Kevin Rix is perhaps best known for his work in Hollywood as composer at Paul Dinletir‘s Audiomachine production company, where he has been responsible for the trailer music for films such as Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon and many more.
A relatively recent convert to the form after coming from a rock background and the brief but epic sound of cinematic trailers, Kevin has released five solo albums of modular synth music to date. As part of the ongoing collaboration with Philippe Petit‘s Modulisme sessions. Freq caught up with him about how he became entangled into the world of Buchla synths and beyond.
When did you first become aware of modular synthesis as a particular way of making music, whether as part of electronic music in general or more specifically as its own particular format, and what did you think of it at the time?
What was your first module or system?
Make Noise.
How long did it take for you to become accustomed to patching your own synthesizer together out of its component parts?
Do you prefer single-maker systems (for example, Buchla, Make Noise, Erica Synths, Roland, etc) or making your own modular synthesizer out of individual components form whatever manufacturer that match your needs.
I prefer single-maker systems and particularly love Buchla.
East Coast, West Coast or No-Coast (as Make Noise put it)? Or is it all irrelevant to how you approach synthesis?
Do you tend to use pure modular systems, or do you bring in outside effect and devices when playing or recording?
Do you find that you record straight with no overdubbing, or do you end up multi-tracking and editing tracks in post-production?
When I started, I tried to do as much live recording as possible, but would sometimes end up editing and adding a few overdubs. Uncivilized and Possible Responses were done that way. When I bought the Skylab, I wanted to explore continuous unedited takes. I would patch, rehearse once or twice, then hit record. That ended up being Lalikins Books 1 and 2. Most of those tracks were recorded to an unedited stereo file in Cubase, then sent directly to a mastering engineer. Now I do everything in one continuous improvised take.
I think Buchla was designed to explore the unexpected, so it feels wrong for me to patch, rehearse, record, edit and mix. I spend every day of my life composing on the DAW for my work. That process is very tedious until the very end when it all comes together, and I don’t have the energy or desire to duplicate that process with my modular experience. That being said, my composing process has recently been “do whatever the fuck sounds good”, so I’m trying not to have any particular dogma and aiming to stay open to all processes.
Do you pre-patch your system when playing live, or do you tend to improvise on the spot?
I have no interest in performing live in front of people. I do post my Buchla performances to YouTube for anyone who is interested, but that’s about as far as it goes. Happily, the market is already flooded with many talented modular artists, so there are plenty of options for people who want to watch live performances.
Which module could you not do without, or which module do you you use the most in every patch?
The 259e. I love the entire system.
What do you think that can only be achieved by modular synthesis that other forms of electronic music cannot or makes harder to do?
Have you used various forms of software modular (eg Reaktor Blocks, Softube Modular, VCVRack) or digital hardware with modular software editors (eg Nord Modular, Axoloti, Organelle), and if so what do you think of them?
I’ve used Reaktor extensively throughout my career. My favorite software synth is Zebra 2.8. I can bring out a little Buchla flavour with that since they introduced the wavefolder.
What module or system you wish you had?
I’m looking forward to getting some of those Verbos-cloned Buchla modules. I’m a huge fan of his Eurorack system and would like to have some of those modules in the Buchla format.
Have you ever built a DIY module, or would you consider doing so?
No and no.
Which modular artist has influenced you the most in your own music?
Can you hear the sound of individual modules when listening to music since you’ve been part of the modular world — how has it affected (or not) the way that you listen to music?
Sadly, yes. I kinda wrestle with the idea of overanalysing music. I try to listen to music emotionally and not technically. For instance, my favorite rock band is Tool. When they released their first record in thirteen years, I made sure that each listening session was in a controlled environment with zero distractions. I wanted to fully experience that album as many times as I could as a fan of their art. It was amazing! An incredible journey listening to the entire album as a whole. Then one day in the studio when practising my guitar, I randomly started playing one of the riffs and thought, “fuck!!!”. I was bummed because I knew at that moment I was leaving the wonderment phase and entering the analysis phase of enjoying that album. Now it’s a conscious effort to forget the notes they’re playing and listen to it emotionally. I struggle with the same thing when listening to modular work.
What have you been working on lately, and do you have any upcoming releases or performances?
Philippe asked me to contribute, so I went down to the studio, put on a timer, hit record, and started patching and performing. At the time, I had just started my journey into the “patch from scratch” method of recording and thought it could fit well into Philippe’s wonderfully-curated world of Modulisme, rather than a fully produced, edited, overdubbed and mixed piece. I was a little nervous when I submitted the track as I’ve never done anything like that before, but he ended up liking it and encouraged me to keep recording that way.
Who would your dream collaborator be for a Modulisme session or otherwise?
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- Audiomachine‘s website
- Kevin Rix’s YouTube channel
- Bandcamp
- Modulisme.
