Cornelius | TapeOp

Tokyo's style capitol of Naka Meguro has been the long-time base of operations for Japan's foremost musical ambassador of cool, Keigo Oyamada, known to most as Cornelius. I spoke with him at his private space, 3-D Studio. The fact the music that ends up on Oyamada's albums comes from this relatively simple and compact space is truly impressive, if not even mystifying. Entering the studio in socks and slippers, I felt more like I was walking into someone's living room with a sound booth attached to it — complete with bookshelves full of records and CDs, collectable synths, a toy Theremin and an official Bob Moog doll. Oyamada is equal parts die-hard music fan and pop icon, and has never been afraid to show it. Between sessions much of the studio gear and racks at 3-D are tucked away to conserve space. As I looked around I saw no sign of much outboard equipment, audio wiring or a console. An office one floor below the studio acts as the command center for all things Cornelius. Here we spoke about the shift in perspective from the early days of Oyamada's first band, Flipper's Guitar, into working solo as Cornelius, where each detail of his artistic existence is meticulously curated into being.

Could you explain how the transition from your first project, Flipper's Guitar, to Cornelius occurred?

Even before Flipper's Guitar, we played under the name Lollipop Sonic with the same members. There were five people at that time, until the second Flipper's Guitar album [Camera Talk] - which was done by member Kenji Ozawa and myself. The second album went from a full band setup to mainly a duo. We used different players in the studio when recording. The first time we started actually using samplers was for the third album [Doctor Head's World Tower]. We wanted to try and make a sample-collage of sorts. From then on we went ahead as a duo. Then, when I began working as Cornelius, I went back to using other musicians in the studio. From there I got an early hard disk recording setup, and I started to work with my current engineer and sound designer Toyoaki Mishima, mostly here at 3-D. We've had both Pro Tools and Logic systems here, depending on the project.

With later Flipper's Guitar, what was the basis for deciding to move away from a live band arrangement in favor of a more sample-based feel?

For us it was a new avenue of working. Towards the end of Flipper's Guitar until Fantasma [Cornelius' third full-length and debut U.S. album], we sampled both our own live playing and also took various sounds from other records. From the Point album on, that's when I began using just my own performance as a source for samples.

Would you say you've always been interested in getting sounds first, or do you focus more on the music?

In the very beginning, with Lollipop Sonic, we used to basically record and mix on 4-track and 8-track [cassette recorders]. At that time we were pretty much satisfied with more of a lo-fi, indie-pop sound, so when things sounded cheap it wasn't really a problem. But, as time went on, I became more interested in making things sound bigger. The two engineers I work with now are Mishima-san and also Toru Takayama.

Do you do everything from start to finish here at 3-D?

The entire recording, overdubbing and mixing is done here. Sometime we use other studios for checking mixes, because the monitoring situation isn't ideal in here. For the album Point we transferred over the data from Logic to do some pre-mixing on an SSL before making the final changes here. Over the years, the equipment I've gathered has also gotten better. We've seen the studio evolve after each album.

When did you put together your 3-D Studio?

It was about nine years ago in 1998, after Fantasma. We're here every day doing something or other, but recently there've been less late nights, which is a nice change. The thing I'd like most is a fully soundproofed live room or booth. We still can't make a lot of noise here. As far as equipment or gear goes, I think that over the years I've gotten as much as I need for the time being. I'm not addicted to buying studio stuff.

What are some of the things you've learned in the studio over the past few years making records here?

Well, working in the same place really allowed me to try out a variety of different things in the studio. Being able to approach one's artistic vision in a more controlled environment, like this, has been really nice. It's led to my music getting closer to reaching its fullest potential, without a doubt. Step by step we've done things like hang sound [treatment] curtains and change out the power cables to get better monitoring. Being used to this space and continuing to upgrade things here has helped to get the most benefit from these changes. That's almost worth more than just using the same studio all the time, because it forces you to think about your working environment as well as just how you work on the music.

How does playing all your own parts as a multi-instrumentalist change the way you approach songwriting?

More so than working with other musicians, I found that by layering different phrases using digital editing and samplers, I was able to get the timing and effect that was difficult to work out with other musicians in the studio. I'm not a super-player of any instrument, but I found that I was able to shape the songs in ways suited best to what I want to express. By recording lots of these short musical sentences, I started to be able to make the kind of ideas that I really was aiming for. Working alone allows me to really take individual parts of each song apart.

How has blurring the line between samples and actual live tracks been important to you?

We use a balance of my own live tracks, MIDI software synthesizers, hardware synths and sometimes various found sounds. At this point they are all original sources, as I don't really use samples from other records anymore. The Sensuous album was done at 24-bit/96 kHz, so the sounds were pretty clearly recorded. Using these three groups of sounds, I decide which ones to feature when arranging each song. That blurring is certainly deliberate, and it's fun making it difficult to tell whether it's a sample of my playing or just a tightly edited live track. There are people who tend to loop samples in a traditional sort of tightly trimmed way, and people who just play all the parts live. I wanted to fall right in the middle of the two, blending them to some degree, so that you can't tell which is which. That type of close-shave editing is absolutely done for deliberate effect. Sometimes we'll also put together a guitar chord, recording one string at a time, and take apart a sound like that. The same chord played normally, with all the strings sounding together at once, has a totally different type of ring to it.

