70s kraut rock inspired electronic demos x5

these are sketches for a new pselodux release that i will endeavour to release as a 12". i've intentionally aimed for a grainy 70s sound, i think i came pretty close with the first two tracks, the others probably use too many modern effects. would really appreciate some feedback as these are only very rough sketches, i'm gonna develop/edit them into proper tracks at some point (except maybe 'two deaths in canada' which is probably almost done actually).

edit: i must also add that these were all made entirely with hardware, and cheap hardware at that!

I really want to hear these so please bump this on Monday when I'm back at work and have a decent connection!

(Sorry, I'm on mobile internet which is as slow as dial-up at home and d/l-ing a small MP3 can take half an hour.)

I'm intrigued after our conversation on the Cluster thread!

Since your previous stuff was ace i'll have to check it out.

these are all great, i don't really know what type of criticism to give them except maybe putting some harmonia like beats under some of this would be really cool. sounds very authentic. what did you use to 'dither' the sounds? my technique in the past is to use a very light touch with a guitar amp plugin simultaneously with band pass filtering

  On 1/31/2010 at 12:53 AM, Awepittance said:

these are all great, i don't really know what type of criticism to give them except maybe putting some harmonia like beats under some of this would be really cool. sounds very authentic. what did you use to 'dither' the sounds? my technique in the past is to use a very light touch with a guitar amp plugin simultaneously with band pass filtering

thanks! yeah there will probably be some light percussion on these - i don't want to make it too upfront though - the emphasis will be on melody for this project.

and i actually didn't do any intentional 'dithering' - it's all a side effect of the cheap equipment i used. basically the signal chain was something like this:

1. alesis mmt-8 (for 'two deaths in canada' only)

2. mid-range m-audio digital piano

3. behringer mixer with behringer virtualizer pro on reverb setting in effects loop

4. guitar pedals as follows: reverb -> tape delay sim -> phaser -> chorus -> digital delay (mostly behringer stuff except for the phaser, which was a $10 bottom of the line guitar pedal that actually sounds really amazing - that's where most of the filter sweep type sounds come from)

5. boss loopstation (for 'optilucian')

'monofon' and 'judith and colm' had some additional processing from an electribe es-1, mostly for the delay but i think monofon uses the distortion, can't quite remember actually!

oh and the behringer 'echo machine' guitar pedal is highly recommended - it simulates tape warbles (although it's a little over the top) and can also be used as a nice LFO based detuner that doesn't have any aliased 'clicks' that i've heard from software plugins.

that's great, i don't have very much hardware besides actually synthesizers, so i rely on the computer for my old fakery

yeah, i tried that, but only managed to go so far (i think the pinnacle of that was 'tactful mokey' from the latest pselodux album).. there's nothing quite like the sound you get running a cheap keyboard through cheap guitar effects!

I really like all of them, especially two deaths in canada.

but if I was to criticize anything it would be that almost all the songs distort at some point, maybe you were going for that, but to me it sounds like a sloppy recording job.

As for the fakery, I would've liked to hear a little more warble and warmth. especially on the guitar, which seemed just a little too bright. Next time you'll need to run an EQ in that hardware chain that is set to kill some of the highs. I would've also liked to hear some very subtle LFO malfunctions like drifting out of time a little.

Otherwise, terrific job. Keep it up.

Also, not using a DAW, that's a feat, good job.

  On 1/31/2010 at 3:54 AM, Spittal said:

I really like all of them, especially two deaths in canada.

 

but if I was to criticize anything it would be that almost all the songs distort at some point, maybe you were going for that, but to me it sounds like a sloppy recording job.

 

As for the fakery, I would've liked to hear a little more warble and warmth. especially on the guitar, which seemed just a little too bright. Next time you'll need to run an EQ in that hardware chain that is set to kill some of the highs. I would've also liked to hear some very subtle LFO malfunctions like drifting out of time a little.

 

Otherwise, terrific job. Keep it up.

 

Also, not using a DAW, that's a feat, good job.

thanks for listening! here are some explanations:

the distortion was unintentional, yeah. like i said, these were just improvised sketches so sometimes the levels went a little out of control, hehe. oh and that isn't guitar! i assume you're talking about the arpeggios in optilucian, that was the harpsichord sound on my digital piano.

and yeah, i'll most likely do some careful EQ work on the final tracks, i can't decide though if i want to record everything into reaper as separate tracks or just use a 4-track cassette recorder, hmm. the 4-track would be more authentic but pretty fiddly, especially considering i'm not the best keyboard player, hehe.

Downloaded all of them, my favourite was Ghostic - that's such a beautiful piece man! BTW you're gonna love using that tape loop for this kind of thing :D

  Quote

oh and the behringer 'echo machine' guitar pedal is highly recommended - it simulates tape warbles (although it's a little over the top) and can also be used as a nice LFO based detuner that doesn't have any aliased 'clicks' that i've heard from software plugins.

I second that BTW, awesome little box for the price :D

  On 1/31/2010 at 12:31 PM, futureimage said:

Downloaded all of them, my favourite was Ghostic - that's such a beautiful piece man! BTW you're gonna love using that tape loop for this kind of thing :D

thanks! yeah can't wait to get into some tape loop action. i think i'm gonna modify a cheap tape recorder so i can use it as a tape delay as well as a looper!

Listening to these right now!

So far, as previously noted, the peaking-out distortion is occasionally a bit of a problem. But the slightly lo-fi 70s LP recording style is just perfect for the aesthetic. They sound like obscure German records you found in your uncle's loft which is just such a nice, warm feeling.

This is of course totally up my alley, I'll try to give more detailed comments when I've heard them all, but right now I'm just really loving the aesthetic. Nice work!

OK, I've listened to them all a couple of times, my favourite by a country mile is definitely optilucian - that's totally got that Harmonia/NEU! vibe in a way that is totally made for me. I love the effect you get with the phasing on it. (I do actually think that sometimes cheap equipment forces you to be more creative to get the sounds you want, with more intriguing results - it's certainly worked here.)

I think I tend to like the noisy tunes better - Judith and Colm/Monofon worked for me better than the more ambient pieces, but that's totally subjective personal taste.

I do actually really love the rustic production aesthetic - just sort out the occasional peaking and it's very much a *thing* that yr noiseheads and yr Krautheads will really go for.

awesome, thanks! yeah, i'm pretty much gonna re-record everything, not only due to the clipping, but other things as well such as the bass in optilucian (i recorded it live into my loop pedal so it's a bit out of time, and i want it to sound very precise!).

also i think i'll probably combine a few of these into larger, prog tracks. i can imagine optilucian being the centrepiece of a longer track, perhaps starting with the chords from judith and colm? i'll figure it out someday, haha!