Max Cooper: "The way I work is more like a sculptor than a musician" - Studio tour and interview

Over the past decade, Max Cooper has emerged as one of the UK's most innovative and interesting electronic producers, creating a body of work that leans heavily on natural themes and evocative soundscapes, and spans the realms of audio and visual arts. We visited Max in his studio following his recent Seme project, an EP and live performance that saw him bridging the gap between electronic music and modern classical. The piece was recently performed at both the Salzburg Easter Festival and London's Barbican.
Stay tuned for more In The Studio videos with Max in the coming weeks.
Max Cooper - Seme is out now via Mesh
maxcooper.bandcamp.com/album/...
In this video:
00:00:05 - Max Cooper's favourite synths
00:05:55 - Go-to effects pedals
00:11:04 - How Max uses software to mix drums
00:17:55 - Combining electronic and classic influences for Seme
00:22:16 - What technology or technique is exciting you?
00:25:42 - Where will music technology go in the next 10 years?
00:31:04 - Max Cooper's essential production tip

Пікірлер: 112

  • @ArielAfk
    @ArielAfkАй бұрын

    This man is a legends, thanks for opening your studio to us

  • @kingklabe
    @kingklabeАй бұрын

    It's always nice and refreshing to see how humble and honest (some of) the greatest musicians are when showing off their studio and talking about their artistic process.

  • @lennartrauhe7194
    @lennartrauhe7194Ай бұрын

    Big props for his honesty about his knowledge gaps in compression! 👍 We all learn much faster and better if we don't pretend to know everything :) Way too many people on KZread spread their half gained knowledge, often subjective and steered towards their own style and genre. It works for them, because they're not conscious of their whole process yet, so they teach only what they have learned, missing what they do by feeling and the fact that it is pretty much completely unique to themselves. It takes at least a decade of experience to be able to teach the principals, instead of only your own way of getting to the achieved results. A good teacher will know the goal and everything around it, so he sees unlimited amounts of ways. He's able to show a way for everyone individually, from where they stand.

  • @Winterdagen
    @WinterdagenАй бұрын

    One of the very best! Love having a look in his kitchen

  • @TheValueOfN
    @TheValueOfNАй бұрын

    Max and Amon are the two producers whose music excites me the most. I've been craving this kind of insight from Max for a long time. Thank you. Please do a similar thing with Amon. Both of their collaborative visual creations are often exquisite and it'd be interesting to learn about how they both communicate their ideas with those who create the visual art that seems to perfectly accompany their music and the processes that are involved.

  • @PanopticMotion
    @PanopticMotionАй бұрын

    I enjoyed every minute of this video. Thank you!

  • @exorhollend
    @exorhollendАй бұрын

    A brilliant creator!!!🙏

  • @nizer7147
    @nizer7147Ай бұрын

    Max is such an incredible artist I was excited to watch this. This interview was insightful but was hoping for a lot more. I like listening to him talk but hopefully in the future videos a little more is put in to producing an engaging interview and studio tour that goes a little deeper in to the processes and workflows and magic that Max makes beyond gear descriptions.

  • @luckystrke
    @luckystrkeАй бұрын

    GREAT! Thx guys

  • @in_10z
    @in_10z4 күн бұрын

    Max is a beast. I can't ever get enough of his work. But listen in close....@28:10 for couple minutes....maybe listen twice. Will be even more interesting to listen back in 5 years. The revolution has begun................ buckle up.

  • @ChirpoTunes
    @ChirpoTunesАй бұрын

    Would have been good to hear a little more about Max's life, his trajectory, upbringing, formative youth years - always good to have a peak into the studio, but the artist is usually much more interesting than the equipment. For diy musicians that are interested in this type of content, wouldn't it be nice if there was some perspective on what's different about them as a person and their experience, rather than whats different about their gear. Really enjoyed this but as ever, i am left with the same questions - is my approach less productive and why? How do my favorite musicians afford to spend $30k on gear? If their sound is typified by their gear then what came first and how did that come about? Where did the work ethic come from? How did the artist manage to switch into doing music full time? How did the first live performances go and what was the prep work for instrumentalising parts made in the box ? How risky was it for an artist to sacrifice more conventional career progression in favour of follow the dream? Most people have no safety net and its difficult to follow a passion at great financial expense with zero guarantees of that investment ever paying itself off in actual money, not to mention the amount of time that has to be spent to make progress as an artist. I have so many more similar questions and im always begging to hear successful artists explain these more personal and difficult questions, without skipping over the hard facts (often socio-economic background stuff), or speaking of success retroactively in idioms like 'i couldnt have done anything other than this' - yeah nah you could, thats what 99% of people who engage with this content are doing. Max is an incredible artist and hes done more than three of my lifetimes 'spare time' could allow whilst being only 7 years older than me. This is all meant with love, no negativity towards successful creatives or the channel, i just hope im typing what a lot of people are thinking. Keep at it everybody! Thank you for being, thank you for doing, its not always easy, and you wouldnt bother if it was. All love,

