"Another day in the studio…"
Over the past 15 years, producer, DJ and label owner Ade Fenton has racked up an impressive career CV.
As a solo artist and remixer he's released some 30 EPs, and one full length album, of club-ready techno on his own Advanced and Perverter labels, along with imprints including Potential, Ground, Submission and Impact Materials. He's also worked as producer and remixer for acts including Slash and The Duke Spirit, alongside regular composition work for film and TV.
In recent years, however, Fenton has possibly been best known as a regular collaborator of electronic icon Gary Numan, having co-produced Numan's past four albums, including 2013's acclaimed Splinter.
As Gary Numan's Splinter tour continues - hitting various venues across the US this month then returning to the UK in the autumn - we caught up with Ade to get a personal tour of his studio.
The studio
“One half of the studio, which is small but beautifully formed, partly due to my OCD if I’m honest.”
Synths
“The other half of the studio and more of a mix of old and new gear here. There’s an original Minimoog on the left, which actually belongs to Gary Numan, as does the Imp Oscar and the Roland System 100.
“We just had them all refurbished so I thought I’d better give them a road test before they get sold. Also in the picture is my Waldorf Blofeld, an M-Audio Axiom 61 and a Native Instruments Kore 2 midi controller.”
Access Virus TI and MFB Urzwerg Pro
“The main engine of my studio - an Access Virus TI and MFB Urzwerg Pro Mk 2. I’ve not had the Urzwerg for long but I loved the idea of driving my hardware synths through an analogue step sequencer.
Sontronics mic
“My microphone of choice is a Sontronics Saturn. It’s a fantastic and hugely versatile mic and one of the best investments I made in the studio.”
Rack gear
“I’ve reduced the size of my rack to the bare essentials due to space issues, so this is made up of my fantastic Analogue Solutions Leipzig S, which is amazing for creating huge basslines, my Eventide Eclipse, which I’ve used on absolutely everything I’ve produced over the last few years, my Sherman Filterbank 2 which is partly responsible for the nastiest, filthiest stuff I’ve done lately.
“There’s also a Ridge Farm Industries Boiler compressor which I don’t use very often but it’s one of those things I’d rather have than sell.”
The hub
“I’m currently working on a score for a very cool animated film called From Inside with Gary Numan, which is what I’m working on in this photo.
“I use a Mackie Universal Control Pro and 2 extenders as a control surface and my main monitors are PMC TwoTwo 8’s, which I’ve not had for that long but they are absolutely fantastic. We mixed Gary’s album Splinter on them actually.”