AAA - Ask Autechre Anything - Sean and Rob on WATMM!

what do you think about

kanye west,

eminem?

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:30 PM, Jev said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:25 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:21 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:14 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:12 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:11 PM, jules said:

do you guys implore a lot/any numerology in your tracks/programming. i.e.: golden ratio or anything like that?

 

not nitpicking - but golden ratio isn't really numerology

 

 

 

true, how about number theories, ratios, etc.

 

funny that came out at 11:11 which i love.

 

 

yeah i mean, maths tricks are cool. ratios really seem to come more into play with 2d things tho

i always notice things like proportions of windows as feeling right or wrong but i haven't done any proper research into it

if i was a designer i'd probably be all over it

 

heh, i am!

 

i was just asking because tool has a song where they applied the fibonacci to the timing of the song, syllables of the lyrics flow 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, etc and it had fascinating results. was curious if you guys ever experimented with stuff like that too. thanks!

 

 

Not only syllables but isn't even the composition in that timing?

 

What is more fascinating is that the results are not only interesting but very musical and it's like one of their best tracks.

 

Secret Chiefs 3 get into all these crazy mathematical forms from antiquity to express music. I can't even pretend to understand some it. Mystical forms & designs translated to convey sound. Far different musical collective than Tool fo' sho' though.

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:32 PM, triachus said:

 

the tool track in question, for reference:

 

 

Maynard himself said that putting the fibonacci sequence in a song was a bit sophomoric because the golden ratio is in everything already anyway

my questions must be acknowledged!

  On 11/6/2013 at 3:55 PM, kieselguhr kid said:

wow, 101 pages... this is must be like the longest fan interview ever by now - thx!

 

a few more:

 

 

1) how do you like cyclobe? (had this one earlier but it slipped... would be interested though; i think their stuff is genius)

 

2) did either of you guys ever grow a full beard / moustache / any other kind of serious facial hair (PICS PLS!)

 

3) would you do a collab with scott walker?

 

4) do your wifes/gfs ever get jealous of your tight bromance?

 

5) what do you think of oval's new style?

edit: sorry for being obnoxious

is there anything you can say about Oversteps and especially the last track? When I first heard it I really liked how it breaks apart layer by layer, and each layer gains more noise and then at the very end, it just stops suddenly. I felt like the layers each had a very physical presence, or like I could at least feel intuitively like pancakes put on top of each other. hard to decribe I felt like oversteps as a whole was this weird game world, and like the ending was the 'end of the transmission', or end of the data or something.

Also can you name my cell phone? ;p

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:35 PM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:08 PM, triachus said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 4:57 PM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 4:17 PM, triachus said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 4:12 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 4:07 PM, Obel said:

Do you have track titles for the live tracks you do?

not usually

but like, when we get handed a PRS form to fill in we make up a ton on the spot

so there are a lot of PRS listings for weird tracks that are only parts of live sets and that we subsequently forgot the names of

 

Do you still have such list? Can you show it to us? Sounds it would be good for a laugh.

 

i have oversteps list here, but not sure if you'll like them lol plus its not fair on sean cos he doesn't use words.

 

Even if I don't like it, my curiosity will at least be satisfied, so don't worry about that. And screw Sean, he named my guitar Squarepusher. That's not fair. And it's not even a bass. :'(

 

aw crying with laughter at you….. if Sean PM's me i'll do it.

 

 

Edit : kerching…. my 303 rd post on watmm. ?

 

Rob's last post

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:08 PM, jasondonervan said:

Bit of bumpage:

 

Do either of you have any thoughts on Wiliiam Basinski's 'Disintegration Loops'? Specifically surrounding the notion that appropriated emotions from a catastrophic event (9/11) negatively pushed the music beyond whatever the listener could hope to independently perceive for themselves - due to the heavy burden of sentimentality laid on by Basinski (stills from the smoke emitting from the two towers adorning the sleeve art, bringing up the mythology of how the music came to be at that time during interviews, etc)? Was being in the 'right' place/time (I use that in the loosest possible sense) justification enough for Basinski to legitimately apply such a tragedy to his creative work?

 

Have you heard any of the vocaloid music (created using advanced vocal synthesis) that came out of Japan in recent years? Does the software itself, or even just the idea of it interest you at all?

 

Favourite William Gibson book, if any?

don't know about the Basinski thing.

Gibson, just THAT one book… sorry i must've been wasting lots of time as a kid, not to read so much stuff.

No answers ;( ......... my juno 6 & korg delta are sittin by a bath contemplating life or not wrkin..

