Erasure • Features • Private Ear
Castle Clarke
Vince is looking a bit anxious. "Um, the studio isn't that big, you know. You might have to leave some of your gear in the corridor."
We glance at each other, admit he has a point - and then all bundle into the studio anyway. You see, it's all terribly exciting.
Four of us have flown to The Netherlands to spend a couple of days in one of pop's most closely-guarded secrets - the studio where Erasure wrote all of Chorus; where Vince spent lonely weeks programming their songs for the 'Phantasmagorical Entertainment' tour; and where they are just about to begin work on the new album.
Two of our party, Matthew and Lee, are there to work with Vince on his new sample CD, 'Lucky Bastard'; I'm there with a photographer friend because Vince has kindly agreed to let us examine his fantastic collection of analogue synthesizers: the ones that actually produce that Erasure 'sound'.
I'm the first - and probably last - journalist ever to step inside this secret chamber, and I'm loving every minute of it.
Erasure's studio is basically a long, thin room, tastefully decorated in pastel shades and lined with an incredible number of knobs. Big knobs, little knobs, knobs that light up, knobs to be twiddled... all of them control one of the largest private collections of classic synths in the world.
It's clear that Vince, a complete sci-fi nut, loves his noise machines - he has a habit of stroking them fondly and telling you interesting little snippets about their histories. So I set my tape machine rolling, and let him take us on a guided tour of his pride and joy.
"I've been here for about two years now - my business partner and I decided to build this place while I was writing the demos for 'Wild!' in his studio. I had most of the gear already, from my studio in the UK, and we just moved it over."
"I quite like the building, although it doesn't make a lot of difference to me, really. The best thing is having the gear all set up in one place. It's the first time I've been able to do that... usually all the synths were scattered across various studios in London."
"You see, all of these beasts are cross-patchable - you can connect them all together to create different sounds. You need to be able to do that in the studio without having massive cords running from your Moog to your Oberheim Xpander."
"So the secret is having a good patch system - not as in patching to the mixing desk, but in patching CV and Gate. Because we don't use MIDI at all, you have to run three or four cables between each synth module - CV, Gate, Filter, Amplitude or whatever - and you've got to have a really unique system to do that."
For those not in the know, CV and Gate technology was really MIDI's predecessor; it's simply a way of connecting synths together in order to tell them what note to play (CV) and when to play it (Gate).
Nearly all contemporary studios use MIDI, simply because current technology makes it more accessible: you'll see an Atari ST computer sequencer system in nearly every synth bands' rig.
But Vince bases his system on synths that were around long before MIDI was invented, using an early analogue CV and Gate sequencer to control them. But why?
"Because CV and Gate is tighter. I can hear and feel that it's tighter than MIDI - we can even prove it using 'scopes. Because everything is clocked simply, it arrives bang on the beat. The whole production starts to 'tick over'. Just look at Kraftwerk's stuff. I think that 'feel' has been lost with MIDI sequencers. No matter what you do with MIDI, the music will never sound as good as it did in the good or Futurist days. That's why our tracks sound the way they do."
He's right, you know. The beat on Chorus feels totally different from that on Wild!, when Vince was still toying with MIDI. By flying in the face of fashion Erasure have succeeded in creating a sound that is all their own. But where do all those songs come from in the first place?
"Andy and I get together with a guitar and a tape recorder, i'll strum some chords, he'll sing a melody and we work in little sections, four or eight bars long. Then we'll try stringing the sections together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. I find it very hard to relate songwriting to synthesizers, actually - we write songs in a very traditional way. The electronic side of things is just to create the atmosphere. It's mostly just messing about..!"
"Once we've worked out a song, I start programming up the arrangement on the BBC UMI sequencer, which lets me run 16 synths simultaneously. That way you get a better idea if parts are working together or not. Then we start refining the individual sounds. And finally the whole lot is transferred to my Roland MC4, piece by piece, so it's being run in CV and Gate. Once we've got that, it's a case of Andy sketching out vocal ideas - in the studio we use two 48 track digital tape machines, which gives Dinger 24 tracks just for his voice!"
Vince's analogue retreat, although technically impressive, acts only as Erasure's writing centre - as soon as they want to do any recording, they move to a commercial studio to take advantage of the professional mixing facilities there.
