This time, we’re joined by British electronic music producer and Grammy-winning songwriter, Tourist. Not only did he co-write Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’, he’s also on course to release his fifth studio album. This episode, we’ll learn about the one app he can’t live without, “sneery” synthesizers, and the importance of inspiring presets.
This time, we’re joined by British electronic music producer and Grammy-winning songwriter, Tourist. Not only did he co-write Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’, he’s also on course to release his fifth studio album. This episode, we’ll learn about the one app he can’t live without, “sneery” synthesizers, and the importance of inspiring presets.
STUFF WE TALK ABOUT (SPOILERS BELOW)
https://reverb.com/uk/item/29665190-yamaha-djx-1
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch-space-black-apple-m3-max-with-16-core-cpu-and-40-core-gpu-48gb-memory-1tb
https://teenage.engineering/products/tp-7
https://www.moogmusic.com/products/minimoog-model-d
https://reverb.com/en-dk/p/roland-juno-106
https://www.cme-pro.com/widi-jack/
https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/music_production/accessories/md-bt01/index.html
https://atc.audio/professional/discontinued-pro-loudspeakers/scm25a-pro/
Teardrops - Womack & Womack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8AOAap6_k4
https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere/
https://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/d-50
Overnight - Chilly Gonzales https://open.spotify.com/track/3aEoeum6W7Tx8N6HZpSr4z
https://lamarzocco.com/uk/en/home-products/espresso-machines/linea-mini-r/
Chris Barker:
I'm Chris Barker.
Will Betts:
And I'm Will Betts. And this is the MusicTech, My Forever Studio podcast brought to you in partnership with Audient. And we're coming to you this time from TYX Studios in London.
Chris Barker:
That's right. In this podcast, we speak with musicians, producers, engineers and dj's about their fantasy Forever studio.
Will Betts:
The fantasy studio that our guests dream up is one that they are going to have to live with forever. But even in Fantasy forever land, we do have some rules, don't we, Chris?
Chris Barker:
Indeed, they're rules. Okay, so our guest will get to pick a Daw, an audio interface and a computer for free. Then they will get just six other bits of studio gear and one luxury item.
Will Betts:
However, no bundles.
Chris Barker:
That's right, no bundles. Choosing a product that is a bundle of software or hardware as a single package is not allowed.
Will Betts:
This time we're joined by a british electronic music producer and Grammy award winning songwriter.
Chris Barker:
That's right, our guest co wrote Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me'. And he's on the brink of releasing.
Tourist:
His fifth studio album and he is.
Will Betts:
Sometimes, and only sometimes, a gear nerd.
Chris Barker:
That's right. This is my forever studio with Will Phillips, aka Tourist. Welcome, welcome.
Tourist:
Thank you very much, chaps.
Chris Barker:
Hopefully a gear nerd today.
Tourist:
I'll decide which hat I'm wearing.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yes.
Chris Barker:
Well, you can't be too much of a nerd because you only get six items, so.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
We put a cap on it, which.
Tourist:
I love effectively, because I think so many of the problems of music production and songwriting are often just too much choice. You know, actually having six is perfect for me because I'm always the person who's like, I literally go to the dump or the recycling center as often as I can. I'm like, I want to limit the amount of things in my life. Like musically minimalist. Well, not really. I wouldn't say I'm a minimalist, so to speak. I don't want to live in like, a glass box, but I hate having things I don't use, you know? So if I love it and use it, I'll have it, you know?
Chris Barker:
And has this always been the way.
Tourist:
So let's.
Chris Barker:
Let's jump back before we get into the free items and that. Let's jump back. Has that always been the way? Like, how did you get into music? I mean, was it from a single instrument or.
Tourist:
Yeah, I mean, it was definitely from the piano. So, like, ever since I was about probably three years old, I always. We had a piano in our house and I always just, you know, as a child, you do. You wander up to something and try and explore it. And I just played the piano, and then my parents could clearly see that I had a kind of interest in it. Not any talent, but just an interest. And they were like, do you want lessons? And I tried lessons, and it was the absolute worst thing I ever did because it made what was fun formal.
Chris Barker:
You made to do grades.
Tourist:
Yeah, and I hated it really, because it took out all the joy of experimenting and all the joy of finding it out by myself, which I think is such a fundamental part of why I love music is that feeling of self discovery. I think that's what it is. And I think, yeah, the piano is, like, starting point for everything. And then I kind of grew up. Well, I'm 37 now, so I was, like, twelve in 1999. So it was the real, like, ascendance of, like, technology and music all becoming this one interesting new place. And there were so many developments in, like, technology that would really, you would hear them in the music. I feel like, interestingly, now we're at a point where technology is not really fundamentally changing how music sounds.
Tourist:
I don't really think, and I don't think it has to done for about probably 20 years or so. I think the fundamental paradigm of how we make music has been pretty much the same for about 20 years. There's certainly definitely things that have changed. I'm going off on a tangent.
Will Betts:
I love it.
Tourist:
I do think that, you know, fundamentally that, you know, the laptop that we could be in 2004, the laptop would be bigger, the microphone would probably look exactly the same.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Tourist:
We wouldn't be endlessly scrolling this content on TikTok, but the fundamentals haven't really changed. You know, I remember, like, emagic and when logic was a product by then.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
And like, the.
Chris Barker:
You don't have to sort of pick a lane anymore as such, whereas you kind of did with technology versus, like, acoustic recording or recording techniques. Now it's all just overlapping and bundled together and the same people use plug ins that use studio gear and it all. It's all just one thing.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
That's sort of a. I feel there's a blessing and a curse element to that, that everybody has to do a bit of everything. How do you find that? I mean, you must be self producing or are you working with producers?
Tourist:
Yeah, I mean, I produce, obviously, I produce all my own music. I mean, my newest album was slightly more collaborative. I mean, I'm incredibly protective of, like, how I make my music, in a sense. And I think that I tend to really only collaborate with people who I really, really get along with and like. And I have a good friend of mine, Tom, who was the best man at my wedding, but who's also an incredible musician and producer, and he scores films and things like that, but he is a really good friend of mine, and he helped me kind of co produce my. A lot of my new record, which was great, but it was a very strange process, you know, giving up a little bit of.
Chris Barker:
Is that the first time you've done that, then?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Really? Songwriting. I've worked with lots of other people. I'm very used to it in the songwriting context, but in terms of production for tourists, it's very rare that I'd ever kind of let anyone in on that process. But, yeah, you know, other people are all right, I guess.
Chris Barker:
So when did you. When did you maneuver from that piano to recording the piano or thinking, I can. I want to make songs, rather than just playing piano?
Tourist:
I think if the piano probably became a keyboard, and then the keyboard became.
Chris Barker:
Like an interface to that.
Tourist:
Exactly. It became like a. I think it was a Yamaha DJX.
Tourist:
Yep.
Chris Barker:
I have.
Tourist:
Did you shout out to my dad for buying me that?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
With the little ribbon controller?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Unbelievable.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Remember the Klaxons did that tune? Yeah, the DJX. So that was very strange.
Chris Barker:
You still hear bits of it, like the come on.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Oh, yeah, DJ.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Yeah, that was so good.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, it was DJX one as well. The blue one, because they did a DJX two as well.
Tourist:
Yeah, they did.
Chris Barker:
In black. Wasn't good. They tried to put a little. They tried to put, like, a more of a DJ element to it. Yeah, but I like the little ribbon controller. But I did. Yeah, I did the same thing. But it was actually.
Chris Barker:
What was cool with it was not just the built in sounds of fun, but it had proper filtering and cut off and resonance. You got access controls and the ribbon controller you could assign.
Tourist:
It was kind of amazing, actually, thinking back at it, you know, because it was the same time as, like, groove boxes were a thing, you know, keyboards with speakers in, as well, keyboards with speakers, you know? And then I had this computer that was like a thing, and I was like, how are they going to interface? And then I had got, like, cube basis, I remember, in, like, the year 1999. So that was really my first introduction into, like, sequencing. You know, the concept that a computer could sequence an external instrument, and, you know, that external instrument could trigger midi on a computer. And that was mind blowing, really, even though that had been going on since the eighties. But for me as a twelve year old, it was. It was amazing, you know.
Chris Barker:
And you start programming the smallest, most intricate stuff. That's.
Tourist:
Yeah. Did you.
Chris Barker:
Unplayable.
Tourist:
Do you know what? I probably. Probably I did the kind of, you know, like that there is an instinct in us to kind of do, you know, make it like a computer game. You know, that. That mindset of, like, building something that you could never build in reality and. Yeah, yeah. But I feel as though something about that I just dislike. Because I feel like I disliked it.
Chris Barker:
As soon as I'd done it.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
But I guess that was. I guess that was IDM, wasn't it?
Tourist:
Yeah, exactly.
Tourist:
Back in the day, that was, you know, like square Pusher and amontobin and obviously apex twin.
Chris Barker:
They just did it.
Tourist:
But they were doing it because they did well. Yeah, because it was turning it on its head. It was like. But there's always going to be a place for that. Now you listen to, like, probably best examples you have, like Max Cooper or John Hopkins. People who really know how to program things in a way that feels so beautifully human in a way. But, yeah, so it was late nineties, early noughties was my introduction. And it's just one of those things.
Tourist:
I just enjoyed it so much that I just stuck with it, you know, which is just. It's rare to find something that you love so much. The process of discovering and learning about it, you know, that is a lifelong journey, I think. And whenever you feel that sense of like, oh, I'm not doing this. I'm not doing that. Or I don't feel inspired, actually. Just going back to the craft of making something.
