RURAL TAPES
Ex members of R.E.M. converge on Norway without a computer in site!
It takes all sorts to make music, and they are all in this issue of Computer Music!
With rising star Loraine James on p44, we saw how one laptop and a small bunch of mostly freeware plugins can suffice. Now it’s time to visit a studio where the only software is used as a recorder, and it’s based on a remote farm in Norway. Yet it’s a studio and project that has attracted some star names. Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen is the founder of bands including I Was A King, Heroes & Zeros and The No Ones with R.E.M. members Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck. His new Rural Tapes solo project features those collaborators plus Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti) and saxophonist Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Tom
Waits). Here Arne explains his production philosophy which is a world away from a laptop with plugins, and how he attracted such big players to feature on his Rural Tapes solo outing (not to mention the organ player from the Boston Red Sox…)
1 Tell us how you got into music production in the first place? Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen:
“I’m a composer and musician from Norway, currently living and working on an old farm in the south where I have my studio in the barn. I’ve played music since I was a kid, but I never had a plan of becoming a musician. I got into the music business as a drummer with my old band Heroes & Zeros in my early 20s, and I’ve worked in music ever since. Today I play in different bands, compose music for theatre and dance performances, act as a producer for other bands and artists, and I’m always up for cool projects that come my way.”
2 When and how did you become successful in music?
AKM:
“Being successful was never a goal. I just want to have enough fun work to do and earn enough for my family to live a nice, normal life. I get just as much out of making music for a children’s theatre piece as playing a huge show with a band. Doing different work is what I appreciate the most, as long as I can feel proud about the things I take part in. I have had some commercial success over the years: Heroes &
Zeros released three albums on Universal Music, toured the world, and had a song on FIFA 08 among other things. Over the last few years I’ve also been playing with R.E.M’s Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey in the bicontinental jangle pop band The No Ones. We’re not longing for world domination though; we’re having fun making music and releasing albums we appreciate ourselves.”
3 What is your overall music and production philosophy?
AKM:
“Originality is important to me. I don’t want to use too many clear references when I work with new music. I don’t listen to a song and want to do the same thing. If I work with other bands or artists, I want them to explain to me what they are searching for, instead of playing me a reference to show me what sound they want. I believe that if you work that way, you’ll end up as a copy pretty quickly, and rarely better than the original. Of course, everyone is inspired by other artists, but at least I try to find ways to let references transform into my own music early in the process.”
4 Tell us about your ‘computer music’ production history?
AKM:
“While recording albums with different bands and at a time when playing music suddenly became my job, I had no interest in studio equipment. I composed and performed music, and that was it. I had a passion for instruments and what I could create with them. I collected old organs and knew nothing about compressors, preamps, microphones or plugins
“As I gained experience in recording albums with the bands I played with, my interest in production grew. I got a home studio, first consisting of an HD-recorder, later a laptop, and I produced sketches and demos. A lot was intended for the bands I played with, but many of them somehow turned out to be what Rural Tapes is today. Eventually I became interested in equipment such as old tape echo machines and analogue synthesisers.
“Much of the money I made playing music was invested in such gear and later I upgraded to a studio with better recording equipment. No extravaganza, but better microphones such as AT 4050, SM7B, a pair of Fatheads, Sennheiser 421s, a bunch of SM57s and so on. I also have an old RCA MI-6203, which is great together with a Shure SM57 microphone for guitars, or as a room mic for drum recording. But most of all, I enjoy working with knobs. Hands on and outboard gear is my preferred way of working with music production.”
5 Tell us about the rest of the gear in your recording studio
AKM:
“I am not a geek for studio gear. I work most through old outboard stuff, although I don’t have much. My studio in the barn is not connected to the internet, so I still use Pro Tools 11, which I’ve had for the last seven/eight years or more. I haven’t upgraded since, and love it like that. I can really recommend having an internet-free studio. No Instagram, no Facebook, no distractions. For recording I use an old stationary Mac, SSL Nucleus controller and Lynx Aurora, Dynaudio BM6a MkII speakers, a 4-channel API 3124+ preamp, 4-channel Daking preamp (I love those!), a couple of single Daking EQ preamps, UA 6176 and a Joe Meek single EQ preamp. Outboard gear includes an AKG spring reverb, Space Echo RE-201, Analog JBX Disk Echo EM-200 BMX, various Tandberg tape recorders and tons of different effects boxes like Electro Harmonix, FET and so on.”
6 What are your favourite plugins?
AKM:
“I don’t think I have five favourite plugins! My go-to units are the Space Echo, all the different Tandberg recorders, the AKG reverb, Electro Harmonix Memory Man and even run stuff through my vintage Korg MS-10 synth. For me, it’s all about the textures these units are creating, and I also love the fact that they live their own lives from time to time. They all have personality. Everybody finds their own way of working, and maybe I’ll get more into plugins later at some point. But for now I’m really happy with my setup.”
7 How do you tend to start a track?
AKM:
“I’ve worked a lot with improvised music, and enjoy using improvisation as a method for creating and composing. I can start with a drumbeat, a weird sound, a drum machine, a series of chords, a simple melody or a field recording. Sometimes I can press record and tape for hours. Then I can pick out parts that I like and keep on layering them. There are no rules for the process of creating music in my world. I work very intuitively and usually I don’t have much planned before I start. Sometimes I end up using plain structures for a song and sometimes the lack of structures can be better.”
