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Heavy Halo List the Top 10 Pieces of Gear Used to Make ‘Damaged Dream’

Industrial rockers Heavy Halo share with us the Top 10 pieces of gear used to record their upcoming album ‘Damaged Dream.’

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Heavy Halo in 2024, photo by Irene
Heavy Halo in 2024, photo by Irene

The stage is set and it’s looking like a monumental year for Heavy Halo. The formidable duo, singer McKeever and producer Gosteffects, recently released their latest singles, “The Poisoning” and “Erase Yr Fate,” which were preceded by “Damage Me.” It’s all been building toward the release of Damaged Dream, the twosome’s brand-new studio record. The album does not yet have a release date, but you can expect it within the next few months via Silent Pendulum Records. They have put a massive amount of work into this, the follow-up to their 2022 self-titled debut full-length. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered all by Gosteffects himself.

Defined by jagged guitars, raw electronics, and melodic vocals, the music of Heavy Halo might remind you of the past. Natural points of reference are acts like Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, and The Prodigy. But their music should not be thought of as some tribute to 1990s industrial rock. McKeever and Gosteffects make sure to keep things progressive and forward-thinking. Their music blurs the line between industrial, heavy metal, and pop. It is challenging but accessible, equally as appealing to listeners seeking something to rock out to but also to those pursuing a more sophisticated listening experience.

As you might have expected, Damaged Dream was quite a broad, comprehensive recording project. Offering us a little insight into what went on behind the scenes, Heavy Halo join us today to share the Top 10 Pieces of Gear that were used in the making of Damaged Dream.

Spellsound Studios is located in an abandoned hospital building in Crown Heights. We live here and recorded, mixed, and mastered both of our albums in this space, including our upcoming record, Damaged Dream.

“The building was a historic Jewish hospital built in the 1800s. Albert Einstein was treated here in a life-saving procedure where they wrapped part of his brain in cellophane. Later on, the neighbourhood was plagued with race riots in the 1990s, and around that time, the hospital was closed down. The present-day laundromat in the basement used to be the morgue. The super told me when they took over the building, a body was left there.

“Now we live here, and instead of bodies, we have gear…”

Heavy Halo - Elektron Grooveboxe

Heavy Halo – Elektron Grooveboxe

1. Elektron Grooveboxes

“Most of the songs on Damaged Dream started here. I got into grooveboxes because I would bash out frustrated beats on them while commuting to a truly dystopian job working behind bulletproof glass at a Harlem check cashing joint. I’d go through the tracks and pick the ones that spoke to me, add guitar, and write vocals over them. Then we would dump all of that into…”

Heavy Halo - Ableton Live

Heavy Halo – Ableton Live

2. Ableton Live

“Both of us have used Ableton for over a decade, and there’s really nothing it can’t do. Even though we try to use as much hardware gear as possible, everything collides inside the DAW and song structures are finalized. We have two separate studio setups here so it’s easy for us to divide and conquer to work on different sections of the album at the same time.”

3. Guitarmy

“The main guitars used on the record were the Gibson SG I’ve had since I was 14, the Taylor for the depressive acoustic sections, and the awesomely stupid Steinberger headless bass. Gosteffects will use his Les Paul, and the Jazzmaster comes in for the shoegazey sections. For anyone wondering, we are usually tuned to C Standard but tuning changes depending on the key of the song.”

Heavy Halo - Pedalboard

Heavy Halo – Pedalboard

4. Pedalboard

“You can never have too many fuzz pedals. They all have unique ways of making your guitar sound horrible. From tinnitus feedback to muddy woofy low-end to brittle velcro static, we love it all. The whammy pedal is also a cornerstone of our sound, and we switch between octave up and down in most riffs.”

Heavy Halo - Matrix 12

Heavy Halo – Matrix 12

5. Oberheim Matrix 12

“This is the holy grail of synths in our studio. It came out at the height of analog technology but with enough digital horsepower to allow you to create really complex sounds. Not that we use it for that though (laughs). We use the same barebones, beefy, in-your-face saw-wave bass on every song.”

Heavy Halo - 6 Bock 251

Heavy Halo – 6 Bock 251

6. Bock 251 Microphone

“I exiled myself to a freezing Bushwick bunker to track all the vocals for the album. The Bock 251 was my only friend during these draining four-hour sessions. Recording vocals took so long because I would try out tons of different deliveries for each line, trying to find the perfect tone and dynamics for each, like interpreting a script for a play. It also took forever because I’d have church choir flashbacks and stack way too many harmonies.”

Heavy Halo - Sequential Synths

Heavy Halo – Sequential Synths

7. Sequential Synths

“What can be said about Sequential Synths that hasn’t been already? They sound unreal and are so playable and tweakable in real-time. They form the backbone of most of the synth sounds on the record. No wonder Radiohead, M83, Trent Reznor, and a million other artists we look up to use them…”

Heavy Halo - Roland Jupiter

Heavy Halo – Roland Jupiter

8. Roland Jupiter 6

“Everyone lusts after the Jupiter 8, but the Jupiter 6 is the angry little brother with a chip on its shoulder. Software just can’t capture the grit and glorious imperfection of raw analog. We used this to thicken up lead lines throughout the record.”

Heavy Halo - Outboard Mastering Gear

Heavy Halo – Outboard Mastering Gear

9. Outboard Mastering Gear

“After everything has been mixed, Gosteffects processes the tracks with his outboard limiters and compressors. Each unit does a barely perceptible amount of work, but when used together, there’s an x-factor of excitement and bite that helps the songs glow.”

Heavy Halo - iPhone

Heavy Halo – iPhone

10. Apple iPhone

“I have to give a special shoutout to the iPhone because most lyrics on the record were written in the Notes app. Most of my lyric ideas happen when I’m taking a shower, so there were many times I’d step out soaking to type down some nihilistic rhymes to sing later. Also, a ton of the melodies were written while wandering the streets, muttering to myself into Voice Memos like a mental patient…”

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