Interview With Michael Stein: The Moog Messenger

Recently caught up with musician, composer, producer, member of Survive and co-creator of the Stranger Things score, Michael Stein. 

Michael recently wrote the original music for Moog’s Arrival of the Messenger, a video short showcasing the company’s new monosynth. He created everything from musical sequences, to birds, insects, and other synthesized foley textures using only the Moog Messenger.

Below, we talk about his approach to creating the music, his first impressions of the Messenger, and what he’s working on now.

Without further ado…

Michael Stein with the Moog Messenger.

Synth History: You were one of the first ones to get the Messenger! I want to ask you about it. I’ve seen the video and the music is so cool. Can you talk about creating the music and using the synth?

Michael Stein: Yeah. It was really fun. My friend introduced me to the Moog team and they brought the Messenger over about six weeks ago, just to check it out.

My first impressions were… it has really great envelopes, it can do really snappy or long attacks and really long releases, they are also loopable envelopes; those can be FM sources, 2 LFOs etc.

The main thing I really noticed about it was that it has this oscillator section with a waveshaper that reminded me of my Micromoog. It’s this super cool, nuanced area where it transforms from a more harmonic waveform into the triangle. Weird stuff happens in that territory. It also allows you to modulate the sub oscillator which is unique along with a multimode filter, built-in feedback and routing architectures right on the panel.

The sequencer is cool, modulating gate and probability. It’s kind of like your Micromoog or Multimoog meets your SH-101, but with deeper architecture and tech-y, sequencer programmability. It lets you route the LFO to anywhere. It has the Moog filter sound, it has the bass. It can kind of do anything. It’s kind of a chameleon. 

So that’s the nerdy stuff.

Synth History: How did you end up creating the music?

Michael Stein: They asked me that day, “Would you be interested in making music for us using this synth?” and they left it with me.

At first, I was like, "Maybe..." But then they said, “Just play with it and let us know in a few days.” So I did, and I knew right away I could do a lot with it.

I’ve always loved Moog. We had a creative talk. They told me they’d be shooting the video soon and I’d have just a couple of days to write the music so they could play it on set. So I wouldn't be scoring to picture, it was more like shaping a mood in advance. They wanted it to start ambiguously, not too dark or too ominous, real mysterious, then become frenetic and end on a revelatory, positive note - where everything comes to fruition. That’s tricky without a visual to anchor it.

At first, I didn’t really know what to do because it’s a monosynth, but then I started playing Rhodes through the audio in, finding chords to fit a mood. I figured out a chord progression, then came up with a sequence with the internal sequencer. It still felt empty without having visuals to match, so I started creating foley with The Messenger: birds and streams, a textural background of nature sounds. That gave me something more imaginative to write over. Then for the ending, I made this pseudo-choir through overdubs, just stacking layers. It was spontaneous and really fun.

I think the coolest part about it was after I was done, I asked them, “Are you cool with all the foley? The birds, the insects, the water?” and they were like, “Yeah, do more if you want!” I was like, “Ok, well can you tell me some of the items that might be in the video?”

So basically, I started creating wind, crickets, owls, frogs, a bog/marsh.

Synth History: That’s so cool you used it for foley too!

Michael Stein: Every sound in that piece was made with the Messenger. Even the pelican case opening, people walking on leaves… everything.

Synth History: That’s so neat, like how they did sound effects back in the day.

Michael Stein: It was the most exciting part, it was so fun. I’ve always liked Tomita. He incorporated a lot of nature sounds into his work. I’ve always been interested in synthesizing  real-world textures.

I had a really great time working on it.

Synth History: Do you think you’ll release the music?

Michael Stein: I’ve thought about it. I probably will. I might even release the foley stems too, build a little synth-based sound effects library.

Synth History: That would be sick. Do you have any tips for people getting their hands on the Messenger?

Michael Stein: Just play with it. Learn how it responds.

