Rapid-fire questions
Zodiac sign: Aquarius
Favourite guitar song: “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” by Radiohead. It has some pretty dizzying guitar lines!
The place to play in Calgary: Sled Island Festival and Rockin’ 4 Dollar$.
What is now playing in my headphones: A lot of Jeff Rosenstock. NO DREAM and HELLMODE are on daily repeat.
Favourite pedal: I love a Rat-style pedal. I’m building 4 of them at the moment!
RAC graduate Michael Teh hasn’t missed a beat since completing his training. Known for his inventive DIY pedals under the brand Anomalous Effects, Michael has carved out a unique place in Calgary’s indie music scene. With a passion sparked in RAC’s soldering class, he returned to Calgary ready to make his mark – not only as a sound engineer but also as an entrepreneur in effects pedal design. From producing local talent like Citysleep, Jae Sterling, and Wyatt C. Louis to crafting pedals for musicians across genres, Michael ’s story is all about creativity, community, and hands-on skills. Let’s get to know this rising creator and his advice for aspiring sound engineers and producers
RAC: Can you tell us about the journey that brought you to RAC?
Michael : I dabbled in recording as a teenager, writing songs and playing in bands. It was the most efficient way to get ideas down. This was during the days of Cool Edit Pro on a Windows XP system. Not as accessible as the voice recorder app on your phone, but it was free and pretty powerful. I got good enough at recording that local bands would pay me something like $20 to do a 5 song EP for them. After high school, I knew I wanted to do something with music, and I thought the most versatile thing I could do was in record production.
RAC: Can you tell us how you made the leap from recording $20 EPs to becoming a well-established producer in Calgary?
Michael : It was surprising to start receiving attention from artists around the city. After graduating from RAC, I started producing my own music and playing shows. I met artists who liked what I did, which opened opportunities to work on their projects. That’s the power of community. After a couple of projects, people started to know me as the guy who produced so-and-so’s album. If I could do it again, I’d say “yes” more often. I used to turn down recording projects if I wasn’t interested, but knowing what I know now, they were all opportunities to do interesting things and learn new skills.
RAC: What’s Calgary’s local music scene like?
Michael : Calgary has a very vibrant music scene. A bunch of us from this generation are fed up with Alberta’s conservative politics, and we all take out those frustrations in unique and interesting ways. There’s a lot of incredible folk, indie, and alternative country music coming out of here. We’re also very aware that we live on Treaty 7 land and the Indigenous heritage that comes from this land. Indigenous musicians have a strong voice here.
RAC: Where did the idea of selling pedals come from, and secondly, what inspired you to have such a dark aesthetic?
Michael : During the lockdown, you couldn’t easily keep up with bands you were in or form new ones, and I needed a creative outlet. I remembered my soldering training at RAC, and decided to build a guitar pedal after teaching myself a bit of electrical engineering. The idea arose that I could start a small business, so I founded Anomalous Effects. I always gravitated toward the darker sides of art – music and visuals, so I adopted an aesthetic I was most comfortable exploring.
RAC: Of all the pedals you’ve created, which are your favourites, and which were the most challenging to make?
Michael : I kept one of my first pedals – a distortion one – because it’s the angriest-sounding pedal I’ve ever heard. I dropped it while building it and chipped the paint, so it didn’t feel right to sell it. That’s probably my all-time favourite because it sounds so good and has a lot of sentimental value for me. The most challenging pedal I’ve made was “The Guiding Light”. I documented the entire process on my YouTube channel – it took over 4 hours to solder.
RAC: What inspired you to start a DIY pedal business, and what key elements do you consider when designing each piece?
Michael : Building pedals is a highly rewarding experience. I get to conceptualize a wild idea and find creative ways to make it happen. I always have to make sure I have a solid concept that I can communicate easily using visuals and circuit design.
RAC: What are the first steps when you start working with a band before you record?
Michael : When starting a new recording project, I like to sit in on the band’s rehearsal to hear them in action and get a sense of the sound they’re going for. We’ll then iron out the process, share ideas back and forth, figure out what we need (location, session musicians, drum tech, etc.), and make a rough schedule.
RAC: Your band, Parasol Ghost, released an album in 2020. What was your role and can you tell us about the process of composing and producing the project?
Michael : I played the piano and second violin in the quartet while co-producing with my good friend and incredible songwriter, Victor Wu. Our only album is titled All Else Has Long Been Forgotten. It took us 3 years to complete, but it’s by far the collaboration and achievement that I’m most proud of.
RAC: What are your projects for the end of 2024?
Michael : I have a new series of four distortion pedals coming out soon based on the Pro Co Rat circuit and “Shitennō” by Akira Yamaguchi. I’m also playing much more music these days, and I recently joined a community choir. So we’ll see what transpires!
Written by Caroline Boivin
Illustration by Holly Li
