Clint is the mastermind behind Synnack, an experimental electronic band that is breaking new grounds in synth programming, and innovative sound scape development. Clint also runs Max for Live, a site dedicated to Ableton Live’s Max/MSP programming environment. Clint’s musical history is quite long and varied, and it was a pleasure to catch up with him and ask him some questions.
i3: I am sure every interviewer asks this of you, but please tell us what drove you to begin creating electronic music, give us a little history about your involvement in creative musical projects.
CS: This could take a while. I’ve been playing music pretty much since the 4th grade when I found an old trumpet my dad had in the attic and took it down to my room. It wasn’t until i started playing guitar at age 11 that I began writing my own music though. The music I am most known for is cut.rate.box (www.cutratebox.com). It was at that time I started releasing electronic music on labels around the globe, touring, and doing many remixes for some pretty popular artists in that scene at the time. Since then I’ve oscillated between extremes in electronic music. I formed Mono Chrome with Victoria Lloyd of Claire Voyant to explore melodic pop structures, and have been releasing my experimental work as synnack. (www.synnack.com)
In terms of what drove me to electronic music specifically, I suppose it was the idea that you didn’t have to deal with other people. You could do an entire band on your own. This of course has pros and cons and collaboration is extremely rewarding, but once you’ve had to carry guitar amps and drum kits around for years the idea of electronic music gets pretty appealing.
I’ve always been somewhat of a technology hacker. I used to take radios and VCRs apart and stuff as a kid and try to figure out how they work. My family had a computer early on and I was always fascinated with technology. When other kids were playing video games, I was trying to create custom menus in autoexec.bat… Electronic music just seemed like a natural fit for my technology slant, and love of music.
I would also say though that part of what interests me in music is the notion of innovation. At least for me, traditional instrumentation represents little in the way of innovation and electronic music opens doors to create things still not heard before.
i3: You have been in many projects and played out a lot as a result. When preparing performances, how have you streamlined your setup? Can you tell us a little about what works and what doesn’t?
CS: Absolutely. In fact I’ve learned so much over the years, particularly how and what to do with laptops in a live setting I created a blog series with recommendations. I would recommend your readers check them out starting with http://www.synnack.com/blog/post/13/laptop-live-performance-tips-part-1 For synnack, the audio setup for a live performance is down to a Mac Book Pro, MOTU Ultralite, APC 40, and an Akai LPK25. We do an awful lot of video work for performances though where we are now using TouchOSC on iPads to control a second Mac Book Pro running a custom patch we develop in Max/MSP/Jitter. We’re using Max for Live now to analyze the audio to render real time video effects on the second machine that are never the same twice. For the more technical readers you can real all about this here http://www.synnack.com/blog/post/25/0xf8-phase-2 As far as what works I think the goal is to try a balance between minimum points of failure and having enough options to keep yourself, and the audience, interested.
i3: You are the founder of Force of Nature Records, can you tell us how you started with that and what prompted you to start your own label?
CS: Actually I’m not the founder. FoN was started by Peter Lee. I never had an intention of starting my own label. Given the amount of people who actually buy music these days, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I took over FoN out of necessity as Peter was pulling out of it just as I was about to put out 2 synnack release with him. Most of the recent work on the label has been to raise money for charity. On FoN we have something called the “Natural Disaster Series” which is a series of releases themed after particular natural disasters. Lately we’ve been doing a whole series on the tsunami that hit Japan earlier this year and donating all profits to charity. You can read more about these here: http://www.forceofnature.cc/disaster/
i3: It is fantastic that you are donating the proceeds from the Tsunami series to aid Japan, can you give our readers more information about that? How has the success of the “Natural Disaster Series” been with FON?
CS: Sure. Through my employer I am able to get whatever I personally donate doubled leveraging a specific arrangement they have with a charity. So all revenue from the SENDAI Japan series is going straight there as a personal donation from me. It’s a really good leverage of your money as a customer. You get a new release sure, but, in effect, how much you pay for the release is actually doubled when the donation is made.
Success is a relative concept I suppose. Given that most people do not pay for music it seems in the traditional ways, as a charity it isn’t as effective as other fund raising things. However even if I only sell 100 “copies” of these, they are digital release with no overhead at $5 a piece. So that’s 1000 dollars right there going somewhere that wouldn’t have gotten there otherwise. So I think that’s pretty successful.
i3: You run maxforlive.com can you tell us what that is about, and how you got involved with Ableton?
CS: If I think about the top 10 developments in music software, Max for Live would have to be in there. M4L represents an integration between Cycling74 and Ableton that allows you to essentially write your own plugins (i.e. Live Devices) for Ableton Live. Now, there are a lot of plugins out there already sure, but what’s unique is that Ableton has exposed an API which allows Max to control fundamental aspects of the host environment in the plugin. Want a plugin that ramps the tempo up and down of your DAW based on whatever your web cam is looking at? Want to control the cutoff of a filter using your Nintendo Wii controller and flail your arms around in physical space to compose? Almost anything you can think of can be implemented.
