Magnetic Skies Break Down the Making of "Fragments": Synths, Space, and Emotional Architecture
Frontman Simon Kent discusses synth choices, workflow, cinematic influence, and translating analogue emotion into a modern electronic record.
Emerging from the darker edges of synthpop and darkwave, Magnetic Skies have steadily built a sound rooted in analogue electronics, cinematic atmospheres, and emotionally driven songwriting. Originally formed as a studio-based project by Simon Kent and Jo Womar, the band have developed their identity through a deep engagement with vintage synths, careful production choices, and an evolving collaborative process.
With their new album Fragments, Magnetic Skies push further into conceptual territory, exploring themes of separation, identity, and emotional disconnection and how those pieces might be reassembled into something whole. Throughout the record, warm analogue synths blend with modern production techniques, creating a sound that nods to the past while remaining firmly grounded in the present.
In this tech-focused interview, frontman and lead vocalist Simon Kent walks us through the tools, workflows, and philosophies behind Fragments - from the synths that shaped its core textures and the role of "happy accidents" to translating dense studio arrangements into a live environment and redefining space in the mix. Along the way, we discuss cinematic influences, emotional restraint, and why the imperfections of the creative process remain important.
Eugenia Roditis, Musicngear: Fragments sounds both nostalgic and futuristic. What were the key synths, plugins, or production techniques that helped you create that sonic duality?
The main synthesizers on the album are the Roland Juno 106 and Behringer DeepMind 12, so a lot of the core textures come from analogue sources that naturally carry an 80s warmth and nostalgia.
To give the record its futuristic edge, we leaned on contemporary production techniques - modern spatial effects, digital modulation, and detailed in-the-box processing.
Everything was mixed using up-to-date tools to make sure the final sound feels relevant to listeners in 2025.
Musicngear: You’ve often been described as bridging analog warmth with digital precision. What’s your philosophy on using hardware versus software and how does each shape your creative process?
For us, bridging analog warmth with digital precision comes down to choosing whatever tool best serves the emotion of the track.
We gravitate toward hardware analogue synths because there’s a physical connection that sparks creativity, and the raw, unaffected sound gives us plenty of room to shape things later.
On the other hand, software is essential to our workflow - the recall, the huge palette of tools, and the ability to share sessions from different locations make the mixing and refining process far easier.
Both sides complement each other, and together they get us to the result we’re aiming for.
Musicngear: Can you walk us through your typical workflow when building a track? Melody first, rhythm, sound design, or emotion?
Most of our songs begin with a musical hook - usually a chord sequence or melodic idea that sparks an emotional reaction and gives me something exciting to develop.
I’ll build that into a basic demo with vocal melody and a rough backing track. Then I pass it to Jo, who shapes the keyboard lines and sound design, and that second-stage version goes to Lenin.
He prefers hearing a song fully formed before adding drums, so he can capture his natural first response.
Once their parts are in place, I’ll often refine the vocals and lyrics again.
Musicngear: Were there any “happy accidents” or unexpected sonic discoveries that ended up shaping the sound of the album?
This was the first time we used the DeepMind extensively, and a lot of the album’s character came from happy accidents while exploring that synth.
Several songs started with a patch that morphed into something completely different as we tweaked parameters and stumbled across textures we didn’t plan.
The opening track, ‘No End,’ is a great example — it developed very quickly after watching the Kieslowski film, built almost entirely from these evolving Deepmind sounds that blended together in ways we didn’t anticipate.
Musicngear: The vocals play a huge role in the emotional core of Fragments. How do you approach vocal recording and processing to keep that human quality within an electronic soundscape?
All the vocals are recorded at my home studio and processed later at the mixing stage.
When I put the demo of a new song together, I lay down a guide vocal idea, and that is often a rough melody and perhaps the seed of an idea in terms of lyrical content.
Then, as a band, we develop the soundscape and arrangement of the track. Part of that process includes me responding to the atmosphere and feel of the song and developing the lyrical content and melody to the point where I feel ready to record the final vocal.
Generally, I will aim to record 3 takes of the vocal for both myself and Jo - the aim being to capture a fresh, emotional connection to the material.
