If you’re a fan of tough underground tech house, chances are you’re more than familiar with Sidney Charles’ work. Over the past few years, he’s carved out his own signature sound of house and tech-house, using big techno kicks with 90s inspired stabs and melodies. With key releases on some of the biggest labels and excellent performances at the world’s best clubs, it’s easy to see why and how he’s been so successful. Ahead of his forthcoming “Time To Groove” release via Rejected on 10/18, we caught up with him to take a peek into his studio. Below, you’ll find some of his essential bits of kit, as well as why he loves them so.
Technics 1200 mk2
I sampled quite a few bits for my tune on HHS. Normally when I get to the studio I always first get through some very old records and see what I could use in some of my tracks. My mother used to be a music journalist writing critics for all kinds of genres. I have all her old records here in my studio and some of them are pure gold. I love this turntable so much because it was my first kit of music gear when I was sixteen. It was a present from one of my mum’s DJ friends called Dj ZAK who used to be famous in the Balearic Sa Trinxa times at Salinas Ibiza.
Everything started with this turntable.
Korg Volca Bass
For Bassline of my has release I have used the Volca bass from Korg. It is normally not ma fav kit to use for baseline but I just love its analog sound…its not so easy to use but when you got the sound you wanted it sounds super raw and dope especially for old school influenced tracks.
KORG Minilogue
Its probably my favorite machine atm…im using it for mostly musical elements like stabs, pads, and arpeggiators. It’s just great to use and especially for house music. It has a super warm sounding aspect to it that always gives my tracks a certain edge that I can’t get with any vst plugin. It’s super hard to not use it in my productions right now I really fell in love with it.
Roland TB-3 Touch Bassline
I love the TB-3 especially for baselines because it already gives you some great movements out of nowhere and you suddenly end up with really funky baselines. In this track on his though I mainly used it for lower-mid movements to create more groove in connection with kick and bassline.
Allen & Heath ZED14
I sum up all my gear with the Allen & Heath ZED 14. It makes it much easier to use several synths at the same time. On the right, you can also see my midi router so I can write MIDI in my DAW using analog kits.
AKAI MPK249
My go-to MIDI controller. For my drums, I love to use the pads where I route all kinds of samples that I have recorded or I can find in my collection. I definitely can’t live without it as I use it constantly to record from my hardware but as well use it for everything that is happening in my DAW.
