PHOTO BY STEVE JOHNSON / PEXELS
The interview responses have been edited for clarity and length .
CM : With the huge range of sounds available , how do you approach finding the right sound ?
Brandon Bliss : With Monster Truck , it ’ s actually quite easy . My primary instrument is the Hammond B3 , which is very versatile and gives me a wide range of tonal options . Also , I have multiple keyboard / plug-in versions of that and have cultivated tones within them for years now . Secondarily , I go to classic keyboard sounds , acoustic / electric pianos , and electric organs ; on their own or as layers beneath the Hammond . Lastly , there are so many great plug-ins out there that I ’ m fond of creating patches with — you never know when a cool sound is going to come in handy .
Kevin Comeau : There ’ s a delicate balance between adding new textures to our sonic palette with each album and going too far with my gear acquisition syndrome . I like to add one or two new keyboards into each new album , so I don ’ t get overwhelmed with option anxiety . For the new album we ’ re working on , I picked up a Sequential OB-6 and that ’ s been an inspiration .
I try to let each instrument fill its niche . If I ’ m laying down rhythm guitars I usually reach for my Gibson SGs . For a guitar solo , I almost always reach for my Fender Strats . For bass sounds , I always go to my Moog Taurus 3s . For pads , my Roland JX-8P is a mainstay .
Ninety-nine percent of the time , a good performance on a quality instrument sounds good . When I ’ m programming a patch on a hardware synth , there ’ s no need for tons of modulation routing . I usually gravitate to simpler synth patches . When I ’ m working in the box for demos , it ’ s easy to start layering synths to fill out the space , but when I plug my Moog Taurus or JX-8P in direct with a bit of reverb , it ’ s perfect .
Steph Copeland : Scoring for film / media , there ’ s a lot of discussion with the director or production about what we ’ re going for with the music , so when I ’ m building the instrument template for the project , I have a good idea of
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 51