Show Notes
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 support me in the pod work please consider joining my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HOWA All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !
More from hanging out with audiophiles
Jordon played the Royal Albert Hall That's my intro to him I mean COME ON! What a dream He also spent a YEAR at Abbey Road I mean COMMMMME ONNNNNNN! Surely we need to study this Here we blummin go :)
There's so much to learn from Sarah Davachi. I've certainly found my short interaction with her and a humble dive into her catalog to be very enlightening and enriching to my process. She's someone that has a very considered approach to sound, a very respectful approach, I would say. Someone who's had a kind of consistency to her journey through it all and who brings such wonderful tones to our ears from often incredibly old and rarely heard instruments. That's certainly the case on her new record, "The Will of Tongues," which is a very ambitious and at times brutal sonic landscape that is both a powerful presentation of the static tones from organ, string and reed and of more traditional songs that are served out of nowhere and complete the meal like celestial sorbet. It's a wonderful listen, and I was fascinated to have a chance to have a brief conversation with her. Dig it! Music comes from an old pal of mine from the Berlin days "Phtalo" and a new EP called "Neurodivergent Lifestyle" jolly good fun! Find it here: https://phtalo.bandcamp.com/album/neurodivergent-lifestyle-ep
I'm really happy to have made the acquaintance of Robert Logan, my guest on this show, who was introduced to me by listener Ody Constantinou. Ody also helped me edit this interview—something I've never done in nine years of podcasting. Though he did a wonderful job, I'm going to return to editing future episodes myself, as shaping the audio is such a core part of the show's identity but I wanted to give Ody a huge shout-out for introducing me to Robert and helping put this episode together. Here's Ody's info [email protected] @ghostmeet on Mastodon Robert is a phenomenal, Emmy-nominated composer with an incredible sense of texture, which is something I value more and more in music these days. We had a great philosophical ramble. My cup of tea of an afternoon! Check out his album Otherscapes—it features 132 unreleased tracks spanning 2006 to 2026 for just $10. Highly recommended. https://robertloganmusic.bandcamp.com/album/otherscapes-unreleased-works-2006-2026 Music that you'll hear peppered through the episode comes from Peter Jonason Wonderful stuff from an album that's coming soon Check his work here! https://peterjonason.bandcamp.com/
I am so happy to have Tim Exile back for round two. This time, we're diving into an exciting new music creation environment that he's been diligently building at a rapid-fire pace. It's called Karst link here https://app.karst.systems/ it's already running in the browser, with plans for plugin and standalone this year and it's showing an incredible amount of promise as a replacement for Reaktor going forward. It's a wild, ambitious idea, so it's no surprise it came from Tim, who is such a fearless and ever-creative soul. It was an absolute joy to chat with him about how Karst was built and programmed from the ground up in just a matter of months using the latest technologies, and what he ultimately hopes to achieve with it. We also discuss the incredibly challenging health issues he's had to face, his new space in London and general get lost in the sauce of the ramble :)
Flipping Summer madness!!! Yeah it feels like this holiday has gone on for months already. We took in a bit of Cornwall and caught up with the UK family. Cornwall was a very wise choice as it has a microclimate that allowed a little escape from the insanity that London heatwave. You know what? I did a pretty good job of disappearing completely albeit without a full phone detox. I feel that might be needed soon. Someone threw out a stat that we only have 300 months of free time in our lives. Best not to spend all of that on the phone. Im such a sad addict at this point it's not funny. Anyhow that's beside the point. Back in the bubble of the music space, I made a little computer only setup in my space to see if I can't use it to focus on a different kind of making and perhaps even the FINISHING? Lets see. I go on about that a lot in the intro so I'll not linger on that now. Needless to say I wish you all fulfillment and success however that looks to you. This episode is with the excellent Nicholas Semrad. He's aheady had many a musical life. You may have seen him playing alongside Cory Henry, Lauryn Hill or Mark Guiliana. You may know him as a patch maker for Sequential or Yamaha. Perhaps you know him for his film and TV work. He's highly accomplished and a touring beast. Currently he's slathering on the make up on a 6 month Empire of the Sun gig. He's a total beast and yet a wonderfully humble and chill individual. Ive had micro hangs with him before on the road but never a long form one on one until now. So it's a treat to have the chance. Give it up for for Mr Semrad!!!