A Look at the Hardware and Software that Makes the Tim Green Sound
Tim Green has crafted his rich, complex style of progressive house through his unique setup, which combines both hardware and software for a variation of organic and synthetic sounds. His home studio includes a number of different instruments and synthesizers.
Tim utilizes Logic and Ableton as his DAWs of choice. On the analog hardware side, his collection includes a Moog Voyager, Arturia Microbrute, an old tape deck, DBX compressor, Alesis compressor, and a Crumar DS2.
Determining which piece goes where in his songs is more intuitive. “There are tracks which I fully write on a laptop on a plane, tracks which I fully write with analog gear in my studio, and then there's everything in between,” he said during his Gray Area Spotlight interview. “I don't think there's a right or wrong.”
His setup has largely stayed the same in recent years, which speaks to its functionality and versatility. “I'm quite surprised about that,” he admitted. “It’s such a true testament to how good these [analog pieces] are. You can use them in anything—rock music, pop music, jazz, or any subgenre of electronic music—and they sound great.”
His ultimate goal as an artist is to continue evolving by using the tools he has available to him. “I like being challenged to use something that's a little bit out of my comfort zone,” he explained.
Tim Green keeps his setup fresh with new plugins, switching out different textures to continually build upon his unique sound signature. “I try them out and fall in love with them. I try to veer towards the stuff that isn't so obvious,” he said.
What’s his latest plugin of choice? It’s Spire, as hard as some might find that to believe.
“It’s definitely developed more towards trance and EDM type sounds,” Tim says. “I love it for that reason, because it's fun trying to use very different types of sounds, and fusing them into the kind of music that I do. Otherwise, you just end up sounding like everyone else.”
