This time, we’re joined by the House, Techno, and Disco producer behind the 2017 Silver-certified hit 'Techno Disco Tool' with 30 million+ Spotify streams. On this episode, we reveal Mella Dee’s surprising muse: dub reggae. Explore how this unexpected influence shapes his gear choices and gives birth to his irresistible, dancefloor-ready anthems. Also, unearth the obscure equipment that powers his sound, discover which producer friend holds the record for speaker blowouts, and learn how he masterfully works with complicated effect units – it’s simpler than you might think.
This time, we’re joined by the House, Techno, and Disco producer behind the 2017 Silver-certified hit 'Techno Disco Tool' with 30 million+ Spotify streams. On this episode, we reveal Mella Dee’s surprising muse: dub reggae. Explore how this unexpected influence shapes his gear choices and gives birth to his irresistible, dancefloor-ready anthems. Also, unearth the obscure equipment that powers his sound, discover which producer friend holds the record for speaker blowouts, and learn how he masterfully works with complicated effect units – it’s simpler than you might think.
Season 5 is sponsored by Audient: audient.com
STUFF WE TALK ABOUT (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
https://letsgopeakdistrict.co.uk/peak-district-towns-and-villages-yorkshire/
https://www.apc.com/uk/en/product-category/88972-uninterruptible-power-supply-ups/
https://www.apple.com/uk/mac-studio/
https://en.antelopeaudio.com/products/galaxy-64-synergy-core/
https://www.eventideaudio.com/rackmount/h9000/
https://www.instagram.com/s_p_e_c_i_a_l_r_e_q_u_e_s_t/?hl=en
https://reverb.com/au/item/31882128-ursa-major-stargate-626-effects-processor
https://soundgas.com/product/yamaha-e1010-analog-delay-4/
https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/5/320765/E1010E.pdf
https://abbeyrecording.com/ssl-4000-mixing-desk
https://zaehl.com/products/am1-mixing-console
https://studiocare.com/products/atc-scm300a-sl-pro-three-way-active-monitor-pair
https://soundgas.com/product/soundgas-type-636-grampian-spring-reverb-2023/
https://reverb.com/item/7454245-akg-bx20-e
https://www.sequentix.com/shop/cirklon-hardware-sequencer
Chris Barker: [00:00:00] I'm Chris Barker
Will Betts: and I'm Will Bets. And this is the Music Tech My Forever Studio podcast brought to you in partnership with audience. And we are coming to you today from T Y X At Tileyard Studios, London.
Chris Barker: That's right. And in this podcast we speak with musicians, DJs, producers, about their fancy Forever studio.
Will Betts: The fantasy studio that our guests dream up today is one that they're gonna have to live with for the rest of eternity. But even in Studio Foreverdom, we do have some rules.
Chris Barker: That's right. Our guests can first pick a computer, a D A W, and an audio interface. They get those free, and then they get six other bits of studio kit plus one luxury item.
Will Betts: There is one more rule though, isn't there, Chris? Yes.
Chris Barker: No bundles. That's right. No bundles. Choosing something sold as a separate package of hardware or software is forbidden.
Will Betts: Our guest this time is an artist producer in DJ whose eclectic productions views, house techno and disco, and he's been filling up dance floors across
Chris Barker: the world.
Chris Barker: That's right. And he loves the studio filled with analog kit too. So will it be a synth packed studio today? We will
Will Betts: find out. This is my forever studio with Ryan Acheson. AKA Melody, welcome.
Chris Barker: Welcome. Cheers. Thanks for having me. No problem. Thank you for coming. We're very excited. And yeah, we spotted a lot of this analog kit, so, uh, we'll get to that at some point, hopefully.
Chris Barker: I think. First off, let's talk a little bit about, before we get into dreaming up the studio let's talk about your sort of career so far, and. You know how you've got to where you were, how you got into music production, like what were your first sort of inklings in In music and music technology and making kind of electronic music?
Chris Barker: I started
Mella Dee: out as a DJ at first, and then I had some friends who were more technically minded than me. They got a copy of reason. And then it sort of started me just being a bit at the back of the room being like, it should sound like this, need to do that. Let's make it sound like
Chris Barker: this. That's the classic DJ producer kind
Mella Dee: of relationship.
Mella Dee: Yeah. Me being like, I know what the vibe is, you know how to use that program. Let's crack on with that. And then we did stuff there. Then someone got aton. Not long into that. Then we started out like working with Aton [00:02:00] and I just sort of took like myself just a little crap, like PC, laptop sort of thing.
Mella Dee: Headphones just sort of, so you kind of got
Chris Barker: frustrated with being like, yeah, just let me do it kind of thing. Yeah. I
Mella Dee: just sort of like, I had my own ideas and that, I mean, before that, I suppose like very, very first start is like dance CJ, stuff like that. EJ sort of games where it's like fingers. So I guess that's why Ableton probably works quite well.
Mella Dee: Cause it's just like blocks of sound, almost like you're moving them out. Yeah. You
Chris Barker: know but it was all about like knowing what's gonna work in the club or as a dj. Yeah,
Mella Dee: yeah, yeah. It was very much, that's what it is. It's it's very much comes from just like understanding
Chris Barker: sort of course. And what, what was the moment I think a lot of people have when the moment when you made something and you thought.
Chris Barker: Hang on. This is, this is different to all the other shit I've been making. This is, you know, this is something Now, were you when you thought, or was it much more gradual? It's
Mella Dee: more gradual. I'd say. That's constant. That's like, I don't think that one's ever ended, you know? I'm like, all right, now I'll put an idea of what I'm doing and then I'll learn some on you.
Mella Dee: And I'm like, oh, no. But was there a
Chris Barker: specific track or a moment like
Mella Dee: not particularly. I think some of that we got, we had [00:03:00] a track that got played sort of on a Facts pack podcast by Wan. I remember that being like, oh wow, people are gonna play these records And that and,
Chris Barker: and how did that all happen?
Chris Barker: Were you just putting stuff
Mella Dee: out there on like, we just, yeah, just sending them records out to people. Just, I'm always just making connections. You know, I about, cause I would like Don cast not what's going on. So I would doing pirate radio stationing leads and then I'd meet up with people who were doing nights and parties there.
Mella Dee: So then we'd have people come to play at parties. I'd be like, yeah, I've got this too. Nice.
Chris Barker: And just like, so it's the classic DJ sort of journey. So that really, it's being relentless. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. So going back to the studio then, so what were the first piece pieces of Kit after Ableton?
Chris Barker: You just got like, you know, a PC with Ableton on or Yeah, just a little
Mella Dee: laptop with able, um, With a cracked copy of Abelton obviously, cause I had no one. And then just, I feel probably just like a little interface. Can't actually remember what interface it were. Just some sort of symbol. So what was the
Chris Barker: first bit of of kit?
Chris Barker: When you, you knew you were sort of going to the next level, like, or started investing in yourself like properly? I first,
Mella Dee: I think the [00:04:00] first thing that I, well, when I was in the DU with a friend, we got a little microcog. Yeah. But that was kind like his sort of thing and I sort of picked it up. So we had that, we got some sounds out.
Mella Dee: And then the first thing that I bought for myself, I think it was an MS 20 minute. Right. Okay. Which I've still got. Which I still use as That's quite significant purchase, isn't it? Yeah. I've just always been a bit del boy. Like, I just, like back at, like, when I was a kid, I used to buy things out in the back of the sort of newspapers and that, so I'd just be searching and searching, be like gum treat, right?
Mella Dee: That's cheap. Like I'll have
Chris Barker: that, I'll give that a try. Um, alright, well let's move to like the fantasy studio and, and sort of join the dots on this. So like, if you could have a studio anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? I've been trying, I've been trying
Mella Dee: to think about anywhere the only like.
