TIMBER TIMBRE

The pandemic standstill and lockdowns also gave De Laet the time and space to finally create his own purpose-built studio, and move out of the make-shift home studio that he’d been working in at his Brussels apartment. The result was his spectacular Treehouse Studio, built by the Belgian company AMPTEC, which opened in March 2021. Despite its name, it is not actually built in a tree. 

“I’ve always dreamt of having my own studio,” explains De Laet. “First of all to have good and reliable sound, and also to be able to work without disturbing my neighbours, because I live in the city. The new studio is built in an old, typical Brussels town house, in the centre of the city. There’s a small garden, and a terrace, and the studio is in an outhouse at the back, with sunlight coming in, which is nice.” 

De Laet and his team have created an Instagram page dedicated to the studio, @treehousestudio.bxl, on which one can admire photos of some of the building work and also of the gear in the studio, including the massive, 49-inch LG Ultrawide screen, some outboard, and an abundance of monitors, keyboards, and acoustic screens.

BOX ’N’ DICE

The presence of all this hardware is quite unusual in a time when in-the-box-setups with just a computer, I/O, and monitors have become the norm. De Laet started out like this, as he explains: “I got into music by playing piano, but I also listened to a lot of electronic music. When I got my first laptop, I started producing music in Reason, and from there I went to Logic. I still use Logic today. I guess I am a self-taught home producer, used to working in the box.

“My first monitors were the KRK Rokit 5, and from there I bought a microphone and then got Yamaha HS7 monitors, which I really like, and which give me a different sound. I then bought a Moog, but I had no idea how to use it. I read the manual, and found that super-fun and interesting. I now have four or five Moog synths, and read all the manuals, and I now work on them in a super-instinctive way.” 

De Laet has over the years acquired more and more hardware, and one of his aims in building Treehouse Studios is to create a setup that is tailor-made for them. “I wanted to be able to just plug and play and be able to use everything super-easily. I did not want to constantly remove cables, move things around, plug things in and out, and so on. So now in the studio, everything is connected via MIDI and audio. I can record all the audio straight into my computer. I can also do sound design, record it, and everything goes super quickly. Using hardware in my studio is almost as easy as using a plugin.”

HARDWARE EASY

According to De Laet, the hardware in his studio has changed his working methods quite dramatically. “When the pandemic hit, I had much more time and also in my previous studio I started connecting all my hardware and used it a lot more. It’s a completely different approach. I really like the fact that you have to commit to what you record. When you create a distinct sound, it is less easy to recreate, which makes it more unique.

“I also like to be able to play keyboards and use my hands when programming synths. Sometimes I simply hit the Record button, and I will have a super long loop, and I will record myself playing for like 10 minutes. After that I will select what I like and create something different from it. This never happens when I use only software. It is a completely different approach.

“Of course, it’s easy to recreate the same sounds with plug-ins. With plug-ins you can also constantly redo things, constantly adapt, and so on. When you use the hardware, because it takes more effort and more time, you think twice before you decide whether you use a sound or not. And if you don’t use it, you might use it for something else. Using hardware can also be a pain, because everything takes more time, but I get more out of it. It is super fun.

“If I don’t have the time to use hardware, I will just open some plug-ins. The thing is, I know what I want, and with plug-ins I can get it done in a few seconds, when I am doing remixes or last minute treatments of things, or the label wants last-minute changes, I do it with the plug-ins. But when I have the time and I like to be creative and inspired, I’ll be using the hardware.” 

MOOG NO. 1 

According to De Laet, the Moog One is his favourite synthesizer. “It is my baby. I can do everything with it. It’s polyphonic with 16 voices, and I like the small screen in the middle, which gives a nice visual aid. It’s very intuitive to use, and easy to understand what you are doing when you turn buttons and link stuff. Another favourite Moog is the Sub 37. I’m also fond of the Arturia MatrixBrute, most of all, its distortion knob, it gives me a really different sound. Another favourite is my Sequential Prophet X.”

