Thoughts on making a live-instrument "IDM" record...?

  On 11/20/2012 at 10:45 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

Yeah I reckon so. Their live show is IDM as fuck.

They play their live instruments sitting behind laptops? :)

lol

I agree with PSN, you have to use the idiossyncracies of live music and not try to make it sound like electro. The process of deciding which direction to take would be easier if you start with specifics instead of an abstract concept of trying to emulate IDM with live drums and guitars. What I'm saying is, think of examples of "live-instrument IDM records" that work well and go in that direction instead of trying to figure out how a drummer would play Squarepusher/AFX/Clark convincingly.

IMO, Radiohead's Kid A is the first solid example of how mainstream rock can meet IDM and ambient halfway. Codeine's White Birch, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock, and lovesliescrushing's xuvetyn also come to mind in terms of rock albums sounding like IDM/ambient. If I was aiming for something more fast paced and unpredictable, I'd check out Deerhoof and Don Caballero.

This is one of my favourite things on Youtube. i think I prefer it to the original. So much raw energy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdI1HfooeIA

  On 11/20/2012 at 11:08 AM, psn said:

  On 11/20/2012 at 10:45 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

Yeah I reckon so. Their live show is IDM as fuck.

They play their live instruments sitting behind laptops? :)

Ian Williams plays two synths, a guitar, a laptop and a cowbell at the same time. He's a fucking IDM octapus.

  On 11/20/2012 at 9:56 AM, LimpyLoo said:

(if you read between the lines you might find that I'm seeking advice/guidance)

 

  On 11/20/2012 at 9:55 AM, Gocab said:

 

Is that a musket or a clarinet?

it's a bassoon actually.

I've still never seen an electronic drumset used in an interesting way. So much potential there, and it always sounds like a church band.

go for it, all the shit I make it recorded live on instruments/drum pads. Then I just fuck with it in soundforge afterward. It's how music should be. Sequencing/computers are for the birds. Good luck and would like to listen when you are done.

  On 11/20/2012 at 11:50 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

I've still never seen an electronic drumset used in an interesting way. So much potential there, and it always sounds like a church band.

Yeah, if anyone has any good recs for stuff that uses electric kits then let us know. I bought that live Christ. album that used V-drums a few years ago and it was fucking terrible.

I think this is a nice challenge, go for it. As the advancement of sequencing was probably the main reason for the "invention" of idm sound you should approach recording in a different manner than usually live recording is done. For example don`t record the whole instrument at once, record hihat track separately from kick track/ record only bass slides in one take and then add other bass notes on top of them etc, you should go for "impossible to play" feel, I think it`s very important in IDM. Think about it. Think "what would Frank Zappa do". Good luck.

  On 11/20/2012 at 11:19 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

Ian Williams plays two synths, a guitar, a laptop and a cowbell at the same time. He's a fucking IDM octapus.

That sounds like an awesome musician and a pretty cool live show! But does that really carry IDM connotations in your eyes?

I'd rather argue that he falls squarely in the middle of the "Heroic 70s Fusion/Prog Rock Multi Tasker Instrumentalist" idiom along with Geddy Lee, Ruth Underwood, Rick Wakeman, Terry Bozzio, etc.

  On 11/20/2012 at 8:39 AM, LimpyLoo said:

I plan to--in the next couple months--make an "IDM" record where everything is performed and nothing is sequenced.

 

I am thinking:

 

acoustic drums (a little 4-piece jazz kit)

SH-101

Juno-60

 

and

possibly samplers

possibly some guitar and bass

I think this is a baller idea. Seeing Alarm Will Sound play kind of changed me b/c I realized I love live performance, and they were playing all classical instruments (some with fx), and they sounded GREAT.

I think live playing has an energy that you can't get from sequencers. That energy is not always good in electronic music, imo, so choose what sound you're going for. Timing will be important.

Go for it, post updates! I've been wanting to be in a band for a while, kind of wish I could do something like this. My chops are not that great though . . mostly why I want to do it, to get better!

go for it man. its an interesting idea and a great project to try.

Thank you everyone for the advice and encouragement.

It's greatly appreciated.

Now, I'm waiting on 5 reels of Ampex 456 from feeBay

then, if they're not too sticky, I'm gonna set up my Tascam 388 in my practice space

and let the games begin.

mouse on mars?

