Interview With Ty Segall

Had the pleasure of catching up with the incredible musician, producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Ty Segall.

We talk about his go-to pieces of gear, recording to tape, Lord of the Rings and more.

His new record, Possession, is out May 30th via Drag City. Link.

Photos by Max Flick for Synth History.

Ty Segall by Max Flick.

Synth History: What kind of music were you listening to growing up?

Ty Segall: When I was a kid, it was all MTV. I’m fully a kid of MTV. I was born in ’87, and I don’t remember exactly when MTV started, but it was definitely early ’80s, it was like my babysitter.

You know, parents were into hair metal and all that stuff. When I got old enough to start choosing what I wanted to listen to, it was right around the end of the grunge era, or right in the middle of it. I got really into Nirvana and also The Beatles. Then I started diving into heavier music: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Cream. It just kept expanding from there. I started exploring weirder rock, like Bowie and Alice Cooper, then I got into punk and hardcore, then no wave, garage.

I was always into pop music, too. Like hip-hop and mainstream pop. But I really got into hip-hop more seriously in my mid-to-late teens, like Wu-Tang and that kind of thing. From there it just kept going. My taste just kept getting broader and deeper.

Synth History: You grew up in California—what was the music scene like for you growing up, and when did you start writing your own music?

Ty Segall: It was the late ’90s into the early 2000s when I really started getting into going to shows and playing in bands. I’d say around 2000 to 2002.

Back then, the scene, at least in Orange County and LA, was kind of centered around noisy punk, art punk and disco punk. Labels like GSL and Three One G were a big deal. I was also really into the San Francisco scene. Bands like Deerhoof—and also stuff coming out of RISD, like Lightning Bolt. So all of that weirder, experimental, noisy stuff.

By the time I started my own band, I had gotten more into garage and psych. In the beginning it was full-on garage rock, but back then that stuff wasn’t considered cool. Like, if you had a guitar solo, people would think, “What is this, classic rock?” I remember a lot of people weren’t into Black Sabbath, and I was always like, “No, Sabbath is the best band ever!” But it wasn’t cool at the time, it was like your parents’ music.

What was cool was Sonic Youth and angular, weirdo guitar stuff. That was the popular lane back then. That was early 2000s.

In terms of making music, like a one-mic and a 4-track situation. Totally different from now. A lot of trial and error.

You reach a point where you’re like, “Do I actually want to try to make this sound good?” Before that it’s more like, “It is what it is.”

Synth History: Do you use a specific program to record?

Ty Segall: I’m a tape guy. That’s how I learned and it’s just what I’ve always done. I do know how to use Pro Tools, I’ve started using it for demos recently. I used to even do demos on tape, but that gets expensive.

Synth History: Oh wow!

Ty Segall: Who has that kind of cash? So now I demo on Pro Tools. I don’t love doing everything in-the-box. I can, but I prefer tape.

Synth History: Do you think there’s an audible difference between analog and digital recording?

Ty Segall: Yeah. The differences are, you know, how things hit. You can’t hit digital the same way. It just clips and distorts, whereas tape compression adds character. Tape distortion can actually sound good. Digital distortion is just noise.

I think the biggest audible difference is in the drums and the low end. Everything sounds better to me on tape, but drums especially. I could probably show someone who doesn’t even have an ear for recording and they’d notice.

Synth History: Do you mostly record at your home studio now, or do you rent out other studios for drums or other sessions?

Ty Segall: Both. I used to have a much bigger studio, probably four times the size of the one I have now. It had a great live room and I did almost everything there.

Now, I like recording bands live in a big space and then bringing the tracks home to finish. But even with this smaller room I have now, I was surprised how good it sounds. When we finished building it, I was like, “Wow. This works.”

Synth History: What were some of the synths you used on Harmonizer?

Ty Segall: The main one was a Yamaha CS-60. I don’t have it anymore, but it was so cool. Also a Minimoog.

