...:::...time out...be back soon...:::...

.
.
NICOLAS JAAR

The interval between concept and the materialization of that concept never existed for me. From the time I started making electronic music when I was 14, experimentation was the creation. The programs were too complex to allow me to think of an idea and materialize it. I would be in front of a synthesizer for hours, changing the knobs until I got something. At first, being blindfolded by innocence, experimentation allowed me to do some pretty crazy things like using 4 compressors in one audio track or long percussive gated reverb pieces. I had no conception of limitations. Maybe that is what I first liked about music.

Four years later, now that I have finally understood what a saturator actually does and why a “c” sounds so good with an “e” flat; the innocent blindfolded aspect of music has left me and it's a nightmare. Simply "understanding" has been a difficult thing to overcome. For awhile, I listened to my "old" stuff and thought that I had something there that I would never be able to reach: a lost craziness, a natural avant-gardeness (for once). Creation now is going back to that time frame - no label, no making songs, just basically messing around - and putting it all into a digestible little box. It's leaving music through music. Here, the interface between different stages of one's creation is just as important as the actual process of making a track.

I have submitted two songs to the process series that show what I am talking about. One is from 4 or 5 years ago (unsigned and unmastered). The other I made more recently and will come out on Wolf + Lamb later this year. Hopefully these demonstrate the process between instants of creation and how that has affected my present understanding of interval and time.

The track "Deleuze's Will", made a few days ago, was done in a few hours and mastered the next day. A few things about it: The main piano melody was found while improvising. This is what made me want to make the song; it inspired me enough to want to adorn it. I instantly transcribed it to midi notes using my keyboard. For the beat; my dream is always to create one, big, fat wheel of sound, that churns as if it was one element and not separate hits (like kick, snare, hihat). That is, of course, extremely hard to do, so the closer I get to it, the happier I am. Something else that is important for me, in every song, is that it doesn’t sound electronic or organic. It has to be right in the middle. I feel that the hardest thing during the process of making music is not falling into a genre (like how a piano with a beat can quickly sound loungy) That is why the melody is extremely important. Melody has to be able to create its own present and be detached enough from the past so that it continues to move forward.

The song "New York" on the other hand, done 5 years ago, was the first song I ever made after buying Propellerhead Reason. I was at the time in Salzburg, Austria.

nicolas jaar - process part 083 (deleuzes will) by modyfier

nicolas jaar - process part 083 (new york) by modyfier

.
.
RICHARD J. VALEO

For this musical exploration, entitled Days, I decided to strip my composition processes and production methods down to the bare minimum.

To begin with I limited the amount of time that I would spend on each composition. This forced me to under-think everything, thusly creating music that had immediacy to it. I wanted the compositions to have a naiveté to them. I wanted the compositions to impart the memory and feelings that a person has when they hear a new melody for the first time.

To add more depth to the project I used this as an opportunity to re-explore music composition without the aid of complicated sequencing tricks. It was all just playing of melodies and rhythms into a midi sequencer.

I kept the initial musical idea of each composition in mind during the entire production cycle for each piece. This prevented me from getting bored and loosing the initial excitement that was created when I first played the music. By doing so I was able to work quickly and complete the composition at an accelerated rate.

Another aspect of the project was that improvisation was used as a central part of the compositional structure. The general form for each song was created using a MIDI sequencer, but the final recorded version was a combination of improvised performance and structured composition. It was this paring of improvisation and composition that allowed this series of compositions to stay fresh and novel.

In addition to the compositional parameters, I operated under a strict set of sound source and production constraints. The following is the list of those limitations.

The Rules

1. Limited and constant sound sources are to be used in each composition.

- Allen & Heath 16 channel mixing board
- Clavia Nordlead 2
- Elektron Machinedrum
- Yamaha TX81X
- Line6 Delay pedal
- Alesis Midiverb 4
- Alesis Bitterman pedal
- Korg Monopoly

2. Once all hardware sound sources are used, additional computer-based sources are allowed, with the stipulation that they are treated as hardware sources.This means they are used on individual inputs and outputs from the computer's sound card and mixed in the analog mixer as audio.