Mella Dee: It sounds boring. Cause I'm just gonna say like where I'm at now, because I can walk there in about 30 minutes. I like to walk. Mm-hmm. I like to do like, I like to have somewhere where I'm going. You know what I mean? Yeah. Mm-hmm. And also I go to my calf like every day and I don't wanna lose my calf. So you've got like a routine?
Mella Dee: Yeah. I go to like, I've got one cafe that I go to like every day and that's like almost as important as anything else for me is like this sort of stuff outside of it. The rooms just. It's a room. Do you know what I mean? I just need loud speakers and a room where no one's gonna bother me on the happy days, but
Chris Barker: like, I feel like So the importance of the location is near this calf?
Chris Barker: Yeah. Near this calf. What's the best dish of this calf?
Mella Dee: Oh, it's, it's got everything. Like whatever you want. It depends what mood it is. They've got a really good breakfast, they've got good pasta, they have good chicken. Oh, past papa.
Chris Barker: Old school like calf that just does
Mella Dee: anything. It's proper old school Catholic.
Mella Dee: Yeah. Like it used to be like loads of gangsters used to go in there, like craze and stuff like that. Oh, okay. It's like a
Chris Barker: proper little east end calf. It's just like one of those that's been there forever. Just been there for like hundreds
Mella Dee: of years, like
Chris Barker: so, so location. Say if we could put that calf anywhere in the world.
Chris Barker: Oh, I'll take it up north. I'll go
Mella Dee: back to Yorkshire or
Chris Barker: something. Oh, really? Yeah. And and what you thinking Countryside, Yorkshire or Pacific City? Maybe.
Mella Dee: I, I feel like I'd say countryside just for like the idea of beautiful views, but I've never really been born, been around country, know what I mean? I quite like, so I mean it is and sort of like, yeah.
Mella Dee: Real life, but like yeah, gives us a view, some views and ills as long as I can like walk [00:06:00] to
Chris Barker: sort of So you have like the city behind you maybe? Yeah, like and then like the studio faces the country.
Mella Dee: There's minimal public transport and there's minimal like driving and all that sort of stuff. Just me on my foot walking, getting there between the calf and the studio and yeah.
Mella Dee: And home. Sound like in
Will Betts: the Dales
Mella Dee: somewhere you thinking? Was Dales would be nice. Like, so, probably, probably north Cause it's a lot nicer up
Chris Barker: there. Right. Okay. And, um, what about inside? You say you don't, you don't really mind, but like, you know, in the dream fantasy, if, if, you know, if you didn't have anything, like what, what would you like the vibe to be in the studio?
Chris Barker: Like the, did you like windows and natural light? Are you, some people like bunkers, some people,
Mella Dee: I've never experienced windows in the studio apart from when I've been to someone else's. So I don't really know. Like, I guess it'd be nice, I feel it could be distracting. Mm-hmm. Like there's that thing, like, I feel like.
Mella Dee: It's a balance. We like the windows. Like I think he's got his bon benefits, he's got his things, but it's like it's nice to just be in a bunker and you're just away from everything. And
Chris Barker: I, I think as well, maybe. When you're making club music as well, it's kind of like the studio. Yeah. I mean if it's, if it's daytime, it's sometimes, yeah.[00:07:00]
Chris Barker: Having no windows and stuff could, because it feels like the music's represented by the
Mella Dee: environment. Yeah. You kind of just caught off. I quite like just being like caught off on world in my little sort of space where it's just like, it's dedicated to doing what I'm doing and I don't like have to think about the outside world in any way.
Chris Barker: And do you like kind of a really ultra tidy work environment or, or do you like it to feel like sort of play room, just like shit everywhere and. No.
Mella Dee: Yeah, it doesn't need to be all tied, like main thing for studio, I'd say when you, you know, when you've got lots of equipment and outboard is space to get behind it, right?
Mella Dee: Yeah, yeah. Be able to move around enough space to move around and be able to like sort of move stuff around and sort of try.
Chris Barker: That's an amateur mistake that I also made. It's putting everything against walls when you install it and then. Day two, trying to make a track and like, oh, that's not patched in, oh, what I'm done, done.
Chris Barker: I can't get to any of this stuff. Yeah. And you realize that when you go to studios, like Real World where it's like in the middle of a giant room, like a horseshoe kind of thing. Mm-hmm. In the middle. Mm-hmm. And you're like, oh yeah. And you're not on your back underneath trying, you know, like all of those things.
Mella Dee: Yeah, yeah. [00:08:00] No, I mean, thankfully. I don't generally do the wiring in my studio, like I'm capable of sort of doing it, but I find it, it take me about five days and be a really struggle and probably not work out how I want it in the end. As a opposed to you can make you
Chris Barker: angry if it's not going well as well.
Chris Barker: I, I mean, like I get really, it makes me want to quit. Yeah. You know, like, you wouldn't like you when you're wiring. Is that it? Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn't like me when I'm wiring. Yeah. No, but you know what I mean? You just, ah, just saw it. I won't do it. I won't even do a session today. I can't, you know, it's not working.
Chris Barker: I just, you know, lose it. Alright, well we've got the bunker. We've got the cafe, the bunker. The bunker.
Will Betts: But what's the, what's the aesthetic inside the bunker?
Mella Dee: It's fantasy. Fantasy. Yeah. I'm not that my, my imagination's not that wild and very wilder. I don't need anything that much. I want like a decent place to just sit.
Mella Dee: Yeah. Nice seat. Good. Good sofa. Yeah. Good sofa. Decent
Chris Barker: seat. Well, let's look at from another sense, like what's, let's talk about studio aesthetic. What, like, like are you like a guy that likes the old man pub or you're a guy that likes like the modern bar?
Mella Dee: Oh, I probably like these days I more [00:09:00] to a pub to my old man pub, I'd say.
Chris Barker: So maybe that kind of more kind of cozy vibe in the studio as well. Sort
Mella Dee: cozy, you know? Yeah. So you can just sort of sit back, relax wooden, natural.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Some stuff like that because you get these like, I mean, we've mentioned it before in the podcast, but you know, some producers have those kind of spaceship style white and you know, LEDs and Yeah.
Will Betts: No, so one of the ones, one of the studios you've been to where you've thought, this is a, this is a vibe I
Mella Dee: would. Take, I mean, Devin, but that's like, so that's Devon Analog, Devi Studio, Devi, Devon Analog. Definitely. Cause that's the main one that I've been to where I've been like, wow. I mean, that's got an amazing view.
Mella Dee: Mm-hmm. So that's the only thing that I could compare to having like the view of the windows, like is that space. And it is amazing for Devi. Well, we can take that, take
Chris Barker: Devin, just like, let's steal that right out of, put it in a bunker in the dale. Put it in down the road. The
Mella Dee: thing, I mean you can, you don't even need the bunker cause you can just draw the curtains in Devon.
Mella Dee: So it's all, I like to work in a day though. I like to do like sort of daytime hours, you know, 10 till six sort of thing. Can, I'm not like working through the night sort of person.
Chris Barker: Lock that in. Yeah, I think that's pretty good. I think we got there.
Mella Dee: Get Tristan [00:10:00] on the phone, right mate, I'm just sticking your studio.
Mella Dee: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Do you know it's amazing what he is got there as well. I were there once and there was storm, and the storm knocked off all the power. But what he has is he is got a separate power thing that goes to the computer and to one set speakers. So you can always keep working no matter.
Mella Dee: That's amazing.
