Critically-acclaimed British house music producer Laurence Guy has a sample-heavy sound that’s earned him upwards of 60 million streams. In this episode, we talk about recording detuned pianos with low-quality mics, tracks getting stuck in copyright purgatory, tricks for warm-sounding mixes. We also upsell his dreams multiple times.
Critically-acclaimed British house music producer Laurence Guy has a sample-heavy sound that’s earned him upwards of 60 million streams. In this episode, we talk about recording detuned pianos with low-quality mics, tracks getting stuck in copyright purgatory, tricks for warm-sounding mixes. We also upsell his dreams multiple times.
Season 5 is sponsored by Audient: audient.com
STUFF WE TALK ABOUT (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau
https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/volt-4-usb.html
https://reverb.com/uk/item/364644-fender-rhodes-suitcase-73-fully-restored
https://www.soundtoys.com/product/echoboy/
https://sxpro.co.uk/echo-fix-ef-x2-blue/
https://reverb.com/uk/item/61803291-akg-c422-stereo-microphone-c414-1980-s-black
https://www.krkmusic.com/Studio-Monitors/V8
https://www.thomann.de/gb/thorens_td_1601_walnut.htm
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/at-lp140xp
Chris Barker
Hello, I'm Chris Barker.
Will Betts
And I'm Will Betts and this is the music tech my forever studio podcast brought to you in partnership with audience. And we're coming to you this time from TYX in Tileyard Studios, London.
Chris Barker
That's right. In this podcast, we speak with producers, engineers, DJs, and musicians about their fantasy forever studio.
Will Betts
The dream studio that our guests come up with is one that they're going to have to live with forever. But even in studio forever them we have a few rules.
Chris Barker
Yes, the rules. So I guess get a DAW an audio interface and a computer those are free, but then they only get six other bits of studio kit plus one luxury item.
Will Betts
You do have one more important rule though, don't we? Chris? We
Chris Barker
do. Know bundle choosing something sold as a separate package of hardware or software together as a bundle is not allowed.
Will Betts
This time, we're joined by a critically acclaimed British house music producer, whose sample heavy production sound has earned him over 60 million streams.
Chris Barker
Yep. And with continuous remixes releases and the DJ touring schedule is busier than ever. But I still think we can absorb some drinks today.
Will Betts
Let's see if we can this is my forever studio with Laurence Guy,
Unknown Speaker
Laurence. Hello.
Laurence Guy
Hello. How you doing?
Chris Barker
Very good. Very good. So we've done some prep for the podcast today. This is
Laurence Guy
a lot of work. Yeah, I wanted to make sure that I didn't just waffle on about random stuff, which I probably still will do. Anyway, the podcast.
Chris Barker
Basically, waffles just made sure
Laurence Guy
that I've like got a couple of things set in stone. And then okay, yeah, I'll try and like work the others out on the fly.
Chris Barker
Well, before we get to that, I guess let's talk a little bit about sort of, you know, your career so far and getting started in in the base. And your background, especially with regards to sort of studio and kit like,
Laurence Guy
yeah, so I basically started off when I was like 12 years old, and I bought a copy while my mom bought me a copy of like hip hop, EJ, I don't know if you remember those that play I don't even know it was it was on PC. But in like PC World, you had all these different genres of EJ. And basically, it's just a sequencer with a load of loops. And you drag and drop the loops. But you can also edit the sequences a little bit so you can go a bit further. And when I started doing that, I realized that it was a lot of fun. And then I moved on to Fruity Loops, like most people at that time, and then was just obsessed with that for the next. I probably use that for about 10 years. And then I moved to logic, and now I've moved to Ableton,
Chris Barker
so it's not using EJ anymore.
Laurence Guy
No, you said he might bring it back to FX. Specifically hip hop, though. So you were you were I didn't really know like the difference between most of them. I just sort of thought you had dance music EJ hip hop, trance. I asked that they had like everything you could think of that's just the one that had the coolest cover. So
Chris Barker
I'll sort of go for that. Okay, so it wasn't like you wouldn't want to be a hip hop producer specifically,
Laurence Guy
specifically No, I kind of was into probably more like, band orientated music. Like, I was into corn and Incubus and stuff like that for a bit. And I was also into hip hop. I got into Drum and Bass pretty early around, similar sort of time. So heavy music essentially, like, yeah, basically like the the kind of drum and bass I was into initially was essentially like the, the emo equivalent of electronic music, you know, like, technical issues or current value, like really extreme angsty music, which is kind of like for me felt the same as all the angsty bands. Yeah, essentially.
Chris Barker
So as soon as you got FL you were trying to make trying to specifically more make stuff like that.
Laurence Guy
Exactly. Yeah. Have you ever most was the goal. I never quite got there.
Chris Barker
And you still just still, you know, delve into doing that. Even if stuff doesn't come out. You'd like I make
Laurence Guy
a lot of drilling by still. Yeah, like more like liquid stuff. I basically just sort of mellowed out over the years in everything.
Chris Barker
So let's, let's talk about, you know, a location for the stream studio as well. And, you know, I mean, where's your studio now? Is it at home? Or do you go somewhere?
Laurence Guy
At the moment, I've got one that I rent with my older brother, that's just down the road from a flat, okay. But essentially, I like to make most music just on the laptop at home. So just on the kitchen table, so it's like,
Chris Barker
it's kind of a very production, then go to the studio. Yeah, if I'm not writing
Laurence Guy
stuff, then I don't really sit down and say, I'm going to do this for eight hours. It's more like, I'll start a loop, then I'll go make a coffee, then I'll go for a walk, then I'll continue to loop then I'll make lunch. It's all very like, integrated into my day. So there's no pressure. It's just like, if I feel like doing it, I'll do it. And then once I've got a bit together, I'll take it to the studios and spend a day or two in there, you know, solid work finishing off. So yeah, that's how I work best basically, just sort of
Chris Barker
briefly that separation is something that you like or ideally in your I mean, for every studio, would you have it in the room next door? Or if
Laurence Guy
it was in the Forever one? Like, ideally, I'd probably be living in the same space.
