and Alphabethead says...
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My fascination with vinyl as a recorded medium goes far beyond the music pressed into the plastic. I’m interested in all the other properties of vinyl; the degradation of sound through repeated use, the percussive thumps of heavy turntable hands and of course the glorious fuzz and crackle of an old record. I’ve even purposely thrown my records around and danced on them to produce such artefacts. Many an idea has sprouted from having a record skip or accidently loop on a bit of grit. I’m not going to lie, it’s also all the ethereal aspects of vinyl I love; the worn sleeves, giant album artwork and ritual of playback. These are the primary reasons I’ve not yet fully embraced the digital vinyl systems.
That’s the beautiful thing about sampling from vinyl. You inherit not only the sound held within the grooves but also the life of that particular record. What has that record seen? How did its previous owners treat it? In buying second hand records I’ve found many historical ‘clues’ within the sleeves; love letters, homemade lyric sheets, 70’s pinup flicks, album review clippings, autographs scrawled on napkins and even a few of ‘crumbs’ of something pungent and green…
You’ve probably ascertained from my ramblings that I’m a bit smitten with vinyl. Well, I was. However, over the last few weeks I’ve had the wandering eye! I’ve made a departure from my usual ‘dusty not digital’ aesthetic and been building tunes completely from sounds generated with ‘virtual’ instruments and computer synthesis. Not a single vinyl record in sight! What sent me off on this tangent was a fantastic Soul Jazz compilation entitled “Future Bass”. This is a collection of ‘hyper’ clean, modern beat/bass music made (mostly) inside computers from synthesised sound. Yet, despite being built from layered sine, triangle and square waves, the tunes still sound so organic. The Ginz and Mala tracks especially. Synthesis of sound and this ability to breathe life into computer tones has really intrigued me.
“Triangle” is one of my attempts at an entirely digital production. It’s all made from my own computer generated sounds, the process of which has certainly given me a renewed respect for all those producing tracks this way. Wow – it can take so long to make all those sine/triangle/square waves dance! LFO (low frequency oscillators), automated filter sweeps, distortion and, of course, reverb were my little helpers.
I’m not sure if this track works of not? Omitting samples was fearful prospect! Never fear – I think it’s just a short foray away from the crates.
Download TRIANGLE
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ALPHABETHEAD
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[source=http://alphabethead.blog.com/2010/10/triangle/]
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