Part Time Heroes Talk To Us. And Share Some Music
Have a listen to Part Time Heroes' two songs. Thanks for sharing them with us, Toby and Ross!
(click >> to scroll to their songs).
How many Part Time Heroes are there in the band?
There's us 2 (Toby & Ross) who are PTH. But we work with an ever growing number of amazing musicians and vocalists from all over.
What kind of music do Part Time Heroes play? And what instruments?
I guess we play jazz influenced dance music. It's a difficult one to call really, there's a ton of influences in it, but that's probably the closest. I play keys and Toby plays Trumpet, Guitar, Bass and Keys too.
Was the sample library you recorded for Loopmasters produced in the same studio where you regularly record your music? What studio gear did you use for each of the instruments?
It was actually recorded in a different studio (except the drums which where recorded down in Southampton) to where we made the LP, because Toby moved to London at the start of the year. But it was recorded using pretty much all the same gear. Logic, Neumann & Rode mics, Focusrite compressors and Mackie monitors.
You could say “Part Time Heroes. Nu Jazz, Downtempo & Electronica” is another release. You already have one album out and another one in the works. Do you feel releasing a sample library is a breakthrough concept for musicians?
Yeah we've been working on the new PTH LP in fits and starts since the beginning of the year. Although progress hasn't been speedy, we're really enjoying writing again and developing our sound further. We're really excited about the next LP! I think releasing sample library is a great idea. To be able to break down songs/samples/parts and see how different produces work and construct what they do is huge. I think it really broadens people's perspective. I've found it so interesting and eye opening, when I've looked at the other producer packs. Seeing how some of the top guys build sounds is facinating. Not to mention inspiring!
Although you are live musicians, do you use any loops or computer-based sequencing in your live gigs? Maybe even your own loops?
99% of our live show at the moment is fully live. Although, we do have some textual FX triggered here and there. In the future, certainly as the next LP starts to surface, we're definitely going to incorporate a lot more triggers and studio constructed elements to our love show. It's something we want to utilise to as much as we can to create a big and more dynamic sound.
I can image it was a difficult process to record and produce the loops. What in particular made it different from the regular studio work?
Well, we didn't find it too daunting. The hardest thing about it was knowing where to stop. We found ourselves really tempted to develop a lot of the loops into full tracks. It was great to be spontanious with ideas and we found we were coming up with some really interesting ideas. It was difficult to let go of some of them...but we did!
Could you give some studio tips to people producing music on computers on how to successfully mix live instruments with sampled material?
It's just a case of being aware of the human element of sampled material. Give your samples some room, not making them to rigid and machine like. Also, be aware that there's a good reason bands are made up of drums, bass, guitar etc. They all occupy a specific space as do smaples, so when mixing all the diffirent elements, be tonally sympathtic.
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