Edwin Rhone Jr
Open Labs Exclusive Artist Interview
- by Tatiana Ryckman, Open Labs Staff Writer
Ed Rhone got his first musical high in the fourth grade with a long-haired hippy, “Ms. Wooten ... she had hair down to her waist. She brought an acoustic guitar in and a case of recorders.”
A few years later, in the sixth grade, he got his second musical jolt, “They had all the kids from the high school come down and show us what they were into. Some played sports, some sang ... all the kids from band class [were] playing trombones, making them sound like race cars, I thought that was real cool, and I wanted to play trombone. That was the major turning point, I knew that I would want to be a musician.”
Playing trombone wasn't Ed's fate, though. In junior high school, as he walked into his first day of band class (a week late) he was told that there were no trombones left. “I was late and they had given out all the instruments to all the other kids. My sister played saxophone ... so I told the band director I would switch to saxophone.” His director met the suggestion with a little resistance, but let him give it a try. “My sister taught me to play that saxophone in one night. I mean I picked it up and caught up to all the other kids in one night ... Right then I knew that [music] was going to be a big passion.”
Since elementary school Ed has built an impressive resume of musical adventures. From jaunts down the notes of a recorder to jaunts down to Chile` with Latin performer Chayanne as a visual engineer. Ed has stretched his talent over genres, countries, and various musical careers. As his music illustrates, with it's distinct meld of metal and electronic sounds, Ed has an ability to transcend what others often see as musical limitations. As he describes the birth of his tendency toward musical fusion, “[It] comes from me ... being in bands and bringing a song to the table only to have the other musicians not be into it because they're 'metal,' that they can't play anything but metal; or they're too this to do that. I've been in bands where we had a really open, improv style and they would even shun certain styles of music.”
His unwavering interest in metal was first sparked by a kid named “Chainsaw” in his college music business class. “He had a Charvel guitar, this red Charvel guitar and little Crate amp, and he was playing some Ratt riffs—riffs by the band Ratt—and I was like 'Wow, man, that's so bad ass!'” As proof of how bad ass he thought it was, he committed himself immediately, “I was a keyboard player at the time and I went and sold all my keyboards the next day and got a guitar and an amp.”
Before making the move from North Carolina to Austin, TX, Ed owned a production company and studio called IndustraWorks. Today, his solo music project carries the same name, “I did studio recording and worked as the front-of-house engineer at a local venue where I mixed hundreds and hundreds of national acts. I made up that name and it just kind of stuck. I didn't come up with a name for the solo project so I just called it that.”
Like playing musical chairs, Ed has begun working with friend Carlos Denogean on another project: Murder Earth, a metal/grindcore coalition of sorts. “We're not trying to form a band just yet because we live in two different states. We just finished our first record, which is called Mother Earth, that was eight songs. Now we're moving on to a new one and every song is going to be about, pretty much typical metal: war.” What isn't typical about Murder Earth is the way they record their music across state lines, “I record parts and send it to him and we send them back-and-forth. He makes the drum part, and they come to me and I'll do the guitar, vocals, bass, and I'll send him the finished copy.”
Having a strong background in recording has helped Ed learn about some of the best tools of the trade, and his job in tech support at Open Labs has helped him learn the gear that he uses inside and out. “We have to know every program ... When you go home at night, you don't go home to party. You go home to read ... because a lot of these guys are really professional.” Sometimes he learns new tricks from the people he's trying to help. “When we do remote into somebody's recording session [we] see how they do things and it gives [us] a different perspective. They [do something] a certain way that makes you think, 'whoa, I should adopt that and then modify it so that it'll work for me.' That's helped a lot. Not necessarily with the music theory ... but technically speaking there's been a major change.”
While the people he helps may change the way he uses his new gear, the gear itself has changed the way he makes his music, “I usually do all my tracking in Reaper, I used to have to do half the project in Nuendo and half the project in Digital Performer on my Mac system, but with Open Labs type of gear I've been able to do everything within Reaper because it handles all of the pre-tracking, as well as post-tracking, you know, like vocals. It handles all that better than Nuendo and I can set up my tracking a lot quicker.”
