WHAT’S ON YOUR HARD DRIVE?
Jay Clarke The British techno star and Klockworks regular reveals a few studio secrets and the importance of… Dropbox
ABLETON LIVE 10
“The reason I love this DAW so much is that it’s so simple. I started using Live in 2008 and it’s been my faithful friend ever since. Everything I need is one click away, not hidden within menus, and that allows me to spend more time being creative. The factory instruments and effects are also used a lot in my idea-generation and productions. They always sound great and, with some saturation and light distortion, you wouldn’t know the sounds were made using a soft synth. After all, synthesis theory is the same if you use softsynths or hardware. My track, Entity, was made solely using Operator and is an example of when I really started to understand the importance of sound design. Recently, I’ve been using a Max for Live sequencer for creating grooves and rhythms which I’ve found works really well. In Dreams, from my forthcoming
Klockworks release, was made using solely Ableton instruments. The main synth line and effects hits are from Analogue, which is such a versatile synth. I also used it for the main riff in Drift from my first Klockworks release, and Perdita from my contribution to the KW20 compilation.”
UAD THERMIONIC CULTURE VULTURE “Last year, I invested in a UAD Apollo Twin soundcard and some plugins. It wasn’t long before I bought some more. I was hooked! I don’t have a large studio space, so the UAD system works perfectly for me. It gives me some iconic devices which are superbly modelled and sound fantastic. This is a plugin model of the distortion/enhancer hardware, so I tend to use it subtly in the mix to add some warmth and grit. On the flip side, you can really push this thing hard and it still sounds great.”
SOUNDTOYS ECHOBOY
“This is my go-to echo/delay plugin and
quite possibly my favourite plugin ever! When I started making music, I never understood the importance of delays until I bought the EchoBoy. Imagine all your favourite delay pedals in one box. Well, this is it. I own a Strymon TimeLine and it’s a pretty close call on flexibility and sound. The Groove and Feel functions are nice additions because they allow you to sculpt the delay and add some space in the mix. If you use the Ping Pong, you can set the delays independently of each other… maybe one to a note-based delay and one to a timebased delay. That can give you some wonderful effects and add new harmonics to the sounds, especially with longer feedback times.”
SPECTRASONICS OMNISPHERE
“This is a powerhouse of sound. Thankfully the menu is user-friendly and it’s easy to search by sound type, mood or genre. If I ever have writer’s block, I open this and simply flick through the sounds to give me some inspiration. It’s great for percussive and chime sounds… the pads sound lush and warm, especially when you’re playing chords. With the update to version 2.6, you get Hardware Integration, which means I can use my Komplete Kontrol S61 and get access to synth sounds from some hardware classics like the Access Virus, Dave Smith OB-6, and Roland Juno-106. The only downside is that the plugin library is vast. It hogs a lot of your CPU!”
EVENTIDE BLACKHOLE
“This is based on the Eventide Space Reverb guitar pedal with the Blackhole presets turned into their own plugin. It’s a great allrounder with some nice long-tailed reverbs which work well for creating soundscapes and adding atmosphere to a track. Although the purpose of the plugin is mainly larger reverbs, you can still get some nice, short spring reverb effects by reducing the size and space. I use it in the FX chain just before a distortion plugin, such as Ableton’s Softube Amp. The Amp really helps bring out and brighten the reverb, giving it some extra transients.”
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASSIVE X
“I’m fairly new to Massive X and still learning what it can do. Although I did use Massive in the past, it was never a mainstay. Already, Massive X feels like a much more userfriendly plugin. I like the modular feel and the interface is very straightforward. The Wavetables are a welcome addition because they give you the chance to modulate the wave shape with a vast range of waves and create some seriously unique sounds. It would be interesting to see if Massive X could be integrated into Reaktor 6, working in-line with Reaktor Blocks to add some additional modulation functions. That would be cool!”
DROPBOX
“It’s not music software, but this is an integral part of my setup. I use it to run all my music projects, host all my samples and add-on sound packs for Reaktor. If I’m on the road and start a project on my MacBook, I can jump onto my iMac once I’m home – without the need to copy it across on an external hard drive. Very efficient! Plus, everything will be backed up should anything happen to my MacBook. Backing up your projects is so important, but it’s always overlooked. I’ve heard so many horror stories from artists who have lost a lifetime of project files. My advice is to switch to Dropbox, save everything here and work within the environment as if it’s your computer’s hard drive. Files are uploaded and updated in real time, so you don’t need to think about backing everything up all the time. It’s a game changer and a life saver!”