Polygon Window intro

So I was listening to the intro to Polygon Window again, and it just occurred to me what's going on with the hats. It took me ages to notice that something was going on with them, but ever since I realised there was, I just put it down to a dodgy tape slipping in and out of actually being stereo, like with the CD release of Kraftwerk's Computer Love.

But listening to it again, I don't think it's just dodgy equipment combined with a nonchalant attitude towards keeping things true to what they were, warts and all. It sounds like it's actually doubled left and right for two hits, then played dead centre for two more, then played left only for four more. Just for a TR-606 hi-hat sound that's only played for the intro of the song. The last centre panned hit's a good semitone or so higher too, so it's likely a sample with him taking advantage of that fact and playing around with it being a sample. That's... quite a lot of attention to detail and effort for not much payoff.

This is the kind of reason why I like this artist's work...

He definitely puts in the work. I usually find some new small detail like that in just about every song of his I listen to, especially the later stuff.

yeah part of the magic of early aphex twin is you can never quite tell if these tracks were tossed off completely effortlessly (and probably selected from hundreds of similar but lesser tracks), or if he was actually meticulously focused & somehow it combined with the hobo tech in a way to make it all seem simple

I always loved the bassline to Polygon Window. Good driving music.

Speaking of Aphex hats I've always been curious about the hats he used in the first track from Analogue Bubblebath 5. I've heard him use them in a couple other songs, but I can't remember which tracks. They are very odd and a distinct sound. Not the sound used throughout but the other one that he uses for accent on a few measures here and there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sgvE2q-XNE

at 1:30

  On 1/9/2013 at 7:38 PM, AdieuErsatzEnnui said:

Speaking of Aphex hats I've always been curious about the hats he used in the first track from Analogue Bubblebath 5. I've heard him use them in a couple other songs, but I can't remember which tracks. They are very odd and a distinct sound. Not the sound used throughout but the other one that he uses for accent on a few measures here and there.

To be honest, I'd just kinda assumed they were all custom patches on an old synth (maybe an MS-20 given how much he used to rave about those), sampled and then used on a good few dozen songs until he got bored of them. I'm pretty sure he talked about doing that at some point, and you can hear him reusing some quirky but simple patches on a few tracks, such as the distorted kick drum on 73-Yips and Start As You Mean to Go On. (Hmm, come to think of it, On itself employs the same kick drum, just pitched to a slightly higher note and a much higher one... So yeah, he's sampled it before using it on a few different tracks.) One of the things which makes his music so good is that he doesn't care about what he's "supposed" to do, and is quite happy to mix and match disparate things. Custom atonal synth percussion patches blended with orchestral samples work surprisingly well, with the latter in turn processed as if they're synthesised.

I still can't imagine why Analogue Bubblebath 5 wasn't released, especially the first and eighth tracks. They're the perfect complement to that whole second era (Falling Free / Who Do You Think You Are? / Zeroes and Ones / On / Selected Ambient Works Volume II / Ventolin / ...I Care Because You Do / At the Heart of It All / Analogue Bubblebath 5).

Hell, even the hissing hi-hats in Redruth School sound lovely, and I'm sure they're just a few layers of white noise with various amounts of decay and some slight filtering. It's that combination of rhythm and sound design.

Yeah, me either. It's a good album. He should release it with MFM as a double or something. Good insight btw.

i like the way ab5 is unreleased gives it a nice mystic-ness !!! very articulate zoeb well versed ,nice!

If anything, I'm a bit too articulate about the Twin. :) But hey, it's fun to work out these techniques and try some of them out alongside your own.

  On 1/9/2013 at 9:59 PM, SpeakerJunk said:

i like the way ab5 is unreleased gives it a nice mystic-ness !!! very articulate zoeb well versed ,nice!

it's cool that it is only something most super fans have except for the people who torrent his whole discography, but I think that it would compliment MFM very nicely. Also, I can't listen to it in my car because my rip is so poor and my car has limited EQ.

  On 1/9/2013 at 4:52 PM, Cryptowen said:

yeah part of the magic of early aphex twin is you can never quite tell if these tracks were tossed off completely effortlessly (and probably selected from hundreds of similar but lesser tracks), or if he was actually meticulously focused & somehow it combined with the hobo tech in a way to make it all seem simple

if i know rdj at all i would say proably tossed off. he doesnt have enough respect for people that would buy popular crap to put any effort into music he knows those kinds of people will hear.

  On 1/9/2013 at 11:21 PM, CharlesWatkins said:

  On 1/9/2013 at 4:52 PM, Cryptowen said:

yeah part of the magic of early aphex twin is you can never quite tell if these tracks were tossed off completely effortlessly (and probably selected from hundreds of similar but lesser tracks), or if he was actually meticulously focused & somehow it combined with the hobo tech in a way to make it all seem simple

 

if i know rdj at all i would say proably tossed off. he doesnt have enough respect for people that would buy popular crap to put any effort into music he knows those kinds of people will hear.

You're still on this forum?

wtf? who the fuck are you?

  On 1/9/2013 at 11:28 PM, CharlesWatkins said:

wtf? who the fuck are you?

I'm just a secret admirer that thinks you're something special.

well im not special, so sorry to let you down.

why did i just get 2 replies from 2 different people in 2 threads claiming me to be someone else? is that something that happens all the time here or something?

  On 1/9/2013 at 11:40 PM, CharlesWatkins said:

well im not special, so sorry to let you down.

 

why did i just get 2 replies from 2 different people in 2 threads claiming me to be someone else? is that something that happens all the time here or something?

Everyone's just so happy that you're here, so happy that the happiness must just overflow and cause identity confusion in the brainal region.

lol blocked

You really shouldn't block people.

CharlesWatkins I swear to god if you PM me right now I'll send you a $50 iTunes gift certificate.

alright i unblock him

50 dolla itunes gift certificate

maybe now i can buy all that shitty music i never wanted.

  On 1/9/2013 at 11:40 PM, CharlesWatkins said:

well im not special, so sorry to let you down.

 

why did i just get 2 replies from 2 different people in 2 threads claiming me to be someone else? is that something that happens all the time here or something?

yes. everyone here is nuts in the mind.

sounds like a phaser to me

  On 1/9/2013 at 10:21 PM, ZoeB said:

If anything, I'm a bit too articulate about the Twin. :) But hey, it's fun to work out these techniques and try some of them out alongside your own.

Aww damn. I'm gonna get readin'.

Nicely done, Z-bomb.

P.S. Zoe as a result of your analysis, how often do you experiment wtih specific RDJ production/mixing ideas?

  On 1/10/2013 at 5:47 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 1/9/2013 at 10:21 PM, ZoeB said:

If anything, I'm a bit too articulate about the Twin. :) But hey, it's fun to work out these techniques and try some of them out alongside your own.

 

Aww damn. I'm gonna get readin'.

 

Nicely done, Z-bomb.

i read your article, man what a hell load of work. you really want to continue? anyway good read and some new insights for me.

anyway, this thread confuses me