Emmalee Crane interview
Q: Your latest release Crown Of Reeds does a great job at combining traditional orchestral instruments such as the clarinet and oboe with electronic elements. What got you interested in trying to combine the two?
A: I think it's genetic. My mom is a music teacher (clarinet and piano mostly) and very into classical music and the symphony, so I started playing traditional instruments at a young age. I was interested in electronic circuits pretty early on too though - courtesy of my dad. Some of my earliest memories are of building various noise-making circuits like radios and pink noise generators with him. I always thought I'd end up playing woodwinds exclusively, but I got into synths fairly early on and have always liked to play both.
Q: What comes first when composing pieces like these? It seems as if no particular instrument drives the songs but instead the combination feels like a unified whole.
A: I'm an oboe player first and foremost, so if there's any kind of melody then it most likely came from me sketching something out on that - unless it's an obvious piano riff like in “Manitoba” (from my latest album). For the ones that don't have any obvious melody, I generally hear - or sometimes just feel - the finished track in my head and then try to replicate the sounds. I was still just a kid when I figured out how to loop sounds and make really rich sounding drones by recording lots of layers of woodwinds. Usually the oboe is a very loud and piercing instrument, but if you really layer lots of tracks it somehow becomes very gentle and soothing. At least it does to me!
Q: Crowd of Reeds is your third release since 2009. Has your creative process to building a song changed since your first album? If so, how?
A: I don't think my process of composing has changed at all, but the way I approach the production definitely has. For my first album, Crux, my favorite track by far is still "The Rise Of The Grasshopper" and it's the one that was the most simple and organic to produce - I had the basic structure written on the wall, then the few of us together in the room played our various parts, looped the tape and played again and again. There was lots of improvisation. With other songs on that album, and on Formantine, I painstakingly scored out most of the parts and got pretty meticulous about the production and effects. I was thinking more about the production than the song, and I don't think that works as well for me.On Crowd of Reeds, I definitely spent a huge amount of time composing and preparing, but the actual performances were very natural and flowing. There are actually far more layers of instrumentation than on the previous albums, but it comes out sounding more minimal and natural. Huge credit has to go to Miles Fender for the engineering - he's incredible. He did all of the tracking and mixing for Crowd of Reeds and it's an absolutely perfect representation of what was in my head.
Q: What types of electronics are you using on these songs? Is there any software or analog gear that was used quite frequently on the album?
A: There's a lot of hardware involved. I built a lot of my own guitar pedals, and I'm using them not just on guitars but also on woodwinds, brass, keyboards, everything. A lot of the final sound obviously comes from the mixing, and that was done on an SSL desk with lots of outboard gear. There isn't much software involved - the DAW is Logic, and there are a couple of plugins that get repeated use (Omnisphere for thickening up some of the synth sounds, and some of the UAD compressor and reverb plugins when we ran out of hardware), but mostly it comes from good old fashioned racks full of tubes and wires. There's a ton of distortion, EQ and reverb on everything. In the end it was all mixed down to 1/2" tape. If there's one particular piece of gear I will give a shout out to, it's the Culture Vulture. It's an amazing distortion box that got used on absolutely every song.
Q: What artists inspired you to try and make this kind of music?
A: I really do love classical music - my favorite composer is Debussy, but a lot of classical works have influenced me. In terms of modern artists, definitely Stars Of The Lid and Brian Eno from this genre, but also lots of the effects-soaked early 80s music like the Psychedelic Furs and Talk Talk.
Q: How do you try and re-create this type of music in a live environment?
A: I don't. I'm often being asked about it and invited to play, but I haven't been able to think of a way to do it without playing along to backing tapes. Really I'm content with playing with the orchestra or a chamber group to satisfy my live performance urges. I don't feel any need to perform my own stuff live.
Q: What are your plans for the remainder of 2013?
A: Honestly nothing much. I recently moved to a new apartment and I still need to properly unpack and settle in, so I'll be doing that for a while. I'll be going to see the family in Toronto in the summer, and then when I get back I'm probably going to start hearing songs forming in my head again. I think I still have quite a few albums worth of ideas in there!