Other keyboards at Treehouse include a Moog Grandmother, a Roland Jupiter-X, and Moog Sub Phatty. The studio surely will see more, as De Laet explains, “I’m buying tons of stuff at the moment! More hardware is coming in. I put a picture on Instagram recently of my Finegear The Dust Collector unit, which contains two VC LFOs, two tape saturations, a spring reverb, a delay and a phaser. I can mess with the knobs when I send audio through it. The weirder things get, the more interested I am in buying them, because it means I need to get out of my comfort zone when using these things.” 

Treehouse also has two racks of outboard, on either side of the central position behind De Laet’s desk. The rack on the right contains a Heritage Audio DMA73 mic pre, a UAD-2 Live Rack, and an Antelope Audio Orion 32+ GEN3 converter. However, it seems that De Laet’s real attention goes to two main units of outboard on his left… 

“I love my Wes Audio Next Generation Bus Compressor, which adds really nice harmonic distortion. When I put a Moog One sound through it, it adds really nice, midrange body. But of course, if you later want to recreate that sound, it’s harder to do. I sometimes use the API 2500+ compressor on the stereo output for premastering for radio mixes, but when I do club mixes I’ll send them through the Wes Audio, which gives a more aggressive sound.”

TREEHOUSE: BRANCH OFFICE

Concluding his tour of Treehouse, De Laet explains, “I have the Yamaha HS7 monitors here, Kii Three, and Neumann KH310A monitors, with a sub. I use the Neumann’s almost constantly. I only skip to the other monitors when I’m not sure about how something translates. They’re really nice speakers, and with the sub they are great for just vibing. I use the Heritage Audio R.A.M. System 5000 as my monitor controller.

“Oh, and I also have a Neumann U67 mic, which I don’t use as much as I would like, because I now work mostly with famous singers, and they usually like to record in their own studios with their own engineer. By the way, I also still have a basic home studio at my apartment, because all the gear and all the options I have at Treehouse can make it more complicated to create. I can sometimes get overly focused on details — if I need to keep it simple, I go back home.

“At home I have just my first KRK speakers, my laptop, UA Apollo X4 soundcard, and a Roland JU-06A and TB-03. Having just this gear creates limitations and forces me to be creative with what I have. So when I’m stuck, I sometimes go there. I’ll try to get a first idea, and once I have that, I’ll go back to my main studio and go crazy with sound design and things like that. On all my computers I have all my favourite plugins, by FabFilter and SoundToys, Valhalla, and so on.”

MIXING FREQUENCIES

Once De Laet finishes a track, he sends it out to mixer Andres Algaba. “He has mixed all my tracks since ‘Reality’ in 2015. Sometimes he does not change a lot, and he’s more concerned with consistency between all the tracks on an album, so they are the same in terms of volume, dynamics, where the bass and the vocals sit, and so on. Also, when I do a DJ set, everything has to sound like a whole. You can’t have one track with super loud vocals and other with super loud bass He takes care of that, and also makes the stems, so I don’t have to do all that.” 

Early June, Lost Frequencies released another single, ‘Questions’ (with James Arthur), and De Laet reveals that he’s “working on an album at the moment. I’m also preparing for the live shows for the summer. I have a drummer, Thibault on guitar, there’s a singer, and I play keyboards. We use Ableton for the live shows. I really like the Ableton interface, but it’s easier for me to create in Logic, so we translate everything that I have in Logic to Ableton for the live shows.

“I’ll be using a Roland Ax Edge keytar, a DJ TechTools Midi Fighter, a Roland Pro 61-key MIDI controller, and also the Sub 37. On the last tour I had the Prophet, but it would detune if it got hot. The drummer has a completely digital kit, which looks analogue, but allows him to use all samples of my tracks. The guitarist also plays a MIDI keyboard. We resample everything so we can get things to sound as close as possible to the original versions.

“It’s a lot of work, but performing live as an electronic act gives me a lot of credibility, as opposed to just doing DJ sets. I also learn a lot in terms of interacting with the crowd. It’s going to be fun. In December we go to Asia, and in January I’m on holiday!”

Clearly, De Laet’s has returned to his pre-pandemic globetrotting days. But his Treehouse Studios is sure to lure him back to Brussels more often than before.

