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

[Ivan Ooze]

can you recommand us some amazing albums or artists that we definatly should check out?

 

you guys are so nice to us!!! thanks again

[Rob Ae]

caffeine?

not for me generally, hard to breathe :)

could you name my juno-6?

 

johnnotrixpointrevver

 

=)

[Rob Ae]

Will you pop in after this thread is over or will you retire these handles and return to the ones you were using before?

 

Ever considered restricting yourself to just a couple of pieces of gear and see what would come out without using any computers to mangle and manipulate sound? Just as a fun exercise.

 

1 should we?

 

2 thats our daily tea break exercise.

[Rob Ae]

What are the weird high-pitched noises at the end of The Trees made from? I've heard something similar in a few electronic tracks (not just ae tracks, even though I seem to remember it being at the end of reniform puls too). It reminds me of FM radio noise when a station is slightly not tuned correctly.

 

those noises are made from The Trees.

[Blir]

 

Will you pop in after this thread is over or will you retire these handles and return to the ones you were using before?

 

Ever considered restricting yourself to just a couple of pieces of gear and see what would come out without using any computers to mangle and manipulate sound? Just as a fun exercise.

 

1 should we?

 

 

I don't see the harm in keeping these names and occasionally answering questions or correcting misinformation where you have a moment.

[Rob Ae]

 

hello ae, thanks for yr time.

I have some brief questions:

what is your favourite cartoon?

do you really dig any drummers in particular?

have you ever sampled rubberbands?

zen/mindfulness/meditation: is there the odd buried reference in yr material?

did you know valis is basically a true story? there are online doco's and the exegesis is a real thing - you can buy a pretty large chunk of it in paperback. It's pretty wild. RAW also got hit by a pink beam of information, he and PKD wrote letters to each other about it.

Big thank you both for the amazing music over the years! and the lols in this thread to a lesser, but also important extent.

ps: pls digital release livesets as is it's totally not milking it pls

 

 

1 yeah good q, we love cartoons, rem, hard to say from which is most fave so mbe i'll think first for a while.

2 same answer but will return fewer options i expect

3 easy

4 easy

 

thanks back

[katmat]

Would you be excited by say, Godspeed you black emperor going fully electronic? and if so do you think you might ever be interested in doing longer narrative based electronic compositions yourselves? Maybe like Tangerine dream did...

[triachus]

I read somewhere there's an interview where you guys said you consider Incunabula and Amber as the 'cheesiest' albums you made. Can you elaborate on that? What do you mean with cheesiest? Most accesible? Least challenging? It does sound a bit harsh to say something like that about your work. Did you imply that you feel a sense of shame about those releases because you were still trying to find your feet? Does it bother you that those are the most popular amongst listeners?

 

 

edit: Also... I have no music making equipment in my room. Only an old acoustic guitar. Haven't touched it in years. And I'm not sure why. Maybe I would pick it up again if it has been given a name by you guys. Maybe I'll try and make beats with it then.

Edited November 4, 2013 by triachus

[Rob Ae]

"in a world ruled by immediacy and ease , contemporary artists try to deconstruct reality, and reconstruct it in a much complex way, which offers all kinds of prospective and aspects" : do you relate to this statement?

another two smaller questions:

have you ever used modular synthesizers? what do you think of this kind of instruments?

is there any chance to see you live in Italy?

not really too attached to statements about contemporary artists, i mean not to miss the point of the q much, but if people have more options, i expect more outcomes, dunno.

 

yeah we have a handful of modulars, real and unreal, bought and made.

 

yeah we visit Italy almost every time. we've had lots of support from italian people thanks!

Have you seen Jeskola Buzz - It's very much what SunVox is but with an insane amount of user created generators and effects -

 

 

and has one of the most gorgeous software reverbs I've ever heard

 

is it on more platforms?

[katmat]

We're you aware of Basic Channel etc in the mid 90's? do you rate their work?

 

(Thanks for putting up with all this btw.)

[mcbpete]

 

Have you seen Jeskola Buzz - It's very much what SunVox is but with an insane amount of user created generators and effects -

 

 

and has one of the most gorgeous software reverbs I've ever heard

is it on more platforms?

