I met Jim thanks to the wonderful master of mastering Heba Kadry who's based in New York (whi btw that just finished mastering my new LP!) 

She used him to assist in the making of her room and that set me on a journey to get my place into shape too. Him and his team at Sondhus did an excellent job and I've been loving my light and airy attic so much!

I've talked about my space a little on the show and I've shared a few pics and videos from the spot so there's evidence of it out there. 

I look forward to being in here every day. 

Jim's story is really interesting and it's an angle that's not been covered thus far on the pod. 

He has knowledge and passion on all manner of issues relating to studio spaces, from the flow to the sound and the minimal aesthetic that is a through line in his work. 

He's made rooms for Martin Gore, Laurie Anderson, Heba Kadry, Philip Weinrobe, the Juliard School in New York to name but  a few.

Wild !

In this show I demonstrate the sound of my rooms and why using a binaural head for interviews and voice over is a terrible idea :) ha

I have Patreon :)

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

You can join now for as little as $1.50 a month. 

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier and I want to thank everyone for their support! It really helps me keep the show going.

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Medasin aka Grant Nelson is a feeler.

I was initially drawn to his sample packs like a moth to the fire.

The fire it turns out has many a hue and the music goes deep.

It was excellent to speak to the man himself and uncover his philosophical side.

We battle for who’s more of a hippy. It was close but

as all hippies know there is no winner in this game.

so just jump in the rambling river with us 🙂

Here’s some useful links to Grants work

his website:

https://medasinmusic.com

his sample packs which are great!

also he is selling all the stems to his last LP (the one he is discussing in this interview )

all here:

https://medasindrumkits.sellfy.store

he’s a fan of

Theo Vaughn and the Kill tony YouTube

I thought I ought to mention that 🙂

Thanks to Baby Audio for their kind sponsorship of this pod!

I’ve LOVED using their new synth ATOMS as you can doubtless hear from the fun I had in the intro.

I literally spent hours just making sounds for fun. It’s such a yielding instrument. I can highly recommend it!

all the sounds I made go to the patreons on the soul science level of course.

GOOD NEWS

If you type AUDIOPHILES in the check out you get 15% off

here’s the link you need!

https://babyaud.io/atoms

YEP!!

If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

There’s over 4GB of audio from the experiments I did with the Oxi one using a custom tape machine, wild analog gear and generally odd stuff to yield those good samples.

ok, let's get on with the show!

Kid Koala is not like the others.

I mean who else gets the idea to do a scratch routine with moon river?

Who thinks (and pulls off) a show where everyone has their own turntable in the audience to interact with a performance?

He's the creator of wonderful graphic novels Nufonia Must Fall and Space Cadet

He’s opened for Radiohead

He’s worked on movies like The Great Gatsby, Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim vs the world

Creativity to the max. Joy to the max.

It really is a treat to have him on the show.

I’ve always been a big fan and Eric really couldnt be any more humble and wonderful !

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in the show the MUSIC is back !

Yes for this episode, the musical connections come from the rather brilliant mind of bossada

I got the cassette of this btw and it’s a thing of beauty.

This is great work. Let’s support the good art x

LINK LINK LINK

https://bossada.bandcamp.com/album/cantina-days

Kind show sponsorship comes from oxi instruments

makers of the excellent oxi one sequencer

Here’s a link to it

https://oxiinstruments.com/oxi-one/

if you want to buy one with a HOWA affiliate link together with perfect circuit go

here :)

there's a little video about the oxi as omnichord here 

Merriment abound ! It's that time again when sonic stockings are stuffed. This time with a fireside ramble twixt myself and the legend that is Dj Shadow as we celebrate his new LP "Action Adventure"

Welcome. 

I hope this finds you in good health and merry mood as the season sheds it's joy upon you. If joy is in short supply and the period feels claustrophobic and the family is doing your head in then I trust yule be able to duck out for a spell and use this as an escape pod.

Who am I rambling with on the sonic sleigh?

Dj Shadow really needs no Endroducing but in case you’re not hip to his MPC60 masterpiece from 1996 you MUST inhale that now.

What a record. I recall having both of my Christmas stockings blown off by this LP and it’s humbling to be sat on a zoom with the chap now. 

Such is the mystery of the digital time ghosts. 

Twas a mighty pleasure to chew the cud with such a master of the chops.

