will Betts:
Oh, the boat's gone.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. You've accidentally launched your boat into the River Dart when you thought you were actually-
Nick Batt:
Yeah. All the torpedoes fire. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Your fishing torpedoes.
Nick Batt:
I like the idea of that.
Will Betts:
Tell us how is the PWM on the PolyBrute for you?
Nick Batt:
It's perfectly adequate. There are multiple sources. I can modulate it in many different ways. I'm trying to think. There was one with a better PWM, which is... I'm trying to remember what it was. That's the thing with reviewing so many synths, it's kind of hard to remember exactly what they were. Ah, the Hydrasynth. Yeah. The Hydrasynth has great PWM, because it has the mutators, which you can do some great stuff with those. I suppose I could have got one of those, but I just there are more knobs on a PolyBrute, and it's just got that special something. Just a little bit more interesting analogy-wise. And it's analogy. Got to have something analogue, right?
Chris Barker:
Is that the one with the nice expressive controller built into it as well? Is that the-
Nick Batt:
Yeah. It looks like an expressive E controller, but it's not. It's not as sensitive as theirs, and it doesn't have the same number of axis. I don't know. I mean, I could live without that in my life. Actually I thought that joystick, I could probably map that to control my PTZ, you see, which would make a lot of sense.
Chris Barker:
Just tracking yourself.
Nick Batt:
I'm being very practical here. This is the thing that I've noticed with the ones that I've listened to yours of your podcast before is people are, they're not necessarily thinking totally practically on how everything will have a function. I don't want to waste any functionality in this, because it's got to last me forever, right? So I've got to be able to do everything I need to do with it. I don't want to get to day one and go, "Oh, I forgot this. I forgot my three pin whatever it was," or, "I forgot that." I know we're getting cable. Do I get internet?
Will Betts:
You can have internet. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
You get all of that. You're not going to be completely isolated with only the fish as friends. It's fine.
Nick Batt:
Does that mean I can download freeware and kind of utilities and stuff like that? Is that allowed?
Chris Barker:
You can do it, but Will does kind of Mission Impossible down every night from your roof and delete software. It's while it lasts, basically, because Will gets all the gear on, he lowers himself down, and he deletes all the freeware.
Nick Batt:
I think you're going to have trouble getting past my Bond villain type security, but I'm up for-
Chris Barker:
Especially with that remote control camera. That's going to be coming useful for that as well, isn't it? You can get your MIDI controller by your bed to control the cameras.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, perfect.
Will Betts:
I'm actually a gymnast, so we'll see. We'll see.
Nick Batt:
Right. Well, maybe yeah. You've got whatever on me there. I'm definitely not a gymnast. Nor have I ever been.
Chris Barker:
Will, we're going to have to do some kind of promo video for the podcast now with you in full leotard gym gear, you realise?
Nick Batt:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative). Not a problem.
Chris Barker:
Item number five. Moving on swiftly.
Nick Batt:
Okay. Right. My next two items are software, and I'm going to go back to my video stuff. It's vMix, which is basically what we use to switch and record everything here. And it streams. It'll stream, it'll record. It will also playlist, which means I can edit rudimentary videos, because I just record a bit and then put in a playlist and then play it out. See, it also will work as a video editor, but it allows me to stream and record. Rather than getting a proper video editing bit of software, I'm getting this because I figured I could get it to do pretty much whatever I want.
Will Betts:
Wow.
Chris Barker:
What would have been an extra tactic here is if you'd have chosen this as your door, and then not have Ableton.
Nick Batt:
No, because it doesn't actually have a timeline.
Chris Barker:
Oh, right. Okay.
Nick Batt:
It's not a timeline based thing. If I recorded something into it, say an intro, and then I did another couple of bits and I recorded that, then I'd have to bring those in and put them in a playlist and adjust the start and end position. I mean, real old school. It's like going back to using sound Designer II and playlisting edits. That's like how old school it would be. If that's all I got, it's all I got, right?
Chris Barker:
Didn't Mr. Oizo make his album in video editing software, for the Flat Beat, the Analogue Worms Attack album? I think that was done in like video. I interviewed him once and asked him how he made his beats so wonky and the sounds, and his answer was because he doesn't have any grid. He can't snap to grid. It's just a video timeline, so it's all by eye. Just like looking. Yeah. I'm not sure he does that anymore, but I guess inject some flavour into your music by using video editing software to record.