Chris Barker
So let's talk about that. Where are we going to? Where are we going to put this where in the world or goes forever, there's
Laurence Guy
a place called Fontainebleau, which is in France, which is about 45 minutes from Paris. Basically, my main other passion in life is rock climbing. And it's kind of the epicenter of a form of rock climbing, or bouldering, which is essentially climbing smaller rocks without ropes. And it's somewhere I've been going since I was about 1516 Really regularly. Find it like a super peaceful place. It's really nice place to be around. Doesn't matter how I'm feeling if I go there, I kind of get lifted up. So I want the the studio to be in the middle of the sorry, I should have said it's a massive forest. And I say that
Chris Barker
all right, so it's filled with like massive balls, a
Laurence Guy
forest filled with loads of boulders, yeah. 1000s and 1000s of boulders. So
Chris Barker
you can run these I know, this isn't really music tech, but like, I mean,
Laurence Guy
a very, some of them are really small. Some of them are kind of big and dangerous and scary. So you can pick like, how intense you want to be about it. Yeah, cuz it's robbery, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And they're kind of bundled up into circuit. So you have different difficulties. There might be maybe 50 boulders as part of one circuit. And I've got little colors painted on it. So it's slightly organized. It's slightly organized. Yeah, it's like a real real thing. Like a park for it, rather than it being kind of like a natural one. Yeah. But they've developed over the years. So yeah, you just sort of go around the forest climbing any boulders you want. And it's just a really good way to kind of get into the, the same kind of flow state you want to be in when you're making music, basically, just pure concentration.
Chris Barker
So we're roping off this whole area for your studio, then, while the studio is gonna be just
Laurence Guy
bang in the middle of the forest. I reckon so have you ever seen that film? Ex Machina? Yes, yes. Yeah. The entrance to his or actually just his whole place? Kind of like, sunken. Somewhere into the forest. Yeah. Nice. Just like a huge complex with a little less evil. Evil.
Will Betts
But for like, a lot of subterranean business going on
Laurence Guy
there. But yeah, exactly. Right. But maybe not actually. Maybe just like a big steel glass box in the middle of the forest. Okay. And also, I don't want everyone to be able to see and I don't know, maybe a bit of mix of both.
Will Betts
So some nice big windows. So you can see into the forest maybe Yeah, exactly. Like a big open plan.
Chris Barker
You can have people that fall out boulders. Yeah, exactly.
Laurence Guy
Maybe it'll be a little bit hidden. A little bit hidden away from there. Yeah. The main bit, but Yeah, somewhere in Okay, massive forest.
Will Betts
And so how important is that to you then to feel connected to the outside world when you're in the musical
Laurence Guy
is really nice. Yeah, I liked like I was saying kind of with the writing process. It's not like I don't hunker down and do it. It's like I'll do a little bit and then do anything else and then do a little bit more. So ideally, like I do a little bit I go climb, maybe go into like the little French village and get some food and you know, drink a bit of wine at lunchtime, go back do a bit more just sort of real. It's actually
Chris Barker
a really creative process out there. Because you find out ideas are bad, a lot faster, if you know exactly, yeah, because you're not sometimes you can commit too early. Yeah, too many hours. It was never like,
Laurence Guy
any time to ruminate on things yesterday. So if you do anything else other than making music, you can kind of figure out the key to the tracks a bit quicker. I think rather than just being like, I'm gonna figure this out right now making it really intense and sort of just working yourself into a frenzy, which works for a lot of people but not not for me.
Chris Barker
And what's the sort of vibe in the studio? Like how'd you like studios to be like, Have you been to anybody else's studio or commercial studios that you've loved? Or? You'd like places we go? This just doesn't vibe for me?
Laurence Guy
I haven't been I haven't been to Lowe's to be honest. I mean, what I'd like it to be is pretty simple. Not a lot of stuff in there. So everything kind
Chris Barker
of like Well, good news.
Laurence Guy
Maybe even too much stuff. Like really comfortable really like maybe like a nice sofa. Stick a nice bed in there. Wooden wooden stuff, you know, wouldn't ever say? Yeah, like kitchen. Yeah, just nice. Open plan. really bright, really airy. And that's a plan
Chris Barker
LDK as a studio.
Will Betts
Living kitchen dining.
Chris Barker
Yeah. D sorry. Yeah,
Laurence Guy
I can live my life for sure. Nice. Okay.
Chris Barker
All right. And with that in mind, let's get on to our three free items. The audio interface. Yeah. Da W and whether you're what kind of computer using basically.
Laurence Guy
Okay, so the computer I guess I'll just go for like the most stacked up Mac laptop you can get what's your laptop? Yeah, I think so. Just in case you want to take it? I mean, like wow. I mean, I'm not allowed to have a laptop in my life outside of the studio. No, no, no. Okay. In that case, yeah. A laptop. I'm not too techie about computers. So just wherever they say the best one is max out all of the RAM or whatever.
