Features / Series: What's That Noise?

One-question interviews with artists where we find out about the gear and equipment they use to achieve their sound.

Browse all 128 features in this category

Six Below Zero

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 22, 2025

Matthew Brammer (Six Below Zero) SPB: Can you walk us through your studio or recording set-up to get a glimpse of how a one-man band works for Six Below Zero? Brammer: Since I don't play live anymore, I'm pretty much 100% "in the box" these days. Especially since a lot of amp sims and digital tools have gotten so good the last few years. I have a small, modest home studio where I pretty much write, record, and mix everything. My main electric guitar is an Ibanez RGIB21 Iron Label baritone guitar in Drop C (CGCFAD) with custom balanced tension string sets from Stringjoy. My bass is an Ibanez SR600e in Drop C with custom nickel sets from Curt Mangan. I actually use those guitars and that tuning across a wide variety of projects and genres, not just SBZ. It's an incredibly versatile tuning that can be used in anything from hardcore to black metal to acoustic rock, and even though I've experimented with an awful lot of tunings and guitars over the years, I always keep coming back to that. My main acoustic is a Martin GPC-X2E (with Stringjoy strings), and I have a full-sized digital piano (Yamaha DGX-660)...but obviously those aren't used much (or at all) in SBZ stuff. They see a ton of use in my other projects though. One thing I'm super picky about....no pun intended...is my guitar picks. I use Dunlop Tortex picks...2mm for leads/solos and faster/more technical stuff, 1mm for most of my electric … Read more

Distants

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • May 23, 2024

Steve Brewer (Distants) SPB: Did you choose your name before the band members were located in different cities? Brweer: Yes. Everyone who was in the band when it started lived … Read more

Faulty Cognitions

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • April 1, 2024

Chris Mason (Faulty Cognitions) SPB: Was the mic’ing of your kit for the recording of Somehow, Here We Are fairly straight forward, or were there some techniques or experiments used … Read more

Stephen Hamm Theremin Man

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • March 4, 2024

Stephen Hamm Theremin Man shows off his theremin magic. Read more

Middle-Aged Queers

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 31, 2024

Josh Levine (Middle-Aged Queers) SPB: Tell us about the day you bought your current (primary) bass and why you chose it. Levine: I bought my current primary bass in the … Read more

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Browse all 128 features in this category

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  • Against Orthodoxy

    A regular series by Robert F.

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    A wide-ranging guest column written by BJ from Ancient Shores, mainly covering film but extending into philosophy and aesthetics too. Check out BJ's work on the A389 podcast.

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    How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music.

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    Guest column by T of Vegas

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    A cookery column by Nick, vocalist with metal band The Famine. Veggie/vegan friendly!

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    A roundup of coverage of the annual punk rock festival held in Gainesville, Florida

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    Our coverage of the annual Fest extravaganza.

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    Our coverage of the 19th edition of the Fest – an independent multi-day, multiple-venue music festival held annually in Gainesville, Florida.

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    All our coverage from the long-running music festival

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    Articles about the Fest 21

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    Our coverage of the 22nd edition of the FEST.

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    We dive into the back catalog of a record label and ask them to nominate their most memorable releases from their label's history–with a few suggestions of our own.

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    A radio DJ profile series created by Christopher D & Matt Hutchison.

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    There’s so much music released, whether physically or digitally, that keeping up with what’s going on becomes almost like a full time job. With Only Death Is Real, the aim is to bring you something new.

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    A life lived and lessons learned by Eddie Spaghetti of Supersuckers.

  • Running on Nothing

    Welcome to Running on Nothing, the latest addition to our stable of columns at Scene Point Blank. Running on Nothing offers a look at the world through the eyes of Kole, bassist of The Lippies, guitarist of The Bloody Lips, and gigposter artist.

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    Discussing the state of the music business at the kitchen table

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  • What's That Noise?

    One-question interviews with artists where we find out about the gear and equipment they use to achieve their sound.

  • Year End 2012

    A collection of coverage rounding up the year 2012, covering our favorite albums, shows, bands, and more, as well as asking record labels and bands about their past twelve months in music

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    Our wrap-up of the best music and more for the year we'll all want to otherwise forget, 2020.

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    Our roundup of the best music from the worst year (since the previous one, anyway).

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    Our favorite music and more from the year 2022

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    Our roundup of the best music—and more—of 2024.

More recent features — Series: What's That Noise?