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:36 PM, olo said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:30 PM, Jev said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:25 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:21 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:14 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:12 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:11 PM, jules said:

do you guys implore a lot/any numerology in your tracks/programming. i.e.: golden ratio or anything like that?

 

not nitpicking - but golden ratio isn't really numerology

 

 

 

true, how about number theories, ratios, etc.

 

funny that came out at 11:11 which i love.

 

 

yeah i mean, maths tricks are cool. ratios really seem to come more into play with 2d things tho

i always notice things like proportions of windows as feeling right or wrong but i haven't done any proper research into it

if i was a designer i'd probably be all over it

 

heh, i am!

 

i was just asking because tool has a song where they applied the fibonacci to the timing of the song, syllables of the lyrics flow 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, etc and it had fascinating results. was curious if you guys ever experimented with stuff like that too. thanks!

 

 

Not only syllables but isn't even the composition in that timing?

 

What is more fascinating is that the results are not only interesting but very musical and it's like one of their best tracks.

 

 

Secret Chiefs 3 get into all these crazy mathematical forms from antiquity to express music. I can't even pretend to understand some it. Mystical forms & designs translated to convey sound. Far different musical collective than Tool fo' sho' though.

 

AllMusic's Secret Chiefs 3 description:

"Since Mr. Bungle is notorious for taking substantial amounts of time between albums (it took them four years to follow up their 1991 debut), its bandmembers are left with a lot of time on their hands.…"

lol

What did you use in LP5 apart from Nord synths? Is that final part of Vose in Supercollider?

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:20 PM, disoriental express said:

 

First off, M39 Diffain is fuckin dope. The dynamic interplay between the background sounds and foreground....It has this effect of inducing very strong psychedelic sensations... Most of your songs are capable of doing this but, for me, M39 is the pinnacle of your efforts toward this end. So props for that, your service to humanity has not gone unnoticed.

The level of detail and sheer exploratory listening that Exai and L-Event provide is exceptional. There are so many sounds opening up and revealing themselves in cascades but they're each given the proper space to be appreciated.

Was there a point where you came across a general aesthetic direction for Exai and ran with it? The tracks seem to exude a cohesive otherworldly style and dominance like interacting with a superior intelligence in a huge space. '1 1 is' and 'nodezsh' being prime examples.

Basically, i'm asking to hear your thoughts on the overall sound you achieved with Exai and L-Event and how you perceive it? What excites you about these records in particular?

Also, what excited you most about your live oversteppers stuff? It was so fuckin mind melting and almost primordial. Dope as fuck.

 

yeah i think so, i mean we kind of arrived there cos we had been building this thing for ages and trying to get it to sound deeper all the time, but it wasn't something we had to work to maintain cos by that point we'd set a template more or less, in terms of tech anyway. we could just quickly set up a track and record it and go by feels.

hopefully the depth come across, i mean from your questions i assume it does, which tbh is the most exciting thing. prob seems weird that - cos we don't ostensibly do our stuff to get reactions from random audience members, but it does mean something when what we think we were doing is being noticed. even if it's just like 5 people who get it.

ha wicked cheers, yeah we're working on the next set right now, it might not be the same as the last one but hopefully the depth will be noticeable

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:29 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:25 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:21 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:14 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:12 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:11 PM, jules said:

do you guys implore a lot/any numerology in your tracks/programming. i.e.: golden ratio or anything like that?

not nitpicking - but golden ratio isn't really numerology

 

 

true, how about number theories, ratios, etc.

 

funny that came out at 11:11 which i love.

 

yeah i mean, maths tricks are cool. ratios really seem to come more into play with 2d things tho

i always notice things like proportions of windows as feeling right or wrong but i haven't done any proper research into it

if i was a designer i'd probably be all over it

 

heh, i am!

 

i was just asking because tool has a song where they applied the fibonacci to the timing of the song, syllables of the lyrics flow 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, etc and it had fascinating results. was curious if you guys ever experimented with stuff like that too. thanks!

 

fibonacci is kind of hard to work with cos the vals scale up so fast

but it def looks pretty

 

i did some fm with it once, tuning each freq that way, came out pretty natural sounding actually

 

seen this?

http://whitneymusicbox.org/index.php?var=v12

it's fun

actually speaking of shephard tones http://whitneymusicbox.org/index.php?var=v16

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:44 PM, salvaKPO said:

What did you use in LP5 apart from Nord synths? Is that final part of Vose in Supercollider?

tons of nord, bits of asr10, bits of dx100, few other things

end of vose in was sound edit 16

do you ever sit down at your computer, go to a website with new releases and with trembling hands click the electronic music section and then, heart racing with anxiety and fear, click the preview tracks but finally when the music plays just suddenly kick back and look at each other like "yeah, we're still the lushest mother fuckers around!" ?

