hanging out with audiophiles 3s21s

I met Jim thanks to the wonderful master of mastering Heba Kadry who's based in New York (whi btw that just finished mastering my new LP!)  She used him to assist in the making of her room and that set me on a journey to get my place into shape too. Him and his team at Sondhus did an excellent job and I've been loving my light and airy attic so much! I've talked about my space a little on the show and I've shared a few pics and videos from the spot so there's evidence of it out there.  I look forward to being in here every day.  Jim's story is really interesting and it's an angle that's not been covered thus far on the pod.  He has knowledge and ion on all manner of issues relating to studio spaces, from the flow to the sound and the minimal aesthetic that is a through line in his work.  He's made rooms for Martin Gore, Laurie Anderson, Heba Kadry, Philip Weinrobe, the Juliard School in New York to name but  a few. Wild ! In this show I demonstrate the sound of my rooms and why using a binaural head for interviews and voice over is a terrible idea :) ha

I have Patreon :) https://www.patreon.com/HOWA You can for as little as $1.50 a month.  All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier and I want to thank everyone for their ! It really helps me keep the show going. _____ Medasin aka Grant Nelson is a feeler. I was initially drawn to his sample packs like a moth to the fire. The fire it turns out has many a hue and the music goes deep. It was excellent to speak to the man himself and uncover his philosophical side. We battle for who’s more of a hippy. It was close but as all hippies know there is no winner in this game. so just jump in the rambling river with us 🙂 Here’s some useful links to Grants work his website: https://medasinmusic.com his sample packs which are great! also he is selling all the stems to his last LP (the one he is discussing in this interview ) all here: https://medasindrumkits.sellfy.store he’s a fan of Theo Vaughn and the Kill tony YouTube I thought I ought to mention that 🙂 Thanks to Baby Audio for their kind sponsorship of this pod! I’ve LOVED using their new synth ATOMS as you can doubtless hear from the fun I had in the intro. I literally spent hours just making sounds for fun. It’s such a yielding instrument. I can highly recommend it! all the sounds I made go to the patreons on the soul science level of course. GOOD NEWS If you type AUDIOPHILES in the check out you get 15% off here’s the link you need! https://babyaud.io/atoms YEP!!

If you want to directly help me in the pod work please consider ing my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HOWA All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier ! There’s over 4GB of audio from the experiments I did with the Oxi one using a custom tape machine, wild analog gear and generally odd stuff to yield those good samples. ok, let's get on with the show! Kid Koala is not like the others. I mean who else gets the idea to do a scratch routine with moon river? Who thinks (and pulls off) a show where everyone has their own turntable in the audience to interact with a performance? He's the creator of wonderful graphic novels Nufonia Must Fall and Space Cadet He’s opened for Radiohead He’s worked on movies like The Great Gatsby, Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim vs the world Creativity to the max. Joy to the max. It really is a treat to have him on the show. I’ve always been a big fan and Eric really couldnt be any more humble and wonderful ! ___ in the show the MUSIC is back ! Yes for this episode, the musical connections come from the rather brilliant mind of bossada I got the cassette of this btw and it’s a thing of beauty. This is great work. Let’s the good art x LINK LINK LINK https://bossada.bandcamp.com/album/cantina-days Kind show sponsorship comes from oxi instruments makers of the excellent oxi one sequencer Here’s a link to it https://oxiinstruments.com/oxi-one/ if you want to buy one with a HOWA link together with perfect circuit go here :) there's a little video about the oxi as omnichord here 

Merriment abound ! It's that time again when sonic stockings are stuffed. This time with a fireside ramble twixt myself and the legend that is Dj Shadow as we celebrate his new LP "Action Adventure" Welcome.  I hope this finds you in good health and merry mood as the season sheds it's joy upon you. If joy is in short supply and the period feels claustrophobic and the family is doing your head in then I trust yule be able to duck out for a spell and use this as an escape pod. Who am I rambling with on the sonic sleigh? Dj Shadow really needs no Endroducing but in case you’re not hip to his MPC60 masterpiece from 1996 you MUST inhale that now. What a record. I recall having both of my Christmas stockings blown off by this LP and it’s humbling to be sat on a zoom with the chap now.  Such is the mystery of the digital time ghosts.  Twas a mighty pleasure to chew the cud with such a master of the chops. I hope this offers you some sonic solace this holiday  ______ I wish to alert you to a new way to give to this show, should you find it appealing :)  https://www.patreon.com/howa/hip It's the new $1.50 tier on Patreon, a wonderful idea that came from Hainbach.  A way to chip in and directly the show as a kind of digital high five :) I really do pour my heart Into the HOWA podcast. As you can imagine, it all takes loads of effort. From finding the guests and organizing the chats, to trying to find new areas of sonic joy to explore and share in the episodes. Then there's all the time editing, ing, promoting and all that. If you enjoy the show and feel you can spare a little over a dollar a month to help me carry on, that would be rather ace! thanks!! _____ Sponsorship comes from Distrokid Did you know that there's a new iOS and android app that lets you - - Find out when money hits your bank  - Check streaming stats and loads more   Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya! Use this 30% off code http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell  

