How do AE make those sounds? : the Thread

You know what I mean? What are they using on Quaristice? Some of those sounds are astounding. The hi hats on the middle third of the album, some of the "thwacks" - how are they doing that, ya'll?!!!

Computers & machines.

ya'll best give me the codes

Need more specific tracks/times. I have a hunch that a lot of the crazy stuff was sampled field recordings either sliced and re-sequenced in the MPC or mangled with the Machinedrum sampler.

this is probably the main one I'm trying to figure out

Autechre are masters of their trade. They have been doing this for about 20 years so they have a lot of experience. You'd probably have to sit in the studio with them to figure out what their doing, i doubt they'd let you do that tho, lol.

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:08 AM, vamos scorcho said:

this is probably the main one I'm trying to figure out

 

 

Ah, I was afraid it was that one. I know how the bass was done but not the other stuff.

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:12 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

Autechre are masters of their trade. They have been doing this for about 20 years so they have a lot of experience. You'd probably have to sit in the studio with them to figure out what their doing, i doubt they'd let you do that tho, lol.

Pfft, what's the fun in that? Keep the defeatism out of this thread plz

On listening to it again I think the most likely answer is just flat out skill at the craft, so I do rather agree with Danny.

The sounds might not be as complex in construction as they might sound. I'm sure there is some of that though, which is why I asked.

I think the predominant aspect of that particular track is the rhythmic stuff going on in the high hats and some of the thwacks. That skittering sound... I really want to know how they make their drums sound so loose. They always have the feeling of just like skittering over the top of the rest of the sounds, but with constant variation and what seems like total control. Doing that with ultrabeat or other sequencers is really time consuming... maybe something like a Reaktor ensemble would fit my needs more! Put through some effects or something.

As for the "thwacks" - an LFO on the snare pitch?

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:08 AM, sweepstakes said:

Need more specific tracks/times. I have a hunch that a lot of the crazy stuff was sampled field recordings either sliced and re-sequenced in the MPC or mangled with the Machinedrum sampler.

I'm pretty sure most of Confield and Chiastic Slide's wacky percussion/rhythmic noise sounds are sampled from field recordings, so I wouldn't be surprised. Though most of Quaristice sounds synthetic to my ears!

at times though their mastery of beats+rhythm does reach a sort of Bach "art of the fugue" level of greatness... the high hats on "r ess" are another example

That's the magic of electronic music: you can recreate every, absolutely every sound you can think of.

The key to that track's sound (for the bass & snare anyway) is band pass filters, specifically the ones in JJOS2.

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:19 AM, modey said:

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:08 AM, sweepstakes said:

Need more specific tracks/times. I have a hunch that a lot of the crazy stuff was sampled field recordings either sliced and re-sequenced in the MPC or mangled with the Machinedrum sampler.

I'm pretty sure most of Confield and Chiastic Slide's wacky percussion/rhythmic noise sounds are sampled from field recordings, so I wouldn't be surprised. Though most of Quaristice sounds synthetic to my ears!

I agree but in both cases I'd say synthetic or tight loops of more organic material. Also in Chiastic's case, (and maybe Quaristice, too - see: "Skeng") some of that may be leftover remix material.

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:21 AM, vamos scorcho said:

at times though their mastery of beats+rhythm does reach a sort of Bach "art of the fugue" level of greatness... the high hats on "r ess" are another example

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv69jVDyLhA

oh yeah. I love how it seems to be mixed/alternating between triplets and 8th/16th notes.

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:19 AM, vamos scorcho said:

LFO on the snare pitch?

yup. Mark Bell makes all their snares and HH's. :)

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:26 AM, sweepstakes said:

Also in Chiastic's case, (and maybe Quaristice, too - see: "Skeng") some of that may be leftover remix material.

Yeah, this is a possibility. I was mostly thinking about Recury; there's clearly a sample of a large rusty gate or similar in there.

if i were to take a guess on the first clip the 'acid' line is done with a monomachine. The other drum sounds not sure. On quaristice and especially versions there is a lot of env follower lowpass filter stuff going on, probably a hearty dose of LFO or slow random automation (brown noise) being used to effect drum sounds in various ways. I dont hear any pitch shifting, just filtering going on (first clip)

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:32 AM, Awepittance said:

if i were to take a guess on the first clip the 'acid' line is done with a monomachine. The other drum sounds not sure

I know I sound like an arrogant ass but I'm 99.9% sure it's MPC.

the drums? could be, they sound like they could come from the add-on kits to the mpc that let you glitch out the drum sounds a lot more. Steels sounds like this to me

No, the acid bass. Although I'm not sure about the original sample run through the filter; it could be monomachine. The drums I'm not sure on but I'm guessing they're MPC too.

it's easy

it clearly involves an adult cat and a box style cheese grater?

=/

Oh, sweet, this thread just got "funny".

maybe futureimage or someone else could examine the monomachine theory. The reason im pretty sure on that is that Richard Devine did a live set in SF with a machinedrum and monomachine and he managed to get the exact same snarling acid sound from his that appears on that track. As far as being an obsessive AE fan and someone extremely capable of reverse engineering their sound, i'm going with this theory

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:33 AM, sweepstakes said:

  On 8/31/2012 at 2:32 AM, Awepittance said:

if i were to take a guess on the first clip the 'acid' line is done with a monomachine. The other drum sounds not sure

I know I sound like an arrogant ass but I'm 99.9% sure it's MPC.

well spotted!

i can say with extremely high confidence that this track (90101-5l-l) is 100% mpc.