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

@ 2:44 in tac Lacora a breathy synth sound that is particularly dark and demonic is introduced. Would you like to share any details on how such a sound is created in terms of synthesis techniques, types of effects and processing used? Do either of you remember any of what you were thinking while you created it?

What's it been like collaborating with Andrew McKenzie over the years - he seems like quite a formidable character ! How does the collaboration with such a geographical distance between you guys ?

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:10 PM, funkaholic said:

What do you think about the all the hip-hop that has been getting a alot of people have been talking (hudson mohawke, drake, asap, kendrick, odd future etc)? do you like any of it? Basically I would be interested to hear a new hip-hop song you like (if any)!

 

Thanks

haha such a plethora of sub styles in hop hop, hard to be specific and therefore completely straight up...

but, say with really big artist like Drake, i'm 50/50. cos i like the things he's doing in tracks like headlines, but mbe the 'craig david-10 years-too-late' isn't so fresh.

heralds of change - spotted is an all time favourite, but theres not much as good as that in the rest of the cannon

IMO

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:08 PM, Redruth said:

do u have future plans to produce musics with the mick harris?

 

i'm rather fond of the tracs of yr musics that have bits of warm natural sounds in them, such as water or marbles or these types of things. do u think this might occur more frequently in yr future sounds?

 

do u like jug band?

no plans to work with mick but we love his stuff he's a legend

yeah maybe on the warm natural sounds, we are getting pretty good at faking things now but it gets old fast so we usually end up fucking it up somehow

tbh it's hard to make any predictions about what i'm gonna like hearing in a few weeks never mind long term

the only jug band thing i know i ended up finding cos gilliam used it in one of his python bits (dixieland jug blowers? awesome track actually)

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:09 PM, mcbpete said:

This advert from the early 00s always sounded spookily similar to Yulquen - did you guys have a hand on it, or is it someone in the advertising agency that's a fan !

 

maybe the ad was originally cut to Yulquen but they didn't budget for it, that happens

might just be a coincidence

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:09 PM, mcbpete said:

This advert from the early 00s always sounded spookily similar to Yulquen - did you guys have a hand on it, or is it someone in the advertising agency that's a fan !

 

yeah strange that one, i would def stop what i was doing if i caught it on tv, but its a bit fishy, another one for John Lewis Partnership around the same time (only Xmas tho) was another close copy, more 'tradDM'.

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:09 PM, Ceerial said:

Have you ever considered "going back to the roots" for an album, and make it heavily inspired by your earlier works? (Incunabula, Amber, Tri Repetae etc.)

it's kind of impossible, we're not the same people, it would be a pale imitation

leave it to people who find it natural

Whilst being prolific in terms of bespoke software design for your own music (i.e. Max/MSP patches for Confield, Oversteps, etc. etc.), have you considered designing a manufactured hardware product? It's been interesting to see what The Black Dog have done with the CS X51.

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:09 PM, apriorion said:

I haven't had the good fortune to be able to see you perform live, but I have heard that you play in the dark. I'm guessing that you do that because you want the audience to focus on the music itself. But releasing music means that you have less control over how people experience it: do you have an ideal set of conditions that you would hope people will listen to your music in?

no

partly the decision with the live thing is about removing the identity of the space

Couple of questions -

- It's said you were involved with getting Boards of Canada noticed and on Skam, now that your cohort of artists have matured, do you still take an active interest in upcoming electronic artists and scenes? (don't make music myself just curious). Would also be curious to know what electronic artists you listen to these days (I think the rap question was already covered)

- the Quaristice era seemed unique in your catalog, both because of the shorter more eclectic tracks, but also because you released both Quadrange and Versions, something you hadn't done so explicitly before (in terms of "alternate takes"). Do you also see that period as sort of unique, and is there any backstory to it, apart from just trying to capture a live feel?

Given that's you gus have been at the leading edge of sonic explorations for 20+ years have you developed any personal alternate theories and postulations about what music actually is?

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:04 PM, Ascdi said:

Awesome!

 

My question is: have you guys given any thought to what might be new or interesting formats in which to release stuff? Obviously 24-bit Bleep seems to have a foothold now (at least for Ae releases), and Gescom MD and generative software were experiments in the past—now (2013) seems like it might be the time for either a solid shift to something more “audiophile” (whatever that means) or something more “software” too (like a streaming or generative or interactive website or something).

 

Just curious if anything like that might be brewing since you’ve toyed with formats in the past.

glad you posted this question, I was about to ask exactly the same thing.. so, +1.

it seems to me that the usual AE way to present material is PCM data, but in the studio there are likely a lot of interesting events happening which are hard to distill into a plain stereo audio recording... So yeah, does AE feel the wish to release a thing which is not an audio recording?

