Top 10 Juillet 2021

01 - Eclipsed - Holyiens
02 - Outpost 11 - Structural Defects
03 - Order of the Static Temple - Rise In Fire
04 - Hex Me - Some Robots Have All The Luck
05 - Choke Chain - Death Tactics
06 - Nova State Machine - Cold war
07 - Fractal - Human Error
08 - Carbon 14 - Hvmani Corporis
09 - QUAL - Tenebris In Lux
10 - Digital Factor - Relationchips Remastered

Electraumatisme du 28/07/2021

Cette édition classique d'Electraumatisme marque le retour de l'agenda en début de podcast. Profitez de ces soirées si possible avant le prochain confinement sélectif.

Carbon 14 - Brain Dead
5ilent 5olution - Neurologic Dreams
Calvin & König - Ich will das nicht
Full Contact69 - Face to face (single cut)
Maximum Trauma - Cost Me A Kidney
Odonis Odonis - Trust
Orange Sector feat. Armageddon Dildos - Alles Ist Grau
Syncore - Nobody Lies
Outpost 11 - Ostanovis
Insect Plasma - Morphing Fields
Nova State Machine - Document 03
Missratener Sohn - Kein Leben
Our Echoes Scream - Last tape
Fuze Box Machine - Hypnotic (Nightmare Mix)
Cyan - Die Vogel
Kalte Farben - Gotcha (New Mind yAge Mix)
Simulacron - Geschwindigkeit
Cellar Graves - Witching Hour

 Release of the week

Carbon 14 - Hvmani Corporis

 

Download : http://electraumatisme.info/broadcast/20210728.mp3

Playlist Electraumatisme du 21/07/2021 - Suéde

Electraumatisme remonte doucement sur le vélo avec cette courte édition d'une heure démarrant par des choses ambiant/noise avant de faire un tour de Suède dans sa seconde partie.

Nova State Machine - Document 7
The Plant x Izumisan Ensemble - Ibiza Meltdown
Covenant - Ritual Noise (Edit)
Therion - Cults Of The Shadows
Dupont - Unknown Airspace (départ de Johan Damm, album intermezzo 2004)
S.P.O.C.K - Where Rockets Fly (Electromix)
Fatal Casualties - Skrik tyst
Finkseye - Hellwalker
Guilt Trip - Tail of a Whail
Dark Side Cowboys – Autumn Song
Autodafeh - Sex On The Dancefloor
CAP - Stahlherz (Non-Ferro Edit)

Release of the week

Nova State Machine - Cold war

 

Download : http://electraumatisme.info/broadcast/20210721.mp3

Kitchen Notes : Eclipsed on Holyiens

Je suis très excité aujourd'hui de poster ces Kitchen Notes particulières car elles viennent d'Eclipsed, projet dont le dernier album Holyiens m'a retourné le cerveau et qui ne quitte toujours pas mon player.
Aussi je remercie chaleureusement Keyhead, également derrière KIFOTH pour avoir pris le temps de répondre aux habituelles questions, et compiler les informations auprès des autres membres du groupe. Au final, on se retrouve avec un festin d'informations qui lèvent un peu le voile sur la façon dont la magie a pu opérer.

Today, I'm very excited to publish these special Kitchen Notes because they come from Eclipsed, project from which the last album Holyiens twisted by brain and is still spinning in my player.
Also I'd like to warmly thank Keyhead, also behind KIFOTH, for the time he took to answer the usual questions and compile additional information from his other bandmates.
At they end, here is a feast of informations that lift the veil on how the magic happened.

 

How did you manage to get such a precise and clean mix despite the huge amount of different sounds playing at the same time ?

Bob : We always tend to push a lot of sounds into each song.
Many musicians think that if something is wrong with the overall sound, it needs to be added something to the mix – like boost more eq or any fx`s plugin. But this is a big mistake.
It needs to be remove all unnecessary things. Today's technology allows a lot, but there is still a limit to which we must fit - a headroom.Therefore, it is better to remove and remove mainly frequencies that are not heard or fill the space unnecessarily.So I perceive this as the basis and assumption of a good mix. Then it's just a game with dynamics and space, but it's just a final tweak.
Another important point is to maintain gain staging throughout the mix and signal chain.
Anyway the important thing is that the song sounds as good as possible when composing and then arranging. I mean that each sound / preset should be maximally tuned / produced, correctly set ADRS and filters already from the source and also well recorded to the DAW. 