Chris Barker: So like, uh, what is it, the colleague you, you what? I wanna say ups, but it's not that, but it is like a giant battery thing. Yeah. Just
Mella Dee: constantly running that. Just
Chris Barker: like a lot of producers, like all like Justin Martin and all the Von Stroke and all the Dirty Bird Lot had that in, in when they had the studios in San Francisco because the San Francisco Power Supply was so, Oh, was it?
Chris Barker: It was what? Or in the area that they were, it was so dodgy. Yeah. Yeah. And that it would either spike or it would go off. So they had to have like all these like power supply things to Yeah. Stressful. Yeah.
Will Betts: Yeah. They, they are called UPS's. Oh, I was, right.
Chris Barker: My God, how do I know that?
Will Betts: Good knowledgeable power
supplies.
Chris Barker: Oh yes. There we go. Ups. They had loads of these everywhere because Kit yeah. [00:11:00] Would fall over all the time or spikes and blow stuff out, you know? Yeah. San Francisco Power Supply. Yeah. Dunno if it's like that. Good name for a band actually. Yeah. No, it's San Francisco Power Supply. Yeah.
Chris Barker: Send us your demos. Okay, well, we'll lock that in as, as the location. Now we've got the, the three free items, which are kind of the ones that everybody needs. D a w. What kind of computer are you gonna have? And audio interface. So let's go through those. Like what are you using right now? Computer? What would be your dream computer?
Mella Dee: I've just got an old cheese grater Mac Tower like 2009, like really soup top. So I just probably get like an I Mac, a Pro Mac whatever, whatever,
Chris Barker: just the soup up version of it. But you want a, not a laptop, desktop,
Mella Dee: not just the tower? Yeah. I don't, I don't tend to sort of work remotely that much anyway.
Mella Dee: And if I do, I use it do via like Dropbox or whatever.
Will Betts: Yeah. Do you care about whether it's the flashy new. Processes Or do you just want the old, the the biggest old
Mella Dee: intel thing? Just
Chris Barker: whatever. Whatever works. Just
Mella Dee: work. Okay, great. Outside that, I'm all right.
Chris Barker: The most. The most. Just to do the most expensive Mac.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Desktop
Mella Dee: team. You know, [00:12:00] if they're giving me most expensive Mac, I'm taking it. Right. Was most futureproof in it? That's the idea. Okay. Future.
Will Betts: The most feature proof. Okay. Max Studio
Chris Barker: probably there. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And, uh, what about audio interfaces, like Dream Audio Interface? Uh, it's a weird
Mella Dee: question. I know I don't really have a dream audio.
Mella Dee: I've got a, I use Antelope because it's got, it goes d you can go on D sub in. Yeah. So save
Chris Barker: a lot of space. Well, that's quite a, that's quite a, a flashy interface quite often. Yeah. Yeah. Or like the Orion
Mella Dee: or something. Is it? Yeah, the Orion, they've got the, I think they've got like a big boy sort of antelope.
Mella Dee: I can't remember which
Chris Barker: one it is there a, is there an upsell a Can we upsell a drink on antelope?
Will Betts: Uh, we're gonna find that. Maybe.
Chris Barker: Any excuse to play that. You know,
Will Betts: it happens a lot now. So the biggest one that they have,
Chris Barker: Oh my God. This is got a lot. We'll just open a website you said all in and those of interfaces. It's a lot.
Will Betts: It's a lot. Yeah. We'll get there. Okay, we'll let's, I'll come back
Chris Barker: to you on that. Yeah. Let lock in the biggest and we'll come back to the [00:13:00] biggest ler.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Yeah.
Mella Dee: As many inputs as as possible, essentially.
Chris Barker: And then d a w I mean, are you, are you Ableton still? Yeah, Ableton. Yeah. And you, you can't see yourself changing from that? No, I have no reason to. Found your home.
Mella Dee: Yeah. Yeah. It's just easy for edit in audio. I thought, I think about like doing stuff in logic sometimes, just cause I like sort of the way you have mixed buses and stuff,
Chris Barker: but, and obviously you can only have the one d w well you can have multiple, but they'll come off your other items.
Chris Barker: But just as a question did you continue to use Reason alongside Ableton at one point? Cause you used reason
Mella Dee: for a bit. No, no. I, I stopped using it. I thought about rewiring it and getting it again cause I do it as like a plugin nowadays. It's a plugin. Yeah. You don't even need to rewire. It's, I thought about doing that cause I like that, you know, when I first, when I used to see it, now that I've got all the studio equipment, it makes a lot more sense than Yeah,
Chris Barker: yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker: It's like a rack, the patching and like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mella Dee: But, I just, I, I just do it with outboards, so I don't really think about
Chris Barker: it. Yeah, I did always find that a bit of a bizarre concept at the time. I loved it. Mm-hmm. When the reason came out. But now thinking about it, like, why would you want it software to be as complicated as to, well, you don't, it doesn't have to be I [00:14:00] do get
Will Betts: it though.
Will Betts: Oh, no. Like when you flip it around as well, is used to enjoy the fact that the cables little.
Chris Barker: Like, oh, jiggle.
Mella Dee: It's cool. I think it's good for people as well. Like, you know, it's a bit of an understanding of sort of how equipment can work. Yeah. And sort of some simple things. Cable jiggle.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Yeah. Another good name for a band.
Chris Barker: Our not cables are. Yes. And how many needed as well. Oh man. That's the worst thing around that one saying, going behind stuff. It's like, oh my God. Yeah. I sold loads of equipment recently. And you can't really sell cables. And I've just got so many and it's like, oh my God, how much? How much money did I spend on cables?
Chris Barker: Ridiculous. Not even good cables. Anyway, moving up. You're actually quite angry about that. I was. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I'm angry about selling the kit. Really. So now we come onto like your six studio items for Forever Studio. So all you've got so far is you Cheese, gra Mac. The big one,
Will Betts: the biggest one.
Mella Dee: We've got the Mac Studio, max Studio.
Mella Dee: She's great
Chris Barker: as old school. You've got your antelope and you've got Ableton. Mm-hmm. Okay. And we're in the Dales near a calf. [00:15:00] What do you want? Peaks. You want peaks
Will Betts: or Dales?
Mella Dee: You know what, let's go to Peaks. Cuz they're like Sheffield, sort of Manchester, where it's more like my neck woods. Nice. Peaks or Dales.
Mella Dee: Yeah. No, I can pop up to Manchester if I'm there as well. Chef.
Chris Barker: Beautiful. That's better. Anyway so we're on your first of your six items. Item number one. What else do you think of this dream studio?
Mella Dee: I'm gonna put Eventide, H 3000 or whatever the best equivalent of that is, you know, is there a 5,000?
Chris Barker: Have I made that up? There's 9,000. There's
Mella Dee: 9,000. I think there's a version that's got that multiple zins and multiple
Chris Barker: hours. So that's three times better than the 3000, is it?
Yeah.
Will Betts: Yeah. That's
Chris Barker: math. That's how they work it out. Yeah, that's how they work it out. That's MAs Chris.
Will Betts: So what, why the even tide?
Will Betts: Why
Mella Dee: the harmonizer? Because it just makes fingers sound like they're from
Chris Barker: space. So what have you got go-to presets in there? Or you?
Mella Dee: The new one that I've been mentioning now. Cause I've just got it upgraded. I've got a 3000, but I've just put like a 3,500 chip in it and it's patch called My Bloody Valve.
Mella Dee: Okay. And you just, it's my bloody Valentine obviously. Mm-hmm. And you just [00:16:00] put like a lead through it and all of a sudden you've just got this incredible like washing noise that can just sort of sit. Anywhere in track, and I've just started running everything through that and just like tracking it back, just sticking it across tracks.
Mella Dee: I'm like, oh, that sounds better.