Nick Batt:
Absolutely.
Will Betts:
Now Chris, had you heard of vMix before, because I hadn't?
Chris Barker:
I've not.
Nick Batt:
Oh, you've not? Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Well, I think is it the Roland thing?
Will Betts:
No.
Nick Batt:
No. It's an Australian bit of software that runs on PC only.
Chris Barker:
Oh, right. No, I haven't heard of it. I thought because there was no vMix controllers. I think actually in fact, Will, in fact you're right. I can see what you're doing here, Will. We should have done it before, really. It just feels like it's wrong to do this. Nick, we don't announce this in the intro so you don't game the system, but we actually have a new little secret rule on this series, which is rare find.
Will Betts:
That's a rare find.
Chris Barker:
Now, if you choose something that me and Will have never heard of before, you get it for free.
Nick Batt:
Oh, really?
Chris Barker:
But I'm a little bit sceptical when you're choosing video gear, because we're not video guys. But I think it's legit, and I think... Yeah, true. Okay, fine. But that means that Nick gets two items back, because I've never heard of that camera either. Have you?
Nick Batt:
Oh, no. I feel like just because I'm talking about stuff that you don't inhabit the world of, that feels a bit-
Chris Barker:
It's a one and done. You get an extra. You get a bonus. You can't have two.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Nick Batt:
Okay.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Nick Batt:
Okay. Wow.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I think that's good as well, because I want to hear.
Nick Batt:
It throws something in there. Because I've considered this quite carefully, there's no surprises. I'm not going to change my mind. Well, shall I go to number six, or do I have to come up with my bonus bit now?
Chris Barker:
No. Do number six. So you got vMix for free, and you get a bonus item. We'll do number six, and then we'll see what you've got.
Nick Batt:
Right. I'm going to for VCV Rack.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
Nice choice, actually.
Nick Batt:
Because I figured I'd need some expansion to my synthesis and my modular stuff. Are you going for bundle? Is that a bundle?
Chris Barker:
It feels like a bundle. It's modular.
Will Betts:
It's digital modular, right? I mean, it's-
Nick Batt:
Okay. What about when you download it?
Will Betts:
It's sort of like buying the power supply and case for a physical modular. That's one item. Okay. You can try and convince us now. We'll let you. Okay.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, come one.
Nick Batt:
All right. Well, it's free, and it comes as standard, shall we say, unexpanded with a whole bunch of modules. That basically means that I can patch and do more interesting synthesis technics, and more interesting synthesiser stuff without having to have the hardware.
Chris Barker:
I mean, you've got Live Suite though, haven't you? I mean, you could use Max for Live to do some of this stuff. How are you on that kind of side of things?
Nick Batt:
I suppose I could probably figure it out, but-
Chris Barker:
I don't want to. "I want to use VCV Rack over here, Chris. I don't want to figure it out."
Nick Batt:
Okay. I might have to look this up and see what it comes with, because I think you might be right. I hadn't actually considered that, and I think by the rules, that's-
Chris Barker:
I mean, is this the kind of thing that still works with... Could you output Control Voltage from the Midas? Will it do that?
Nick Batt:
No. I don't think it's got Control Voltage. But it doesn't need to have Control Voltage. It just has to have MIDI. I mean, I guess I could. We'll certainly see what happens. What does it say when you download it? VCV Rack. I don't know what it comes with. I should have done me research. I'm hoisted.
Will Betts:
Do you know what? There might be a small get out here, because we did allow... Who did we allow to have a modular system? We said, "It's one. You can have a MOG if it's somebody's... " Was it?
Nick Batt:
Well, yes. I heard that one. Yeah.
Will Betts:
It's fair. I mean, yeah. It's VCV Rack. Fine. I mean, there's a lot of rules being bent today. We're in a very good mood.
Nick Batt:
I don't feel like I should be getting any special treatment.
Will Betts:
You're not, Nick.
Nick Batt:
I'm desperately thinking what the hell I would do instead. I'll have to think about that for a little, because that means I've got to replace two of my items, which is quite difficult.
