Published
Name: Nick Wilson aka Mr Beatnick
Nationality: British
Occupation: Producer, DJ, radio resident, label founder at Mythstery
Current release: Mr Beatnick's latest LP, Terra Arcana, is out via Tartelet.
Recommendations on the topic of sound: Mixing With Your Mind by Micheal Paul Stavrou. That’s where I got quote about music being a psycho-acoustic illusion from which I mention in the interview. Probably the best book I’ve ever read on music production, you could bin quite a lot of the other ones as most of them just say the same things over and over.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron had a transformative effect, her process genuinely had life changing effects for me, in terms of shifting how I approach writing. I gave up a lot of bad habits thanks to that way of thinking, both musically and otherwise – embracing synchronicity and self reflection.
Other than those two I’m not sure – I’d advise against watching those “how to make garage” or whatever equivalent tutorial on youtube. You’ll just end up sounding the same as everyone else, and that’s not the objective here – the objective is to distill as much of you as you can into your music, so the end result is caked in your own signature personality.
To get to that end result, read the manuals, then forget them and muck about with equipment, then turn up all the mistakes. And don’t forget to have fun!
If you enjoyed this Mr Beatnick interview and would like to know more about his music and upcoming live dates, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and bandcamp.
Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.
So, so many it would take forever – but maybe from the context of my new album project, Terra Arcana, I’d call out the band Software on Innovative Communication, Peter Mergener and Michael Weisser.
I’d describe it as melodic, clean, sequencer-driven space music built on the digital gear of the mid-80s era, like PPG, DX7 and early samplers. I love the airy, glassy textures of their music and also the way they built a universe of different albums with different themes.
Digital Dance from 1988 is the obvious one to cite with the Balearic feels of “Island Sunrise” but there is so much to explore in their catalogue - I have days where I just listen to Software for the entire day and just absorb myself in the texture.
Michael Weisser designed all the covers as well, I adore the aesthetic - early computer art, very influential.
[Read our Peter Mergener interview]
[Read our Peter Mergener interview about Chip Mediations for the New Millennium and the History of Software]
Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?
This question reminds me of Theo Parrish's Sound Sculptures Vol 1 which is a wonderful album I find really inspiring. Clearly Mr Parrish feels sound is physical as he often speaks of “sound sculptures” or “the rotating assembly” and also comes from an art background.
I guess from spending times at clubs like Plastic People, listening to DJs like Theo Parrish, or spending time at Notting Hill Carnival, I’ve definitely felt the physicality of bass, that rumble and chest rattle sensation is very material.
It’s hard to describe what making a record feels like and I’m not sure i would say it feels like a sculpture to me. It’s more like painting something you can hear, I think. There is a structural element of layering frequencies and I think I picture that in my head, but hard to articulate what that process feels like.
What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?
Recording, entirely about my home studio which I’ve spent a lot of time arranging such that it has the perfect equipment, atmosphere, environment for me to create in. Given I’ve now recorded and finished 5 albums in that room – Honeycomb (2020), Joy In Variation (2023), Coasty (2023) with Richard Greenan, Ile Flottante (2024), and now Terra Arcana, I think something must going on right in there.
I am thinking about changing the layout and rewiring, though, just to shake things up. For Coasty, Richard and I went to Margate and had fun hanging out there and recording in Prah studios, so sometimes its nice to work outside of your comfort zone and change the environment around you to see what happens and how that influences the output.
In terms of places I’ve played my music, I’ve been privileged to hear my beats on some legendary sound systems over the years. Plastic People was where I honed my production, at the open-night producer session CD-R, and I still think about that rig when I’m mixing down, in terms of where the cross-over sits and how the bottom end should sound.
There is also a cosmic disco party called Beauty And The Beat where you’ll probably find me on the dancefloor, I’ve been going for 20 years and they were hugely influential on my sound, as well as playing a few of my records on their amazing Klipsch horn rig from time to time.
Are there devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?
I’m one of those people who could talk about different pieces of equipment all day and people have to be careful not to start me off.