Chris Barker:
What you're gonna say, going back to the Yamaha DJ. Come on, now I'm inspired.
Tourist:
Indeed. That was it. Whenever I go back to that dusty, this is the one thing I'm gonna have.
Chris Barker:
You still own it.
Tourist:
No, I don't.
Chris Barker:
I gave mine away as well. And I actually miss it. I think it would be quite fun to have back.
Tourist:
I probably have an equivalent synth. Now that I have such a. Probably a couple of synths I really have an emotional connection with. But no, the DJ X is a really, really nice, like, something. I have very fond memories of that.
Chris Barker:
Again, like what you're saying about playing the piano, though. It was fun. So it made you want to go to the next step of. Sorry, listeners. I've just spotted on Will's laptop that he's on eBay looking at Reverb, how.
Will Betts:
Much it's sold, unfortunately, but 100 quid.
Tourist:
Okay, so it's not like a. It's not something that's not a good investment.
Chris Barker:
No, it's not. It's not.
Will Betts:
Well, maybe the market's bottomed out and now's the time to buy.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Will Betts:
Now we're talking about only up from here.
Tourist:
It's only up from here, guys, to the moon.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
Right. Let's start on building this dream studio and talk about the location, what you have. If you could have a studio anywhere in the world, and what would it be like?
Tourist:
And be it designed like, it's funny because I've actually just built a studio perfect. In my garden, and I've also just done the garden, basically. So I'm a bit of a. I love gardening. It's like a real passion. It's just kind of probably like every, you know, bloke during the pandemic who got bored, I looked outside and I had it. We had. We just moved into a new place, and there was this garden.
Tourist:
And something really enjoyable was like planting seeds, you know, being a horticulturalist, really. So I actually just did that in our house. And one of the nicest things at the moment, at this time of year, is just seeing spring evolve. It's like, so beautiful. Like seeing magnolia and daffodils and things. This is the Gardening world podcast, right?
Will Betts:
That's right, yeah.
Tourist:
Okay.
Tourist:
So fundamentally, the studio I've built is basically surrounded by flowers. It's in trees in the garden, which is.
Chris Barker:
And you look out onto it from the studio as well.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
You got a window in two directions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was thinking, okay, dream studio. Let's take that to, like, what would be the most extreme example of that? And I was thinking, one of my favorite places in the world is Scotland and the Highlands. So I was just imagining being on a lock, you know, like in a bit of a kind of not hut.
Chris Barker:
But, you know, like a pretty humble scandi style or.
Tourist:
I don't know, I'm almost thinking more like banshees of inner Sheeran, kind of.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Tourist:
Did you watch that?
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
Just a kind of very humble wooden cabin. Just makes as long as it's warm.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
You know, maybe there's a nice glass element to it. Maybe there's a, you know, a window.
Chris Barker:
You want to see out.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
I don't want a little.
Tourist:
Yeah, I don't want it to be too kind of. Yeah. This is an unlimited budget here. Right.
Chris Barker:
Forever fantasy studio.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
There's.
Tourist:
For me, this studio fundamentally has to be immersed in something that just feels completely natural, like the natural world. So I think Scotland, I think the Highlands, I think being out on a loch, something like that.
Chris Barker:
That never lock ness.
Tourist:
Just in case, maybe. Maybe I've been there.
Chris Barker:
Just in case.
Will Betts:
You never know.
Chris Barker:
You never know.
Will Betts:
You never know.
Tourist:
Right.
Chris Barker:
I mean, Nessie goes past.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
That's going to inspire you.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
If the album fails, I can just be the guy who just found Nessie again. So that's where, you know, it doesn't matter.
Chris Barker:
Just come out with a massive beard. I haven't done any music. You've got all these blurry photos instead.
Will Betts:
That's actually a great pr campaign.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
Just recorded up and I just have, like a. You know, like one of those cameras. Just forever recording.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Ring doorbell.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
A ring doorbell for Loch Ness. Why do they have that? That would be.
Will Betts:
They could.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Sorry, it's a lack of will.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
You don't want to believe.
Tourist:
Yeah. I don't even.
Tourist:
Lock necks is the most beautiful lock, though, if you've ever been there. It's nice, but it's, like, long, and it's, like, very long, so it's not like I picture something, you know, it could be Scotland, it could be Norway. Somewhere like that.
Tourist:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
Something just by the water.
Tourist:
Yeah, by the water, but by lots of trees as well. So, I mean, it could be. It could be somewhere in America. You know what I mean? It could be in, like.
Chris Barker:
We don't have to push you for a little bit.
Tourist:
All right, let's go. I think I'm gonna go Scotland.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Fine with that climate.
Tourist:
I'm fine with the climate.
Tourist:
Yeah. Okay, cool.
Tourist:
Yeah, there's a wood burner in there. There'll be a wood burner on a beautiful.
Chris Barker:
You know, it's getting warmer all the time, obviously.
Tourist:
Exactly. That's why I'm moving up there, because we fucked the world.
Will Betts:
Perfect. Okay, so what about the vibe inside the studio, then?
Tourist:
Well, again, because I've just recently done this, I'm probably just gonna reference what I did. So, like, oak flooring, you know, kind of just off white walls. And then just my favorite art, you know, like, my favorite pictures, whether it's something that my daughter's drawn or a really beautiful, like, rothko or something.
Chris Barker:
You can get to some of that kind of stuff potentially in your luxury item right at the end.
Tourist:
Yeah. The. Okay. Of.
Chris Barker:
But, like.
Tourist:
So.
Chris Barker:
But you are thinking it kind of, like, in terms of furniture, it's very wooden. It's very kind of. It's not the spaceship studio.
Tourist:
No. I hate nothing more than those, like, spaceship studios. I hate it, actually. I really don't like it when a studio looks like a studio. I feel like it's just a way for people to make themselves feel important, you know? It's like a bit like an office.
Chris Barker:
Nicely put.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
It's very corporate.
Tourist:
Yeah, I'm not into that. I wanted to have, like. Just like. Even if it's old furniture. Like, I want my synths on, like, an old, like, victorian table with a bit of a story. Do you know what I mean?
Chris Barker:
Or haunted, maybe.
Tourist:
Maybe you could.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Not.
Will Betts:
How do you haunt a table?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
It's not me you need to ask.
Tourist:
Well, yeah, it's such a good point. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if anyone's ever asked that question in the history of time.
Chris Barker:
That's what we do.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
So, yeah, I would have furniture. Probably, like, antique furniture. I'm not really into, like, mid century stuff. I think that's done. I think I would have just stuff that feels a bit older. A nice, comfy chair, you know, and then a kind of more functional stool or a seat to.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
But no space.
Chris Barker:
I can picture this vibe, though. I'm getting it.
Tourist:
Yeah, I like it.
Tourist:
None of these lights.
Will Betts:
Sorry, guys.
Tourist:
All right.
Chris Barker:
Sorry.
Tourist:
I like them, but just.
Chris Barker:
Welcome to our spaceship.
Tourist:
I like. I don't.
Tourist:
It's good for this, though. Spaceship.
Chris Barker:
This is where we open these and reveal a lock in the middle of London.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Camden lock. That's nice.
Tourist:
Very nice.
Tourist:
Not bad.
Chris Barker:
Fun there.
Will Betts:
Smooth.
Chris Barker:
Smooth. Got out of that one. Okay, let's move on to the three free items that we have. So every guest gets to choose these. A computer, an interface, and a daw.
Tourist:
So, a computer. I mean, it's gonna be a Mac, because I'm not gonna, like, move all my stuff across to other stuff. I can't be bothered. I've been doing it for so long now.
Will Betts:
Big one, small one.
Tourist:
I don't. I just like a laptop. Really?
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Tourist:
I mean, I do have a display, an external display, but there's something that feels, I don't know, a bit corporate about sitting, looking at the big display sometimes, you know, sensing a lot of.
Will Betts:
Anti corporate sentiment here.
Tourist:
I don't know. It's okay. I just. I like the display with the speakers, but sometimes it can kind of make you write in a certain way. You're kind of sitting just thinking about your music in a certain way. Like, I almost want the computer to be the small thing off on the.
Chris Barker:
Side, and I guess it enables you to take it out outside on the nice. You know, you've got that kind of thing with it.
Tourist:
Yeah, I really do. I mean, when I was 13 years old, my dream was like a laptop and an interface and nothing else. And there is a huge part of me that would just say that is my dreams.
Chris Barker:
Well, this podcast is great for that.
Tourist:
If that's.
Chris Barker:
More than enough stuff.
Tourist:
I honestly am now at that point where it's just like, the less is the better. It helps you focus on the ideas. If you can't do it on one of these computers, there's no reason that you. There's no excuse.
Chris Barker:
It's your problem.
Tourist:
Yeah, and I love that about the.
Chris Barker:
Oh, God.
Tourist:
But there are a few things that I'm actually like, no, I do love this and I do love that. And there are certain qualities, you know, it's things like, I don't just wear the same clothes every day. Do you know what I mean? There's this. There's a certain romance in life that you want to like, you know, have certain things that you have an emotional attachment with. And there are certainly things like that. But I do think that the laptop is such an unbelievably powerful tool, and especially when it's combined with like, a phone. And the reason is, my fourth album was really just written on a laptop and a phone. I sampled everything from the phone.
Tourist:
I don't know why I could have just done it from the laptop, but there was something really nice about just having it.
Chris Barker:
Like a tape recorder.