Synth History: Classic!

Ty Segall: I also used this Pearl Syncussion that’s all over the record. I’ve debated selling it and getting a clone since those are like a quarter of the price, but I have this thing where I want the original. I also used a Yamaha CS-10.

Synth History: I love your use of effects, especially on tracks like “Despoiler of Cadaver” for example. Do you have some go-to gear for effects in general, or does it change album to album?

Ty Segall: I’ve got a few staples I always go to. One is a Roland Chorus Echo. Not the Space Echo, but the later version. It’s super hi-fi and beautiful sounding, but you can also mess it up in cool ways. It has chorus and reverb, and it’s just a better version of the Space Echo, in my opinion.

Synth History: What were some of your go-to pieces of gear for your new record? Doesn’t have to be a synth—could be anything!

Ty Sygall: My big goal was to get two Neumann U 67s for drums and I did. I got one vintage and one new. They sound slightly different, but with a little EQ, they match up great. I used the Glyn Johns drum miking technique. I also recorded the strings with those mics.

For compression, I used a bunch of Highland Dynamics BG2s. Bryce Gonzalez makes them-he’s an LA guy. They’re amazing. I’ve had them for years.

Synth History: Any other standout gear you’ve used that people might not know about?

Ty Segall: Yeah, I had something custom made that I’m really excited about. When I was 18, there was this studio in Orange County called The Distillery, run by Mike McHugh. He had a Flickinger board—the Muscle Shoals Flickinger board—and it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.

They’re insanely expensive, like half a million to a million dollars, but my friend Greg Norman from Electrical Audio helped me build six custom Flickinger preamps. He tracked down a board, we got a channel strip, and cloned it.

Now I have six clones of those classic pres and EQs. All my drums and overdubs go through them. I don’t know anyone else who has that setup!

Synth History: Are there any songs on the new record that are personal favorites?

Ty Segall: That’s a tough one—I try to make all of them good. But I like “Fantastic Team.” I also like “Hotel,” because it has all the strings. It was fun to go kind of grand with that one.

Synth History: Did you record a full string section at once, or layer it?

Ty Segall: We recorded a quartet and then doubled it, so a fake octet. In my experience, it’s better to record strings together, since they play off each other more naturally.

Synth History: You once sent Pitchfork a VHS tape for Emotional Mugger and had a website and a phone number for it. How important is it to create a whole world around an album?

Ty Segall: I think it’s super important. And fun.

When I was growing up, I loved that aspect of music. Before the internet and social media, you’d just get a record, look at the pictures, read the liner notes, and dream. You’d wonder what was going on with Bowie, you couldn’t just look it up.

So I think artists who try to keep things mysterious have the right idea.

Synth History: I really like your Harry Nilsson cover album, Segall Smeagol. I have to ask, what’s your favorite The Lord of the Rings film?

Ty Segall: The cartoon!

Synth History: The Ralph Bakshi one?!

Ty Segall: [laughs] I like them all. But, I don’t like The Hobbit movies—they shouldn’t have stretched it into three films.

Synth History: First three had great practical effects, but The Hobbit feels like they used too much CGI.

Ty Segall: I guess of the trilogy, The Two Towers is probably my favorite. It’s the bleakest one, and I like that. Kind of like how Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie—it’s the same idea.

Synth History: What’s your favorite Nilsson song?

Ty Segall: Probably “Me and My Arrow.” I love The Point! so much. I love it so much I almost didn’t want to cover Nilsson at all. But also “Gotta Get Up.” He didn’t write “Without You,” but that’s a great one, too. Badfinger’s original version is amazing.

Synth History: Last question. If you could tell your younger self any advice, what would it be?

Ty Segall: Don’t worry so much. Be in the moment more. I’m a worrier—always have been. But yeah, don’t stress. Things are gonna be what they’re gonna to be.

Synth History Exclusive.

Photos shot by Max Flick for Synth History.

Interview conducted by Danz.