My favorite sound scapes.

the 2014 studio diary is a project where i will be exploring sounds in my studio on a day-to-day basis (or whenever i'm not too busy to play.) typically i'll be making loops, phrases, sounds... experimenting with different equipment and techniques. no rules, no big goals, just exercising my creativity and hopefully learning a lot along the way.

i originally intended this to be a modular synthesis sound-a-day project, as i have fully  jumped back into eurorack after 10 years away from it, but the creation of a nice loop with some non-modular gear as i was setting up my new studio lead to the start of the project. i will always choose serendipity over most planned courses of action.

please check back to this diary on a regular basis. i will do my best to explain the sounds when i can and if you have any questions please leave them in the comments section.

may your 2014 be creative, productive, and peaceful.

2014 Studio Diary

12k Studio Diaries

ambient

taylor

Remix by: MimiCof/Midori Hirano
midorihirano.com/
facebook.com/MidoriMimiCof

Original:
soundcloud.com/bad-panda-records/uma-vanity/s-xhmoC
UMA:
uma-music.net
facebook.com/00UMA

http://youtu.be/K6rx2QL5IDY
Video by Ella Z.
We did not take any of these selfies to make fun of anyone!
This video is an attempt to display a cultural phenomenon that lead to a word of the year nomination by oxford dictionaries for the word #selfie.
If you find your selfie inside this video and you don't like what you see, let us know for immediate removal!

Thanks for submitting selfies to: Chloe, Steffi, Wolfgang, Michael + Gaia, Thomas + Claudia, Wolfgang, Adrian, Stefan, Phoebe, Manu and Ina.
Thanks to MimiCof/Midori Hirano for her excellent Remix!

UMA-Vanity (MimiCof Remix)

here is the first entry in my 2014 studio sound diary. i'm over a week late because i've been setting up my new studio and been in a mess of wires.

today, after i wired my effects and synth rack i tested the connections and did this simple little sound. it's a patch i made on the virus ti being looped by an old lexicon prime time. the whole thing runs through a reverb on an eventide h3000.

it's simple, but i think could be the basis of something nice.

Jan 09, 2014

~ LAAPS 021 ~ [SEQ.03 - LP21]

artist : Tomotsugu Nakamura
 album : Nothing Left Behind
duration : 41.06 mn
 date : July 21st, 2022

edition :
-  vinyl : limited to 300 copies / marble ultra-clear + violet LP / hand numbered 
- cd : limited to 200 copies / hand numbered + handcrafted, sealed

----------------------------------------------------------------
pre-order : June 27th, 2022 / official release : July 21st, 2022
----------------------------------------------------------------

All songs written and produced by Tomotsugu Nakamura.
Recorded between Nov 2020 and Sep 2021.

Mastered by Taylor Deupree
Artwork by Russel Burden
Design by Sprflxgrfzm

----------------------------------------------------------------

Links :
https://laaps-records.com/
https://tomotsugu.bandcamp.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------
℗ & © 2 0 2 2 - L A A P S - L A A P S 021

Tomotsugu Nakamura - Poolside

today's sound is from the modular. it consists of tones from the e350 and e340 as well as a piston honda. the volumes are being modulated by a clock divided make noise function. the oscillators go into an mmg filter with a divided pulse knocking the strike input and then the whole thing feeds a phonogene with which i sampled, looped and pitched down and mixed back with the original oscillators. everything then goes into an intellijel uvcf band pass filter with slight modulations from a c3 knob recorder. the final output feeds into an eventide h7600 reverb.

i had no plans when i started this patch. no goal. just wanted to create something sort of icy, yet warm.

Jan 10, 2014 (the snow outside the window)

this is a very short sound as i ran out of time to make something more for the day. this sound is a phrase i played on a ukelele time stretched by a qubit nebulae eurorack module. i just got this module today and find it incredibly inspirational.

the sound is just the nebulae and it's going through reverb again as i never changed that routing from the previous day.