Tourist:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly that. Having a phone as a sample source and then just taking an audio cable out of it, albeit with however many fucking adapter plugs you need nowadays just to get audio out of a phone into a computer. But yeah, there was something so pure about cool going from the phone to the laptop straight into quick sampler in logic, and then anything you want, you know, your palette of sounds from sampling is, well, it's literally infinite, which for me is, you know, so important. I completely forgot what the question was.
Chris Barker:
Daw audience. No, we choose from your laptop would be a Mac specs out, whatever the latest Mac is.
Tourist:
Right?
Tourist:
Yeah, just like the ridiculous. I have to remortgage my house to buy one. They're amazing now these laptops though, aren't they? They are just like.
Chris Barker:
And we're up to m three now, right?
Will Betts:
M three MacBook pro.
Tourist:
And there'll be an m four next year, next month or something.
Will Betts:
Sure.
Tourist:
But you know, you can write. I mean, I remember I wrote my first few EPs on like a MacBook Air with like nothing, with just like four gig of Ram or something. It's like, you know, you adapt to the technology, you don't need to, you know, that's how it should work.
Chris Barker:
Well, back in the DJX days, you know, it's the same thing that you just figure it out, don't you?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Because you could sample into the DJX.
Tourist:
As well, I remember, which is fantastic.
Chris Barker:
Only tiny fragments. It was like it's 1.2 seconds or something like. Yeah, but you could, you could sample into it which again at the time quite. For such a cheap keyboard value for money keyboard. But like for such a. One of those it was.
Tourist:
Yes.
Chris Barker:
To be able to sample as like 1314 year old.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Back then it was unbelievable experience. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And you could manipulate them with the ribbon control and like sort of scratch the samples. Like you could do the pitch.
Tourist:
That's kind of cool. It's cool.
Tourist:
Yeah, I do remember that. I mean amazing, an amazing device, like, and I definitely think it was like so exciting. Like, you know, you think about the generation now who've got like the op one or whatever it might be that is their DJI.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
Wealthy, wealthy, wealthy kids.
Chris Barker:
But the phone is the DJX for the kids that don't. Of course.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Smartphone.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Do similar things and like you said to the technology, but in a way.
Tourist:
It'S almost less impressive because they've always had it.
Chris Barker:
So it's.
Tourist:
But that's just, you know, the slow or, I don't know if it's slow or very steep curve of technology, just, you know. But.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well let's look at.
Tourist:
So, yeah, I would say Mac audio interface. I've spent so much money on their plugins that unfortunately universal audio have me in a death grip.
Chris Barker:
Well they don't hear, do they not?
Will Betts:
You can have anything you want and there are no bundles.
Tourist:
There's no bundles.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Okay. What interfaces do you guys use out of interest?
Will Betts:
I use an Evo.
Chris Barker:
I've got an Evo 4 four.
Will Betts:
An Evo four, which is different.
Chris Barker:
It's the same brand.
Will Betts:
I also run an Apollo twin as well.
Tourist:
Oh yeah, nice.
Chris Barker:
And I'm not just saying this, I actually only run the Evo 4. I used to have a big rack. I remember what it was like, focusrite or an M audio. A big, like loads of inputs. But I, you know, had all of that and never used any of the 16 preamps or eight. So I've got the Evo 4 now again, because it's laptop and interface moving around, you still do get the plugins that come with the interface you buy. You just don't get your account to log into.
Tourist:
There's no Wi Fi in Scotland. Okay, I'm gonna stay with what I know because it's boring. And this is these three questions. You know, I'm not gonna.
Chris Barker:
That's why they're free. He's out of the way.
Tourist:
Yeah, I would say so. Look, we're just gonna keep it. Uad, what have you got?
Chris Barker:
The moment? The eight.
Tourist:
I have an Apollo.
Chris Barker:
Apollo eight?
Tourist:
Yeah, I have an Apollo eight. I have two of those. And then I have. Because there was a period when if you bought one of those, they'd give you a free satellite. And I have like four of these satellite things. And then I have an Apollo twin, then I have Apollo X 16, which I used to use.
Chris Barker:
When you said, they got you, they really got you. They really got you. Got a lot of stuff. That's cool, though.
Tourist:
Yeah, well, it's not because I think more is better, it's because I've just acquired it over a long period of time and actually.
Chris Barker:
But they all work together, right?
Tourist:
They do, but I don't have anything like what I require. I have far too much. I mean, in terms of inputs.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, that's why I was saying, which is ridiculous.
Tourist:
So I think, in honesty, I could probably get away with, like, an Apollo eight. I guess it would be preamps or. Yeah, with the preamps.
Tourist:
Yep.
Tourist:
Yes. That depends if I'm gonna go on it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, stick that in. We can come back.
Will Betts:
Yeah, we can always come back.
Tourist:
That's the rack mounted one, right?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Everyone's watching this guy. This guy doesn't know anything about gear. What a loose. No, no. It's just so much, isn't it?
Will Betts:
There's so many things.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Especially when it comes to things like interfaces and market a lot of options.
Tourist:
And I think I'm at this fortunate position now where I don't need to sit around reading. What do I need to buy? I just need to focus on, like, okay, what's my next record about? You know?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
So it's like. But I mean, there are plenty of people who really enjoy the process of researching and buying stuff, but I'm really that opposite guy. Just like, I just want to get rid of things. I want to focus. I just want to keep it. Like, the idea has to reign, you know? That has to be the thing, but.
Chris Barker:
So let's look at your daw then.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Locking in that.
Tourist:
I've been hollow. Originally I was using reason when I was like 1617. Do you remember that?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Isn't it?
Will Betts:
Yeah, still going, yeah.
Tourist:
Which was the most unbelievable piece of music software. But then when I was like 17 I was like, oh, I've got to you. I was like really affected by that horrible way of thinking which is like, oh, you've got to use that, man. I was like, oh, I feel really bad that I use reason and it's.
Chris Barker:
Like, yeah, reason suffered that, as did Fl studio. Yeah, probably still do. The amount of records that have been made on both.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
People say that it was pro tools or logic when they're interviewed. Oh, it was fit. Oh, we did it in this but we finished it in this. People were knocking out records in reason and you know, Fl studio.
Tourist:
I know.
Chris Barker:
Long before people would admit to it.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
And for some reason that 17 year old brain of mine was, well, I've got to use this because now I'm going to step it up if I do that. And I think that's such a terrible way of thinking because I think everybody's gone through that.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
So I really suffered from that. But what that meant is basically I migrated to logic aged 1718.
Chris Barker:
And did you plug reason into it?
Tourist:
I did, but I can't rewire things, man. I just hate, I hate the faff. I just.
Chris Barker:
It's a plug in now though, right?
Tourist:
Is it really?
Will Betts:
Yeah, it is now.
Tourist:
Plug in. Yeah.
Tourist:
Okay, just plug reason.
Chris Barker:
So maybe for one of your. But you're gonna go logic pro as your door.
Tourist:
Yeah, that's just logic.
Chris Barker:
Reasonable.
Tourist:
Well, no, I mean, we'll see. Honestly, if you opened up reason I wouldn't know how to use it. I remember the most novel thing about it was that you could switch.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Push tab.
Tourist:
Tab key. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And they sang.
Tourist:
It was such a lovely, you know. I guess it was like real og like skewomorphism, wasn't it?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
So like, yeah, 2002, I remember. I just thought it was the most amazing piece of software.
Chris Barker:
So realistic. Occasionally you had to take the jacks out and screw them in a bit. Give them a wiggle.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, the crackle as it goes in.
Tourist:
I mean, I thought that was really charming and I thought that was a really a nice part of that system whereas logic obviously just felt like an old school like tracker slash sequencer thing. So, I mean, I'm with logic now and it's been a, you know, it's been a good relationship and we are a long way through it and we've had a bit of therapy but we're okay and we're out the other side.
Will Betts:
And 20 years with logic.
Chris Barker:
So we'll lock those three in and we'll move on to your actual selection here. So your six studio items. What's item number. So that's all you've got?
Tourist:
Okay, that's great. So I've got an interface, a Mac, and then some software.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. And item number one? Yeah.
Tourist:
Okay. So speaking about my fourth album, which was called Inside out, that the revelation of being in lockdown was that I couldn't get to my studio because I actually used to have a studio not far from where I live, but there was a kind of physical barrier. You know, you weren't really allowed to go out and work. So I ended up doing everything on the laptop and the phone. So the first thing is going to be a phone.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well, we can give you a phone, I think.
Will Betts:
I think you're allowed your phone.
Tourist:
Oh, I'm allowed my phone.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Will Betts:
We're not going to cut you off from society.
Chris Barker:
If you want any specific apps on the phone, they will.
Tourist:
Yes. Yeah.
Tourist:
Okay, well, I'm going stock, guys. Well, okay, but voice memos.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Will Betts:
You can have that.
Tourist:
I can have that?
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Will Betts:
But tell us about it.
Chris Barker:
Tell us about it. But we won't. We won't.
Tourist:
But it's so important. I almost want to use this as one because I think if you view it as.
Chris Barker:
But we can upsell dreams on here. If this is important, would you not want, like, a really nice recorder?
Tourist:
Of course. But I'll lose it and I'll break it, because knowing me, I'm just like, hmm. You actually paint again? It's a good question.
Tourist:
Okay.
Tourist:
Upsell your dreams.
Chris Barker:
We've upsell some dreams.
Will Betts:
Upsell your dreams.
Tourist:
Okay.
Tourist:
I really like this idea. And I was toying with whether I. If I get a phone. Fair enough. But the reason that phone is going to be used a lot, and the reason is I love sampling from my phone. I love just plugging a jack into it and then into my Mac or into another device. But voice memos is just absolute no brainer. I love recording the sounds of nature around me.
