Interview: Unruly Disturbance

In this exclusive interview, we dive into the world of Unruly Disturbance, the ambient alias of Manchester-based artist Thomas Collingburn. With over 25 years of musical experience, Thomas transitioned from techno to ambient, seeking freedom from rigid structures. His sound is dark, evolving, and emotionally charged, shaped by both film and synthesis. We explore his creative process, favorite gear, and the inspiration behind his haunting soundscapes. Read on to discover what drives this independent artist's sonic explorations.

General info

Artist Name: Unruly Disturbance

Real Name: Thomas Collingburn, 42

Location: Manchester, UK

Social Media / Music Links

@youtube channel 1

@youtube channel 2

How long have you been making music?

Over 25 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?

After pursuing a career as a techno DJ and producer for many years I became tired of 4/4 and the structural constraints of that genre, so when I returned to the studio I had to make something the complete opposite of that which allowed me to explore sound rather than trying to make records for DJs with specifications.

In my hiatus in between dance music and ambient I had been learning to code for my job and I found that I couldn't absorb information while playing music with vocals, but at the same time I needed my headphones on to drown out the busy office noise, so I gravitated towards ambient quickly discovering artists like Max Richter, Ben Frost, Brian Eno, Cliff Martinez, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Olafur Arnalds.

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

I always start from a piece of sound design, creating patches either in Omnisphere or on some hardware like the Tasty Chips GR1. I like to make patches and layers that I can play and will sound endless, involving and interesting. I'm not a trained player by any means so I set up my patches in a way that makes them sound huge and evolving and cover up for my lack of keyboard skill.

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

I'm not sure I get inspiration from one thing in particular, if I think about it it's a combination of film and music.
Ambient music has really benefitted from the rise of video streaming platforms and the era of movie production values in TV shows in the last 10-15 years, so I'm often inspired by some great music when used on a really good visual production. A specific example of that for me is Cliff Martinez's soundtrack to a show called "The Knick". It's dark period drama about medicine and addiction which doesn't romanticise the period. But Cliff doesn't go for tropes of that genre with his score, he goes fully in on a quite bare bones big synth sounds which on the opening scene initially doesn't fit, but after a few seconds you find it just works and it's very refreshing, I really found this juxtaposition inspiring.

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

It really depends on my mood on the day, I won't lie though, I do gravitate towards dark music and dark sounds. I'm not sure this was ever intentional, I just always want something to feel a bit different from what you'd expect, like it's easy to go C major happy so usually I go out of my way to avoid that. I really enjoyed a recent brief I worked on for a library music label for horror music, I loved the process of trying to make something that's uncomfortable, it makes me laugh a bit when you can see people pulling faces because they're not enjoying listening to it, it's probably why I love horror films.

That's not to say I don't do happy stuff, but when I do I like to balance it with a darker tone, it's an easy trick to go from dark to happy in a track because it always sounds great. There's a few of these on my melodic drone album.

Are there any artists that deeply influenced your style?

In terms of getting into ambient music: Brian Eno, Cliff Martinez, Hans Zimmer, Max Richter, Nils Frahm, A Winged Victory for the Sullen.

In terms of exploring the genre more deeply and experimenting: Rafael Anton Irisarri, Ben Frost

Gear and setup

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

Hybrid.

For my last album the majority of the tracks we just jam using a GR-1 and a MicroFreak alongside a few effects pedals like the Microcosm and a pair of H9's.
I bounced a lot of it to cassette tape, then recorded it all into the computer and arranged, cleaned up the mixes in Cubase.
There's also some tracks which are Omnisphere multi patches which I play while recording to cassette as individual stems in the same key then I layer them up in Cubase.

My more recent work for library labels I've been mostly using Omnisphere and Cubase, purely for convenience because you often have to make specific changes based on the labels notes or provide different edits of the tracks to suit different content target clients, so you're asking for trouble if all of your tracks are layers of one take hardware synth jams and no recall available.

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

Hardware wise definitely the Tasty Chips GR-1. I've had it 3 years or so now, when I got it I was getting deep into granular synths on a computer, then in a pub chat with a fellow producer mate I said what I thought was missing from the granular interface with software instruments, and he showed me videos of the GR-1, and it's like that one big fader to scrub through the grains manually was exactly what I was missing. It makes it usable as a performance tool as well as a stand alone synth. I've actually done several live performances using only the GR-1 and two guitar pedals. You will see it featured a lot on my ambient jams and it's from and centre on my album cover.

Challenges

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

Getting plays and promotion is quite challenging, I appreciate that's part of music but for me it just takes too much time away from the enjoyable part of making music, especially when the music is a side hustle, balancing with the rest of your life isn't really possible.

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

I've tried many things over the years but the only one that works with any consistency for me now is to just walk away.
If I'm not feeling it I'll just not go in the studio for a few days, the majority of the time coming back fresh seem to work for me.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Shout out to Passed Recordings and the ambient-soundscapes community on Discord. Also a shout out to Blues Night in Richmond north Yorkshire, the coolest hidden record store in the land. The owner Tim let me do my first ambient live performance there, and I'm back again in December this year.