Brandon Arnovick
Occupation:
guitarist, producer and multi-instrumentalist
Official Website:
http://www.thebastardprince.com
Background:
San Francisco based guitarist/producer/multi-instrumentalist Brandon Arnovick a.k.a. The Bastard Prince has carved an impressive niche for himself in the music community throughout multiple scenes. After moving to San Francisco in the mid-1990s, Arnovick quickly hooked up with trendsetting producer Dan the Automator and became the go-to guitarist for Automator productions and tours. Arnovick contributed guitar to such landmark projects as Deltron 3030, Lovage and Handsome Boy Modeling School, as well as joining all three groups for several U.S. tours. In 2003 he worked with Galactic on their definitive third album Ruckus, and upon returning home from New Orleans hooked up with Bay Area songwriter/producer Jim Greer and formed a production team called the Rondo Brothers.
Almost immediately the Rondo Brothers were asked to join Warner Brothers act Head Automatica, and subsequently toured the United States with such seminal acts as The Rapture, Interpol, Thursday and The Cure. The Rondo Brothers’ studio abilities have kept them consistently busy as a studio team working on remixes, records, films and commercials. Advanced studio exploration led Arnovick to develop a love for electronic music and glitch/IDM soundscapes created by laptops and synthesizers. His prowess in this arena led then-Interscope act The Lovemakers to invite him on board as a keyboardist, and now he maintains a busy schedule touring with both the Rondo Brothers and The Lovemakers as well as working full-time in the studio.
Brandon Arnovick
Arnovick on M-Audio hardware: “Using the Conectiv interface with the Torq software, I am able to take a sample of the track we are working on and cut or scratch it back into the session. We burn the riff or vocal piece to a CD and then import it into Torq. From there we have all of the abilites that you would have if your track was already recorded to an LP. You can cut vocals back into your master track over the chorus, you can re-deliver a guitar riff so that it has the sound of an old sample—your options are endless.
“I like to use Torq for any and all kinds of DJ gigs. When I go on tour I run into a lot of options to DJ an after party or on a day off. When I travel with Torq I have the option to play on a full rig with two turntables and a mixer or just off my laptop with or without a small MIDI controller. It’s the best of both worlds because you can take full advantage of any situation.
“Using the MicroTrack 24/96 handheld digital recorder I am able to get field recordings and record found sounds everywhere I go. When I run into someone while traveling that has a rare drum machine, I can quickly record a few beats and hits into the MicroTrack to cut up later. We just finished the Toys Volume 1 sample CD for DJs and producers and tracked so many different toys and robots from all over the place—the MicroTrack was an awesome tool for that. It’s great not having to set up a small studio rig and still get a great recording. We just finished an 11 spot job for Comcast, and when it gets down to crunch time we have both workstations going and a third person on the MicroTrack brainstorming guitar and wurlitzer riffs to meet the deadlines.
“The M-Audio Keystation 61es is our largest mobile MIDI controller. We use it to trigger and play a myriad of soft synths including Digidesign’s Hybrid, Velvet and many more. I also use the Keystation 61es for live performances to trigger samples in Ableton Live and to play Cycling 74 soft synths on the fly.
“The M-Audio gear that we have in our studio is reliable and works well. We will continue to integrate newer and more M-Audio gear into our studio as we grow and have more use and need.”
Arnovick on M-Audio software: “I use my Pro Tools HD system every day to track bands, do remixes and score commercials. It’s completely reliable and solid day after day, week after week—with little to no downtime. I am able to audition options and different effects on the fly and in front of clients to get opinions on tracks and ideas. When I go on the road, I take a Digidesign Mbox and I work from the road in a more compromised but still very free environment. We score commercials for network television using M-Audio gear in conjunction with Pro Tools and produce high-profile bands as well. We are able to send tracks back and forth a lot easier with the various versions of Pro Tools, including Pro Tools M-Powered. The cost of getting a good studio up and running is much less than it used to be.”
His songwriting process: “I like to sit with an acoustic guitar and come up with cool riffs that will eventually turn into a song and then I will write lyrics to it based on an idea and have the melody somehow flow with the guitar part. I use the MicroTrack to record guitar stuff and vocal ideas and then I will drop the file into Pro Tools and build the rest of the song up around that.”
