The worlds of EDM and trombone might not often collide, but Alexander Lewis is just such a musician. He’s made quite a name for himself with his trap-jazz sound.
Having studied jazz performance at The Manhattan School of Music, Lewis discovered Ableton Live and embarked on an electronic music career. His latest release, Omni, is a 7-track EP that takes him in a hip-hop direction, and he has various collaborations in the works.
We asked Alex to show us garage-based studio space, and he duly obliged.
The studio
The studio
“Welcome to my studio! It’s a garage converted into a studio space where I can work freely ‘away from home’ as late as I want without bothering neighbours. It’s been really helpful for holding sessions, doubling as a practice room for when I’m playing my horn and writing on piano.
“I don’t use a ton of gear (as you can see). I’m running Ableton Live 10 and use a lot of its built-in audio effects and instruments plus a couple of third-party VSTs such as Omnisphere and DIVA.”
Bach Stradivarius 16m
“The most important piece of the puzzle. My horn, and the centre of my sound. I bought this when I was 13 years old.”
Casio Privia PX - 130
“I don’t use this for anything other than writing or practising. A lot of the times before writing a tune I sit down at this piano and improvise ideas - later on I turn them into full songs. I bought this piano in my freshman year of college.”
Alesis VI49
“Gets the job done. The keys are pretty reliable in that they accurately translate touch velocity. I really like the 16 pads for tapping out drum patterns, etc.”
Universal Audio Apollo Twin
“Reliable interface that’s good for travelling. It comes with some useful UAD plugins”
Neumann TLM 103
“Probably one of the best investments I’ve made. It captures vocal quality very well and has made my job of mixing vocals so much easier. I use this as my main mic for recording horns as well.”
Yamaha HS80s
“I’ve had these monitors for years. My ears have gotten so used to them I don’t see myself replacing them anytime soon. They’re pretty flat for the most part.”
Bose SoundSport Wireless
“I probably listen to music 90 percent of the time in these headphones. I check every mix on them.”
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“There’s three of us playing guitar in Foo Fighters… A lot of tone details can get lost, which is what drew me to the Cleaver – that P-90 cut”: Chris Shiflett on how he found his weapon of choice with his Fender Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe
“People have used it as their wedding song. I often think, ‘Hey, did you listen to the lyrics?’”: The classic number one hit with a sting in its tail
