Why 90s rave icons N‑Trance used their original hardware, including the mic for ‘Set You Free’, to record their first release in 22 yearsIn an age of flashy studios, AI tools and groups “just remixing a song they did 30 years ago”, says rave icons N-Trance, the decision for them to release new music made entirely on their original hardware from the 90s feels incredibly bold.

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But, to founding member and producer Kevin O’Toole, it’s nothing new. “That’s just what I’m used to,” he explains, going as far to say that using the old gear is vital. “If we do a new track and it doesn’t fit in with a set of songs from the 90s, it will sound strange”.
With this ethos in mind, it makes sense that the vocals for the group’s first single in 22 years, Higher, were recorded on his trusted Neumann U87 — the exact same microphone that captured their era‑defining hit Set You Free. “They’re quite expensive, but mine has lasted for 30 years so far,” O’Toole says, adding that he often gets asked why he’s not moved on to something different. “I say, ‘Why? These U87s are just brilliant. They last forever.’”
When the group’s members started playing Higher in their DJ sets “just to see how it went down”, he suggests that “people thought it was [a track] they missed in the 90s”. Channelling the same energy as their club classics, it’s easy to see why many on the dancefloor have viewed ‘Higher’ – one of hundreds of songs that O’Toole has quietly worked on over the years, and N-Trance’s first independent release — as a long-lost friend.
Neumann U87. Image: Press
The main mixing desk and monitors that O’Toole uses – Yamaha DM2000, Genelec 1037B and Yamaha NS10 – have also remained the same throughout the decades. “I always say that you need massive monitors if you’re making stuff for clubs, because you have got to make sure it sounds good,” he offers.
He adds that his NS10s continue to do the trick. “They’re loud,” he says, adding that having no neighbours due to now living in the countryside means he no longer has to soundproof his studio. “I’m surprised they still work because I’ve had them for such a long time. You’d find it hard to buy them these days.”
When it comes to different vocalists singing for him, they all use the same equipment and learn his style of vocal recording. “After I’ve written the melody and lyrics,” O’Toole explains, “I have to make sure the song is in the best key for that singer”. He adds: “You’ve got to make sure your microphone is good enough, because there’s nothing you can do after,” he says, adding that an old LA Audio TCX2 compressor also comes into play for the vocals, and a Lexicon PCM91 for reverb.
“Once you have recorded the vocal, you can’t go back to it and say ‘this bit needs more’ of something,” he says, “so you’ve got to make sure that it’s recorded nicely, because I’ve had it before with people who have come in for vocals where they’ve said ‘you still could compress on that’ while I’ve been recording it”.
Vintage synths. Image: Press
As for synthesisers, though he has modern versions in the studio, his vintage collection is ever-growing. “I just can’t bear to part with an old synth,” he admits, panning the camera round to show off his stacked studio, which boasts a Prophet 5, MiniKorg 700, Akai S3200, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Roland JV-2080 and Access Virus C.
Also in the room is “the luckiest thing ever”, his Roland TB-303, which he recalls buying at a music shop in Oldham in 1990. “I said ‘What’s that on the shelf?’ and the owner replied ‘I think it’s a drum machine’.” After passing it down, O’Toole couldn’t believe his eyes. “I snapped it up for £50… they now trade for £3,000,” he says, adding that if he’s doing a track and wants to get an authentic sound, he’ll still use it.
Besides, he feels that with “a lot of the new synths, it’s just the old synths with effects on them. He continues: “In the early days, my Korg M1 was the main keyboard,” he says, reflecting that the group’s mid-90s Manchester studio (Ducie House) had 30 keyboards set up. “I was at the centre, and we made our own stand for the mixing desk,” he says of the distinctly DIY setup, which also included a Roland R8-M drum machine, Akai S1000 sampler and an Atari ST to run sequencing software.
Korg M1. Image: Press
While he no longer has the R8-M and nowadays uses a virtual drum machine instead, O’Toole has retained his massive collection of drum loops and samples from the 90s. “I love some of my old outboard effects units that I’ve had since then”, he says.
Nonetheless, he believes that new technologies have made it easier for producers to get back to old school sounds — “if you don’t have the old equipment, you can get stuff that sounds exactly the same”
Highlighting N-Trance’s contemporaries from the same decade, The Prodigy and Dream Frequency, he says “we all had the same equipment but none of us sounded the same”.
Synths. Image: Press
Since then, he suggests, things have changed dramatically. “Every single song sounded like Avicii after his first hit; everyone sounded like Cascada the week after their track hit the chart,” he considers.
O’Toole feels that this trend has continued into the 2020s. “I see it a lot with new bands now, but when [N-Trance] said we were putting new music out, we meant new music”. It’s unsurprising, then, when O’Toole argues that musicians are relying too much on laptops and presets. “It’s easy, and you don’t really create anything of your own sound,” he says, concluding that a lot of recent songs sound too same-y because of it.
This is a total contrast to when N-Trance started out, he suggests: “if you compared the music to 30 years before that, there was nothing like what was coming out then”.
Nonetheless, he does recognise the myriad challenges that come with going back to the old equipment — namely, the fact that not all of it works. “My Korg M1, it’s nice to look at but it’s been battle-scarred,” he says, urging other musicians not to take their studio keyboards to gigs “because they’ll get trashed”. He adds that the other “worst thing” about bringing your own equipment to shows is that “it would crash all the time on stage”. It’s good advice: “the power button on it has broken off the back, one of the boards has been pressed in, and one of the keys has snapped”.
Thankfully, such wear and tear hasn’t prevented him from being able to work in new tunes. And, now that ‘Higher’ is out in the world, N-Trance are focusing on finishing an album that will likely be released later this year. “It’s going to be more like what people would have expected us to do back in the 90s,” O’Toole teases, listing piano, electric and acoustic guitars, and bass among the instruments used in the record. Less a return to their roots, then, than an extension of their pioneering legacy.
Watch the music video for Higher here:

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