Chris Barker: It is one of those magic machines, isn't it? Like throughout, like you, you find a lot of ice and they'll go, oh, it's just, that's just that. Yeah. Yeah, but will you put it through this? And then
Mella Dee: that's once I got one of them and once I started using all that, that's what they were using.
Mella Dee: Yeah, that's what that's about. That's why that's like I used to, so I'm in a red room and Red Light used to be there and he used to use it every day. And then Paul Walford and know we use it all the time and all these people and then you start, then when I had, they start using 'em at,
Chris Barker: it's beautiful.
Chris Barker: That's that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny how bits of equipment, I mean, this is, this is kind of a, you know, it's of an age now. This is equipment, but when bits of equipment appear like that and then they go throughout the whole industry or a whole genre and everybody's just like, like the.
Chris Barker: Elise's compressor for the French touch thing, you mean? It's like, that's the thing, that's the sound, not necessarily the sound of the whole genre, but like when it's, you find that every artist has it in their [00:17:00] sheet and you're like, ah, okay. The
Mella Dee: free, I mean like the, the avatar stuff, like it is, it does so much, it's got reverb, it's got delays, it's got phases, it's got like preempt sort of stuff on it.
Mella Dee: You know, you can't go wrong, but it's
Chris Barker: just like ready to go
as
Mella Dee: well. What's the thing? Yeah, there's, I think the newer ones as well. So the one that I've got is only you can do. You can process one thing at a time, but I think the new ones, it's basically got like four engines in it. So I could have it on like four different buses and just be like basically save myself a bit of time
Chris Barker: tracking, you know.
Chris Barker: So this is the 9,000, we're gonna lock in
Will Betts: 9,000. And so are you using any of the harmonizer functions as well? Pitching stuff up and
Mella Dee: down, any of that kind of fun stuff? Yeah, usually, I mean, I tend to just run through patches. I'm a bit of a, I'm, you know, I don't really know what I'm doing. I generally, this is the joy of presets.
Mella Dee: Yeah. The joy of presets is you can just go, ah, cool. You can see, you know, I can figure out what he's doing. It tells you it's changing pitch on left and right and you work out, stuff like that. But, but I
Chris Barker: dunno, many people that actually dig, dig in with them, I think they're like, they're, they're like, I mean you can, but it's, yeah.
Mella Dee: Sometimes I'll do bits and I'll, I'll track it [00:18:00] and you know, you've got the big light knob. Yeah, you just can do like, sort of passes with just some
Chris Barker: bit, some s give it a bit of vibe as
Mella Dee: it's played through. Yeah, just play it through, use it a bit like an instrument sort of thing, but tend to just about set it, leave it, record it back and do what I need to do.
Will Betts: And so Can we hear that on specific tracks? I Is that all over your
Mella Dee: stuff? Uh, over like new stuff? It's like all over it. Like, yeah, definitely. I'm trying to think what exactly like, but this. The sound's in there, basically. Yeah, right.
Chris Barker: There's not many records without it.
Mella Dee: On recent? No. Not from like, sort of the last
Chris Barker: few years.
Chris Barker: Definitely. Right. Okay. There you go. If anybody wants the melody sound. Yeah, you gotta get one of those. You gotta get one of those. At least that's, that's one, one foot in that, in that arena. Okay, so well let's lock that in. The 9,000. It's locked and we'll move on to item number
two.
Mella Dee: What else? Um, I've got a really weird reverb.
Mella Dee: I've got, it's a, I'm check my reverb. It's, uh, SSA s a Major Stargate 6 26, I think is what I've got. I know I've got,
Chris Barker: I think, I think we've had this before, haven't we? Will, or? I've definitely seen one of these. I think, uh, we haven't
Will Betts: had it on the podcast. I don't think [00:19:00]
Mella Dee: it comes with a warning label on it, which about like effective radio signals and stuff like that.
Mella Dee: What really? What, yeah. On top of it, it's like, be careful. This radio. Yeah. I've seen one of these. Yeah. Affect, um, like radios,
Chris Barker: you know, it's cool as well, isn't it? My god's like, it's weird to have like, But some of this kit like, yeah, it just looks, it's
Mella Dee: amazing. It's like, it's like a 12 bit like reverb and then I've got it expanded.
Mella Dee: So it does like it does huge sort of milliseconds or of like, it does like the pred delayed can just go massive and you can then have the timing massive. So it just, again, it's like a bit of a wash. So
Will Betts: if you got the one with the gray face and the red and the
Chris Barker: blue knobs on the front. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, it's such a classic look.
Chris Barker: Well, I mean, we'll come, we'll come back in a minute. Do, do you want like, tell us a bit more about it in a second maybe, because it's quite, quite an interesting, an interesting thing. What, so can you tell us
Will Betts: about Yeah. When you got it. Yeah. How'd
Mella Dee: you come into this? I thought I, I used to, I sometimes a lot of phases where I'll sit and just like look for equipment for a bit, you know, and I, banks, I haven't really bought stuff for a while,
Chris Barker: but, and is this another del boy hunting
Mella Dee: on Yeah, that were, were two del boy, I think that were from, um, sound gas.
Mella Dee: Oh, okay. [00:20:00] So no, like obviously they'd been looked at, I think that was sound gas. Maybe it weren't, or maybe they were trying to sell it. Well, expensive and I just found it cheap somewhere. Yeah, that tends to happen. But
Chris Barker: what, what, why this like, you know what? I don't
Mella Dee: know why I just like Stargate. Cause So Stargate, you've got that, um, no smh, you've got the Stargate.
Mella Dee: They. The delay under the, I can't remember what it's called, but I seen that and I just seen it. It just looked pretty and a looked interesting and I'm like, oh, that's have a bit of a crunchy
Chris Barker: reverb. But it's definitely cool giving like, like. These odd bits of kit give you a sound there, don't they as well?
Chris Barker: Cause like not many people have this. No, I
Mella Dee: mean it's very specific. It's like 12 bit sort of quality and there's just certain ways about how you use it. It's just quite interesting. And that,
Chris Barker: and so is it, is it algorithmic type thing or is it is not, is it's like Yeah, it's
Will Betts: digital so. So digital. Digital.
Will Betts: But it only samples up to 15 k. So you lose that top end, but it's the previous version, the Stargate 3 23, only up to seven K. So
Mella Dee: I guess is a bit, I think I don't, I might have the 3 23, but I've got the chip that upgrades it to a 6 26. Ah, okay. No, only got like full frequency. Yeah. So I [00:21:00] might get the full, you means you get more like, you get like another 12 rooms or something That brilliant.
Mella Dee: Yeah,
Will Betts: that's like mid eighties. This came out, so it was 84, it was released.
Chris Barker: So it'll be on loads of eighties records.
Mella Dee: Yeah. I won't
Chris Barker: surprise me. Yeah. Yeah. Eight is pop. It's probably on loads of stuff. It's just actually used on these classic tracks. Here we go. Here we go. We're gonna hear which classic tracks.
Chris Barker: It doesn't have any information. Information, it's, it's a secret. It's never used. It's never used. Never used on class until now. Of course. Yeah. Now I brought it back. Yeah. Forward it back. Okay, well, we'll lock that in. These are some, these are some heavy choices. Straight out the gate. The music tech. My Forever Studio podcast is supported by Audien makers of the EVO 16 and Evo SBA interface, as well as the EVO expanded system.
Will Betts: Yes. Building on audience, 25 years of design heritage, the Evo range of audio interfaces and pre amps. Provides stacks of IO and professional level audio performance alongside innovative new features like Smart Gain and Motion UI. Designed to make recording easy and to enable you to focus on the creative process [00:22:00] and all of that is without breaking the
Chris Barker: bank.