Review: Christopher Holder

GETTING AROUND

The extra real estate afforded by the 49-note keyboard form factor means the layout of this Iridium is more relaxed than the module. You have the three oscillator controls on the left, the generous touchscreen display in the middle (with attendant pots), and the filter and envelopes on the right.

It’s logically laid out. The controls feel great. The touchscreen isn’t overly relied on. Mostly there’s a pot to make an adjustment. That said the screen fills the breach when you need to interact with it — like drawing in a modulation curve, for example. Often my (albeit pincer-like piano-player’s) fingers can find it hard to interact with certain synth touchscreens, but I found the Iridium’s accessible and responsive.

Patches load up almost instantly, except Particle patches which rely on larger samples. You can switch smoothly from one patch to the next without cutting off the previous sound (essential for performing). Speaking of which, there’s a Performance mode that gives you access to your gig’s patches, along with a Kaoss pad-style mod canvass you can mess with, the arp/sequencer section, and more. It’s a good feature.

The synth-action Fatar key bed itself is primo. It responds to poly touch and is beautiful to play. It’s a little too sensitive to aftertouch for my taste. I find myself accidentally setting it off when I start to dig in. Perhaps there’s a setting to adjust sensitivity buried deep in a menu somewhere.

SONIC SMORGASBORD

This is a review of the Iridium Keyboard and not the original Iridium (released in 2020). Chances are, if you’re reading this review you’ll already have read Iridium reviews and heard what it sounds like. 

Personally, I’d not spent any worthwhile time with Iridium at all until I started messing with the keyboard version. So I’ll give you my impressions.

First up, it’s just so much more versatile than other desirable 16-voice polys, because of the five different voice modes.

The sounds are neatly categorised and explorable. Which is just as well as there’s a wealth of preset options and even more space for your own creations.

There’s often a grace and refinement about the Iridium sounds. I rarely feel like Iridium will growl, snarl and take my head off. Which gives you a sense of what the smooth digital filters are like. There’s character, for sure, and complexity, but a level of cool restraint as well.

The sonic depth is often evident. Yes, it can emulate a MiniMoog bass sound but that’s not where Iridium’s sweet spot lies, I suspect. 

All that said, you can’t typecast Iridium because you could just as easily spend a day only exploring its wavetable sounds, it FM synth-like sounds of the Kernel voices, the bells and percussion of the Resonator… you get my point.

My personal favourite are some of the pads which I got lost in for hours. Some have rhythmic qualities that are fun to sync to tempo, without sounding like a wave sequence.

Given Iridium’s depth, programming it is a real joy. This is a credit to Waldorf’s user interface.

CONCLUSION

There’s a lingering suspicion of an all-digital polysynth — a ‘VSTi with knobs on’, as I’ve heard it said. Well, I challenge you to find a PC+controller experience that even remotely approaches what Iridium can do. Long after your licenses have timed out or been updated out of existence, the Iridium will load up just as quickly as it does today and reliably provide you with the same array of tones and textures (not withstanding future Waldorf updates you can opt into).

‘What about resale value, though? Surely the analogue engine of a Moog will maintain its value more than the Waldorf?’ If collectability is a concern then that’s a whole other Pandora’s box of worms. But again, I challenge you: open your eyes and take a look at the Iridium. It’s stunning — a beautiful piece of industrial design. It will remain a desirable piece of kit for a very long time. What happens in 20, 30 or 40 years is entirely in the lap of the synth gods, and I wouldn’t be basing my superannuation fund around synth investments!

Oh, and don’t forget the luxurious Waldorf Quantum, which combines an analogue filter section with its three digital oscillators. To strangle my metaphor, I guess the Quantum is more like a Ferrari hybrid. And who wouldn’t want one of those?

