Vogue Renege & Magical Synth Adventure

It‘s always refreshing to see how others set up and work in their studios. After our call on Facebook, we were overwhelmed, and that‘s a good thing. So, it quickly became clear that we would turn it into a series to inspire and share with everyone. This month we are featuring Paulee Alex Bow aka Vogue Renege and Magical Synth Adventure.

Beat / Let us know why you built and set up your studio the way you did?

Paulee / Before I revamped my setup, I didn‘t really have a studio, I had a „pile of synths“in a non-descript room of pastel-green walls. Because of how I compose, (I have Autism, so tend to write/flesh out arrangements in my head) I never gave much consideration to the studio environment.

I use an older version of Cubase for recording; vintage tech is big in my world, so „I got by“for years, plugging one synth in at a time to my soundcard...making the most of that instrument and supplementing it with VST synths and effects.

It wasn‘t the worst way of working, but as my synth collection grew, so did my frustration. I‘m into online synth groups of course, but also, retro gaming communities; within each I saw vibrantly lit rooms and inviting creative spaces. I knew it was time to pause my synth quest and focus on my space.

I use everything in my music; conventional instruments, samplers, vintage synths, obsolete computer software, you name it. From 2019 I reintroduced myself to the Commodore Amiga again. This 90‘s powerhouse of MIDI, sampling & synthesis really has had a profound effect on my working environment. It runs parallel to my PC/DAW as another MIDI & audio source; optionally interfacing with my modular at the same time. If you‘d like to hear how that sounds, check out „Vogue Renege - Wicked Game“.

Placing became important; Jaspers stands took care of most of he synths, whilst industrial shelving gave a home to my Amiga 1200, modular and old-school CRT. I painted the entire room dark grey and used colourful lights to give a little „Cassette futurism“to proceedings.

Beat / What tips can you give to other readers, what traps should they not fall into (when building a studio or gear in general)?

Paulee / I guess it‘s making sure that you don‘t just buy one kind of item, whether that be synths, effects, microphones, whatever. If you desire a workable, comfortable environment, then utility purchases are quite important; acoustic panelling, cabling, a decent mixer/interface, seating, etc.

Beat / Do you produce in your studio as a hobby or do you do it for a living?

Paulee / Part-time, my day job is in mental health. I support people with conditions like Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar, PTSD and Schizophrenia with group therapy, 1-2-1 support and creative activities. I run a music sing-a-long group every Friday morning at the centre.

The work is rewarding, but quite gruelling. I‘m hoping to make more income from my compositional work one day.

Beat / Tell us, how did your musical career start? Paulee / My story, I feel, is quite an interesting one. You can watch it on the Magical Synth Adventure channel, but briefly, Autism has been incredible for intuitively learning musical skills, but horrendous for my mental health, social skills and career prospects. It‘s taken many thousands of pounds of therapy, and an impossible level of self-development to get to a point where I can hold conversations, network, perhaps even charm people. And even then, it‘s taken me until the age of 40 before any of this development paid off.

During my 20‘s I tried hard to manage a band, supporting national touring artists when they stopped by my home town of Birmingham. It was a really hard slog, selling tickets and promoting yourself (without any self-esteem!) and was sadly never really worth the effort.

Music became a hobby again (aside from a brief collaboration with Die Krupps) until, at the age of 40, two amazing things happened. Firstly, I met Zach Weddington through an Amiga group. He loved my music and hired me to write a soundtrack to Arcade Dreams, a forthcoming documentary on the history of Arcade games. Secondly, Nick Batt gave me the chance to appear on „Sonic Talk“, a popular UK music production podcast. Aside from 1 or 2 naysayers, I‘ve been warmly received and it‘s done so much for my self-esteem. So yeah, I guess I‘m a „pro“now.

Beat / How did you acquire the skills for the studio and your productions?

Paulee / Music feels like my mind‘s natural state, just try talking to me whilst a good song is on! This, alongside the phemonemon of the „Autistic obsessive special interest“has guided my ferocious studies into harmony, sound design, production & mastering.

I went to University a lifetime ago, and found that, although lectures on music composition were somewhat useful, I learned the really good stuff off fellow classmates, usually the ones with the oddest clothes! (laughing)

Beat / Which part of your studio could you never do without?

Paulee / Easy, DAW/PC. All of this obsolete hardware is a lot of fun, but my DAW is where I finish tracks.

Beat / Do you have an ergonomic focus or a specific focus, for example on workflow or live jams or trouble-free working?

Paulee / I have 3 approaches I think. 1. is getting things done, building tracks in a DAW or via an Amiga tracker (OctaMED for life!) 2. is mindful exploration, perhaps pulling one or two synths away from the studio and spending some time making patches to use one day, this is really relaxing! 3. is specifically wanting to feel like I‘m a mad scientist. This is where I‘ll track CV/Gate whilst twisting knobs through cable spaghetti.

Beat / Where and how do you find out about equipment when it comes to buying for your studio?

Paulee / For new gear, I read news sites like gearnews & sonicstate. For cool older stuff, it would have to be mu:zines! They have 1000‘s of scanned gear articles from the 70/80/90‘s period.

Beat / What specific problems did you have to deal with when setting up the studio?

Paulee / Firstly, space! I found building upwards was the solution. I also had some concerns over power, so spoke to a local electrician about safe practice in this regard.

Beat / How did you treat the room acoustically, where there difficulties?

Paulee / My room has that nasty 80‘s textured wallpaper, but that means it‘s acoustically pretty dead, I guess. I bought a nice Neumann mic and was concerned about rogue echoes, so added some acoustic panelling to the wall I am facing/singing towards to dampen it.

Beat / What is still missing in your studio?

Paulee / In a bigger studio, I could possibly have a bigger desk, making for less re-patching. I could also display some synths I don‘t quite have the room for at the moment. But other than that, I basically want for nothing. My day job isn‘t particularly well-paid so I‘m proud of my space.

Beat / What kind of music (or what style) do you produce most?

Paulee / Arcade Dreams has called for 100-years of styles! From Dixieland Jazz to Boards-style lofi beats, I‘ve done it all! I mostly produce music an Industrial-like edge though. I‘ve had quite a lot of positive feedback from my „bleakwave“work - it‘s essentially synthwave with more trauma/edgyness/ despair haha. (laughing)

Beat / Do you have any upcoming releases? Paulee / I‘m hoping to put out a Vogue Renege E.P. later in the year. Also, the Arcade Dreams soundtrack, with extended and vocal mixes, will be released on CD and (I hope) Pacman-yellow viny!

Beat / Where can we find out more about you and your sound?

Paulee / I have two current Youtube channels. Magical Synth Adventure is where I do documentaries on synthesizers, vintage music software and hardware (also a recent episode on Autism). Also, head to Vogue Renege to find music videos of me prancing about to moody bleakwave beats. ⸬