I hope this offers you some sonic solace this holiday 

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I wish to alert you to a new way to give to this show, should you find it appealing :) 

https://www.patreon.com/howa/membership

It's the new $1.50 tier on Patreon, a wonderful idea that came from Hainbach. 

A way to chip in and directly support the show as a kind of digital high five :) I really do pour my heart Into the HOWA podcast. As you can imagine, it all takes loads of effort. From finding the guests and organizing the chats, to trying to find new areas of sonic joy to explore and share in the episodes. Then there's all the time editing, uploading, promoting and all that. If you enjoy the show and feel you can spare a little over a dollar a month to help me carry on, that would be rather ace! thanks!!

_____

Sponsorship comes from Distrokid

Did you know that there's a new iOS and android app that lets you

- Upload

- Find out when money hits your bank 

- Check streaming stats and loads more

Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya!

Use this 30% off code

http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell

Quiz time. Who's recent LP did Thom Yorke executive produce? Answer: Clark. Pretty obvious from the title of the show but think about that for a minute. Thom Yorke. Bloody hell. I mean in terms of endorsements, there's few higher and there's good reason for TM to be Clarking, the C man is pumping out the goods and has been for yonks. Ack eye. We met an age ago me the C and shared a path in certain ways as label mates on warp records. I used to play shows with him and we both flocked from Brighton to Berlin and he back to Brighton in search of the muse. His work for dance, film, TV and video games is just one side of his polygon talent and we roll the dice here for a good while catching up as old pals whilst it's caught on tape. It's one of those chats that's a little more personal than some others as we haven't spoken in ages and just mostly linger on ideas like mushroom hunters. Catching sonic fungi here and there for appreciation before consuming and staggering/rambling on. Lovely to reconnect and good news his new LP is out NOW! Here's a perfect link for yahttps://throttleclark.com/album/cave-dog/

Thanks to Soundtoys for their kind sponsorship. This episode is the last in a six part dive into their excellent plugin line. This time I mangle it with alter boy :) Head over for a free trail and see if it's your thing. They craft some of the best plugins in the known universe if you ask me ! https://www.soundtoys.com

He's worked with Donny Hathaway. That's it. That's all the intro he really ought to need. I mean can you IMAGINE being in the room with Donny singing? Too much. Ah but Jimmy has worked on music from Aretha, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones not to mention his extensive collaboration with Timbaland. Yeah, Jimmy is heavy. What's more he's a very friendly and engaging chap that has a pioneering spirit and he is not overly nostalgic in that way that can hold a person back. No wonder he's been so busy and in demand for all these years. A true master. Jimmy's in the HOWA house (literally.. this was a rare face to face. So fun)

The show is kindly sponsored again by the excellent Soundtoys. 

I delve into the world of the panman to do things other than just your average spinning.

Micro nitty!

Great to chat with Brian and Josh from the band !

we talk minidisk, the joys of analog, hurdy gurdy and fish. I mean if that doesnt tickle yer fancy I dont know what to say :)

Various links feel like they cropped up in the show

--Valentin Clastrier - Master of the Gurdy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRsJw7UW98g

--TAGO MAGO by can - go and listen (you can find it with your preferred music environment )

--If you need good tinned fish in the USA go here !

https://rainbowtomatoesgarden.com

--MODBAP - OSIRIS badass oscillator 

https://www.modbap.com

--JORANALOGUE DELAY 1

https://joranalogue.com/products/delay-1

___________________________

kind sponsorship comes from the excellent SOUNDTOYS

https://www.soundtoys.com

My guest on the show is James Ford who is really one of the most badass producers in the business. 

Im talking about the kind of low key English badassness and not the Tarantino variety if you know what I mean. James is involved in so many things and yet he does it without needing a big spotlight on himself. Humble badass. That’s the one. 

He’s been active for many years. I mean we used to see each other in that classic ships in the night stylee when I was touring with Cristian Vogel back in the late nineties. We are talking about a man with Multiple decades of energy dedication and knowledge a go go!

He’s got the quadfecta mad skills as composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter which is probably one of the reasons he’s been able to be so nimble and effective working with a huge range of incredible artists from Arctic Monkeys to Depeche Mode via Foals, Gorillaz and Kylie Minogue.

You may know him as one half of Simian Mobile Disco, alongside longtime creative partner Jas Shaw or perhaps as a touring member of The Last Shadow Puppets.

The hat cupboard in the house is ample!

I was lucky enough to feature on a track with SMD a while back and got to see the studio when it was at the Premises in Hackney. 

