Linux Audio Plugin Development (LAPD)
Val Davis
Linux Audio Artist Interview with Val Davis
This interview was conducted by Amadeus Paulussen in 2025.
Dear Val, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me! 🙂
You seem to have been involved in the music industry for a long time. However, you took a 10-year break from performing. Could you tell us a little something about what happened and the steps that led you to start making music in the first place?
I signed a management and publishing deal with a group in Austin, Texas, in 1994. One partner of the company became embroiled in a legal case that tied up the rights to my music for over 10 years. I could not move forward with my music, and I was told that if I played my music in public, I would have to pay the publishing group. Until that was resolved, I was left hanging. By this time, my wife and I had small children, and I had to give up on the music and get a real job. I have been pretty active since 2015, playing live and working on recording.
What activities related to your music do you use Linux for, and what were your reasons for choosing this popular Open Source operating system over one of the offerings from Redmond or Cupertino?
I record guitars, bass, and vocals. I sometimes use MIDI and sample wave tables. I usually build the drums measure by measure from real drum recordings broken into samples. I installed my first Red Hat Linux kernel in the early to mid 90s and got hooked. It's very fun to work and live in Linux. Linux is a much more capable OS than the commercial options. Better memory management, better processor use, etc. I find it to be much more stable and forgiving than Windows or macOS.
I have an innate dislike of companies that are always trying to sell you something or force you into upgrading by "sun setting" hardware. So many people are on the "hardware chase," trying to have the latest, greatest audio I/O or gadgets, software, high end instruments, etc. For me, there is a great joy in creating music without spending money. My entire recording setup is probably less than most people spend on one instrument. I tell people it’s not the "gear", it’s the "ear".
May I ask, are you satisfied with Linux for your work, or do you have any unfulfilled wishes?
I would like MIDI to be a little more intuitive to work with, but overall, I love where I am in Linux. I use Ardour, or the commercial fork. I came from a studio background (2" tape, big mixers, etc.) and Ardour most closely matches that workflow.
Can you tell us a little bit about your setup (audio interface, computer, software, studio, etc.)?
I am running an 8th gen i5 with 16GB of RAM. My audio interface is a Yamaha mixer with built in DSP, compression, and EQ. It’s pretty great sounding for what it is. I have a few pretty good mics (Warm Audio U87, Sennheiser 421, Shure 849, MXL 990), and my studio is currently in a 38 foot RV (bus), and it sounds remarkably good. I record with Harrison Mixbus. It’s only a little better than the Ardour that it came from, but I love the Harrison channel strips, EQs, etc.
Do you use Linux only in the studio, or also on stage?
When I play live, it is just me and a looper. However, I use Linux for everything in my life, web design, video production, audio production, and literally everything. The only reason I have a Windows laptop is that I sometimes have to support people.
Have you ever collaborated with musicians who use macOS or Windows, and has the fact that you use Linux complicated the situation for you?
On one of my more recent tunes (That River), I worked with the extraordinarily talented Kevin Reeves, who is in Michigan. He did keyboards. He recorded his tracks isolated and sent them to me, and I imported them into the mix. It was pretty painless. As long as you are working with .wav, .flac, I don’t see any issues.
Do you know other musicians who also use Linux?
I set up my son to record using Linux. He has released a few things.
Do you recommend other musicians and producers use Linux?
Yes, I am a Linux evangelist. Musicians can save a lot of money, find tools and sounds they never expected, and record wonderful, high quality music without sending their hard earned dollars to billionaires.
Perhaps a more technical question: How do you feel about the "newcomers" in the Linux Desktop or Linux Audio environment, namely PipeWire, Wayland, and Flatpak?
PipeWire is very stable, but I prefer JACK. I haven’t seen a desktop rendered with Wayland yet, so I don’t have an opinion. I live in MATE, rather than Cinnamon. Flatpaks seem to install fine. I guess I don’t have an opinion on Flatpaks. As long as the software gets installed. I know some people worry about the file sizes or potential security risks, but I haven’t seen any issues with Flatpaks to date.
Does it matter to you whether your software is Proprietary or Open Source?
Yes, it matters a great deal. Open Source means more eyes are on it, more debugging, quicker fixes. The Open Source community is much more in line with "creativity" overall. I hate the greed that drives so much of the software industry.
Back to your music: Can you please name three tracks of your catalog that we should definitely listen to.
"The Flow", "That River", and "Home".
Where do you find inspiration for making music, and how do you usually capture your ideas?
I have a recorder on my phone that I sometimes use if I come up with a guitar or melody line I want to save.
Lyric ideas are harder for me. When I was younger and had more opinions (felt I knew everything), writing was easier. Now, I look for hooky plays on words or interesting concepts to explore.
With so many years of experience, how do you distribute your music nowadays, and do you earn money from it, if I may ask?
It is hard to earn money. If money was my motivation, I would have quit a long time ago. Gigging makes more money than recording, but recording is an art form, like painting. I can take my time, change the textures and colors, etc. I like producing things that I enjoy hearing….things that give me goosebumps. I figure, if I like it, then someone else may like it. It’s a way to create a legacy. I have been contacted by people from all over the world who listened to my music and enjoyed it. That is my motivation.
I use DistroKid as it gets the music literally everywhere. I am also on Jamendo in Europe. I have over 1.2 million listens there, but I don’t recommend Jamendo as their system seem broken. They cannot pay artists in a timely manner.
What are your thoughts on streaming vs. music that you can own, whether on vinyl, CD, or as a file?
If streaming services were more honest and less greedy, it might work, but as it is, it is terrible for artists. I prefer tangible products, CDs, albums, reading liner notes, enjoying artwork, etc.
When I visit websites like KVR, I sometimes get the impression that the music production industry is now completely marketing-driven. What are your thoughts on this, especially given the prospect that more and more providers will now also support and target Linux?
As I said earlier, I hate the constant chase of the latest, greatest tech. People are programmed to believe that spending money means they will get great products or great sound, but it simply is not true. I worked in million dollar studios with Neve, SSL, and API consoles. Big 24 track, 2" tape, UREI compressors, and $3500 Neumann mics. Studios are built to impress clients. Most listeners can’t hear the difference between a million dollar studio and my setup, which is less than 2k including instruments.
When you listen to music, what kind of hardware and, if applicable, software do you use?
I listen on my studio monitors. As I said, we live in a big RV. I listen through my recording setup. I have JBL studio monitors, and it sounds pretty great. Movies are good through it as well. :)
Can you share any insights into future projects you are currently working on?
I have several songs in the works. My voice has been recovering for a year, and I will pick up recording again soon. I have lots of old songs, and several new songs that will be produced.
And finally: If you could redesign the music industry altogether, what would it look like in broad terms?
I would like to see a better use of the internet. I was going to say that I want the music business to be like it was in the 70s, but lots of people got ripped off then as well. I think it would take a pretty significant cultural shift for the masses to make music a viable profession, meaning allowing artists to make a living. As long as greed drives the companies, and listeners want everything for free, it’s hard to squeeze out a penny.
Society has fallen. There is less appreciation of "The Arts," and people elected a clown.
Maybe an asteroid will hit and save us all.