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

  On 11/5/2013 at 2:25 AM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/5/2013 at 2:16 AM, modey said:

 

I've seen mentions of tracks being edited jams; are they recorded in multitrack for maximum editing possibilities or do you just work with a stereo mix? This is one of the biggest hurdles for me when I jam with others. Sometimes one of us would be on to something awesome and then the other comes in with something that totally destroys everything. Do you guys just generally record long enough stretches of everything so that editing out a mistake/unwieldy experiment won't matter too much?

with jams, on a good part find a kind of holding pattern which the others can come in on, then they do the same, and u come in with mods to your thing etc etcafter a while if its all going well things can get risky and more interesting as u know what is likely to work well. its ok if u have enough time to space it out and keep good bits to trim back down, or trash the stuff thats not working.

 

if u mean real jamming like all at once then u need to get a quicker feel for things. i mean me n sean have been jamming since day one so we can fit quite well.

 

the unwieldy bits are usually the fresh ones.

  On 11/5/2013 at 2:25 AM, auxien said:

What time signature is Fold 4, Wrap 5 in? Just regular 4/4, eh?

 

got burnout

until next time..

Have either of you used Cool Edit for your samples or compositions? There were some really wild things you could do with later iterations of the software, like burn stuff to cd's and scratch and sharpie-marker things onto the cd, and then have it extract the audio data directly off it to make some really garbled sounds.

  On 11/4/2013 at 11:10 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 11/4/2013 at 10:40 PM, Sean Ae said:

 

  On 11/4/2013 at 6:23 PM, MisterE said:

related to your reply to i believe it was awe's question about the NSA to which you said it (spying) was a necessary phase-

 

so in the nearish future when brain implants, ...etc.... able to compose tracks with our thoughts like raymond scott wanted to do?

 

nah

i don't know why everyone is focusing so much on the nsa

everyone's at it, all spying on each other

it's not like some nice neat pyramid, it's like a web

 

in the future we're gonna be so much more networked than this, even the concept of monitoring will be totally antiquated

 

what do you think of this quote by raymond scott

 

 

  Quote

 

 

• "Perhaps within the next hundred years, science will perfect a process of thought transference from composer to listener. The composer will sit alone on the concert stage and merely 'think' his idealized conception of his music. Instead of recordings of actual music sound, recordings will carry the brainwaves of the composer directly to the mind of the listener." —Raymond Scott, 1949

 

heh yeah, to be honest this was really what i was trying to get at with my question. i mean, the nsa stuff interests me but i was kind of joking with that part of the question. i was really more interested in just knowing how AE view potential future advances in things like interfacing with computers in new ways and if/how willing they would be to adopt some of these things that supposedly are going to be common but still seem kind of extreme to lots of people now, such as brain implants.

it's a pretty cool quote from a bygone era of technology idealism, i don't hear many people making futurist statements like this these days pertaining to art. I spent about 3 hours in an iso tank once after a large 3-paper spliff and I had a very interesting experience where i felt like i was composing music in real-time in my mind, but it wasn't just a mind's ear kind fo thing I was actually having auditory hallucinations. Funnily though it was really cheesy very over-produced music, with hints of infected mushroom, like Autechre gone psytrance dub. Maybe subconsciously i want to be a psytrance musician, playing repetitive music to people on too many psychedelics

ultra curious what role if any psychedelic drugs have played in Autechre's music. I know they like smoking weed, cause I've seen and heard of them (well Sean specifically, i don't want to focus on rob because he's now a dad :) ) partaking in copious amounts (at various shows)

First off big thanks for taking the time to open up for us. I have been a huge fan since Incunabula. I actually had dinner with you guys in Melbourne Australia back in 95/96? You played an amazing set in front of maybe 20 people! Also saw you in 2010 in Melb :-) full house that time.

Anyway I find you guys to be one of the most unique electronic artists and the most advanced when it comes to composition. There have only been 3 times in your career where i thought, oh this track sounds heavily influenced by...and wanted to know if these artists did inspire the tracks.

Slip on Amber reminds me of Severed Heads

VLetrm21 from Garbage sounds like Arvo Part

Pce Freeze2.81 from Oversteps reminds me of Breathing in Fumes

If you do like Mego please check out VICMOD Records http://www.vicmod.net lots of great leftfield electonic artists there.

Thanks again for your time.

  On 11/5/2013 at 3:46 AM, amni said:

 

If you do like Mego please check out VICMOD Records http://www.vicmod.net lots of great leftfield electonic artists there.

 

I second this, do you run this label amni?

Sean, I like your avatar. I never got a chance to play Flashback, but Out of this World/Another World was one of the my early games that left a lasting impact on me. Do you think you could do me the favor of choosing my new Avatar for WATMM? I would very much appreciate it.

Also, what games, if any, do you have very fond memories of playing?

  On 11/5/2013 at 3:49 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 11/5/2013 at 3:46 AM, amni said:

 

If you do like Mego please check out VICMOD Records http://www.vicmod.net lots of great leftfield electonic artists there.

 

I second this, do you run this label amni?

 

Cheers John , yes I do. I am obsessed with electronic music :-)

I think I can recall awhile back one of you guys said something about how hard it is to leave home because you always feel the need to produce stuff, but I was just wondering if there are any tracks of yours that come to mind that at least stemmed from somewhere besides the studio? I know I often find myself braindead in my studio space with so many options surrounding me - I need a change of scenery to influence the creative headspace now and then. Is this something either of you can attest to?

Ghostface Killah has an annual 10 softest rappers in the game list. Do you think we could get an "Autechre's 'N' softest electronic music makers" list?

Or feel free to substitute "softest" with some other adjective to your liking. All in jest of course.