About the mastering, it sounds to me that it sometimes hits hard in the limiter but at the same time you managed to keep a very good overall and various dynamic all other the album...this is still a mystery to me. Any trick on that ?

Bob : Mastering was done to us externally and I don't know that guy. For me, it's average quality mastering, I wasn't very happy because he tend to add too much bass. But I think the trick is in what material is ready for mastering - final mix. What is very important is what I described in the first half of the first question. Maintain a maximum -6dB headroom. But that doesn't just mean a 6 dB reduction on the master fader. This means that the master fader is at 0 dB but the signal from the mix has a maximum value of -6 dB in the peaks. Then the work on mastering is comfortable and the mastering engineer has more space for dynamics and today so popular loudness wars 

 

Gears and software

What gears/software did you use for this album ?

Keyhead : See our studio setup below. We are producing and recording in 3 different studios. The gears marked with asterisk were used for Holyiens album.

Your favorite gear(s)/software(s) ?

Keyhead : Favorite is always the latest toy we got, but many of gears we have on stock has their own style and uniqueness . Once you producing a track and you have some image in mind how should sounds, that you may be sure that you get from our stock that piece of gear what sound you expect.
I’m personally not looking for exact instrument, but thinking more about character of sound. Than when I look for bass it’s Moog or DSI, once I look for string it’s Roland and Yamaha. Korg and Waldorf are textures for me. All crazy punchy staff and glitches are modulars and Electrons. Nord lead and Access virus are very universal and great for layering of real analogues.
For VST the Heavyocity staffs are my favorite for beats and noises.

 

Any evolution in your setup ?

Difficult to say from point of gears. Let’s say more fundamentally as way of working.
As Eclipsed project is quite new, but we are doing lot of other projects.
Bop,Solo,Blazena has projects Samhain, Last influence of brain as main projects.
My basic is Kifoth, and we are cooperate on Mindscape, Eclipsed and then supporting others for example last album of Vanessa.
As way of working we started on Commodore Amiga NoiseTrackker and later go through Octamed on Amiga , and move to Fast-tracker and again Octamed on PC.
With Octamed we used hardware of course starting.
Later on we move to Reason where we made first Eclipsed release and last 2 albums we made in Cubase with lot of hardware staff and heap of VSTs.

 

Sound Design

Do you use/tweak presets  ? 

Keyhead: I never doing sound design from scratch for instruments as bass , arps& pads . All the time tweaking presets. This mean that I like the synths with lot of knobs as Waldorf Q or Sub37.  I hate diving in digital menu and trying this and that. Many times I tweaking real randomly, turn this, turn that without any workflow and logic just hear what happen.

Do you design you own sound  ? On which synth/plugin in particular ?

In real analogues instruments no choice just start from scratch of course. That is majority of glitches, blips and effects you hear on Eclipsed sound.
I personally like a turning knobs on MS20.

 

Writing/composing method

What would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ?

Keyhead: Workflow of Eclipsed project is very specific on this. We are inspired by sound mainly. Solo turns and records lot of interesting modular sounds/noises and makes some basic rhythm lines and glitches, then pass them to me. I try to make some basic melodies and complex drum loops, plus some arps from my kitchen and speech samples. Than pass to Bob who is adding lot of structures and effects. He’s making production and mix for Eclipsed, so I like his tension in graduation of tracks. Bops adding lot drum fills and breaks. Make lot of layering to create dynamics. But in the basic everybody make improvisation on track/project he received.

 

Producing/mixing method

Do you produce/mix in the box or do you use mainly external gears (effect/comp/eq...) ?

Bop uses both. External effects and gearsand VST as well.

What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?

Most painful is mastering, no doubt .Not as a job ,but to create sound character which fit and like all people in our group 😊

 

Eclipsed's tips

To create interesting tune you should try everything with everything. Apply effects on single melody. Turn the knobs all the time during and recording. You can cut the recorded sequence to short samples and arrange new sequence from that particles. If is not good enough, then layer with other sounds.
 