Chris Barker: Yes, multichannel smart gain means you can dial in microphone gain automatically for up to 24 microphones at once, an all in less than 20 seconds. Great for drummers or full band recordings.
Will Betts: That's right. The EVO 16 interface serves up a massive. 24 ins and outs, including eight preamps with Smart Game, and each S P eight provides another eight intelligent EVO preamps, advanced A D D A convertor tech, and a versatile range of IO connectivity, including two jfe instrument inputs.
Chris Barker: The Evo s P eight is designed to be the perfect. Partner for your existing audio interface and rounds out the EVO expanded system.
Will Betts: Visit audient.com for more information and to explore the EVO expanded system.
Chris Barker: Item number three.
Mella Dee: I need
Chris Barker: some delays. I mean, this is stuff that you already have though. I mean, you've gotta dream big,
Mella Dee: but these are, these are so all I need though. Yeah, that's the thing. I need a space echo or some, I need a group of delays, so I'll, [00:23:00] maybe I just pick one for now, but I'll take my E 10 10 cause I like that.
Mella Dee: Okay. The reason why I like that has been. Partly cuz it was like used by sort of, I think it was used by King Tok and like, so, yeah.
Chris Barker: So you mentioned a lot of like dub aesthetic stuff and playing stuff live and using it like an instrument. Do you do that a lot in your production?
Chris Barker: Like Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It dubs everything to me. Okay. Yeah. So do you, do you run a desk
Mella Dee: as well in your studio? I don't, I, I have run a desk. I've gone back down to not using a desk. And just tracking. But what I'm, I'm, I'm, I want to, I've been gonna say I want to go to probably like using a desk for mixing.
Mella Dee: Okay. I just can't be bothered to track through a desk all the
Chris Barker: time. Yeah. Hmm. But for the performance, the dubas
Mella Dee: aspect? Yeah. Yeah. Just for like the actual sort of, the way that you, you can play a desk, like an instrument, you know, and just as a new element and
Chris Barker: there's, I guess that comes from. The DJ aesthetic, like it did with the dub.
Chris Barker: It comes from the DJ aesthetic, doesn't it as well? Yeah, for sure. So when you dj, are you very physical like that as well? Yeah,
Mella Dee: yeah, yeah. I bad phases. I, I went, I went, I went to using Alan underneath for a minute and just using, Filters, but I got really bored of that. Yeah. And now I'm just [00:24:00] like being really probably over the top with my dub.
Mella Dee: Yeah. But just, I love it.
Will Betts: So for those listeners who maybe don't know that much about playing a desk in that style, what, what does that entail?
Mella Dee: Just the way that you ride your fade is like the way that you do your effects. Say that I've got my effects on my sends and just, just the, the control of just like sort of sending little stabs and little parts of a, like whatever it is on a channel.
Mella Dee: Yeah. To an effect. And the way you can just catch a little parts of it and you can just sort of play with it a little bit more about, it's a lot more, there's a lot more fluid like motion to it rather than just like the static nature we're just like banging an effect on. And it's
Chris Barker: that those effects, like on DJ mixes, the ones that.
Chris Barker: I'm gonna get the wrong way around probably, but either pre fade or post fade where you still get the tails when you let a bit of the signal through.
Mella Dee: Yeah. I don't know. Can you do that on the D 900 map? Be able,
Chris Barker: you can do can't. You can do it on the echo. Yeah. And you can do it on. You do on the echo in the reverb, but some of the effects are pre fade.
Chris Barker: Is it? I'm looking at you Bill. Some of the effects are prefare and some are post fade. So some you can pull the channel fade down and you'll still get the reverb or the [00:25:00] delay. Yeah, yeah. I know that's cut the effect.
Mella Dee: Don't Don't cut. Cut the effect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause on the V 10 you can now root. Yeah you can.
Mella Dee: Yeah. That's wicked that isn't it? I remember they were talking to him about that and I'm like, so can I feed this channel back to itself? They were like, no, like you can't do that cuz that'll be a bad
Chris Barker: idea. But you can, you can root. From one like an effects channel to another channel, can't you? So you can put like the noise on a fade or, and things like that on the V 10 anyway.
Chris Barker: Yeah, you can do all sorts of got bits and Bs, but that makes you much more, like you say physical. Yeah. It's just
Mella Dee: a bit my performance sort of base and you can just sort of feel it out, you know? It's old
Chris Barker: school
Will Betts: DJ it proper. Yeah. So that the, so it's the Yamaha E 10 10? Yeah. I'll
Mella Dee: go for E 10 10. Cause it's like, it's a nice BBB D
Chris Barker: Oh yeah.
Chris Barker: The Bucky Bridge delay. Like that's still the Yeah. Yeah. So, Just have to say, we say acronyms like that sounds a bit sorted int it. Bri prefer what? It's Bucket Brigade a bit. Bear guy's. Bucket brigade delay. Okay. Um, so item number four, I guess
Mella Dee: item number four. I'm gonna take a big like SSL [00:26:00] desk or somewhere.
Mella Dee: Ooh,
Will Betts: okay. That's a good cheat. That's a good, yeah, I'll
Mella Dee: even take a big six or whatever, but if I can have what I want, I'll take a, I'll take a big full console and
Chris Barker: specifically SSL.
Mella Dee: Yeah, just a specific ssl. Cause the bill, well yeah, they've got common impression on 'em. They've got nice EQs.
Chris Barker: So what we going for?
Chris Barker: Like a G series? E-series. J series. K series.
Mella Dee: Pick a letter in it. G series I don't GS a classic. Yeah. I wish I were more clued up into, which is which, but I can't even look at them things cause they're too expensive. Like big six is where I sort of stick are looking and me like, oh, I might get that.
Chris Barker: I mean, yeah, it's a, it's a dream studio.
Chris Barker: I mean, this is a dream studio. Exactly how, whatever you like, how many channels do you want? Uh,
Mella Dee: 24, 32. Something like that. Hundred 28. Yeah, exactly. 20.
Chris Barker: Come on. Why not have it in like that horseshoe shape around you?
Mella Dee: I mean, only, I mean, we need an extra space in the studio to like cool it down and like run the power of it and all that, don't we
Chris Barker: now?
Chris Barker: Yeah. Well we can have the power supply based in the calf. [00:27:00] Yeah. That can help warm the calf. Yeah. In the winter they can fight food on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just doing a few eggs on the SSL heat sink. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Have you mixed on an SSL before?
Mella Dee: Have you been straight? I've never actually mixed on an SSL before.
Mella Dee: I keep thinking about getting, like I say, I do, I am thinking about getting the big six to sort of track and mix on, and that it's just such an easy standard go to. Yeah, it just built well and you know, and
Chris Barker: it does just sound like a lot of records you've heard weirdly. Yeah. You can spot it, can't you? Like not, not like when you hear a record well can, but like when you're using one, you kind of go, oh yeah, this, I
Mella Dee: mean, I'd also consider yourself i's say, ssl and I would definitely possibly say a Z desk instead though.
Mella Dee: Well, because Zal have got like, they've got sort of some interesting stuff on it. Like it's a bit more
Chris Barker: soza. That's the one in analog dev. Analog, yeah. I dunno. This Desole?
Will Betts: Yeah, it's called the AM one. Okay. This thing, it's super high end. Yeah. Do you
Mella Dee: know I'm gonna change it like scrap ssl? Cause that po that's posh, like I'm gonna goza because it's part of Black Basic channel and that he's one of the people that sort of developed it. [00:28:00] It's named
Will Betts: after Michael Zahl. The chap. Designs these things tailor-made. Yeah.
Mella Dee: Oh, wild. Okay. And they're
Will Betts: wild. These things. Yeah, they're crazy.