Chris Barker:
Let's talk about your bonus item. Will, you've got the video software for free, because we've never heard of that, v-Mix. It sounds pretty cool. For anybody wanting to stream, it sounds like something they should definitely check out. How much is v-Mix? Is it free, or is that... No?
Nick Batt:
No, it's a grand.
Chris Barker:
Okay. It's a serious bit of kef. It is dream studio stuff as well. Yeah. Let's talk about the bonus item, Nick. I mean, one synth will be a surprise to a lot of people. I mean, VCV is a synth as well, but you know what I mean. No vintage? I mean, what's been one of your all-time favourites, or what don't you have in your collection? This doesn't have to be your bonus item.
Nick Batt:
Yeah. I suppose the thing is is I've got tonnes of synths. I've got synths that I've had since I started doing this thing. I've got synths that I had when I started remixing. I think I've got like a Mono/Poly. I've got CS-15. I haven't got any really big kind of flag... Well, I've got Jupiter-6. I suppose that's a big flagship thing.
Chris Barker:
Which one would you run in and grab if it was on fire?
Nick Batt:
Probably Jupiter-6 because it's most valuable, and it would feed me for if my house had burnt down.
Chris Barker:
That was a bit negative. Nothing else to burn down here.
Will Betts:
If you've accidentally torpedoed your lair, then you run in and grab the Jupiter-6?
Nick Batt:
I think so. I mean, that's my most sort of single most impressive synthesiser I've got item-wise. I mean, there's loads of stuff here that's lying around that's just kind of going to be sent back and boxed. Whatever. But as someone who reviews synthesisers, I don't generally buy them because I've always got something that I'm playing around with. There are synths that I reach for because they're more immediate and they just sort of doing something that I really like. There's the Dreadbox stuff. Everybody knows I'm a big fan of that stuff. I think the Erebus mark two is amazing. It's just one of those things when you just play the oscillators to people, they go, "Oh my god." When you can hear a synth that's just got an oscillator that makes you go, "Good grief. That sounds amazing," and you're not doing anything else, then you know you're starting with a pretty good thing.
Chris Barker:
Is there anything you've sold over the years that you regret?
Nick Batt:
I did actually have the MS... What did I have? I had an MS-50 and an SQ-10. And I've got an MS-20, so I had the full set. I didn't have the vocoder. I swapped the SQ-10 and the MS-50 for the Jupiter-6.
Chris Barker:
Okay. So not too bad a trade. It wasn't like-
Nick Batt:
I'm told that the MS-50 is highly sought after and rare. But to be honest, it sounded pants to me. It was really difficult to use. It didn't really have that much of a sound that I thought it...
Chris Barker:
But I was worried it was going to be one of those stories that sometimes people tell where they've traded that from something newfangled technology of the era. Like, "Oh, I traded it for a-"
Nick Batt:
You know what? I haven't. I haven't. I mean, because I've been fortunate enough to hang onto most of my synths. I mean, I didn't have an enormous amount of them. When you're remixing, which is what I was doing, it was a working studio, most of the stuff that I bought that I moved on was things that provided lots of voices. Things like JV-1080s. It's like, "I've got me synth that does the bass sound and a wiggly acid line, but I haven't got something that will play two electric pianos and a string pad." Those are the things that would tend to be more transient, because they're also very much tied to the sound of the moment. Analogue is a bit less mercurial. It's a forever kind of sound. In my opinion, you can use it for lots of things. But the stuff that is the latest technology, your Korg 01/W, which I've actually still got, but I lent it to... What happens is I tend to lend my old instruments to kids of friends of mine. If they go, "Oh, my daughter wants to be in a band," I go, "Well, borrow this for a while."
Chris Barker:
Here's a JV-1080.
Nick Batt:
Here's a JV-1080. Yeah.
Will Betts:
They're probably back in, to be honest.
Chris Barker:
Good luck with the band.
Nick Batt:
Yeah. I didn't do that. I sold the 1080, actually. I did sell the 1080. And samplers, move those on because you don't need them anymore. I've only really bought and sold that kind of stuff. So S1000s, S900s. I wish I'd kept an S900 handy, because they've just got something about them. I think I would have liked to have kept a Mirage, because they just have a sound that is really quite unique. It reminds me of those early days of being thrilled by the concept of sampling, because that's what I had. But Christ, they were so difficult to use. I mean, hexadecimal. A three character hexadecimal display for editing and dealing with samples. Not a great-
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Back when you had to be a real musician to when you had to programme synths like that and samplers.