  Quote

Sean Booth 'Horizon', 2004 (20 min)

'Horizon' is a generative piece composed in the BBC BASIC programming language. It was composed for the rand()% generative internet radio station in 2004 but was never broadcast.

Will this ever see the light of day ?

What are the logistics of putting together the 10+ hour Autechre.ws sets, how flipping long does it take to mix together than many tracks !

In Perlence Subrange 6-36 there's lots of really hidden what sounds like field recordings (the section from 18:24 - 18:58 - in the background it sounds like a recording of what sounds like an old English police siren going past, there also sounds like very brief snippets of people talking from 20:52 - 21:08). Is my brain just playing tricks (the aural equivalent of looking at clouds) or are there lots of samples scattered around the track ?

what is the mathematical equation that will unlock the secrets of the universe?

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:11 PM, kieselguhr kid said:

what became of the zoviet*france / AE collaboration - any chance of hearing any of that material (if it actually exists) ?

ben's got the DAT

every time i ask him to send it over he goes 'yeah' and then doesn't, so i haven't heard any of it since we did the gigs

What were you guys thinking when you made Cichli, if you remember that is. Thoughts or emotion. Especially the underlying melancholy melody thing, and how it lasts throughout the end.

I don't know why but it makes me very emotional, sad, and it feels cold, distant, yet somewhat warm and hazy. It's a strange sensation that I've not felt from listening to any other track.

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:24 PM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:09 PM, mcbpete said:

This advert from the early 00s always sounded spookily similar to Yulquen - did you guys have a hand on it, or is it someone in the advertising agency that's a fan !

 

 

yeah strange that one, i would def stop what i was doing if i caught it on tv, but its a bit fishy, another one for John Lewis Partnership around the same time (only Xmas tho) was another close copy, more 'tradDM'.

 

lel i think that was tipper

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:27 PM, lumpenprol said:

Couple of questions -

 

- It's said you were involved with getting Boards of Canada noticed and on Skam, now that your cohort of artists have matured, do you still take an active interest in upcoming electronic artists and scenes? (don't make music myself just curious). Would also be curious to know what electronic artists you listen to these days (I think the rap question was already covered)

 

- the Quaristice era seemed unique in your catalog, both because of the shorter more eclectic tracks, but also because you released both Quadrange and Versions, something you hadn't done so explicitly before (in terms of "alternate takes"). Do you also see that period as sort of unique, and is there any backstory to it, apart from just trying to capture a live feel?

re quadrange, we'd been wanting to do something with variant mixes for a while, in some part due to having a wealth of Eps and extra B sides from artists like Depeche Mode in the past - some of their deepest tracks were unique alternative mixes nothing like the singles or LP versions, and they came across as more intense or over produced even, it was a really nice way to feel what they were doing behind the usual framework they set out in the mainstream…..like a real treat.

- I believe the cover art for Confield (which I think is great) was made by you two...do you continue to experiment with visuals in any form?

- Do you keep up with the fan-made videos of your tracks? (thinking here of ones like Plyphon - http://vimeo.com/9105827)

How do you feel about your fans? Public image?

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:25 PM, futureimage said:

Whilst being prolific in terms of bespoke software design for your own music (i.e. Max/MSP patches for Confield, Oversteps, etc. etc.), have you considered designing a manufactured hardware product? It's been interesting to see what The Black Dog have done with the CS X51.

tbh it's tricky cos part of the reason we make software is so that we can hack it easily, and save tons of versions. and the way everything integrates is bespoke as well, the protocols etc; that's such a big part of it that it's hard to make a one box solution or something that integrates with midi (or other equally lame or ancient protocols) that well.

we do bounce ideas a lot tho. we'd probably use fpaa and fpga pretty heavily if we did anything, so it could be part modular analogue but still have decent patch storage.

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:16 PM, mcbpete said:

What's it been like collaborating with Andrew McKenzie over the years - he seems like quite a formidable character ! How does the collaboration with such a geographical distance between you guys ?

we use the internet

andrew's a really top guy, he might seem formidable but he really gets it. maybe i just share some of his upbringing being a northerner but i always found him really 'relatable'

  On 11/2/2013 at 4:40 PM, lumpenprol said:

- I believe the cover art for Confield (which I think is great) was made by you two...do you continue to experiment with visuals in any form?

 

- Do you keep up with the fan-made videos of your tracks? (thinking here of ones like Plyphon - http://vimeo.com/9105827)

yes

What do you think about our constant "sean pls" jokes and the tumblrs with album cover parodies like http://bullwalletversions.tumblr.com/ ?

FM or subtractive synthesis?