Chris Barker
That'd be pretty chunky on it. Now make sure it works at the end to now.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, solid state drive, all that all that stuff wherever Really goodness. So yeah, one of those. And then the audio interface. This is what I was looking at yesterday, I was gonna go for an Apollo that the classic UHD. Yeah, that I'm sure many people have chosen. Yeah. I've actually got a new one called the volt, which has, because obviously, if you get the UID that the inbuilt plugins or not, you have to choose one of those, right? They're not included in
Chris Barker
that you get whatever comes with the device, you don't, ya know, you get all
Laurence Guy
of the plugins that come with you. Yeah. Either way, they've got this new one called the vault that looks like it's got some, like amp modeling or buss compressor modeling switches on the input on the device itself.
Will Betts
Yeah, they've got compressors and they've got Yeah, exaggeration II thing going on? So I'd go for that.
Chris Barker
The they model they modeled, I guess, modeled,
Will Betts
I think the compressor is hardware. But I think that the vintage stuff is model potentially a
Chris Barker
bit of a hack there on the interface a
Laurence Guy
little bit. Yeah. So you can kind of like instead of having to have a compressor, and you've got one of those, the UHD volt for which I think is the the most amount of inputs and outputs. So if it's not, then I'll take more. You could
Will Betts
go I don't think you can go from there just yet.
Laurence Guy
I'm sure one of the maybe in this hypothetical future we could.
Will Betts
Well, I mean, like we can't that's that's your vote for is the biggest.
Laurence Guy
The biggest one for good. One of those. One of those, so we're
Chris Barker
changing the interface slightly. Yeah, but don't worry. We're still in there. Right. Okay. And then dw so EJ, you
Laurence Guy
got dance EJ? Scott Kelly and Luke COBOL. Love it. That's all we need. No programming. Mac running Windows. Probably not really bothered about making music anymore. Nice place to retire.
Chris Barker
Yeah, you can just get an assistant with EJ
Laurence Guy
on economy bundles I was wanting to have every genre covered now. For the door DAWs you say? I go for Ableton, okay. Because the way I work mainly is through sampling. So I found I used to I use logic for a little period and it's pretty good but then the difference between logic and Ableton without the ease of manipulating samples is like night and day I think I'm not sure what the latest logic is like but yeah, the Ableton kind of like audio functions is so easy and it's also really detailed so like the walk function, I feel like you can use it as as an effective use the kind of time stretching which now has become like the new equivalent of like, what was the bit of kit that Goldie would have used to kind of come up you know, like the s 9000 or whatever it isn't a 50
Chris Barker
year old kind of like trying to like stretch sound that kind of like speed garish thing that was going on with vocals.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, exactly. So the Ableton sound is different but that's kind of like I feel like the new equivalent and actually you've grown to really like the way that sounds on drums on or anything mostly it's kind of like a weird like warped
Chris Barker
it's quite satisfying to be checked FL Studio out since you left it because that changed a lot and become really popular. Isn't it again?
Laurence Guy
Yeah, no, I haven't I haven't I've never looked back.
Chris Barker
fl fl logic Ableton now your journey. Okay, so we're sticking with Ableton now.
Laurence Guy
Stick with us now. And the other thing about the the walk function is you can make stuff sound, you can make the the edits and really natural. So if you want to get like a sample where it's really wildly out of time, you can with the Warp Markers, you can go in so hard. You can make it seamless. Yeah, and it's really amazing.
Chris Barker
I've seen it I've seen people like speed up vocals as well. insane amounts and they still sound natural by like, going back in after the initial warp and then just re warping the kind of the tremolo of the tails of the so it sounds like a natural. Yeah, so. So the vibrato is natural, even though the vocal sped up massively, yeah.
Will Betts
What are the tricks do you have like that then for making samples work together?
Laurence Guy
I mean, in terms of like making them work together, musically, it's kind of just luck of the draw almost like you can pitch stuff, but if it's not going to work, it's not going to work. But the key is just a sample so much stuff. Sometimes I might spend a day just sampling stuff and kind of arranging it a little bit and chopping stuff up. And then that means when I'm making music, I can just drag and drop stuff that I've already done. Like I make sound like you're
Chris Barker
using EJ exactly
Laurence Guy
exactly like that. Yeah, make like sampler instruments on the drum rack. So yeah, the way to make them work together is just trial and error, basically. And we just got so used to it now that's kind of like my instrument, I guess it's something.
Will Betts
And that's interesting today is a completely separate process for you, then are you are you kind of jumping back in and resampling as you're making these tracks? Or do you see them as separate?
Laurence Guy
I mean, it really depends, like, a lot of the time it's separate. I might spend a day, go to a charity shop, Bilotta records, take them back, chop them all up. And it's not organized, like haven't got folders saying like keys, bass or anything like that. It's just sort of like a chop a few things up. And then I'll bank them. And then I'll use them. And I'm making tracks, or I'll just go straight in, just put a kick drum on and just start needle dropping and solving stuff on the fly like that. So either way, so separate, but not so
Chris Barker
let me, let me ask this. How much stuff have you have you got that you can't release because of copyright or labels? stuff? Like loads? Yeah. Yeah. Nobody must be to stay out of your own head thinking about that in the creative process. And just saying, I just want to make a good track. Let's figure out that stuff afterwards. Yeah, it must be quite difficult, like, especially if you find something you've got, you know that this is signed to a major or some.
Laurence Guy
I mean, it is. Yeah, it's much more of a problem now, like before, I didn't really worry about x. I wasn't sort of, you know, the music wasn't being listened to as many people. I was just kind of like, Let's do whatever. So I got rid
Chris Barker
of DJ tools, I guess, as well as that kind of thing as well. Yeah.
Laurence Guy
So yeah, it's definitely hard. I mean, you have like this new website called track live with. And I've seen that it's actually really good. When I first started using it. I was like, No, I can't I can't do this. It's not the same. But they have a really good catalog on there now. So I'm using that a bit more. But to be honest, it feels a little bit soulless to me to not have not have the record itself.