Jan 11, 2014

this one came out a lot more atonal than i originally intended. it consists of two layers… the first is a frozen guitar sample in the nebulae eurorack module being scrubbed through by an lfo from the synthtech  e355 and then feeding into a mungo g0 and finally into an intellijel uvcf bandpass filter. the 2nd layer is the e350 oscillator being played by a make noise wogglebug while i manually morph between waveforms.

not quite sure what i think of it, but the purpose of these daily sounds isn't to make great sounds, it's to explore ideas and exercise the brain.


Jan 12, 2014 (qubit nebulae + e350)

ahhh, it's funny how these modular sounds go so often. they start out as one thing and 10 minutes later you're in completely different territory.

i set out this evening to do some simple bell/sine waves being played from a rene sequencer. i just got the rene, and i finally got a grayscale panel for the make noise wogglebug, which makes it a whole lot easier to understand. so my goal was to use a lot of wogglebug and rene and sine waves from the dpo oscillator… and to do something simple, melodic and pretty.

well, one thing lead to another and i can't even explain this patch at this point. it's still based on the dpo, wogglebug, and rene, but there's a couple of frozen loops from the echophon and phonogene. the wonderful pittsburgh modular filter is the main filter.

to hear where this sound started would have put the whole post in context but i wasn't recording at the beginning. it's one thing i really really love about modular synthesizers - how organic and alive they are. a couple little twists of knobs on a module and massive changes can be sent all the way down the line. you can lose something you've done so easily, and that's part of why it's a wonderful world to explore.

Jan 13, 2014 (a machine)

Purchase "Spectre" on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/spectre-single/id825607441

Tycho "Awake" LP on Ghostly International
Release date: MARCH 18, 2014

Purchase "Awake": shop.iso50.com/collections/awake

formats:
CD/LP/DIGITAL

Design and layout by Scott Hansen
Photography by Reuben Wu

For nearly a decade, Tycho has been known as the musical alias of Scott Hansen, but with the release of Awake – his second LP for Ghostly International – the solo project has evolved into a three-piece band. Relating closer to post-rock than ambient soundscapes, the record is situated in the present, sounding more like Hansen than drawing from his influences. “This is, in many ways, the first true Tycho record.”

Following 2011’s Dive LP, the San Francisco-based designer toured extensively, and with a full band on stage, his sound coalesced into a percussive, organic whole. Zac Brown (guitars, bass) rejoined Scott on the road for this tour, but it was the particular addition of Rory O’Connor’s live drumming that ultimately sent Hansen back to the studio with a more precise vision. “After the tour, I decided that I wanted to capture the more energetic, driven sound of the live show on the next album,” Hansen recalls. Bringing musicians into Tycho’s creative process was a step towards expanding his own songwriting and advancing the project beyond its current sound.

In a cabin near Tahoe last winter, Zac and Scott began fleshing out the structure of the new record, but it wasn’t until they set up shop in the hills of Santa Cruz with Rory that it all fell into place. “It crystallized the vision of how the drums would come to the forefront on this record,” says Hansen. The sound was much more stripped-down and concise with more organic instruments in the fold. Songs like “Montana” and “Awake” are a departure from Tycho’s previous material – unique to the group effort poured into the songs on the new record – while “See” and “Dye” echo ideas from previous works, bridging a middle ground between the old and new. Working with Count Eldridge, who also engineered Dive, the team could fixate on the pulses that Tycho might previously layer under synthesizers and exhume them with distinct bass and guitar patterns.

Also known for his design work as ISO50, Hansen’s visual and sonic efforts have dovetailed throughout the course of his career. “This is the first time in my life I've dropped everything to focus on one artistic pursuit,” notes Hansen. Previous Tycho releases came to fruition when an amalgam of songs were nearing completion, but Awake is where music becomes the focus and true expression becomes the result.

