On EP mastering

  On 8/24/2018 at 6:53 PM, span said:

christ this is the electronic music equivalent of 50 yeard olds who think rock died with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd

Nah - I listen to loads of new music. I'm not stuck in the past, I just think AFX (and many others) had their creativity derailed by Squarepusher and the idea that the more complicated something is, the more interesting/accomplished it is.

Wtf, why is it all squarepusher's fault? I always got the vibe that aphex, pusher, vibert etc all got into jungle when it was absolutely huge in 94-95 and each independently had a stab at doing fast complex beats.

I can't for the life of me remember where I read it but I totally have a memory of an interview mentioning Richard and Tom constantly trying to out-drill one another in the late 90s. Like a friendly rivalry on who could DSP-mash their tracks out the most

  On 8/24/2018 at 11:54 PM, Amen Warrior said:

Wtf, why is it all squarepusher's fault? I always got the vibe that aphex, pusher, vibert etc all got into jungle when it was absolutely huge in 94-95 and each independently had a stab at doing fast complex beats.

Regardless of whether or not it was Squarepusher who got all drill-y first, it was that drill era that derailed so much of what was great about IDM prior to that. That's my opinion, anyway.

all drill did was coincide with a lot of stuff moving to digital and the ability to do really crazy things with the structure and sound design of the music. i don't understand the issue. to me the late 90s-early 2000s is the platonic ideal of whatever idm is supposed to be. i love the 92-95 era as well, it's magical as far as rdj is concerned, but something like go plastic (i know it was supposedly not made on a computer) or drukqs feels like these artists finally being able to fully realize their creative aspirations.

saying all that, saw ii is still his best.

also, to reply to the op, i'm not sure about the differences between on versions. i've gone all digital over the years and used to own the american maxi and i remember on always sounding a little shrill, but most of his work from that era has sort of difficult trebly sounds. i'm not a huge fan of classics for this reason. but i figure that's intentional. there's something very industrial about the harsh end of aphex's output from that period. where would i find the other version of on?

also analogue bubblebath 3 (or 3.1) on cd, the american one (i think) with the clear jewel case has the worst mastering of any aphex release. very hard for me to listen on headphones.

What's the drilliest drill track that was ever drilled?

  On 8/18/2018 at 12:12 PM, ZoeB said:

 

  On 8/17/2018 at 7:00 PM, BaggerMcGuirk said:

 

I really like this.  Have you got more of these?  I'd love to see a breakdown of other tracks.

 

 

Thanks!  In general?  Yeah, a few:

 

• Aphex Twin: Acrid Avid Jam Shred
• Aphex Twin: Carn Marth
• Autechre: Bike
• Autechre: Eggshell
• Ceephax Acid Crew: Life Funk
• Fatboy Slim: Praise You
• Pete Namlook and Ludwig Rehberg: Angel Circle
• Plastikman: Ask Yourself

 

That's really interesting. I did something similar for "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" ages ago.

  On 8/24/2018 at 7:34 AM, killabyte11 said:

I've always found it pretty disappointing that he would be influenced by someone like Squarepusher who I personally never liked and don't put anywhere near the same sphere as RDJ.

I actually find that aspect of their musical careers to be quite endearing, since they have shown to be friends over the years. Contemporaries are always influencing each other. Like Chopin and Liszt.

  On 8/24/2018 at 5:39 PM, Suction Records said:

If you haven't checked out the RX-101 releases that I've been putting out on my label over the past couple of years, you should. It sounds exactly like early-mid-90s era AFX/Rephlex, to a T.

Thanks for releasing those! They're solid EPs.

  On 8/25/2018 at 3:23 AM, zaphod said:

all drill did was coincide with a lot of stuff moving to digital and the ability to do really crazy things with the structure and sound design of the music. i don't understand the issue. to me the late 90s-early 2000s is the platonic ideal of whatever idm is supposed to be. i love the 92-95 era as well, it's magical as far as rdj is concerned, but something like go plastic (i know it was supposedly not made on a computer) or drukqs feels like these artists finally being able to fully realize their creative aspirations.

Well put. Yes, I agree with your point about how it was not only drill itself, but the fact that it coincided with digital/DAWs finally becoming powerful enough to realize such complexity. Autechre's sound drastically changed at the same time as well, and that wasn't because of drill but because of digital advances.