Gear List

• Access Virus B *
• Access Virus TI *
• Access Virus TI snow

• Alesis SR-16

• Arturia DrumBrute

• ASM Hydrasynth *

• Behringer Deepmind 12 *
• Berhinger Neutron
• Behringer TB-3 *

• DSI Evolver *
• DSI P12 *
• DSI Prophet Rev2 *
• DSI Prophet 600
• DSI Tempest
• DSI Tetra *
• DSI Mopho
• DSI Toraiz

• Doepfer Dark energy

• EMU Audity 2000
• EMU ESI 4000
• EMU Proteus 2000
• Ensoniq SQR
• EleKtron Digitone
• Elektron analog four MKII *
• Elektron analog rytm MKII
• Elektron Machine drum UW *
• Elektron model cycles *

• GEM S2 Turbo

• Jomox XBASE 999

• Kawai K4

• Korg ArpOdyssey
• Korg Electribe ESX-1
• Korg MS20 mini *
• Korg MS2000BR
• Korg Prophecy
• Korg Radias  
• Korg Wavestation EX *
• Korg Z1

• Moog Little Patthy
• Moog Sub37 *
• Moog Voyager RME *
• Moog Moogerfooger CP-251 control processor
• Moog VX-351
• Moog VX-352
• Moog Mother 32 *
• Moog DFAM *

• Modular rack 3 case *

• Micromonsta 2

• Nord Drum
• Nord Lead 2R
• Nord Micromodular
• Nord Modular 2
• Nord Lead 4R *
• Nord Drum 3P *

• Novation Mininova *

• Pittsburgh Modular Lifeforms SV-1 *

• Quasimidi Sirius
• Quasimidi Technox

• Roland FA08 *
• Roland JP08
• Roland JP8000 *
• Roland JV1010
• Roland JX305
• Roland MC303
• Roland MC307
• Roland R5
• Roland SE02 *
• Roland U-220
• Roland V-synth *

• Studio Electronics SE-1 *

• Teenage Engineering OP-1 *

• Various modular synths *

• Waldorf Blofeld
• Waldorf Q
• Waldorf rocket
• Waldorf 2 pole

• Yamaha A3000
• Yamaha CS10
• Yamaha CS1X
• Yamaha CS6X (PLG-AN,PLG-DX)
• Yamaha RM1X
• Yamaha RS7000
• Yamaha SY22
• Yamaha SY77
• Yamaha TX81Z

• Xenophone Hypersinth *

STUDIO:

• RME Fireface UCX (2 pcs audio AD/DA) *
• Allen & Heath GS 3000 (24 channel mix desk) *
• TC Electronic Fireworks (fx processor) *
• TC Electronic M-ONE XL
• Sherman Filterbank *
• Eventide 4000 Ultra Harmonizer *
• Yamaha FX900

 

Contact info

Bandcamp: https://electrofrequent.bandcamp.com/album/holyiens

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/solobobblazenakhead

 

#klingondisco

Kitchen Notes : Rob Robinson / Order of the Static Temple on Rise In Fire

 

Rob Robinson, fondateur d'Order of the Static Temple mais aussi membre d'autres belles bandes comme celles de Hate Dept. et d'Oghr a eu la gentillesse de nous lister les outils et méthodes qui ont permis la réalisation du dernier album de son principal projet : Rise in Fire, bien dans la veine d'une certaine Electro-Indus US.
Un bon mélange de soft et de matériel saupoudré de conseils de production.
L'histoire ne nous dit pas s'il a pu maîtriser le Lyra-8 que l'on voit sur la photo :)

Rob Robinson, leader of Order of the Static Temple but also member of other cult bands such as Hate Dept. and Oghr kindly took the time to share the list of the tools and methods used to produce the latest release on his main project : Rise in Fire, right in the vein of a pure US electro-Indus flavor.
A good mixture of software and hardware sprinkled with production advices.
The story doesn't tell us if he managed to masterise the Lyra-8 we see in the picture :)

Gears and software

What gears/software did you use for this album ?

DAW - ProTools with lots of plugins and soft synths lol. Rise In Fire used plugins from Arturia (CMI, DX7, Spark, Solina, CZ-1 to name a few), Roland SH-101 / JX-3P / Jupiter 8, Soundtoys, Sugar Bytes, Beatskillz, Eventide, UAD, iZotope.

For hardware we used 101music Blackbox, Oto Biscuit, Retro Mechanical Labs EFC Studio, Behringer MS-1 / VC-340, Lexicon PCM 41, Akai MPC Live.

Your favorite gear(s)/software(s) ?

I really enjoyed using Beatskillz DropX for drums on this one. Very sharp and aggressive, it made most of the tracks.

The Oto Biscuit is a wonderful bit crushing effect unit with an analog filter, also great for drum processing.