Q: Your latest release Crown Of Reeds does a great job at combining traditional orchestral instruments such as the clarinet and oboe with electronic elements. What got you interested in trying to combine the two?
A: I think it's genetic. My mom is a music teacher (clarinet and piano mostly) and very into classical music and the symphony, so I started playing traditional instruments at a young age. I was interested in electronic circuits pretty early on too though - courtesy of my dad. Some of my earliest memories are of building various noise-making circuits like radios and pink noise generators with him. I always thought I'd end up playing woodwinds exclusively, but I got into synths fairly early on and have always liked to play both.
Q: What comes first when composing pieces like these? It seems as if no particular instrument drives the songs but instead the combination feels like a unified whole.
A: I'm an oboe player first and foremost, so if there's any kind of melody then it most likely came from me sketching something out on that - unless it's an obvious piano riff like in “Manitoba” (from my latest album). For the ones that don't have any obvious melody, I generally hear - or sometimes just feel - the finished track in my head and then try to replicate the sounds. I was still just a kid when I figured out how to loop sounds and make really rich sounding drones by recording lots of layers of woodwinds. Usually the oboe is a very loud and piercing instrument, but if you really layer lots of tracks it somehow becomes very gentle and soothing. At least it does to me!
Q: Crowd of Reeds is your third release since 2009. Has your creative process to building a song changed since your first album? If so, how?
A: I don't think my process of composing has changed at all, but the way I approach the production definitely has. For my first album, Crux, my favorite track by far is still "The Rise Of The Grasshopper" and it's the one that was the most simple and organic to produce - I had the basic structure written on the wall, then the few of us together in the room played our various parts, looped the tape and played again and again. There was lots of improvisation. With other songs on that album, and on Formantine, I painstakingly scored out most of the parts and got pretty meticulous about the production and effects. I was thinking more about the production than the song, and I don't think that works as well for me.On Crowd of Reeds, I definitely spent a huge amount of time composing and preparing, but the actual performances were very natural and flowing. There are actually far more layers of instrumentation than on the previous albums, but it comes out sounding more minimal and natural. Huge credit has to go to Miles Fender for the engineering - he's incredible. He did all of the tracking and mixing for Crowd of Reeds and it's an absolutely perfect representation of what was in my head.
Q: What types of electronics are you using on these songs? Is there any software or analog gear that was used quite frequently on the album?
A: There's a lot of hardware involved. I built a lot of my own guitar pedals, and I'm using them not just on guitars but also on woodwinds, brass, keyboards, everything. A lot of the final sound obviously comes from the mixing, and that was done on an SSL desk with lots of outboard gear. There isn't much software involved - the DAW is Logic, and there are a couple of plugins that get repeated use (Omnisphere for thickening up some of the synth sounds, and some of the UAD compressor and reverb plugins when we ran out of hardware), but mostly it comes from good old fashioned racks full of tubes and wires. There's a ton of distortion, EQ and reverb on everything. In the end it was all mixed down to 1/2" tape. If there's one particular piece of gear I will give a shout out to, it's the Culture Vulture. It's an amazing distortion box that got used on absolutely every song.
Q: What artists inspired you to try and make this kind of music?
A: I really do love classical music - my favorite composer is Debussy, but a lot of classical works have influenced me. In terms of modern artists, definitely Stars Of The Lid and Brian Eno from this genre, but also lots of the effects-soaked early 80s music like the Psychedelic Furs and Talk Talk.
Q: How do you try and re-create this type of music in a live environment?
A: I don't. I'm often being asked about it and invited to play, but I haven't been able to think of a way to do it without playing along to backing tapes. Really I'm content with playing with the orchestra or a chamber group to satisfy my live performance urges. I don't feel any need to perform my own stuff live.
Q: What are your plans for the remainder of 2013?
A: Honestly nothing much. I recently moved to a new apartment and I still need to properly unpack and settle in, so I'll be doing that for a while. I'll be going to see the family in Toronto in the summer, and then when I get back I'm probably going to start hearing songs forming in my head again. I think I still have quite a few albums worth of ideas in there!