3. If a sample is needed a software sampler can be used. See rule #2 for stipulations.

4. Once a composition is started it has to be completed before starting a new one.

5. To complete the composition each song will be performed live and a 2 track recording will be captured in the computer.

6. Once a composition is completed it can not be gone back to. The exception is that an edit can be done in post production.

7. If the mix is incorrect or needs to be fixed, this too should be done in post production.

8. The composition title is the name and time of the day on which the composition is created. Notes and annotations are allowed in titles.

9. Once a composition is completed the patches and settings on the hardware will be erased.

Over the course of 2 and a half weeks I completed 4 compositions, totaling approximately 20 minutes of music.

The song titles in this series are as follows, and are in the order that they were completed. On some of the songs there is extended 'silence' before the song starts. This is intentional and is supposed to be there.

1. Saturday Morning (5:26)
2. Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri [Sunday edit] (4:41)
3. Wed / Thurs [dk moon] (6:29)
4. Monday Night (3:32)

For these compositions I draw inspiration from the concepts and compositions first explored by like of Eric Satie, John Cage, Luigi Russolo, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, as well as countless other current luminaries of the sonorous arts.

richard j valeo - process part 082 (01 saturday morning) by modyfier

richard j valeo - process part 082 (02 tues wed thurs fri (sunday edit)) by modyfier

richard j valeo - process part 082 (03 wed thurs (dk moon) by modyfier

richard j valeo - process part 082 (03 wed thurs (dk moon) by modyfier

.
.
JACOPO CARRERAS

A Search for Parallelism

The question is how to import an Historical fact in music, actually my way of performing music, and to relate to contemporary living.

I searched first for an Historical fact, which, if following a scientific approach to History, IS not an isolated event in time. It should be considered more as the event horizon of a continuous flow (Time). To "catch" a fact is not easy, also because I needed to relate this fact to our horizons. Following a parallelist historical approach, for me one of the most important things happened in the first half of the 20th century has been the developing blocks of computer science, for example the building of the first computer, in 1936 by a German Engineer. Why this is related to our times is apparently obvious, though indeed it is NOT what one expects. In fact the historical parallelism lies in the distribution of technology between masses, and not in the building of the first mechanical computing machine. The parallelism in this case, lies between the second industrial revolution, end of 19th century, the Micro Chip Revolution at the end of the 20th century, and its consequent diffusion among us, consumers.

What is quite clear among historians is the relationship between the first mass distributed technology revolution and the consequent World Wars. What is not clear is where WE are going, and our relationship with the computer revolution.

To do this I hacked the material from the Audio tour guide to the first built computer reproduction which lies in the German Technology museum of Berlin.

To process the piece I used solely my plug-ins, in a typical Bau style, just to stay in theme, and recorded the piece as a live performance.

By live I mean there is absolutely NO editing of audio material. I captured the vocal parts (in English, French, German, Polish and Turkish) directly from a web browser, straight into a software sequencer, which hosted also my plug-ins, processed these signals, and played around with a synth and a drum machine.

Each of the generating elements (audio material) is strictly related in a chronological way, first the voices (30s), then the computer processing (40s-50s), then a Quasi Moog synth sound (60s), poppy drum beats (60s/70s) and a psychedelic organ (70s-now).

This was my score.

The LSP (Live Signal Processing) is done by a Ring Modulator, a Tape Delay emulator, a Reverb and a Granular Delay, all VSTs made by me.

I hope this is clear enough.

It took me some time to hack the material, in fact first I wanted to use some Political speeches, but I found it boring, then I thought that maybe what really changed my life in the last ten years, is exactly with what I am writing this piece of Digital DATA.

To find material, recorded material on this, yes this is what took me so long. The actual composition took only the duration of the piece times three, because this is the number of performances I made, before I liked the "output".

jacopo carreras - process part 081 (micro-mass) by modyfier

.
.
ADRIAAN VANKEERBERGEN

Weeks passed by to think what this mix would sound like. A first sketch was made with records I would never take with me at a night out. Think Madteo, Vladislav Delay, Mils.,... But it had lack of consistency and the mixing was a little difficult.

