drone-in-the-woods
Star Song X (HWJ 142bpm mix) - trance-techno synthesizer jam with Gaia, MC101, MFC42, Crave and Edge
updated
Proved too difficult to keep this one ambient all the way through :) An amazing place to visit, especially in the glorious sunshine.
The birdsong that I have overdubbed to enhance the audio was recorded in a hedgerow in Whitehawk, Brighton 31st may 2025.
Roland MC101
Korg Microkorg XL into Boss RV6 reverb into Boss RC500 looper
Behringer Crave into Boss DD7 delay
Roland Street Ex Cube
Zoom H6
Knowlton Church and Earthworks, Dorset, UK
8th August 2025
The birdsong that I have overdubbed to enhance the audio was recorded in a hedgerow in Whitehawk, Brighton 31st may 2025.
Korg Microkorg XL into Boss RV6 reverb into Boss RC500 looper
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave into Boss DD7 delay
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
8th August 2025
Footage from @maikfinch
I was hoping to share my set from the Mandala stage at Glastonbury Festival, but unfortunately the recording didn't work. It was my best set to date and was received extremely well :) I've done a couple of jams since then but they were a bit sketchy so got deleted, but I'm really happy with this one -
Glowingly Foolish - summer shade mix
Finally getting round to working on a studio production of this track that I've written with @bayunthecat4042 from Kiev. He recorded the original kalimba samples whilst left without electricity during a blackout, and then helped me to get the chord progression together.
Check out his impressive catalogue here: dadra68.bandcamp.com/?search_item_id%3D4283773441%26search_item_type%3Db%26search_match_part%3D%253F%26search_page_id%3D4550749356%26search_page_no%3D0%26search_rank%3D1
Roland MC101
Korg Microkorg XL into Boss RV6 reverb into Boss RC500 looper
Behringer Crave into Boss DD7 delay
Midronome
Composed by Keith Sutton and @bayunthecat4042
Performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 6th August 2025
The most fun and best sounds were made during the final set of our gig at The Woolpack. We mix into my track 'The Monument' and then into a Psyjamas loop.
Perry Frank - guitar, synths and FX
Nigel Rippon - gyil, recorders and vocals
Keith Sutton - synths, loops and FX
Woolpack Inn, Fishbourne, UK
28th May 2025
It was also the first time that Nigel played a selection of different sized recorders.
Korg Minilogue XD into Boss RC500 looper into Akai MFC-42 filter.
Roland MC-101
Behringer Crave
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton and Nigel Rippon
25th May 2025
This was my first gig with my new mixer - a Soundcraft MFXi. I need to save a decent tap tempo delay on it, but it's great that you can store FX settings :)
Nigel Rippon is playing a gyil, an which is a West African boraphone.
Korg Minilogue XD into Boss RC500 looper into Akai MFC-42 filter.
Roland MC-101
Behringer Crave
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton and Nigel Rippon
25th May 2025
The Zoom MS-90LP+ is incredibly cheap and has more switches that can be pressed by your feet, like loop FX on/off, undo and rhythm start/stop.
I set up a camera to film me using the pedal for the first time, but I forgot to press record!
In this video, I'm using the looper clocked to the MC101. I did have problems with getting a smooth loop with no clicks at the loop point, although this is also the case with the Boss, the Zoom seemed to be worse. It really didn't like overdubbing whilst looping in reverse. I enjoyed the half time effect and will definitely be using it more in my more ambient jams. One other major difference for me, is that the tape stop effect stops the loop, whereas the vinyl flick effect on the Boss doesn't. This is annoying for my music here, but will actually work better for when I'm looping my rock songs.
Future video spoiler: next time I use the looper as master clock with the MC101 and Microkorg synced to it and the clicks issue is resolved, even when in reverse. Plus, the clock output is far more solid than the Boss :)
I've used an old clip of a large parasol mushroom in Petworth Park to cover the two points where I had to cut out sections with loop clicks.
Roland MC101
Korg Microkorg XL
Zoom MS-90LP+ looper
Boss RV6 reverb
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 12th June 2025
With my Boss RC500 looper dying on me and Glastonbury festival only a couple of weeks away, it was time to get the RC30 out. With its stereo aux input plus left and right jacks, it's possible to loop two instruments in stereo at once. No midi sync though, so ambient stuff only.
This track is from my previous looping incarnation - Undersound. It was originally called The Sea, because I mistakingly thought it was in C. It's clearly not!
Fender Telecaster (Japanese circa 1986)
Korg Microkorg XL
Boss DD7 delay
Boss RV6 reverb
Boss RC30 looper
Wittering beach, UK 11th June 2025
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Perry Frank was in the UK last week playing a couple of gigs and we seized the opportunity to video a jam in my forest studio up Goodwood.
What a session it was, one take and completely improvised. We produced twenty five minutes of ambient drones, lush pads and gentle arpeggios with birdsong - suitable for chilling, meditation and relaxation.
I even managed to multitrack record the session, so get in touch if you'd like to have a mess around with the stems :)
Perry Frank was playing my Fender Telecaster (Japanese circa 1986) through Boss DD7 delay, Boss RV6 reverb and Boss RC20XL looper.
I was playing Korg Microkorg XL, Roland MC101 and Behringer Crave through Boss DD6 delay and Boss RC30 looper.
Monitored through Roland Cube Street Ex and recorded on Tascam DR40 and Zoom H6.
The birdsong on this video was recorded a couple of days later in a hedge on the edge of Brighton.
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton and Francesco Nicola Perra
28the May 2025
A different hill than usual, but still up Goodwood before it gets noisy :)
Back to using the Boss RC30 looper as I can run 2 synths through it with both in stereo. Both synths are mono analogues but I put each through stereo FX before looping.
Roland SH101 into Ibanez Sessionman SS10 (distortion+chorus) into Boss DD6 (delay) into Boss RC30 looper
Behringer Crave into Boss RV5 (reverb) into Boss RC30 looper
Roland Street Cube Ex
Tascam DR40
Zoom H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
25th May 2025
@bournemouthemom
On Wednesday (28th May) I'm playing at The Woolpack Inn in Fishbourne, Chichester along with βͺ@PerryFrank , the ambient soundscaper from Sardinia. I will be joined by Nigel Rippon, who features on a couple of videos here, most notably - youtu.be/XafzlInVzGI?feature=shared, and he will be playing his Gyil among other iinstruments!
Korg Minilogue XD into Boss RC500 looper
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave into Boss DD6 delay
Field recordings on Boss RC30 looper
All tracks composed and performed by Keith Sutton
24th April 2025
This is another huge ambient piece, with lush pads, birdsong, and lots of reverb and slow development :)
As it was Beltane (1st of May, the pagan start to the summer) I did a version of the track I wrote a year ago.
Korg Microkorg XL into Boss RC500 looper into Boss RV5 reverb
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave into Boss DD6 delay into Boss RC500 looper
Mixed and monitored with Roland Cube Street Ex battery-powered amp
and recorded on Zoom H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
at Eartham woods, 1st May 2025
I'm experimenting with putting my analogue filter, the Akai MFC-42, into my indoor setup so that I can filter the loops from the RC500.
Korg Minilogue XD
Behringer Crave
Roland MC101
Akai MFC-42
Boss RC500
Boss SE50
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
4th May 2025
I had a great time last week performing at the Bournemouth EMOM and Monomania in Brighton. Both were amazing nights featuring a wide range of electronic music artists and were extremely well supported by lovely audiences. The organisers of both do an incredible job promoting original music and keeping electronic music live π
I've got a couple of proper gigs coming up!
First is Wednesday 28th May at the Woolpack Inn, Chichester, alongside the ambient guitar god, Perry Frank from Sardinia.
@PerryFrank
Then I'm off to Glastonbury Festival! I'm on the Mandala stage in the Green Futures field on the Sunday at 3pm.
A week later I'm playing with multi instrumentalist and sonic wizard Nigel Rippon at Highdown Hotel in Worthing (Sunday 6th July) π
Korg Microkorg XL
Behringer Crave
Roland MC101
Boss RC500
Boss DD6
Boss RV5
Roland Cube Street Ex
Tascam DR40
Zoom H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 7th April 2025
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave
Fender Telecaster
Boss RC500 looper
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Ibanez Sessionman SS10 distortion/chorus
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
6th April 2025
Korg Mickrokorg XL
Fender Telecaster
Boss RC30 looper
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Composed and performed by
Keith Sutton
30th March 2025
Brandyhole Copse
The forest floor was covered in dry leaves that you can hear gently rustling alongside the birds singing in the trees above.
I have mixed in footage from my visit earlier in the day to the ancient yew grove at Kingley Vale, slowed down to match the vibe.
Behringer Crave
Roland SH101
Boss RC500 looper
Boss RV5 reverb
Boss DD6 delay
Roland Cube Street Ex
Tascam DR40
Zoom H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
16th March 2025
This was for the Hardware Jams Weekend Challenge - The Power of Three, so I decided to use three analogue synthesisers -
Roland SH-101
Behringer Edge
Korg Volca Keys
Midronome (midi clock)
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Boss RC500 looper
Roland Street Cube Ex
Tascam DR40
Zoom H6
Composed and performed by
Keith Sutton
Brandyhole Copse
9th March 2025
Behringer TD3
Roland MC101
Korg Microkorg XL
Boss DD6
Roland Cube Street Ex
Tascam DR60
Zoom H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
2nd March 2025
Roland Juno 6
Roland MC101
Roland SH32
Behringer Edge
Behringer Crave
Boss SE50 (reverb)
composed and performed by
Keith Sutton
19th January 2025
Perry Frank - guitar and synths
drone-in-the-woods - synths and field recordings
Pete Ferguson - ac. guitar and FX
Ambient Lounge.
Jam Cafe, Chichester UK
15th November 2024
Pete Ferguson's pedal setup is visible at 11:56.
Korg Minilogue XD
Roland SH-32
Behringer Crave
Roland MC101
Boss RC500
Boss RC30
Boss SE50
All music composed by Keith Sutton
Performed by Keith Sutton and Pete Ferguson
Ambient Lounge at Jam CafΓ©, Chichester
15th November 2024
Pete Ferguson joined me on guitar and FX and we produced our best sounds yet, his pedals (and talent) are displayed during the video.
Korg Minilogue XD into Boss RC500 looper
Behringer Crave
Roland SH-32
Roland MC101
Boss SE-50 delay/reverb
composed by Keith Sutton
performed by Keith Sutton and Pete Ferguson
November 15th 2024
Behringer Edge into Ibanez Session Man SS10
Volca Keys into Boss RC500 into Boss DD6
Recorded with Zoom H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
1st December 2024
The seagulls are being fed with paella thrown from a boat in Lanzarotte.
Korg Minilogue XD looped by Boss RC500
Roland Gaia Sh-01
Behringer Crave
Roland MC101
Behringer Xenyx 1002b mixer
Recorded on 2 x Zoom H6 and 1 x Tascam DR40
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
2nd November 2024
An absolutely beautiful afternoon was spent among the pines, and much experience was gained :)
I look incredibly serious at points and only realised after listening back that I had punched a sequence into my SH101 that was 9 notes long, rather than the 8 I had intended! I was clearly confused but kept going as it was all sounding good, just not quite right :)
A lot more drone footage was obtained but I have only used a small selection due to us forgetting to clear up and put our carrier bags and coke bottles etc out of sight!
Roland SH101
Roland Gaia Sh-01
Behringer Crave
Korg Microkorg XL
Boss DD6 delay
Midronome clock
Zoom H6 audio recorder
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Extra footage by input for color
15th September 2024
We have organised a little show in Chichester next month (15th November at Jam Cafe) and have created this collab video for promotion.
Perry Frank created his stunning video first and sent it over to me to see what I could add to it. Wishing to capture some bird song and ambience, I shot mine at the end of the day, as dusk fell. I got the audio I was hoping for, but unfortunately my video is very dark!
Check out Perry Frank's channel here: youtube.com/@PerryFrank/featured
I've mixed the two jams together and slightly panned them either side.
Roland SH-32
Korg MicrokorgXL
Boss RC30 looper
Boss RV5 reverb
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
27th July 2024
Roland SH101
Roland SH-32
Behringer Edge
Behringer Crave
Korg Volca Keys
Behringer Xenyx 1002b mixer
Boss SE-50 FX
Boss DD6 delay
Tascam DR40 audio recorder
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
8th September 2024
Very happy that it worked :) Work's been hectic and I've really used this track to de-stress. I hope it can help you too.
It was a very windy day and I couldn't use any of my microphone audio so I had a look on my hard drive for some bird song - I found a recording I'd made on Christmas morning! Had completely forgotten about it, was really surprised to hear how many birds were singing their little hearts out at that time of year!!
Roland Gaia Sh-01
Korg Microkord XL
Boss RC500 looper
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Zoom H6 audio recorder
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Lambourne hill, Stoughton 26th July 2024
This was the first day that the midges were out in force and you can see me getting bitten throughout the session! Then I really wasn't expecting it to start raining, but it did. Fortunately only enough that I could move under the tree that I was filming from and not interrupt the recording :)
Roland MC101 sequencer/synth/sampler
Korg Microkorg XL synth
Fender Telecaster guitar
Boss RC500 looper
Boss RV5 reverb
Boss DD6 delay
Tascam DR40 audio recorder
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
25th July 2024
It's nice to be returning to our folktronica roots :)
Jack Boyd - vocal and guitar
Keith Sutton - Microkorg XL, Roland MC101 and Behringer Crave
Keith Clouston - oud.
Goodwood 19th July 2024
Jack's channel: youtube.com/@jackboyd-official3203?feature=shared
More from The Big Sky: youtube.com/@thebigsky4128?feature=shared
The second session was recorded up Racton Ruin, where I laid down the Crave and Gaia parts.
Fender Telecaster
Roland SH-32
Roland Gaia Sh-01
Behringer Crave
Boss RV500 looper
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Behringer Xenyx1002b mixer
Roland Cube Street Ex
Zoom H6 and Tascam DR40 audio recorders
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 8th July 2024
Racton Ruin 16th July 2024
CHAPTERS
00:01 β Ambient guitar and synth drones + raindrops
16:44 β Trance section with beats and guitar
25:50 β Ambient middle section
34:55 β Trance section with SH-32 and Gaia
37:29 β Ambient end section + raindrops
Fender telecaster into Boss RV5 reverb into Boss RC500 looper into Boss DD6 delay.
Roland SH-32
Roland Cube Street Ex
Tascam DR40
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Brandy Hole woods
Chichester
7th July 2024
Roland MC101
Korg Volca Keys
Behringer TD3
Boss RV5 reverb
Boss DD6 delay
Behringer Xenyx 1002B mixer
Tascam DR40 audio recorder
Roland Cube Street Ex amplifier
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
26th June 2024
Brandyhole Woods, Chichester, UK
All the equipment fits in a small bag!
Roland MC101
Korg Volca Keys
Boss DD6 delay
Zoom H6 audio recorder
Tascam DR40 audio recorder
Headphones
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
31st May 2024
All analogue sound sources (yes, the FX are digital)
Fender Telecaster
Roland SH101
Behringer Crave
Korg Volca Keys
Birdsong
Pete plays his guitar through EHX Freeze - Jim Dunlop Cry-baby Wah - EHX Nano Pog - Dr Tone Analogue Chorus - MXR Phase 90 - Dr Tone Analogue Delay - EHX Freeze - EHX Oceans 11 Reverb
Amplified with Roland Cube Street
Crave and Keys looped with Boss RC500, with Keys through Boss RV5 reverb and Crave through Boss DD6 delay.
SH101 through Boss DD7 delay.
Mixed and amplified with Roland Cube Street Ex
Recorded with Tascam DR40 and Zoom H6
Composed and performed by
Keith Sutton and Pete Ferguson
Brandy Hole Woods
25th May 2024
This was the second of our two jams, a longer, darker journey with echoes of forest ghosts. This was my first session with the Korg Volca Keys, and it fitted in perfectly :)
Behringer Crave and Korg Volca Keys looped with Boss RC500
Roland SH101
All three synced with Midronome
Mixed/amplified with Roland Cube Street Ex
Pete Ferguson plays Fender Telecaster through
EHX Freeze - Jim Dunlop Cry-baby Wah - EHX Nano Pog - Dr Tone Analogue Chorus - MXR Phase 90 - Dr Tone Analogue Delay - EHX Freeze - EHX Oceans 11 Reverb
Amplified with Roland Cube Street
Recorded with Tascam DR-40 and Korg H6
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton and Pete Ferguson
Brandy Hole woods 25th May 2024
Korg Microkorg XL
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave
Boss RC500
Boss RV5
Boss DD6
Roland Street Cube Ex
Tascam DR-40
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 12th May 2024
The jam was actually 30 minutes long but the guitar solo I recorded was too loud and I overloaded the recording. So I've just chopped that section out, see if you can work out where!
Fender Telecaster
Behringer Crave
Roland Gaia Sh-01
Roland MC-101
Boss RC500 looper
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Roland Cube Street Ex
Zoom H6
Tascam DR40
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Brandy Hole woods, Chichester
4th May 2024
Had to work most of the Easter hols but I managed to get out early on the last day and set up in my forest studio for a proper improvised session with no idea what I was going to come up with :)
The video is a tiny bit out of sync with the audio but it's all about the music so I'm not going to try to fix it!
Fender Telecaster into RC500 looper
Roland Gaia Sh-01
Roland MC-101
Behringer Crave
Behringer Xenyx 1002b mixer with
Boss DD6 delay and Boss RV5 reverb.
Roland Cube Street Ex
Zoom H6 and Tascam DR40 audio recorders.
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 12th April 2024
Video overlay is of a red kite, taken earlier in the day.
Korg Minilogue XD
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave into Boss DD6 delay into Boss RV5 reverb
recorded with Korg D888
composed and performed by Keith Sutton
7th April 2024
Korg Microkorg XL into Boss RV5 reverb into Boss RC500 looper
Behringer Crave into Boss DD6 delay
Roland Cube Street Ex
Tascam DR40
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 29th March 2024
Roland Juno 6
Roland MC101
Boss RC30
Midronome
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
24th March 2024
I didn't have any time to prepare for this one so I went for a super easy set up and improvised around one chord :)
Fender Telecaster into Boss RV5 Reverb
Behringer Crave
both into Boss RC30 looper into Boss DD6 delay.
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Goodwood 17th Mar 2024
Jack Boyd : voice and banjo
drone-in-the-woods:
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave
Korg Microkorg XL
Boss DD6 delay
Boss RV5 reverb
Behringer Xenyx 1002b mixer/Roland Cube Street Ex amp/Zoom H6 audio recorder
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton and Jack Boyd
Racton Ruin 12th February 2024
Behringer TD3
Roland MC101
Behringer Crave
Behringer Xenyx 1002b
Boss DD6
Boss RV5
Roland Street Cube Ex
Tascam DR40
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
3rd March 2024
Brandy Hole Copse
I did want my hundredth to be a mega-drone jam in the forest but it's too wet, so instead I visited the moon for the @HardwareJams Weekend Challenge.
2 boxes allowed only due to limited space on lunar module:
Roland MC101
Korg Minilogue XD
composed and performed by Keith Sutton
26th February 2024
Video FX are New Year's Eve 2023 sparklers.
Really getting into this portable setup, the MC101 is an incredible piece of music tech and the Crave sounds amazing for just 1 oscillator!
Roland MC101 with Arturia Keystep
Behringer Crave into Boss DD6 into Boss RV5
composed and performed by Keith Sutton
Tuesday 6th February 2024
Roland MC101
Arturia Keystep
Boss RC500
Composed and performed by Keith Sutton
21st January 2024


