San Francisco area band Halou first appeared on the scene as an electronic project featuring Ryan and Rebecca Coseboom. In 1999 Count joined as drummer/producer. The band has released three CDs, scored films and advertisements and produced and remixed the works of a number of other artists.

When asked to describe the music Ryan Coseboom takes a casual position.

“It's just pop music. Originally, I would have been thrilled to be labeled a female-fronted Depeche Mode. I still sort of like that description because I have always respected the way that band changes from album to album and still has a consistency that must be due to the songwriting,” says Coseboom. “Halou has been two-sided right from the start: We're very focused on the song, first and foremost. From there, we let the production go where it wants. In the past, we have primarily used electronic gear to build our tracks. As time has gone on, however, we've added a lot. Wiser had a lot of strings on it. Wholeness... had a lot more guitars and drums. The new one definitely takes the evolution a LOT further. Electronics are still a part of it, but they are hardly the focus.”

Coseboom has a small studio at his him with a simple Pro Tools set up. These days he uses plug-ins for most of the electronics he uses but he still has some synths lying around.

“Writing the songs usually starts with me just noodling around with things until something takes shape,” he says. “Lately, I've been using a guitar more to write with, as well. I first try to just get all the musical parts of the song done with not too much focus on production. Just enough, really, to give Rebecca an idea of the 'tone' we'll go for in the final version.”

After this Coseboom has Rebecca record demo vocals and they build the song around that. Coseboom and Count play instruments or bring in other musicians as they see fit.

“From there, we really just use Pro Tools to refine what we've got and put it all together. Though, these days, we're trying to use a very light touch with Pro Tools,” says Coseboom. “So much music out there just has that 'Pro Tools sound' that I have really come to dislike. Hopefully, we'll walk that line successfully.

Not surprisingly Coseboom still says that Pro Tools is their most important piece of gear.

“Love it and hate it, you know. Just like everyone else. It's enabled us to do some really great things we can't do with anything else. We're always reaching, though, for that one thing it can't do yet,” he says. “I've got a great Tube-Tech MEC 1A recording channel that we use with an SE Gemini dual-tube mic for Rebecca's vocals. Those things are indispensable. We're loving the Vintage Warmer plug-in by PSP. Ohmicide by Ohm Force. The Tritone Digital stuff. Native Instruments has been really nice to us and we use the hell out of all their gear. Guitar Rig is great for all sorts of things, in particular. We are definitely NOT reverent to any piece of gear, though.”

With each album, and each song, the band starts with a totally different bunch of sounds and processors. They prefer finding new songs rather than duplicating past work.

“I expect by the time we're done, our catalog will be pretty diverse.” Says Coseboom.

More with Ryan Coseboom soon.