Now he’s got a supreme attic room that is beyond decked out. We have a little tour of that for anyone who is curious about his gear choices after all this time. 

Then we get deep into the world of making, art, the hurdles, the path. The good stuff of rambling! Welcome to the mind of a sonic chef.

His first solo album “The Hum” is out now on warp records and it’s a corker!

https://www.jamesellisford.com

________________

If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

________________

Id like to thank show sponsors 

SOUNDTOYS

https://www.soundtoys.com

KORG

https://www.korg.com

STAGER MICS

http://stagermicrophones.com

_________________

NITTY!!!

Jon Hopkins pays attention. He has a ear for the smallest details and a deft touch both as a pianist and a producer. 

I feel this interview is very timely as the rise of psychedelic therapy has caught the imagination of so many.

Jon has made music that is so perfect for those wishing to go deeper with their experiences in that hugely rewarding domain. 

His is the mindset that wants to expand and to meditate instead of flex and win the popularity contests in the game of music. Very refreshing. 

We get into his beginnings in the classical world, his lack of patience with distracting factors and on to his success story and on to his musings on the current state of being a musician releasing music in this arguably confusing time.

____________

The nitty returns !

I was fortunate enough to get an early copy of Andrew Huang’s first plugin :)

It's a collaboration with Baby Audio called “Transit”

It really inspired me to get my hands dirty and to explore it’s outer ways. 

I stacked up about 30 or so instances to pull off a tonal transition that is rather epic !

I learned from an older me on this one. In EP 58 I explored a related idea in Melodyne.

Here’s that show 

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SPECIAL DEAL !!

I’m happy to be able to offer listeners to the show a 10 % discount on TRANSIT when using the code

BABYHOWA

at check out

Here’s the plugin!! Check it :)

https://babyaud.io/transit

Also..

Here’s the Ableton session called “The Bends” that I made to demo this 

(sadly I forgot it’s the 11.3.10b5 Beta version of Ableton you’ll need to run this .. oops!) 

_____________

Big ups to Catechism and REZN for their music on this show. 

It’s from an album called “Infected Ambient Works”

Here’s the link to it

https://rezzzn.bandcamp.com/album/infected-ambient-works

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A massive shout to show sponsor Soundtoys!

At the start of this episode I add the New SUPER PLATE and the classic PHASE MISTRESS plugins to a tape jam that’s fresh from my new studio and it just enters into a whole Different dimension. 

These are Shockingly good plugins! Some of the very best you can find. 

That’s why I’m so chuffed to work with these legends ! 

Check their masterful work here 

https://www.soundtoys.com

____________

If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my 

Patreon 

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

DESCRIPTION

After a hefty and well needed break I’m back

The pod returns :)

I trust y'all are hanging in.

I hope in fact you’re more than just hanging in.

I hope you are diving in and thriving and embracing the endless realm of possibility that presents itself to you.

Don’t worry, I’ll not linger on the guru talk. Just stating the obvious !

As you can see from the show title I got to finally chat with the brilliant Benn Jordan.

We met at NAMM a couple of years back (I’ve had some great hangs at NAMM I must say)

He’s a smart, witty man with endless curiosity and it’s really fun to explore all manner of mind realms with him.

We can TALK! Oh how we can talk. This conversation was at least 3 hours long and it’s been cut down a fair bit but there’s no end of tangents and insights into

The mighty Benn. I think those of you who are familiar with his excellent YouTube material will enjoy hearing an extended ramble portal into his many ways.

It’s great to be back

This show has 2 excellent sponsors

1st off I’m super happy to get to work with my pals at Soundtoys for a few shows.

They agreed to come on board and I couldn’t be happier. Just love them and their excellent plugins.

Top shelf stuff! In this episode I show off 2 of my faves, decapitator and devil lok.

They are both such wonderful tools. Potent and endlessly useful in equal measure.

Like Salt in cooking, they amp up the tasty.

Head over to Soundtoys if you know what’s good for you!

I’d also like to thank “a tasty pixel” for sponsoring the show.

They are makers of the unbelievably good LOOPY PRO.

Absolutely stunning software for anyone who really wants the last looper.

It is the most fully featured pure looper Ive ever used.

Beardyman uses it. If you were wondering if it were capable I think that’s all you need to know!

Interested in looping?

Let me save you some time.

All you need is LOOPY PRO

Click here for more info!