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?
