Making Repair Radio Talk

Repair  Radio Talk 

                

 Some of the Synthesizers we used to compose "Radio Talk" are the Synclavier PSMT, a custom Analogue Solutions Concusor Modular, Roland System 100m, Arp 2600, Roland Jupiter-8, Oberheim OB-8, OBX, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and E-mu Emulator II.

We had a lot of fun in the Sessions for this EP. The Synclavier was the main sampler of choice for drums, pads, strings, stabs and experimental samples. Much of these sounds were made in our own environment using mics, found objects combined with analog modular synths and then all sampled and edited within the Synclavier for each track. The Arp 2600 and Roland 100m was a great sound source for making some drum sounds.

The Roland System 100m and Analogue Solutions Concussor played a very large role in all of the sounds actually. We decided to go back to using Control Voltage Step Sequencers as a source of inspiration for melody, the Bass Line, and using to trigger off the filters for sound processing. The Step Sequencer was also working to control the Oberhiem OBX and Jupiter-8's filter and Volume ENVs. So this became a pretty elaborate process. The Emulator II, OB-8 and PPG were great for additional layers over top of the backbone of this mixes.

 

 

Shiriyazaki

The concept for this track involves the observance of the Tsunami in Japan from the perspective of the Shiriyazaki Lighthouse along the Japanese coastline.  A fascinating place really and a milieu that evokes serenity and peace - until devastation hits.  The ambient tech track builds tension with this experience in mind, while imparting a sentiment for the vastness of nature and the weight of calamity.

 

The EMU SP-1200 was used for this track.

While many would describe the 26.04 kHz sampling rate, 12 bit resolution and 10 seconds of memory limitations on the SP-1200, these were essential in the making of the track - Shiriyazaki.   With the limitation of sample time and the challenge to sustain notes, the initial focus was to lengthen trails and carefully apply effects…  However, as with most of the machines used on this compilation, the more time spent manipulating the sounds, the greater the result. 

By using  'Multipitch'  and 'Tune/Decay'  several artefacts in the sampled elements were created via the SP-1200's circuitry.  These  artefacts contribute to the color and sometimes the tone of the samples used all of which was welcomed on Shiriyazaki. 

This heavy black box has been a reliable source of great sound and sequencing for over a decade - long live the SP-1200!

Calst (a.k.a Darren Healy)

Repair - Radio Talk

Available now on:

Beatport

Repair "Radio Talk" Video and EP Out Now

Video Filmed and Edited by Mass Transit Film in Toronto.

Merry Xmas from Obsolete Components

                            
                 happy holidays to everyone and thanks for the support in 2011!

Linn Drum - alternate sounds demonstration tape (3rd edition)

Obsolete Components - Volume 2

Available now on:

iTunes

Beatport

WhatPeoplePlay

Mark Thibideau - Lag Time Generator Video

OC V2 - Hexbydecimal

During the initial discussions of our volume 2 compilation it was agreed that we would write our tracks entirely based on one synthesizer.  

I chose the Ensoniq Mirage.

I’m not sure what I was smoking when I said that.  It’s not that it’s impossible to compose a 5+ minute song on a mono, 8 bit  sampler (basically equal to an original NES), with a maximum of 16 samples,  at an overall maximum sampling time of 6.5 seconds at a whopping 10khz...  it just means that certain sacrifices need to be considered like, high end, sample length, polyphony, structure, timing, etc... and since it uses blocks of memory, one shouldn’t expect sample truncation or looping points to be accurate either.

 

Fortunately I had 2 rack mount Mirages to work with.  

For those who truly know this machine, they know it can so effortlessly have a magical, dirty yet warm characteristic that is all it’s own.  

However, personally I think I may have set my expectations a bit too high when I originally envisioned what my track could be.  

Initially, I began to writing my track at a faster tempo (something a little more techno oriented). H owever, I found that the 2 Mirages would frequently drift in and out of midi timing.  When I slowed the tempo down though, they seemed to play nicely together. 

Another issue I faced was the overall mix.  Having only 2 mono outputs made it very difficult to EQ an entire mix and it didn’t help that every sample had to be very short and at a low sample rate.  This killed all the high end in my song.  Though is is possible to adjust the sample rate for each sample, the downside of that is when you increase the sample rate, you need to be even more stingy with your sample time.  Also, it would have been difficult for me to incorporate effects on an entire mix.  

At this point I was left with a decision to either create a very minimal, dirty song or multitrack the Mirages to really show off some of their capabilities.  I did my best to meet in the middle.  

Whenever possible, I attempted to group certain sounds and track them together or in some cases, record a sound individually. 

The Mirage is actually pretty amazing at creating certain sounds.  A few notable would be rich pad type sounds (thanks to it’s Curtis filter) and cool sounding dirty drum loops.  

One other unique element of the Mirage is the fact that it only has a 2 character LED display and the parameters need to be programmed in hexadecimal. There is no data slider so, you must use the up and down buttons to step through the values of each parameter.  

Overall, this track more or less ended up writing itself.  After hitting so many limitations I began to feel a little cursed so, I decided to step back and try to work within the confines of the machines temperamental capabilities.  Hence the title “Hexbydecimal”.