KOAN Sound

Transient Shaper plug-in can be a useful tool to make drums really punchy.

"We use the Oxford Limiter because again it’s quite simple but does the job well."

The 'Classic Compressor' is a really simple but powerful compressor which is also a free download

In Reason 90% of the sounds are done with the Maelstrom and bass is resampled with the NN-19.

In Reason 90% of the sounds are done with the Maelstrom and bass is resampled with the NN-19.

When asked what drum pads were used during their set at San Jose State University in 2013: "yamaha dtx-12"

As you can see in this picture Koan Sound are using ADAM Audio A7X Powered Studio Monitor's.

In this interview by Propellerhead, KOAN Sound talk about how they approach sound design in Reason:

"We use Reason mainly for creating synths and basslines. The Malström synth is used for pretty much every bass sound, and we normally use the different saw and square wave variations. By themselves they’re very chunky waveforms so they provide a great basis for an endless number of sounds. Most of our bass sounds are made by first making a long bass note and giving it some movement so we can later resample it in interesting ways. To get the movement we tend to go crazy with automation and effects until we get a dynamic but clean sound. For example we’ll add an EQ before a Scream 4 in the chain of effects because when you automate the EQ frequency and gain, it combines with the distortion to create really cool movement. Then we’ll usually export and resample the sound.

We resample a lot in Reason with the NN-19. It’s an easy way to get a bass sounding really techy. For example when we have a sound we like in the NN-19, we’ll duplicate it then apply different effects to each one, dedicating one to the low end and the other for highs and mids. For example we might add a bandpass filter to one of them and slightly detune it in the sampler so when the bandpass is automated it sweeps through the frequencies and phases them which sounds pretty nice. We could then export this again and repeat if needs be. Also, the notch filter on the NN-19 is awesome and we use it often to give bass more movement.

The Scream 4 distortion is probably our favourite thing about Reason. It’s such a versatile tool and can completely mangle sounds whilst keeping them relatively clean. We’ve used it to process snares too. The loud, metallic snares in ‘Meanwhile, In The Future’ were made by putting live snare samples through the Scream 4. It created these huge exaggerated tails which didn’t sound overly distorted."

"Bass, synths, percussion and anything melodic runs through reason but we Rewire it to Cubase where kicks, snares and long recorded parts are arranged and processed."

We use Reason 4, and I’ve been using it for years and years but I’m still finding plenty of new things every time we use it.

In this photo posted to their Facebook, one of the members of Koan Sound can be seen using Logic 9 on his laptop.

Koan Sound are using Ableton Live 9 to produce their track 'If You Hadn't' for Movember 2015

In the video, you can see a variety of equipment being utilized. In the screenshot (http://puu.sh/ldhRW.jpg) I took @ 0:45, you can clearly see the Moog logo and the words "SUB 37" on the controller before them.

In the video, you can see a variety of equipment being utilized. At 1:21, you can see them (http://puu.sh/ldigN.jpg) using a Roland RD-300NX.

In the video, you can see a variety of equipment being utilized. At 0:40, you can briefly see them messing around on the MS-20 Mini. (screenshot: http://puu.sh/ldiQR.jpg)

Koan Sound does not think highly of the DJM-2000, if their tweet is anything to go by: "These mixers are stupid, I wanna mix quickly not travel through time and space. pic.twitter.com/NDaEWITw "

During the video at 0:25, you can see the group using a Macbook in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

In this picture Koan Sound are using a Apple 27" iMac 2013 model.