This simple rear layout allows you to get the speakers up and working quickly without consulting the menu, and that’s good, but it’s not until you do explore the menu that you realise the full extent of the processing available backstage. After the gain settings the next menu item is Ducking by Soundcraft and it’s the first credited contribution from a sister company. It takes a minute to set up but it seems effective at turning the music down when the DJ speaks, with the ability to choose which mic channel is the sensor, the sensitivity of that channel, and how much the music is turned down. The corporate contributions continue with dbx DriveRack Output up next, and here you get dbx Automatic Feedback Suppression, EQ presets and a (2dB) bass boost. The EQ presets provide options based on different styles of music and environments, and might be useful for music playback applications. I found Flat works best for live music.

The Pass Thru & Time Align section is uncredited but powerful. Both the speaker itself and the Pass Thru outputs can be delayed up to 100ms — handy for turning them into instant delay speakers but there’s other situations with speakers close to each other where a tweak in time can improve phase relationships. Variable settings for ‘HPF on this speaker’ and a ‘LPF on the Pass Thru output’ create a useful crossover function when you’re using subs, and settings can be saved as a preset. The OLED screen is clear but under-utilised, in my opinion — the home screen is a bit empty and while simple level indicators on the channels show signal/clip, and there’s an overall Limit light, more detailed level metering would be useful and show off the new colours.

TURNED ON

In use, you can just turn the speaker on and it works, the voicing is smooth and friendly, more of a big hi-fi sound than a mid-forward monitor. The low frequency -3dB point is at 65Hz (-10dB@50Hz) and while they’re not super deep they’re full around 100Hz without being tubby around 160–200Hz and they like dance music. At high levels, the bass starts to squash up but they hold their sound and a pair could be used for smaller DJ/playback applications without a separate sub.

The midrange the response is within a few dB of flat with a slight scoop around 800Hz–1kHz. The high frequency response is slightly subdued around 3–4kHz before opening up to a shiny high end that extends to 20kHz (-3dB). This voicing avoids harshness at higher levels for music playback and also helps with their high resistance to feedback in foldback situations. The off-axis response contributes as well, it’s a guess trying to gauge the exact contribution of the slotted baffle but combined with the new 100° horn on the HF driver, the mid-range dispersion is wide and even across the front of the speaker.

SHOW TIME

The first time I used the EON 712s live was as a pair of floor monitors for singer Danielle Caruana from Mama Kin Spender. The band’s mixer Stephen Russell took control of them with his iPad and quickly had them up to a formidably strong and stable level for the vocal with plenty of her stomp box as well. The 100°(H) x 60°(V) horn is not rotatable but the 60 degree vertical dispersion angle is wide enough to provide good coverage with the speaker in its wedge position.

The next night saw a seated audience for Gabriella Cohen and band. With seats all the way to the front I needed a pair of in-fill speakers. The EON 712s were discreet and covered the first few rows easily, I used a little delay to feel how the fills worked with the main PA, because I could.

The most common use for this type of speaker is as FOH for small to medium shows/DJs but they need to be versatile. I’ve been doing a series of Sunday afternoon shows on a small outdoor stage in the middle of Maldon, in country Victoria. Over the weeks, depending on the weather, the act and my mood, the EON 712s have been used as FOH, delays and foldback. As FOH speakers for the smallest acts they have an easy-listening sound; they don’t throw as far as the modern array designs but they covered a couple of hundred audience easily. I’m sure they’re the lightest 12-inch loudspeakers I’ve ever put up on stands — not quite a one-handed lift but close (old school roadies could have done it with one hand and a beer in the other).

For the medium shows I enjoyed using the EON 712s as wedges and Melbourne folkie Sadie Mustoe was very happy with them when her turn came. Powered boxes on their sides give varied results but these are coherent with high resistance to feedback, I didn’t once think about or need the dbx AFS, nor did they need any EQ. I tried the Monitor preset and noted that I’d probably use it on a loud stage to reduce coupling and mud but outdoors with nice acoustic sounds, the Flat EQ was great.

Rich Davies & the Low Road was our biggest band, a rollicking folk act with lots of instruments and a lagerphone banging on the stage — he had them dancing in the street. I put up a EON 712 as a delay speaker at the last minute. Using an analogue mixing console, being able to set the delay time from the speaker was not only handy but the reason I was able to use it at all. It tricked me the next show, though, at sound check I had the band ask the unusual question: is there a delay on the monitors? There was, 48ms.