Tourist:
I love recording ideas melodically. I love recording, like, soundscapes, being on the tube. That stuff finds its way into my music just because, I mean, it just gives context to everything that you write, and it's just such an unbelievably useful tool.
Tourist:
So.
Tourist:
Yes, a really good portable recorder like a Sony. I'm trying to think I've actually got one, but it's been. It's been I've just been moving, migrating one two studios into one. So I'm trying to think what would be a really lovely, the one with the nice furry to stereo, some ones.
Chris Barker:
That are a lot easier to use as well. Now that in terms of fancy touchscreens or fancy interfaces.
Tourist:
Well, I was being the person I am. I remember going and buying like a little thing you plugged into your phone that gave you two.
Chris Barker:
Ah, yeah.
Tourist:
But was that rode did rodeo axy or something like that?
Will Betts:
That's right, yeah.
Tourist:
And then the phone changed so you could, okay, well we could go for.
Chris Barker:
Something like that for your phone. That could be the item, something that upgrades your spirit.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
In the spirit of making your phone even more useful, I would love something that would allow me to record.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Like a case with two big mics on it that works.
Tourist:
I mean there's even a part of me that's really happy with that built in iPhone mic because it has such a character. It sounds like the year that the phone was made. You know, it's got that kind of, and the compression, whatever they do with that compression, you know, it's really interesting as well. Yeah, it can take so much dynamic range and I think people, they can hear an iPhone mic. I like that.
Will Betts:
I'm gonna throw one curveball in here. There is that teenage engineering cm 15 portable studio condenser microphone. That is the goes with a field recorder. Okay, let's little field, oh no, actually, do you know what they do?
Chris Barker:
That would be a bundle though, wouldn't it?
Tourist:
Surely will.
Will Betts:
Oh my God, are you bundling yourself? Oh my God, I'm so sorry.
Chris Barker:
That's nothing that's ever happened before.
Will Betts:
I might, you can get someone else in for the next one.
Tourist:
What's the thing about bundles, guys? Why don't you like bundles?
Chris Barker:
You just, you just, it's too much of a hack.
Tourist:
Okay, fine.
Will Betts:
If you're like, oh, just get all the UA plugins.
Tourist:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
That's like a whole podcast or waves.
Will Betts:
Or whatever it is.
Tourist:
Okay, I understand the logic behind it. Okay, fine. But no, actually I think that's a good suggestion. The Op, what is it called?
Will Betts:
The field recorder. Field recorder is, yeah, the, it's got some really memorable name like TP something.
Tourist:
That's it. Let's go with that then. Or an equivalent of that. An incredibly portable, really high quality mic that is easily transferable to a computer. Like if I have to take an SD card out, I'm not using it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, it has to be like usb straight in.
Tourist:
Boom.
Tourist:
Yeah, I mean I think that's why I even love so much the methodology of just plugging audio cable through a phone to a computer. Because there's no data transfer. It's just.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Literally just the time it takes to listen to the thing, you know? I love that, but.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Well, let's put that in for now. And when we get to it, if you feel like you want to go.
Tourist:
Back to your phone. I'm a bit of a sucker for anything that looks nice as well, as long as it performs well.
Chris Barker:
You know, you guaranteed that with a teenage engineer.
Will Betts:
Yeah, it'll look nice.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
TP seven.
Chris Barker:
It's TP seven, and it's 1300 pounds, pretty much.
Tourist:
It's me.
Will Betts:
And it's tiddly as well. It's really small.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah. Slipping.
Tourist:
Let's start with that.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Tourist:
Because if the phone's included, fine. Fair enough.
Will Betts:
Done.
Tourist:
But for me, that is a real no brainer.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Right. Well, let's move on to item number two.
Tourist:
I have a kind of a lineup of synths, maybe four or five in my life. And there's two that have just always stayed in my studio. And the other ones just. They're just expendable, really. So it's like, one of them is going to be my first that I'll talk about, but it'll be the Moog model D. Okay.
Will Betts:
Wow.
Tourist:
Yeah, I have one of those.
Will Betts:
Lovely. What era?
Tourist:
Well, I was a bit new to it, and my friend was like, hey, man, this is a really nice synth, if you can get one of these. I was like, I rang my accountant.
Chris Barker:
Lloyd.
Tourist:
And I did have his blessing, which is good. But, yeah, I got one actually, from a newer one, so it was 2017. Oh, the reissue ones, yeah, the reissue one. And for me, it's just incredible, that synth. If you need a bass sound, if you need a pad sound, honestly, I find the mid range with it, obviously, because it's not polyphonic. You can't do much with that. But you can definitely layer things. But something about that sense, I think what it is about it is there's no.
Tourist:
I don't know the technical term for this. But, you know a menu when you have to dig through.
Will Betts:
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
What's the phrase for that kind of menu style?
Chris Barker:
Annoying.
Will Betts:
Menu diving is not something you have to do.
Chris Barker:
Just think. When every button has a function.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
No function.
Tourist:
That is knob per function is. That is absolutely a completely crucial thing for being in a studio. Which is probably why I really have never got along with, like, modular synthesis. And I've tried, well, you won't be.
Chris Barker:
Able to have those. Well, you'd be able to have one module. Six modules.
Tourist:
Just six modules.
Will Betts:
We did have a special for that, for people who really wanted it.
Tourist:
Oh.
Chris Barker:
If you buy the. Like, the all in one. Like the moog?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Like a model 50s.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Okay. I didn't say moog. I'm sorry. I'm gonna get.
Chris Barker:
That's okay. I said moog, and then looked at will.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Who was very.
Tourist:
No, I didn't find it. I. Moog.
Will Betts:
That wasn't.
Tourist:
That's.
Will Betts:
That's your construction. I would never pull you up on something like that.
Tourist:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
I would just think that it was in my heart. When I glanced at you, I was like, oh, Moog.
Tourist:
Moog.
Will Betts:
So the mini moog model D. That's the one.
Tourist:
The one. The wooden one. You can lean it up.
Tourist:
The tilt.
Chris Barker:
It was always nice, actually.
Tourist:
I don't know if I prefer it without the tilt, though. That's pretty great.
Chris Barker:
I remember seeing them when it was flat for the first time and realizing it wasn't just made laughs.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
It's just everything about that since I come back to it. It's been on every album since I bought it. You know, as my wife would say, she works in fashion. The cost per wear is incredible. Cost per use.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
The amount of value I've extracted from that object is immeasurable. Honestly, I love it so much. It's like. It's a romantic instrument. It's got a sound. It depends on the heat in the room. It will sound differently, you know?
Chris Barker:
But we can still upsell some dreams here.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Can we?
Tourist:
Talk to me.
Chris Barker:
We can, because you don't have to have the 2017 revision. You could have.
Tourist:
Of course I could.
Chris Barker:
You could have an original. You could have some. What about from somebody you admire?
Tourist:
Take it from. I tell you what. If Brian Eno ever had one, he probably did.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Right?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Like a massive hero of mine playing.
Chris Barker:
Them with Roxy music. Right?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
He must have played them with Roxy.
Chris Barker:
Virginia Plains. Got it all over.
Tourist:
It.
Chris Barker:
Isn't that. I'm riffing here. I could be totally wrong, but I'm sure. But, you know, you can't trust top of the pops, can you? Because they might have just shipped in some stuff from.
Tourist:
Maybe Peter Gabriel had one, Pete.
Chris Barker:
Peter Gabriel will have definitely had one as well. I mean, all those guys were getting stuff.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
I mean, Peter Gabriel's got loads and loads of stuff still, I think.
Tourist:
Oh, maybe it was probably before the time of. I mean, Delia Derbyshire, she was sixties, right? This synth was late sixties, early seventies. I don't know, I couldn't tell you. Seventies. Must have been seventies.
Will Betts:
I thought it was. Must be early seventies.
Chris Barker:
If it was, I'm. My guess is 72.
Tourist:
Yeah, 73, I'll go with, well, I.
Will Betts:
Want to say 69 here. 70.
Tourist:
1970.
Will Betts:
Well, there we go, 1970.
Chris Barker:
They landed on the moon, then they made the moog. Yeah, that's the order.
Tourist:
Okay.
Tourist:
That's right.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Hell of a. Twelve months and now this.
Tourist:
Whoa.
Will Betts:
Would you stick with the one you've got already because you have the same?
Tourist:
I'd keep the one I have because I love it. You know, for me, this one was owned by David Bowie's personal assist. I'm like, yeah, man, okay, that stuff, if you like feeling important, then that's great. Go for it. Not you, one, I don't know, I.
Chris Barker:
Just feel like my pearls, it brings.
Tourist:
It back to the kind of. Your studio is not a museum. It's not a place where you should kind of go, you know, you don't want to feel intimidated by it. You want to feel like you can revel in its creativity and. Yeah, I'm not of the. I'm not like this one here. It's like the fucking wine cellar.
Chris Barker:
Like, chill out, guys. That is interesting. I think that like when, when artists sell loads of equipment, you see, like Sothis beers or Christie's sort of stuff, part of you goes, oh, how could they sell? And you go, no, but to them it's only you that wants to own this guitar that was used on a tour that they used once. For them, it was just important.
Tourist:
Yeah, well, quite, I think that the emotional value of something sometimes is what you create with it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Tourist:
You know, as it should be. Yeah, indeed. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's why I was like, God, I hope I'm not going to be like mister, like shitting on all the tech. But to some extent these things are tools. And the tools allow you to make magic, and the magic is what you need to get from these tools. So, I don't know, I could have a new one maybe built by. Is it who's, who's the new owner.
