Mission Synths A New Synth Shop in the Heart of the Mission District
Mission Synths:
A New Synth Shop in the Heart of the Mission District
January 07, 2021
Chris Zaldua
Down 24th Street, in the heart of the Mission, you'll find taquerias, coffee shops, restaurants, dive bars, jewelry, bookshops, hair salons, delicatessens, and a Mexicatessen. Now you can find synthesizers of all kinds — standalone and modular — plus drum machines, sequencers, controllers, and dozens of other noise-making tools, too.
Photo by Dor Wand
Mission Synths is simply and aptly named. They opened recently at 3026 24th St. in San Francisco, near Alley Cat Books and across from the beautiful murals of Balmy Alley. Here you'll find everything you need to craft your own electronic music, whether you're a newcomer looking to explore sound synthesis or a veteran searching for a specific piece of kit.
It's bold to launch new retail in the midst of a pandemic, and bolder still one focused on such niche products. But the pandemic's flip side is that it creates space for experimentation, for trying new things. More than that, Mission Synths is the realization of a long-term dream, driven by the genuine knowledge and true passion of its proprietors.
Those proprietors are Brian B. James and Betsy de la Garza, both stalwarts of the local scene whose rave credentials span decades. James is a talented, studied musician who regularly conjures live techno transcendence under the moniker Entropy Worship; de la Garza has long been involved with music and dance communities here in San Francisco and in her native home of Houston, TX.
Most importantly, both are dedicated to the Bay Area electronic music community, and whenever it's safe to rave again, you're as likely to find them on the Dancefloor as you are behind the desk of their own shop.
We chatted with James to learn more about the vision behind Mission Synths and to discover how aspiring producers, techno-geeks, and gear heads can connect with them. Read on, visit their website, follow them on Instagram, and visit the shop in person whenever you're able.
Photo by Dor Wand
Tell us about your background in synthesis and computer music. Basically, why do you love synths?
BRIAN B. JAMES: I worked in music retail shops and taught music on the side throughout college. While at SF State studying classical guitar, I started composing noise and ambient music, mostly using Max/MSP and Reason software and a four-track tape recorder.
Afterwards, I attended Mills College in Oakland, where I studied Max/MSP, DIY hardware building, recording, live electronic performance, and electronic composition. I love hardware from the guitarist inside. It allows for vast fields of sounds to be played in ways that are more tactile, performative, and expressive than being restricted to the normal mouse-and-keyboard methods of computer music.
Photo by Dor Wand
Betsy has always loved electronic music and has been involved with the music and dance communities across cities for decades. She studied Consumer Science and Merchandising during undergrad in Houston and has years of experience designing and merchandising for online resale shops on different platforms. One of our most common interests that we share is our love and involvement in our electronic music communities throughout the years.
Together we have made a great team in combining our areas of knowledge, interests, and artistic vision into building our shop.
What's your vision for the shop? What kind of resource and platform do you hope it becomes?
We miss the experience of live music and we find that creating for oneself and expressing oneself are more important than ever — the availability of tools and knowledge helps us with this moving forward.
We have been busy working towards building out the amount of modulars on the floor, sectioning modulars by type, and maintaining our full-shop syncing and mixing capabilities. Continually building our library of synths and keeping them all categorized and playable with each other is an ongoing goal. We also are beginning to stock some vinyl records, and are building a listening lounge in the back area of the shop.
Post-Covid, we envision audio/visual demos in house, free or low-cost workshops for Mission area youth, and live-streamed events. We want to be able to share the environment of the space with the community, and hope we are able to soon.
Photo by Dor Wand
Who is the team behind the shop?
The Mission Synths team is Brian B. James (@entropyworship) and Betsy de la Garza (@betsydlg), who are owners and operators of the shop, and Alex Molina (@slowspines) who is an active project contributor. To expand shop hours and services, we will be looking at hiring folks with experience later in 2021.
What sort of skill level should folks have when coming to Mission Synths? Do you have products or tools available for folks with different experience (or none at all) working with synths and electronic music?
Folks need no experience or skill level in music to visit the shop. We encourage anyone who is interested in creating their own music to contact us, or visit to explore options that would best suit their own personal needs.
We will soon have DIY hardware kits and hacking materials available, and are developing curriculum in both hardware and software for both individual and group workshop settings, for folks who want to expand knowledge of electronic music or don't know where to begin.
We have also started to stock books and will continue to build a library of reference materials.
What's the best way to connect and shop with Mission Synths?
The best way to connect with us right now is to mail us at shop@missionsynths.com, calling us at the shop number, or messaging us through @missionsynths social media accounts. The best way to shop online is through our website at missionsynths.com, we keep our inventory up to date daily and new hardware is usually arriving weekly.
The shop on 24th is currently open: Mon/Wed/Thurs 5-8 pm, Tues/Fri ?-? pm, Sat/Sun 12ish-5ish pm. Under the current health situation and limited availability, we highly encourage appointments for anything outside of those hours, or checking on our availability in advance.
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Written by Chris Zaldua. Chris is a San Francisco writer and DJ that goes by name DJ CZ. He is the co-founder of SF record label Left Hand Path and the local parties Vague Terrain and Surface Tension.
