Javier Torrealba
Ambient/Electronic/Experimental musician based in Oslo, Norway. A self-taught musician playing bass in bands for many years, from punk rock to electro-pop, but always curious about analog synthesizers and experimental music, decided to start experimenting with several Moog synthesizers and the eurorack modular format around 2020, listening to what the machines had to say and recording the dialogs direct to cassette using a 4 track Tascam Portastudio cassette recorder from 1982, the result of those dialogs are printed in the self-releases La Maquina De Viento, Uneven/Estructuras and Ceremonia.
Who is the "human" behind the artist Javier Torrealba and how did you get into music?
Born and raised in Venezuela, moved to Norway in 2001, father of four and work as a Satellite Operator as my "day job". I got into music at a kind of late age, I was always a music fan, but it wasn't before around 16 or 17 when I picked up my first instrument.
A friend of mine wanted to form a punk rock band and he needed a bass player, so I bought one bass that was not in a good shape, but kind of fit the aesthetics of the band. Musically we clicked immediately, we got us a very young drummer, I think he was 14 at the time, and started playing gigs as soon as we had around 6 songs "ready". That was a lot of fun, even if I could not play bass properly at the time, I learned a lot from that first experience.
"MachineRoom" sounds great and fulfills the topic of "discussing machines" in every single sound, where did you get the idea from?
Thanks! I got the idea from the sounds we listen in our everyday life, the ones that are always present like the wobbly sound of a fridge, or rhythms from a washing machine, but we never actually pay attention to, and I know this is nothing new or groundbreaking, I think many musicians can capture rhythms and melodies in their heads coming from the urban noises while taking a walk in the city or even just record the actual sounds with a phone and make a song out of it, but I am not a sampling person, I prefer to make the sounds from scratch with my synths. So, I decided to make a phrase that can work as a repetitive “strong” opinion and worked the filter of the synth in a way that can humanize it a bit. The other elements will follow the conversational topic, but with variations in the “voice” like tone and texture and some others will just try to interrupt the main speaker only to get their voices across. While I was composing this piece, I was always thinking about situations like politicians in a parliament having an argument, like all of them speaking at the same time, where everybody is trying to win the conversation, but trying to remain calm at the same time in order to not change the civilized atmosphere to chaos.
If you take a look/a listen on "Ceremonia", what track caused the most "troubles"?
I think the track that was a bit more challenging in the album was Enredadera, because I decided to make this one only using the Make Noise Shared System. I wanted to use only this system on this track to limit myself in order to spark creativity and to see how far I could take it, and after listening to the track I think I could have push it way more, but I like to create deadlines for myself and if I feel like if the track is kind of finish around the deadline I move to the next idea, otherwise the album never gets done, and I like to apply a “finish what you start “ philosophy with my music. I am considering making a whole album only with the Make Noise Shared System, it could be fun, but we will see.
I have read something about the Tascam 244, please let us know more about the recording process?
The recording process with a Tascam 244 could not be easier, as long as you limit yourself, because this machine is 4 track cassette recorder, there is some tricks you can do to obtain a couple of more track out of it, but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, so I only used the 4 tracks available. There is a function where you can record all 4 tracks at once and since I like to apply strict rules to my process, no overdubs, no editing and the track must be recorded in one take, it worked perfect for me. I use track 1 and 2 of the Tascam for the left and right output of one synth and track 3 and 4 for the left and right output of the other synth I panned track 1 and 2 hard left and hard right and do the same for tracks 3 and 4 and record all 4 tracks at once.
The result is that I get a good stereo field for both synths and it is more fun to do it this way. If I make a mistake during the recording process, which happens a lot, I have to start all over again. Some people might find this tedious or making things difficult for the sake of it, but I find it more human, focused and musical. When I am happy with a take, I adjust the levels and apply some EQ if needed and that’s it.
Of course, I need to digitize the take because is recorded in a cassette and it need to be send to mastering, so I just play the cassette with the final mix (the levels adjusted and the EQ applied) and record the output from the Tascam into a DAW and send the stereo track to the mastering studio, which in my case has been and hopefully will be for future releases 12k Mastering owned and run by Taylor Deupree.
You are based in Oslo, how would you describe the Indie Scene there?
The indie scene in Oslo is big! For me it seems like there is a constant flow of new artists every year, and there are many small venues all around the city that showcase these awesome musical acts, there is as well big festivals like Øya that, even though they book big international bands, give a lot of space to new indie artists.
We have as well By:Larm, that is kind of like the South by Southwest in Scandinavia and there is Urørt which is like a platform for showcasing the Norwegian musical artist in every genre, and it is run it by the well establish radio station P3, and we have legendary record labels like Hubro and Fysisk Format, that sign and work with really talented indie bands, from experimental, to jazz, to punk rock. Yes, there is always something going on in Oslo!
...and what's next for you?
Right now, I am working with a filmmaker friend of mine to make a couple of videos for some songs from Ceremonia, hopefully it is going to be done soon and I am starting a new project, it is going to be a duo with guitar and synth.
We are still jamming and figuring things out, but it looks promising so I hope we can record an EP this year, we’ll see about that and I am starting to get ideas to what it can be my next solo record, there is a lot to explore with my instruments, so we are just getting started.