  • @jewfinigan863

    @jewfinigan863

    23 күн бұрын

    What I really want to know is what kind of salt he uses for contemporary seasoning of daily meals

  • @WastelandSurvival2
    @WastelandSurvival2Ай бұрын

    Seen Max multiple times & even met him in a bar once. super inspiring guy, his work & shows just always leave you mind blown.

  • @goodman1127
    @goodman1127Ай бұрын

    Appreciate your music, sonic approach and wide collaboration with videomakers

  • @ComposerMichaelDow
    @ComposerMichaelDowАй бұрын

    Strange he calls the juno an fm synth... And the summit an analog synth...

  • @amado7760
    @amado7760Ай бұрын

    Dr. Cooper is awesome !!!!

  • @AngMoKio8
    @AngMoKio8Ай бұрын

    Great interview. Interesting musician.

  • @Cle44139
    @Cle44139Ай бұрын

    Max was the soundtrack during the early days of Lockdown, I will always be forever grateful for his records. ...on a positive note, did everyone else just get like 10% smarter listening to him speak?

  • @Confuzius

    @Confuzius

    Ай бұрын

    why would i get smarter listening to him talk?

  • @Cle44139

    @Cle44139

    Ай бұрын

    @Confuzius haha...well, with a name like confuzius it might not help 😅 but to folks with gear making music he is pretty insightful talking about how he uses things like saturation & his pedal chain.

  • @EggZema_
    @EggZema_Ай бұрын

    I remember seeing him DJ just a week before Covid had hit the Netherlands and the lockdown slowly came. It was the last party I went to…

  • @Bimbotronic
    @BimbotronicАй бұрын

    Thank you very much for the interview and specially features of the last two amazing guests (Tourist and Max Cooper) very inspiring. A dream to see and hear the next guest Jon Hopkins ) but I think it's almost impossible..

  • @rcecil88
    @rcecil88Ай бұрын

    Makes such interesting music, loved his early releases on Sasha’s label.

  • @rileybeemusic
    @rileybeemusic4 күн бұрын

    Oooh, I heard mention of working on a new show? You’re doing some soundtracking? Been waiting to hear news like this for probably about a decade. :)

  • @MXVDJ
    @MXVDJ4 күн бұрын

    When I got the unison advert in the middle of this video, it was a stark contrast of how bollox that plugin is vs how much of a genius this guy is 😂

  • @djinntoneinc5492
    @djinntoneinc5492Ай бұрын

    At last, a look into the creative space, thank you MusicRadar and thank you Max for doing this. I can't wait to get my hands on a few pieces of kit mentioned here....Not the Moog One though, way out of my league, price-wise. There is a question that is burning me up here though, Max (if you're reading this), when you go ahead and play/record stuff and then put it through your effects/dynamics chains, do you end up recording the result down to audio files, or do you save as much as is possible through MIDI routing so as to be able to play it again later during a track and re-modify it for a final mix? Or do you do a hybrid of both?

  • @synkrotron
    @synkrotron11 күн бұрын

    I totally relate to the sculptor comment

  • @cornishwavesmusic
    @cornishwavesmusicАй бұрын

    Found this so interesting and always thought Max would love the Pro 3 which i love ,is paraphonic though but the patching is so easy

  • @sturdyblock

    @sturdyblock

    Ай бұрын

    Pro 2 .

  • @Kung_Fu_Jesus

    @Kung_Fu_Jesus

    Ай бұрын

    @@sturdyblockPro3 & Pro2 work beautifully together

  • @sturdyblock

    @sturdyblock

    Ай бұрын

    @@Kung_Fu_Jesus I sold my Pro 3 and kept hold of my Pro 2. I found the Pro 3 a tad sterile.

