Interview: An Oracle Of Youth

In this interview, we speak with An Oracle of Youth, the ambient project of Madison-based artist Tim. With over 20 years of music-making experience, Tim crafts nostalgic, emotionally charged soundscapes rooted in memory and introspection. His creative process blends improvisation with deep sound design, drawing from childhood reflections and a sense of beautiful melancholy. He builds immersive textures using primarily hardware synths. Dive into his world of ambient expression and hear the soul behind the sound.

General info

Artist Name: An Oracle Of Youth

Real Name: Tim, 41

Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Social Media / Music Links

anoracleofyouth.bandcamp.com

How long have you been making music?

20+ years

Do you release music under a label or independently?

Independent

Creative process and inspiration

What drew you to ambient music in the first place?

I'm not entirely sure to be honest. I just sort of started making it behind tracks I was working on years ago. It was kind of like something that was always there ready for me to discover it. Slowly over time I'd began working on just the music that I typically reserved for the background. From there it kind of bloomed out like a flower that grew into my soul.

Can you describe your creative process when starting a new track?

I typically try to base everything on a theme of which I can be emotionally charged about. In the case of A'n Oracle of Youth' I looked back on memories from my younger years. The longing and nostalgia of being a kid again for better or worse. I take those emotion and work on designing a sound that I feel fits. I then design textures and other sounds to accompany. I sometimes spend days just working on designing a couple of sounds. After sound design is done I work on a composition that I can loosely use as a guide. I fire up my synthesizers and begin to record. I don't have many synthesizers but when I'm creating a song I tend to use most of them at once. I begin playing the composition that I've come up with and create pieces on the spot to go with it while I record. The basic composition often becomes much more than what I started with as I'm improvising. While playing I keep in mind the subject matter that originally got me to this point and allow it to inspire what I'm creating. After creating the track I try my best to mix and master it to what you hear. Sometimes that includes field recordings or other smaller layers of sounds that I just didn't have the hands to add while playing.

Where do you find inspiration? Emotion, nature, science fiction, or something else?

I draw in from many sources. The case of 'An Oracle of Youth' I look back into my childhood and younger years and try to translate that within the emotions I get from it now.

How would you describe your sonic identity or the mood you aim to create?

I would say for 'An Oracle of Youth' its a sort of nostalgic beautiful sadness that somehow also gives a sense of relief and comfort.

Are there any artists that deeply influenced your style?

Strangely I'd never really listened to ambient music most of my life. Even now the only ambient music I really listen to is from seeing people post their own music. So I really have to apologize that I don't really have any major artists that influence the ambient I created.

Gear and setup

Are you using hardware, software, or a hybrid setup?

I use primary hardware. Software to record and I have one midi controller. I use software for effects as well.

What’s your favorite piece of gear or plugin, and why?

Ooh that's a little tough. I might have to say my polyend/dreadbox Medusa. It has the ability to create such unique tones, pads, and drones. I'm not sure I know of anything else quite like it. Just the amount of ability and control of sound under its hood keeps me endlessly want to create with it.

Challenges

What’s been the biggest challenge so far in creating ambient music?

Having time to create is likely my biggest challenge. Sometimes it's just the fact that I get easily distracted.

How do you stay motivated or inspired when you're in a creative rut?

I've been into art my entire life and it's been a useful tool to help balance my mental health. I've created music, painting, drawings, and poems to express my personal human experience for as long as I can remember. So for this I look no further than the world around me. I let myself be open to even the simplest things. Allow the world in and allow yourself to be open. This world and experience can be painful but if transpose those feelings and energies into art you have an infinite supply of creative oceans.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Keep the blunders, the stuff that doesn't turn out, the bad, the weird, the stuff you want to delete because you dont think it's good enough, and keep trying. Music is an expression of the soul and even those pieces of music you want to be rid of can be a helpful tool in the artistic journey.