Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
  • Guitars
  • Amps
  • Pedals
  • Drums
  • Synths
  • Software
  • Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Recording
  • Buyer’s guides
  • Live
  • DJ
  • Advice
  • Acoustic
  • Bass
  • About us
  • More
    • Reviews
Magazines
  • Computer Music
  • Electronic Musician
  • Future Music
  • Keyboard Magazine
  • Guitarist
  • Guitar Techniques
  • Total Guitar
  • Bass Player
More
  • How to make an AI cover song
  • 84000+ free music samples
  • Foo Fighters' new drummer
  • Ken Scott on recording The Beatles
  • First EVH Jump synth recording

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Future Music

In pictures: Erol Alkan's North London studio

By Future Music
published 30 September 2014

The artist, producer, DJ, remixer and label owner shows us his musical home

Welcome

Welcome

While it might sound like something of a cliché, Erol Alkan is an artist for whom ‘the music’ always seems to come first.

Between his seminal mid-noughties clubnights Trash and Durrr, his production credits for the likes of Late Of The Pier, Mystery Jets and Klaxons, his numerous DJ accolades and his countless remixes and collaborations, he has had plenty of opportunities for self-promotion over the years. Yet Alkan’s is a career built not on his own ego, but on using every outlet available to share, nurture and promote new music.

He’s also one of that rare breed of musicians whose talents aren’t confined by genre, with a career touching upon indie, electro, house, techno and beyond, with seemingly little regard for trends or fashions, even when he’s caught up in the middle of them.

2013 saw Alkan setting up his first purpose-built studio space, The Phantasy Sound, a North London hub for himself and the artists on his Phantasy record label. This played a major role in birthing a pair of stunning, yet very different albums: the lo-fi pop of Connan Mockasin’s Caramel and the warped electronic experiments of Daniel Avery’s Drone Logic.

It also resulted in Alkan’s first proper solo release, some 20 years into his career, in the form of the intricately-produced, club-focused Illumination EP.

With yet more new ventures on the horizon, including an excellent entry into the Fabriclive mix series, and a remix album as part of the sun-drenched Psych duo Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, Future Music headed up to North London to meet Alkan and take a nose around the new studio.

For the complete interview and a video studio tour, check out Future Music 284 (Autumn issue) which is on sale now.

NEXT: DAWs

Page 1 of 10
Page 1 of 10
DAWs

DAWs

“I use Pro Tools when I record bands, especially if I’m tracking drums, but Logic when it comes to using MIDI or anything like that.

“I’ve gotten so used to Logic 9 now. I’ve bought Logic X, which I’ve messed with a bit, but I haven’t really gone in deep with it. I’m a bit scared of Logic X actually.

“I tend to use the native plugins within Logic as I think they’re fine. To be honest with you, I haven’t found a stereo width plugin better than Logic’s one. EQ wise, they’re pretty good transparent EQs which seem to do exactly what you need an EQ to do. I tend to find that, if you’re not getting what you want out of a sound at that stage, maybe the EQ isn’t the main problem - maybe it’s another aspect of it? So I tend to use all of them in a pretty simple way, rather than expecting miracles from plugins.

“I don’t use any particularly esoteric plug-ins. I’ll focus more on what’s going in; that’s about 90% of it for me.”

NEXT: Homemade compressor

Page 2 of 10
Page 2 of 10
Homemade compressor

Homemade compressor

“The Mustapha SSL-4000. It’s basically just an SSL clone that I’ve built with a Neve width module. If you whack it all to the far right you lose all the signal and you can check out your clocking as well. If your clocking is a bit dodgy, and it sounds all MP3-ish and digital, then that’ll tell you.”

NEXT: Pioneer rekordbox

Page 3 of 10
Page 3 of 10
Pioneer rekordbox

Pioneer rekordbox

“Ever since rekordbox came along, it’s meant that I can pool all my music together and organise it in a way I understand.

“The great thing is that you can come up with your own system of working. I do feel a bit guilty about being able to turn up somewhere with a pair of headphones and a USB key, when you see bands with trucks full of gear and a crew of 30 people to play the same stage, but that’s the way DJing has gone. I still believe that DJing in its greatest form is just as creative and exciting as what bands can do. It’s just a great system, though.

“I’m curious as to what the next thing is going to be. I know that you can do a lot of things with mobile phones now, but I don’t trust them!”

NEXT: Yamaha NS10s

Page 4 of 10
Page 4 of 10
Yamaha NS10s

Yamaha NS10s

“I just have them because they sound so bad. As they say with NS10s - if it sounds good on them, then it’ll sound good anywhere.”

NEXT: Effectron delays

Page 5 of 10
Page 5 of 10
Effectron delays

Effectron delays

“I’m a big fan of the Effectron delays from the ’80s. They’re great, unpredictable delays. I like to send stuff to them and have it very, very low in the mix.”

NEXT: Roland TB-303

Page 6 of 10
Page 6 of 10
Roland TB-303

Roland TB-303

“This is a recent purchase and something I’ve been wanting for a while. I’m in love with it - not just for the fact that it’s a 303, but also because it’s got cool things like CV out, so you can actually write a pattern inside of it and send that to other synths.”