Will Betts:
Of Moog in music?
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Tourist:
I don't know who they are.
Will Betts:
They have a guy as well.
Tourist:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
And audio.
Tourist:
Okay. So it's gone from being like a, an independent thing to, I guess it wasn't when I bought it, right?
Will Betts:
No, it would still, I would, I.
Tourist:
Would hold on to mine because that.
Will Betts:
I guess, made in Asheville, North Carolina.
Tourist:
I've been to the.
Tourist:
Have you?
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah, the factory. It was great.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Amazing place. It felt like an old car workshop. You know what I mean? It felt like just people who really care about the craft of building something, and that really comes across. And actually, when I talk about gear often, I'm a bit cynical about it. Like, you don't need anything. You just need a laptop, actually, sometimes when you buy something that has so much care behind it that will come across in how you interact with it. And I do think that's true. You know, it's like when you feel like a beautiful, beautiful preamp and you feel the way it's made and you feel the impact it has on what you're running through it, it's like, gosh, the people who made this really understand and think about sound, you know, and that.
Tourist:
That care is something that you almost step up to the plate with, and you're like, oh, I've got to care about my music because if I'm using nice stuff, I've got to really give a shit, you know?
Chris Barker:
And there's no excuses.
Tourist:
Well, exactly.
Tourist:
If you.
Chris Barker:
That's not allowed to go well, it's because I don't have. It's like you've got all the stuff.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
On the hit records.
Tourist:
Exactly. That's exactly the opposite of what I was saying. So if you've got all the amazing stuff, there's no reason you can't make something amazing if you've got a laptop. Also, I kind of think the same thing.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
So there's.
Chris Barker:
Well, people have made amazing records on both.
Tourist:
Yeah, exactly.
Tourist:
Yes.
Tourist:
And that's why that is fundamentally such a valid. The most valid point you could make, I think. I couldn't agree with that more. People have made incredible records, probably on their phone nowadays.
Chris Barker:
Do you know what I mean?
Tourist:
But, yeah. So, moog. Is it mini moog or is it mini moog?
Will Betts:
Model D. That's the one.
Tourist:
Love it.
Tourist:
Okay.
Tourist:
Absolutely love that. I don't like the new wall. They've done a darker wood one. I prefer the lighter wood.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
I think it's more aesthetically pleasing.
Tourist:
I'm into that.
Will Betts:
Although, with all of your antique furniture.
Tourist:
Do you want to go dark wood? Welcome, guys. Talking about it, saying it's not a museum, making it look like one. Well, I just wanted to feel. Feel like there's a human touch to it, is what I'm saying. I don't feel you want to see.
Chris Barker:
Like, it's come out of a production line as such.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
I just want to feel like there's a.
Tourist:
There's a.
Tourist:
There's a human feeling to it. You know, it's not intimidating.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well, let's.
Tourist:
Let's.
Chris Barker:
Let's move on to item number three. And lock that moog in.
Tourist:
One was the recorder, two was the moog.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yes.
Tourist:
Got there in the end. Three is another synth I bought that was far less expensive. But I bought it really at the right time. I was like a bitcoin bro with this one. Uh huh. I bought a Juno 106 in 2012 or 13, I think. And I bought it for 200 pounds.
Chris Barker:
So that's still quite late for 200 pounds, though. That wasn't just a bargain because of the time that's going for probably six, seven, eight.
Tourist:
I know, they. That's right. And that synth, I just can't. I mean, my poor. My poor Juno 100.
Chris Barker:
Was all the voice chips working or did you have to get everything?
Tourist:
It's only now it's literally this week I moved everything to my new studio and nothing worked.
Will Betts:
Brilliant.
Tourist:
But the one thing I was most disappointed about was the judo 106. All the voice chips, I guess, have just kind of died. So I need to get it serviced. So we're after this.
Chris Barker:
It's an easy enough job exchange that will is looking at on his laptop right now. I glanced over.
Tourist:
They're super expensive now.
Will Betts:
So the average price for Juno now is about 1700 quid.
Tourist:
Is it really?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Goodness me.
Will Betts:
That's on reverb. They have a sort of price tracker.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
I actually just joined reverb because I've never been on it before and I know lots of people who really, you know, they spend a lot of time with it.
Will Betts:
Rip your wallet.
Tourist:
Really?
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
The value you got out of that, though, you're talking about value again, 200 quid loads and stuff. And it's only just having issues. That's great.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
But also just the sounds and the, as I say, the playability. We're talking about knob per function kind of thing. That synth is the kind of polyphonic counterpart to the.
Chris Barker:
And do you have it midi d up?
Tourist:
Yeah, I do. And you know what I just discovered I'm an absolute, like, old dad here, but, like, I didn't realize you could use, like, bluetooth midi. You just plug a little bluetooth midi cable in things and then you just. Because I had a midi interface, everything was plugged into that. And I plugged it into my new Mac and it just doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work at all.
Will Betts:
So have you gone to, like, widi.
Tourist:
Or something I just went to, like, Amazon and I found, like, bluetooth midi and these little Yamaha things that you plug in the back of your Yamaha with them. Yeah, they're amazing.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
I had the CME ones that I think you were just looking at will.
Tourist:
And they're not cheap. Like, if you add it up, you are spending money if you've got a lot of midi gear. But it's incredible because I hate cables, you know, I mean, just like, having to get behind things, like, amazing. So, yeah, I do have the Juno mididup, which is great, you know, being. I think it's much more exciting just be able to send stuff to it. You know, that's the real trick. It's not really using it as a midi.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
That stuff, for me, is so crucial.
Chris Barker:
The notes are being played, but you get to do the live.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Will Betts:
Tweaking of knobs.
Chris Barker:
Tweaking of.
Tourist:
Yeah, that. All of the. Can I have that as a little, like, bonus extra? Like everything's just wirelessly middied, or is everything just middied up? Cables and.
Will Betts:
Oh, yeah, I think that's. That goes into wireless midi if you want.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah. So the Juno 106, right?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Everything about that sound. The sound of that synth is just. It's just incredible. It's so warm. It's so rich.
Tourist:
But it's.
Tourist:
It can be so like Todd Edwards, the house produced house and UK garage producer. You know, all of his bass lines were that. And you hear it and it's just like. It's just got so much. So much to it. I love it. And it's so simple. It's so easy to use.
Tourist:
And it's not difficult to get a good sound.
Chris Barker:
Sounds like a record straight away.
Tourist:
Yeah. And it's so inspiring. It's not like it doesn't present you with this problem of, like, right, what are you going to do with me then? It's like, right, okay. It's like, I'm here for a good time.
Will Betts:
Yeah. Not a long time.
Tourist:
Not a long. Yeah, not a long time. Just tweak my knobs.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
See how it goes. And we'll have a party. Like, that's what you want. That's the energy you want.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
You don't want this kind of sneery synthesizers, synths who, like, require you to read a fucking manual so you can use it.
Chris Barker:
Like a challenge. Like, they're challenging.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And the reason you can make music with this.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
The reason people enjoy those synths, it's not because the music's good. It's just because they've got over the fucking hurdle of learning how to use it. They're like, yeah, I can do it. It's like, great. You can fly a plane that has a million controls, but you can go from here to Torbay. Great. Good job. Good job.
Tourist:
Well done. Or you go from. It's like, for me, the process is about musical instruments sounding like synths sounding like a musical instrument. That same feeling of it being inspiring to play.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Will Betts:
I love that. As an analogy, though, learning to fly your own plane, to go nowhere in particular, versus just getting on a flight and going somewhere nice.
Tourist:
Well, I think that's. Yeah, I am. That was amazing. How did I come up with that so quickly? That's really good. I feel like it's the same kind of people who have, like, kit cars. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's like, great. You built your own car. Great.
Will Betts:
Where are you ever gonna take that?
Tourist:
But that's fine. You can do that. And that is enjoyable in its. To its own end. I don't have a problem with that.
Chris Barker:
People that like the building of the car, not the driving of the car, maybe.
Tourist:
Yeah, but it's the people who go, hey, you didn't build your own synth. Are you using a preset? Yeah, I'm using a preset. Is that okay? It's like a Korg Triton. Am I allowed to do that? Am I. Do I need to program my own Stradivarius presets?
Chris Barker:
I think a lot of time, it's like, people. I mean, we love gear and we're gear nerds, but I think it gives them an excuse of why they haven't maybe been as successful as they want to be with their music, because it gives them a diss of other people. Like, oh, well, they're successful, but they didn't make their.
Will Betts:
They're cheating in some way.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Which is yourself.
Chris Barker:
A pat on the back. Like, well, you know, I may not be successful at this, but I made all of the sounds myself.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
But I also. I love people who are maniacally detailed about things and are so good at programming. Like, you know, I think there are some absolutely virtuistic musicians who can do this stuff, and it sounds incredible. That's the magic, that is, when I'm like, I need to quit, because I did just use a preset from omnisphere. That's great. That leads me nicely onto my next.
Chris Barker:
Okay, next item. Item number four. I'd like to remind you at this point, as you're halfway through that you have no speakers or monitors.
Tourist:
Okay, okay. That's a good point.
Chris Barker:
I mean, you've got a laptop, it's got speakers in it.
Tourist:
I bought these amazing headphones the other day and I cannot remember what they're called. I think they're Sennheisers. They're open back. My friend recommended eight hundred s. I think so. They were quite expensive, about 400 pounds or so. But I love them.
