Sound architect Matt Thibideau has a wealth of Synth knowledge pouring out of his modular brain. We grabbed a bucket to hold some of it and realized it wasn't enough so we decided to get him over to OCDJ for a highly anticipated weekend workshop happening July 18th. Here's a taste of the man's knowledge.
OCDJ - It's time to abandon ship and you've got only 2 minutes. Which synth is going with you? Why is it so special? MT - That is a really tough question. It may be the Oberheim OBX, or my Roland System 100m modular. Both for very different reasons. The OBX is great at lush sounding polyphonic stabs, chords and bass sounds. I tend to turn to it a lot because it sounds alive. No two notes really sound exactly the same. The Roland System 100m is a great compact modular synthesizer that can dream up pretty much any sound, it could be drums, bass, bleeps, or weird sound fx. With the ability to connect it via patching and so many different synthesizer parameters, the sky is the limit. OCDJ - You were recently featured in a documentary about modular synthesizers. Can you tell us a little bit about it? What was it like being approached to be in it? MT - I dream of wires is a great documentary that explains the disappearing and then return of the modular synthesizer in music. The Artist Solvent (who put the movie together) got in touch with me after knowing about my music in the local scene here in Toronto for years. What drew them to include our studio was that we have the Synclavier (an early digital sampler that changed the way music was made in the 80's). It is a great documentary for both the enthusiasts and people new to synthesizers as it gives some insight into the history of some great machines and how people use them. OCDJ - Are you opposed to digital gear or have you found a way to fuse the two worlds together? MT - I do use some digital gear, mostly in the form of hardware (Samplers, FM and Wavetable synths). I also do use a Mac with Protools. It pretty much acts like a big tape machine and editing suite with midi control. So in this way the two worlds do come together. All of my sounds tend to come from external instruments though. It is a comfortable way of working for me I guess.
OCDJ - Are there places in Toronto you like visiting to get inspired?
MT - I tend to leave the city to get my inspiration, but have walked around outside to record different "natural" types of sounds. I tend to record and take this back to the studio for a lot of experimenting and manipulating. I do visit the lake shore a lot as a bit of an escape from the city. OCDJ - Besides navigating around mountains of synths at your awesome studio, do you have another passion? MT - I enjoy my bike rides, and going to the gym when I have time. Listening to lots of ambient music and working with other like minded artists. Performing live and travelling makes me happy too. "Never be afraid to try working at a lower sampling rate" OCDJ - Our students go bananas over tips. Do you have a drum programming or synth tip you'd be willing to share? MT - 1. Erase the presets, Avoid sample packs, and build your sounds from the ground up. 2. Make kits of drum sounds using synths and sample them into different devices. 3. Never be afraid to try working at a lower sampling rate. Recording and sampling sounds in 8 bit, and 20khz can produce interesting and sometimes magical results. OCDJ - What can participants expect from your "Intro to Modular Synths" workshop? MT - Participants can expect to explore all of the aspects of a smaller "moog" styled modular synthesizer. This will include the Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier and Envelope. We will talk about how they all interact and some of the history of the synthesizer. OCDJ - Any last words or projects coming up you'd like to tell the world? MT - My Brother and run a small label called Obsolete Components with many different recordings done with modular and hardware synthesizers. We have plenty of music to share with the world here. https://obsoletecomponents.bandcamp.com/ We will also be heading to Europe this August to perform some of that music live. |
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