Chris Barker: So this is like, the wonder audio stuff where it's just like they build it on order?
Chris Barker: Yeah. All right. Okay. They don't
Will Betts: have any like stock, right. Okay.
Mella Dee: Yeah. You can just build, build that challenge you want and it has like a CV channel on it and a gate channel and stuff like that. Oh, right. The filter channel and stuff, which is quite mad.
Chris Barker: That is mad. Yeah. So like you can use it to trigger external stuff.
Chris Barker: I guess that's why
Mella Dee: they got it in like our running like patches, like sounds into this sort of CV filter channel. And then using other things like triggering, like the way the, the envelopes were opening, the filters were opening there, recording them. Package could use it as lead. It's just quite, it's quite interesting cause you've got's crazy, a proper instrument built into the desk.
Mella Dee: Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's, and the, the EQs are amazing, the fact that
Chris Barker: you can do that with envelopes. So that's very cool. Um, So that's, uh, just like our intro said, we are, uh, building quite the analog monster studio here. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. So,
Will Betts: um, that's the [00:29:00] first time we've had that as well, so that's a good, really good show.
Chris Barker: I don't, I don't wanna panic you, but you've only got two more items left and you don't have any speakers yet.
Mella Dee: I'll text some like big ATCs. Okay. Yeah. Just cause I know that sound nice. I've it What are you using at the moment? Some focal SM nine s. Oh, they're nice though. Well, yeah, they're nice. The, the radiator thing annoys me though cause it's like not powered.
Mella Dee: It's just a bit fluffy. It's a bit like, I want have a better description. Like you're
Chris Barker: gonna have to go into more detail. So the top, like the top
Mella Dee: speaker, like the big sub bit, it's not like a powered sort of speaker. Oh, is, that's passive. It's not active radi. Yeah, it's just a passive radiator. Oh. So they blow a lot and they're bit far like, okay.
Mella Dee: So they, they're know it. But I've used him for that many years. I, I moved into a studio with my friend, the knee Adam, then Knee moved to America, so he gave me a deal on him so that right. I know these things. I don't particularly like them, but I'll keep using them. Just they're They're
Chris Barker: popular though.
Chris Barker: They Yeah,
Mella Dee: they're, yeah. You know, they go, they go the clip quite easily as well. Right. They definitely get to a point where you're like, you're not even turning up that loud. You, that's not great [00:30:00] thing the club music, is it? No. Not allowed for me. Like kick drums.
Chris Barker: Yeah. You wanna be able to smash it out. So you go for ATCs for that reasoning.
Chris Barker: Yeah. ATCs
Mella Dee: big ones. What are the big ones? Well, what they call the ones that, about that big. Boom. Big enough. S
Will Betts: SCM 300 a SL
Mella Dee: Pro. Sounds about right. Sounds right. Yeah.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Lots of numbers for you. And they're front, front port, big. Yeah. They are. These soffit mounted book. They will be. Do you want them soffit mounted.
Chris Barker: Mounted in the walls?
Will Betts: Yeah. Nice, nice. Yeah. So, but you've been into
Mella Dee: places in New, oh my god, I know these, yeah. Yeah. Red light are used to you surf set. Yeah. Beautiful. I've never seen someone blowing as many speakers as he, I was like,
Chris Barker: And they're a snip at just,
Will Betts: just 41,000 pounds, a power steady away.
Chris Barker: Order em now. Yep. Yep. That're in stock though. In stock. The change in my
Mella Dee: wallet gear.
Chris Barker: Yeah. No, but this is dream. She, this is, yeah. This is a heavy studio. It's good. Right. So But you were
Will Betts: saying Red, red Light, he blew a lot of speakers,
Mella Dee: but not these ones. No, he, I don't think he's got those exact ones. I'm think he might some different ones, but he's [00:31:00] blown like the drivers on them multiple times on ATCs.
Mella Dee: Yeah. I mean, he has a room that's about like smaller than this and speakers like Tech Apart Room, but you're still just like,
Will Betts: but in the Dream Studio, do you want. How much of your room do you want the speakers to take up? How much space do you need?
Mella Dee: I just want it be to to be relative, isn't it? But like I want it to be loud,
Chris Barker: like louder than you can get it.
Chris Barker: There's a point where you're like, I can't go anymore. Yeah. But the speakers still have more. Yeah. Yeah.
Mella Dee: That'd be ideal. Like not blowing speakers have been lovely. Like, cause that's always a pain. Yeah. And just, it's just loud enough that you can feel it.
Will Betts: So like thumping in the chest or like visual disturbances?
Mella Dee: I'll tell thumping in the chest like visual disturbances. I'll leave to like Iation step.
Chris Barker: Okay, awesome. And have you blown the SM nine s then?
Mella Dee: I've blown 'em. loads Yeah.
Chris Barker: Just casual. Yeah. Yeah. Loads. Yeah. Loads, loads, loads, loads. You're effectively renting them now you just keep replacing. Yeah, just different like triggers.
Chris Barker: Broom tweet. Not so bad. They're not even the same SM nine s anymore.
Mella Dee: No, the [00:32:00] drivers have gone like loads. I just, I've got 'em. I've got like spare drivers now just like ready, just just for when I do. And bro, again, they're just fitting yourself just like, oh yeah. It's just like a quick change over. It's easy enough.
Chris Barker: Nice. That's good. That's good. Okay, so we are onto your last. Item before we get to your luxury item. So your last bit bit of
Mella Dee: gear. I'm gonna go for like. Even though I've already got that reverb, I just want a spring reverb, but I want it to be like a room, you know what I mean? Or play reverb or something.
Mella Dee: Mm-hmm. That tech spring. Yeah, just a, that literal huge room. Spring bang. Send it down to that. Nice. Like a Yeah. Summer to create fond with.
Chris Barker: Yes. That's something to create again, very dub. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's all dub.
Mella Dee: It's all the dub aesthetic. Like it, it's all dub. Yeah. Yeah. It's into a bits all scratch Perry.
Mella Dee: It's all mad professor. Well, we could take one of those. Yeah, I just, I don't know who's got, I guess like scratch. You probably had something. You would've had some it
Chris Barker: his might be cursed or something though.
Mella Dee: Yeah, he's probably buried in the, I heard, I've heard stuff about him burying like somebody else
Chris Barker: [00:33:00] uses it.
Chris Barker: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Expensive
Mella Dee: mics and sand and stuff like I can't,
I
Chris Barker: like that though. I love that. I heard about him heating mics up before. He uses it as well, like SM 58 and just warms the grill with a lighter. That's not how
Will Betts: the manufacturer intends
Mella Dee: to be used. I trust scratch. I trust
Chris Barker: scratch. But honestly, he does.
Chris Barker: He, somebody told me they saw him like warming up the grill of the mic. And then going on stage and like it was like hot and he was like putting, he was like, no, he likes heat. He likes fire.
Mella Dee: Yeah. I mean he burnt down. Yeah, he stupid. He burned down black art, didn't he? Cause someone came in twice that he didn't Yeah, he didn't wanna work with these people so he was just like, ah, I want, I want me to there juju's brilliant.
Mella Dee: And just burn the place
Chris Barker: down. Yeah. Well that's why he likes the heat of the microphone. He wants to feel hot against his skin, but like each berry tapes Right. And then dig them up. And then play 'em back on. Yeah. Yeah. All sorts of
Mella Dee: madness. So he had worked. Yeah, I mean he's, I still try and copy what he does.
Chris Barker: Okay. What's he got? So he had a
Will Betts: grandon spring reverb. Okay. Yeah.
