Customer Spotlight: Six Missing
After coming across a photo on Instagram of @sixmissing’s gorgeous “meditation station” – with an RNDI-8 and RNDI-S peeking out from a cabinet – we reached out to say hello (and to talk about synthesizers). Here’s our conversation.
TJ’s studio in Austin, TX.
First off, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Absolutely! Hi gang, I’m TJ Dumser - I’m an award winning sound designer, mix engineer and composer. I’m also better known as Six Missing, where I write and create ambient, meditative soundscapes designed for meditation, relaxation, and anything in between - a soundtrack to accompany your life, if you will. I’ve been making music since I can remember but I only started Six Missing about seven years ago. Before that I was playing in a handful of bands traipsing around NYC with guitars, pedals, amps, basses, you name it. I’ve been a re-recording mixer for the last nearly 20 years of my life, working mainly in tv and advertising, mixing films along the way. I grew up in NY and got myself to NYC as soon as I could - that’s where I spent most of my 20s and early 30s with a brief stopover in FL for school, Full Sail University.
Music and sound are my life, I experience my world through my ears. I hear things in layers, sometimes even colors. I find there’s a musicality to nature if we stop and are still enough - I truly can (and have) gotten so lost listening to the symphony of conversation all around me. Being that I was a musician, I found a career path that would allow me to keep making music and ended taking my first job at a jingle house, which led to me recording and mixing radio spots, which then led to television commercials, which then led to films, and now television shows - Super Bowl Commercials, and everything in between.
Thankfully, I’ve been able to allow my musical endeavors to flourish as well and Six Missing first took flight when I started sinking my money into guitar pedals, what a rabbit hole. I’ve worked in some of the largest studios in NYC as well as some of the smallest bedrooms. When we moved from NYC to Austin just a mere weeks before the pandemic, I found myself with my own dedicated space in the house for the studio. Fast forward four years and I now sit in my first true freestanding building, my pride and joy, my studio. Those guitar pedals turned themselves into synths, and then modular synths. The ride has been pretty wild.
How did you get into analog synthesizers? What was the first one you bought?
I had always had some sort of keyboard. I think my first real keyboard was this little plastic yellow keyboard that also spoke and made animal noises, I really wish I still had that now. But then I got a Yamaha digital piano that had built-in sounds, all of which were so cheesy sounding, but again - I wish I had it still.
My first real synth was a Korg Minilogue. I had been doing so much hemming and hawing over which I should purchase but the Minilogue kept coming up as a super accessible and intuitive piece of gear, so I lept in. I was instantly hooked. I was running the synth through guitar pedal and loopers and was having my mind blown by waveshaping and filters and envelopes! It was such a rush. As someone that criminally doesn’t read manuals (unless I’m totally stumped), the Minilogue was so easy to dial in sounds that I saw the potential for me being totally unleashed with synths. I’m kind of a reactive player, which is why I loved playing in bands feeding off one another. So when I went solo, having a synth that responds to me and then makes me in turn respond to it, whhhooosh, magic.
From the Minilogue to my PS3100, there was a very fast runway I sped down. I couldn’t get enough. I love synthesizers because they are so human, yet not. Sometimes they turn on and they are grumpy…so am I. Sometimes they turn on and they are in a fantastic mood…me too. Sometimes they just don’t turn on…yep, been there. The start to heat up when they are really working - and the smell of those machines warming up is so wonderful. I also love the immediacy of placing your hands on the controls and just affecting change in the sound, it’s so much more rewarding than using a mouse to click on a UI (both have their place!).
Name a few of your favorite synths – why do you love each of them? What makes each one special?
For better or worse, I have a small yet mighty collection of synthesizers, guitars, pedals, and modular gear - as well as outboard tape delays and tape machines, okay you get the point. But I only acquire things I’ll use. And the rule of the studio is: if it’s here, it must serve a purpose - doesn’t matter when but it needs to be usable. That being said, I have some favorites:
1. Moog Minimoog - this was my first vintage synthesizer I purchased. It was an amount of money that legit made my legs wobbly - but I had the kind support of my wife to encourage me to just go for it, and for that I am truly grateful. This synth is on every piece of music I make as Six Missing, hands down. Even if it’s just the noise generator, it’s used. It’s my workhorse. I can’t think of a more musical machine. It has a soul, truly. Bob Moog made a machine that is alive. Whenever the day comes that I am no longer Earthside, I am contemplating bringing this machine with me - but that wouldn’t be fair to the next owner…
2. Korg PS-3100 - this machine quickly became my most prized possession and also my problem child. I’m proud of it and yet it frustrates me. It’s required a handful of tech visits since I took possession of it and the power supply died, haha, but boy does this thing sound epic. I first saw this in a studio walkthrough of Olafur Arnalds and was so intrigued. I went on the hunt and searching online returned very unfortunate results - nothing local to the US and the price made me pass out. I did some digging, further researching and finally tracked one down in LA. It arrived on a plane and I picked it up at the cargo section of the airport like I was taking possession of a couple kilos of cocaine. What a day. I know I came out of the gate swinging with this one because when I first turned it on, I wrote about four tracks immediately. The PS-3100 just sounds so damn cool. Every demo I saw online never did it justice. When I placed my hands on the front panel I could just feel how alive it was. It can go to sputtery insanity to warm and gooey pads in an instant. I feel really lucky to have it and I can’t wait to keep writing for many years to come with it.
