Studio & DJ

My Gear: Gurpaal – Expressive Electronica

Gurpaal is the musical project and creative outlet of Brisbane-based producer, Gurpaal Bains, who draws influence from the darker, more melodic and emotional sides of electronica.

His sonic world unites the two extremes of human experience and explores the beauty, madness, and sadness of the ethereal space in which they collide. It draws inspiration from the collective euphoria, escapism, and release experienced on the dance floor as well as more intimate and personal moments of introspection and reflection. He also heads up the Little Street Studio in Brisbane an electronic-music focussed recording facility that provides a unique and modern studio offering tailored to music producers and artists wanting to further their creative vision in a forward-thinking and intuitive environment.

How would you describe your sound and how has it evolved?

I feel my sound is essentially just an extension of myself as a person and the emotions and moods that I feel, combined with the music and influences I’ve been exposed to over many years of listening to and collecting music. I would describe it as something along the lines of emotionally and melodically driven electronica, taking influence from house, techno, indie dance and breakbeat. I always strive for it to be euphoric and emotive, whether that be uplifting, a little darker and more melancholic, or a beautiful combination of both. Someone described it as madness mixed with some sadness and I felt that summed it up quite nicely.

I’m still in the early days of releasing music, my debut EP only came out in June last year. Before I put any music out though, I spent a good 3-4 years just writing quite freely, almost ignoring outside influences or references until I felt I found a sound and direction I really resonated and connected with.

This period of curiosity and experimentation really helped me to figure out the direction for my own project and sound, and allowed me to find out what I cared the most about musically. I still love making time to have these stints of pure experimentation in the studio and try to schedule them in for at least a couple of months each year. Having just finished my second EP, I’m very excited to dive into another period of free writing and see where my sound might gravitate to or how it may evolve for these next bodies of work.

What pieces of gear are essential to your sound, do you gravitate towards particular bits of gear for long periods of time?

I’m mainly a synthesiser guy, there’s something really special to me about the richness of a nice analog synth and the joy of dialling in and recording these instruments. The Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 6 was one of the first synths I purchased and really the one that made me fall in love with hardware synths. It’s still my go-to for a lot of sounds, and there are a couple of patches I’ve made on it that definitely contribute to a lot of what you hear on EP 1 and what you will hear on EP 2. Recently I got my hands on the lovely new Oberheim OB-X8, which I was immediately drawn to while demoing it. It’s been a joy using it over the past week and I can definitely see it featuring a fair bit on future productions.

I gravitate towards particular pieces of gear. Over the years I’ve bought, sold and traded many pieces, working out whether they’re for me and the direction my sound is going or if the particular instrument is worth moving on to someone else to free up room (and funds) and try something else. There’s such a great community of electronic musicians in Australia who trade so much gear, it’s always nice knowing a bit of kit will always go to a good home even if it wasn’t necessarily the right piece for you. Big shoutout to all the lovely people in Music Gear Nuts and Aussie Wigglers!

How does your live setup differ from what you use in the studio?

I’ve been working on a live set-up for shows later this year. I’m planning to run stems out of Ableton Live into a Playdifferently Model 1 mixer. The six channels, ultra-clean signal path, overdrive on each channel and effect sends make the Model 1 a really attractive choice as the mixer to bring everything together. Stems would be controlled with an APC40 or similar and I would use the Prophet 6 live as nearly every track I’ve made has at least 1 or 2 elements that come from the synth.

Do you hoard gear, is there an emotional connection to some instruments/music technology?

If this was a yes or no answer, I would probably have to go with yes. However, my studio, Little Street Studio, is also run as a hireable recording studio with Artist Residency Programs and a Music Production School, that fellow musicians and producers make use of. I don’t feel too bad about keeping bits of kit that I may not have personally used for a while as there’ll always be someone who comes in who’s really excited to use it and manages to pull some amazing sounds that are just what their project needs. Times like these make me feel less guilty about hoarding gear. However, there has been a self-imposed “one in one out rule” in place since last year. I’m running out of inputs on the desk and space on the racks, so in order to get the OB-X8, I had to let go of the OB-6.

If you could create your ultimate instrument or piece of music gear, what would it be?

I love working with hardware sequencers but never really found one that I totally gelled with or thought was really intuitive to work with as an all-in-one sequencer. However, I just recently acquired the Oxi Instruments Oxi One and I think they’ve done it! It covers so much ground with its different modes and the Bluetooth connectivity allows me to just carry it around to any synth in the studio.

Workflow and ergonomics in the studio can really shape how you write and create ideas. Designing Little Street Studio from the ground up was a dream and I love the workflow and layout we have, it really does lend itself to exploring ideas to their fullest. One day I would love to take this further by designing and building custom studio furniture. Inventing a way to have the instrument and gear you need at any time within arm’s reach, in the acoustic sweet spot, would be something I’d love to try and solve. Imagine selecting a hardware synth in Ableton and a vertical/rotating stand allowing your chosen synth right next to the hardware effects you have chosen whilst digitally patching them together into them and your favourite pre-amp. Sounds wild but that’s the future I want to live in!

Who would be one artist/producer you’d love to work with?

I’ve been the biggest fan of Moderat since I started listening to electronic music, and honestly, I go back to listening to their back catalogue nearly every week. I love the way they put together unique sounds and evoke so much emotion within their music. I also love how they straddle between various sides of the electronica spectrum in their albums, from rawer house and techno-influenced pieces to more melodic and emotional song focussed tracks. They have such a strong and recognisable sonic identity yet it never feels stale or overdone. I would love to see how they go about their creative process and how they work in the studio. If you’re somehow reading this guys, this is a formal invitation to come by Little Street Studio on your upcoming Australia tour and stay as long as you like!

Let Me Go (single) is out Now!
Follow the link; > https://gyro.to/112568LetMeGo

Magnify EP will be released on March 17