Oli Freke is a musician and journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Quietus, and Electronic Sound. He has used math to explore the limits of the Western 12-tone scale, written deep dives on obscure synthesizers, and even traced the history of a particular instrument from 1963 through 1995. His new project is Beat Gems, a coffee-table visual history of drum machines from publisher Bjooks. Like other Bjooks titles, Beat Gems is loaded with gorgeous photos, fascinating historical tidbits, and practical advice for making the most of your gear, whether it is a vintage classic or a modern oddity.
We asked Freke about his creative process, his favorite gear, and what he would spend big money on. Here is what he said.
What is the first piece of software you install on a new computer?
If I am buying a new computer, it will almost certainly be my music computer, so I will be installing Ableton Live straight away. It is a remarkable piece of music software, with a feature set that still feels staggering compared to when I started making electronic music with an Atari ST 520 that could just about manage MIDI, with no audio at all.
What is your most-used social media platform?
Probably YouTube, if we are counting it as social media. It is brilliant having experts in almost any subject area explain ideas, concepts, and methods. I watch a lot of science, maths, chess, and, inevitably, electronic music. I could do with fewer algorithmic clickbait temptations, which is one reason I am not a heavy user of other social media platforms.
What is the worst tech purchase you have ever made?
Vegetable choppers and cubers seem like a great idea, but they never work properly and never actually save any time or effort.
What is the one piece of creative work you wish you had made?
Dungeon Master on the Atari ST was incredible. It is world-building on a memory shoestring when severe technical constraints existed, and the results were truly creative.
As a musician, is there a song you wish you had written?
As a musician, I wish I had written a song that the whole world knew and loved, and that fans would demand I play at every opportunity — until I got so heartily sick of it that, in the end, I wished I had never written it. Perhaps this has happened, and all these wishes have come true!
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
From my father (I am appropriately writing this on Father's Day in the UK): "Say yes to any opportunity that comes your way — worry about whether you can do it or not later!"
What is the most underrated piece of music technology?
Drum machines! Researching for the book has reminded me of the primacy of rhythm to the human musical experience; how drum machines have tapped into this need, and in doing so have transformed musical culture over the last sixty years. It is utterly fascinating.
What do you listen to while working?
I put on DI.FM, choose a set of banging drum'n'bass rollers, and then I am very happy and focused.
How do you get past creative block?
Remind myself of the infinite number of combinations of ideas. I once wrote an article that demonstrated there were 82 quintillion (82^18) 10-note melodies that can be written with the eight notes of the octave.
What is the last great record you bought?
The soundtrack on vinyl to a beautiful film called The Naked Ear. It is about an obscure synth from the early 1980s and a daughter's quest to learn about her father, who invented it but sadly died while she was a baby. Cannot recommend it enough.
If you had an unlimited budget, what would you buy?
A high-quality road bicycle. Compared with cars, bikes are cheap, and you can buy machines not far off the quality professionals use for relatively reasonable sums. The difference between a good bike and a run-of-the-mill one is vast. Cycling in the countryside on a good bike brings me a great deal of joy.
What is your dream biopic?
Watch a man type words into a computer. For ages. Then watch him make music on a computer. Also for ages. Then watch him do some normal things involving a house, family, and car. Occasionally he is turned away from boarding a plane to Berlin to go to the launch of his Kickstarter because they changed the rules without him realizing it! Disappointingly, this does not transform the biopic into a Mission: Impossible type scenario.