8 How do you know when a track’s done?
AKM:
“Finishing a track can take a day or it can take years before it feels ready. Both can be equally good, but I’m getting better and better at making decisions and closing projects. Sometimes that’s important to be able to move on. I don’t just work on single tracks, I can go in and out of projects all the time, composing an album as a whole. Sometimes the end of one song gives me ideas on how to start another song. I also think it’s important to allow yourself to make something that is rubbish. You don’t need to show it to anyone. But that way you can get it out of your system.”
9 Do you have any production tricks?
AKM:
“It’s probably a cliché, but reamping tracks through my Space Echo. I don’t need to use a lot of the echo or reverb, but I love the textures and the warm compression things get just going through it. For lack of a better explanation: the tracks often fall into place after a small visit through the Space Echo.”
“Have an internet-free studio: no Instagram, no distractions…”
10 Who else have you worked with for the album project?
AKM: Rural Tapes
“The LP contains a fair dose of collaborations. On this album I’ve been lucky to get contributions from great musicians from all over the world. Some of them old band fellows from way back, some of them totally new acquaintances, musically. Lars Løberg Tofte, who I’ve played with for more than 20 years, does all bass guitar on the album. He is a safe card for me. I know what I can expect from him and I often like to produce a steady basis comp using him. But I also wanted to step out of my usual musical framework and invite new people in to create a broader palette. I’ve done most of the keys myself, but I’ve had the honour of playing some shows with Hot Chip’s Alexis
Taylor a couple of years ago, and I knew he was a great Rhodes player. There were tracks where I wanted something more loose, and asked him to join in on them. What he sent back was stuff that I never would have been able to come up with myself, and it took especially the track Pardon My
French to a whole new level, which also affected what sax player Terry Edwards did on the same track. Suddenly the song had transformed from a chill Airish tune to a chaotic, psychedelic explosion. Another example from the making of this album was when I played together with Boston Red Sox organ player Josh Kantor at a festival in Egersund, Norway some years ago. I met him a couple of years before this and knew he had some serious skills both on keys and accordion. I brought some recording gear to the festival and asked him to do a short recording session in my hotel room. He showed up with a tiny accordion and I think he listened to the songs once and gave it a couple of takes of improvised stuff and suddenly it was a wrap. Simply magical.”
11 What’s on your gear shopping list?
AKM:
“I don’t know if this is what you really wanna hear, but if I suddenly had 10.000€ extra, I’d probably spend it on a Clavinet, a Vibraphone and a Würlitzer before I’d even think about any studio gear. Sorry about that. I could maybe spend the remaining 50 dollars on another vintage Tandberg recorder...”
12 What studio tech would you like to see being developed?
AKM:
“I guess that’s a question beyond my knowledge. I’m living in the past and enjoy that way too much.”
13 Any advice for playing live?
AKM:
“Believe in being on the same level as the audience. When I play gigs, it’s like, ‘we’re in this together’. Of course, a concert wouldn’t be anything without a performer, but nor the audience. We’re both equally important to make the show work. I can enjoy gigs with an audience of 10 people as much as a gig with 3000 people, as long as there is a connection there. I also enjoy concerts most when they are actually performed live. If the sound is dominated by recorded tracks, I get bored right away. I enjoy hearing mistakes on a concert, because it shows the human side of a band. And I must say I miss that a bit, I think live production has become a bit too professional as it is now.”
14 And from working in the studio?
AKM:
“Experiment, try new things, don’t necessarily do what everybody else does, but use your own ears. If you try out a new thing, the worst thing that can happen is that it won’t work. Relax and make others comfortable in the studio. I’ve learned that you get the best out of people if they feel comfortable and are not afraid to do mistakes. And if you do, maybe you can use it to create something cool. Mistakes can be good! And if you’re an absolute killer working in the box and happen to meet a dude with his mind in the 70s, trying to convince you to buy all sorts of $50 tape units; stick to your plugins! There is space for us both.”
15 And from being in ‘the industry’?
AKM:
“I guess my best advice for dealing with the industry is to treat people nicely. And just be real. And if you think you make great art, keep on doing your thing, no matter what other people think.”
16 What have you got coming up?
AKM:
“I’m releasing my first solo album these days, as Rural Tapes. It has taken a while to complete this release, mostly because I’ve had so much other stuff to do. But when the world locked down last spring, I used that as a possibility to finish the album I had been working on for so long. It’s for the most part an instrumental album, which draws lines to 70s krautrock, film music, classical music and jazz. Also, I did a short tour with I Was A King last October, which I think was pretty cool. People seemed to miss going to shows a lot, and even if it was only 30-50 capacity shows due to Covid, they turned out to be really good. I think we have a lot to look forward to, post Corona. Hang in there.”
“I’ve also been asked to compose music for three new dance and theatre productions the next year. I also look forward to releasing an album with a new instrumental duo consisting of only bass guitar and drums, called The 5 Point
Palm Exploding Heart Technique, and I’m working on new albums with both The No Ones and I Was A King.”
“There are no rules for the creation of music in my world”