Chris Barker:
Are you gonna choose those over monitors? Are you gonna get.
Tourist:
No, no, I'm gonna those. I've got to choose between one or the other, really, because I'm gonna waste some spots here.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, you can have both, but you'll eat up two items.
Tourist:
Okay. I do need to be thoughtful here, then. I would say this because I know really nothing about speakers. I want the speakers that sound best in that space. And don't color the sound too much. My mate was going, what's it, something. ATC'S? Yeah, ATCs are good.
Tourist:
Yeah. Atcs, yes. Yeah.
Tourist:
For me.
Chris Barker:
Have you been, I mean, have you been to a studio or somebody else's place that have.
Tourist:
That's the problem is I don't go to many, like, I don't go and do the research. And this is where my friend, my mate Tom, he was, he's just so good at learning how a speaker is behaving in a space and understanding how to mix to the space and that speaker, but making that work everywhere, you know, I think because I don't mix my own music, that's such a crucial part of why I'm maybe not as invested intellectually in speakers and I should be. But I just try. Well, no, I do, I do think it's really important. But what you have right now, I've got some focals. I can't remember what they call, but they're great. I've had them so long.
Chris Barker:
Big ones or the little ones?
Tourist:
The little ones.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Okay.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
But some nice atcs. He sent me a link for go big focals.
Chris Barker:
Stay in the same world.
Tourist:
Yeah, I do like the focals. I do like them a lot. He said, I've actually been writing a list of ATC SCM 25 a pros.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Tourist:
So they're classic. Yeah, that's what I would. I was thinking, but that's so expensive. But this is my. There's no budget. There's no budget. We're chilling out. Let's do those.
Chris Barker:
The big, that's, uh, that's, yeah.
Will Betts:
Eight and a half grand for a pair of those.
Chris Barker:
Enough, isn't it?
Will Betts:
Yeah, yeah, that's nice.
Chris Barker:
Shake their cabin walls.
Tourist:
That's a pair, though, is. Let's think about that. You know, you might do ten albums on those. Might be. You might have them in ten years.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, that's.
Tourist:
It's an investment.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, I mean, speakers are a great investment because I think one of the.
Tourist:
Most important investments, actually, I say that saying, like, I don't really think about speakers very much, but actually, maybe because I bought some really nice vocals back, you know, whenever it was, and you.
Chris Barker:
Blink and you've been using them ten years. Yeah, these are.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
So, so quickly, like, it's.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Will Betts:
Again, the cost per wear thing.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, exactly.
Tourist:
Thank you.
Chris Barker:
The technology hasn't really changed that much. I mean, there's but a great set of speakers from, like, early two thousands, nineties. There was the change from passive to active, which was quite hugely, but apart from that, it's all quite tweaky.
Tourist:
People still rock the ns ten s. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's what works fundamentally. And there's no. I don't think there's any formula of magic behind any of this. If I get these speakers, will my music be great? It's like, no, nothing to do with that. If you know how to mix and you know how to produce music that sounds good on those speakers but also translates to the phone or the Airpods.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Do I get the Airpods with the.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, with your phone?
Tourist:
Yeah, fine.
Will Betts:
Because that was personal effect.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah. I'd mix a lot of music on Airpods.
Will Betts:
Really?
Tourist:
Everyone listens on Airpods?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Why wouldn't you? Yeah, you know? Yeah, I think it's really important. You know, that's exactly where it will be received fundamentally. Which is cynical thing to say. Not at all, but that's kind of it, you know, it's like when people used to mix music in cars, you.
Chris Barker:
Know, it's like, couldn't so much music was consumed.
Will Betts:
So you've gone with the ATC's. How important is it to have a big set of speakers then, for the kind of music that you're making?
Tourist:
Well, my music is funny because people, I mean, it's not really club music. It's not really radio music.
Will Betts:
Sad dance music is once called, maybe.
Tourist:
I coined that term a long time ago.
Chris Barker:
Sad bangers, is it?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
That was actually a term, though. Like, it crossed over into pop more with, like the Robin with every heartbeat.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Kind of like heartbreak kind of dance.
Tourist:
I guess.
Tourist:
I guess it would be like teardrops by Womack and Womack would be the original sad banger, wouldn't it? You know, that for me, I remember loving that tune as a child as well. But, yeah, I guess that's always had such an impact on me. But because I grew up probably one of the first generations, listening and consuming music on headphones, you know, like, that was such a crucial way of me listening to music that it's kind of. That's the format I ended up writing for, really, is this kind of electronic music that might be. You might put it on and it might just kind of be like incense in your room, you know, it might just like, kind of color the air or sometimes wallpaper. Yeah, kind of. But I think that's like the Brian eno thing of, like, stuff that you just. You like.
Tourist:
His music for airports thing was, like, really, really important to me. But my albums kind of go in and out of being passive listening and much more, like, actively trying to do something to your, you know, your ears. I've done more ambient records and more. More kind of records you might hear in a club, but I really do write for headphones. That's why I love that. Before we spoke about monitors, the first thing I said, oh, yeah, I bought these headphones. They're amazing. And it's like, yeah, I really do mix a lot on headphones.
Tourist:
And one of the guys who I've collaborated with a lot, David Wrench, a mix engineer, he. I think he mixes on headphones as well. A lot of his mixing. He might even be like, william, that's not correct.
Chris Barker:
That's Welsh, but they'll reference it.
Tourist:
But he's like, I might be wrong there, but I know, I definitely know he has like a sub that he kind of sits on or something like that. But, you know, I remember him saying, yeah, most of it's on the computer, which is so revelatory because I listen to his mixes. Oh, my God, they are so incredible. You know, he's made. He makes it sound like caramel. He makes it sound like a tactile, you know, and to be able to do that with headphones or, you know, not even the most special speakers is really the magic there. So, yes, I might have an 8000 pound pair of speakers, but it's probably still going to be mixed by someone else, my music.
Chris Barker:
But they're going to be fun to work on.
Tourist:
Right?
Tourist:
It'd be fun to work on. And.
Chris Barker:
And you've got your Airpods anyway.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
So where are we now? Item number five. Closing in.
Tourist:
Goodness.
Chris Barker:
Item number five.
Will Betts:
Item number five.
Tourist:
Let's go with a soft sense. Let's go with a vst or an Au, whatever it is.
Tourist:
Mm hmm.
Tourist:
It's gonna be omnisphere.
Chris Barker:
Popular choice.
Tourist:
Do people go for that?
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Will Betts:
It's just does a lot, doesn't it?
Tourist:
It's just amazing. It's so, it's, it's like a Korg Triton. Is it still on?
Chris Barker:
What version? Two.
Will Betts:
It's 2.5 right now.
Chris Barker:
Maybe it's gotta be time for a three. Oh, it's been a long time though. When did 22 come out? Have you still got the first one?
Tourist:
I have, I do have two. I think it still looks like it's made in 2001, which is something I love about it.
Chris Barker:
When did it come out? 2.8. When was the last release? When was the last update? What can they do with three though?
Tourist:
Because it's maybe make it look like it's not the Matrix. It's currently showing at cinemas, but that's cool. I don't mind.
Chris Barker:
I'd love it if it said that on the update as well.
Will Betts:
Okay, so 2001, October 2001.
Tourist:
Yeah, that was probably matrix reloaded, guys.
Chris Barker:
2021.
Will Betts:
Sorry? 2021.
Tourist:
Oh no, that's not, that's the original. But when it was originally released, I would say 2003. I would say on this.
Chris Barker:
Six, eight.
Tourist:
An App Store. Come back for more. I remember hearing, you know, famous musicians use presets from omnisphere and be like, I'm fine with using them. You know, like, I remember hearing like a four tech record and it's like, it's just, just an omnisphere preset. But the way he programmed it made it sound absolutely incredible.
Chris Barker:
You know what your particular use is? When do you think I'm opening omnisphere? I've got this idea.
Tourist:
Okay?
Tourist:
If I'm on a flight to somewhere and I don't have either the Moog or the Juno, actually, some of those emulations they make of those things are absolutely incredible. But also just things like textural pads, things like that. The piano stuff is good. I have keyscape as well. I mean, there's no bundles. Do you want me to go for it? Yeah, sorry. Okay, well, given that I'm gonna, I'll exclude keyscape because this is making me consider my, is this four or five? Five.
Chris Barker:
This is your first.
Tourist:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
One more after this.
Tourist:
I'm just picturing this studio. This is a nice studio. This is a really nice, we will.
Chris Barker:
Do a rundown before we get to your luxury item so you can have a little bit.
Tourist:
That's fine.
Chris Barker:
As a whole take back?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Omnisphere's amazing. Do you, either of you use it?
Chris Barker:
Yeah, used to.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
I've never used it, honestly.
Tourist:
It's one of the most inspiring instruments, I think. I'm looking for instruments that inspire me. That's why I have the moog. That's why I've got the juno. Omnispir is just incredible. You open it and it's like, you know, it's such a good starting point for sounds.
Chris Barker:
It's such a cliche, but a lot for bass because it was just, you get some nice drums. You know, you make it and you go through the presets and they sound like records immediately kind of thing. So you like it, you go.
Tourist:
And there's nothing wrong with doing that. I think my studio. The rule, if there's a. There's like. That is number one rule. If you find inspiration in a preset, don't in any way judge yourself for thinking like that. You know, you're immediately. Immediately pissing on your own fire of inspiration.