Although he was still using an analog recorder in Chicago in the early 2000s, he had a hunch that machines like the MiKo and NeKo existed somewhere, “I did have the idea that you could have one system all dedicated to virtual synths ... but I had no idea what they were doing with digital. When I had my studio I was still working with MIDI hardware, not really with software synthesizers ... When I came down and saw what they were doing it started clicking and I was like, 'Wow, you really can do that.' I started learning from there. So I got the bulk of that modern MIDI stuff from Open Labs. I mean, I started doing MIDI in '88 with a Commodore computer ... Now it's really wild what can be done. You can do anything these days.”
Through time, space, and technology Ed has watched his musical career and passion grow, and today a single machine allows him to make another artistic fusion — one between his greatest passion: music, and what he calls his favorite thing ever: freedom.
Artist Q & A
Q: How did you first hear about Open Labs?
A: From Zeus, in a dream ... nah, just kidding. I first heard of Open Labs on Craigslist. They were looking for tech support specialists. I went to their site expecting something like a suped up Casio, and was immediately shocked! Every feature was kicking my ass, too cool.
Q: What type of music do you create?
A: Mostly rock/metal based, I play guitar, so I like to shred. Also, I enjoy writing electronic and industrial songs. I also play keyboards.
Q: How has the MiKo changed your method of work?
A: The whole idea of one system has always been a goal for me. The MiKo satisfies that need. So it has kicked things into overdrive.
Q: How have you integrated the MiKo into your current studio setting?
A: My studio consisted of two PC's running Nuendo, and a Mac G4 with MOTU hardware with Digital Performer as the DAW. On one of the PC's (AMD Athlon 2500), I ran Guitar Rig for tracking guitars. The other PC (Rambus p4), I used as a softsynth box, primarily using it to record sequences, importing guitar tracks in from my first system. Once those tracks were done, I would send the tracks to the Mac rig to cut vocals, as it was the system I have my microphone preamp and mixer routed to. Once vocals were cut, I dumped the tracks back to yet another PC, for mastering. I had to run this setup because none of these systems alone could handle the load. Or they would be to slow during processing. However, since using MiKo, it has taken all the other gear out of the loop, I can run multiple instances of Guitar Rig 2 with no gacking of processor. I can track, mix edit, cut vocals, master all on one box -- with no concern that I will max out CPU performance.
Q: What is your MiKo's primary function?
A: It functions as the initial "etching" board all the way to mix down -- pretty much the nucleus of my studio.
Q: What is your favorite software on the MiKo? How do you use it?
A: Since it's based on PC architecture, I can use any software I'm familiar with. I do enjoy working in Reaper. It's actually exciting to open up a DAW that isn't going to work against me. mFusion is awesome, I'm old school with MIDI, so having a built in app that allows for custom MIDI mapping is a bonus.
Q: Which kind of keyboards have you owned in the past and how do they compare to your MiKo?
A: I've owned a DX7, DX27, Kawai K1, Ensoniq ESq1, Ensoniq Mirage, Roland JV90, modules like Planet Phatt, Alesis DM5, and other devices long expired. MiKo owns then all, being that I can load VSTi's that give me all those same sounds that these boards and modules had. With the option of really being able to edit the patches.
Q: How different is the composition process compared to the standard computer or laptop system?
A: For myself, there have been two styles of recording. The first being "live instrument" recording, which is the traditional mike up a kit, guitar amps, bass DI. etc. And the other way recording with one instrument like a keyboard. Having a "one box" solution frees me up from having to switch a system over to record mode. MiKo is always ready to record! I don't miss a beat during the writing process. Unless, of course I'm installing a new VSTi.
Q: Do you think the quality of your production now would be possible with another keyboard?
A: With a keyboard? Frack no! Not even with a whole room of them. Keyboards still eventually need to run into a CPU based system.
Q: What are you currently producing with your MiKo?
A: Though I have worked with a few artists in the past, I have yet to produce anyone other than my own projects on MiKo. I have alot of projects though. A couple of projects in the works; one is a full record with a drummer friend. We are recording the project exclusively over the internet. And I have plans to release a sound designed audio book with another friend. The MiKo will really come in handy for this project as it will require sound design to make the setting of each story more organic.
Q: What is next for you and your MiKo?
A: To keep pushing forward, my motto is "No Music Left Behind!" ... MiKo ensures this.
Equipment Used
MiKo LX (Gen3)
Artist Links
Murder Earth (Edwin Rhone Jr) on MySpace