Jasper Tygner is a producer, DJ, composer and multi-instrumentalist from North London. Shaped by early raving experiences growing up in London’s electronic underground scene, Jasper cites legendary institution Plastic People, along with a deep reverence for Jungle, dubstep and garage as key formative influences.
With his early releases on Shall Not Fade and Needwant along with a two-part release on Silver Bear Recordings, Jasper is taking solid leaps with his solo project and progressing as a producer and DJ alike.
Recently Jasper released his debut album Blue, The record features collaborations with Art School Girlfriend, Kaeto and rising newcomers holybones.
We chatted with Jasper on how he uses the Prophet ’08 and Prophet Rev2 in his music:
What made you choose the Prophet ‘08?
I bought The Prophet ‘08 with all my money in second year Uni. I didn’t really have a clue about synthesizers and had just seen videos of James Blake and Mura Masa using it, so I thought it must be good – I could never have dreamed it would become such a core part of my sound.
How has it shaped your sound over the years, including your new album?
For a while it was my only synth, and it’s been right next to my desk for years now, so it’s the first thing I switch on, and I just gravitate to it now. I’m so used to its sonics and workflow. It’s a pretty happy accident that I bought it, and I can’t really imagine making music without it. For the album I used it on every track – it’s so linked to my sound and how I want my synths to sound now. For Blue I’ve been running it through either my Sherman filter bank or a borrowed Vermona to add some extra goodness.
Tell us about the new album and what it means to you.
My debut Album Blue is an exploration of journeys, stories and textures inspired by people’s experience of the ‘blue hour’, when the sun is starting to come up. I imagined someone cycling home at 4:00 a.m. recounting an emotional night and stopping for clarity at a viewpoint, or another person’s bus ride home from the outskirts of a city whilst looking out the steamed-up window at a deep blue sky with road lights going past. I would call the album gently euphoric; it’s made for headphones on a long journey.
Has your sound always been hardware-based? What made you move towards this?
Yes. There’s something unpredictable, classic and untouchable about hardware. It’s the happy accidents that makes it. Plus committing to audio is such a nice workflow. But also, there’s something human about making adjustments to hardware – you can’t turn six knobs all at once like with soft synths. Also, I’m very dyslexic and hate menus, or buttons with multiple functions, so one knob per function synths are usually my go to. Plus there’s beauty in the simplistic.
Any interesting Prophet ‘08 / Rev2 tricks or techniques you would like to share?
I think my favourite is wacking an LFO on the audio mod. It adds this weird, synchronized crunch. For me, with all hardware, adding movement and irregularities is my goal.
You’ve had some time with Fourm now too. How have you found it so far?
I’ve had an interesting time with the Fourm. It’s a super powerful instrument, and I’m interested to see how it’s going to be used in my next releases. I reckon some weird pads and plucky leads are what I’ll be using it for.
LINKS
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