Ociya aka Tin Man & Patricia: Studio Talk

On August 19, 2020 by hyponik in Features, Interviews, Tech

A look into the beloved machine-world of the Ociya duo Tin Man & Patricia.

We know both sides well. Over a prolific run of records for Acid Test and his own Global A, Auvinen has expounded upon the promise of “Nonneo” (recently named one of Resident Advisor’s 2010-19: Tracks Of The Decade), unearthing new, emotional vistas from the Roland TB-303. Ravitz, meanwhile, matches Tin Man in studio ethic, establishing himself as one of North America’s hardware masters on records for Ghostly and Opal Tapes.

Their debut album “Powers Of Ten” was recorded live to 2 track in Patricia’s studio in New York, no edits and is out May 29th 2020.

PATRICIA

1. Elektron Digitone

I can’t express how much I’ve been loving the Elektron Digitone lately. I’ve always thought FM synthesis sounds really beautiful but can be very tedious to program. The Digitone really streamlines the FM programming process, making it much quicker to design patches, and the sequencer is as deep and capable as you’d expect from Elektron.

2. Lexicon PCM 60

This is my go-to studio reverb. I’ve used it on every record I’ve ever made. It’s super simple, sounds excellent, and sits so nicely in a mix. Johannes and I used the Lexicon PCM 60 and 70 on our Ociya material. The PCM 70 is also wonderful sounding, and a bit more sought after, but I still prefer the 60 for its simplicity. It’s hard to beat the sound of vintage Lexicon gear!

3. Pearl Syncussion SY-1 Clone

The first time I got to play with an original Pearl Syncussion, I immediately fell in love. My friend Cloudface, who is an amazing musician from Vancouver, had two of them in his studio, and they sounded so unique and cool. (Cloudface also runs a cool gear shop in Vancouver called Nightlife Electronics, check it out!). Anyways, this is a modern clone of the Syncussion that I built for myself. The case and PCB’s came from a guy called The Human Comparator, who is known for cloning the Arp 2600. It’s very accurate, reproduces some of the design quirks of the original, and sounds pretty identical to the old Syncussions. It took some time to source all the parts and build, but it was totally worth it!

4. Roland Space Echo

I’m a total vintage Roland freak! I’m never not looking for good deals on old Roland gear secondhand. They were responsible for soooo many innovations in music technology, and equipment they made decades ago still sounds fully relevant in modern music. There are entire genres built around the sound of Roland instruments, and honestly, this whole list could have been strictly Roland gear, but I decided to diversify a bit. The Space Echo is a particularly unique Roland tape-based delay effect. They’re not the only company to have made tape echos, but they made the best ones in my opinion. I don’t own the RE-201, which is the quintessential Space Echo, but I have an RE-150, and RE-501, which both sound amazing.

5. Empirical Labs Distressor

I use compression in my music all the time, and my favorite hardware compressor is the Empirical Labs Distressor. It’s designed by a guy named Dave Derr who used to work at Eventide. He helped design the Eventide H3000 which is a legendary old outboard multi-effect unit, and another personal favorite. Empirical Labs is his company, and they make a bunch of really nice pro-audio gear. The Distressor is probably the most famous thing the make, and it’s for good reason. They are total Swiss Army knife compressors and can imitate a bunch of different compression styles. They can also achieve subtle distortion and saturation that sounds really good on drum machines.

TIN MAN

1. 90s Mackie Mixers

I like the sound of very colourful Mackie mixers from the 90s. You can also get some nice clipping and saturation from these. I also like the features of analog mixers for effects routing, sub mixes, and inserts processing.

2. Chorus Pedals – Pearl CE-22 and Ibanez SC10

Chorus pedals all have their own colour. I like them for colour, but also often use them on synths, ie SH-101, that only have a mono output to create a stereo image (as they did back in the late 70s and early 80s)

3. Vestax PMC 37 PRO

This is a DJ mixer, but I’m using it as a filter bank to process synths. It is possible to route one signal to all the faders. Then you can filter each fader and mix the “filtered bands”. I think this is a pretty clever invention and it’s my fake Polymoog Moog Resonator section.

4. Yamaha TX81Z with Stereoping controller

This is a pretty cute preset FM synth, but with the controller, it’s a beast. It becomes very quick to fix the envelopes to the song and easy to adapt classic FM sounds to fit into a mix.

5. Roland TR-808

I do like to think of the 808 as an instrument in its own right which can be used in many contexts. I like to use lots of processing on individual outs. That type of processing depends on the music I’m making but it can be heavy.