Personally as far as IDM goes, I'm stuck on the "platonic ideal" you describe - if Drukqs and Confield are what those artists wanted to realize all along (which I think you could be right about), then I'm thankful that they had such limited tools at the start of their career, because the limitations lead to their best work IMO.

You ask "What's the issue?" -- there is none. I was just agreeing with killabyte11's sentiment about the '93-'95 era of AFX being his golden era.

  On 8/25/2018 at 4:29 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

What's the drilliest drill track that was ever drilled?

  On 8/26/2018 at 5:44 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 8/25/2018 at 4:29 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

What's the drilliest drill track that was ever drilled?

 

best smoking track

  On 8/26/2018 at 5:44 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 8/25/2018 at 4:29 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

What's the drilliest drill track that was ever drilled?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXi5oPK_17g

Lol this fucking thread

The future is now old men. Reading the first page reminds me why I don’t go on WATMM anymore. Something weird happened in the 90’s and everyone got stuck.

  On 8/27/2018 at 2:34 AM, Audioblysk said:

Something weird happened in the 90’s and everyone got stuck.

More like something weird happened after the 90s - mobile era / social era / information era exploded and washed away almost all the magic, mystery, and intrigue of how we consume modern day entertainment and media and our attitudes toward it. Call me a bitter old man, that's fine, but no one can deny this evolutionary fact and it's effect on mass culture.

Wow, just WOW!
RDJ was like in his 20's at the end of the 80's-early 90's? So off course his music won't be the same as he grew up...
Plus he was influenced by Mike Dred for his early acid stuff, and even before that by Larry Heard, etc...
How can you even try to compare those influences?
Before AFX was imitating Squarepusher there was Luke Vibert's Plug EP's... and even then what's wrong about it? 
Yeah off course aphex chased Squarepusher, so did Mu-Zik, and countless other people... but it brought a LOT of good music.
Squarepusher, whathever you might think of him, did change 'the game' as much as making music went; Feed me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy (not to mention the early ep's) where totally mind-blowing at the time, everybody realised that you could bend your machines to play THAT kind of music, nobody made it like him before...
Fucking respect please!

  On 8/28/2018 at 5:04 AM, johnoise said:

Wow, just WOW!

RDJ was like in his 20's at the end of the 80's-early 90's? So off course his music won't be the same as he grew up...

Plus he was influenced by Mike Dred for his early acid stuff, and even before that by Larry Heard, etc...

How can you even try to compare those influences?

Before AFX was imitating Squarepusher there was Luke Vibert's Plug EP's... and even then what's wrong about it?

Yeah off course aphex chased Squarepusher, so did Mu-Zik, and countless other people... but it brought a LOT of good music.

Squarepusher, whathever you might think of him, did change 'the game' as much as making music went; Feed me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy (not to mention the early ep's) where totally mind-blowing at the time, everybody realised that you could bend your machines to play THAT kind of music, nobody made it like him before...

Fucking respect please!

Great post. And agreed.

Glad someone is giving Luke credit for his Plug material...been listening again lately and I’m realizing how subtlety revolutionary it is.

  On 8/28/2018 at 5:04 AM, johnoise said:

Wow, just WOW!

RDJ was like in his 20's at the end of the 80's-early 90's? So off course his music won't be the same as he grew up...

Plus he was influenced by Mike Dred for his early acid stuff, and even before that by Larry Heard, etc...

How can you even try to compare those influences?

Before AFX was imitating Squarepusher there was Luke Vibert's Plug EP's... and even then what's wrong about it? 

Yeah off course aphex chased Squarepusher, so did Mu-Zik, and countless other people... but it brought a LOT of good music.

Squarepusher, whathever you might think of him, did change 'the game' as much as making music went; Feed me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy (not to mention the early ep's) where totally mind-blowing at the time, everybody realised that you could bend your machines to play THAT kind of music, nobody made it like him before...

Fucking respect please!

If you're replying to anything that I wrote, all I can say is that I simply prefer the pre-drill AFX material. IMO it was more innovative, singular and evocative. I was a big fan of Squarepusher's first few releases - they were startlingly fresh at the time and of course I respect him. However, I don't like the impact that music had on AFX's output. Who's saying there's anything "wrong about it"? All I'm doing is expressing my opinion.