Chris Barker
And this night is part of the creative process. And again, finding something and thinking I'm the only one with this. Yeah, exactly.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, they get attached to like different memories, you know. So if you go to a shop on a certain day, and you buy a sample and you sample it, it's in a track, you listen to that track, and you're just you know exactly who you're with when you boil it down how you're feeling so and that I think must bleed into the music. Yeah. So that's the word of this is the dream studio. So there's no sample clearance problems in the dream salty, free.
Will Betts
Wow, that is
Laurence Guy
all a dream, right. So
Will Betts
yeah, publishers everywhere sweating
Laurence Guy
in this industrial in this room? Yeah, exactly.
Chris Barker
So we've got the audio interface of the computer, and the DAW, all locked in there. So now we move on to the first item,
Laurence Guy
first item on this stick Fender Rhodes in the because you want old one? No, one of the suitcase like the original one? The new one, so? I don't know. I don't know. Okay. So yeah, basically, just because that's like, I mean, already actually played on one for the first time, a few weeks ago. But even before that, I was kind of have always been obsessed with having monitors. It's just the sound of, I don't know, 1000s of my favorite records, from like, you know, hip hop records, and then the records that they sampled jazz records, like, it's just, I think, the ultimate sounding instrument. And just, yeah, just like putting the sustain pedal on and hitting some notes on that. It's just the most, it's one of the best things ever. So even if I don't use it in the tracks, I just want to have it.
Will Betts
Yeah. And are you a keyboardist as well?
Laurence Guy
Yeah, I play the piano. Not super well, but like, well enough now to do what I want to do so
Chris Barker
and to enjoy robots, you know? I mean, exactly. And if you're not using it in your music, it's inspirational. Just Yeah, real instrument.
Laurence Guy
So definitely go for one of those. And then this is it gets a little bit tricky because there's an audio output otherwise, right? So you don't need external amplification amplification. But an amp would be another item right in the studio, like a guitar or a bass.
Chris Barker
You can get the roads, you can buy them with like a suitcase thing under them.
Laurence Guy
Can't you like a Does that count as a bundle? No,
Chris Barker
I don't think so. I think I think
Will Betts
it depends what you want. What do you want? I mean, like let's just draw the line somewhere.
Laurence Guy
If there's one with like a built in amplifier, or like a joy amplifier that I'll take that just so there's a possibility of miking up the amp, as well as just taking the audio output. Yeah, look, the
Chris Barker
suitcase, I think. Isn't that bottom bit. Sorry. For everybody looking at pictures of roads on Google. Yeah,
Will Betts
there are you can do this. Okay, fine.
Chris Barker
Leave it with you. We'll make a call on it one day and yeah. All right. Then well, for now, let's lock in a Rhodes. Yep. Like a vintage Rhodes. Yeah, and we'll move on to item number two.
Laurence Guy
Item number two is going to be an upright piano. And the same upright piano that I've got in my studio, which is used to be like grandma's then she gave it to my mum, my mum has not given it to me. And it hasn't been tuned in a long time. But it sounds insane. Like it sounds great. It's not anything fancy. Be I'd have to have that in there. It's all over.
Chris Barker
Has that been a record? Have you sampled it? Yeah, it's
Laurence Guy
been on. It's on like three or four of the tracks from my next album. It's definitely on a few from the first. Yeah, the way I recorded it for the album was just with my iPhone. So I put my iPhone on the side of the piano, which is useful
Chris Barker
for this show. Because
Laurence Guy
yeah, cuz it that's an that's not you get fast. I
Chris Barker
was okay with phones.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, I would just put the the iPhone next to it, play. And a lot of the time I've had the window open or the door open, so kind of picks up that as well. And then I'd resample it by the time you've done that, like the sound of it just pure nostalgia. Sounds great. So I'd have that. That piano in there for sure.
Will Betts
Question on that piano? If it hasn't been tuned for a long time? Are you having to tune it up to fit with other parts in your track? Are you tuning things down to the piano
Laurence Guy
or tune things down to the piano? Nice? Yeah.
Chris Barker
So anybody trying to keep match your records as a DJ?
Laurence Guy
It's not wildly out of tune. No, it's just like a little bit off. Yeah. But it sounds great. But so it's kind of like, I might start with a sample play the piano along to the sample. So they kind of get them sitting together. Then everything anchors around those two things. Yeah. So I guess the sample leads the key, the piano goes to the sample, and then everything else has to like get in line. Yeah.
Chris Barker
But that's how like those tracks have vibe as well, isn't it? I think,
Laurence Guy
yeah, they're like a little bit dissonance, a little bit off, like the samples don't quite the clash a little bit. And the low end is always quite muddy in my music as well. I try not to take anything out of the the lows, if possible. Because
Chris Barker
there was a real fetish for that one point, just like completely. Everything like everything.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, yeah. People always like ask about how you get stuff sounding warm, or how you get it sounding full. It's basically just like, do less. Do less EQ, just like stick stuff together. Yeah. And that you're not that that that do the work, essentially.
Will Betts
So loads of these samples then on your new record, or just an iPhone recording of this upright piano in your house?
Laurence Guy
Yes. Yeah. That's cool. I did some a bit like with a microphone as well. But yeah, mainly on the phone. Just propped on the on the side. Sounds great. It doesn't sound great. Like, technically, you know, it's not like
Chris Barker
nobody works into the music. It
Laurence Guy
works worse in the music. Yeah,
Chris Barker
it's servicing the song, isn't it? That's that's the main point. Yeah,
Laurence Guy
exactly. But you wouldn't you wouldn't take that to like a pop engineer and say, Here's your piano. Right. absolutely livid. It must be juicy with someone else. I might not do
Chris Barker
that. Yeah, all of your engineering Elton John or something? Yeah. We're ready to go.
