Owl City, the brainchild of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, is one of the most inspiring success stories in the modern web-driven music business. Writing and recording catchy synth-pop tracks in his basement studio in rural Minnesota, Adam began promoting his music under the name Owl City through blogs, Myspace™, and iTunes®, building a large fan base that eventually grabbed the attention of Universal Republic records. His first album for the label, Ocean Eyes, was a top-ten Billboard hit, with the single “Fireflies” garnering over four million downloads in the U.S. alone. The latest Owl City record, All Things Bright and Beautiful, has been hugely successful as well, led by the singles “Alligator Sky” and “Deer in the Headlights.”

While Owl City tours feature Adam fronting a full band, his home-studio creations are almost exclusively a one-man show, a product of his creative genius and his extensive collection of music and recording gear. Roland synths play a focal role in Adam’s setup, with the Fantom-G8 and JUNO-Gi as his go-to workhorses. He also employs a large collection of BOSS pedals to process guitar and synth sounds.

During a recent stop in Los Angeles on his 2011 world tour, I had the opportunity to sit down with Adam to discuss gear, success, the creative process, and more.

In some interviews, you’ve called yourself a gearhead. What makes you a gearhead?

You know, where my heart really lies in this whole crazy career is [being] in the studio, hooking up gear. I love everything about the studio. I definitely appreciate playing live and touring, but at the end of a long tour, I love to be able to go home and just hide away in the studio. I’ll get a new piece of gear, but I’ll have to write a song so that I can run something through [it]. So everything kind of fuels the fire in its own way. And the gear is, almost, more inspiring than coming home and pulling from all of this personal experience or whatnot, so it’s neat.

So the gear, in itself, influences the way you write.

It definitely does. I’ll spend hours and hours scrolling through presets on pedals or on synths or whatever, just looking for things. Or not necessarily looking for a specific thing…just kind of messing with everything and turning knobs, experimenting in case something pops out at me. I’ll think, “Wow, I’ll have to use this in a song.” Maybe it’s not working with the current session I have open, but I’ll open up a new one and save this little piece of something else and come back to it later. I have an endless amount of sessions full of these little pieces that could turn into something else. I love how prolific having so much gear around can allow you to be.

What is your songwriting process? Do you start with a hook first, or do you start with a beat or a groove?

It’s generally 95% music first, as far as music versus lyrics. I guess it’s kind of a toss-up between starting with a drum loop or some kind of a beat, and then adding in some synth or piano or guitar or whatever and going from there. Generally, I’ll write the main overlying vocal hook with something else, like a synth. Then I’ll come back later and it just becomes a job of plugging in the right lyrics, the right syllables. For me, that’s always been the process, although sometimes I’ll find myself at the piano, totally absent-minded, thinking about something else—on the phone, or something—and just kind of playing with my left hand or whatever and something will jump out at me. It’s amazing how things can just pop out of nowhere. I love being in the right place at the right time to capture that.

There are a lot of really amazing textures on the new record, All Things Bright and Beautiful. What Roland gear did you use on the project?

I love the Fantom-G8. That served as a lot of the inspiration, just having the main piano patch pulled up all the time. I was always writing on that, and I used it as my main MIDI controller as well. The JUNO-Gi was a big one, too. I love some of the stock sounds. I find myself creating this shell of a song musically, and I need this filler inside, sounds that compliment everything else in a beautiful way. The JUNO has always been something I’ve turned to for that—it’s full of great sounds to fill up the meat of the song. There’s an endless amount of these patches I love.

There are songs on the record like “Dreams Don’t Turn to Dust” and “Galaxies” that have a lot of dense textures as part of the production. Is that a result of adding gear to your studio since the last album?

Yeah. I think I’ve made a good step forward in terms of layering all these different bits and pieces of sounds to create this new record, as it stands apart from previous records I’ve done. And that definitely is a testament to the new gear I’ve invested in for my little home studio. I wanted to make sure I went into the studio with no parameters and no limits. I just sat down and poured everything I had into this project. There’s something so beautiful about having all these sounds accessible to you, all this different gear, and ways of finessing different sounds that you hear in your head. Then, somehow, carving things out and making things fit together like puzzle pieces. Once you’re finished with the final product, you kind of feel like a proud parent.

In recent interviews, you talk a lot about the singles “Alligator Sky” and “Deer in the Headlights.” But, is there a particular track on the new album that you’d like to talk about in terms of having an important message, or something that stands out for you emotionally?

Probably the main track on the record that stands out for me as an overall vision or message of this project is “The Real World.” I think it really sums up what Owl City is about. There’s kind of this witty line in the chorus: “Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” That’s my way of saying that I appreciate everything that’s around me, and I really am very humbled to be a part of what’s going on in this world in reality. But I love the idea of isolating myself in my own thoughts and going to, and returning from, this kind of dreamlike place in my head where suddenly I can go anywhere and be anybody and do anything.

