azimuth arts

adventures in Amarevois’ studio

an interview by Sean Hegarty

S: Welcome !

A : Thank you…

S: So, here we are in your home studio, this is the creative headquarters… of the Amarevois universe…this Amarevois ground zero…I guess the first thing I'd like to find out is something about the journey here… how did you get to having this studio ?

A: When I was fifteen, I used to get a little tape deck, bang out a beat with a pair of ‘somethings’ on a heavy book, and then use my other portable tape deck to play back the first one and 'overdub' the second part, whatever it was. It was slow going, and by the third or fourth pass, it sounded like a transmission from some other planet, but it helped me to remember and develop little pieces.

Then, when I was about 18, I saved some money and went to a local studio. I tried to record my stuff with a few different people, and it just didn't work out for one reason or another…we couldn't communicate satisfactorily about what I wanted or I had too much expectation as to what they were really capable of doing - and in all honesty, I think I was a bit deluded about the entire process and how it all worked…I was listening to a lot of Prince at the time, and I thought I could make my recordings sound like that !

Later, when I was 22, I bought a 4 track, but I didn't use it for about six months - I tore up the manual in frustration because it was so hard ! It was scary too, because I suddenly had a way of expressing my music at my own leisure - it was powerful and it stalled me a bit. Eventually I got the hang of being okay during that little red 'record' light ! Soon after I started working as an 'apprentice' audio engineer at a company doing live theatre and broadcast etc, so that helped my learning curve quite a lot. I suddenly had a peer group which I had never had before. We exchanged ideas and knowledge - it was a new world. After that job, I went into studio work and later into music technology retail, so I just kept buying gear and trying new production techniques, learning and experimenting as I went.

As a teenager I had some instances where it really brought home to me that I needed to gain some autonomy with regard to the recording process. I set about doing that in the best way I knew how, which was not knowing how !(laughs) - and was basically guessing until things worked and I just sort of taught myself how to do things…that sounds good…that doesn't… - and watched other people and how they did their thing and sort of gained what knowledge I could, working in the industry I picked up tips and tricks, so I was very fortunate in that way. I had some really amazing people around me that would teach me stuff….that really helped me - and it still does. I have some hardcore audio-buddies - we get on the phone and chat about processes and it's always cool….if I'm stuck, I can always ring someone and vice versa. I think the process of doing it yourself really brings about an experimentation….that I certainly didn't experience with other people in a collaborative recording environment. It just didn't happen that way. Not knowing what you're doing leads to "unorthodox measures"….shall we say! I think that chance to experiment added to my enthusiasm for the whole thing as well…

S: So, it would seem, looking around here, that you've got a fair degree of autonomy, now…how does that feel ?

A: It feels pretty good ! It's still an uphill battle trying to get the sounds that I - that I sense - that I know exist, whether I've heard them on releases that I'm listening to, or just somewhere in the nether-regions of my soul….It really is a battle ! It's not always friendly in here at all ! I get upset, I kick and scream a bit, but generally, it's quite meditative actually…yeah, it's good.

S: Ahhh, you're technical skills started around the zero mark, that's the feeling I'm getting…

A: Very much so.

S: What are they like now ?

A: Ahhhh, they're getting better all the time…The aural vision is always big, if you like, so I have to push my gear really, really hard to get anywhere close to what I'm trying to get. The autonomy has it's ups and down sides - the upside obviously is that it is a meditative process, and that I can control it, and that I can just go with it - ebb and flow and I don't have to watch the clock….or my chequebook, although… yeah, I have to watch my chequebook as well because that's part of it, is that you need a better sound, and you have to go and get that - get that better sound…! The down side of the autonomy is that you're very much on your own, so it's not like you have….like a lot of artists have 20… 30 people that will work on a record with them, doing the string arrangements, and doing the ‘this’ or the ‘that’… I just don't have that luxury so, I have to push my skills all the time….but they are getting better all the time….

S: Okay….this is a really broad question….it may so broad as to render it useless ! ….but if I can ask it anyway….so what motivates you ? What's the thing that really motivates you ?

