Mashd N Kutcher have teamed up with Turtle Beach to smoosh together a collection of gaming sounds, from the click of a mechanical keyboard to the firing of a gun in Call of Duty.
Though they were already a hit on the club circuit and in the mash-up scene, most of Australia fell in love with Mashd N Kutcher thanks to their Hottest 100 charting Dan Andrew collab Get On The Beers. But their latest project is a little less lockdown and a little more gaming – a collab with gear manufacturer Turtle Beach.
Recordings the sounds of Turtle Beach’s new Recon 500 headset as well as a collection of other gaming samples – from mechanical keyboards clicking to a PS5’s disc drive – they concocted a track that simply slaps. We caught up with the pair to find out how they put it together.
HAPPY: Just listened to the remix, it’s huge. Can you run us through some samples you used?
MNK: Sampled the Recon 500s, various clicking noises from them, as well as the keyboard, mouse, and the gaming console. We were also able to grab some sounds from gameplay too which was awesome!
HAPPY: Sounds like this isn’t your first time sampling games, when did you first start plundering the medium?
MNK: I think we tried to have a couple of cracks back in 2014 with Mario Kart and COD, both staples in the MNK households.
HAPPY: A gear question: what’s your workflow/gear setup when attacking something like this? What do you use for sampling, and are you using a particular DAW to put it together, or jamming it live like you do in your shows?
MNK: We both work together, Matt on Logic Pro X and Adam on Ableton Live. Matt’s more of the beginning of the initial sample process and structure, then Adam follows through with the sound design and refinement.
HAPPY: Really hard-out electro seems to be a really big part of the Mashd N Kutcher sound. Who are some of your hero artists there?
MNK: Skrillex would top the tree, but a few of the legacy acts like Bloody Beetroots and Justice are always on rotation.
HAPPY: If you were asked to score a game, what kind of game would you like it to be?
MNK: An epic adventure title would be very cool. Something with big open worlds and plenty of interaction between the soundtrack and the gameplay.
HAPPY: What games are you playing at the moment?
MNK: Super Smash is always happening, COD here and there, running through ABZU on Switch for the second time also.
HAPPY: What are your desert island records, but for soundtracks?
MNK: Anything by Hans Zimmer haha! You never want anything too aggressive on an island… or do you? Island rave… hmm it’s tough.
HAPPY: Now from a sound design perspective – excluding the soundtrack – are there any games you’ve played recently that really stood out as special?
MNK: ABZU is great, the way the score interacts with the environment really sets the tone. Also Cyberpunk 2077 was a lot of fun.
HAPPY: What else does Mashd N Kutcher have on the cards for the rest of the year?
MNK: More shows where possible, new records, new collab videos. Keen for all of them!
Keep up with Mashd N Kutcher on Facebook and Instagram. Find out more about the Turtle Beach Recon 500 headset here.
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