With so much electronic music making taking place, E&MM looks with interest at musicians' home studio set-ups and invites possible contributions from readers.

I have been working in electronic music now for about three and a half years. It was while I was a student at Newcastle University that I was first introduced to a synthesiser (a VCS 3) at Spectra Arts Workshop. Since then I haven't looked back and have spent most of my spare time working on my compositions and continually improving my playing ability and repertoire of techniques. Indeed it is still a continuous source of satisfaction to discover new sounds and new techniques in electronic music. During the last two years I have been particularly busy being involved in concerts, workshops, courses and also in producing two cassette tapes of my work.

As a self taught musician working within electronic music under a limited budget I am well aware of the problems people face when trying to play and record their own material on fairly modest resources. However, there are ways of getting around such problems and of producing good quality recordings despite limited facilities. My basic strategy is to get several different sounds out of each instrument and to record several instruments simultaneously onto each track. Thus, I have found it possible to record quite complex pieces of music onto a single 4-track recorder and mix directly to stereo.

I usually start with the rhythm track by programming drum patterns into a Boss Dr-Rhythm drum machine which gives the main percussion sounds as well as acting as the master clock. This drum machine has programmable and semi quaver trigger outputs which can be used simultaneously, to say, step a sequencer with the former and trigger a sound effect via the latter. Thus, a rhythm track could consist of:

a) Programmed drum sounds, these could be direct from the machine with only equalisation added or they could be flanged, giving a metallic sound, or ring-modulated against a high frequency sine wave giving wood-block type sounds etc., or perhaps a mixture of several sounds.

b) A sequence bass line, I use a Roland CSQ-100 which can store two sequences of 84 notes each — I often add echo to a sequence so that the repeats either fall on the beat or between the beats to give a syncopated effect. The sequence could also be used to 'chop up' the basic chords of the piece played on a string-synth. This can be achieved by putting the string sound through the external input of the synth being controlled by the sequencer and setting a short percussive envelope.

c) A sound effect triggered by the DBS output of the Dr-Rhythm, or perhaps a manually triggered sound.

These three elements can be mixed onto, say, two channels of a four-track recorder, two tracks being used to enable a stereo image to be preserved.

Next I would record the main chord work of the piece which usually consists of a string, brass, or organ sound. Again, one can get more out of a basic string-synth sound than is at first evident. For example, one could split the string sound into three using a splitter:

a) Straight sound, volume in mix controlled by a volume pedal.
b) Phased or flanged strings.
c) Treat the strings through the filter of a monophonic synth.

For example, use the envelope voltage to control the filter frequency and if the resonance (Q) of the filter is high, then every time the synth is manually triggered the timbre of the strings will be swept from bright to soft. Indeed, one could mix in at this point, for example, a bass line on the mono-synth.

These sounds could then be mixed onto the third track of the tape leaving the fourth track for a lead line on the mono-synth.

Now for the final mix. The two tracks containing the rhythm need only be played back as they have already been mixed to stereo. However, various echo, chorus or reverb treatments could be applied to the chords and lead line to give them more depth and they can be positioned in the stereo field. Thus, although only a four track tape has been used, if enough care has been taken, the finished stereo mix will be of such a quality as to sound as though it has been made on a much larger recorder.

The above procedure is very similar to the way in which the excerpt from 'Four Views', included in the E&MM Demonstration Cassette No. 5, was recorded.

Compositionally my pieces gel together via two separate approaches, producing a style particularly evident on my two cassettes, 'Images' and 'Elements of Chance'. Firstly the basic chords and melodies are composed on a string-synth. However, as the piece develops, new themes appear by improvising around the original themes. Secondly, the textures and timbres usually come about by experimentation and often new textures can affect the way a theme is played, or indeed, suggest new melodies. This rather 'organic' approach is often apparent in the fluid nature of my pieces, sustained textures often dominate and sudden changes are kept to a minimum, with slower, more gradual transitions being preferred.