The Lexicon PCM 41 was a joy to use for vocal weirdness and almost stutter like effects.

 

Any evolution in your setup ?

The studio is constantly evolving. Much time was spent researching and demo-ing new tools, which is a large part of the fun! It’s possible newer material will use completely different pieces of gear.

 

Sound Design

Do you use/tweak presets  ? 

Very much so… presets are great to start with, then mangle from there.

Do you design you own sound  ? On which synth/plugin in particular ?

Not from scratch… I’m jealous of people who can do that. Towards the end we were under a tight deadline so really didn’t have the luxury of building anything from the ground up.

 

Any personal synth story ?

I’ve always wanted to own a Roland VP-330, it’s one of the best sounding vocoders to my ears. They’re pretty out of reach these days, rare and expensive. When Behringer came out with the VC-340 it was a dream… very rich and inspiring analog strings, we used it on the dark string part in ‘Mangled Ethos’. And yes we also use the official Roland Boutique version!

 

 

Writing/composing method

What would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ?

Great question! Usually songs start by creating the drums, and then maybe a simple bass line. The arrangement happens totally on the fly while experimenting with different sounds. ‘Ridin’ In Sin’ has more of a traditional song structure, so does ‘This Is Not The End’, but that happened as the songs evolved. And then lastly come the lyrics / vocals, which always happen last lol.

 

Producing/mixing method

Do you produce/mix in the box or do you use mainly external gears (effect/comp/eq...) ?

Most of the mixing and production happens in the box, and then gets routed through hardware when mastering, to help add warmth and punch.

What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?

One of the most enjoyable things to me is the final mastering stage, when everything finally comes together and sounds cohesive. It’s exciting to push the track to it’s final level of oomph.

Most painful is probably vocal editing, which if your voice isn’t pitch perfect like mine, can get pretty tedious.

 

Rob's tips

Careful to use compression sparingly when in the box. If everything is compressed you’ll be fighting to regain dynamics later. And try to reserve your favorite plugins with color - EQ, compression, etc., for a smaller handful of instrument tracks.

The API 560 EQ for example is great for punchy mid range, but if used on everything it loses it’s magic. Use something with less color for repeated EQ tasks.

 

Contact info

Bandcamp: ngpofficial.bandcamp.com

Facebook: facebook.com/orderofthestatictemple 

Label: www.negativegain.com 

Rob Robinson Email: rwbrobinson@gmail.com

Kitchen Notes : Fractal on Human Error

Tomasz Lukowicz qui a signé un album d'Indus Ambiant touchant ces derniers jours chez Aliens Production avec son projet Fractal a bien voulu prendre le temps de répondre à quelques questions autour de notre principe des kitchen notes.
Il me tarde d'entendre le prochain album.

Tomasz Lukowicz who signed a touching Indus Ambiant release on Aliens Production these last days with his Fractal project took the time to answer a few questions around our Kitchen Notes principles.
Can't wait to ear next work from him.

Gears and software

What gears/software did you use for this album ?

I'm  working on Ableton Live and I'm happy, I think it's the best for ambient music.
I also use various plugins such as kontakt, alchemy, battery, dune 3, and extra ableton package3.
I use a lot of effects, delay, reverb, and a lot of glitch efx. the end result is important to me, I just have to be happy.

 

Writing/composing method

What would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ?

I always start with the drums, then the pads, and the rest, most often it takes me time to choose the drums.

 

Producing/mixing method

What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?

Definitely the best moment is the arrangement of the songs, sometimes it takes a short time and sometimes it takes a few days for one track. One sound can inspire me to make a new song. the best time to make music is autumn and winter.

Worst moment is mixing because every song has a lot of dirty and high frequencies so it takes time to achieve. I wish someone would do it for me, but it's not that simple.

 

Final Word

Believe me, my music is typically software, I just can't afford synths or mixing consoles, but that's not a complaint. I've been doing music for a long time, and  now I joined alien production. Maybe it's my five minutes, who knows. of course I  know this music is not very popular, but it gives me a lot of joy.