NEXT: Korg Mono/Poly

Page 7 of 10
Page 7 of 10
Korg Mono/Poly

Korg Mono/Poly

“This is a brand-new acquisition, so I’ve just been messing around with it.”

NEXT: Roland SH-1

Page 8 of 10
Page 8 of 10
Roland SH-1

Roland SH-1

“It tends to do bass like no other synth I have. I’ve a trick that I do with it, that I don’t want to reveal, but there’s a workaround if you experiment with the patching capabilities. You can get some pretty amazing, deep, cranium-quaking bass from it!”

NEXT: Formanta Polivoks

Page 9 of 10
Page 9 of 10
Formanta Polivoks

Formanta Polivoks

“I’m fascinated by Russian synths, in the sense that they were built to try and mimic what Moog was doing at the time. They kind of didn’t get it right, but they came up with something quite different.”

Page 10 of 10
Page 10 of 10
Future Music
Future Music
Social Links Navigation

Future Music is the number one magazine for today's producers. Packed with technique and technology we'll help you make great new music. All-access artist interviews, in-depth gear reviews, essential production tutorials and much more. Every marvellous monthly edition features reliable reviews of the latest and greatest hardware and software technology and techniques, unparalleled advice, in-depth interviews, sensational free samples and so much more to improve the experience and outcome of your music-making.

More about tech
Prince rock & roll hall of fame 2004

Prince's While My Guitar Gently Weeps solo wasn't his only great performance at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony

IK Multimedia iRig Stream Mic Pro in home studio setup

IK Multimedia iRig Stream Mic Pro review

Latest
Picture of Bruce Springsteen and the TEAC 144

“Nebraska was cut on crap equipment…” How Bruce Springsteen made his most important album in his bedroom with just a Gibson J-200 and a TEAC 144

See more latest ►
Most Popular
Dua Lipa’s Barbie single Dance The Night lands with production from Mark Ronson: “This Ken helped make a whole soundtrack,” he says

By Ben Rogerson26 May 2023

Noel Gallagher reveals lost Oasis alternate Definitely Maybe recordings have been found and will be released

By Rob Laing26 May 2023

DOD/DigiTech assembles a formidable lineup of guitar effects designing talent for new R&D team

By Jonathan Horsley26 May 2023

Kirk Hammett: "My favourite version of Greeny is probably the Epiphone"

By Rob Laing26 May 2023

The 1977 Rainbow gig when Ritchie Blackmore played one of his greatest performances – after two long nights in a police cell

By Rob Laing25 May 2023

Show Us Your Studio: Share your home studio and get featured on MusicRadar

By MusicRadar25 May 2023

Sophie Lloyd becomes the first Kiesel Guitars female signature artist with the SL6

By Rob Laing25 May 2023

Dr. Sample becomes Mr. Sample as Blezz Beats recreates the 'holy grail of lo-fi beatmaking' in a sampler plugin

By Matt Mullen25 May 2023

Steinberg’s Dorico 5 improves the music notation software’s playback and note input features, and the free desktop and iPad versions have been updated, too

By Ben Rogerson25 May 2023

Steve Albini recalls the secrecy around the Nirvana In Utero sessions: "I had to do everything I could to keep it under wraps to make sure that we didn’t get overrun by fans and the added nonsense"

By Rob Laing25 May 2023

Guitarist creates a string-picking robot

By Rob Laing25 May 2023

  1. Nirvana In Utero cover
    1
    Steve Albini recalls the secrecy around the Nirvana In Utero sessions: "I had to do everything I could to keep it under wraps to make sure that we didn’t get overrun by fans and the added nonsense"
  2. 2
    Noel Gallagher reveals lost Oasis alternate Definitely Maybe recordings have been found and will be released
  3. 3
    Bob Rock likens Metallica’s St Anger to The Stooges’ Raw Power, says Jimmy Page told him it was a “great album” – and Jack White loved it too
  4. 4
    The 1977 Rainbow gig when Ritchie Blackmore played one of his greatest performances – after two long nights in a police cell
  5. 5
    Mick Hucknall on the 10 songs that changed his life: “The Beatles changed the way music sounded, but the Stones were the world’s greatest rock band”
  1. R.E.M.
    1
    5 songs guitarists need to hear by... R.E.M.
  2. 2
    Steve Albini recalls the secrecy around the Nirvana In Utero sessions: "I had to do everything I could to keep it under wraps to make sure that we didn’t get overrun by fans and the added nonsense"
  3. 3
    Mixing engineer Bob Clearmountain: “I shouldn’t say this, probably, but I think in a couple of years Dolby Atmos is going to go away”
  4. 4
    Joe Bonamassa pushes his voice and Stratocaster to the limit on up-tempo soul party single, I Want To Shout About It
  5. 5
    "This technology will replace stereo": Behind the scenes of groundbreaking 3D sound project Immersive London Calling

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.