Quiz time. Who's recent LP did Thom Yorke executive produce? Answer: Clark. Pretty obvious from the title of the show but think about that for a minute. Thom Yorke. Bloody hell. I mean in of endorsements, there's few higher and there's good reason for TM to be Clarking, the C man is pumping out the goods and has been for yonks. Ack eye. We met an age ago me the C and shared a path in certain ways as label mates on warp records. I used to play shows with him and we both flocked from Brighton to Berlin and he back to Brighton in search of the muse. His work for dance, film, TV and video games is just one side of his polygon talent and we roll the dice here for a good while catching up as old pals whilst it's caught on tape. It's one of those chats that's a little more personal than some others as we haven't spoken in ages and just mostly linger on ideas like mushroom hunters. Catching sonic fungi here and there for appreciation before consuming and staggering/rambling on. Lovely to reconnect and good news his new LP is out NOW! Here's a perfect link for yahttps://throttleclark.com/album/cave-dog/ Thanks to Soundtoys for their kind sponsorship. This episode is the last in a six part dive into their excellent plugin line. This time I mangle it with alter boy :) Head over for a free trail and see if it's your thing. They craft some of the best plugins in the known universe if you ask me ! https://www.soundtoys.com  

He's worked with Donny Hathaway. That's it. That's all the intro he really ought to need. I mean can you IMAGINE being in the room with Donny singing? Too much. Ah but Jimmy has worked on music from Aretha, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones not to mention his extensive collaboration with Timbaland. Yeah, Jimmy is heavy. What's more he's a very friendly and engaging chap that has a pioneering spirit and he is not overly nostalgic in that way that can hold a person back. No wonder he's been so busy and in demand for all these years. A true master. Jimmy's in the HOWA house (literally.. this was a rare face to face. So fun) The show is kindly sponsored again by the excellent Soundtoys.  I delve into the world of the panman to do things other than just your average spinning. Micro nitty!

Great to chat with Brian and Josh from the band ! we talk minidisk, the joys of analog, hurdy gurdy and fish. I mean if that doesnt tickle yer fancy I dont know what to say :) Various links feel like they cropped up in the show --Valentin Clastrier - Master of the Gurdy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRsJw7UW98g --TAGO MAGO by can - go and listen (you can find it with your preferred music environment ) --If you need good tinned fish in the USA go here ! https://rainbowtomatoesgarden.com --MODBAP - OSIRIS badass oscillator  https://www.modbap.com --JORANALOGUE DELAY 1 https://joranalogue.com/products/delay-1 ___________________________ kind sponsorship comes from the excellent SOUNDTOYS https://www.soundtoys.com

My guest on the show is James Ford who is really one of the most badass producers in the business.  Im talking about the kind of low key English badassness and not the Tarantino variety if you know what I mean. James is involved in so many things and yet he does it without needing a big spotlight on himself. Humble badass. That’s the one.  He’s been active for many years. I mean we used to see each other in that classic ships in the night stylee when I was touring with Cristian Vogel back in the late nineties. We are talking about a man with Multiple decades of energy dedication and knowledge a go go! He’s got the quadfecta mad skills as composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter which is probably one of the reasons he’s been able to be so nimble and effective working with a huge range of incredible artists from Arctic Monkeys to Depeche Mode via Foals, Gorillaz and Kylie Minogue.   You may know him as one half of Simian Mobile Disco, alongside longtime creative partner Jas Shaw or perhaps as a touring member of The Last Shadow Puppets. The hat cupboard in the house is ample!   I was lucky enough to feature on a track with SMD a while back and got to see the studio when it was at the Premises in Hackney.  Now he’s got a supreme attic room that is beyond decked out. We have a little tour of that for anyone who is curious about his gear choices after all this time.  Then we get deep into the world of making, art, the hurdles, the path. The good stuff of rambling! Welcome to the mind of a sonic chef. His first solo album “The Hum” is out now on warp records and it’s a corker!   https://www.jamesellisford.com ________________ If you want to directly help me in the pod work please consider ing my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HOWA All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier ! ________________   Id like to thank show sponsors    SOUNDTOYS   https://www.soundtoys.com   KORG   https://www.korg.com   STAGER MICS   http://stagermicrophones.com   _________________   NITTY!!!

