RECORDING November 2024 - 28

Compositional Worlds
of
The
Michael Whalen
around with it, and one of my colleagues
said, " You know, there's a weekend course
in Logic; you should go do it. "
So, I signed up for it and was the only
person in the class. It was me and an instructor
for three days. It's the best money I
have ever spent in my life. I learned Logic
inside and out. I have stuck with it through
all the changes and haven't looked back.
What do you use for your
audio interface?
I use an SSL 12 USB audio interface. It
works great and is really transparent.
So, obviously, you are a synth
freak of the highest order-I've
seen the pictures. [Both Laugh]
I will totally own that, but right now, I
am at the end of a large, shall we say deescalation.
At one point a few months ago,
I had 22 Synthesizers, and now I have six.
Woah! Michael, are you ok?
[Laughs] Believe it or not, for most of the
stuff that I'm currently working on, I'm using
plugins. I am a big Cherry Audio guy. As
you know, I have heard and played the
originals, and I think that they do fantastic
stuff. It sounds great-really well done.
Are you a tweak-a-preset guy,
or do you roll your own?
I spend a lot of time in pre-production
before I start an album, and 90% of
that time is spent making sounds. I make
sounds with the idea of, " What is the
world, the environment, the universe that
I'm creating in this album? "
If you listen to an album like Imaginary
Trains or Sacred Spaces-two big electronic
records-I started with hundreds and
hundreds of new original sounds before I sat
down and even wrote a note of music. I'm
kind of a lunatic pre-preparation person.
You are like an artist, choosing your colors and laying out
your brushes before a drop of paint hits the canvas.
I think a lot of that has to do with my advertising background because, in that world,
you can't work fast and efficiently and not be organized. So when I do my records, I
bring a little bit of that sensibility because when it's time to play and record, I don't want
to be sitting there going, " Well, if I just tweak this a little more... " In that case, I could be
tweaking that sound for the next six months.
So, what about your hardware synths? Do you
still get excited about new technology?
It would be really hard for another new hardware synthesizer to come into this room
right now. It would have to be like the " second coming... " because I've already owned
and played so many.
I've had all of the famous analog synths and samplers, a Schmidt, and a Waldorf
Wave, which might be the best digital synthesizer I've ever owned.
It's a plugin now.
I know; they did a nice job with that plugin. I'm a Yamaha artist, a Casio artist, and a
Cherry Audio artist. I got a Yamaha Montage M8x, and I have to say that it's one of Yamaha's
best synthesizers they have ever made. Period. End of story. The analog modeling stuff
in it is " redonculous, " and the DX implementation is stellar. I'm saying this as a guy who is a
DX-Jedi. I still have my vintage Yamaha DX 1.
I have a reissue Minimoog Model D from 2022. I think it's the best Minimoog Moog has ever
made. I also have a Sequential Prophet-5 reissue and the Waldorf Quantum MK2, which is a
phenomenal synthesizer. Then I have the Korg KingKORG NEO, which I like the vocoder on.
The bottom line is that I've got plugins that can cover so much ground that if you're
hardware in this room, you've earned your spot here.
What do you monitor on?
I have Dynaudio Core 7 monitors. I love these monitors. I'm about to sound like an old
guy, so please forgive me, but I don't listen very loudly. All I want from a monitor is for it
to be clean and neutral and not be " barking " at me, and the Core 7 just sounds great.
Do you have any mics or do any acoustic recording at your studio?
I have a Neumann U87 and a Neumann TLM-103 that I will use for an occasional
overdub. Since I started as a drummer, I have had a Yamaha Electric kit. Then I have a
bunch of acoustic percussion, which all showed up on Watercolor Sky. So that's about as
far as I go with acoustic recording at home.
Do you have any final thoughts?
Over the years, I've been a player, a synthesist, a sound designer, an audio engineer
and a producer, but at the end of the day, I'm a composer. I am listening as a composer.
I'm mixing as a composer. When I go into the studio and work with other people I work
with, I'm a composer.
No matter whom I am working with, whether it's a client or somebody I'm collaborating
with, I'm always thinking about how we can improve the thing we're creating.
Michael, this has been great!
Thank you, Paul, much appreciated.
If you enjoyed this interview with Michael, there is more! Join us starting November 1 at the
RECORDING Magazine Forum hosted by the Music Player Network, where Michael will be a
guest moderator answering your questions for the month. We hope to see you there.
forums.musicplayer.com/forum/51-recording-magazine-the-forum
For more on Michael Whalen and his music, check out:
Website: michaelwhalen.com
Link to " Watercolor Sky " Album: tr.ee/Uo4Kd3fxpm
Making of " Watercolor Sky " Video: youtu.be/l8-ykwnjmHQ
28 RECORDING November 2024

http://forums.musicplayer.com/forum/51-recording-magazine-the-forum http://michaelwhalen.com http://tr.ee/Uo4Kd3fxpm http://youtu.be/l8-ykwnjmHQ

RECORDING November 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of RECORDING November 2024