  • @cornishwavesmusic

    @cornishwavesmusic

    Ай бұрын

    @@sturdyblock I know he has the Pro 2, just saying he would like the Pro 3

  • @Kung_Fu_Jesus

    @Kung_Fu_Jesus

    Ай бұрын

    @@sturdyblock I was close to selling the Pro2 to fund the Pro3 but decided both sound amazing and kept both. The Pro3 comes alive in the distortion and feedback, I’ve had some absolutely cosmic jams with it and also made some serious cinematic sounds too. You might regret selling it down the line

  • @HonkletonDonkleton
    @HonkletonDonkletonАй бұрын

    How many accents has this man got? He's from everywhere

  • @NgaTaeOfficial

    @NgaTaeOfficial

    Ай бұрын

    He's from the same country as Lord Petyr Beylish

  • @sandipannath9588
    @sandipannath9588Ай бұрын

    any idea how(what) are the three mini screens connected to the Mac?

  • @MusicRadarTech

    @MusicRadarTech

    Ай бұрын

    These are connected to a MacBook running visual software Max uses for his live shows. We'll have a video looking at this in depth in the coming weeks

  • @sandipannath9588

    @sandipannath9588

    Ай бұрын

    @@MusicRadarTech Looking forward to it. I can't figure out what brand those monitors are. Perhaps you could throw some light on it (no pun intended) already?

  • @Polydarian
    @PolydarianАй бұрын

    What is the plugin that pops up at 23:21 ?

  • @Sainttropezyeye

    @Sainttropezyeye

    Ай бұрын

    It's GLM : the Genelec monitor control app for the speakers!

  • @PanopticMotion
    @PanopticMotionАй бұрын

    Does anyone know the brand of the computer display monitor he's using?

  • @MadelnMachines

    @MadelnMachines

    Ай бұрын

    Top of the range Genelec

  • @PanopticMotion

    @PanopticMotion

    Ай бұрын

    @@MadelnMachines Thanks. I meant the display monitor :)

  • @MadelnMachines

    @MadelnMachines

    Ай бұрын

    😂

  • @CraigCrouse

    @CraigCrouse

    Ай бұрын

    ​@@PanopticMotion I think it's probably just a good TV panel

  • @user-vu6du5nx9q

    @user-vu6du5nx9q

    Ай бұрын

    @@CraigCrouse it's an ultrawide monitor so not a TV.

  • @pedrofloriani
    @pedroflorianiАй бұрын

    what is the name of this kontakt instrument at 23:00?

  • @novonmusic

    @novonmusic

    19 күн бұрын

    it's called: FOLDS :)

  • @sheeepman
    @sheeepmanАй бұрын

    ahaha THE Max Cooper has stock Ableton limiter on the master, my mind has just expanded beyond this universe. there is truly no magic sauce except for the artists themselves :)

  • @total_leftie

    @total_leftie

    Ай бұрын

    or that's just to catch peaks while he's creating..? there is defo magic sauce...

  • @user-xs1vr4rk7s
    @user-xs1vr4rk7s4 күн бұрын

    A super switched on guy! Every release of his is pure quality! 👌

  • @djk-tana52
    @djk-tana5226 күн бұрын

    We def have the same cable management haha

  • @christdolphin69
    @christdolphin69Ай бұрын

    Wait, he called the summit analog and the Juno 6 “classic fm”? Does this guy know what he’s talking about?

  • @MeisseLee

    @MeisseLee

    Ай бұрын

    My thoughts exactly

  • @NgaTaeOfficial

    @NgaTaeOfficial

    Ай бұрын

    @@MeisseLee we all mis-speak from time to time. He really does know what he’s talking about.

  • @BaltimoreReese

    @BaltimoreReese

    Ай бұрын

    I think he misspoke maybe because he’s nervous because he also called the Minataur a Moog one

  • @AngMoKio8

    @AngMoKio8

    Ай бұрын

    Also the summit is not really 100% analog. To my knowledge only the filters are analog.

  • @sonicrevolutions2779
    @sonicrevolutions2779Ай бұрын

    So the Summit is analog and the Juno a FM synth? Right.

  • @markorichardson5009

    @markorichardson5009

    Ай бұрын

    😂

  • @shapeshifta3431

    @shapeshifta3431

    Ай бұрын

    got a link to your music? thought not.

  • @eternalsence3033

    @eternalsence3033

    Ай бұрын

    @@shapeshifta3431 has nothing to do with anything, he just pointed out his error, having that much gear then saying fm to juno lel

  • @christdolphin69

    @christdolphin69

    Ай бұрын

    Caught this too. Very confusing

  • @AngMoKio8

    @AngMoKio8

    Ай бұрын

    Also noticed that, but I guess he is just a real artist, more caring about the sound than the technical details.