A: Hmmmmm…. My original vision motivates me…the achievement of those goals for myself - within myself is what motivates me more than anything else…to move closer to what my vision of my life is for me, and my achievements, and being very much on my own, and…. I guess that's reflected in the studio…. So that motivates me a great deal… Finishing work ! Also motivates me… the idea of finishing work and releasing what I have inside, and making it tangible - that really motivates me…. The feeling that I get when I listen to certain artists as well, my heroes if you will - that motivates me because they've added so much colour and so much meaning to my life, that I feel that if I could just do that for someone, that…. I'd probably never know whether I do that or not, but knowing that that's a possibility definitely motivates me, because a musical landscape can be so….valuable….in your day to day…. human… struggles…and victories and all of those things… and so that motivates me a great deal. I think the longer the recording process takes, the more difficult it becomes…and this insular nature of the way I work, as I say… it's good in some ways - I think I've developed a very definitive sound….which I'm very grateful for, I think that's come from that insular approach, but also, you can easily get lost in your own little world, or "multiple selves on multiple planets" , (laughs) or whatever you want to term it….

S: So ! What instruments do you play ?

A: Aaaaahhhh….. everything but bagpipes I guess….!

S: So you can play the Banjo ?

A: Aahhh… In all honesty, I’ll probably never add Banjo to that list….

S: The Flugelhorn ?

A: Flugelhorn I have actually dabbled with the Flugelhorn…I actually prefer it to trumpet. It has a more sonorous tone….perhaps that's not the right word, but…

S: It's a good word !

A: It's mellower ! I like that…it doesn't seem to take as much effort either….it's sort of like honey….whereas trumpet is …. treacle…(laughs)

S: Yeah ! Yeah baby ! We got that down on tape !

A: Trumpet is treacle…..?!? Is that worth keeping?

S: Maybe…So - next question : What the hell does that mean ?! " trumpet is treacle…!”

A: Aaahhh….trumpet's actually …..trumpet and viola are the two most difficult instruments I've ever approached ! I've only really been 'beaten' as it were by one instrument and that was the trombone…um….actually, it appealed to me because it was… I could make it left-handed, and being a left-hander I find a lot of instruments are a bit weird - I mean I play guitar right-handed… long story there - but …trombone just didn't (affected tone) “speak to me!” (laughs)

S: And it needs to?

A: Well, it needs to…. It needs to give me some sort of feedback, yeah… I need to feel that it's voice has a place…that it warrants my effort. If it doesn't warrant my effort, then I have to question why because playing a lot of instruments… I'm not like a mad keen session player that practices eight hours a day and it's just not possible playing that many instruments to practice that much. There's just not enough hours, as well as recording and rehearsing, and writing and everything else.… a friend of mine said that they thought the reason why I could play so many instruments was simply because nobody told me I couldn't ! And I think that that's very…it's not far from the truth.

When I pick up a new instrument, I fully believe that I can make it sing, that there shouldn't be anything…the only thing that stands between me and playing it the way I hear it is time. So apart from trombone of course, which really didn't resonate with me very much, everything else I've kept up. Viola is the most recent… I've learnt most of my instruments by writing a line…..and learning that line….and then I'll record that line - with trumpet that's exactly how it happened…and with flute, and clarinet, and viola the same. Viola was a very new step for me because I actually learnt theory, a lot more theory, and learnt how to sight read, and a different clef as well and everything. It was also a bit of a weird thing…being a left-hander, I sort of started right-handed and it didn't really work. There's no such thing as a left-handed stringed instrument, I actually I think you're barred from all orchestras being a left-hander; they just won't let you in. I couldn't get anyone to teach me. It was the only instrument that I ever actually reached out for a teacher, and I couldn't get one ! They just went " nup ! " because they… I don't know, maybe they thought they couldn't apply what they knew…to a 'cack-hander' as it were….but it's perseverance once again I guess. It's definitely perseverance and when I feel I'm improving, it motivates me more, so I just…so I continue…

S: To what degree is the studio your instrument now ?

