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An Interview with Greg Kane of Hue and Cry: On Learning Analogue Synthesis from Scratch for their New Album 'Everybody'

An interview with Greg Kane - one half of the award-winning, platinum-selling duo Hue and Cry, where we discuss the process of him learning analogue synthesis from scratch for their new album ‘Everybody’ (out May 29th).

By Eimear O SullivanMusicngear Editor

In the interview below, we discuss how to approach such a daunting task, how helpful the synth community was in this process, what resources he found to be crucial, philosophical takeaways, and more.

You can pre-order ‘Everybody’ here.

Connect with Hue and Cry: Website / Facebook / Spotify / X / Instagram

Eimear O Sullivan, Musicngear: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I love your new album 'Everybody'. Learning how to use analogue synthesizers from scratch is a daunting task. Could you maybe talk us through why you decided to go down this route, as opposed to your regular creative process? 

My brother is a dreamer. I’m a doer. And if he doesn’t dream, then I have nothing to do! So we’re a perfect match musically.

He really wanted to make an electronic record. I knew very little about synthesizers. We did use synths back in the late 80’s, but I mostly just flicked through presets until I found something that worked. But this time, I knew if we were going to make a record that was solely electronic and distinct, I’d have to stay away from presets.

I studied hard, and I very quickly realised that I didn’t want to go anywhere near modular as my brother was keen to get going. So I researched all that was out there in synth land. This was in late 2017, just as Behringer were starting its ‘attack of the clones’ period.

So their Model D was the first thing I bought. I learned subtractive analogue synthesis on that wee synth. It was a brilliant practice tool. Then I went Moog Grandmother, Moog Subsequent 37, Behringer DeepMind 12, ASM Hydrasynth Keyboard… and 6 months later I had over 20 different synths. 

Musicngear: What resources were most useful to you while learning analogue synthesis? 

The online synth community are so helpful. Plus, we have the synth shops Signal Sounds & Rubadub in Glasgow, they were great for hands-on experience and advice.

The Sonictalk podcast was invaluable. MylarMelodies’ Why We Bleep YouTube channel, Loopop, Bo Beats, Hainbach, Cuckoo, Look Mum No Commuter, Ricky Tinez… all their YouTube Channels were so helpful. But my favourite was an odd podcast called ‘Data Cult Audio’… I learned the most from listening to that. Just strange experimental music.

I also found the electronic artists Colin Benders, Surgeon, Clark and MATHS, MATHS, MATHS, all really compelling. I was more drawn to the left field artists. I think because Pat & I have had such a successful pop career, I consciously veered to the left to compensate for our pop sensibilities. 

Musicngear: Did the fact that you were using analog synthesis put restrictions on what you could do, therefore making the creative process feel freer? (as I find that when there are endless options, it can be harder to finish things).

One of the most scary pieces of advice I got was from Sam Battle. He said, “Do not turn the computer on, just let the machines interact with each other”.

So I created a master MIDI clock and sent all the synths the same tempo information via that. That’s all that was connecting them to each other, and off we went, creating some of the craziest, chaotic, and cacophonous sounds I’d ever heard.

But I learned quickly, and after a while, I identified what synths were good at certain things, which helped a lot. After a while, I had to turn the computer on, but all it was doing was acting as a multitrack. It was not even midi synced from the master clock.

Musicngear: If you had to choose, what would be your favourite monosynth and polysynth used for the creation of this album?

That little Model D played all the bass on the record. Pat and I fell in love with the Deepmind 12 for those arps! They are so inspiring. And the Hydrasynth for the shock and awe… I love that thing!

Monosynth: Moog Grandmother

Polysynth: Hydrasynth

Musicngear: What DAW and plugins did you primarily use? 

Been in Logic since it was Emagic’s. But I was a Cubase and Atari 1040ST user before that.

I’ve never been a ProTools user. Yes, I can navigate my way around it, but the setups cost so much in the beginning, I just couldn’t justify it.

I was using RME audio interfaces for many years, since we were signed to LINN Records (The high Hi-Fi company) in the late 90’s, and their recording engineers all used RME, but I’ve been on Universal Audio Apollo since it came out. 

Musicngear: I absolutely love the song ' I Remember', could you talk us through the production process for that?

I was trying to build grooves just with noise as a sound source. Different types of noise pitched up or down.

Then, around that time, Roland updated the firmware of their TR8s. I had one. This update introduced FM sounds for the first time. I really connected with those sounds, and I was also experimenting with bit crushing, too.

That was the main inspiration for ‘I Remember’.

Musicngear: Lastly, and thank you again for your time, I would imagine the creation of this album was an experience of huge highs and some lows, as is always the case when learning something from scratch - did you have any philosophical takeaways from the process of making this album? 

I didn’t have a good pandemic. There was lots of anxiety around me at that time, plus the live music scene was the first to shut down and last to reopen, which didn’t help the wallet. So my confidence and decision-making tools were not as sturdy as they usually are.

I leaned on Pat very heavily for validation when it came to producing ‘EVERYBODY’. I’m very lucky to be in the musical partnership I’m in. 

About Eimear O Sullivan

Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)

Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com

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