Nick Batt:
I don't think that washes. What you had to be is just desperate to get something good out of it. You just like, "Oh, I've got to do this. I've got to do that." I suppose there's something to be said for having to work a little bit harder, but then it's a bit like sort of having to climb a fence to get in. It's just like, "Well, you could just open the door." Do you know what I mean? It's like, "Why don't you just make it easy?" You don't have to drive around the whole of the UK in the back of a transit van for 10 years to qualify for being any good.
Chris Barker:
That's fair. That's good. So what's the bonus item going to be, Nick? Going through that long list of history... I mean, it doesn't have to be one of those, but I mean-
Nick Batt:
I thought it had to be not synth. I thought it had to be something-
Chris Barker:
No, no. This is for your free for the v-Mix, because we got v-Mix for free, so you get an additional before we get to luxury item.
Nick Batt:
Oh, okay. Right. I'm torn between a proper video editing piece of software.
Chris Barker:
This is going to be one of those podcasts that never ends, Will, because Nick's going to keep choosing video bits that we've never heard of, get it for free, and then get another one until he's basically got the BBC. Yeah. Yeah. Broadcasting house on the River Dart. I'll have broadcasting house. Yeah. Done.
Nick Batt:
I'm going to actually sort it. I'm going to go for a piano.
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Will Betts:
Yeah. What kind?
Nick Batt:
I don't care really. I mean, I'm not a big piano aficionado. One of those massively expensive Yamaha Grands or a Steinway. I think the Yamahas have got a sort of... Was it the C3 or was it the one that's really beautiful? I'll go for one of them. Big Yamaha grand piano.
Chris Barker:
An actual Yamaha, not a Bosendorfer, because they own Bosendorfer as well, don't they?
Will Betts:
Sounds good. Yeah. Let's see.
Nick Batt:
Bosendorfers are a bit more dusty sounding from what I remember. Bosendorfers a bit more sort of old kind of jazz vibe from what I recall. Yeah. There's going to be people screaming at the podcast going, "You know nothing."
Chris Barker:
I don't know anything about it as well.
Nick Batt:
You'd be right, because I really don't know much about pianos. But I'd like a really nice piano, because you could do a load of stuff with that. If I've got a Sphere L22, I can mic it up properly. Yeah. I'll go for a really nice piano. What are they called, the big Yamaha? The one that everybody samples. Yamaha. Is it a C-
Will Betts:
It's a CX?
Nick Batt:
C3. It is a C3. C3 grand pianos.
Will Betts:
C3. C3X. Okay.
Nick Batt:
I'm looking here at an interest free credit deal on a Yamaha. That was my random search there. The piano shop is actually the piano shop in Bath. They've got a Yamaha C3. Oh, that's nice. They're not very expensive. Only 100 or so grand.
Chris Barker:
Go on, Will.
Will Betts:
Do you want to do something even bigger and better and more expensive, which would be the slightly larger C5.
Nick Batt:
What's that? I've never heard that before.
Will Betts:
Which has 14 centimetres of extra width to it. Or depth. I'm not entirely sure what the measurement is exactly. It's 30 kilogrammes heavier. I can tell you that.
Chris Barker:
Girth. I think they're measuring girth with pianos. I think girth.
Nick Batt:
It's just bigger.
Will Betts:
Sure.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. A nice big, girthy piano.
Nick Batt:
That was excellent on the spot research there, Will. I must say, that's quick.
Chris Barker:
No, that's all in his head, Nick. Don't ruin it. Don't ruin it for the listeners. This is why he's on the show. It's all in his head. He's a volt of knowledge. Will, I think it's time for you to do the rundown. Set the scene, and then Nick can hear what he's got. Then we've got an opportunity for any changes, or we go on to the luxury items. Run us through it, Will.
Will Betts:
We're on the River Dart in Devon in a luxury boathouse twixt Dittisham and Dartmouth with a launch pad for your motorboat. Inside it's homely but functional. Your computer is a PC with the biggest graphics card available, all the RAM, and a very, very fast central processing unit. Your DAW is Ableton Live 11 Suite. Your audio interface, and possibly the best manoeuvring of the rules we've ever seen, is a Midas M32 desk. Still slightly unhappy about that, but we'll go with it. Your monitoring, you're going with a pair of ATC SCM50ASL Pros. Your microphone is a Townsend Labs Sphere L22. Another very good almost bundle. You have a PTZ 4K robotic camera from Panasonic, the AW-UE150. Very memorable name, that.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, it's catchy.