Music has always been my escape to get to that place, where suddenly things are beautiful and surreal and perfect. I think that embracing that as a healthy way of dealing with life can kind of brighten your overall outlook and perspective. That’s what I really kind of strive to communicate with people. There’s so much beauty around everybody; sometimes the trick really is just to see it.

What was your first Roland synth?

Probably the JUNO®. I love that synth!

In this live show, there’s a lot of Roland gear on stage. What’s being used?

We’ve got two V-Synths. I love those to death. We’ve got a JUNO-Gi onstage for our violinist to play on a couple of songs. And we have this little station at mid-stage where we’ve got a V-Synth and a bell kit. People kind of go to and come from this little station. It’s fun to have things set up all around. The Roland stuff’s been amazing.

Are you using a GAIA on stage?

Yeah. Our singer, Breanne Düren, plays a GAIA for a lot of bass sounds. It’s great.

Who are the other band members?

We’ve got Daniel Jorgensen playing guitar; he plays bass, he plays piano, he plays synth, he plays vibes. He plays drums as well. He kind of plays everything.

Doesn’t he play the OCTAPAD, too?

The OCTAPAD—yes! We fire off a lot of samples from the record with that. We’ve got Casey Brown playing drums primarily; he’s a little bass and synth as well. We’ve got Laura Musten playing violin, and she plays a little bit of keyboard. Hannah Schroeder is playing cello, and does a bass line on the V-Synth for a track. And we’ve got Breanne playing the GAIA. And I just kind of play guitar primarily, and a little bit of synth, a little bit of drums.

How does the live show come together? How do you arrange the sounds from the recordings?

Recreating what’s on the record has always been a big job. It’s a tricky thing, just because of the way I write and record music. It’s so very much layer-by-layer. I’m kind of mixing as I go. It’s very chronological; I start with nothing, and I end up with something. [Laughs.] So, when it comes time to tour, it’s been a big job to divvy out some of the main parts to the actual players on stage. We obviously can’t cover it all, because some sessions weigh in at like 70 or 80 tracks. We have a lot of tracks running in the background. It’s been a fun thing to [work with the players and] throw out ideas and all get in the same space. It’s just a different process, because the way I write music at home is just me, alone, totally isolated in the studio. It’s just a different way to be creative.

As a front person, you seem very natural on stage. If somebody didn’t know how Owl City came about, they’d assume that you started as a live performer. How are you feeling onstage now, with the audiences getting bigger and bigger and the venues getting larger and larger?

The more I do it, the more comfortable it becomes. I’m a very shy, very introverted guy, so being on stage has never been natural. [Laughs.] It’s always been very scary before going out on stage. I remember the first show I played, and we’re standing behind the curtain; I’m thinking I don’t know if I can physically walk out there and play for 50 minutes, because I don’t even know if my voice can hold up! [Laughs.] So, I started playing shows, and it was so fun I couldn’t stop. The more I do it, the more I just stand on stage every night and just look out…if I say, “You guys sing this part,” then this whole chorus of voices joins in singing lyrics to a song I’d written in the middle of nowhere in my parents’ basement in a very small town in Minnesota. It’s very surreal. It’s very fulfilling. It’s so humbling. It’s a huge blessing.

How do feel about influencing the next wave of young electronic musicians?

It’s a very surreal feeling, because I never imagined I’d be on the forefront of a new wave of electronic artists. So, it’s very cool. I have people coming up all the time at shows, you know, young kids who are sequencing and programming things in their own little studios, asking, “What do you use?” and “How do you do this?” and “What are your secrets behind this?” It’s such a fun thing for me when people appreciate what I do enough to come up and ask for advice. And, rather than jealously guard my secrets, I say, “Wow. This is great. I’d love to tell you what I did for this.” It’s just kind of a cool thing. So, I’m very, very honored to be part of this new wave of creative geniuses.

You’ve been living in the Top 10 as an electronic music artist along with M.I.A. and LMFAO for about two years now. They’re also bands that use a lot of Roland gear. Do you think the key to success as an electronic musician is Roland synthesizers?

You know, I think that’s pretty safe to say. Everything I’ve used thus far across the board has been amazing. I’ve never had to look elsewhere as far as what I need right now. It’s gotta be fast, it’s gotta be furious, it’s gotta be right there. And Roland’s come through every time. I’m very, very pleased. The Roland gear I’ve used has a pretty permanent place in my own little studio. It’s hit home runs left and right for me, therefore, I’ll probably be reaching for a piece of Roland gear from here till eternity. [Laughs.]

To keep up with Adam and Owl City, visit www.owlcitymusic.com.