Matt Berry

Matt Berry discusses his use of the Arturia Vox Continental V, noting that when he ran it through an amp with similar characteristics, he couldn't distinguish it from the original. This insight is featured in Arturia's overview of the product.

Used for Witchazel, as mentioned in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Berry played almost all of the instruments on Witchazel, apart from the drums, played by James Stapleton, and recorded in the living room, using a pair of ADK condenser mics.

“Facing the drum kit, I just had one at head height right, and one at head height left, either side of his kit,” he recalls. “I kept it as basic as possible. I’d try and nail whole takes. I still do that now because of feel, and you want it to sound like it was sort of one idea. I would always push to get one take where everything kind of kicked off in the right place.”

Key to the sound of the album was GForce’s M‑Tron plug‑in, modelled on the Mellotron. “It was just the best, because I can’t play brass instruments and I didn’t have a vibraphone. But I didn’t want sampled brass or vibraphone. I wanted it to sound authentic, which is where the Mellotron comes in. It has its own atmosphere. So, if there’s an instrument that I can’t play, like a flute or something, I would never go for a preset or a sample, I would go for the Mellotron.”