My attempt to perfectly recreate Aphex Twin's "Xtal" and "Ageispolis"

[mister miller]

A little project I've been working on in between writing my own stuff.

I've always been fascinated with SAW 85-92 and how it was created, as there's not a whole lot of info about it on the internet.

I thought it would be a fun challenge to try to recreate some of the tracks to maybe find out myself, through trial an error, how some of it was made.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by mister miller
Updated mix on Ageispolis

[Danny O Flannagin]

Checked out the Xtal remake, you have a good ear for the synths and drums he used. At a glance, it could be mistaken for the original 👍

What'd you use to make this? 

[mister miller]

1 hour ago, Danny O Flannagin said:

Checked out the Xtal remake, you have a good ear for the synths and drums he used. At a glance, it could be mistaken for the original 👍

What'd you use to make this? 

thanks.

I used Ableton and tried to use plug-in emulations of gear he was (allegedly) using on that album.

TAL sampler, Arturia DX7, Roland R8/808 samples, Airwindows Console/Tape emulations

[milkyheart]

very authentic.

[dingformung]

That is really good!

[dingformung]

21 hours ago, mister miller said:

 

 

 

The bassline that starts at around 1:15 is a bit off. It's too loud and there is one note that resonates much louder than the rest of the melody (should be around 170Hz)

[milkface]

You did a really good job of this!!

[nikisoko]

impressive work

[mister miller]

1 hour ago, dingformung said:

The bassline that starts at around 1:15 is a bit off. It's too loud and there is one note that resonates much louder than the rest of the melody (should be around 170Hz)

yeah that was so hard for me to get down for some reason. maybe the kick is resonating with it in a weird way on that note?

[dingformung]

3 minutes ago, mister miller said:

yeah that was so hard for me to get down for some reason. maybe the kick is resonating with it in a weird way on that note?

I can't tell. I'd probably try a dynamic EQ or just make the bass line slightly quieter. Most speakers have a cut in that frequency region anyway. But after listening again I'm not sure anymore, though I think there is something about the first impression that you get of a mix that can be very revealing. The more you listen, the more you lose perspective it seems.

It's very well done and kudos for the tedious work.

[mister miller]

3 minutes ago, dingformung said:

It's very well done and kudos for the tedious work.

thanks! i really appreciate that.

[Valleyfold]

Impressive! What did you use for the main synth in Xtal? Always loved that sound. 

[xy_politics]

wtf, mental, well done lad

so, like, now you could replace the piano rolls and cover any song, xtal-style - i nominate joy division, day of the lords

[mister miller]

1 hour ago, Valleyfold said:

Impressive! What did you use for the main synth in Xtal? Always loved that sound. 

the main synth line and female vocals actually both come from the same sample. its from a library music album.

 

so the main synth line is a segment of this clip (like around 16 seconds IIRC) played using a sampler......so the clip itself is being used as an instrument to create the melody.

crazy i always thought it was a synth making that melody. turns out he just sampled the same track he used for the vocals.

probably got those two down first and built the track around them.

Edited January 1, 2021 by mister miller

[chim]

Excellent and inspiring work! Miles above the typical standard of this sort of thing... 

[Ginerpri]

15 hours ago, mister miller said:

the main synth line and female vocals actually both come from the same sample. its from a library music album.

 

so the main synth line is a segment of this clip (like around 16 seconds IIRC) played using a sampler......so the clip itself is being used as an instrument to create the melody.

crazy i always thought it was a synth making that melody. turns out he just sampled the same track he used for the vocals.

probably got those two down first and built the track around them.

Good job!

Always thought the same thing, maybe something like Kawai K1, but as you said it was just the same sample used for the vocals. How genius!

I discovered that by watching this video, actually:

 

[Squee]

22 hours ago, dingformung said:

The bassline that starts at around 1:15 is a bit off. It's too loud and there is one note that resonates much louder than the rest of the melody (should be around 170Hz)

Yup - I noticed the same thing. And it's pretty spot on the 170hz. I recorded the track, threw a Q3 on it, found the frequency and made a dynamic band which pretty much instantly fixed it. Adding a dynamic EQ on the actual bassline should do wonders.

Good job on replicating these.

[mister miller]

5 hours ago, Ginerpri said:

Good job!

Always thought the same thing, maybe something like Kawai K1, but as you said it was just the same sample used for the vocals. How genius!

I discovered that by watching this video, actually:

 

Yep that's how I found it too.

Kudos to that guy for finding that exact segment. Must have taken ages!

How did he even know to look for it? Blows my mind.

[mister miller]

4 hours ago, Squee said:

Adding a dynamic EQ on the actual bassline should do wonders.

bummer i don't have a dynamic EQ plugin....any suggestions on how to fix it with just regular Ableton parametric EQ?

[Squee]

4 minutes ago, mister miller said:

bummer i don't have a dynamic EQ plugin....any suggestions on how to fix it with just regular Ableton parametric EQ?

Just add a compressor with a certain frequency range. It's not going to be as precise as what you can do with a dynamic EQ.
But besides... I do think that you could compress the bass even more because it sounds a bit loose and needs a bit of tightning up.

[mister miller]

22 minutes ago, Squee said:

Just add a compressor with a certain frequency range. It's not going to be as precise as what you can do with a dynamic EQ.
But besides... I do think that you could compress the bass even more because it sounds a bit loose and needs a bit of tightning up.

alright I updated the mix, sounds a little better to my ears. hopefully i didn't make it worse.

[Cryptowen]

Hearing that Evil at Play track for the first time a few years ago was like having my parents tell me that Santa Claus wasn't really how hotdogs were made

also these covers are really convincing. Good job! I feel like you could probably do an amazing yungAfx-themed DJ set with these sort of skillz

[dingformung]

1 hour ago, mister miller said:

bummer i don't have a dynamic EQ plugin....any suggestions on how to fix it with just regular Ableton parametric EQ?

Every DAW has a multiband compressor in it by default. Just deactivate the bands that you don't need and set one of the bands to the problematic frequency. Works just as well as a dynamic EQ.

Will listen to your updated version now...

... listened, sounds much better now.

[Valleyfold]

2 hours ago, mister miller said:

bummer i don't have a dynamic EQ plugin....any suggestions on how to fix it with just regular Ableton parametric EQ?

Here's a well regarded free one if you're interested: 

https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-nova/

 

Tho of course I doubt afx used one. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Valleyfold

[o00o]

how long does it take to do this?