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We had a chance to talk with indie rock group WHY? about their new studio and the importance of staying positive during creative collaboration. Comments are always welcome.
SeagateCreative: You guys are getting ready to work on a new record, so what’s your process in the studio?
WHY?: We are trying to do this one in sort of the “live” way. That means all of us being there, or as many of us is possible, and playing through stuff until it feels right. From there, we’ll set up mics, and record it – either on tape or sometimes into the computer. We can worry about overdubs and edits later.
I think this will yield good results where it will feel energetic and have the right kind attention based solely on the fact that it is people playing together in real time.
SeagateCreative: Tell us about your new studio. What prompted you to build it and what was the process like?
WHY?: We decided we wanted to work at home on the next album and get back to that exploratory process that enables meandering in development over time as opposed to the quick work required to keep studio costs down. We built it over the summer of 2013. It was really just a matter of building a room out in the basement of Josiah’s house. We built walls and a ceiling and a floor, and then put up a bunch of sound deadener baffle things.
SeagateCreative: How has your choice of gear evolved over the years?
WHY?: We have always been open to using whatever we have around. Right now we happen to have a few really nice studio pieces from one of our band mates who bought a bunch of stuff several years ago. That’s been really nice. But, we’ve always been able to make do with whatever we have. Gear can make a big difference, but at the end of the day, a good song is a good song.
SeagateCreative: What piece of gear is your favorite for sparking creativity?
WHY?: We’ve actually been digging on this old quarter inch a track. It’s a Tascam 388. It sounds pretty cool, and it enables you to record without feeling like you have one million options since it’s tape. You have what you have on there and then later you can put it into the computer and add to it and edit it. But I think it’s important for the way that we are recording this stuff to first have something down that feels good just as it is.
SeagateCreative: Let’s talk about collaboration – what do you look for when picking a producer, engineer or co-songwriter, etc.?
WHY?: We are in the process of trying to be more collaborative as a unit. In the past we’ve tended to do a lot of things separately. This one will not be that way so, it is important that we communicate well, and that we give each other’s ideas a chance. Also, to stay positive. I think that’s the most important thing when working with other people, is to stay positive and focus on the good stuff.
SeagateCreative: How do you use hard drives in your creative work?
WHY?: Hard drives of course are where everything is housed. So it is important to have a reliable fast and large capacity hard drive. You don’t ever want to have the fear that you might lose everything, or that the data will somehow be corrupted. This is a vital element in the process for sure.
Be sure to follow WHY? on these online channels.
Official Site
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
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