White Denim frontman James Petralli, Jeff Parker, Heba Kadry and Midlake's Eric Pulido and McKenzie Smith discuss using vintage equipment and “mid-life vintage purchases”, why the sound they make comes from their hands, and why being a musician mostly means reacting to your environment.

James Petralli is aTexas-based musician and frontman of lo-fi noisemakers White Denim. Jeff Parker, is an LA-based multi-instrumentalist and composer who blends everything from jazz to rock via electronics. He’s also a member of the indie-rock group Tortoise, and has scored several documentaries, feature films, and video games. Eric Pulido and McKenzie Smith are members of the folk-rock band Midlake, and indie supergroup BNQT. Both from Texas, they’ve released four albums as Midlake, the last being 2013’s Antiphon, and they’re back next year with new material. And Heba Kadry is an Egyptian-born, Brooklyn-based mastering engineer who’s worked with Bjork, the Mars Volta, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and has mastered soundtracks for Midsommar and the Oscar-nominated Jackie. She tells us what mastering is, and why all musicians need it. Show less