  Jon Hopkins pays attention. He has a ear for the smallest details and a deft touch both as a pianist and a producer.  I feel this interview is very timely as the rise of psychedelic therapy has caught the imagination of so many. Jon has made music that is so perfect for those wishing to go deeper with their experiences in that hugely rewarding domain.  His is the mindset that wants to expand and to meditate instead of flex and win the popularity contests in the game of music. Very refreshing.  We get into his beginnings in the classical world, his lack of patience with distracting factors and on to his success story and on to his musings on the current state of being a musician releasing music in this arguably confusing time.   ____________ The nitty returns ! I was fortunate enough to get an early copy of Andrew Huang’s first plugin :) It's a collaboration with Baby Audio called “Transit” It really inspired me to get my hands dirty and to explore it’s outer ways.  I stacked up about 30 or so instances to pull off a tonal transition that is rather epic ! I learned from an older me on this one. In EP 58 I explored a related idea in Melodyne. Here’s that show  ****** **** ** * SPECIAL DEAL !!   I’m happy to be able to offer listeners to the show a 10 % discount on TRANSIT when using the code BABYHOWA at check out Here’s the plugin!! Check it :) https://babyaud.io/transit Also.. Here’s the Ableton session called “The Bends” that I made to demo this  (sadly I forgot it’s the 11.3.10b5 Beta version of Ableton you’ll need to run this .. oops!)  _____________   Big ups to Catechism and REZN for their music on this show.  It’s from an album called “Infected Ambient Works” Here’s the link to it https://rezzzn.bandcamp.com/album/infected-ambient-works _____________   A massive shout to show sponsor Soundtoys! At the start of this episode I add the New SUPER PLATE and the classic PHASE MISTRESS plugins to a tape jam that’s fresh from my new studio and it just enters into a whole Different dimension.  These are Shockingly good plugins! Some of the very best you can find.  That’s why I’m so chuffed to work with these legends !  Check their masterful work here  https://www.soundtoys.com   ____________ If you want to directly help me in the pod work please consider ing my  Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/HOWA All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !        

HOWA EP 111 - BENN JORDON

Tycho is Scott Hansen and Scott is a deeply friendly and humble chap. I didnt know too much about his background or what made him tick but I tried to get to “know” him and makes some guesses about that by tuning into his music. It’s clearly so well crafted and put together with meticulous attention to detail that this man had to be fastidious but how would that quality manifest? He manages to ride us on a carpet of textures which guide the process of musical flight, once a mood is found, it’s held with patience so the listen can dwell in a land. It’s a style that has been really honed and has found a large following for good reason! It was a real treat to get on the ramble road with him. I left the interview unedited for maximum deviation potential (you’re welcome) _____ This episode is sponsored by A tasty pixel and their excellent LOOPY PRO! As many of you are aware, I’ve spent years of my life with loopers of all kinds from the crudest guitar pedals to my own Max/MSP effort in 2000 to Tim Exile’s wonderful “flow machine” Making a looper setup that fits your style is everything and to do that, a tool that is very flexible and open to configuration is needed. I’m happy to report that this is perfected inside loopy pro. I’m also happy to say that It’s one of the best loopers I’ve ever used and has become the heart of beardymans new setup so you know it’s capable. Needless to say Im really happy to be working with A tasty pixel. _______ I made a new video to highlight a specific use of Loopy Pro that came to me one evening. There’s plenty of excellent tutorial videos to get started online so I wanted to show something a little unique. I took 4 instances of the Chamberlin M1 samplepack I made (which is now available at decentsamples.com!) fed each to an array of 4 speakers around a Neumann head for some quadra funky tape loopidelic delightfulness. Yes, it’s A little nitty basically :) Watch HERE!!  