I’ve never been a person that has locked himself up for a whole summer period to learn ‘how to mix proper’. I even rarely mix, since I haven’t got turntables at my place. The music itself does the trick far more for me, the joy to have found something old in the dusted crates in the record store, or a delivery arriving at last.

In the eventual mix, the intention was to take some of my most menacing techno records and other obscurities, having the atmosphere kept dark, all build round the Heib track. It could be seen as a well oiled steam locomotive, dangerously coming closer. That Heib track was for me, and still is, the arise of a new musical path I discovered. Pure, deep and raw.

Another lifec hanging record is the Tadeo one, first heard played out by Marcel Dettmann. But as I think now it ‘belongs’ to Dettmann, I slightly changed the way it comes in, to make it more personal. Little surprise for me last week, I found the ‘I Called You’ record, in condition having endured a couple of world wars, but I’m a happy person having it now, and so it’s included here. During the mix some little snippets come in to disappear right away, but their appearance add some more value in the whole, making it a coherent system. As you might notice, some edits were done too, simple yet effective.

Doing long transitions at times makes the multiple spherical waves and basses conflict with each other, disturbing the phase characteristics of the both tracks. The most ideal mix would be one with only loops, gradually shifting, creating an incomprehensible soundscape of stabbing synths and wobbling basses. Pan Sonic’s ‘Hapatus’ comes very close to my perfect night out...

adriaan vankeerbergen - process by modyfier

(in alphabetical order)

Acid Kings & Crystal Bois - Can You Handle The Acid? (Acid Kings Remix) (Sex Tags Mania)
Adriaan Vankeerbergen - Replace 3 (Unsigned)
AGF - Cognitive Modules Party II (AGF Production)
AGF - Letters Make No Meaning (Weapons No War Germs No Disease) (AGF Production)
Antti Rannisto - Shared Space (Sleeparchive)
Claro Intelecto - Hunt You Down (Modern Love)
D. Diggler - Lubricated (Raum...musik)
David Wulle & Andy Garcia - Untitled (B1) (Docile Recordings)
Dean & Deluca - Chapter 1 (A1) (M-Plant)
Ellen Allien - Go (Marcel Dettmann Remix) (Bpitch Control)
Heib - Rock Steady (Senior Solution Management)
Iesope Drift - Vamasi (Seico Corp Recordings)
Jan Jelinek - Rock In The Video Age (~Scape)
Johannes Heil - Feirern Part 1 (Kanzleramt)
Kangding Ray - Konstruktiv (Raster-Noton)
Lil Louis & The World - I Called You (A Series Of Events) (Epic)
Marcel Dettmann - Clime (MDR)
Marcel Dettmann - Corebox (MDR)
Marcel Fengler - Early Glow (Ostgut Ton)
Marcel Fengler - Yaki (Ostgut Ton)
O Yuki Conjugate - Niobium (NB) (Robert Hampson Remix) (Staalplaat)
Obelix - Urban Myth (Mosaic)
Object - Gordon Takes A Brake (Foton) (Isolation Edit by Adriaan Vankeerbergen)
Pär Grindvik - Continue In My Words (Dettmann/Klock Remix) (Spectral Sound)
Peter Van Hoesen - Increments (Lan Muzic)
Pom Pom - 31 (D1) (Pom Pom)
Popol Vuh - Nachts: Schnee (Mika Vainio Remix) (Editions Mego)
Samuli Kemppi - Neliöavaruus (Pakkas-Levyt)
Samuli Kemppi - Välitila (Pakkas-Levyt)
Sean Deason - Notch (Matrix Records Detroit)
Sleeparchive - Research (Sleeparchive)
Tadeo - Reflection Nebula 056n (Apnea)
TBA - Train (Max Ernst)
Tobias. - Beat Study 1 (Wagon Repair)
Y.Ann - Part 4 (Un Kit De Survie) (U Mohol