Lavachild and her Synths

LAVACHILD is a NYC based synth pop project fronted by (very fashionable) singer songwriter/keyboardist Chantel De Lava, whose hypnotic presence charmed us at our 2015 B.E.A.F. fest. Older single “Want U To” went viral on the internet, and since then Chantel has been releasing promising new material on her Soundcloud profile, which should be soon gathered in a proper release. We asked her a few questions about her gear and the way she uses it.

Korg Volca Beats

What synths and drum machines did you use in ‘Kandy’ and what sequencer to program them?
I used a Korg Volca Beats a (Dave Smith Instruments) Mopho x4 and a Prophet 12. I love these DSI keyboards and also using a Korg R3, I like that is simple and works well and is light to carry around.

The vocals sound quite effected in particular in the verses, is there a touch of Vocoder in there? If not, what is it?
It’s a harmonizer!  I have a TC Helicon vocal effect – I use it mostly live but it’s great also in the studio.

Chantel with her DSI Prophet 12 and Mopho X4 synths, and what looks like a Neumann TLM 103 microphone.

Your synth sounds are very particular, not a lot of automation or arpeggiators – how do you use use them?
Like how i used to play video games, I just press all the buttons until something happens and I win and i’m happy with the outcome. I don’t use midi so it’s mostly audio editing and imperfect/not all locked to the grid all the time, but the process is fun, although it forces me have to take my time when I record…