WEB - http://www.tychomusic.com 
TWITTER - http://www.twitter.com/iso50 
FB - http://www.facebook.com/tychomusic 
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/iso50 
INSTAGRAM - @iso50 


Spectre

as the snow, so light in the nearly breezeless day, hovered like may flies at dusk outside the window, this loop stuck, frozen, hovering with it.

Feb 26, 2014 (frozen loop)

Subscribe to Schiller's Official Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/EbfzP

Opus

Apollo Peak

http://midorihirano.com
https://soundcloud.com/midorihirano
https://www.facebook.com/MidoriMimiCof

--- 
http://eepurl.com/rHmPv
http://twitter.com/#!/badpandarecords

MimiCof - ReckTon

"A Song for Libby" by Good Weather for an Airstrike (https://soundcloud.com/gwfaa).  Track is taken from album "A Home for You" released 10th March 2014.

Find more Good Weather for an Airstrike at:
http://goodweatherforanairstrike.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Good-Weather-For-An-Airstrike/116708454007
https://twitter.com/gwfaa

Good Weather for an Airstrike - A Song For Libby

a sketch for music box and eurorack modular.

July 23, 2014 (a scarcity of objects)

when i came into the studio this morning i turned on the modular and patched this patch without the monitors on, without hearing it. i got it patched up then turned on the monitors and was pleasantly surprised by what came out. i had to retune the oscillators but everything else was patched blindly (or, deafly?)

i had the simple idea to control 4 oscillator levels, via the intellijel linix, by the vulcan modulator LFO spitting out strange wave shapes via the combined outputs. the LFOs don't repeat at the same times so there's a constant shifting of when each tone comes in and out.

a simple patch, but effective i think. 

July 24, 2014 (four oscillators)

i wanted to make a patch where the make noise rene sequencer just slowly played through various notes.. a slow wander... with something like a bell or an electric piano...

this is pretty simple.. the rene plays a synth tech e350... the phonogene captured a bit of a loop that plays in the background and the whole thing runs through a 12 second delay on an eventide h7600.

this isn't exactly as i envisioned (is it ever?) but it's close and i'll certainly keeping working in this theme to see if i can capture what's in my mind.

July 25, 2014 (a slow wander)

today i received a new oscillator for my modular... the (quite amazing) intellijel shapeshifter. i'm a sucker for wavetable oscillators and the shapeshifter, even though i've only given it under an hour of play, seems incredibly beautiful and deep.

the sound here is only two modules.. the shapeshifter and a make noise erbe verb.

the reverb shape CV out of the erbe verb is modulating the shapeshifter's SHAPE parameter while the shapeshifter drones in chord mode.

you basically get a modulation that's in time with the reverb and as the sound of the oscillator changes, and pushes itself into the reverb, the reverb responds as reverbs do and in turn alters the sound of the oscillator via the Shape parameter... so there's a bit of a cyclic/feedback modulation here which is really nice.

this is just one of my first sounds with the shapeshifter... just an experiment, really... nothing more.

July 28, 2014 (shapeshifter 001)

Sensorama - Echtzeit

sound sources:
xylophone
intellijel shapeshifter

processors:
make noise phonogene
sound machines UL1
intellijel korgasmatron
make noise erbe verb
serge resonant eq
eowave zone b.f.
c3 knob recorder

July 31, 2014 (a morning rain)

looping xylophone and the voice of ichiko aoba from recordings we did together in japan.

sound sources:
xylophone
voice (courtesy of ichiko aoba)

processors:
qu-bit nebulae
mungo g0
make noise phonogene
modcan cv record
intellijel korgasmatron
intellijel dr. octature
pittsburgh filter
serge resonant eq
intellijel springray
make noise erbe verb

modulators:
flame c3
eowave zone b.f.
mutbale frames

december 18, 2014 (of xylophone and voice)

this is a very rough, first experiment with a process i've been meaning to try for a possible follow up and "sequel" album.... using the same concepts i used a long time ago, executed in a very different way.

this a rough tracking with little or no care taken to the mix. i am, however, encouraged...