  On 8/30/2018 at 4:47 PM, Suction Records said:

 

  On 8/28/2018 at 5:04 AM, johnoise said:

Wow, just WOW!

RDJ was like in his 20's at the end of the 80's-early 90's? So off course his music won't be the same as he grew up...

Plus he was influenced by Mike Dred for his early acid stuff, and even before that by Larry Heard, etc...

How can you even try to compare those influences?

Before AFX was imitating Squarepusher there was Luke Vibert's Plug EP's... and even then what's wrong about it?

Yeah off course aphex chased Squarepusher, so did Mu-Zik, and countless other people... but it brought a LOT of good music.

Squarepusher, whathever you might think of him, did change 'the game' as much as making music went; Feed me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy (not to mention the early ep's) where totally mind-blowing at the time, everybody realised that you could bend your machines to play THAT kind of music, nobody made it like him before...

Fucking respect please!

If you're replying to anything that I wrote, all I can say is that I simply prefer the pre-drill AFX material. IMO it was more innovative, singular and evocative. I was a big fan of Squarepusher's first few releases - they were startlingly fresh at the time and of course I respect him. However, I don't like the impact that music had on AFX's output. Who's saying there's anything "wrong about it"? All I'm doing is expressing my opinion.

This is interesting .. and though, I'm in a different boat in that I really like his output from all eras , there is something to be said with the way you described his early work. Though, isn't that kind of like "debut" effect of all artists in a sense? With AFX the early lo fi simplistic stuff had this vibe that I still.havent heard in any if his stuff since , so I hear you. Almost like this dark underground feeling that's so bold rae and starightforward, yet also so mysterious and magical. We can't forget there was an atmosphere, texture and attitude of early techno and electronica in general from the late 80s and early 90s that was very much married to the era, the methods, the approach, the gear, the way people adopted to digital, the enthusiasm etc... It all plays a part.

  On 8/24/2018 at 6:53 PM, span said:

christ this is the electronic music equivalent of 50 yeard olds who think rock died with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd

No it's not.  It's this attitude from fans presumably like yourself.... that artists have to constantly be "breaking new ground" and doing something never heard before....that in my opinion have done more harm than good to the careers of artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre and others.  It's a trap that some musicians fall into which I believe diverts their music into more of a sport than a sincere form of expression and imagination.

  On 9/1/2018 at 9:27 AM, killabyte11 said:

 

  On 8/24/2018 at 6:53 PM, span said:

christ this is the electronic music equivalent of 50 yeard olds who think rock died with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd

No it's not. It's this attitude from fans presumably like yourself.... that artists have to constantly be "breaking new ground" and doing something never heard before....that in my opinion have done more harm than good to the careers of artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre and others. It's a trap that some musicians fall into which I believe diverts their music into more of a sport than a sincere form of expression and imagination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV0wTtiJygY

  On 9/1/2018 at 9:27 AM, killabyte11 said:

 

  On 8/24/2018 at 6:53 PM, span said:

christ this is the electronic music equivalent of 50 yeard olds who think rock died with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd

No it's not.  It's this attitude from fans presumably like yourself.... that artists have to constantly be "breaking new ground" and doing something never heard before....that in my opinion have done more harm than good to the careers of artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre and others.  It's a trap that some musicians fall into which I believe diverts their music into more of a sport than a sincere form of expression and imagination.

 

Nah he's right that's exactly what this is.

Just because you can't handle them fast bits, no need to throw shade on those that can bro.

God forbid artists who make new, fresh and better art

ahahaha, that 'better' is gonna be a weapons grade trigger

57 paragraph killabyte11 post incoming

The fuck are artists supposed to do?

"The fans really liked that album, I'm gonna make it over and over again specifically with those sounds. Wouldn't want my fans to think I'm like trying to emulate my favorite artists or improve in ways that tickle my fancy... then they'd be going into forums 20 years after the fact and scolding me for 'wanting to do new things' and ''needing to push the envelope'... I'm a fool to have done what I want! A FOOL! *creates ON remix #857 adding a few more screechy-swap sounds from his MS-20* and hammers out a beat to repeat 1000x until the end of the track"

There we go.

Why are we all such cunts?