When you think Grammy Award Nominated Artist – you think big high end music studios with a $100k+ SSL 32-channel console, vocal booths kitted out with a $10k Sony C-800G mic, and a wide range of preamps.
Refreshing then to see the home studio apartment of RAC (André Allen Anjos) – a Portland based record producer who received a 2016 GRAMMY nominee for his remix of “Say My Name“, by Odesza ft. Zyra. Yes, the studio is stacked with Modular Synth goodness but this studio is not some out-of-this-world inaccessible studio (Well a GRAMMY would help!). You can see RAC’s studio as a reflection of his music – thoughtful, cohesive, and most definitely creative.
RAC’s Music Studio (+ Cats)
Click on the highlighted music studio gear in the pictures below to learn more about what the gear is and what it does. If a piece of gear is not highlighted – it’s more than likely to be in the studio gear list below.
Note: Some of the links below link to music stores and marketplaces and as a result Spectralplex may receive a commission if you purchase gear via the links (Reverb, eBay, Amazon).
Teenage Engineering OP-1
Now a modern day cult classic piece of studio gear - the Teenage Engineering OP-1 - is a synthesizer, sampler and sequencer designed and manufactured by the Stockholm-based company Teenage Engineering.
Universal Audio Apollo Twin
The Universal Audio Apollo Twin is a professional desktop recording interface for Mac and Windows. It's an incredibly clean sounding device, and with the ability to run UA powered plug-Ins in realtime (reducing processing overhead on your main machine) this is an incredible pro interface to add to your sonic lab.
Universal Audio Apollo x16 Thunderbolt Audio Interface (x2)
The Apollo 16 Thunderbolt Audio Interface offers Universal Audio's flagship A/D and D/A conversion with absolute crystal clear preamps and zero latency monitoring (perfect for recording bands in real-time). The UA Apollo 16 also boasts a Quad UAD DSP inside the 1U rack - enabling you to run all the UA plugins you could ever need. In the video tour of RAC's studio he shares a few of his favourite plugins - Studer A800, EMT 140, and the Lexicon 224 (full list below).
The Korg MS 10
Dancefloor destruction tool - The KORG MS 10 is capable of insanely punchy bass sounds and the low pass filter (IC35) is sublime sounding. As used by The Chemical Brothers, Junkie XL, and Legowelt.
The Roland Juno-60 Synthesizer
The Roland Juno-60 is an iconic sounding synthesizer made in the 80s. It has 6-voice polyphony and the same filter chip as the Jupiter 8 (the IR3109 filter). Truly beautiful sounding machine - capable of sublime pads!
Fender Princeton Reverb Amp
The Fender '65 Princeton Reverb Guitar Combo Amp is crystal clear and super expressive.
Wurlitzer Electric Piano
The Wurlitzer electronic piano, commonly called the Wurly, is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s.
VOX AC4 Guitar Amp
Don't let the size of the The VOX AC4 put you off - this little guitar amp is capable of a huge sound. Get classic Vox tones out of this Celestion 10" speaker.
Arturia BeatStep Pro
Driving the Modular - Arturia's BeatStep Pro a unique performance sequencer and composing tool.
Mutable Instruments Braids
Mutable Instruments Braids Macro Oscillator is a voltage-controlled monophonic digital sound source. Insanely versatile module that has 6 synthesis models, from classic analog waveforms (CS-80 imperfect saw, _ variable waveshape, sine/triangle into wavefolder) to noise (tuned noise 2-pole filter, droplets granular synthesis).
Korg Monologue Monophonic Analog Synth
The Korg Monologue Analog Synth is a slimmed down version of the Korg Minilogue - with one-voice polyphony (monophonic), an onboard 16-step note sequencer, and a four part motion sequencer. The presets, sounds and scale were designed by the legendary Aphex Twin.
RAC’s Modular Setup
| Eurorack Modular | Module Name |
|---|---|
| Clock Generator | 4ms Company RCD Breakout |
| Clock Modulator | |
| Clock Modulator | |
| Clock Modulator | 4ms Company Shuffling Clock Multiplier (SCM) |
| Drums | Tiptop Audio BD808 |
| Drums | |
| Drums | |
| Drums | |
| Drums | |
| Effects | Doepfer A-199 Eurorack Spring Reverb |
| Effects | Malgorithm mark II |
| Effects | Make Noise Echophon |
| Effects | |
| Effects | Pittsburgh Modular Analog Delay |
| Effects | Make Noise Maths |
| Effects | Livewire Vulcan Modulator |
| Effects | Synthrotek EKO |
| Effects | Synthrotek Atari Punk Console (APC) |
| Envelope Generator | |
| Filter | |
| Filter | |
| Filter | Yamaha CS80 Filter (DIY) |
| Filter | |
| Filter | Pittsburgh Modular Filter |
| Filter | |
| Oscillator | Mutable Instruments Braids |
| Oscillator | |
| Oscillator | |
| Oscillator | Malekko/Richter Oscillator II |
| Oscillator | Richter Anti-Oscillator |
| Oscillator | Pulp Logic Monotron-E (Korg Monotron Classic synth) |
| Sequencer | Intellijet μStep (x2) |
| Utilities | Intellijel Dual ADSR (x2) |
| Utilities | Doepfer A-140 ADSR Envelope Generator |
| Utilities | Doepfer A-131 Eurorack VCA |
RAC’s Studio Gear List
Look out for RAC’s 3rd studio album forthcoming in 2020. André recently stated that the album will be a huge departure from previous work. Like his ever changing and evolving studio setup – his music is always refreshing and moving.
“One of the most important things, I think is, the ability to know how to use your gear properly, because, if you understand what you’re doing, you can do anything with just one synth”
RAC on Gear
Dive Deeper
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