Not everyone has the interest in developing their own devices. So maxforlive.com is a sharing platform I built that allows people to share what they create, so that other users can take advantage of all this power without having to learn and code them themselves. At the time of this interview there are ~700 free devices up there and over 12,000 users.
Come to think of it, I think it was you who is to blame for all this. Didn’t you get me started with Ableton Live in the first place? :p
i3: Yes I believe it was me that was the little devil on your shoulder telling you about Ableton Live, do you regret it?
CS: Never looked back. It took me a while to get it, as you likely remember. I was trying to use it as I would have used Cubase. Once I realized that it’s not about drawing stuff anymore, it’s about PERFORMING stuff, my whole world changed. No regrets and I owe you one big time.
i3: Can you give us your top 5 instruments, virtual, iOS, anything goes? In Ableton, what are you top 5 favorite devices, stock or M4L?
CS: synnack tends to be made entirely with the built in devices in Ableton Live, plus analog modular synths I build. I’ve been getting into modulars for the past year or so. My stuff is still primarily laptop but I’m using the modular more and more. You can read all about how I combine modular analog gear with virtual on my blog here: http://www.synnack.com/blog/post/20/making-of-synnack-v2.5 Within Ableton Live, my favorite device by far is Operator. I use it to make my own drum sounds but also I abuse the hell out it to make some really weird things. It’s very CPU friendly and sort of a swiss army knife for me.
I own the NI Komplete suite as well and have started playing with Absynth lately but I’ve found over the years that it’s way better to get to know a small set of instruments really well, than know a large set of them only a little.
Though mostly for fun, on iOS i’m a big fan of the Korg iMS-20. That thing is amazing.
i3: Having played internationally can you tell us about the differences in your setup when you are touring via flying vs driving, locally vs abroad?
CS: Honestly now that I think about it the setup is pretty much the same. For local shows we tend to use our own projectors and video screens and stands and things. But in terms of the actual gear it’s the same. With synnack I like to continually change the show. I very often have different friends sitting in with me with some amount of controlled chaos. I have some friends with pretty amazing modular synth setups and for local shows I often have that going on as well. I pipe what they do into a track in Ableton that has a series of time synced clip envelopes. That way I can fire them in time with what I’m doing and it in effect passes through what they are doing (which i don’t know in advance) in time with the songs. It’s pretty fun but it’s not something I get to do often when traveling international as it’s just to impractical to fly a bunch of modulars around.
i3: Do you have any tips for starting musicians that would like to put together an interesting live show with video and audio?
CS: Yep. I would advise people not to get caught up in the wiz bang video effect’s side of things. VJ looking stuff looks increasingly generic. Anyone can get a VJ app and load up the default clips or put wacky effects on things. Sure this would give you SOME level of visual interest in your performance but people are used to that stuff. Now that a basic laptop is capable of processing video in real time, it’s no longer really about Video FX. It’s about the content. I would recommend people focus more on what the video is OF than what it looks like. At the end of the day that’s what people will remember you for and stay interested in as you play.
Our live video stuff is often like a film festival. People stick around to watch the whole set because they have this “i wonder what will happen next” or “what the hell is that about?” feeling when they start watching. That’s way more interesting than some fancy effect plugin.
i3: I understand you played live with Haujobb, are you still doing that? How was it?
CS: I’ve performed with a bunch of Daniel’s bands. Haujobb, Architect, HMB, Destroid. hell I don’t even remember anymore. I’m a big haujobb fan so it’s always a big thrill to perform with Haujobb. Daniel and I never really plan for things, they just happen. We do not practice and he never asks me what I will play on stage. I’ve done it so many times with him he trusts that whatever happens it will work. Will I play with them again? Very likely. When? Whenever I can. :p
i3: Is there any new music that you are currently working on? Can you give us any details?
CS: I’ve been working on another release for the “Natural Disaster Series” I spoke about called “Katrina”. Katrina will be an experimental styled release themed after the events in New Orleans when the storm hit. I was born and raised there and I would love to raise some money to help folks still effected by that disaster. I have tons of video recordings my dad took during and after the storm that i’ve ripped the audio from that i’m manipulating to make the release from. Should be pretty interesting and another good cause.
i3: Do you have any tips for others thinking about starting or running a label?
CS: Yes, DON’T DO IT. Because electronic distribution is so easy, everyone is doing it. Every artist seems to start their own label. I think there are too many labels at this point. I would rather see a small number of labels that are very active than hundreds of labels with little potential. I think we should rally around those labels already doing it right rather than fragment a scene even further.
Learn more about Clint Sand’s projects:
