The Last Word: Richard Upchurch on the Inspiration Behind His Brand New Noise ‘Sound Gadgets’

“I want everything I make to be at the intersection of tool and toy.”

Richard Upchurch
Dallas Inventor and Founder of Brand New Noise
.…on the inspiration behind his Brand New Noise “sound gadgets.” 

Upchurch is the mastermind behind the irresistible wooden “sound gadgets” from Dallas-based Brand New Noise. Mixing physical knobs and inviting touchability with electronic circuits, his boxy devices range from Moon Lander “tongue drum” recorders with delay effect to Reverse the Curse (shown above), a lo-fi audio recording gadget with pitch control, delay effects, reverse audio switch, and continuous loop switch.

Richard Upchurch, founder and owner of Brand New Noise sound gadgets and instruments. [Video still: Brand New Noise]

“I make oddball instruments and creative sound gadgets for rock stars, 4-year-olds, and everyone in between,” Upchurch says in a video on his website. “Everything I make here at Brand New Noise, I want it to spark joy and creative discovery. Everything is handmade here in Dallas, Texas. My small crew and me, we do it all: woodworking, circuit design, film it, you name it, we’re doin’ it.”

In a recent Texas Monthly article, Upchurch calls Reverse the Curse a callback to one of his first tinkering passions: scratching out sounds on an album with a record needle. “To this day, it’s one of the most interesting sounds I’ve ever heard,” he tells TM.

According to TM, Upchurch moved from Brooklyn to Dallas in 2015 after he married a local musician, and describes Dallas as “a wildly creative, thriving art-music community.”

It’s not just kids who love the devices from Brand New Noise, TM adds: Famed music artists from Mick Fleetwood to the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy have also fallen under their spell. 

“I want everything I make to be at the intersection of tool and toy,” Upchurch says on his website video. “Each one of these comes with a handwritten note and a recorded message from me.”

You can read more about Brand New Noise in the Texas Monthly story here

For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.

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