It started with a kick drum
On a rainy lockdown afternoon in 2021, I fell down a rabbit hole wondering how the kick drum in my Vermona DRM1 worked, and came out with the beginnings of a software version.
I had some initial success in capturing its essence, but decided early on that making a perfect clone was a bit limiting, creatively. So I set out to make something inspired by the DRM1, not a replica, granting me the freedom to wander off-piste and see where I ended up.
Vermona sounded a little like Verona, which led to Romeo and Juliet, and so I called it Capulet.
This is how I work. No real master plan, just one idea leading to the next until I feel I have an instrument worth committing to, and ultimately, worth sharing.
About me
I’m James Hurst, and I’m responsible for almost everything you see here (mistakes included). I’m a software engineer with more than 25 years of professional experience, including over 10 years in audio and DSP. Until recently I was a senior engineer at the now-deceased music-tech start-up ROLI.
I’ve also been an occasionally professional musician and audio engineer since the mid-1990s, appearing on several albums, countless television and radio programmes, numerous festival stages and possibly at your local dive bar.
I’ve been a member of London-based psych band Lola Colt since 2010 (currently on hiatus). I recorded all of the band’s output in my studio in East London, including the debut album Away From The Water, which was produced by Jim Sclavunos of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Between 1995 and 1998 I was the guitarist of UK pop group North & South, which was the brainchild of pop impresario Tom Watkins. We enjoyed a brief yet baffling amount of success, fuelled largely by appearing in two seasons of a BBC children’s comedy show called No Sweat.
I’ve also recorded and mixed albums for a variety of other artists, and attended audio engineering masterclasses with Steve Albini, Michael Brauer and David Kahn.