Hainbach must be such a busy man! Just today I received a post on his patreon that he ed to Medium where he eloquently described the history and character of the electronic music company Vermona that started in the GDR and now lives on. It was a review of sorts of the DRM drum machine from 1987 but he surrounded that feature with some wonderful insights into the company’s history whilst painting a picture of former East . He put all this together after having made a highly compelling video on the same subject for his now legendary youtube channel where so many of us find ourselves happily gazing in on his wild sonic adventures. I’ve learnt so much from him over the years and feel a undeniable connection with him. I certainly share his ion for beguiling tone and that marveling at human inventiveness and endeavor. A tremendous story teller and tireless adventurer, we could have discussed any number of things. There was absolutely no plan to this chat and you’re going to hear what is essentially our first phone call. Yes there's Ample deep dives a tangents a go go. It was a great pleasure to speak with this fountain of knowledge. It gives me great pleasure to welcome on to the show Hainbach Nitty 109 is all about Tape Delay. I put the new Echofix EFX3 through its paces in some odd ways! This nitty is also a rare VIDEO nitty. Link to that here I have an link to the Echofix machine I used here or for the rack version here buying a unit from that link helps the channel :) thanks! Music for the show comes from https://atlanticrhythms.bandcamp.com/album/eraserhood

HOWA EP 108 - CARL CRAIG

HOWA EP 107 - ANGELO PALAZZO

David Haskell is a professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South and a Guggenheim Fellow. His 2017 book The Songs of Trees won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. His 2012 book The Forest Unseen was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and won the 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies, the National Outdoor Book Award, and the Reed Environmental Writing Award. His new book, Sounds Wild and Broken is out now and I was thrilled to have a chance to sit down in person with him in my studio here Nashville to discuss it briefly. Here’s a quick summary of the book from the official press release: Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, Haskell illuminates and celebrates the emergence of the varied sounds of our world. In mammoth ivory flutes from Paleolithic caves, violins in modern concert halls, and electronic music in earbuds, we learn that human music and language belong within this story of ecology and evolution. Yet we are also destroyers, now silencing or smothering many of the sounds of the living Earth. Haskell takes us to threatened forests, noise-filled oceans, and loud city streets, and shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. Sound is a generative force, and so the erasure of sonic diversity makes the world less creative, just, and beautiful. The appreciation of the beauty and brokenness of sound is therefore an important guide in today’s convulsions and crises of change and inequity. Here’s a link to the book in all it’s various formats (the link is slow but it works) I can highly recommend you give it a read. It's just a wonderful read and full of insights that will stay with you. There’s a Soundcloud link with sounds pertinent to the chapters which you can check out here ______________ I also wanted to give a shout out to pod listener Simon Taylor and his book AUDIO MASTERING IN A PROJECT STUDIO: A PRACTICAL APPROACH FOR A PROFESSIONAL SOUND Some great ideas and knowledge that’s not too overwhelming check these whee links: US  Or UK  ______________ As always send music and stuff to [email protected] :)

Merry Chrimble y’all! Here’s a sonic present for your ears to unwrap.  It’s in the form of a nice fireside ramble with the excellent Stephen James Wilkinson aka Bibio.  He’s a wonderful and thoughtful chap with a very unique touch and a searching soul.  I love his musical range, his tones, his playing. YES He’s rather good! Im assuming you all know his stuff? If not you fools!  You must immediately have a listen  As in go here NOW! https://bibio.co   It’s super ooper dooper inspiring stuff and I was mighty chuffed when he agreed to come on the pod. Our paths never crossed as label mates on warp records which is a shame. God knows why.  A couple of shy dudes making waves in different countries might have had something to do with it! Ha. Anyway we are finally in a chat and even talking about working on something together which sounds good to me.  Watch this space.   He’s a wise lad so of course he has a nagra. A stereo nagra in fact.  In fact it was this conversation that really made me want to find one of my own which thankfully I did. He’s the one guest that actually recorded a backup to the tape machine. Proper legend   Roll it ____   Thanks for tuning in folks! It’s been another bonkers year and having this show has been a huge part of keeping me going. Cheers to all the wonderful patrons for helping me keep this dream alive Thanks to distrokid for their continued as the most epic and long running sponsor of the pod.  If you make music and need it putting out, just use distrokid! It’ll be everywhere like Santa before you know it  Dropping that sonic magic down the chimneys of the world.   Thanks to Bibio And I’ll catch you in 2023!   Make merry y’all     