 

Contact info

fractal.com@op.pl

 

Top 10 Juin 2021

01 - Eclipsed - Holyiens
02 - Order of the Static Temple - Rise In Fire
03 - Outpost 11 - Structural Defects
04 - Hex Me - Some Robots Have All The Luck
05 - Fractal - Human Error
06 - QUAL - Tenebris In Lux
07 - Choke Chain - Death Tactics
08 - Digital Factor - Relationchips Remastered
09 - Precision Field - Blank Mars (1999​-​2001)
10 - Echodead - Random Headnoise Parallax

Electraumatisme du 30/06/2021

Ce soir on célèbre le retour d'un chouchou russe dans Electraumatisme et il est bien énervé.
Puis pour la seconde partie, on continue d'explorer le monde dissonant des cassettes démo Electro-Indus entre deux classiques.
Prochain podcast mercredi 14 juillet...peut-être.

Outpost 11 - Million Voices
Fractal - Nostromo
CSIBD - πy∑ofA
In Absentia - We are Glass
Choke Chain - Fear
Borderline - Regression
Order of the Static Temple - Ridin’ In Sin
Digital Factor - Reanimator
POWERPOLITICS - Logos
Insect Plasma - The Door
Johnson Engineering Co. - Thug
Diesel Dudes - Body Clench
Pail - Decadence by Design
Ancient Step - Fckw

Releases of the week

Outpost 11 - Structural Defects

 

Fractal - Human Error

Download : http://electraumatisme.info/broadcast/20210630.mp3

Kitchen Notes : Choke Chain on Death Tactics

 

 

Mark Trueman propose une EBM rentre-dedans qui pourrait venir de la nouvelle école de Los Angeles, mais c'est depuis Milwaukee qu'il a pondu son album Death Tactics sous le projet Choke Chain. Surprenant de découvrir qu'on peut aussi faire de la musique comme cela avec une MPC.

Mark Trueman produce an in-your-face EBM that could come from the new Los Angeles Indutrial School, but he gave birth to his album Death Tactics from Milwaukee under the Choke Chain project. What a surprise to discover we can also do such music with an MPC.

Gears and software

What gears/software did you use for this album ?

On all my releases I have used the Akai MPC Live for sequencing, sampling, drum programming etc. as well as using the onboard synth/FX plugins that it has included in it. Apart from that I used the Elektron Digitone, Waldorf Blofeld, Behringer MS-1 and the Roland JD-Xi on my first EP, and then added the Korg Volca FM and the Behringer Pro 1 for the 2nd EP, and this is the setup that I also have used for my upcoming release other than that I have started using ableton and VST's for some aspects in my songs now.

Your favorite gear(s)/software(s) ?

One of my favorite pieces of gear (that I very much regret selling) Is the Kawai R-50 drum machine. Something about the grittiness of the sounds I feel pairs very well with my overall sound. I ended up getting rid of it because of its extremely limited internal memory, and it was inhibiting me from writing any more songs! I sold it to get the last amount of money I needed for my MPC and have just used the samples from the R-50 since, although the samples don't sound nearly as good as the real thing, so I have contimplated buying another one! Another one of my favorite pieces of gear is the Alesis MMT-8 Sequencer.

 

Any evolution in your setup ?

Before I started putting out releases my setup was pretty much the same for a good while, but I have since sold a lot of it. I used the Alesis MMT-8 to sequence everything, an Alesis SR-16 for drums (and then the Kawai R-50), a Korg Electribe Sampler 2 for sampling, a Korg Monologue, and the Roland JD-Xi. The only thing I have kept from my first setup has been the Roland synth.

 

Sound Design

Do you use/tweak presets  ? 

Yes. I don't believe in elitism about being the kind of person that creates all of their own sounds. I am definitely able to create sounds, and a decent amount of the sounds on my releases are sounds that I created, but I definitely do just straight up use presets or tweak presets that I like all the time.

 

Do you design you own sound  ? On which synth/plugin in particular ?

Yes I do! I very much like creating sounds on the Waldorf Blofeld and the Elektron Digitone, they are both very powerful machines that have had a big learning curve but I've managed to get to the point with both of them that I can make sounds that I like. I also very much like synths without patch memories like the Behringer MS-1 (an SH-101 Clone) because it really helps you learn about functions of synthesis and patch creation, and is what I would recommend to a beginner.

 

Writing/composing method

What would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ?

I always start with either drums or a bassline, and then structure the rest of the track around it. I never have a structure in mind when I am first writing a track, I just mess around until I get an arrangement I am happy with.

 

Producing/mixing method

Do you produce/mix in the box or do you use mainly external gears (effect/comp/eq...) ?

I produce and mix my tracks entirely in Ableton 11.

What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?

