Ryan Moore’s Twilight Studio (Nijmegen, Holland) boasts a complement of vintage analog processing, recording and mixing equipment, which he uses to create his Twilight Circus Dub Sound System releases. Moore’s latest acquisition, a Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2882 audio processing system, has brought him into the digital realm and a whole new way of working.
Moore resisted the move to digital, but the accomplished musician, producer, re-mixer and collaborator now uses MIO, V1.5 software, Logic and a PowerBook running OS X.
“I realized that I could go anywhere,” says Moore, a Canadian who relocated to the Netherlands and has been collaborating with reggae vocalists on artist releases as well as Twilight Circus productions, on his own M Records imprint. “I could record stuff on location, such as in a hotel room. What’s been great about this style of working is that there’s this incredible flexibility and freedom to adapt to the circumstances and the situation at hand, without having to depend on studio rental. It’s guerrilla recording.”
Recording some of the top names in reggae in hotel rooms between shows, Moore discovered that their vocal performances benefited greatly from the relaxed environment. “Even the most subtle things in the atmosphere or their surroundings can affect their performance, either detrimentally or positively,” he observes. “I found that in recording the vocal sessions in locations that were not the typical studio session, there was a lot less pressure. The artists seemed to open up and feel a lot more freedom.”
Those collaborations have led, not only to a succession of vinyl single artist releases but also to the Twilight Circus “Foundation Rockers” full-length album, which features Mykal Rose, Big Youth, Luciano, Ranking Joe, Brother Culture and others.
Moore, who appears on over 60 albums, jumped into the digital audio world and Metric Halo while collaborating with U.S.-based DJ Spooky. “The only way to do this project was to go into ‘computerland’ and to have the ability to exchange files and discs and upload stuff to FTP sites.”
For more information, please go to www.mhlabs.com.