Will Betts:
So catchy. For synths, you've gone for the Arturia PolyBrute, which is a very good choice indeed. Your freebie was v-Mix, the video streaming and editing software. That is your rare find. You've also gone for software, the VCV Rack. You can only have the basic edition.
Nick Batt:
That's fine.
Will Betts:
That's okay? Okay. Fine. We'll allow it. Then your bonus item for fooling us is the Yamaha grand C5X piano. In piano black I assume.
Nick Batt:
I think so. There might be some sort of more exotic finish I could go for. I don't know. I quite fancy something like could I have it spray painted in a kind of Roy Lichtenstein kind of look?
Will Betts:
Yes. Absolutely. Beautiful. Done.
Chris Barker:
That would be nice.
Will Betts:
It's written down. It's going on the order form.
Nick Batt:
It should be a Steinway if it's got Lichtenstein, but I'm prepared to just go with the fact that they don't. A Lichtensteinway.
Chris Barker:
Was there some kind of onomatopoeic on top of something?
Will Betts:
How do you think that would work for you as a studio then, Nick?
Nick Batt:
I think it would be challenging because there would be only a couple of... Well, I suppose there are three sounds, so I can do a lot of great, ambient piano music with massive drones on the Poly. I'd have my foot on the sustain pedal permanently with the piano. I'd have the PolyBrute in hold. I'd have some sort of wittering going on on VCV Rack, which I would be sequencing. Then I would also be able to stream it all live and run a massive frozen reverb on... Well, no. I can actually run eight frozen reverbs on the X32 M32.
Nick Batt:
The thing is is there's a quantum room simulator algorithm in the X32. The QRS was an antique digital Australian unit that was used very much up here at Gabriel in Passion Sources. Passion was a soundtrack with Passion of Christ, which was a very groundbreaking soundtrack at the time. They used to use that because it has a freeze function. The freeze function is also in the QRS that they did on the algorithm in the X32 or the M32. You can put in these enormous reverbs and then just hold them there. I mean, most stuff has it now, but that, when the M32 came out, many reverbs didn't have the freeze function. Software now, people are doing it all the time. It's starting to show up a lot more. But actually back then it wasn't.
Chris Barker:
Which software is it in? I've not seen any.
Nick Batt:
It's not. It's just in the X32 operating system, and it's in the Behringer XR18. Any of the Behringer family of digital mixers, so the X variety or the M variety, have this algorithm available as an effect.
Will Betts:
I think you can also freeze the reverb in the new hybrid reverb in Ableton.
Nick Batt:
Yes. Yeah, you can. Yeah. Yeah. That's true.
Chris Barker:
What about third-party plug-ins? Well, which is any ones that freeze. I mean-
Nick Batt:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
I haven't bought a reverb
Nick Batt:
Doesn't Valhalla do it? One of those guys does it. There's definitely one in Ableton, because we did some Racks, Freeze Machines. We did these little downloads that you did for Ableton Live, which have a freeze in them. If you do it right, what you could do is use it almost like a sound on sound. You start with one note, and then you tip a bit more into the reverb, and you can create these big sort of chords. We do a whole series of those. There's like five of them with a little synth at the beginning, and then the frozen reverb and some filtering and distortion and stuff.
Chris Barker:
Frozen reverb just sounds cool anyway, doesn't it?
Nick Batt:
It does. I mean, and it is cool. I mean, it's very much it's not for everybody, and it's become a bit of a cliché, but hey. There's nothing wrong with it. If I'm a villain cliché, I can be a dualist jammer ambient cliché as well. Why not?
Chris Barker:
I like my reverb frozen.
Nick Batt:
Yes. Not stirred.
Chris Barker:
Okay. No changes. You're happy with that?
Nick Batt:
I think I am. Yeah. I think I am happy with that.
Chris Barker:
Now it comes to the luxury item. Not a piece of gear, but something that you'd like to have in the studio or that you've always taken to a studio.
