Frank Gustafson has recently completed his first ambient album "Just Follow the White Signs", which he is releasing on January the 14th 2012 and distributing over his website room732.com. In my interview with Frank I asked him about his music and the way in which it was recorded and mixed and how, as a musician, he has adapted the changing musical technology with the times. He began by describing to me his own personal process of making music and the concept behind "Room 732".
"Room 732 would not have been there" Frank explains "But for digital technology. 732 is the niche so to say and the Room is the intimate space, where I have made my niche. Hence Room 732. The big advantage with digital home recording is that I don't need one of the major established studios. This makes the process both cheaper and more private. The Concept of Room 732 is therefore made in an intimate space. It's also spontaneous. I don't have to pre-plan like I would if I was taking music into the studio, working from a set structure. Here I can create totally honestly and out from the subconscious"
As Frank Gustafson explained the conceptual ideas behind his music, I made mental notes of the home studio in which he worked-the musical instruments, two guitars and a bass, soundproofing material on the walls and roof, amplifiers, computer and mixing equipment. This included two analogue equalisers, one analogue compressor, an analogue microphone pre-amp and an analogue/digital audio interface, which converts analogue signals into digital for the computer, and a digital reverb processor and a digital mastering device.
"The computer" Frank tells me. "Is where everything comes together. The sound goes from analogue-for example the guitars- through the audio interface, where its signal is converted into digital information and then recorded."
This sounded like a terrifyingly difficult and technical process, especially for someone like me who had been brought up exclusively on the analogue system of amplifier valves and synthesiser buttons and switches, so I asked him to explain it further.
"When I use a sampled sound from the computer" he went on. "Then I use a program called Protools, a digital audio work station and a program called Reason. Reason is a professional tool for playing multiple samples and digital synthesiser sounds. The actual tune or melody is played on a small keyboard. "
Frank showed me the keyboard he used to make the melodies for his music. "The keyboard itself is an empty shell" he explained. "Its sole function is to send signals to the computer via a technique called MIDI. Communication from the keyboard to the computer is transported via MIDI. The MIDI triggers the various samplers and digital synthesiser programs in the computer."
Frank and I discuss how this world of sound is very different from the analogue world of musical technology which was in use twenty years ago and, through its innate imperfections, had a charm of its own. Frank agrees, "The digital sound, despite all its advantages is too perfect, too clean, so it loses its organic effect."
"The solution for this is to put the digital tracks through some sort of analogue hardware, such as the microphone pre-amp or analogue equaliser. This gives the effect of Warming-Up the Sound. And quite a lotof the music from my album "Just Follow the White Signs" has been done in this way. "
The conversion of digital sound back to analogue is now becoming quite a common practice apparently, as musicians seek a more organic feel to their music and to distance themselves from the perfect sound made by the digital recording process.
"There is even a Vintage dial on the microphone pre-amp" Frank says, pointing out the dial to me "When you put the music through this, it creates an effect similar to that made by the old amplifiers in the pre-digital days and you can dial in more or less "vintage effect"."
Frank ended our interview with a diagram of the difference between the organic analogue system of musical waves and the structure of digital audio waves which are, apparently, only a collection of multiple unbroken points. I felt oddly comforted, even smug, at the inherent aesthetic superiority of the analogue pattern over its upstart digital cousin!
The digital pattern of a collection of unbroken points is not found anywhere in nature, of course, which may be partly why musicians are switching from analogue to digital and then back to analogue again in the hope of finding that perfect balance between natural organic sound and technological expertise and perfection.
Frank's "Just Follow the White Signs" album on the Room 732 web site is one such very commendable attempt.
Robert Rintoull
Doctor of Philosophy
From Copenhagen University.
http://www.room732.com/
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