Mella Dee: Nice, nice. But we
Will Betts: can, I dunno, burn some sage or something? Yeah,
Mella Dee: gram one. I've actually seen people have done a model, those [00:34:00] grand ones, and I've thought about getting him like, oh, okay. It's one of those things that not a lot of people use it, I don't think either Spring weave
Chris Barker: herbs.
Chris Barker: Yeah. I mean, I, I love spring plug-ins. I always reach for the plug-ins at spring. They just have, you just can't beat like I just smacking the spring. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Will Betts: Yeah. Teria do you want? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, the Rev Spring 6 36.
Chris Barker: So that's the model? That's the software? Yeah, that's the software. Yeah. But
Will Betts: it's um, based on a type 6 36 Grampian spring reverb.
Will Betts: Yeah. Nice. Okay.
Chris Barker: Nice.
Will Betts: Get I locked in there. I mean, you wouldn't rather go a little bit more upscale and get like one of those a KG
Mella Dee: dual. So it was a k g ones and I saw Devon's got one of them. Like, oh, they're
Chris Barker: the ones that look like an old pc, don't they? A big, I think
Mella Dee: it was a big tuby one. I can't remember.
Mella Dee: It's a big,
Will Betts: yeah, it's like tall.
Mella Dee: It's about four feet tall or something. Yeah. I'll go as big as I can. As good as I can, like, you know. Okay. Yeah. Okay,
Will Betts: so we're gonna, the
Mella Dee: AKG
Chris Barker: one. AK Akg Spring. Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah, again, they, they must be really rare. It doesn't seem that much. They, they don't still make them, do they?
Chris Barker: No. They don't make one. Don't make them now?
Will Betts: No. Unless you're gonna put it inside a car. So they
Chris Barker: just
Will Betts: do like an [00:35:00] akg, like well into all that. They do. They get bought by Samsung.
Chris Barker: I don't know. I, I, my, my head went straight to like, you've got your car stereo and then next to it you've just got like a send.
Chris Barker: So you can just be driving and just sending stuff to like a spring in your May. Man, I'll be all so
Mella Dee: good. Just like a
Chris Barker: size, which was like crap traffic. Like just thunder. Yeah. And then you just drive off. I think that's work that works. Yeah. Okay. Right. Well, well if you lock, lock in that AKG. Yeah. BX 20 spring.
Chris Barker: Yeah. And then we will take a moment. Listen, we'll run you through what you've got so far. While we're doing that, have a think about what your luxury item's gonna be for the studio. And it can be anything, but it just can't be a bit of kit. It's not studio kit. Something else. Yeah. Depends what I, I'm just thinking about this.
Chris Barker: Have a little thing when listen to listen to Will. Yeah. Set the scene. Sorry. Listen to will set the scene of your studio.
Will Betts: Okay. We've taken Devon Analog, [00:36:00] the entirety of it, without any of the gear inside. We've taken the structure of Devon Analog and transplanted it into the peak district. You've got an excellent sofa and a nice chair.
Will Betts: Yeah. Your free items, you've chosen the biggest and best Max studio. We can get your interface is an Antelope Galaxy 64 Synergy Core Up sold d a w is Ableton Live, suite 11. And for your six items, your first item is the Eventide H 9,000. You have chosen the Ursa Major Stargate 6 26. Your third item is another effect, the Yamaha E 10 10 analog delay.
Will Betts: For your console, you've gone off road and chosen the Zal one. We're going 40 channel. It's the biggest. He does love that. Item five is a pair of a c s SCM 300, a SL pro soffit mounted speakers. Mm soffit. And your final item is the. [00:37:00] Big a kg BX 20 Spring reverb. Yeah. I
Mella Dee: like
Chris Barker: effects. That is,
Mella Dee: I'll find my sound somewhere else.
Will Betts: So what are you doing for the sources? Where's
Mella Dee: it all coming from? I don't know. I better get sampling. I'll use a but guess like Hamilton's got bill's load. I just, you know, I take like a drum machine, maybe a sampler if I had a chance. If we have more, I mean, do you wanna switch one out? No. Nah, but I'll do job live, so I've got enough effects to make it sound good.
Mella Dee: Yeah.
Chris Barker: Um, okay. Well. Yeah, I'm, we're glad we can build that for you. Absolutely. But what you, what would you
Will Betts: go to or your go to like in terms of drum sounds? You must have
Mella Dee: like, uh, these Yeah, I sort, I'd use the drum box. Oh yeah. It's quite nice. Mm-hmm. Just a, I like a drum machine that I can use. I'd even maybe just do like a T RRA or something, you know, one that you can just load up with samples and just program I program lot again.
Mella Dee: You like to have that physical? Yeah, yeah. Just sort of that, um, I'll use a button in stock Sounds as well. Like, I don't mind the neighbor of 9 0 9. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah. And once you're putting it through, yeah. Once you start [00:38:00] putting it through stuff, that's the thing with, I've got, there's a 9 0 9 in my studio, which I using, and then I've got bored of tracking every day.
Mella Dee: Like tracking drums all the time is just, yeah. Not the funnest thing in the world. Especially
Chris Barker: when it's the like, The same size.
Mella Dee: It's a 9 0 9. Yeah. Yeah, it's a 9 0 9. And it like, you know, if I'm, I use a circle on first programming so that sometimes if I, that's, I'll use that a bit more cause I can sort of play the circle on a bit, you know?
Mella Dee: Yeah. And just sort of get some of those bits and bobs
Will Betts: On the Circlon what are you doing with that? And, Maybe for people who dunno the
Mella Dee: circle and what, explain what that is. Uh, I, I, I've stopped using it for a little bit, but the point of programming everything through it especially now I'm, my desk, I just, it's a hardware,
Chris Barker: sequencer and drum machine.
Chris Barker: Yeah.
Mella Dee: Hardware sequencer, not a drum machine. Okay. It sequences, it's like, The king of sequence is more or less like it, it's does so many channels. It's got like 6 million outputs and stuff like that. Okay. So I was just sequencing everything for it. There were per, there were a phase where every single part of my tracks were just sequencing live.
Mella Dee: I'd run it all at desk and then I'd capture it as a live take. Mm-hmm. And then just started it in from there. So you're literally
Chris Barker: using Ableton, like a tape machine [00:39:00] sentence? Yeah. Yeah.
Mella Dee: Tape. I kind of almost still like, I do use it like I say, a bit for sound sources, but that's the way that I sort of ca button is more like a tape machine.
Mella Dee: It just records my audio. I don't really do like, I don't set up loads and mid clips and stacks and sessions. I just recording play instruments in or use a sequencer to whatever, or playing
Chris Barker: the hardware on like the effects and the, yeah. And then I'll just do
Mella Dee: like a 10 minute take of a hardware sort of an effect and then just start chalking in it into it and start like editing.
Mella Dee: What I love about air and is just like, Theit, editing of the audio inside there, pulling stuff
Chris Barker: into
Mella Dee: time and outside. Yeah, just like reversing it, chopping it up, pitching it, doing this, that, the, you know what I mean? You can do everything so easy.
Chris Barker: Yeah. I suppose it's like the best tape editor ever, isn't it?
Chris Barker: For that kinda stuff. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well let's talk about your luxury item then. This is, not a piece of studio kit, so.
Mella Dee: A kettle.
Chris Barker: Just a kettle
Chris Barker: four.
Chris Barker: That's that. That's, come on. We, we can upsell. Come on.
Mella Dee: Do you know? Yeah, that's what, som not a kettle still gonna be. Same thing, but just a tap that's got a constant hot [00:40:00] tea coming out of it.
Mella Dee: Okay. We can keep going. I
Chris Barker: think upsetting it. Yeah. Oops, I don't get back. You've got down the road for all this, mate.