  • @scotthstevenson
    @scotthstevensonАй бұрын

    Why speaker behind screen ?

  • @radiowaves13

    @radiowaves13

    Ай бұрын

    Surrround / Atmos - he’ll have more behind the mix position

  • @scotthstevenson

    @scotthstevenson

    Ай бұрын

    @@radiowaves13for solely immersive in contrast to his stereo tracks he releases ?

  • @FairuzOsman
    @FairuzOsman24 күн бұрын

    Idk why he’d use tap tempo on the microcosm lol it has midi 🤷🏻‍♀️

  • @VEsound

    @VEsound

    21 күн бұрын

    It’s another way, more simple in his setup maybe, to do the job.

  • @Mathew-ff6xo
    @Mathew-ff6xo15 күн бұрын

    “How can I set up a system that has a life of its own?”

  • @ghfjfghjasdfasdf
    @ghfjfghjasdfasdfАй бұрын

    @ 3:40 the “famous” space echo 😆 tried UAD’s emulation of it, sounded like a delay…. 👍🤓 heard much cooler and more capable with other companies

  • @nostandingonlydancin

    @nostandingonlydancin

    Ай бұрын

    The re201 is super iconic. None of the digital emulations sound quite right. Absolutely need the real thing. If I could afford one.

  • @ghfjfghjasdfasdf

    @ghfjfghjasdfasdf

    Ай бұрын

    Laughable. There is nothing hardware wise I could ever prefer over working in the box. Just for a good laugh, how much are fools willing to pay for this delay in hardware form?

  • @christdolphin69

    @christdolphin69

    Ай бұрын

    @@ghfjfghjasdfasdfit’s a tape delay. It’s not just a vst in a box, unless you’re referring to the uad pedal, which I’ve heard is actually really good

  • @CeruleanAscent

    @CeruleanAscent

    Ай бұрын

    ​@@ghfjfghjasdfasdfI think they're about £600 nowadays. Which is a lot. 🤣 Tbh, I think a hardline is never that helpful though. I like to use both and there's particular styles and approaches that lend themselves to working in or out of the box, in my experience. A lot of what I use boils down to what i can afford in a balance of competing life priorities - in the box is quicker, but sometimes working with hardware sparks very different ideas. Switching up workflow is really useful to me in keeping creative and being productive, and working up new ideas. Horses for courses and each to their own though, right?

  • @Strafuzz

    @Strafuzz

    Ай бұрын

    Aren’t echo’s and delays the same thing?

  • @supamarx5782
    @supamarx5782Ай бұрын

    Absolutely torture to hear an electronic master talk about the wonderful sounds a synth or pedal makes without letting us hear examples. It could have been so great but it ended up being so boring. Like somebody telling you all about last night's dream.

  • @sederquest

    @sederquest

    Ай бұрын

    I know right? 😅

  • @RandomNoiseMusic

    @RandomNoiseMusic

    Ай бұрын

    Haha true. I was skipping and skipping trying to land on some sounds until i reached the end of the video disappointed..

  • @Anteflop

    @Anteflop

    Ай бұрын

    You guys are free to look up the endless sea of product demos for everything he pointed out here. There’s a lot to glean from this video - but maybe you’d rather him come to your house and teach you how to make a sound, because anything short of that is apparently boring 🥱

  • @supamarx5782

    @supamarx5782

    Ай бұрын

    @@Anteflop Nice strawman try, completely missing the point. Why do you listen to Max Cooper tracks? Make your own music right?

  • @Anteflop

    @Anteflop

    Ай бұрын

    @@supamarx5782 What part of your comment did I miss? “The video was so boring because he didn’t make any sounds”. Is that not the point you were making?

  • @Farold_Haltermeyer
    @Farold_HaltermeyerАй бұрын

    Maybe you had limited time with him but basic content illustrates what it describes...where are the sounds? Dull without, sorry

  • @MusicRadarTech

    @MusicRadarTech

    Ай бұрын

    This video is just the first part of a more extensive piece coming in the coming weeks

  • @ChirpoTunes

    @ChirpoTunes

    Ай бұрын

    I maybe should have read this prior to my long long post - really hoping to learn more from the upcoming content, thanks for putting this out. ​@@MusicRadarTech

  • @busterbuster1641
    @busterbuster164128 күн бұрын

    Public school boy