Laurence Guy
Welcome to the day, I wouldn't go that far. But yeah, that's how I do it. Nice. Number three,
on three. I was a bit torn between, you know, because it's the dream studio going for like a space echo. Or sticking with SoundToys Echoboy. Because that's what I that's what I use all the time, for many different things. And I think, like reluctantly, I'm gonna have to go for Echo boys. It's just more versatile than the real thing. The real thing would be fun to have. Like, imagine the roads going into the space echo and then just like messing with a thing, but I feel like I'd get too carried away. And that would become my whole sound, my whole sound. And I'd use it too much. And also, I don't think it's as versatile as the echo boy. Because on the echo boy, they've got all the different models of yeah, all of these different echoes. Because there's a chorus echo, there's the there's loads. Yeah, you can use it as a reverb, I use it on drums to like saturate stuff. Yes, I think it's the most versatile plugin I've got that I use. So I'm gonna Why did you get that? Was it? Was it kind of like a revelation when you got it? Yeah, yeah, basically, it was like, I mean, you'll also use the Decapitator quite a lot. But I found if I had to choose one, you can almost get the same result with Echoboy with a bit of tweaking of like, the custom settings of the modeling part, and the saturation, so you could use Echoboy to add like reverb delay saturate kind of like weird slapback it's yeah, it's a bit of a It's not like exciting choice, but it's necessary. It's the most the first functional choice I've made. Is he actually going to use is actually gonna be used? Either to look
Chris Barker
fine, that's fine.
Will Betts
I mean, I'm tempted to try and upsell you on something. Okay, go ahead. How about an echo fix? EF x two, which is like the updated version recently made space echo. It's got some DSP reverb chorus bits and pieces in it. Okay, it's got it's beautiful as well as hardware box, like, looks like a space echo.
Chris Barker
I got actual tape in it. So it's got actual tape in it. Okay,
Laurence Guy
so how does that work with the DSP stuff? Would you still have to go out of the interface? And back in? Yeah, as long as it's an external effects?
Will Betts
You would have to? Yeah,
Laurence Guy
I think I mean, that sounds if it's got a bit more,
Will Betts
you won't be able to do certain things with it.
Laurence Guy
But you can control some of it on.
Will Betts
No, I don't think you can actually. I
Laurence Guy
mean, it's got it's got more than just an echo.
Chris Barker
I don't think you're fully behind this upsell, well.
Laurence Guy
I need to get look at it.
Will Betts
Maybe it's Look, do you know what? I'm just walking it back. And
Chris Barker
when you went, there was probably some things you can't do. So good,
Will Betts
is cool. It's cool thing.
Laurence Guy
It'd be nice to have an actual box with a bit of tape in it.
Will Betts
Right? And you have the Forever studio tech as well. So it's always perfectly updated. They can change out that tape for you. Or you have your own. We send we send some it's a nightmare.
Laurence Guy
Let's get let's go for that then. Yeah, that's nice. Why not?
Chris Barker
Why not? Echo fix it f x to blue. That's it. Make it work. Got a great name. It's not as cool as space echo. Yeah. Item number four.
Laurence Guy
Number four. So does some other kind of boring. Does a stereo pair of microphones count as two or one?
Chris Barker
Depends on the pair. But probably yes, it does cows to probably depends on what are we up to? Four. So you got three left.
Laurence Guy
Okay. All right. All right. I'll take two AKG 4140.
Will Betts
That's a bold move.
Chris Barker
leave you with one final item.
Will Betts
Hang on. Wait.
Laurence Guy
So maybe let me backtrack a little bit. We've got the roads that echo the piano. We're gonna need I'm gonna need microphones to use the piano on the roads.
Chris Barker
You're gonna need one more other thing as well. You are missed
Laurence Guy
learn tomato counters. The
Chris Barker
Yeah, you haven't got any. Okay. So sometimes I remind guests along the journey and
Will Betts
watch them in real time.
Chris Barker
A pair of monitors is isn't a bundle. That's fine.
Laurence Guy
Okay. How about this?
Will Betts
I'm gonna do a do a genuine upsell right now.
Laurence Guy
Okay, yeah, sure.
Chris Barker
Oh, this is good. upsell, this is good. upselling.
Will Betts
So instead of having 241 fours, yeah. What about the vintage see four to two from the 80s which was to see for one fours stacked above one another as a stereo pair. That's done. That's the one that's perfect. That's
Chris Barker
upsold to
Will Betts
complete that work
Chris Barker
that came up on another on another pod in it. Yes. Good hack. See? 422? Yeah, nice to be. Back in the giant font. Surprise me. Sorry. Okay, good. So yeah, that's, that's great. So that is basically two of those in one like,
Will Betts
two. That's exactly what I was looking at single item. Yeah, that's
Chris Barker
enabled that cheat. Okay, I'm number five. Then you still got two more left. Five, five.
Laurence Guy
Let's go let's do this go for the monitors. So I'm gonna go maybe like a little bit row because I know this is kind of a mad choice for concern. You can have any monitors in the world. I've got some here for a pair of rocket ace
Chris Barker
could have chained the boulders. The big you know, the boulders, though.
Laurence Guy
That's on theme though. Because
Chris Barker
boulders, boulders.
Laurence Guy
Are they like, big round ones?
Will Betts
They're not round. No, but they are big. Yeah.
Laurence Guy
How about clients? Not climbing? boulders. Not interested. Not interested less around perfectly spiritual.