The Akai sampler range is one place to start; I have the MPC 60, MPC 2000, MPC 3000 and the S3000. Interestingly, despite very similar circuit designs and components, they all have slightly different “grain” or texture to them.
I would liken understanding the differences to being a bit like someone who knows an awful lot about wine, a sommelier perhaps; to the untrained palette it’s all just wine, red white or rose, but to the sommelier there is an understanding of the different notes of each bottle and what it best compliments.
There are similarities in that approach when you start getting used to the different Burr Brown DACs, and how they interact with the op amps and anti-aliasing filters in each machine, and then understanding what sounds those will best compliment in a production. I can’t choose between them, I love them all in different ways. (And sadly I don’t know much about wine, although I do enjoy a nice glass now and again.)
There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?
I read once that music is basically just a series of psycho-acoustic illusions. What is actually there isn’t what we perceive - because of the Fletcher Munson curve which suppresses and amplifies perceived frequencies in our mind. It would be funny to hear music from the perspective of an unbiased, totally flat “ear” to hear what that sounds like - but probably just really quiet in the upper mid-range, I guess.
The sound I could listen to for hours is the Fender Rhodes piano. I finally bought one recently after dreaming of owning one, from a guy up the road that was going travelling. It’s such a wonderful experience playing it, it brings me joy listening to it. If I had to keep one keyboard sound only it would probably be that.
It’s harder to pick a sound that irritates me as pretty much any sound can work in context if it’s worked in the right way. I suppose nails on a blackboard is one. Another would be this show my kid watches on youtube, Milo and Chip – this character called Chip has the most annoying voice in history.
Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?
I feel like this question is so relevant to our times and particularly those of us who are trying to create sound worlds between the speakers, who are then struggling with the requirement to compete constantly with visual content on social media to get anyone to listen to it.
As someone who grew up being captivated by sounds and records I think it’s a pity that we spend so much time looking at things on our phones. Sound can communicate really powerful feelings. I think we are all only half-listening to each other these days because of how visually bombarded we all are. I come from an era where you could only really imagine an electronic artist, unless they were on the cover, which most of the time they wouldn’t be. I think that empowered the artist in many ways and let their music speak louder.
That Underground Resistance / Drexciya / Moodymann philosophy where the music is purely how you communicate, and maybe the sleeve art also - all of that is very important to me.
Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?
I was on holiday recently with Kit Records supremos Richard Greenan & Martin Glass, and Richard and I went to this old military fort. There was a water chamber downstairs under the fort which had the most insane reverb, probably a 20 second long verb, which also gave an amplifying effect, so you had to wear ear defenders when you went in. It was incredible.
I did some really bad beatboxing and recorded it on my phone. I’d like to go back to record it properly.
Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?
I’m a sucker for outdoor island environments in the heat of summer with the sounds of waves breaking on the shore nearby, cicadas droning in the trees, bees buzzing by. Once I get to a space like that I’m completely in paradise, both sonically and mentally,
I’m now into a regular rhythm of going to the Balearic isles once a year to marinate in that experience. Sometimes you come across a really amazing sounding carpark or indeed, a squeaky door that sounds like Miles Davis, so that can happen, funny but also musically satisfying.
Also the fridges in the meat section of my local Sainsbury’s supermarket seem to drone in a really great sounding minor triad – I’ve been trying to figure out how to record them for ages but it sounded rubbish when I tried recording it on my phone.
We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?
Silence is incredibly important, especially if you live in the hectic metropolis of the city as I do, and / or have children.
I know a lot of people have ideological issues with some of these streaming platforms but I am a bit of an addict of all the streaming stuff, plus Bandcamp. With all this limitless music at your finger tips it is important to switch it off sometimes and palatte cleanse the ear a bit, otherwise you can end up dulled to the emotional power of music and just have it piped into your brain all day, such that you aren’t really listening actively.
I have a nice old school hi-fi set up in the house, maybe 4 different hi-fis in different rooms actually, 3 of which I can listen to vinyl records on. Playing records, as I am doing now whilst I write this, seems much more pleasurable than the algo-streaming, as you get these natural pauses at the end of the side, have to get up and choose something else, or turn it over. That silence is part of the experience.
