From Alex Ball. A look at how Daniel Miller (aka ‘The Normal’) used his first synth, a second-hand miniKORG 700S, to create the cult song Warm Leatherette in his bedroom. The song was the B-side to T.V.O.D and was the first ever release on Mute Records. 0:00 Intro 0:26 The Story of The Normal 2:18…

From Alex Ball. 101 + 102 + 303 + 808

From Alex Ball. A look at the Eventide Clockworks Instant Flanger from 1975, specifically in relation to how it was employed by Tony Visconti to create the unusual piano sound on Ashes to Ashes. 0:00 Intro 0:36 What is flanging? 2:18 BBDs and The Instant Flanger 3:56 How it works 6:38 Sound Medley 8:55 Recreating…

From Alex Ball. I wanted to make some videos about recording to tape and the first port-of-call is multitrack cassette recording. I found a (kind-of-working) Sansui WS-X1 and it seemed an interesting option for the video as there’s not a lot of videos about it. Cassette recording was the only option available to me when…

From Alex Ball. In 2023, Anthony Marinelli aquired a 1969 Moog IIIc modular synthesizer that has a very interesting history. In this video, we tell that story for the first time. Huge thanks to Anthony and team for collaborating with me to make this film and thanks also to my Patrons on Patreon. Please look…

From Alex Ball. A look at the reissue of the mysterious Korg PS-3300, first released in 1977, along with some history about it and footage of its creator, Fumio Mieda. Huge thanks to Korg for letting me snaffle their prototype to make this video and for letting use some of their interview footage. NOTE –…

From Alex Ball.

From Alex Ball. A LOT of people have asked me to do this tutorial, so hopefully it’s useful! 0:00 Intro 0:23 The Human Voice 2:42 The best way to do it 7:41 An alternative way to do it 9:42 Another alternative way to do it 10:48 VSTs 11:49 Outro Jam

From Alex Ball. Whilst the E-mu SP machines are most famous for their use in Hip-hop, they were used by numerous artists in different genres and in different ways. To that end, I thought it would be interesting look at why and how it was used on Joe Satriani’s 1987 album "Surfing with the alien".…

From Alex Ball. Roland MC-8 driving the 100m. TR-808 on drums.

From Alex Ball. A look at a wonderful vintage synth, the Korg Trident Mk I from 1980. 0:00 The Intro 1:45 The Synthesizer 3:29 The Brass 5:37 The Strings 8:27 The Flanger 9:16 The Trident 10:55 The Rear Panel Experiments 15:48 The Legacy 17:33 The Outro Jam Huge thanks to my Patrons for their support.…

From Alex Ball. A happy ending to the Juno kicking incident.

From Alex Ball. A lot of people have asked for a thorough studio tour and so I finally did one! There’s a LOT of info in this, so use the chapters to skip to the bits that are relevant to you. 0:00 Studio Tour Song 1:41 Computer / Cubase / Kontakt 6:03 Midi Inputs and…

From Alex Ball. I thought it would be interesting to work out a few Louis Cole chord progressions and learn a little about how he makes his awesome music. 0:00 Intro 0:56 F It Up 4:23 Thinking 7:40 Let it happen 11:30 I’m Tight 14:45 Outro Thank you to my Patrons who help me to…

From Alex Ball. Like most people, I’ve always wanted to own an original Roland TR-808 but it’s always been the wrong price or the wrong time or both. Earlier this year my time finally came. I wanted to make a video showing why it’s still a very relevant and useful instrument in a modern studio…

From Alex Ball. A look at some of the equipment used by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori to score Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2001. Huge thank you to Neo Te Aika, Frostbyte, Booey, Noelle, Yewlyn, Python Blue, Jafet Meza, RenSFX, meowsandstuff, Fleetwire, AtlyxMusic, PunkGalFuryn and anyone else at Project Odyssey for their incredible work…

From Alex Ball. A look at the revolutionary Roland MC-8 from 1977 which was one of the earliest microprocessor-controlled digital sequencers. Around 200 of these units were made and they were extremely expensive. As I’ve covered the history of this unit several times, I thought it would be interesting to follow in the footsteps of…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Polymoog and how Gary Numan adopted one of the presets from one of the versions to help define his sound. 0:00 Intro 0:41 What is the Polymoog? 8:00 Vox Humana and Gary Numan 13:35 Cars Cover The sample Instrument https://bobmoogfoundation.myshopify.com/products/alex-balls-polymoog-soundbank-digital-download

From Alex Ball. How to do the Dalek voice with a ring modulator. Enjoy!

From Alex Ball. A look at how the Korg MS-20 and SQ-10 sequencer were an intergral part of the sound of a group of German musicians in the late 70s and early 80s. 0:00 Intro 1:09 Der Mussolini – DAF 5:02 Los Niños Del Parque – Liaisons Dangereuses 8:10 Minimal Tape 3/7.2 – Pyrolator 10:48…