Mella Dee: Yeah, but like, I can't be in the cafe all the time. I've gotta be working, you know what I mean? Like, but I need to have brews constantly. Yeah. Okay. So I'm, I'm trying to figure, I'm, I'm, I'm a, I'm a man of like simple pleasures.
Mella Dee: Like a cup of tea. Just, okay. Okay. So
Mella Dee: one of those hot, instant hot water taps.
Mella Dee: Not even instant. No, not instant water. Instant tea.
Chris Barker: Like instant tea. Instant tea. Tell me, go. It's working.
Mella Dee: Instant tea. Yeah, like shire tea, just like bang. And does it come out?
Chris Barker: Comes out perfect with milk and sugar. Ready? Yeah. Not out.
Chris Barker: Exactly.
Mella Dee: Exactly. On it. Like exactly. Want. Exactly. If guests
Chris Barker: come over and they're like, oh no milk please. You're like, Yorkshire
Mella Dee: gold. Okay. Yorkshire gold. Yeah. We have been upsold. Okay.
Chris Barker: Yeah, the, your gold
Mella Dee: straight out the tap. Straight outta the top, like the perfect boo. Don't even have to wait. It's like it's there, it's ready.
Mella Dee: It's like temperature where you
Chris Barker: can sort of drink it. If anybody from Taylor's of Harrit is listened to this, I'm from Harrier and we can do a deal. Sean, come on. Get him,
Mella Dee: get into, you can definitely do a deal. I'll, I'll wear your t t-shirts everywhere. [00:41:00]
Chris Barker: That'd be great. I'm sound They should do that. Yeah.
Chris Barker: They're missing the trick. Yeah. I think the only DJ that goes out hard on tea is Mr. Scruff. Right. Mr. Scruff has his little tea stands in his gigs. Oh, nice. He sent me a little box of tea once when, as an album promo thing. It was nice. Actual, just, it was just tea as well. There was no
like,
Mella Dee: no blend. Yeah.
Mella Dee: Sounds good. Very nice. Very nice. I'm not really into coffee like album, so I'll just have tea all day. Yeah, that's an interesting
Will Betts: twist. Cause like we've had a lot of people come on and be like, I want a really big coffee machine. I want like, one of the ones, you know, with the big boy and all this stuff.
Will Betts: No,
Mella Dee: no. I don't like to desirable. It makes me too
Chris Barker: jittery as well. Why don't they do alcoholic tea? Sorry. That was great. That was a concern. Sorry, what? Why do you need to, no, but like, you know, people do espresso martinis and you have, you have coffee in like,
Mella Dee: I'm into it. Yeah. Yeah. I'd have it like a little sort.
Mella Dee: You could just put a little drama whiskey in it or something can Well, I dunno,
Chris Barker: isn't it? That's the thing, people do it with coffee whiskey, but there's no tea cocktails or anything. I've never seen you see coffee drinkers, mate. You can't trust them. I haven't never seen the tea cocktail of you. [00:42:00] I maybe match tea, that kinda
Mella Dee: thing.
Mella Dee: You but not like a brew. No, but like putting a bit of whiskey in some like an or something like that
Chris Barker: sort of whiskey and honey. Maybe in tea. Yeah, something like that. You could just bang that in. There's an experiment here to be had. Yeah. I want, I want somebody to start making alcoholic tea. Yorkshire alcoholic tea.
Chris Barker: That's your beard. Yeah, that's Love it. Double Gold Up Sold. It's got an extra Got it's Yorkshire Gold, but extra gold, which means it's 5%. It'll be like a little
Mella Dee: special light baring somewhere in Yorkshire in it where they just have like themed around. Yeah, tea based cocktails. That would be nice. We
Will Betts: can put that
Mella Dee: in the calf sound.
Mella Dee: I don't know if they'd have it. They'd kick off like never. That wouldn't be taking it. I've still gotta tell 'em to move into Yorkshire, like, so I don't know that,
Chris Barker: you know. How is the T in the calf though? Cause down. Bang. But how is it compared to up north? No,
Mella Dee: you know what they've got it on Locking calf make about like 10,000 a day.
Mella Dee: So, okay. The,
Chris Barker: yeah. You know, over the last 50 years or something. So yeah. They know what they're doing. Fair enough. Alright, well that brings us to the end of [00:43:00] the show. And I would just say thank you so much for coming and chatting about the studio. I mean, what's coming up for, uh, the rest of the year?
Mella Dee: DJ shows lots of that.
Mella Dee: Yeah. Finishing music with music. I've just released a records, I always just promoting that a minute. Okay.
Chris Barker: Um, and, uh, albums, we, EPS or singles. Um, Is there a plan
Mella Dee: for that? There's, there's a lot of music and a lot of files and a lot of me going, okay, there's a lot of me going back and forth like, should I do an album?
Mella Dee: Do I need to do an album? Should I do an album or do I need, yeah,
Chris Barker: it's a, yeah, it's a weird question in today's, you know, streaming and especially with DJing and like, yeah, you, you're kind of, your gigs are based on your best, like the singles that are coming out and stuff like that. But you've got heavy summer touring, I guess.
Mella Dee: Yeah. I've always heavy touring at times. I just sort of, I put like blinkers on and just deal with that as when
Chris Barker: it comes. Do you, do you manage to. Do music while touring or did you just shut down and just be a dj? No, when
Mella Dee: I'm actually on tour, I just sort of shut down. I did a bit of work. I went to like Bali kind of for an holiday, some work, and I did a little bit of work there, managed to do some editing and stuff.
Mella Dee: So as long as I got stuff, more just like bits of editing, but like I'll one, I'm back from [00:44:00] like touring, so I'll say I get back on Sunday if long as I'm like not too tired. I'll be in there on a Monday. But you
Chris Barker: do like, you do it like that, you do it as blocks like. I'm either doing one or the other.
Mella Dee: Yeah. I, I just do studio.
Mella Dee: Studio and like DJing dj And you're out basically every weekend. Yeah. I've, I've been off for like, sort of pass, not off, like I've done did some jobs but I've sort of been less home. Yeah. Less. Yeah. And it's been nice cause it just means I've, that block of time around, I can get Monday to Friday in studio and it's sort of, and have some relax.
Mella Dee: Keep that rolling as well. You know, it's not like coming but like the point coming back, we had not been in there for a while after Christmas and it was just like, I've just gotta get used to this.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Well I suppose you can. You back on a Sunday maybe, or a Monday and then it's actually like Tuesday or Wednesday before you get going and then you're back out on a Friday.
Chris Barker: It's kind of like you don't get that many days
Mella Dee: cuz it's sort of, you travel, sometimes you have to, you know. But if you come in on a Monday, it's not until Wednesday, like you sort
Chris Barker: of, well your sleep patterns and everything like ready to, ready to like, I'm quite good at like
Mella Dee: flipping back to it and I just sort of treat it like nine to five sort of work and just sort of get my head stuck into it.
Mella Dee: Nice. But lots for people
Chris Barker: to look [00:45:00] forward to. Yeah. Well thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having me. Thank you, melody. Well, there we go. Melody, great guest. Great guest from Yorkshire as well, which I loved, obviously.
Will Betts: Obviously. Yeah. And weirdly no sy in this. Well, we thought it was gonna be a synth packed
Chris Barker: studio.
Chris Barker: Exactly. I think we said in the intro it was gonna be synth packed. It was analog packed. Yeah. But it was, uh, obscure effects. Really like obscure. It was super obscure. Yeah. Love that. Dubbed out. Dubbed out studio. Yeah. Yeah. That might be the title, Chris. Well, all that's left to say is thank you so much for tuning in and we will catch you next time for more adventures into Studio Foreverdom.
Chris Barker: Goodbye. Bye-bye.