BLUETOOTH 

I’d like to think the sound quality was the main criteria for judging or choosing a speaker but the first thing I’m usually asked if I mention a new speaker is ‘has it got Bluetooth?’ and, yes, the EON 700 Series does, Bluetooth 5.0 in fact, and despite my reservations about the fidelity of compressed files being Bluetoothed, this sounds pretty good in an EDM kinda way.

The tech keeps coming with the JBL Pro Connect mobile app, designed to control a wide range of JBL models from different series with a smartphone or tablet. When paired, BT Control gives access to level and some more precise EQ than the presets provide. The app itself wasn’t fully resolved in time for my review (on my GalaxyA21 anyway) but I’ve been assured that the bugs have been or are being ironed out.

Also available is the EON 710 and EON 715, with smaller and larger LF drivers respectively, and the EON 718s powered sub-woofer to complete the range. Overall these are very good speakers and offer great value for DJs and bands. The DSP is the key to the speaker’s performance, including a few ‘surprise and delight’ features from sister companies. There are speakers with more power, bigger voice coils and multi-amps but they cost twice as much. There’s a world of cheaper speakers out there but I wouldn’t bother, the EON Series is entry-level professional gear with the sound and build quality to always work and last the distance. The EON712 is the latest version of a classic speaker and it comes with the lot.

PRICE TAG?

AV: Did you draft up a business case for investing in warehouse sustainability?

Max: If you go into a venture like this looking for a business case for sustainability investments, then you’re really going about it the wrong way. Not to say there isn’t a business case, but for us that’s a happy spinoff, not the main game.

I’d suggest that if you can afford to make those investments then you absolutely should.

Only then, after you make the investments, do you fully realise just what a virtuous circle you’ve created. You begin to create efficiencies and savings in ways that are, at times, impossible to predict.

For example, our eight-tonne electric truck is, on paper, a ridiculous investment [there’s not much change out of A$300,000 — Ed.]! If it was left to the accountants they’d suggest it’ll take way too long to see any savings from using electricity rather than diesel. But every time it hits the road it will serve as a powerful reminder to people that TAG is serious about the environment and will encourage others to get serious.

Tony: Our investment in the eight-tonne truck was two steps above where we we could have bought in, but the extra investment made sense to us. Same goes for every piece of machinery we buy — each is more than fit for purpose and each has a narrow but very important role, like eliminating bubble wrap from our operations.

GLOBAL TIMES

AV: It’s great to invest in sustainability with all the right motivations but how likely is it that some of what you’re going here will be mandated sometime soon anyway?

Tony: If not by the government, then probably by your investors or suppliers. It’s true that many of the bigger companies we represent are now asking us what we are doing for the environment and it’s good to be able to demonstrate just how serious we are — we are not just ticking the boxes.

AV: It must be personally rewarding to now see the warehouse in action?

Tony: The generation coming through is very concerned about the environment and they’ll be the ones to take what we’ve done here and make it even better. And it’s personally rewarding to know we’ve given them the tools and hardware to really get started.

TAG: YOU’RE IT

AV: For years now you’ve been running social programs and going out to remote communities with your equipment. You’re now calling those programs ‘Nakama Arts’ and you’ve got Chris Hamer-Smith managing that program. It’s all getting pretty serious, isn’t it?

Max: For years we’ve done things under the radar but we’ve learnt now to talk about what we do, not to get a pat on the back but to inspire others to do their own thing. We want to influence others for good.

The same applies to what we’ve done with the warehouse. There’s nothing we’ve done that’s not reproducible in thousands of other warehouses. We don’t set ourselves up to be world leaders, or say this warehouse is some kind of beacon to the industry — we’re just doing the best we can and hope it inspires others.

AV: As a competitor can I give you a buzz and talk some more about what you’re doing?

Max: Sure, drop by and charge your EV! We might be competing for market share but sustainability is something we can all agree on. You might have insights into ways we can improve what we’re doing and I know we’d be happy to share our knowledge.

The first piece of advice we’d offer is: just get started.

TAG: tag.com.au or (02) 9519 0900