Such a treat to chat with Jeremy aka Red Means Recording. Now you must know who he is right? If not well you're in for a treat. He's an amazing creative soul and funky chap that makes excellent music, teaches and creates exceptional YouTube videos that go deep into the synth and electronic musical world. Highly recommended viewing. He's just great. Link to his YouTube here HELLO! Yes, I realize this has been a lonnnnng time coming. What's been up? The studio build is now hitting a new level of intensity and my Mum just left after a long visit and things have been a tad upside down so Im off my funk but here we are!   LINKS Please go and grab this new release from friend of the pod Marta Salongi and Floating points. It's a fund raiser for the charity Free Youth Orchestra which focuses on removing financial barriers between children and access to musical equipment and lessons so cool. the music is here to buy and thus looking for something to fill the digital stocking? I can recommend this max for live device from the wonderful friend of the pod Ned Rush. It's called MIDI WAVES and it's ace and not expensive. grab here Jim Keller has been helping me design the new studio. Great to work with him. So much knowledge! Check his beautiful work here Thanks for Diana Walsch for pod . Find her here Website: dmwalshmusic.com IG: @dmwalshmusic

HOWA EP 103 - FRED AGAIN

Max Tundra is Ben Jacobs A man that was a child that grew up in London. As pointed out on his bandcamp, he went to the same school as Jude Law and a Chemical Brother, but didn’t know them. In this disposable content age, there’s an undeniable urge to go for quantity over quality is there not? The music Ben makes as Max Tundra comes as rarely as a celestial event. We forget the rising and falling of the sun each day but we don’t forget a total eclipse now do we? This is how it felt when Mocky and I came across the LP “Mastered by guy at the exchange”. We were without sun for a while. In an unknown land that felt Most welcoming and yet most peculiar. It was genuinely new music. Something so rare that still feels fresh all these years later. Here’s what hyper pop bloke A. G. Cook said of Max Tundra’s legacy: “‘Mastered by Guy at the Exchange’ is a true cult album - a playful monolith that sounds both nothing and everything like the 2000s. Stumbling across it as a teenager, it reinforced a hunch I had: that music is a place where anything could happen, and total chaos could be held together by the lightest of pop hooks. There’s an oddly British quality to Max Tundra’s work, a soft and polite maximalism - pioneering, eccentric and infinitely remixable.” Ben Jacobs invented hyper pop As they say in the UK FACTS It’s a good time to be a Max Tundra fan as domino has reissued his first three studio albums to be found HERE 2000s Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be, 2002’s Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, and the 2008 masterwork Parallax Error Beheads You. We get into a lot of his formative years and thankfully he kept so much of his sonic ramblings from that time and they can be found on his band camp page It’s a real treasure trove. Here it is What a legend. If you’ve never heard of him before, I’m so glad I get to make the intro. He’s a true original and a very nice man Please welcome on the show Max Tundra

TEED has an excellent new LP out now called “When the Lights Go” available on his Nice Age label. Check it ooot! HERE is Link to the album, tour info and loads of ace merch! If you didnt already get the Chamberlin ADT sample instrument I made here https://www.patreon.com/HOWA 4.64 Gb sample instrument of the instrument used by Bowie on Low! ahhh yes…let’s get on with the show….. It’s high time I chatted with this chap. We’ve hung out at multiple LA gatherings over beers and somehow never ended up in a suitable setting for a good chin wag. This has now been completely set right in what is a true alpine ramble twixt myself and the excellent TEED. We many a scenic wonder on our winding adventures. Touching on: the LA twilight zone Honesty and ambition Being cool TEED history Unknown music! The making of the new tones Equal love of jungle and Bach It’s just my kind of hang. Hope you enjoy it! Music comes from Andrew Huang ! he made his track exclusively with the Chamberlin ADT sample instrument I made from over 3000 samples of the VERY rare Chamberlin M1 all running to 2 Nagra tape machines simultaneously with a varispeed on only one deck to create phase and ADT effects PER note. EPIC! get it now! https://www.patreon.com/HOWA Ep101 ! YES It’s a shortee this time. I’m trying for a half bi so I can keep up with the DELUGE of interviews I’m been doing of late. Such good people, I want to hurry them out. art lovers ! Please check out my wife’s first solo paining show here it’s called STIM. I’ve been present for all the making of these and I’m so proud of her. It’s huge news for our family and I think so many of you will love the style and also the story behind the work as we discover about out autism. More on this soon 🙂 Thanks to Distrokid for the kind sponsorship :) Get your music steaming in minutes! Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya! Use this 30% off code http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell