Welcome back to the Underground.
As we dissect the intricate machinery behind the band, we have highlighted the vocalists, the rhythm section, and the digital architects. But now it is time to talk about the man who actually builds the room we all play in. Up next is the mastermind behind the mixing board: Hank Stirling, our sole Analog Producer.
Take a look at the liner notes for First Principles, From Cosmos to Cave, or our massive new release Architects and Wanderers. You will notice Hank’s name attached to every single track. When you are blending acoustic guitars with glitching drum machines, or combining sweeping classical cellos with heavy rock distortion, the mix can turn into an absolute muddy disaster in seconds. Hank is the filter. He is the one who takes ten completely different sonic ideas and forces them to coexist in the same atmospheric space.
From the Abyss to the Soundboard
Hank’s superhuman ear for detail didn’t start in a recording studio. Before moving into music production, he spent years stationed deep underwater as a submarine sonar technician. Staring at acoustic screens in total darkness, he was trained to isolate microscopic auditory anomalies in the middle of a chaotic, deafening ocean. He treats the mixing desk the exact same way. If a bass frequency is clashing with a synth patch by a fraction of a decibel, Hank hears it immediately and mercilessly cuts it out.
The Tube Architect
While Martin lives in the digital world of synthesizers, Hank is deeply, stubbornly rooted in the analog. He refuses to use modern digital plugins to warm up our tracks. Instead, he hand-builds custom vacuum tube amplifiers, often using copper wiring and glass tubes salvaged from 1950s televisions he finds at estate sales. Every piece of vocal distortion and heavy guitar fuzz you hear on our records has physically passed through a glowing piece of history sitting on Hank’s workbench.
The Ghost Greenhouse
You might assume a guy who lives in a dark studio surrounded by hot electrical equipment would need a loud, chaotic escape. But Hank’s downtime is incredibly fragile. He cultivates a collection of incredibly rare ghost orchids in a highly regulated, climate-controlled greenhouse attached to the back of the studio. The orchids require a painfully specific, unwavering balance of humidity and temperature to survive—a quiet, biological reflection of the exact balance he tries to strike on our records.
Hank’s Essential Production Tracks
Hank is credited as producer on every track the Noumenal Underground has ever released, but there are a few specific songs where his analog wizardry is undeniably the star of the show:
- “ATOMOS” (First Principles): To capture the feeling of the universe breaking down into indivisible parts, Hank ran the entire final mix through a series of degrading analog tape machines, giving the track a raw, physically disintegrating texture.
- “Nous (The Master Knows)” (From Cosmos to Cave): Balancing Arthur’s heavy electric guitar, Reggie’s vintage organ, and Patty’s deep cello all within the same mid-range frequency is an engineering nightmare. Hank managed to keep every instrument distinctly massive without letting them bleed into one another.
- “Right Now (Monochronos Hedone)” (Architects and Wanderers): Capturing the radical, chaotic hedonism of the Cyrenaics meant pushing the studio gear to its absolute breaking point. Hank practically red-lined the entire mixing desk, using his custom tube amps to give the high-BPM club energy an aggressively gritty, analog warmth.
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