Chris Barker
boulders. The big ones are the little ones.
Will Betts
biggest ones. Okay,
Chris Barker
there's another rocks. Yeah, the pebble? No,
Will Betts
they didn't do the Padlet.
Laurence Guy
But yeah, I'm gonna go for some rocket eights are the big solid ones. Right? Yeah. Rockets, right. Yeah, because like, I've used different speakers over the years like I started off. I can't remember I started off or something terrible like old l So something like that really cheap ones. And then the first decent pair of monitors I had was the ADAM A sevens, which I really love, I was tempted to choose those, because there are a lot flatter. But then I had a period where I was using those and a borrowed pair of rocket eights. And I noticed that my mixes are actually better in the rockets. And he basically just can't argue with the results. So I think I go for those and also what's the deal with having other people you know, like, if I was going to do an album, I'd have it mixed down eventually by someone else anyway, right. Still allowed
Will Betts
or? That's loud. Yeah, I mean, we haven't cut out every other person on the planet for other people. Yeah.
Laurence Guy
Don't use that. I'd be more inclined to stick with the rockets because you can turn the bass up on the back. Yes, we get a bit of vibe going to be fair.
Chris Barker
So if you make mixing for that environment,
Laurence Guy
yeah, and also just like a warm up, but I want to be having fun in there. I don't really want flat speakers because it makes everything sound boring. Yeah. If I'm writing music, I want it to be loud with a big trend that like Basie with
Chris Barker
the Big Mac Yes, back in the day, the HR HR eight to eight. So whatever the big, big are Mackey's because they kind of sounded like a PA speaker. Yeah, good quality PA speaker. A lot of dance music producers had them either as their names or as a second just because you could hear what it's gonna sound like on that kind of system. Yeah,
Laurence Guy
exactly. Yeah. So yeah, go for the rockets, the big rockets. And yeah, just turn them all out.
Chris Barker
Can we upsell on cow Caeser there's got to be VA. It's not rocket eights. Right. The timberland ones,
Will Betts
the Timberland. One that sounds good. Yeah. The series
Laurence Guy
sample pack earlier.
Chris Barker
Beat Club stuff. Yeah.
Laurence Guy
It's called. Bounce coming up. Yeah,
Chris Barker
I think it'd be part of the Beat Club.
Laurence Guy
Yeah. advert videos.
Chris Barker
Yeah. Is that with Timberlake in it as well? Yeah. It's great.
Laurence Guy
school logo. It's like, if I were to get hyped up for the studio, I always watch watch that video. He's got his beats are so good.
Chris Barker
The I think these this is the upsell. So above the rockets, there's the V series of KR case. Okay, so it's still a k r k sound. They still big, big. Yeah. Go up to eight. So yeah. And I think I think they were potentially the kind of the Timberland style ones at one point. Maybe not anymore, but I know he was using characters at one point. It's good enough for him. And you'll still have that K. Okay. Sound I'll just be a bit more. A bit higher end better. Yeah. Then the rockets. Yeah. Because the rocket is kind of the entry level journey. And then I think the V series is the pro studio range.
Laurence Guy
Three cells in a row, but that'd be I'm losing. No,
Will Betts
you're winning. Yeah. And we've got to fit the bill for this.
Chris Barker
I do like the idea of it becoming a contest
Will Betts
turned out to dream each other. Yeah.
Chris Barker
That's a bad idea. You want this becomes our podcast. And you know, we don't need guests. It just
Will Betts
Squarespace.
Laurence Guy
You actually want this? I mean, yeah. Getting someone to dream bigger than a pair of rockets is pretty easy, either. Absolutely. I can but
Will Betts
but this is this is a good choice. So so yeah. Fun in the studio. Yeah. Enjoy what you're working on.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, exactly. Just kind of like
Chris Barker
so what's your monitor journey been those that? So we're the rockets the first. Like, I've
Laurence Guy
actually never never had a pair. But I had a pair that I borrowed for a while. And in that period that I borrowed them. Like, I found that my music sounded right. And was
Chris Barker
better. So what are you doing right now? You still got the atoms.
Laurence Guy
Now? I'm using iPhone earphones at home or just the speakers on my laptop. Wow. And then in the studio, I think they're Neumann something that my brother got. They're quite nice. The K H K, like small. Yeah, small ones.
Will Betts
H 120s or something?
Laurence Guy
Yeah. Nine min ones. And they're quite nice. And there's like a mono box in there as well, which is pretty helpful. But yeah, if I'm writing music Half the time I just do it on the laptop speaker. Wow. And kind of guess everything and then that kind of works well with the low end stuff because you don't really know what's going on. Sometimes you go in there and it just sounds amazing. Yeah, not always obviously. But like you're not hearing how good it is. And you're already excited about how it sounds on there. When you take it to studio like wow, this is even better.
Chris Barker
The extra Yeah, it's like material that was lurking Yes, ways
Laurence Guy
of like, the no tricking yourself or like just keeping things a bit. Leaving some like a lot of stuff up to chance what I like to do basically or the same way with the samples, you kind of leave room for things to happen that you haven't specifically done so like don't cut some so much low end. Make things that are aren't in key go together. Yeah, just like randomize it a little bit.