A: It is an instrument. I think production techniques definitely… I consider it as requiring as much energy and focus and practice and experimentation as an instrument, if not more so…because it's almost like being a conductor. You have this big, organic thing that is made up of lots of… you know; elements - and it's very hard to bring all those things together. Same with the studio. You might be good at one aspect - you might be good at effects, or EQ-ing, or you know, those sort of things, but you might not be good at other sorts of aspects. It's bringing all those things together… so I really haven't had the time to put as much energy into the production values as I might have liked. So, whilst it is an instrument, it's not…I don't sort of treat it that way, really. I treat it more as a place that I can discover the other instruments, really. Where…. A place that they can have meaning. I think I've always believed that 'real' music is a momentary thing, when people play together for instance…and it's here, and it's gone, and you can never capture that.

Recording is such a different thing. It is music, but….yeah, I find that it's a very different thing. It's not music in a pure sense for me - it's so contrived and it really doesn't always reflect what you've actually put in - I mean it does…. But there are so many things that you can do to mask things, and…you know, obviously….it's not always reflective of what's going on. It's easy to lose yourself in gadgets…. Building a studio and learning to become an engineer and working on other people's albums as well as my own projects…it's given me a lot of skills, but you can easily get lost in that side of things, and I know a lot people that have been trying to maintain a balance between their musicianship and their engineering skills, or production skills, and a lot of the time they 'go over to the dark side' if you will, they do - they lose it ! And it stops becoming music, and really starts becoming gadgets and gear and…and I mean I love gear ! I love what anything can do - I'll use anything that I have…. I'll use a hundred dollar pedal, or I'll use a…you know, a crap secondhand something…. The best seven dollars I ever spent was on an autoharp - it only makes one sound, but it's the scariest sound I've ever heard in my life… you know… It's easy to get lost in gear but it's not my intention, so I tend to sort of have a very… a fairly clear emotional boundary about the gear. When it starts becoming frustrating I stop… and I've got to try to bring it back to music, which is really what it is. So, I'll usually turn everything off, and just play piano, or guitar, or something…or um…. Just bring it back to music which is really important to do. It's easy to get lost… for sure…

S: Um….you strike me as the kind of person who could write films….or plays or….you could do a lot of different things…. What is it about music that is so appealing ?

A: The most appealing thing for me about music is definitely….it's lack of tangibility. It's something that isn't physical. Whilst…you know, obviously scientifically it is physical, it exists - waves exist… but it's not something…film, paintings, sculpture, writing - these are all things that you know, I'm interested in, and I dabble…. But they're all something that you have to focus on physically in a totally different way. It's a fixed thing…. You have to look at them, or you have to engage them in a very fixed way, and I just find with music, it's so fluid, and it's so hard to pin down, you can really be doing anything. You can actually add to it with your own behaviour, your own….complement to it. You bring something to it every time you … you can hear the same note a million times - the same chord, but every time you meet that chord it will feel different, and I just don't get that with other mediums… I think….that's the main thing. It can be…I think it's far more evocative because it's imageless…and being imageless, for me that just means the boundaries are….stretched. You can bring to it your own images, your own feelings, your own everything because it's very nebulous. It has a very nebulous character I think.

S: How determined a person are you ?

A: Absolutely determined. I put… everything into what I do. The reward for me is…doing it. The fact that I'm still doing it - the fact that I persevere - the fact that I have faith in what I'm doing…aahhh….out of my friends and….other creative friends and stuff, I think that I'm probably one of the last remaining er, faith - keepers. Yeah….there is no question. It's not a choice. I don't do this necessarily because I'm doing ‘this’ this year, and if it doesn't really work out I'll get a ' real ' job, it's….it's just not like that. This is what I do - this is what I will always do, whether other people recognize it or not. It's what I was born to do.

S: That's a good answer, isn't it ? Happy with that….alright… !

A: Alright !

S: Yeah….!

A: Rockin' !!!

S: I’m getting the wind up here; I'm figuring we don't have very much time left. So. Thank you….thank you very much !

A: Thanks Sean, thank you so much ! [feigns horror] Oh my God ! Don't ask me that question ! Oh my God ! He asks all the hard questions !

to read more articles about amarevois by sean hegarty
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