HOWA EP112 - JON HOPKINS

Aug 28, 2023

Jon Hopkins, a musician with an ear for detail and skill as a pianist and producer, discusses his classical background, the rise of psychedelic therapy, and the challenges of being a musician in the current era. Other topics include modulation and reverb in music production, analog effects, the relationship between boredom and creativity, LA's impact on their creativity, scoring music for films, Ableton software, fascination with synthesizers, and incorporating tape into music.

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Episode notes

Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Analog Effects and Dreamy Atmospheres

02:41 • 20min

Creating and Manipulating Sounds

22:54 • 4min

Moving Rooms and Life in Nashville

26:32 • 2min

The Relationship Between Boredom and Creativity

28:26 • 4min

Catching up and a Change of Scene in LA

32:14 • 2min

The highs and lows of living in a certain place

34:42 • 26min

Scoring music for films

01:00:48 • 6min

Exploring Ableton and the Flexibility of Music Creation

01:07:00 • 23min

Admiration for Synthesizers: MS20 and Mugha

01:30:20 • 14min

Musical Journey and Altered States

01:44:04 • 13min

Music Journey and Influences

01:57:30 • 17min

Fascination with Tape and Incorporating it into Music

02:14:40 • 6min

A Conversation about an Amazing Sound Engineer

02:20:38 • 4min

Jon Hopkins pays attention. He has a ear for the smallest details and a deft touch both as a pianist and a producer.

I feel this interview is very timely as the rise of psychedelic therapy has caught the imagination of so many.

Jon has made music that is so perfect for those wishing to go deeper with their experiences in that hugely rewarding domain.

His is the mindset that wants to expand and to meditate instead of flex and win the popularity contests in the game of music. Very refreshing.

We get into his beginnings in the classical world, his lack of patience with distracting factors and on to his success story and on to his musings on the current state of being a musician releasing music in this arguably confusing time.

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The nitty returns !

I was fortunate enough to get an early copy of Andrew Huang’s first plugin :)

It's a collaboration with Baby Audio called “Transit”

It really inspired me to get my hands dirty and to explore it’s outer ways.

I stacked up about 30 or so instances to pull off a tonal transition that is rather epic !

I learned from an older me on this one. In EP 58 I explored a related idea in Melodyne.

Here’s that show

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SPECIAL DEAL !!

I’m happy to be able to offer listeners to the show a 10 % discount on TRANSIT when using the code

BABYHOWA

at check out

Here’s the plugin!! Check it :)

https://babyaud.io/transit

Also..

Here’s the Ableton session called “The Bends” that I made to demo this

(sadly I forgot it’s the 11.3.10b5 Beta version of Ableton you’ll need to run this .. oops!)

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Big ups to Catechism and REZN for their music on this show.

It’s from an album called “Infected Ambient Works”

Here’s the link to it

https://rezzzn.bandcamp.com/album/infected-ambient-works

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A massive shout to show sponsor Soundtoys!

At the start of this episode I add the New SUPER PLATE and the classic PHASE MISTRESS plugins to a tape jam that’s fresh from my new studio and it just enters into a whole Different dimension.

These are Shockingly good plugins! Some of the very best you can find.

That’s why I’m so chuffed to work with these legends !

Check their masterful work here

https://www.soundtoys.com

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If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !