We started this series with The Black Lodge and continued with Kerry and The Basement, the third interview features the Point Winona studio and collective who redefine what community can mean for Los Angeles DJs and producers. Point Winona gathers artists, studios, B&B, music production and release, events, and more, all under a literal roof in the lovely hills Los Feliz – one of LA’s favorite areas for creative folks to live and thrive.
Producers, DJs, and long time pillars of the LA scene, Marc aka Dave Aju and Tavish, tell us more about their vision for Point Winona as a studio and community spot, for its first compilation out digitally and on vinyl on March 6th; and we also caught one of their resident musicians, Caroline Campbell aka Harp Impressions, to give us insights on another project from the house.
How did you get the idea to turn a house into a multi-studio space?
Tavish: As the story goes– this house had been passed through hands for a good part of a decade and as it came to a close with the last roommate group, I put my name in the hat, because I always coveted its unique beauty and location. I’ve also always been a community-project driven person, I love working on group collaborations, and was in dire need of a new place for my own studio, hi-fi, and record collection.
I could literally almost taste the idea formulating – the way it could function on a greater level for our crew and our city and global music scene. Marc had also lost his studio over the last year, and so I pitched the idea to him relentlessly, with the concept of offsetting our rents with residents, out of town guests, and fundraising functions, so the cost wouldn’t hurt us as badly either.
Now granted, this idea and plan was first hatched several years back, and took quite some time to fully realize, but here we are, and the rest as they say is history!
And how did you decide on the key gear for the studios?
Marc: We both came up as hip-hop producers long before the electronic music world came knocking on our creative doors; so I’d probably say the sampler, and specifically the Ensoniq ASR-10, is the unanimous all-time fave piece.
Nowadays with software capabilities we tend to do most sampling and sound manipulation in the box, but still have some great hardware pieces that inspire and get incorporated in tracks.
The TR-909 I have in our studio is the same one I bought with my SF super-homie Mickey back in 1996, and she’s still kicking strong. I believe we have three variations on the SH-101 around, which is arguably the greatest mono/bass synth of all time (outside the illustrious Acid TB-303 box of course), and one of my other faves would be the Sequential Circuits TOM, which has such a cool, unique and programmable sound – a beat box for all beat boxes.
Tavish: Yeah, a favorite piece is hard to pick… because usually certain pieces represent certain chapters of musical life. The ASR-10 was the great sequencing building block and basically imparted a concept of sampling and processing into our DNA. For me, then it was AKAI MPCs for a good part of the next 10 years, but Marc is right– the 303 is of course an absolute fundamental in the acid dance world we encircle. We have a really cool rare clone kit version of it called the Xoxbox in the studio now.
Can you tell us about the music direction and collaborators curation in this space?
Marc: Part of the dream of developing the space was definitely to foster a deeper artist community within the LA underground scene. We have some of the greatest DJs on planet Earth, but many if not most of them, have spent little time in studios actually creating their own music. Thus the West Coast, while known for amazing import opportunities – just look at RA listings for LA on any given weekend and it will usually read like a dream festival lineup split between 5-10 different parties, has been a little slack in the export department, outside a few choice reps and forces.
So we brought in some younger promising local talent to share studio space with us, such as Gryph, Connor Mikami, and Joe Brilliant specifically – who all help keep the lights on, in the financial and inspirational sense.
And who gets invited to use the studios or for other community happenings?
Marc: Then when it comes down to the who’s who of outside folks joining us for studio sessions, it can include everyone from out of town friends staying for the weekend – as the spare bedrooms are a major allure of the space, and we charge a homie rate, through to the local dream teams such as the ones on thePoint Winona Sound Library Vol. 1 with 12 tracks created by 20 artists in various family formations in 1 studio space.
We just had a compilation artist dinner here at the house to celebrate the official compilation drop, and the true collective community feels were unlike anything I’ve experienced in over 30 years of doing this. If this isn’t a love movement, don’t know what is!
Tavish: And just to expand from there – part of the purpose and expression of Point Winona is to also serve as a retreat for visiting DJs and producers, who while visiting Los Angeles, can find it as a place of refuge and community to relax and build ideas, play tunes, and utilize the studio for off the cuff creative moments. In its ultimate form, the Point is equal parts musical B&B, artist in residence studio, and research library… so the idea is that it is a revolving door of the global who’s who as well, as guest DJs are often passing though the city and need an affordable and inspiring sanctuary – we want to be that bright spot in their travels.
For people entering the electronic music scene, what do you advise to start well and grow in a sustainable manner?
Marc: I’d say the most important thing, which could be said of any endeavor, creative or otherwise, is to set your intentions and really look within and ask yourself what your purpose is.
What do you want to add to the conversation that has certainly been had before your climbing aboard? What can and will you bring to the table, what additional elements can you contribute to the local and/or global pantheon of musical expression and creation?
On the technical side, less is way more as far as gear and sound sources or palettes, as limitation invents creation. I didn’t really start finishing tracks, which as Tavish pointed out here is the true key, until I stripped away the desire to have an overstocked impressively-looking studio and just focused on function and my preferred workflow.
Tavish: One of the things I take pride in and also admire about Marc, is that we both have an innate drive to complete and follow through. Any artist or music-maker will tell you that the hardest part is finishing. To us it’s an innate compulsion, a necessity to finish and clear the space for the next thing.
There is a certain madness to that notion, but the cumulative experience to looking back at a body of work, is exactly the fuel and momentum that gets you around the next bend. So my advice is to really nurture that imperative and find the systems that get you there
Discover two projects from Point Winona, first with jazz and electronic music harpist and music therapist Caroline Campbell:
“I had the privilege of recording harp on Navid Izadi’s album that he had been working on for over 5 years when he and I met back in 2016. Shortly thereafter he tragically passed away. His brother and I tried to gain some momentum on getting the album finished a few times, but none of the attempts materialized until right around the time Point Winona was coming to the fore. Marc agreed to finish producing the album, and I’d say watching and hearing it come back to life in a new way significantly added to the magic that is Point Winona!
Most of the tracks were 90% finished, so we brought in friends and family of Navid’s to record solos, to make it as true to his sound and what he would have wanted as possible. In Navid’s words, he wanted this album to be ‘This kind of 70s, dusty finger, rare record vibe is the grand goal I’m aspiring for with this album. To create something out of time and out of genre, that will be timeless, and people will want to get on wax, collect, and listen to at home when they’re chilling in 60 years.’ And so in true fashion of what Marc and Tavish do best, they were able to finish this album and project for our dear, late friend. We will announce single releases soon and then the album.”
… And listen to Point Winona Sound Library Vol. 1 featuring 20 distinct artists from the local dance music scene, working under the one unified roof of Point Winona studio in various collaborative formation. “These timeless warehouse-wrecking tracks all stand on their own, but the compilation as a whole offers a solid geographic sonic statement with shared rhythmic DNA and bold rooted-futurist production blueprints, guided by the champion efforts of studio executive producers/curators Tavish DJ (Warehouse Preservation Society) and Dave Aju.”
Some of the featured artists are Dex (Underground Resistance), Kosmik (Black Lodge), Maddy Maia, Stacy Christine, and RA’s Tottie, head to Soundcloud for snippets and to Bandcamp for the whole album.
More info about the album and its label on Elbow Grease and Discosxxx.
Feel free to reach out to Marc and Tavish if you are a DJ/producer looking for studio time or a temp room in LA, Point Winona could become your home away from home <3
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