Chris Barker
A lot those big dance music kind of as a lot of early dance records where it was those accidents that made it sound fat, like Exactly, yeah, yeah, I remember that was show me love the Stonebridge remix. I think there was some kind of his kick was in G boxes and that was like it just became this massive chunky. Yeah. Because of the Yeah, exactly. Before everybody used to key match kicks to everything and stuff, and then just just use areas and like that sounds flat. So yeah,
Laurence Guy
exactly. Yeah, I think if you if you're too purposeful with everything, I mean, it's different for everyone. Obviously, some people are really good at having an idea and executing that like exactly how they want. But for me, if I'm too purposeful with with what I'm doing, then it always ends up sounding bad, mostly, like
Chris Barker
drained of energy. Like it's like, yeah, it just doesn't feel
Laurence Guy
right. And it's to like, basically just trying to try, like the path of least resistance all times, basically. And usually, like, it works out better for me. And it's
Chris Barker
good to you. Because it's hard to stick with that. Like, you know, when you've had as your career goes on, it's hard to stick with what works because yeah, because you might have more money for gear, you might have different spaces. Yeah. And you get influenced by other people because you're meeting more producer. Yeah, stuff. And it's like, you start. Yeah, for sure. muddying the water of your own crave. Yeah. And
Laurence Guy
there's a bit of extra pressure as well. And maybe like if you're releasing on bigger labels, or like in a more mainstream setting, like there's a call for the mixdowns to be better, or I don't know, there's lots of different factors.
Chris Barker
And you start thinking about that's what I was thinking everything. Is this am I gonna be able to carry this sample? Should I be doing it like this? Oh, it's for this. Where's it? Is it going to go on the radio and 22? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I was even made the track yet. Yeah. Yeah. And
Laurence Guy
it's really hard to get rid of that. And you need to because like the making of the music supposed to be the one bit, but you don't have to think about the thing. So if you then muddy that as well, then like, you might as well just stop. Yeah.
Chris Barker
Exactly. Yeah, that's right. We're onto the final item item number six.
Laurence Guy
I need a turntable so I can sample records. So I would go for like torrents or Thorens whatever. They're just the fanciest one. Does it needle counters?
Chris Barker
Yeah, with that? Yeah. We're
Laurence Guy
not gonna Yeah, yeah. That'd be splitting hairs. Yeah, one of those belt drive. Because I think if it's belt drive, there's less noise when you sample it. Yeah, the quality is a bit better.
Chris Barker
And I guess you don't need like big pitch movements or stuff like that. That's a good point. Actually. It's nice to just play with stuff.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, it's the one I use at the moment and Audio Technica, and it goes to 20% last 20. And it goes in reverse. I'd stick with the
Chris Barker
and it's got USB out that one right as well. Which isn't too bad. Actually. The the add a on it. It's like I use it all the time. It's
Laurence Guy
pretty good. I'll stick with the Yeah. Because the be able to do it in reverse. If you've got like a drum loop, go and you kind of needle dropping Yeah, minus 20%. And in reverse. Yeah, you get some pretty cool stuff. So yeah, go Audio Technica. It's a TLP 120. Or if there's a if there's a fancy version of that if there's an upsell going on that
Will Betts
yeah, let's see. Yeah,
Laurence Guy
that might be it has to have the plus 20 Or even
Chris Barker
Audio Technica riff on a 1210 is exactly yeah.
Will Betts
Oh, wait. There we go. That's the
Chris Barker
LP 140 I don't know why he's just bad quality, but it's exactly the same, but he's must just be better spec is direct drive done. Oh, it's direct.
Laurence Guy
Is the other one. Yeah, I was okay. I think that's worth having that to have the pitch. Yeah, because the pitch is actually pretty useful.
Chris Barker
And you don't get the noise on USB as well. I don't think not too bad. It's only when you go over the phone knows.
Laurence Guy
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, the USB is good.
Chris Barker
Okay. upsold again, up, sold up. So. All right. That's quality DAC that for anybody. Anybody watching or listening? It's, it's great. I think it's great value that deck.
Laurence Guy
It's amazing. Yeah, it's also good for DJing Yeah, yeah, I've got a pair that I mix on. And it's kind of like it feels a little bit strange to go from that to 12 thing because the pitch right on the toilet tends a bit heavier but the closest you can get I reckon, and there are a third of the price half the price Yeah, about 250 quid each. Yeah,
Chris Barker
with the form for the one four is what 419 It's
Will Betts
even the upsell is not an unreasonable amount. Yes, perfect.
Chris Barker
Excellent. Right well, what's left next is for will to do a little rundown. So have a listen. Okay, he's gonna run down the studio. See what this visualize it think think about it. And then while we're doing that, think of your luxury item, which isn't a bit of studio kit. So yeah,
Laurence Guy
I've thought about this. I'm not sure if it's gonna fly.
Chris Barker
Okay, so run us through it. Well,
Will Betts
we're in Fontainebleau in your ex machina sunken house in the woods surrounded by boulders. There's a nice sofa beautiful bed wooden everything in a giant open plan living kitchen, dining area
Laurence Guy
who our Yeah.
Will Betts
For your free items, you've chosen a top spec Mac M to max laptop, your interface is a UA volt for your DAW is able to know I've suite 11 will give you suite Don't worry of your six items. The first is a mark one fender suitcase Rhodes with a built in amp. It's allowed your second choice. You have your family's upright piano. Yep, you've gone for effects for an echo fix EF x two space echo update. Your microphone is an AKG C 422 stereo model. For your monitors you have a pair of KR KV eights. And your final item is an Audio Technica 80 LP 140 XP turntable. Great. How does that work?
Laurence Guy
Perfect. Sounds great. Yeah. Period it back now I'm just like, I need to make away work. I want to make this happen for real. Yeah. Yeah.
Will Betts
Relatively doable though. This
Laurence Guy
looks nothing crazy.
Chris Barker
Just the location really isn't.
Laurence Guy
I want to build a sunken studio in the middle of a forest in a national park probably isn't.
