TrentemøllerTextures & Malfunctions
with MicroFreak
Copenhagen, Denmark: for over 20 years, Trentemøller has explored the dark, dreamy, emotive sonic territory where punk, rock, and electronica collide. In his pursuit for visceral and imperfect sounds, he’s amassed countless guitar pedals, tape reels, synthesizers, and beyond - and MicroFreak has emerged as a cornerstone of his process.
Looking for those goosebumps
Trentemøller’s studio is a reflection of his process, his character, and his creative output. We’re surrounded by stacks of guitar pedals, racks of synthesizers, drum machines on windowsills; here is an artist who is wholly indiscriminate, open to use whatever tools necessary to find his musical direction.
Mirroring his vast collection, his influences range from Depeche Mode to My Bloody Valentine, industrial to ambient, and his discography is similarly eclectic in style. The common thread? Finding emotion in the darker corners of creativity - his sound has been described as gothic, cinematic, feverish, and sultry, among other things.
It’s always hard to tell what your music style is but I try to do songs that have a melancholic vibe, a dreamy vibe - but also with a kind of post-rock attitude to them.
What the song needs
Like most artists, Trentemøller notes that music is his main outlet - creatively, emotionally. With this in mind, he treats his process with the utmost respect: if this is his outlet, he has to make it count.
Songwriting; that’s definitely the most important part for me. Good chord progressions, melodies that really stick in your mind.
From whatever angle he approaches his creative process, there remains the common theme of darkness. This is at least partly due to his love of degraded, decaying, distorted sounds, achieved with various combinations from his plethora of noise-making tools.
I like making things sound worse, going lo-fi - I really love the textures.
Between serving the song, and seeking out his signature sonic darkness, Trentemøller yearns for quick results, intuitively following his creative energy. This often means he gravitates towards instruments & tools that are easy rather than complex.
I like gear that's easy to use and easy to get results out of. I don’t want to use my time on the technical side, I want to use my time on being creative - it’s why I like to play around. It’s like being in a candy store and just grabbing stuff, seeing what comes out.
On Arturia
MicroFreak features heavily on some of his most recent releases, its ability to quickly summon curious, dusty, modulated sounds fitting quite naturally into his sound. With the firmware V5’s addition of sample & granular capabilities, MicroFreak became firmly cemented as a go-to in Trentemøller’s studio.
I don’t think you can get another synth that sounds this mad. I really love it.
He spends time cycling through a number of sounds on MicroFreak, from favorite presets to patches that he actually used on recent recordings. But it doesn’t stop with MicroFreak; some Arturia effects made a cameo appearance in the session.
I nearly always use Tape MELLO-FI - it sounds like old tape, it really gives something extra to the sound. I use the spring reverb quite a lot also, or even crazier with Rev LX-24 to make it more washy.
For Trentemøller, Arturia tools seem to fit the bill on a number of fronts. The quick results workflow that he needs to conjure mysterious atmospheres; the experimental nature of the instruments and effects, software and hardware, that click with his vibe.
What I really love about Arturia stuff is that they very quickly give me a result that I like. I really love a lot of their sounds, and I think we share a lot of the same aesthetics.
A personal connection
Spending time in the studio with Trentemøller, it’s apparent that he seeks out sounds that offer something more profound to the listener. Beyond catchy melodies, rhythmic momentum, or stylistic categorization - this is all about tapping into something more personal, more emotional. A touch of madness, beauty in imperfection, nostalgic atmosphere. If he can find that feeling for himself, he’s already halfway there.
You can go to the Advanced settings and play with all the usuals, but honestly the presets are so good. Just with certain things like the Motion control, you can really go into a different space.
“If I sometimes get goosebumps listening to my own music, maybe I can touch some other people listening to my music also.”
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