Nick Batt:
You know those in sort of Tokyo and the highly sort of... And L.A. I think they do them as well is one of those pools that is basically like the size of an inspection pit in a garage. It's just got a jet of water that you fire down, and you swim against it. It's like a swimming practise place, and you swim. I just jump in there, do a few lengths, but I don't have to actually swim up and down. It's very small. It's like swimming against the current in a box. It sounds like there could be some really terrible accidents that could happen in that if somebody turned it up loud too powerfully. You could be pressed against the wall and come to a horrible end. But I've always fancied one of those. Don't ask me why. I'm not a very keen swimmer. I just thought, "That's interesting."
Chris Barker:
I'm not a keen swimmer. I'm just getting into this pit with water and fire.
Nick Batt:
I used to swim a lot.
Chris Barker:
It sounds terrifying. Well, that is an original answer. I like the idea of through the window of the control room, you've just got this garage inspection pit full of water.
Nick Batt:
I don't know what they call them. Will, you can help me out. I'm sure you must have in your visit to the palatial offices and studios of the rich and famous, you must have seen one of these somewhere.
Will Betts:
It's called an endless swimming machine, and you can get one. It's made my Endless Pools. Or there's the Swimfinity Endless Pool as well. We've got options here.
Nick Batt:
Does that come with a jingle? Fantastic. To be honest, I didn't research it very much. I just thought, "Yeah, I've seen one of those. Whatever those are."
Chris Barker:
Swimfinity. I mean, it's nice.
Nick Batt:
Swimfinity sounds good. Yeah, it's got a thing.
Will Betts:
Swimfinity.
Nick Batt:
Goes with the frozen reverb, doesn't it?
Chris Barker:
It does, yeah. I like the idea of you just endlessly swimming against it next to the River Dart as well.
Nick Batt:
Yeah. Well, I wouldn't want to go in there. God, it's probably full of diesel oil or nuclear waste.
Chris Barker:
You chose to live there, mate.
Nick Batt:
Yeah, but it looks nice. I don't necessarily want to live in the river. I want to live by the river.
Will Betts:
Fair.
Chris Barker:
Okay, fair. That's nice. So a Swimfinity pool. I don't know. If anybody places bets on the podcasts, if anybody got that for Nick Batt's luxury item, then I'll be really surprised. That's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Well, that brings us to the end of the podcast. Thank you so much, Nick, for joining us and telling us your choices. Much coming up for you? I know it's pandemic time, but you still doing your thing over on sonicstate.com? What about music and that other stuff?
Nick Batt:
Well, less music. It's funny, it goes in phases, doesn't it? Quite often, where I get my creativity is at the end of a review, I might have a riff or something that I'll just noodle around with, and it leads to maybe a Friday jam or whatever. I'm not feeling like creativity oozing out of my body during this particular period of time. I think it ebbs and flows, doesn't it? Now that things feel a little more positive, perhaps I'll become really prolific. But I don't see why I would break the habit of a lifetime, to be honest.
Chris Barker:
Excellent. Well, thanks again for joining us. It's been absolutely fantastic having you on. Yeah. We'll see you again soon. Hopefully, for a pint in real life. Imagine that.
Nick Batt:
Absolutely.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Lovely stuff. Thank you, Nick.
Nick Batt:
Thank you very much.
Chris Barker:
Well, well, well. Thank you, Nick Batt. I mean, Will, who could have predicted a video heavy Bond villain-esc space for his forever studio. Mad.
Will Betts:
Yeah. That Swimfinity pool was quite the curve ball, Chris.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Yeah. I think we all were just imagining Nick swimming against the tide endlessly outside the River Dart. Yeah. Love it. Love it. Anyway, all that's left to say is if you're a fan of the My Forever Studio podcast, make sure you subscribe using your favourite podcasting app.
Will Betts:
Yes. And be sure to give us a five-star rating. We do read every review. If you want to contact us or make suggestions for guests, email us at editors@musictech.net. Definitely definitely do.
Chris Barker:
Anyway, on the show next week we have electronic music producer, composer and DJ legend Mr. King Britt.
Will Betts:
Yeah. I'm really looking forward to that one, Chris.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, me too. It's going to be excellent. So we will see you next time for more adventures into studio forever land.
Will Betts:
Bye bye.
Chris Barker:
Bye bye.