Tourist:
It's ridiculous. It's like, it's so important that that inspiration is what carries you through the rest of the record because there's nothing wrong with it, you know? And I think that's me embracing. Using presets would be using omnisphere. So much of my music is just omnisphere presets, but that's fine. So much of my music is other people's music that I've sampled and tried to recontextualize. Because now I think music, the process of making it is about recontextualizing things culturally. And that's what I sometimes try and do. You know, taking a sample from Big thief and putting it up against, you know, X, Y and Z.
Tourist:
I'm just trying to remember other stuff. Like, it's that embracing that way of thinking has been very crucial for my development as a music producer. Not getting stuck in, like, the world of, you know, kind of smaller internal conflicts. I think it's more about bigger ideas, I think. And actually, omnisphere is just like me admitting that it sounds incredible. I think one thing I often do do with it is I will print it as audio and then manipulate that.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Tourist:
So I don't. I often. If I'm. One of the things I really do do a lot is actually take things out of the realm of being a midi file and then printing that audio.
Chris Barker:
And then it's like creating your own samples.
Tourist:
Yeah, I guess that's a lot of what I use. It for, you know, time stretching things, reversing things. Like the reverse function is just the most important thing. It just makes things instantly feel otherworldly, you know.
Will Betts:
Is that something, as a pianist that you clocked onto pretty quickly then? Because the reverse piano sound is like, the first time I heard, I was like, reverse harp.
Tourist:
Reverse harp vocals.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
You know, one of my tunes, elixir, is like everyone said.
Tourist:
What's she saying?
Tourist:
I'm like, it's just a reversed vocal. If you just reverse it, you'll hear it. I don't know. But Missy Elliot, do you remember, like.
Chris Barker:
Put my tongue down, flip it and reverse.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And then just has that line reversed. Amazing.
Tourist:
Exactly. But, you know, I think omnisphere is such an amazing starting point. Look, I'm not saying go make all of your music with omnisphere presets because it will sound like it was. But as a starting point, as a trampoline to better ideas, I think it's absolutely essential, you know.
Chris Barker:
So we're locking it in?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Omnisphere 2.8.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
I mean, the number of records that have been made just with, like, the stock sequence on a synthesizer or like.
Tourist:
I mean, there's look at, like, Timberland and the Neptunes in the early nineties and late nineties they were using a Korg Triton.
Chris Barker:
Do you know, even before that, Timberlands on. Is it pony by genuine? The sound. That's just a preset sound on a.
Tourist:
And how cool is that?
Chris Barker:
It's his.
Tourist:
It's filtered through his, like, refracted through his kind of vision of how he thinks about things.
Chris Barker:
This sound is actually. The preset is called Eow. So it's just like, you know, when they used to describe the presets because then you have eight characters.
Tourist:
So it was just. Eeoww.
Chris Barker:
Oh, it sounds exactly how it. This eight led lcd screen is presenting me with.
Tourist:
Yeah, what's that old synth in the early nineties that, like, Enya used loads? I can't remember what it's called. It's probably FM synth, but it had that amazing piano sound and D 50.
Tourist:
D 50.
Tourist:
That's exactly what we're thinking of.
Will Betts:
Yeah, yeah.
Tourist:
Is that a sampling keyboard or is it an FM synth?
Will Betts:
The D 50 was interesting. I believe they had, like, fraction samples.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Like the attack would be an actual sample and then the body would be synthesized.
Tourist:
How clever.
Chris Barker:
Get more out of your sound.
Tourist:
I love that.
Will Betts:
I mean, those sounds, they're amazing.
Chris Barker:
They hold up.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
I mean, it's a bit like having you know, a DX seven is probably such. If you know how to program a DX seven. Good on you.
Chris Barker:
Like Gary Barlow.
Will Betts:
Gary Barlow does.
Tourist:
Amazing.
Chris Barker:
What a legend.
Tourist:
I love it.
Chris Barker:
We actually called that episode that because. Yeah. Not many people can.
Tourist:
No. So I would use a DX.
Chris Barker:
Just him and Brian Eno.
Tourist:
That's it, exactly. I would use a DX seven as a preset device. I'm going to go here just for that. You know, that's how I view omnisphere in a sense.
Chris Barker:
Or you make it in FM8 or Dexed or one of the easier to program, then you get the Sysex and put it into the hardware.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
That's the only way.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
You can program it for mortals.
Tourist:
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
If Gary's not available, you have to.
Tourist:
I've got to get Gary Barlow to come and show me how to program a [Yamaha] DX7. That's amazing.
Chris Barker:
It's brilliant.
Will Betts:
Well, maybe we can.
Chris Barker:
Only takes a minute.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
That's what that song was about.
Chris Barker:
Excellent. Okay, well, we're onto your final item, final studio item before. It's a luxury.
Tourist:
So I have a question, because this might just be included. I know you said no bunker on the bottle. No, but here we go. Is the logic software. All of the plugins included with logic? It is fine.
Tourist:
Okay.
Will Betts:
It really is safe.
Tourist:
All right. Okay. Given that that's the case, I think fundamentally, one of the most important parts of me of how I make music is sampling music.
Tourist:
Really?
Tourist:
So if I. If that's included. I don't need to. I don't need to include a sampler, do I?
Chris Barker:
No, you've got the logic.
Will Betts:
No, it should be okay.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Exs.
Will Betts:
You don't have any way of recording sound apart from the.
Chris Barker:
You might need a field recorder.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
How will you have the field recorder microphone?
Tourist:
I've got the field recorder microphone. I could cleverly. I mean, I do have either. Look, this is either gonna be.
Chris Barker:
You definitely didn't need those preamps.
Tourist:
I was gonna say, did it? We gonna. Did we go for the preamp?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
I mean, you can change.
Chris Barker:
But you can change it. Okay.
Tourist:
At home I have a 1073, and I absolutely love that, the neve. But if I'm not recording much at the moment, it's just the moog that goes through that.
Will Betts:
Right.
Tourist:
Which is quite swag.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
It's like a very, very nice thing. I mean, I'm gonna trust.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
A nice chain. Given I don't record vocals very often, I might just. But I'm gonna want to record vocals, so this is not sexy. Though, is it?
Chris Barker:
Do it into the field?
Tourist:
Would you do that?
Chris Barker:
No, because I have a harsh indictment in this entire operation. I would have known this shit.
Tourist:
This is terrible. It's great selections for you. That's for everyone. This is the way.
Chris Barker:
This is the studio only for every studio.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Will Betts:
We're the authoritarian there.
Tourist:
Okay, I'm struggling between. There's three things I would wish I could put. A U 87, a mic, a real piano, a really, really nice upright piano, or a teenage engineering op one. Because all of those three things, it's. I can't decide between these last three things. Indeed I do. All of these things have an. Have really impacted how I make music.
Tourist:
Piano. Just because there's something lovely about not turning on a computer and just playing an instrument, that, for me is really valuable. But then I've got the way up against, okay, if I'm recording everyone's vocals through my field recorder, that's great. But I might not get that kind of, you know, the clarity of what I want. But maybe I should just embrace that and use that. Or maybe I don't need a piano. Maybe I can just play my synths as a midi controller. So there's going to be a compromise there.
Tourist:
And then the other thing is the.
Chris Barker:
Op one, does the Juno have velocity sensitivity?
Tourist:
No, I don't think it does the Juno. I don't even think. I can't even remember if the Moog does or not. Maybe, probably. Does the velocity sensitivity.
Chris Barker:
Does the reissue output polyphonic midi with velocity?
Will Betts:
It'll be polyphonic.
Tourist:
It's great.
Tourist:
It's like having your own siri, isn't it? Just a. Guys, does this, do that, look that up. You're drinking whiskey.
Chris Barker:
I wish I was, but that is one thing with, like, you know, not having a piano. Even the most realistic piano sounds in.
Tourist:
They're not.
Tourist:
They're just not the same. They don't respond to the room.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, but why? It's not even gonna respond to your hands if we don't have exactly. Coming out of your junior or your.
Tourist:
Just sit and program it in logic.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Every single.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Old days.
Tourist:
The one thing I'm grateful, even the.
Chris Barker:
DJX had velocity sensitivity out on the midi.
Tourist:
Did it really?
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Tourist:
You got a lot of knowledge about the DJX.
Chris Barker:
That's all I had for, like, ten years.
Tourist:
But that's amazing, though, isn't it? In a way, yeah.
Chris Barker:
The early years.
Tourist:
Yes.
Will Betts:
Looks like.
Tourist:
So did the Juno or the model.
Chris Barker:
Three octaves.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
It's not a huge amount.
Chris Barker:
37K.
Tourist:
It looks like it does.
Chris Barker:
Right. Okay.
Tourist:
I'm really torn between an OP-1 because ultimately, that instrument, ever since I've had it, I've just never. I've never not used it. I love it. It's so inspiring.
Chris Barker:
That sounds like the one then, doesn't it?
Tourist:
But the piano, man. The piano, like, as you say, like, I've written a few songs in my time. Sometimes you just walk up to a piano and a song comes out of your fingers and that is. Just takes you out of this world and everything.
Chris Barker:
Even though the op one, the interface and everything is inspiring, technically, everything you can do, you can do anything.
Tourist:
Of course you can.
Tourist:
Of course you can.
Chris Barker:
And it's a recorder as well.
Tourist:
It's probably my most faffy, hidden behind menus, difficult to use thing.
Chris Barker:
But that's what makes it brilliant, right?
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
In a way, that is me attesting to that. That way of thinking can be really fun. So it's funny because we obviously went with the TP seven. I wouldn't have said. I would have just said a Sony one, but, yeah. There is something so nice about the way they make products. This is incredibly expensive. I'm not going to deny that.