On a more serious note: you've both talked about starting out Autechre with very basic to no real understanding of music. Has that had any effect on communicating and working with other musicians/composers? Do you two have your own kind of "language" when discussing work, that doesn't transfer so well when conveying things to others Autechre might be working with?

Bonus question.

Have you sought out training for specific things since then? Possibly not music related, but still relevant to Autechre's output; I think Sean mentioned he went and learned some physics in this thread.

Cheers! You guys have been a huge inspiration.

  On 11/5/2013 at 3:46 AM, amni said:

Slip on Amber reminds me of Severed Heads

 

can you name my seal

This is amazing, you guys have more posts already than people who have been on here for years. This is the stuff of watmm legend. The mere existence of this thread should cause that watmm subreddit to simply vanish from the universe in embarrassment.

How do you guys feel about legowelt?

  On 11/5/2013 at 4:56 AM, modey said:

 

  On 11/5/2013 at 3:46 AM, amni said:

Slip on Amber reminds me of Severed Heads

Woah, really? Any track in particular?

 

Severd heads era 83-86 http://youtu.be/E--oGXcC79Q check 3 mins and Dead Eyes open.

1. do you like The Knife?

2. Sean, on Andrew Mckenzie's podcast you mentioned using phone apps like SunVox and Jasuto. Have you used these on any tracks you've released? Would you? Jasuto can do some mad things.

3. Which Tarkovsky films have you seen and which do you like best? I love them all but Mirror is a favorite, only slightly above Solaris/Stalker/Sacrifice. What do you think of Artemyev's soundtrack work?

4. I love mego too. What are your top mego albums?

5. Sean, the unreleased BBC BASIC piece Horizons sounds intriguing. I'd buy it as a digital ep from Warp/Bleep for up to $7-8 USD -- Can't you release it under the AE moniker? I'm sure Rob wouldn't mind.

6. Speaking of mego, do you also like fals.ch? Do you happen to have archived the free releases, my collection is missing some.. pm? Also what do you think of pxp - while(p){print"."," "x$p++} and Wavetrap stuff?

7. Do you like Popol Vuh? Which albums?

8. Can you recommend some gamelan music you like?

9. I can't afford Max/Msp - How do you like PureData? Are there things you're doing in max that would be impossible in Pd? Have you used it for anything in the past?

10. What's up with Xektes Sql - how was it made? I love it and it seems to be unique in your discog soundwise - more aquatic or submerged sounding.

Thank you both for taking the time to interface with your fans directly - this is way more 'social' than any of the usual so called social media. We really appreciate it.

ps. Can you name my friend here. Sorry :

not to spam but i forgot my friend dean had wanted me to ask you to share any thoughts you had on "death and sexuality and empathy"

How come you often save the longest tracks for last? A lot of other artists seems to be doing it too, so I guess there must be some meaning behind it, unless it's just pure coincidence. Saving some of the best for last maybe?

hi there
2 questions
1.have you heard of atmogen? It is for PC (I don't know if also for mac) its a bit like metasynth? ever heard/ worked with it?
2.(okay maybe its sort of two questions meshed into one) there is autechre tracktiles wiki that tries to figure out what lies behind the naming of autechre tracks? Are that father from the truth than they think and why don't you give us some insight into that

I've done an OK job of scanning this whole thread, so forgive me if this is a repeat question:

What made you guys decide to do this? It seems like this as been very enlightening, easy going and seems to dispel some common myths associated with you guys and the interaction with the public or press. Something I think we are all very pleased with.

Obviously journalists tend to have an agenda and caginess or obtuseness would seem like a good stance or defense to maintain some control over the output.

This has been quite the opposite of that, which is great.

  On 11/4/2013 at 8:03 PM, jasondonervan said:

If you were given the option to select one of your tracks to go on a golden record* to be beamed into space, which would you choose?

 

 

*Incomplete without surface noise

This is a good question I hope it doesn't get lost. I O (Mons) could terrify the fuck out of anything sentient, or they could paint humanity as peaceful and send out os veix3 to shed some intergalactic tears. How would Autechre choose to represent our species?

Additionally, did you guys at least enjoy a playthrough of Metroid Prime or was it never up your alley? Greatest collaboration that never happened of all time, imo

Hey guys, a bit late to the party but I always wanted to know if the Criminal Justice Bill eventually changed your style in a way?
It seems like you can divide your catalog from before that era and after that era or is it just a coincidence?

  On 11/5/2013 at 1:52 AM, Rob Ae said:

 

  On 11/5/2013 at 12:56 AM, gabrielconroy said:

Do you both mainly listen to sequenced electronic/synthesised music, or are you also into hand-arranged sample layers stuff? What do you think of Burial, for example?

where would u put burial in the above categories?

 

Those categories were a bit rubbish, sorry. I'd put Burial in the second one.

I guess I'm interested in what you two think of stuff like his that's made completely from samples, using a computer, but still arranged by hand (and not necessarily sequenced according to some complex metre and tempo structure).

Are you drawn towards listening to stuff that has machine precision as a major part of its identity, or do you also appreciate stuff like his that has a more heavily human character?

disclaimer: I realise this question is a bit stupid and you can draw the line on human intervention/decision making in different places, but I suppose that's what I'd love to hear your thoughts on.

On 1 1 is, are those plucked guitar strings (or other stringed acoustic instrument) that enter the mix at around 5:11?

Do you ever deconstruct parts from old tracks and incorporate them into new tracks? I remember when I first heard Quaristice there were moments where I thought I recognized bits from older tracks, but in an entirely new context (a cool idea idea I thought). A good example would be the parallels between Fol3 and Rettic AC --I'm very curious if any of the same source material was used.

In the second half of vekoS, is the breathy atmosphere in the background a paulstretched reverb (or paulstretched anything)?