Bc that's what I would do if I were you.

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:45 PM, kaini said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:29 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:25 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:21 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:14 PM, jules said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:12 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:11 PM, jules said:

do you guys implore a lot/any numerology in your tracks/programming. i.e.: golden ratio or anything like that?

not nitpicking - but golden ratio isn't really numerology

 

 

true, how about number theories, ratios, etc.

 

funny that came out at 11:11 which i love.

 

yeah i mean, maths tricks are cool. ratios really seem to come more into play with 2d things tho

i always notice things like proportions of windows as feeling right or wrong but i haven't done any proper research into it

if i was a designer i'd probably be all over it

 

heh, i am!

 

i was just asking because tool has a song where they applied the fibonacci to the timing of the song, syllables of the lyrics flow 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, etc and it had fascinating results. was curious if you guys ever experimented with stuff like that too. thanks!

 

fibonacci is kind of hard to work with cos the vals scale up so fast

but it def looks pretty

 

i did some fm with it once, tuning each freq that way, came out pretty natural sounding actually

 

seen this?

http://whitneymusicbox.org/index.php?var=v12

it's fun

 

oh jesus primes

ow my brain

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:35 PM, Retosik said:

what do you think about

kanye west,

eminem?

sean pls

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:11 PM, cult fiction said:

Say, Sean and Rob, do you guys have any questions for WATMM?

at last, 106 pages BEFORE ANYONE ASKED

If there were to be a Nord Modular G3, what changes would you like to see?

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:40 PM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:08 PM, jasondonervan said:

Bit of bumpage:

 

Do either of you have any thoughts on Wiliiam Basinski's 'Disintegration Loops'? Specifically surrounding the notion that appropriated emotions from a catastrophic event (9/11) negatively pushed the music beyond whatever the listener could hope to independently perceive for themselves - due to the heavy burden of sentimentality laid on by Basinski (stills from the smoke emitting from the two towers adorning the sleeve art, bringing up the mythology of how the music came to be at that time during interviews, etc)? Was being in the 'right' place/time (I use that in the loosest possible sense) justification enough for Basinski to legitimately apply such a tragedy to his creative work?

 

Have you heard any of the vocaloid music (created using advanced vocal synthesis) that came out of Japan in recent years? Does the software itself, or even just the idea of it interest you at all?

 

Favourite William Gibson book, if any?

don't know about the Basinski thing.

 

Gibson, just THAT one book… sorry i must've been wasting lots of time as a kid, not to read so much stuff.

 

keepin it 300

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:50 PM, Retosik said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:35 PM, Retosik said:

what do you think about

kanye west,

eminem?

sean pls

 

nie rób wioski ziom

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:36 PM, hoggy said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:32 PM, triachus said:

 

the tool track in question, for reference:

 

 

 

Maynard himself said that putting the fibonacci sequence in a song was a bit sophomoric because the golden ratio is in everything already anyway

 

myths http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:15 PM, Moon said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 3:42 PM, Moon said:

The Stereolab remix is awesome, how did it come about? Are you fans of theirs or did they approach you or what?

 

Curious about this.

 

they asked us, i think they liked our tracks and wanted a version, was good fun to make, and we managed to bang a few offcuts from their real drummer and her singing which i still really rate.

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:50 PM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:11 PM, cult fiction said:

Say, Sean and Rob, do you guys have any questions for WATMM?

at last, 106 pages BEFORE ANYONE ASKED

 

Pretty good really. Go ahead then.

  On 11/6/2013 at 5:51 PM, nizzleone said:

If there were to be a Nord Modular G3, what changes would you like to see?

A commitment to support their editor software even after the unit goes out of production?

A couple more while you're thinking up some to questions for us...

Amber is your only sleeve with seemingly untreated photography, is this something you would consider going back to, or do you think abstract/generated art is the bet visual interpretation of your music?

Any thoughts on the midlands? North and south England seem to have strong identities, but us midlanders seem to get forgotten about.

Also, been stuck in a creative rut lately, but all yr talk of enjoying jamming tracks has really inspired me into doing stuff like that and I'm pretty happy with all, definitely needed to stop thinking about the result and just get lost in the moment. So thanks for that!