Chris Barker:
But, yeah, it's a fantasy forever studio.
Tourist:
Yeah, exactly. So I'm not going to be judged?
Chris Barker:
No. Um.
Will Betts:
And I will not be judged.
Tourist:
I shall not be judged. I. But then, you know, an incredible. I'm really struggling here, lads. I don't know what to say.
Tourist:
It's.
Tourist:
Well, do I record a microphone often enough? No. Off the table.
Tourist:
It's.
Tourist:
Then it's between a piano, which is like my.
Chris Barker:
Maybe you ditch the field recorder and.
Tourist:
You use the phone. I just use the phone.
Chris Barker:
And the op one must have a built in mic, does it?
Will Betts:
It does have built in sampling, doesn't it? The op one?
Tourist:
The op one does have kind of. But the mic itself is probably not a scratch on the. On the iPhone mic, probably, or the algorithm that it's.
Chris Barker:
You do still have then to your phone and the op one as field recorder type devices. And that would give you the op one and room for a piano.
Tourist:
Okay, look. Yeah, that's a tough one. Let's get rid of the field recorder.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
And replace it with another teenage engineering.
Tourist:
Yes.
Chris Barker:
Op one.
Tourist:
Op one. Absolutely.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Non negotiable. And then I can afford myself a piano.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, any piano.
Tourist:
Any piano. It's gonna be a Yamaha upright.
Chris Barker:
Gonna steal it off any artist.
Tourist:
No, no, no.
Chris Barker:
Is it gonna be any particular colour?
Tourist:
It would be. I'd even love an old ship piano. I don't really care.
Chris Barker:
A haunted victorian.
Tourist:
Haunted victorian plays by itself. If I could find a. You remember when Boniver wrote? Was it boniver or was it for Emma? Forever ago? I think that's what it was. He found this random guitar and it resonated in this unbelievably beautiful way. And that was the sound of the record. So there's something so beautiful about that. Like, I can't explain what this piano would sound like. It wouldn't be on the edge of being too felty.
Tourist:
Cause I find that that sound is a bit drawn out now, but essentially.
Chris Barker:
What we're saying is you don't want to just walk in and get the best new piano. It's got to have a bit of story, a bit of history.
Tourist:
Yeah, absolutely.
Will Betts:
Is there a particular piano sound that you love from other people's recordings?
Tourist:
Do you know what? I don't. I mean, I. In terms of listening to piano music, one of my. It's funny, I listened to it literally yesterday for the first time in about ten years. Do you remember Chili Gonzalez? Do you remember his album? What was it called? Oh, my God. It's just lost me. He originally was called Gonzalez, and there was a track on there called overnight. I can't remember what the album was called.
Tourist:
It was white on the front cover. The sound that he had of that piano was almost like an old. It sounded like a recording of Debussy or sati or something like that. It was so lovely. And it was really my introduced introduction into that lovely solo piano. It was called solo piano. That's what his album was called.
Chris Barker:
That's why it wasn't memorable.
Tourist:
Exactly. That piano.
Tourist:
That.
Tourist:
That record is about his relationship with that piano. And that is so beautiful because it's not just about the music itself. It's about him. Yeah, him. The piano and the kind of.
Chris Barker:
Okay, so should we take that one could take his. You're definitely thinking of upright, then over.
Tourist:
Yeah, and upright. I don't want to grand. I don't like dramatic piano pieces. That's not really what I'm about. I just love noodling away, listening to, like. Like it feeling, like, comforting and beautiful and familiar, but, yeah, I.
Tourist:
So let's.
Tourist:
Let's just go through this.
Tourist:
Nick.
Chris Barker:
I just want to throw in before will does this rundown.
Tourist:
Yeah, go on.
Chris Barker:
How are you gonna record this piano?
Tourist:
I'm not. I'm just gonna play it just for vibe.
Will Betts:
Love it.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Cuz I think as soon as you record a piano, everything's ruined in a way. It becomes formal. It's. Oh, shit, sit down and do it.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Like the instrument that. The feeling of just being with the piano and just playing it. Yeah, I. Yeah. I don't have a field recorder anymore, though, do I? So I can't.
Chris Barker:
The op one.
Tourist:
You should use my phone. Yeah, I mean, look, I've got to have compromise.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Unlimited budget, but there's a compromise in the amount of things.
Chris Barker:
That's the podcast.
Tourist:
Yeah, man.
Tourist:
It's clever.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well, let's. Let's.
Will Betts:
So are we. Whose piano are we taking? Is it just anything you've got off.
Tourist:
Like, I don't want to take someone else's piano. I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna have a stock piano that sounds exactly how I want it to sound, and I can't articulate that.
Will Betts:
But is it gonna be one where. Do you remember the yellow friads and you just like piano.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Hiccup.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Good for beginner.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah.
Will Betts:
A piano.
Tourist:
That's it, man.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
And no charge. They just want it out of their house.
Tourist:
Yeah, exactly.
Tourist:
There's.
Tourist:
Maybe it's a. Maybe it's an unloved piano.
Will Betts:
Unloved piano.
Chris Barker:
And while you're installing it, you're underneath it.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And putting it in place. And you see chili Gonzalez just scratched underneath.
Tourist:
Exactly.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
History is here.
Tourist:
Yeah. Yeah. But I do.
Tourist:
I want to. I want to step away from my studio feeling like a museum. That's the one thing I don't want to feel. This is very important because it's like. No, this is a studio. My ultimate studio, ultimately, is just one I can sit in and write in.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And have fun in it all day.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Because that's the point of it.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
You know?
Chris Barker:
Okay, well, have a listen to this will take us through what has been created for the Forever studio.
Will Betts:
We're on a lock in the Scottish Highlands in a wooden cabin with a large window surrounded by trees. The floors are made of oak. You've got off white walls covered in your child's drawings.
Tourist:
That's nice.
Will Betts:
Your computer is a Mac M three max laptop. Your interface is an universal audio Apollo X eight p. Your DAw is logic Pro X. And for your six items, you've chosen a mini Moog model D reissue, the one that you own your own Juno 106. For speakers, you've chosen the ATC SCM 25 a pros. For soft synths, you've chosen the omnisphere two. You chose the op one.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
As your penultimate instrument. And your final studio pick is an unloved piano. Purely for inspiration.
Tourist:
Yeah, this is. This is. That is great, man.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Locked in, stamps approved.
Tourist:
Boom.
Will Betts:
Done.
Tourist:
Love it.
Tourist:
That's.
Chris Barker:
Well, one more. We have one more thing, which isn't a piece of gear.
Tourist:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
You've got the luxury item in your studio, which isn't a piece of studio kit. Okay. What you're gonna choose for that?
Tourist:
Okay, let's go. Let's go. La Mazoco coffee machine.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
Bean to cup.
Tourist:
It's not been to cup.
Tourist:
You gotta.
Chris Barker:
Oh, you got.
Tourist:
I have to have a grinder as well and stuff like that. Like, I'm not even a mascot coffee person, but bean to cup. Bean to cup, man.
Chris Barker:
Are you. Well, I was thinking. Well, it's one item, though. How are you?
Tourist:
I knew I recognized you from those. Nespresso.
Chris Barker:
That can only be a compliment considering who's in those. Well, I'll take that. Silver fox.
Tourist:
You devil. Yeah, probably. I mean, it's gonna be a coffee machine or just, like, a fridge can have cold drinks.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
You're not a fridge.
Will Betts:
I mean, like, it's. We're not throwing you out.
Chris Barker:
You started off quite big and.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Held it back to a fridge, I think.
Tourist:
Well, no, no, let's go, like, a lovely coffee machine.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. You know, an espresso, man.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
I like just. I like a coffee with no bullshit, you know? So, like, I really don't like milk. I don't understand if. I mean, if you drink a flat white oat milk. Flat white, straight down the lens.
Tourist:
Look at that.
Tourist:
You cannot listen to tourist music.
Tourist:
Right?
Tourist:
And I'm sure you do.
Will Betts:
I did order one this morning, so.
Chris Barker:
I'm so sorry.
Tourist:
I don't. The thing is, I just don't understand that as a coffee. I just don't like milk.
Tourist:
I don't like.
Tourist:
I don't know what it is about milk. I've never been a massive milk guy. Um. Weak bones, probably. Oh, yeah.
Will Betts:
It's a worry.
Tourist:
Yeah.
Tourist:
I'm not gonna get much vitamin D up in Scotland either, so I'm gonna be a right piece of work.
Chris Barker:
Every year it gets better and better. I'd have a coffee machine.
Tourist:
I love a coffee. Yeah, it's great sitting out.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Tourist:
Over the loch with a coffee and maybe some, you know, as long as I can have podcasts that I can listen to and audiobooks that I can listen to.
Chris Barker:
Only this one, unfortunately.
Tourist:
Only this and only the one that we're doing currently on repeat. Yeah, he's gone absolutely mental. Written all over the walls. Are they his child's drawings. No, that's his drawings.
Chris Barker:
The good ones there from his kids. Oh, my gosh.
Tourist:
Right.
Chris Barker:
Well, let's wrap the podcast up. That's the end of the episode. We've created a fantastic my forever studio there, I think. And thank you so much, Will, your most tourist, for taking the time to come on the my Forever studio podcast.
Tourist:
You're very welcome.
Tourist:
Thank you.
Tourist:
Thank you.
Will Betts:
That's our show. That's my forever studio with tourist. Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll catch you next time for another adventure into studio foreverdom.
Chris Barker:
Goodbye. Bye.