Stress Positions

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 2, 2024

Jono Giralt (Stress Positions – drums) SPB: Walk us through your drum kit and how you arrived at your sizes, etc. Giralt: I play on a Tama Starrclassic. All Bubinga shells. 12”, 18”, and 24”. Charcoal grey, I guess? They look nice. I’ve been playing the Ludwig raw copper phonic snare. 6.5”x14”. Honestly the best snare I’ve ever played. Even … Read more

Autogramm

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • November 24, 2023

Josh (Autogramm – drums) SPB: Walk us through some of the recording equipment used in the making of Autogramm’s new album, Music That Humans Can Play. Josh: Read more

Phuture Memoriez

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • November 22, 2023

Marc Blaquiere (Phuture Memoriez) SPB: Walk us through your setup that led to what we hear on Play Cobra? Blaquiere:  Read more

Church Girls

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • October 18, 2023

Mitchell Layton (Church Girls – guitar) SPB: What type of guitar do you play and what’s its “origin story”? Layton: My main guitar has changed a lot over the years depending on what style I’m playing and what I’m using it for, but for most of the Church Girls touring and studio recording I’ve used my Revered Double Agent. It’s … Read more

BEDTIMEMAGIC

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • August 22, 2023

Morgan (MEDTIMEMAGIC – drums/organ) SPB: What nonstandard tweaks have you made to your kit setup to ease playing organ at the same time? (Feel free to walk us through your whole setup and include pics and/or videos.) Morgan: If only I could find a way to make playing the organ and the drums at the same time easy! I play … Read more

The Holy Circle

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • August 14, 2023

Erica (The Holy Circle – synth/vocals) SPB: What elements of your current keyboard, to you, are essential to “The Holy Circle” sound? (And what is the make/model you play?) Erica: I play a Micro Korg and Moog Little Phatty through a Holy Grail reverb, Death-by-Audio MicroDream, and a Electro-Harmonix 720 to make loops. I think the combination of the icy … Read more

The Tunnel

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • May 2, 2023

Sam Black (The Tunnel - bass) "What's That Noise?" is a series about gear. Show us some of your key pieces. Read more

Body Stuff

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • April 17, 2023

Curran Reynolds (Body Stuff) Tell us what piece of gear “makes the Body Stuff sound,” in your opinion. Read more

Vacation

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • March 6, 2023

John Hoffman (Vacation, The Mimes) SPB: From when you were starting out to now, what parts of your setup in studio have help to voice your sound as it stands today? Hoffman: I'd have to say it's my Tascam 122 cassette deck. It's a two-track cassette desk that can monitor the recording of the cassette's audio in real time and … Read more

Grizzlor

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 26, 2023

Victor Dowgiallo (Grizzlor) SPB: You just released a collection of b-sides and rarities. Did you use any specific techniques in mixing to get a steady sound when merging different recording sessions? Dowgiallo: No, I didn't use any special techniques, I just basically went into the old mixes and touched them up in a way with some things I had learned … Read more

Painted Light

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 25, 2023

Jake (Painted Light – guitar) SPB: What type of guitar do you play (and how did you land on this one)? Jake: Fender 1972 Thinline Telecaster! I love it because the tone is warm, not too bright -- but the highs come through well, and the pickups are hot enough to really project the tapping parts into tbe next level. … Read more

Fairweather

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 10, 2023

Ben Green (Fairweather-keyboards/vocals) SPB: Did you experiment with different sounds in the studio for Deluge, or did you enter knowing exactly what equipment you wanted to capture it? (Do you have any examples of equipment that helped to define this EP?) Green: Lots of different guitar sounds went into the recording of this record. I think my guitar parts were … Read more

Bend

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 28, 2022

Ben Wixson (Bend – bass) SPB: What model of bass do you play and how did you choose it? Wixson: For the past 20 years or so I have sworn by the Music Man Stingray bass, which has been made by Ernie Ball for decades. The first time I ever heard one of these basses live was watching Anti-Flag at … Read more

Dead Waves

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 27, 2022

Teddy Panopoulos (Dead Waves) SPB: Tell us about how you captured the sound on Abandoned Children. Teddy: Like usual, we wanted to use everything we own on this new Dead Waves release and brought back some acoustic drums and percussion which our last release didn't have. For the first picture, I have my Ancient Lyre - I got this in … Read more

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 12, 2022

Tony Ash (Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends – bass) SPB: Tell us about your bass tone and how you set things up for your work in Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends? Ash: I want to preface this by saying, this is the moment I've been practicing for throughout the entire existence of Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends. … Read more