Oh No Ono

Oh No Ono is a Danish band standing on the verge of breakthrough. Some of the keywords are experimental, melodic, bold, and dare we say it – innovative. They are definitely not afraid of using new technologies when creating music…

You may not have heard about Oh No Ono just yet, but make a note of this band as you may well come across them again someday. After the release of their second album, Eggs, they have toured most of Europe and North America in the first half of 2010.

There is no doubt that they are highly influenced by The Beatles – both in terms of strong melodic lines and their revolutionary approach to working in the studio. The use of effects and experimentation in the studio is a great part of Oh No Ono’s musical identity. For example, multiple layers of vocals are very common on Oh No Ono tracks, which led the band to start using TC-Helicon’s VoiceLive vocal effects processor.

“When we started rehearsing for the ‘Eggs Tour’, we soon realized that the massive vocal arrangements and not least the extensive use of effects were missing in a very obvious way,” Aske, who is one of the singers and guitarists of Oh No Ono, explains. “It had simply become a very essential part of our overall sound, so we started searching the market for vocal effect boards by checking out a lot of YouTube videos demonstrating vocal products. After seeing a VoiceLive being used in a singer-songwriter context with loads of harmonies and effects, we were totally convinced that it was the way to go!”

Interview with Oh No Ono

“Often, we start out with a factory preset and then tweak the parameters, but we almost never end up using unmodified factory presets. We like extreme effect settings,” Aske says as he continues. “In fact, we often end up with an entirely different effect than what we intended at first. We love using the pitch effects and the doubler, but we also use many harmony effects and some extreme reverb effects quite often. We have been using VoiceLives for 1½ year now, and one of the great advantages is that you get the same kind of control over the effects that you have with guitar effects, and that’s a great thing for us being absolute control freaks!”

We also wanted to know a bit about the recording of Oh No Ono’s second album, Eggs. “We recorded in several different locations,” Aske tells us. “Initially, we recorded in a ‘real’ studio for 6 weeks, and we also recorded a lot of outdoor ambiences, for example at the beach. Then, we recorded strings and percussion in a church in Copenhagen, and the rest has been recorded in our own studio and at home using small portable recording rigs.”

Gear run with Oh No Ono

Finally, we asked about the creative process. “Sometimes, one of us comes up with an almost finished song, but often, it is just a rough idea that we give the full ‘Oh No Ono treatment’, which means that it usually ends up far, far away from the original starting point.”

Posted in Artists, VoiceLive

This entry was posted on July 9, 2010 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Artists, VoiceLive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.