Talking Shop: London Modular Alliance

The Eurorack-lovers on their hardware jams

Formed around the London Modular synth boutique, LMA are a trio of Eurorack-loving musicians whose improvisational hardware jams have garnered considerable praise on the capital’s club circuit. The outfit’s latest release, Home Grown, is a four track EP of propulsive, synth-heavy Techno from LMA member Phil Ventre, due out on Hypercolour this month. FM caught up with Ventre to talk modular love.

FM: Tell us about your studio…

PV : “Simon, Gavin and myself all have our own studios set up at home. The vast majority of what we use is hardware-based. There’s no getting away from the stuff we sell – modular obviously plays a big role in our sound. It’s great for unexpected stuff, sequences and general madness. With polyphony you’d struggle on a modular system so we have a selection of keyboards we like to use as well.

“In an ideal world I’d have a dedicated, hired studio, for sure. Preferably one which doesn’t have a washing machine in it… This may soon be a reality as we plan to move our store and open a number of studios close to where we are currently based.” When approaching a new track or project, where do you start? “When we start it would most probably be laying bits down at the shop and recording the audio somehow. Or sketching out some very basic jams at home on something like Native Instruments Maschine, bouncing down and sending to the other guys for some initial feedback. If it’s got legs we’d add other elements using modular (and so on), crack on at home then send stems out for us all to add parts to it. We each have our strengths in the process.”

LMA’s essential production advice

Always finish your tracks “Even if you’re not 100% happy with the result, draw a line under it and move on to the next one. Continually tweaking restricts creativity, allows doubt to creep in and obviously slows down your workflow.”