Orban

File this under Minor Speculation

i've been looking into vintage Orban gear (made for radio broadcasting) and i feel it's quite possible The Brothers took some graphic inspiration from this gear. maybe they even use it? the signature blue and whatever that font is are very BOC imo. just a thought.

thx for sharing the thought... One Very Important Thought

the font type definitely looks the same as what they've used before. especially on MHTRTC. 

looks like it's called ITC Bauhaus, based on what this says:

https://fontsinuse.com/uses/25531/boards-of-canada-music-has-the-right-to-child#:~:text=Typefaces,-More about ITC&text=Music Has the Right to Children is the debut studio,on front%2C back and CD. 

The ITC Bauhaus was designed in 1975. And the Orban equipment shown on the photo was probably manufactured much earlier, 1969?  I believe they used the Blippo font for the logo, which was released in 1969 as well. . This makes your idea even more fitting hahah)

  On 10/31/2023 at 9:19 AM, keen drops said:

And the Orban equipment shown on the photo was probably manufactured much earlier, 1969

precise release dates are difficult for these. for reference, this order form and catalog from 1982 lists then-current Orban items for sale and both of the units pictured in my post (418A and 526A) were available; I'd not think they were still selling equipment from the 60s in this list. 

also if you take a look at this timeline you can see the precursor to the 526A (the 516EC) was released in 1974. also, my understanding of the 418A is that it was developed from the multiband compression system of the Optimod which was first released in 1975. so my best guess is the signature Orban blue-face gear with the BOC font were released late 70s/early 80s. 

very boc

ok guys, i have further evidence to support my theory. today i noticed that some of the 622B have hexagons on them? and they are turquoise. so...

  On 2/2/2025 at 5:22 PM, Alcofribas said:

ok guys, i have further evidence to support my theory. today i noticed that some of the 622B have hexagons on them? and they are turquoise. so...

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not enough green for me to call that turquoise, sorry m8

nice hex tho

also what is ‘parasound’

  On 2/2/2025 at 6:35 PM, auxien said:

not enough green for me to call that turquoise, sorry m8

nice hex tho

also what is ‘parasound’

we’re not going for literal here dude this is art

idk what parasound is but presumably has something to do with the 622b being parametric eq?

also 622B[OC] 

come on the writings on the wall

t(ommmorows)ha(rvest)nks 

  On 2/2/2025 at 6:59 PM, auxien said:

t(ommmorows)ha(rvest)nks 

Looking into this

  On 2/2/2025 at 6:52 PM, Alcofribas said:

idk what parasound is but presumably has something to do with the 622b being parametric eq?

looks like parasound is the name of the publishing company orban merged with in the 60s. incidentally parasound was owned by beaver and krause, who did that nonesuch guide to electronic music, among other cool things in the history of electronic music and sound recording.

  On 2/2/2025 at 7:37 PM, Alcofribas said:

looks like parasound is the name of the publishing company orban merged with in the 60s. incidentally parasound was owned by beaver and krause, who did that nonesuch guide to electronic music, among other cool things in the history of electronic music and sound recording.

aye yeah, just for a product or two...Orban's got a timeline on their site detailing stuff. there was a early 90s DAW rebranded under their name apparently, weird shit. 

their new branding is very....not BOC

can you actually make music on the equipment using this branding? looks like a lot of those machines are for live audio mixing and post-production.

  On 2/2/2025 at 9:19 PM, Dragon said:

can you actually make music on the equipment using this branding? looks like a lot of those machines are for live audio mixing and post-production.

Yeah they’re just processing tools. I have two of their compressors, they sound cool imo. 

  On 2/2/2025 at 9:37 PM, Alcofribas said:

I have two of their compressors, they sound cool imo. 

might be broken, i think they’re supposed to sound warm, not cool.

  On 2/2/2025 at 9:37 PM, Alcofribas said:

Yeah they’re just processing tools. I have two of their compressors, they sound cool imo. 

ah yeah nice.

well they look super cool, especially the hexagon, but idk how the mixing equipment in a setup would become a significant and lasting token of nostalgia. i know Daniel Lopatin is famously attached to his childhood Roland Juno-60 and Tom Jenkinson has always loved the sound and feel of bass guitar. it just doesn't look like these machine would reach the same emotional tier, like "whaoooooo holy crap check out the compression on this thing i'm so happy ". just seems far-fetched.

I’m not suggesting they have some kind of great significance. Just playing with the idea that perhaps the brothers got some ideas from the equipment. For instance, sitting in the studio high af listening to tunes and looking at an old Orban, Michael turns to Marcus,

”dude, this font is pretty cool.”

3hrs of staring later.

”what if…turquoise hexagon?”

  On 2/2/2025 at 10:31 PM, Alcofribas said:

I’m not suggesting they have some kind of great significance. Just playing with the idea that perhaps the brothers got some ideas from the equipment. For instance, sitting in the studio high af listening to tunes and looking at an old Orban, Michael turns to Marcus,

”dude, this font is pretty cool.”

3hrs of staring later.

”what if…turquoise hexagon?”

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I've kinda always had a similar thought with regards to the TCH ep artwork. I like to imagine maybe their dad had a Dodge truck and the owner's manual just made a lasting impression on them as young lads.