The case for one drum machine
Owning four drum machines made the tracks worse. Here is what happened when the studio went down to one.
For about three years the studio had four drum machines within arm's reach. The tracks from that period are the weakest thing on the discography, and it took an insurance claim to work out why.
Choice as procrastination
With four boxes, the answer to a kick that is not working is always another box. With one, the answer has to be a decision: tune it, shorten it, move it, or accept it. Every one of those makes the track better. Swapping machines makes the track different.
The one that stayed
A TR-909 with a broken hi-hat decay pot that only travels half its range. That fault is now on every record since 2024, and two labels have asked what the plugin is.
- Kick: tuned to the root, always.
- Clap: one, never layered.
- Hats: the broken pot decides.
The other three machines are in storage. They are not coming back.