Modern Worship Sample Visionaries
Simon Kobler , Grant Konemann , and Benjamin Tennikoff are three names you need to know . Together , they ' ve founded and run Bottega , creating high quality and innovative drum and keyboard samples . These three have known each other for years and have worked together on a number of music projects . While their names may be new to some , you have heard their contributions on many of today ' s most popular recordings , most notably on Hillsong Worship and United projects . With a kind of infatuation with the pursuit of better and more interesting sounds , Bottega spends their time exploring vintage and modern synths , a plethora of drums and percussion and a range of keyboards … trying every combination they can think of , then turning it all upside down .
We sat down with Bottega to learn a bit more about who they are , what they do , and how you can get in on the action .
[ WM ] What brought the three of you together to create drum samples under the name Bottega ?
[ Grant Konemann ] Well , Bottega originally began with just Simon Kobler ( Kobes ) and I . We worked closely together on a number of music projects and we loved every minute of it . Between writing and recording drum parts , venturing down the windy path of acoustic percussion , and finishing up at what can only be described as the quicksand of post-production drums , we would come out the other side with the biggest grins on our faces . After cycling these steps numerous times , we could tell that we loved the work and amidst it all we became great friends . So we decided to build Bottega and share the love with the world . Naturally we began with drums and percussion , making our inaugural sample pack , “ Debut ”, and then on to additional packs .
Through all of those aforementioned music projects , we were also working with Benjamin
Tennikoff ( Tenni ) as a sounding board for our work . Tenni always had excellent feedback and we had a lot of respect for his opinion ( often implementing it ). One thing turned into another and we found ourselves knowing we couldn ’ t live with ourselves without his official involvement and so we made him an offer he couldn ’ t refuse . The rest is history … Well , I guess the rest is more like the future because we are just getting started .
[ WM ] There is such a wide variety of samples out there . How do you decide what types of sounds to create and how they can be used ?
[ Grant ] We ’ ve always been after specific sounds , often hearing the end goal in our heads first . We would find ourselves searching libraries , digging through packs that seemed too broad in scope and struggling to find what we wanted . This process was time consuming , not to mention the additional processing that was almost always needed to make things