Funny you say that: i watched the Tech Talk with Mouse on Mars yesterday and it gave me a bunch of ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVR11aatVok&noredirect=1

  On 11/20/2012 at 12:04 PM, Lucy Faringold said:

  On 11/20/2012 at 11:50 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

I've still never seen an electronic drumset used in an interesting way. So much potential there, and it always sounds like a church band.

 

Yeah, if anyone has any good recs for stuff that uses electric kits then let us know. I bought that live Christ. album that used V-drums a few years ago and it was fucking terrible.

It's seriously hard to find anything that doesn't sound like it would be slightly better with either (a) a live kit, or (b) a good (or even a retro shitty) drum machine.

Robert Fripp went through a mandatory v-drum phase during the late 1990s with his King Crimson drummers. I'm not sure any of it sounds too much better than what you'd expect a late-1990s v-drum obsession to sound like, with maybe a bit of an ill-advised attempt at sounding like "contemporary electronica." But at least they were trying?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKEMaz1pekk

Man, that era bums me way out.

I grew up listening to Red and I was full-on obsessed with King Crimson for many years. Red (especially track #1) was the most epic shit I'd ever heard.

Then I heard the 80's stuff and it tainted my feelings about them.

You best not be badmouthing my man Belew!

Anyway, I've had a similar idea, but instead mine was to create Confield-style textures with acoustic instruments.. well, anything that can make an acoustic sound anyway. I would limit the post-processing to compression, EQ and editing (with maybe a bit of reverb here and there) so the sounds themselves don't change much. It's still something I'm trying to figure out but it's interesting to think about!

  On 11/21/2012 at 12:41 AM, modey said:

You best not be badmouthing my man Belew!

I've come to think of Belew-era KC as a different band than 60's/70's KC, so that enables me to like them a little bit. I mean compared to all the garbage out there, I'll take 80's KC over most of it.

  On 11/21/2012 at 12:41 AM, modey said:

Anyway, I've had a similar idea, but instead mine was to create Confield-style textures with acoustic instruments.. well, anything that can make an acoustic sound anyway.

Did you make any conceptual headway with how it might be done?

i have been dwelling on the same idea but more synth /guitar centric.

i have 3 analog synths and no real sequencers to program them with and i play bass/guitar.

i am tired of being trapped in the sequencer box and i am going to bust out a few tracks soon

btw i was in a band that tried to do what you are talking about

.this was pre battles.

we were called the latter and we were heavily influenced by drum and bass/jungle but the music is anything but that.

the lineup was me on bass/gtr/analog synths or bass

the pepper- on the same instruments as me -we switched it up according to the track

firehorse-2 turntables

the monacle-drums/percussion

the monacle and the pepper are brothers and we are all really good friends.

and then we had a few guest players on vocals and horns.

the great daniel carter and meg montgomery on asst. horns

and danielle kimak stauss on vocals.the full album is available to listen to dl here for free

http://soundcloud.com/the-latter

good luck on your project dude

  On 11/20/2012 at 11:17 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

This is one of my favourite things on Youtube. i think I prefer it to the original. So much raw energy:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdI1HfooeIA

Wow, this is amazing

Anyways, Limpy, go for it. If it turns out shit then oh well at least you had fun. And if it turns out good and people like it then that's just a bonus!

  On 11/21/2012 at 12:49 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Did you make any conceptual headway with how it might be done?

A little. I have some sound design ideas; I just need to find the inspiration to actually write the tracks. It's a completely different process to sequencing IDM or recording 'normal' live instrument music.

Here are a couple of examples of where I came close to the concept:

http://rooftopaccess...-travel-tonight

The noise in the background is from scratching fingernails on classical guitar strings, and the melody is the same classical guitar through reverb.

http://rooftopaccess...avelled-tonight

There's a lot of processing on this; the noise loop was (I think) a heavily treated loop of classical guitar. The melodic content is a hollowbody electric guitar through a few unconventional VST effects. I quite like what I achieved with this one since it sounds psychedelic as fuck!

  On 11/21/2012 at 12:19 AM, LimpyLoo said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVR11aatVok&noredirect=1

awesome video