Will Betts
permitted at night? Yeah.
Chris Barker
So let's finish the studio off with a luxury item then what what have you been thinking about for this? So
Laurence Guy
what I was thinking it's not it depends what you call an item. I was thinking like, if it was like a luxury thing to have, then, like an on site, charity shop gets restocked every week. From Around The World, a record shop potentially, well, maybe everything. Yeah, that would be it. So every week, they have like a drop of random records from around the world. And then I just get to go in the everyday everything's a quid. Yeah. You want it to be free exists. Yes. For charities. Yeah. Mostly. Obviously.
Chris Barker
That is an issue like, you know, not against giving to charity, obviously, but like it's changed a lot, isn't it? You go in now you find a record? Yeah. And it's like, yes. 17 pounds if you're like, Okay, I saw one. All the charity shop volunteers are on Discogs.
Laurence Guy
James Blake record in one recently. I think it was in Stoke Newington. And it was 70. Close
Chris Barker
Stoney, sorry.
Laurence Guy
What parts of the cafe? The queue outside you see a James Blake vinyl and the charity shop.
Chris Barker
Like John Denver and like Cliff Richards stuff. It's
Laurence Guy
no disrespect to James Blake. Great record, but somebody quits pushing it. Yeah. For charity. So I guess, you know, maybe it's a good thing. But I didn't buy it doesn't mean
Chris Barker
like you don't. It's very rare that I find bargains anymore. When doing that.
Laurence Guy
There's a shop that I can get a plug right now actually called Ben's record which is in Guilford where I grew up. And it's amazing that the prices are they've definitely gone up but they're still kind of, it's all about turnover rather than exactly. It's about like he just keeps going round around around. I think that's how he makes his money. There's nothing really over a fiver. And there's not always but like a lot of the time. It's amazing records in there. Sometimes if you get lucky, like maybe someone's just sold, they're like, I think there was one guy. There was a whole box of 90s house. Yeah. And the story was his wife told him he had to sell his records. And then I swooped in the next day and you just make an offer for the whole crate. Yeah, and come up with like, some absolute gold had a
Chris Barker
few of those. But it's it's a bit sad sometimes isn't it? You go and you go and look. And as you flicking through, you can just see somebody's like musical tastes. You're like, yeah. What's happened here? It's a bit sad. Like what's happened? Yeah, you really fell out of love with country music, didn't you?
Laurence Guy
Glen Campbell, yeah, this whole
Chris Barker
Sean Combs are just like we see one artist and like, their whole career because, you know, yeah. Be I used to love that like going in and being like, How much for the whole box? And you'd be like, yeah, and you're going out there
Will Betts
do you notice one other thing with your selections here? Is that you don't have any sense. Is that by design? Or was it just because you ran out of space?
Laurence Guy
Or ran out of space?
Will Betts
What would you have had if you if you could have
Laurence Guy
probably like a Korg Polysix. Okay, so hardware, hardware. Yeah, like some one of the real nice, Polly's Yeah, cool. Polysix maybe like a profit or? I mean, actually, if we go No. I was gonna say like a CSA, just because it'd be cool to have one but then I don't think it's got that much use and what I'm actually doing. I just want to pretend to be fingerless for an afternoon. Yeah.
Will Betts
I think that's a legitimate reason to want. Yeah.
Laurence Guy
So yeah, maybe. Yeah, I mean, it's not happening anyways. It's not
Will Betts
okay. Not allowed it but good to know.
Chris Barker
Well, that kind of brings us to the end of the podcast. I mean, what's going on for you for the rest of it for the rest of the year? DGM releases?
Laurence Guy
Yeah, so yeah, gonna be DJing pretty heavily from kinda like next week well into the summer. albums coming out second albums coming out in June ish. Um, and that's like a kind of like, new ish direction. So there's some house music on there. But there's also a lot of stuff with vocalists and rappers all kind of based around like the sampling aesthetic. Be really excited to get out there.
Chris Barker
Next single and then an album in June and June. Yeah. Nice.
Laurence Guy
No more singles than the album. But yeah, it's been it's been done for a really long time. So it's been done for like a year and a half maybe. And there's been like a couple of changes, but through like, just things not working out. It's not it's not coming. I think I've kind of finished it just after the pandemic. So yeah, really excited to finally get it out. And yeah, got a tour it with a live band eventually as well. So Oh, okay. plenty of stuff to look forward to. Yeah. Okay.
Will Betts
What's that lineup looking like for your band
Laurence Guy
at the moment is going to be me and the drummer tends to leave. But like, essentially, you want to add as many people as possible, but it's going to be obviously dependent on costs. And yeah, touring is really new for me. So I kind of got to feel out a little bit first and figure out what we're gonna do.
Chris Barker
But it'll be like, a live show like a gig or live show like a club style gig than, like a club life.
Laurence Guy
Stick to deejo for that. Okay, so there'll be two separate things.
Will Betts
Sort of festival friendly. Do
Laurence Guy
we think yeah, we'll be Yeah, yeah, sure.
Will Betts
Very nice. Yeah.
Chris Barker
Okay. Well, thank you so much, Lauren. Well, another great show, as always. This Well, I love the luxury item here, a charity shop, charity shop, but also giving back, giving back well, taking bargain vinyl.
Will Betts
Is it giving back to the universe anyway, he is undoubtedly the person with whom we've absorbed the most dreams
Chris Barker
for in a row. Like you said, does that make us winners? I don't know if it is a contest, but I feel like a winner. Okay. Good.
Will Betts
Anyway, thanks so much for tuning in. And we will catch you next time for another adventure into studio for evidence. Bye bye
Chris Barker
Bye bye