3. Moog Memorymoog - the Memorymoog was one of those synths that I never dreamed I would end up having. It looked massive, was heavy, and also seemed complicated. But then one popped up locally in Austin and I went to play it, twice, actually before I bought it. I was hired on to help write some additional music for a series and I spent an entire day with just the Memorymoog capturing sounds and designing on it. I’m constantly blown away by it. I’m not a keyboard player but this machine makes you feel like one. The keybed responds so well and to the lightest touch - it springs back perfectly. And the filter is that beautiful Moog sound. I wrote two pieces that ended up on my record “Here For Now” that were captured in one take, improvised. It is yet another Moog Magic Machine.
4. Sequential Prophet 6 - I really love the P6, there’s just something about it that feels like a classy, confident, wise human being. It almost beckons you to try to outsmart it. And I’ve yet to hit that point. It’s just there for you, I don’t know how else to describe it. Filters and effects, distortion and modulation. It’s really got it all. It is also one of the louder synths I have in my studio - which is pretty cool for playing live because I would imagine it can compete with a band easily. The P6 is a pad machine for me. I love building a beautiful or haunting sound and then just riding that filter throughout. I did a track breakdown on my YouTube about how much I love the P6.
What made you pick up your RNDI-8 and RNDI-S?
I mentioned before that I recently got the opportunity to build out my first real deal studio space. And when I was in the planning stages of that, I made a conscious choice to purchase gear that was going to enhance and elevate my workflow from the prior spot. I also wanted something that was going to last me forever.
Over the four years that I was in a bedroom space, I tediously purchased and piecemealed together cabling for all the gear I started to acquire - which was great, but not really ideal for organizational purposes. I ended up with a rats nest of cabling and kind of a nightmare of signal loss here and there. In taking measurements and purchase planning my new space, I realized that it was significantly larger than what I had before which meant I needed to think about cable runs with all the synths and guitars. I could’ve made a straight shot to the Apollo interfaces but I wanted the room to be clear of cabling and have the freedom to move around - that meant super long runs of ¼” cables, which we know to not be ideal. I decided a DI was going to be my route so I could convert the signal to an XLR and thus buy myself distance.
When I began researching DI’s I got the usual suspects returned in my searches, there was something so important about a DI that I felt was being overlooked by these other companies. That’s when I landed on a video with Scott Hansen aka Tycho talking about his RND-8 and how much he loved it. That was pretty much all I needed to start my research on them. I’ve been familiar with Rupert Neve since I began recording - the name is synonymous with elegance and quality - the two things I was really trying to cement in my new studio. Having an 8-channel DI meant I could plug in all my synths AND my tape echos and run just one 8-channel XLR snake from the back of the room to the Apollo’s. That was exactly what I was after - simplicity, elegance, and quality. But I also ended up moving the positioning of my guitar pedal setup and needed a stereo DI, I went right back to Rupert Neve and grabbed the RNDI-S to make my 10-channels of audio needs uniform.
What were you expecting from them? And what difference did they actually make?
This question is actually super easy for me to answer honestly because I had quite literally no expectations of a DI changing my sound. And what happened was actually mind blowing.
I got the RNDI-8 and S installed, connected all the gear, flipped on phantom to power them and hit the first note on the PS-3100 and it was like I had wool earmuffs taken off - everything was so damn clear. There was clarity to it. I always heard the sound before, but now I was experiencing the sound. At the risk of sounding too much like a nerd, the DI’s made making music a full body experience. Go ahead and make fun, but it’s true! I was like a kid on Christmas morning, I was like “what else can I try!” So I plugged in my guitar and played through the RNDI-S and had the same experience! I could hear my fingers on the strings as though I just changed the strings, got a ten thousand dollar Dumble amp, and was playing after having water finally come out of my ears. Again, make fun of me all you’d like, it’s true.
So there you have it, the least expected but absolute best studio upgrade I made was purchasing these boxes. Outside of the sound, they couldn’t have been easier to install and get going with them - virtually no instruction needed, perfect for me. And the build quality is absolutely fantastic - it felt substantial and that’s what I was really hoping for in this chapter of my studio. These units will absolutely outlast me, that’s for sure.
For someone looking to get into analog synths, what would you recommend as a good “starter” piece?
I’d recommend going to a shop and playing a bunch, seeing which resonate with you. What worked for me may not work for you.
The other option, if you don’t have a local shop, is to purchase demos of synths from companies that make software versions of classic pieces. I was playing a Prophet plugin from u-He for years before I decided to actually buy a Prophet6. Same with Moog, you can even get some for your iOS devices. See if the sounds work for you before diving in.
And if it’s your first analog synth, I would suggest going with something new, holding off on vintage until you are more comfortable with synths, mainly because the maintenance will be easier and you can focus on playing more immediately. Korg makes some wonderful options as does Moog. I am a huge fan of the Moog Matriarch, plus that starts to introduce you to semi-modular concepts: you can play it straight out of the box or you can patch elements to other pieces and even integrate it with other modular synths down the line. Highly recommended.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I really appreciate you having me and taking the time to let me answer some of your questions. I think the biggest thing I’d like to impress on anyone starting out is to take your time. I acquired my studio gear and instruments over many long years. We live in an age of constant input and can run the risk of comparing where we’re at to other’s journeys. Just remember to follow your gut, take your time and have fun. And when you purchase pieces, think of them as investments in your own future, do your research and try things out! And I'll say it again because it’s so important - have fun while doing it!
Featured Gear:
Thanks to TJ for the great photos of his studio. Vintage synth photos from vintagesynth.com. All photos © their respective owners.