The most enjoyable part to me is most definitely the arrangement, after getting the sounds that I want to use sorted out, I enjoy challenging myself every time I write to improve my work. My first recording was very minimal, and then the second was an improvement, adding more elements overall, and with my upcoming release I feel like It is another step up. It definitely is a balance though, you don't want way too much going on in a track.

The most painful thing to me is probably mixing as it is a very delicate process with lots of checking your mix in your monitors, and then other speakers, and then in the car and so on, and then making the smallest of changes to sometimes just a single element of a track. it is very tedious but what I do enjoy about mixing is that I seem to learn something new every time, and that makes me happy.

 

Choke Chain tips

Let stuff sound gross.

 

Contact info

http://chokechain.bandcamp.com
http://facebook.com/chokechain
http://instagram.com/choke_chain
http://soundcloud.com/chokechainebm

 

Press, Booking Inquiries: chokechainebm@gmail.com 

Kitchen Notes : Echōdead on Random Headnoise Parallax

 

Carsten a eu la gentillesse de répondre au questionnaire des kitchen notes pour nous expliquer comment il a conçu l'album très équilibré Random Headnoise Parallax de son projet Echōdead de bout en bout.
L'occasion d'évoquer des types de synthétiseurs numériques qui pourraient bien sortir de l'oubli dans quelques années à voir les derniers produits Korg.
Comme nombre d'entre nous, le gars semble être parfois victime des heures passées sur la création de son sans nécessairement faire de musique, mais a la chance et assez de talent pour pouvoir pondre facilement des titres efficaces. Vous noterez le bon goût en matière cinématographique affiché sur les photos.

Carsten kindly answered Kitchen Notes questions to explain us how he made the very well balanced Random Headnoise Parallax of his Echōdead project from start to end.
An opportunity to bring a specific kind of digital synthesizers back that might be be in fashion again soon if we consider latest Korg products.
As many of us, the guy seems to be victim of lost hours of deep diving in sound design without actualy making music but is lucky and talented enough to easily create powerful tracks. Also note his good task when it comes to movies if you take a look at the pictures.

Gears and software

What gears/software did you use for this album ?

The album is recorded, produced and mastered in Logic Studio 9 on my MacBook Pro built in 2012 (a real granny)

The following Hardwaresynths were used on the album and can be heard on nearly every track of the album:

• Yamaha TG77
• Ensoniq SQ80
• Casio CZ5000
• Korg Poly800
• Kawai K3r
• Korg MS20
• Roland XV3080
• Yamaha EX7
  

Following Software synths were used:

• GMedia ImpOscar
• GMedia Oddity
• OB-XD (Amazing Freeware Oberheim Expander Emulation by DiscoDSP)
• Korg Legacy Cell
• Prosoniq Orange Vocoder 3
• Izotope Vocal Synth 2
• U-He Zebra 2
• Re-fx Vanguard
• NI FM8
• NI Massive
• Lennard Digital Sylenth
  

All vocals were recorded with a Neumann TLM103 microphone directly without any pre-compression through a Mackie ONYX 820i. As a main compression for the vocals I always used the Vintage warmer of PSP. For me the most unbeatable compressor/Limiter. In addition to the PSP plug ins (the PSP Master Eq is my standard eq plug in) I use the Waves stuff a lot.

The entire album is mastered in Ozone 9.

Monitors: Adam P11, Alesis Monitor One Mk2, 10€ trash Computer monitors, Apple EarPods, Bose Soundtouch 10,20,30, Bose Soundlink,  

No external fx racks were used creating the album.

The composition and musical production was mainly done in my home studio.

The vocal recordings, additional mixing and mastering were done in my studio where I work.

Your favorite gear(s)/software(s) ?

My favorite Synth will always be the SY77 / TG77 by Yamaha. It was my first REAL Synth which I bought, back then as the Keyboard Version SY77, and I’m still in love with it, because still it’s possible to get unheard sounds out of it. I love the combination of FM Synthesis and Samples (AWM Synthesis).

I love synths of the so called „hybrid“ age….digital Oscillators/waveforms/synthesis with analog filters like the Ensoniq SQ80. They produce a very special, direct and dirty sound, which is not so well presented by the synth plugs of this time. And they are so exciting, because you never really know what happens when you change one of the 1500 parameters :-)

Plugs I like are the Gatekeeper and manipulator by Infected mushroom, the LFO tool and a free plug called pancake by the cable guys. A very cool panning tool which I use in every mix for doing exciting stuff in the stereo panorama.

