The Orphanagemeets
Dist COLDFIRE
Los Angeles, USA: Zaire Koalo and Trevor Brown, AKA music production duo The Orphanage, have lent their creative talents to everyone from Lizzo to Kelly Clarkson to Kehlani. But whether they’re working with the A-listers or getting experimental in the box, their workflow brims with curiosity and infectious energy.
We spent the day in their Sherman Oaks studio to see where Dist COLDFIRE fits into their free-flowing setup.
Zaire Koalo
Starting off his musical journey on the saxophone and piano, Zaire discovered the joy of making beats at an early age, and simply never looked back. This multi-instrumental background lends him a musical sensibility and hands-on approach that shines through in all of his projects - you know when it’s a Koalo beat.
Trevor Brown
Trevor considers himself a self-taught producer out of necessity. He started off playing piano, moving over to drums and playing in bands; he took up producing so he could make his own demos. He was approached by other artists keen to get in on his new-found production skills, and the momentum continued from there.
As individuals, Zaire and Trevor each bring different skill sets and creative color to their projects. As a team, The Orphanage is a Grammy Award-winning creative force to be reckoned with.
Zaire notes that, besides the amazing artists they’ve worked with and the accolades they’ve collected, one of his favorite things about being a producer is working with good people through a process.
Going through the process of creating the music is what I typically love to experience, especially with good people like Trevor, Oak, we have two other people on the team - Keith and Alex - who are amazing. Just going through the process… is something that I love to do.
- Zaire
Their introduction to Arturia came via the discovery of Jun-6 V. Whenever they needed a retro sound, this modeled analog icon became their go-to. Next came the Jup-8 V, which they rely on for its archetypal brass sounds heard on countless chart-topping records.
It was like, ok these plugins are dope. This company is amazing, they’re really capturing the color of what the actual sounds felt like for those keyboards back then. Once I got a hold of those two plugins, I felt like Arturia knows what they’re doing.
- Zaire
On Dist COLDFIRE
As with all Arturia instruments and effects, Dist COLDFIRE is designed to balance ease of use with sound design power. Trevor notes that this balance means you have plenty of sounds at your disposal, but crucially without having to go too deep to find them.
Dist COLDFIRE is sick because it is distortion with modulation, and it’s all working together, so it gives you a lot of sonic options without having to think too hard about it - especially in the world of distortion, ‘cause that’s a sound you have a dial in.
- Trevor
The ability to tap into various aspects of your sound - not just crank the ‘drive’ control - is a highlight for Zaire. He mentions that it’s a great tool for shaping your sound beyond distortion, pointing out its ability to remove or boost certain frequencies for a better balance or more ‘present’ quality.
Everything in Dist COLDFIRE is right there. If there’s too much low, roll off the lows, if there’s highs, roll off the highs, if it’s not enough, add highs.
- Zaire
Color & transformation
At times during our session, Zaire and Trevor become engrossed with tweaking settings, exploring different modes, and flicking through presets with Dist COLDFIRE. They seem to find something new with every click, whether it’s something intentional or unexpected, which seems to reflect Dist COLDFIRE’s nature as an effect. All the options are there, for pinpoint sound sculpting, creative experimentation, aggressive sonic transformation, and beyond: the choice is yours.
These are the ways that we use distortion, but as you can see, you can find any spot in your track to use it.
- Trevor
“Dist COLDFIRE just gives you so many options to be creative with what you want to do with distortion, which I think is really dope.”
- Zaire
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