Whenever I get a new synth, I always record my first session before I know it too well. You make weird decisions you won’t repeat later and might discover something totally unexpected.

One of the first things I was doing [with the Messenger] was sending the LFO to the decay, so on a sequence I could make the decay really short but as the LFO is evolving, it’d be like “Gnk, gonk gnk gnk”. You can also cycle the envelope to make it act like an oscillator, and then FM that back to the filter, because it routes through the EG. That’s two things FM-ing the filter, plus feedback on a non-modular mono. It’s flexible. It really is cool. There are tons of routing possibilities.

I’d recommend exploring the menu, the deeper stuff. You can modulate all of these parameters with the LFO, too, like the gate length, the probability of the sequence. For a monosynth, it does all kinds of stuff where you’re like, “Really?” 

Synth History: [laughs]

Michael Stein: All kinds of parameters you might not expect. At first glance it seems simple, but it’s not. The project with the Messenger was spontaneous and ended up being really rewarding.

Synth History: Anything else you’re working on?

Michael Stein: Right now, it’s mostly Stranger Things Season 5.

Synth History: How's that going?

Michael Stein: Good. I can’t say too much, but things are progressing.

Michael Stein in his studio.

Synth History: What’s the process like for scoring a show like that? Do they send you all the episodes at once?

Michael Stein: We usually get them one at a time, sometimes in pairs, depending on the schedule. It’s mostly sequential, unless there’s something heavy on VFX that gets done early, sometimes we get one of those out of order.

When we get an episode, there’s usually temp music in place. It helps set the shape and emotional tone, like a paint-by-numbers outline. It’s not necessarily close to what we’ll end up doing, but it gives us a framework: where the beats are, the kind of mood they want, how to enter and exit a cue. Mostly the dynamics and shape.

We’ll spot the episode internally, break it down with the team, and start setting up Logic sessions for each scene. Then we get about a week to write before we go into a spotting session with the full music team, the directors, producers, editors, etc.

Synth History: Is that done in a theater?

Michael Stein: Yeah, it’s usually in a theater at the facility. That’s when we can ask questions like, "What’s the intent of this temp?" or "Is that a sound effect or music?" There’s a lot of music and some of it’s gotten bigger and more complex, more layered.

Synth History: What synths are you using this upcoming season?

Michael Stein: I’ve been using the CMS Discrete synthesizer a lot. I’ve got it patched for some pseudo-drum stuff and melodic percussive work. I’ve also been using the new Prophet 10 and Prophet 5’s. The P5 has a really beautiful sound for score but not exclusively. Right now I’ve got the ARP 2600 on bass, the Minimoog on sub bass. A mix of things.

Synth History: Can you tell me about your newly revamped studio?

Michael Stein: Sure. It all started after the atmospheric rivers hit a couple of years ago and the studio flooded. At first, I was just trying to get it functional again with some improvements, but it turned into a much bigger project when the destruction revealed itself. The renovation kept expanding. I ended up having a lot of time to rethink the design and tweak everything. I’m honestly really happy with how it turned out. I’m actually glad it took as long as it did so it was able to become what it is now.

Now the space is unified. I’m using Dante for routing audio, and there’s a mixer that helps me access all my outboard gear. Everything is on its own open, flexible routing system. Audio, MIDI, and data are all separated but it's one big network. 

So, for example, the audio signals travel through Ethernet cables on their own communication layer. Same with MIDI, and same with data, they're all isolated from each other but can talk to the systems they need to.

The cool part is, I can now use any synth in the room as a controller and I don’t have to sit at my desk to program MIDI into the computer, MPC or wherever. I can walk over to something on the wall and just start working. Before, I had to use the synth at the desk to do that if I wanted to record the midi.

Synth History: Well, the studio looks great and thanks for taking the time to catch up again!

Michael Stein: Thank you!

Read more about the Moog Messenger here.

Check out Michael's music production tools, The Protovault, here.

Synth History Exclusive.

Photos + interview conducted by Danz.