Mark Zonder - Slavior
After a long period as the drummer of the progressive metal band Fates Warning, Mark Zonder has been focussing on other projects like "Cans" and "Warlord". At the end of March, his new band "Slavior" finally released its self-titled debut album - produced with Cubase.
What led to the decision to leave the old Fates Warning band structure, start experimenting and move on to exploring other musical territories?
It was time for me to get back to running my own band and doing things the way I wanted, both musically and from a business point of view. I had been searching for the players for quite along time and this was not an "all of a sudden idea". I have an abundance of musical ideas that needed their own band with my direction. Over the past several years, I have learned both good and bad ways of working within this business. The main point is that I have several musical ideas that required starting my own band and using these ideas for the basis of the songs. I constantly practice and record my ideas. I also wanted to form a band that was more accessible to the general public instead of being stereotyped into one field of music.
Did these new influences and experiences with other musicians have any impact on your drumming techniques?
Not really, this band has several songs that started with drums. I wanted to be able to get my ideas out without having to try and cram them into someone else’s song. This is very hard to do.
You have been running your own studio called "Bill’s Place" for over 15 years now – 15 years which have been very challenging for studio owners. On the one hand we saw the breakthrough of digital studio equipment and computer based sequencing and on the other hand we had to accept that the music business has become more and more difficult to base one's livelihood upon. How did you perceive these changes and were you one of the early adopters of the digital studio environment?
Even though Bill’s Place is primarily rehearsal and sound stages, there are two recording studios. My experience with this is not good. I got caught right in between the digital and analog worlds. I am one of those guys who bought the expensive, automated analog consoles right before the big digital scene hit. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of the analog stuff, but from a financial point of view, I got killed as the console is worth 1/10th of what I paid for it. I do remember clients coming in and asking for Pro Tools and not knowing if PT was a hammer and saw or a microphone. It was just the catch phrase at the time. At this point I started checking into things and decided on going with Cubase.
Can you give us a brief overview of the equipment you use nowadays in your studio?
Cubase 4 is the heart. I still use my big analog console. I use all analog outboard stuff. I guess you would say I have the best of both worlds. I do very little mixing if any in the computer, but bring it out onto the console. Here are some of the pieces I use: Neve mods, Cal Rec mods, Manley, Summit Audio, Lexicon pcm 91, Distressors… Good mics are always important. Motu I/O boxes.
For quite some time now, you have been using Cubase as the heart of your studio. What made you choose this product over other sequencers on the market?
The honest answer was after doing the research, and realizing that a wave file is a wave file, the pricing was the decision maker. I could do everything I wanted to do, as I had the full line of analog stuff and not pay a large amount of money to a product that needed to be updated every few months.
"Slavior" was produced on Cubase as well, although you worked with the external producer Joe Marlett. Was he working with Cubase before and how did the production come along?
Joe actually had worked on Nuendo before and it all came back to him. He really liked some of the new features in Cubase.
Are there any plans to play some live shows once the album has been released?
Yes, we plan on doing a lot of playing across the world this year. This band was designed as a live band.
Aside from the Slavior engagement, what’s next on your tight schedule?
Slavior is pretty much it. Besides playing and writing I am basically running it at this point as well. My new born twins are also keeping us very busy.
For more information please visit: 
www.markzonder.com