 

Any evolution in your setup ?

Yes. A few years ago I had much more hardware and software synths and fx racks and stuff. Especially the analog synths went away, because I think the software synths in that field do a perfect job. But in my opinion there are just a few , especially in the software field, which do a special and unique job, so I sold a lot of equipment and kicked out a lot of plugs to concentrate on the few plugs I really like. So you better learn how to use them.

 

Sound Design

Do you use/tweak presets  ? 

Usually I program own sound banks categorized in bass, fx, leads etc. with all the synths I like. Only this way I learn about the synths and get to know what they are able to do and what they can sound like. I think if you are doing electronic music and have a specific sound in mind you have to do so….cause the guys who program the plugs usually don’t program the style I like .-) And also I love programming synths…I can do that for days without making music or record a single note…hahaha.

But it also comes that I find a preset which fits in the production and then I use it. For example the choir-drone in the Intro from the song „Before I die“. That’s a preset from the Roland XV3080….so what?

And I also spend a lot of time in sampling film speech, noises out of films etc…all interesting stuff I can find…I used the Logic Sampler EXS 24 and the NI Kontakt for that.

 

Writing/composing method

What would be your main writing/composing method ? Do you start classical rythm/bassline then arrange around it ? Do you already have structure in mind ? Do you improvise, record sessions then select ?

I don’t follow a specific composing/writing method. I usually start playing on the keys until I have an element, a bassline, a sequence…anything which sounds like it should be recorded. I only press the record button, when I have the element right played by my hands. Every sound/note on the album is played live and then of course quantized, edited and stuff…but the main parts are played live by me as they can be heard on the album. Sometimes a song is there in minutes with all parts in a basic way and sometimes it takes longer to get the link between one and another part. But I always try to capture most of the elements in a short period of time, as long a the inspiration of a song is fresh. So sometimes it works and after a few hours I have a well produced instrumental layout and sometimes I wonder what I did all the time ;-)

Very often I have only an idea of the songs name or an idea of a songs story. Then I am inspired by that and start searching sounds, which fit in that mood and start recording synth lines. Mostly I always have a musical layout before I start programming any drums. When I am inspired it goes bam bam bam….one line and part after another….the main bassline of the song „Wonderland“ for example was recorded in realtime on my TG77…all parts in one go.

Nothing of my music is calculated…I’m just following my gut feeling.

 

Producing/mixing method

Do you produce/mix in the box or do you use mainly external gears (effect/comp/eq...) ?

Although I also own an old and good analog console (TAC Scorpion with 40 channels, 8 busses, Langley pre-mics) lots of analog output gear, for example an UAD 6176, I produce and mix echōdeads music entirely in the computer. The analog outboard equipment I own is just used for acoustic or for bandprojects for which I also do the recordings and mixing. But for echōdead it is perfect to have everything in the box, except the Hardware synths. I think there is a lot of software gear outside there which is as good as the Hardware stuff. My favorites are all plugs from PSP, the Waves Diamond Plugs and FabFilter stuff. So with these weapons on my laptop I can work everywhere on the music and do mixcorrections and stuff.

What is your most painful / enjoyable step in track production ? Sound design, arrangement, mixing, mastering ?

The most enjoyable and fastest step in producing echōdead is doing the musical layout, finding the right arrangement and programming the sounds and stuff. That’s a step where I am really fast and I enjoy it pretty much. I think that’s because my background is that of a real musician and I have lots of experience with bands and life music.

Next step is writing the lyrics…that’s much harder for me than writing the music :-) It takes quite a while until I have a text that I’m satisfied with and that fits perfectly to the music….that makes my brain hurt regularly ;-)

Vocalrecording is also fun for me, cause the track gets more and more complete and gets to life…also it’s a very liberating process.

I enjoy and I hate the mixing of a song, that I produced all by myself and I call myself a kind of perfectionist in that field…that sounds cool but also means that you’re going over and over the song again…until it’s exactly as you hear it in your head.

The same withe mastering process…I don’t like mastering at all, but I have to do it by myself to get exactly what I want 

 

Echōdead tips

Never use a sound that does not work from the beginning…never say „fix it in the mix“….everything should work and sound good from the start.

Get to know your software synths !!! Spend time with them, create sounds with them, that’s the only way that they sound personal and sound special. It is not important to have as many as possible, but to get everything out with the few good ones. Less is more !!!

 

Contact info

https://echodead.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/deadloungemusic