What has kept you working with your engineer Mishima-san for so long?

We've been doing stuff together for ten years now, and he manages my file and audio archive as well. When I need an old sample, or sound source, I haven't used in a while, he's really the only one who knows where they are! Mishima-san was first programming synthesizers for me, and then slowly started take on more of an engineering role as time went on. I'd say getting our first hard disk rig here really started that transition. After working with someone that long, he's really gotten our workflow nailed down pat.

What was your motivation to do the album 69/96?

That one was just for fun. I wanted to basically fill a CD to the limit with tracks. The sounds on there are just "junk" sounds really! There were a few different cover designs for that one, and also a vinyl release. We also experimented a lot with tricky pan automation, and using the vari-speed on analog tape recorders to mess with things we use as transitions, intros or samples. Some other songs, like "Star Fruits Surf Rider", were done in two parts, where the single version was split into two discs that were meant to be played in sync to make one song. For another song on Fantasma, "2010", I downloaded a MIDI score of a Bach piece that was online, and we reworked into a new song after changing it from minor to major, then speeding it way up. For the "Micro Disneycal World Tour" track, we had the NHK [Japan Broadcasting Corporation] TV orchestra play on that for us, which was great fun too.

You've been working a lot with Harumi Hosono [Yellow Magic Orchestra]. How did you begin working with him?

We began working together in about 2001. After Point came out, I was invited to be on Hosono-san's radio show. From there he was going to be involved with making YMO's drummer Yukihiro Takahashi new solo album, and they asked me to help out. Soon after I went out on tour and when I got back, I was a guest on a radio show put together by YMO's new project, "Sketch Show." They asked me to play guitar on a tour they were planning, so I joined them on that. After that we did various remixes and collaborations together with Ryuichi Sakamoto and the other YMO members.

How much of an influence has YMO been in your music?

They were really big when I was still in elementary school. I was aware of them, like everyone else in Japan, and I had some of their albums on tape but wasn't a huge fan or anything at that time. Past the age of 20, I started to go back to Hosono-san's albums and to his first band, Happy End. After giving them another listen, I really started to get into it more.

Were you into analog synths back then too?

I didn't have any until I started playing around with a little Roland SH-101 that a friend had. I started buying them after I became a musician. I have an EMS Synthi and a Minimoog.

Have you ever recorded in studios outside of Japan?

The second Flipper's Guitar album was recorded at Air Studios in London. I remember the atmosphere was much different than most Japanese studios. Studios here can often feel a lot more like an office-type environment. People say the voltage levels between Japan and other countries are noticeable. When we play overseas, I really notice how the sound of the amps is different from ones at home. Even the glow of the red power lamp — it gets much brighter over there! 3-D has its power converted up to 220 volts.

I wanted to talk about some of your collaboration work. How did you come to remix the High Llamas on their Lollo Rosso remix EP?

I was a fan of their work, and also Sean O'Hagan's first band Microdisney. So I asked them to do a mix of one of the songs from Fantasma "The Micro Disneycal World Tour." Then, after that, they asked me to do a remix for them.

You've also done sessions with Arto Lindsay here at 3-D.

Arto and I've known each other for a while now. He came to see us play in New York, and then had some extra time when visiting Japan. He suggested we do some recording and we had him come to our studio. That stuff was on the Japan version of his album Salt. I also know his friend in Brazil, [Alexandre] Kassin who plays in a project [Kassin + 2] with Caetano Veloso's son Moreno and a percussionist named Dominico [Lancelotti]. Kassin did some remixing for my wife, Takako Minekawa, and since he and Arto are good friends, we were connected in that way too.

How did The Cornelius Group [his live entity] end up opening for The Plastics' recent reunion show?

Yeah, I like that stuff for sure. They called kind of suddenly to say they were getting together to do this show, and so we agreed. Guitarist Hajime Tachibana's wife was my classmate in junior high and high school. Also I did some recording with their singer Toshio [Nakanishi] the year before last.

You've been doing some cool videos with artist Koichiro Tsujikawa. When did you start doing videos?

Even back with Flipper's Guitar we did some music videos. It was after Fantasma that I was able to start collaborating directly and inputting my own ideas with the directors for my music videos. Also around that time, we started using videos in the live show, which were synchronized with the sound. For our more recent tours we had to make a bunch of new videos, so I asked a friend, Tsujikawa-san, who was a graphic designer to help out.

You seem to use images of kids a lot — like in the video clip for "Music". They say that children and animals are good in that they

like all people the same. Also, we were working with kids as a sort of theme in general. For the Sensuous release we made about eight videos — almost one for every song on the album. They're for the "Sensuous Synchronicity Show" tour. The one for "Wataridori" was first made for a gallery exhibition.

How is it collaborating with your wife, Takako Minekawa? Can you producer her in ways that you might not be able to with other people's work?

Yes and no. Generally, it's similar to when I work with other people, but in this case we start from the top together. It's not just remixing or mixing itself, but doing whole songs together, which is nice. We have a little setup at home that we can work with there.

Any plans for the next album?

For the next one? No, not yet!

cornelius-sound. com