december 19, 2014 (sti.ll experiment)

slow music... loops and modulations. don't listen to while driving.

sound sources:
xylophone recorded onto a cassette walkman looped by a make noise phonogene.
verbos harmonic oscillator
piano loop on qu-bit nebulae

modulation by a livewire vulcan modulator

reverb by tc m2000 and make noise erbe verb

december 23, 2014 (slow music)

recorded in florida over christmas. a recordable cassette walkman resting inside a cheap upright piano.

i tried to make long, 20-30 minute passages but the recorder kept failing.

december 25, 2014 (tape piano)

as dirty as the christmas tape piano....

testing out the synthrotek dirt filter (kindly gifted to me from marcus fischer for christmas) on a loop playing from the qubit nebulae.

resampled by the phonogene, filtered by an MMG and intellijel korgasmatron. various modulations, various signals, various hopes and dreams ground into the dirt.


december 30, 2014 (dirt loop)

We are thrilled to announce the signing of Pariah for a debut full length, Here From Where We Are, due for release on July 13th 2018. The artist’s first release in six years marks a natural progression in his sound across nine interconnected pieces.

Arthur Cayzer was a relative late comer to dance music. He grew up in various hardcore and punk bands before moving to London and being swept away by dubstep. After just six months messing around making his own stuff on Logic, Pitchfork coverage piqued the interest of the legendary R&S, and over the next two years he released three EPs with the Belgian label. Each one showed subtle evolution and further established Pariah on the international scene. 

Since then, Arthur has continued to DJ round the world and play live with Blawan as Karenn. Musically, though, he’s been adrift. With countless unfinished projects cluttering his hard drive, he felt he’d pressured himself into making the music people expected, rather than music that was an honest reflection of himself. It was only by taking a step back to analyse the music that has always resonated with him—and where, how, when and in what context it did—that gave him a renewed confidence in his work. After one track was finished, an album of coherent pieces naturally followed.

Although Here From Where We Are is inspired by a series of very personal reflections, responses and reactions, Arthur is keen for people to process it in their own way, free from interference. Opening with the transcendental ‘Log Jam’ which spills into the huge, empty and plaintive ‘Pith’, the artist distills his experiences into an album of nine moving, multi-layered tracks, where peculiar textures combine with rich harmonies and absorbing melodies into a heady mix of abstracted environments, formally structured songs and sound collages. Absorbing from start to finish, Here From Where We Are is a long overdue return and accomplished new direction for this rejuvenated producer.

Here From Where We Are
VINYL / CD / DIGITAL

01. Log Jam
02. Pith
03. Seed Bank
04. Linnaea
05. At The Edge
06. Conifer
07. Rain Soup
08. Drug The Lake
09. Here From Where We Are

BUY | STREAM

Pariah - Linnaea

Happy to share some new music from ISAN member Robin Saville today: "The Deepdale Halophyte Economy" is the first glance on the upcoming album "Build A Diorama". 9 minutes of ambient bliss, merging the aesthetics of his main project with field recordings & gentle drones. Available now everywhere, f.e. on Bandcamp, Spotify & Apple Music / iTunes.

The Deepdale Halophyte Economy

Stream/DL

Robin Saville: The Deepdale Halophyte Economy

Flim - Aphex Twin

With over 100 physical releases since its inception by Taylor Deupree in 1997, New York-based music label 12k has decisively defined and developed the concept of minimalism in the realms of electronic music for more than a decade. Fusing elements from Ambient and Electro-Acoustic Composition with carefully arranged digital textures and associative micro-noises, the label's aesthetics revolve around a precisely-outlined, yet deeply emotional concoction of the technological and the organic. Eschewing the typical marketing mechanisms of the commercial music industry, Deupree has sculpted a platform whose influence today extends well beyond the confinements of the experimental community. 12k's integral approach, in which the label's instantly recognizable, elegantly spartan artwork enters into an inseparable symbiosis with the music, has created a timeless audiovisual language respected and appreciated all over the world.