Jack and Luke Patterson of Clean Bandit with 2 x RME Fireface UFX
Clean Bandit are a four piece electronic group with a twist – two of the members are classical string players! Their certified multi platinum hit “Rather Be” stayed at the top of the UK charts for four weeks and was dubbed the “Sound of the Summer” for 2014. Following on from the success of the single, their debut album “New Eyes” hit number 3 in the UK in June of the same year. Synthax UK met up with brothers Jack and Luke Patterson to talk about their favoured setup for recording and performing live.
They set up their own studio in London to start recording, and based it around an RME Fireface UFX interface. “All the string parts in the final mix for “Rather Be” were recorded in that studio, and therefore through the UFX”, Jack tells me. “I have to say, they sound great!”.
When the album was finished and it was time to set up a touring rig for the summer’s intensive gigging season, it made sense for them to continue using their trusted Fireface UFX. In fact they bought a second, to create a classic “A / B mirrored” keyboard rig, based around two Mac Minis (side by side in a 1U rack frame), the two UFXs, and some neat ruggedised screens which you can just see on top of the rack in the photo. Their live software of choice is Ableton.
Because the playback rack is so portable they can use it at many different kinds of gigs and public appearances. Sometimes the playback audio goes into a mixing console and main PA. But in other situations where there’s no house desk, they need to mix themselves. As Jack explained, “In those situations, because all RME products come complete with TotalMix FX, and that’s a complete standalone mixer, we are able to use TotalMix FX controlled from an iPad via Touch OSC as our main mixer. No console required!”
Once again, RME provides the balance of great sound, reliability, and excellent functionality that bands the world over have come to rely on.
Many thanks to Jack and Luke from Clean Bandit for their time, and good luck with your future endeavours!
Find out where Clean Bandit are gigging this summer.
To get your strings sounding as great as Clean Bandit’s, check out the RME Fireface UFX.