We’re thrilled to unveil the remix of Das SPEZIAL: Monopoly, crafted by the renowned sound designer and founder of Soundfreak Modular, Alina Kalancea. Based in Italy, Alina brings her signature artistry to this reimagined track.

We spent some time chatting to Alina about her upcoming album, work processes and her first true love – Buchla.

Where did your initial interest in synthesisers come from?

Well, I was always doing music all the time. I mean not electronic music and I didn't know about synthesisers at all initially. But at some point along the way, I brought a synthesiser and, not really knowing how it works, I went online to do some research. I came across a Professor in Italy (Enrico Cosimi, Professor of Electronic Music at University of Rome Tor Vergata) who I studied with, who helped me to understand them a lot more.

And do you know what it really was about it that got me? The Buchla sound – I just love it. I was at my friend’s house one time who had one and he was trying to make up his mind whether to sell it or keep it. So I said ok, let me try it – and when I did, I became a bit crazy. I told him that if he was selling it, I just had to buy it. And so he sold me my first vintage Buchla. I did then go and buy one of the newer Buchlas, and at one point I had three big systems, but the setup wasn’t exciting to me. So I sold those and was always just looking for more vintage stuff.

Did you have strong musical influences as a child or come from a creative background ?

I started to learn guitar when I was young and played in a small band at school but nothing that crazy. I was born in Romania where there weren’t many musical opportunities. My mum played violin, but she was a teacher so it was more used a skill for her teaching , it wasn’t the sort of thing you would do for fun really. But I was also very much into both rock music and classical music for a long time when I was younger.

You mentioned playing the guitar, do you play any other musical instruments?

Well yes and no. Actually I can sort of play lots of them, but I haven’t studied music, so I don’t know the technicals – I can’t really read or write music, but I can play the instruments. The music I wrote for my new album is a lot more instrumental; I wrote the music with virtual instruments and also played piano. But then I have to find the musicians to play what I play, which can be difficult because I don’t know about quarter notes or all these things and I end up saying ‘I don’t want you to change anything - even if this isn’t correct musically - don’t change it!’

What influences you in terms of how you compose your music? Do you listen to other music whilst you are writing or recording?

I don't think I really have any influences in that way - I just do what I have in my mind. I think it's the same as a painter, he’s just trying to paint what’s in his head. So, I simply start with something and then if I feel like the flow is right, I will carry on in this direction or change into a different direction if its not feeling right. I don’t listen to other music at all when I am writing, in fact I am sorry to say I don’t listen to much music most of the time, I just enjoy making it, playing with layering sounds.

With so much of your music composition being experimental, how do you know when to stop or when a track is complete?

You just know when to stop. Sometimes actually you have to take things away if you’ve gone too far. But it’s a feeling – you have to know what you want, and I always know what I want musically. That’s something about my personality actually – I always know what I want. I am also not a patient person, I want something straight away and I usually can find the way to make it happen. I have had it since I was a child, I think I got it from my Mum. I will always work hard and try my hardest to make something happen, but I am also a realist and will put timescales on what I want to action, and if it doesn’t happen in that time, then I will move on.

You have a new album out later on this year that has been several years in the making; what was the recording process like and how have you kept your motivation and connection to the music through this time?

Well we started recording in covid time, 2020 and we’re just finished now so yes, it been a long one. But I think if you want to keep that quality you have in your mind for your music, you have to take your time. The point is you can begin making it, but when you listen a year later, what you hear might not be quite right. So you let some more time go by and it might start to sound better. But if you want to make some of high quality, it needs time.

Normally for me an album takes about a year. This one was pretty tricky simply because there were many people working on it which just increases your doubts about what you’re doing more than when you limit to working with maybe just one or two other people. Also it was a real challenge for my workflow - because I I like to record with a high quality production sound, which means I need to bring in and pay someone of that calibre to record my music. So, whilst I can go make music and prepare somewhat for the recording time, these instruments don’t have memories. So I had a 1 page document that I prepared as my practical notes and it was from this page that I developed the sound. Meanwhile, the other people had to be patient! I would then add more notes until I was ready to record. Also, I knew I wanted cello, violin, trumpet and other instruments on the new album; so I needed other musicians to play on the recording, but without interpretation, which was a challenge. Its different when you work on a collaboration. When you’re in a collaborative music project there it has to be an open process, I want people to feel free. But as the composer, I knew for these tracks how I wanted them to sound and so I needed to be able to give very precise direction.

What was it that encouraged you to develop into a more experimental soundscape approach to your music?

I really do think it was the Buchla. Honestly I can’t explain but I fell in love with it - those low frequencies - I love to play around with that even when it didn’t seem to mean anything to anyone else. I remember when I said to my Mum, ‘listen to this amazing composition from this instrument!’ – she was listening and after a few minutes she said ‘when does the music start?’ I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t hearing what I could hear. And then I combined it with poetry which people seemed to like, which was interesting to me, to combine the two. And then I kept looking at people online, videos on YouTube of people using a Buchla, all just sort of doing the same thing. You don’t need a Buchla for something melodic, there are other synths of virtual instruments you can use for that – so I started to just start exploring and playing more with the frequencies and the feeling the sounds gave me that I could then develop something from. So I started writing more poetry as I like the lyrical quality and I would play around with the recording of those and then layer sounds over it and I started exploring more experimental ideas from there. I know the music I make is very niche; its not exactly the sort of thing you might put on in the car on the way home, but it excites and interests me, to play and explore with what these instruments can do. There really is nothing that sounds like it.

When I play live, I bring my instruments with me, so it really is never the same. These instruments don’t have memories, so its different every show – both as an experience for the audience and for me. I really enjoy playing live and have had some great feedback from people who are always intrigued to find out more about the synths or how I got into it.

You work in a very niche part of the music industry which is heavily male dominated What has your experience been both as a female synth maker and as a sound designer?

I don’t think there are more opportunities or a real change of attitudes in the industry towards women from my own experiences. Initially I often would find people had already made a judgement about me before they met me or didn’t give me respect. They’d make out that maybe it was just due to the quality of my synthesisers or the dress I was wearing as to why I was invited or something like that. So I started to limit how much of myself I would put on social media in terms of my face and body. I wanted my work, my music to speak for itself. Some people might say that’s not a great thing to do commercially but it matters to me. Its funny, when there wasn’t much of me online people would be surprised when they met me in person that I was relatively normal looking, but I just want to be judged on the art that I make.

Interview by Dan Clithero for SPEZIAL