"We usually record onto analogue tape and then transfer over to digital. It may sound strange, but it gives us the best of both worlds; when you're constantly shuttling the tape back and forth you don't want the signal to degrade, and digital lets us do that."
I'm really getting into my chat with Vince - but the tour is just beginning. What we've really come to see, and what you are all probably dying to know about, is those keyboards. Well, they're everywhere in this studio, neatly arranged in racks along the walls. So I invite Vince to take my tape machine and introduce US to them all individually - and you can see the result in the next issue. [reproduced below]
Although Vince claims he's constantly on the look out for more golden oldies, I remarked that it's difficult to see where he'll put them. And that's when he showed me the basement. Below the actual studio is yet another cavern of delights; all the products that mark Erasure's history are stored down here. The synth listing on the back of Pop! doesn't even begin to scratch the surface, let me tell you. But unfortunately this treasure trove was too diverse even for me to take in... so at least some of Erasure's synth secrets will remain untold forever, though if I'm in the neighbourhood again, I might drop by for another peek...
Any final thoughts? Well, I was struck about how spotlessly clean, tidy and, er, hygienic, Erasure's studio is. No mouldy coffee cups, no overflowing ashtrays, no dubious odours: completely unlike all the other studios I work in.
Mind you, I suppose Vince was on his best behaviour. And although the studio is more compact than you might expect for a million-selling pop act, it's definitely bulging with character. In fact, it has to be said - Erasure's studio might be small, but it's perfectly formed.
Ian Masterson guides you through every noise-maker in Castle Clarke... (apart from Andy, that is).
1. Moog Minimoog
Classic analogue synth; creates killer bass sounds.
2. Oberheim XPander
A CV/Gate synth 'module' used extensively on the last tour. Has an internally 'cross-patchable' design.
3. Roland SH09
One of Roland's early, and less popular, synths - not so good for basses, but has a really tight envelope.
4. Roland Jupiter 8
This was used on the tour because it's programmable and 'remembers' all the sounds set up - but Vince admits it's difficult to get into.
5. Oberhelm ObleRack
A cute little synth module and one of Vince's faves.
6. Roland Super Jupiter MKS-80
Basically a rack-mounting version of the Jupiter 8... which is why Vince doesn't like it as much!
7. RSF Kobol
Another gorgeous creation - and one which has stuck by Vince for over ten years. Has a very strange onboard sequencer.
8. PPG Waveterm 2.2
"A complete mystery to me" says Vince. It's hardly the most user-friendly synth in the world.
9. Roland Juno 60
An all-time great from Roland, with a gritty chorus effect
10. Sequential Circuits Pro One
One of Vince's longest companions; twelve years of classic Clarke poured from this synth.
11. Moog Source
Bit of an oddball, this one - not half as easy to use as its cousins...
12. E-mu Modular
Now this is pure gold dust; find one of these in good nick and you're a rich man. Vince keeps the woodwork lovely with a bit of Mr Sheen.
13. Modular Moog
Remember 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'? This was the synth used to talk to the aliens. So who does Vince talk to with it?
14. ARP 2500
Yet another rarity. Has an unusual patching system, using sliders instead of leads, and generates some serious noise.
15. Roland System 100
Probably the most-used synth in Erasure's studio. 'Plenty of bollocks' Vince informed me. Too true.
16. ARP 2600
What people usually mean when they talk about analogue synths. Daniel Miller (Mute Records boss) had one of these when Vince first met him. And the rest, as they say, is history.
17. Polyfusion Modular
A seriously heavy-duty modular synth. Offers three unusual noise sources - white, pink and infra-red. Pure Star Trek.
18. Roland System 700
The System 100's big brother.
19. Serge.
Vince likes posing with this one in photographs. Possibly the wierdest looking - and sounding - synth ever made. Still in production, believe it or not.
20. Synthi VCS3
A wicked little briefcase-sized synth with a lot of personality. Vince's was bought from a college.
21. Roland SH1
Basically an early version of the SHO9.
22. Syrinx
Seriously bright blue front panel, plenty of knobs... why else would Vince have one?
23. Korg MS2O
Yet another classic.
24. ARP Sequencer
Not a synth, but the brain that controls them all. Has plenty of special ingredients that give that Erasure sound soul.