Studio Interviews: Nikolaos Kopanos

We take a tour of Nikolaos Kopanos’ personal home studio in Athens. If you’d like to get your studio featured then share your shots with us on the MusicTech Facebook page…

Interviewee: Nikolaos Kopanpos
Contact: kopanosn@gmail.com

MusicTech: Give us a list of the gear in your studio?

Nikolaos Kopanos: Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 and Prophet T8; two Oberheim Matrix-1000s; Roland Super Jupiter MKS-80 plus MPG-80; Roland JX-8P plus PG-800; Roland Jupiter-80; Roland Integra; Roland V-Drums TD-30; Moog Minimoog Voyager; Moog Little Phatty Stage; Fender Rhodes 73 Mark II; Kurzweil PC3K8; Alesis Andromeda A6; Yamaha Montage 7; ARP Odyssey by Korg; Korg MS-20 full size; Korg Prophecy; Korg microKORG XL+ plus vocoder; Korg Wavedrum; Waldorf Q; three RME reference cards (UFX, ADI 192DD, ADI-8 DS MK III); Gibson, Fender, Ibanez and Fender Jazz Bass guitars; KEF Maidstone monitors driven by the Parasound HCA-3500; ATC20 monitors driven by Naim Supernait; original BBC LS3/5a nearfield monitors driven by Naim Nait; Quad ESL-989 reference monitors. [Are you sure you have enough monitors? – Ed.]

MT: Which DAW and why?

Cubase, with WaveLab mastering suite. I use it as I started using it back on the Atari as Pro 24.

MT: Favourite gear?

The Prophet T8, by far. For me, it’s the very best electronic instrument made by anyone, anywhere.

MT: How is the studio used?

I’ve run it as a personal home studio since 1980. It’s in Athens and I use it two or three times a week, mostly alone or with friends and musicians doing my music, which is a world-jazz fusion heavily influenced by Weather Report, Joe Zawinul, Miles Davis, John Scofield, Yellowjackets, Brian Eno, Eduard Artemyev and late-19th and 20th-century classical music.

MT: What’s on your gear wishlist?

A second Korg Prophecy and a Tom Oberheim Two Voice Pro.

MT: What’s your dream gear?

The T8 is my dream synth and I have it working perfectly. After that, a Rhodes Chroma and an ARP Quadra.

MT: Any studio advice?

My advice is clear: f**k in-the-box, try hardware!