In terms of processing, Rob and I have a 'go-to' chain that adds compression, echo, distortion and reverb as the basic elements - and they are tweaked to ensure the vocal sits well with the track.
The aim is to ensure that there is always a core human emotional centre to the material.
We want the audience to hear, see and feel the songs.
Musicngear: You mentioned Kieslowski’s films as an influence. How do visual or cinematic elements guide your choices in production and sound design?
It's always been really important to us that our material is atmospheric, emotional and cinematic.
Although the songs stand on their own as melody and chords, we put a great deal of effort into developing and finding the right sounds to support the lyrical themes and to ensure a continuity between songs.
We want the audience to hear, see and feel the songs.
Musicngear: As you prepared for your first headline tour, how did you translate the lush studio layers into a live performance setup? Any gear or strategies you relied on for that?
We were really excited to play these new songs live on this tour.
There is a fairly complicated setup when we play live. Jo can't physically play every sound, and therefore she picked the parts that she would play and programmed the relevant sounds into the two synths used live — Juno 106 and Deepmind 12.
We used MIDI to trigger the other lines and sequences that ran through the songs. Everything ran via a Cymatic module and we used a sub-mix of keyboards that was under our control.
We spent a lot of time prepping for full rehearsals, testing balances and levels to ensure that the sound would translate well.
Musicngear: Could you walk us through your studio - what’s at the heart of your sound?
In my home studio, I record everything into Logic, running on my Mac.
Vocals and instruments are recorded through a TL Audio VP-5051 Valve Processor, and I monitor at home with M-Audio BX-5s.
All vocals are recorded using a Warm Audio WA-CX12, and most of the keyboards on the album are from the Juno 106 and Deepmind 12 - although the Roland V Synth and some soft synths were also used.
Musicngear: Do you ever feel that machines and synths can express emotion in ways organic instruments can’t?
They can express emotion in different ways. There might be less predictability in terms of sound in comparison to, for example, an acoustic guitar that relies on human limitations in terms of length of note.
They can certainly be more metronomic, and for me, they give me access to atmospheres that I would not be able to recreate with an acoustic instrument.
I'm open to new technology, but I'm not at all interested in AI and the associated perfection and automation that it promises
Musicngear: From Empire Falling to Fragments, what changed in your technical or creative approach? Any new gear or production philosophies that defined this era?
There were a couple of key changes. The first was that Fragments is very much a concept album, whereas Empire Falling was more of a collection of songs that developed as musicians were understanding how to work together.
Fragments is a collection of songs looking at the nature of fragmentation, separation, identity, etc. and exploring those strands one at a time, investigating why and trying to piece things together and look for a way out.
The other key change was a deliberate decision to make the mixes less cluttered, to give the vocals and instruments more room to breathe.
By leaving more room, each element carries more emotional weight.
Musicngear: Is there a new piece of equipment or technology you’re itching to explore next - modular synths, AI tools, vintage gear hunting?
My latest purchase is a Tascam hand-held recorder. I've started collecting all sorts of sounds that I'm hoping I will be able to incorporate into new songs and give us options to explore new ways to develop material.
I'm open to new technology, but I'm not at all interested in AI and the associated perfection and automation that it promises. I love the journey of discovery and creation - including all the miss-fires on the way.
Musicngear: Ending on a lighter note, if you could travel back in time, which musical era would you choose and why?
I would choose the period 1977-1983. This was a period when music and identity really mattered, where you had big cults like punk, ska, new wave and just great music. Music production was really exciting, and new textures were developing, including new drum machines, synthesizers and effects.
Connect with Magnetic Skies
Facebook / X / Instagram / Spotify / Bandcamp / YouTube / Website
About Eugenia Roditis
Eugenia's passion for music was ignited from an early age as she grew up in a family of musicians. She loves attending concerts and festivals, while constantly seeking fresh and exciting new artists across diverse genres. Eugenia joined the MusicnGear team in 2012.
Contact Eugenia Roditis at eugenia.roditis@kinkl.com
In this section of the blog we host interviews with established but also up and coming artists we love and recommend as well as music industry professionals with tons of useful information to share.
Interested in an interview, writing a story as a guest or joining the Musicngear team as a Contributing Author? Contact us at info+blog@musicngear.com