 

Unfortunately Windows only - I think the older builds (released in the early 00s) are compatible with WINE, but I don't think there's any Mac support.

[salvakkpooo]

 

"in a world ruled by immediacy and ease , contemporary artists try to deconstruct reality, and reconstruct it in a much complex way, which offers all kinds of prospective and aspects" : do you relate to this statement?

another two smaller questions:

have you ever used modular synthesizers? what do you think of this kind of instruments?

is there any chance to see you live in Italy?

not really too attached to statements about contemporary artists, i mean not to miss the point of the q much, but if people have more options, i expect more outcomes, dunno.

 

yeah we have a handful of modulars, real and unreal, bought and made.

 

yeah we visit Italy almost every time. we've had lots of support from italian people thanks!

Have you seen Jeskola Buzz - It's very much what SunVox is but with an insane amount of user created generators and effects -

 

 

and has one of the most gorgeous software reverbs I've ever heard

 

is it on more platforms?

 

No.

[Rob Ae]

I read somewhere there's an interview where you guys said you consider Incunabula and Amber as the 'cheesiest' albums you made. Can you elaborate on that? What do you mean with cheesiest? Most accesible? Least challenging? It does sound a bit harsh to say something like that about your work. Did you imply that you feel a sense of shame about those releases because you were still trying to find your feet? Does it bother you that those are the most popular amongst listeners?

yeah that was me, i said it in a way that was easily misinterpreted. a classic case of assuming someone knows what your on about and them not at all.

 

it was in relation to incunabula i guess. lol no shame at all, i still rate these releases, i mean they're the first stuff to fully come out.

it meant a lot to us to actually have an album on a brilliant label. i think what i meant was (in the context of the original interview, as the journo was commenting on the striking differences between old and ((then)) newer work) i think i was trying to say how they were perhaps more simple, but not in a shit way.

We're you aware of Basic Channel etc in the mid 90's? do you rate their work?

 

(Thanks for putting up with all this btw.)

dude these releases were absolutely seminal

[azatoth]

Sean and Rob, have you read the rules?

 

Also, please take the WATMM compatibility test here

 

http://glennrowe.net/baroncohen/autismspectrumquotient/autismspectrumquotient.aspx

Edited November 4, 2013 by azatoth

[khov]

i understand that some boxset with all your remixes would be a totally licensing nightmare (& perhaps costly) but have you considered re releasing some rare trax of yours on a compilation (like the Gescom Keynell remixes on warp, or that beautiful version of PIOB on that 7" with the Fall). Or you just focused on today's music & keep that for much much later ? Judging from earlier answers, it seems you have loads of archives already.

[Guest]

this might have gotten asked already but heck..

 

how important is a "hands-on" interface for you when you work on music?, obv. you guys like play all sorts of gear, but when you're using your Max programs for instance, param editing, composing, jamming, is your mode of working more prevalently computer-y with a screen, QWERTY keyboard & mouse?

or do you consciously spend time to think about & augment your HI's with dedicated controllers (monome, ipad etc.) to get a more instrument-like feel from your applications?

seems like last couple of years controllers have evolved quite a bit due cheaper/better parts from mobile phone tech etc.. use any of these like, dunno, q-nexus? data-gloves? vr-helmets?

Edited November 4, 2013 by Guest

[sine nomine]

Hi Rob and Sean,

 

¿did you know that kubrick was well into napoleon bonaparte?

 

and that n.bonapartes' wife was a whore bag?

 

¿will you ever come to melbourne, australia anytime soon?

 

if not how about lima, peru?

 

i enjoy listening to your music - and wish i knew much more than what i do

 

what would you say is it about the ¿ride or the destination?

 

do you think its possible to make decent music with just a.live absynth and a mkii controller?

 

thanks if you can be bothered answering these

 

bye bye for now blokes

[Guest rd1994]

do you use MAC or PC or both?

[Rob Ae]

this might have gotten asked already but heck..

 

how important is a "hands-on" interface for you when you work on music?, obv. you guys like play all sorts of gear, but when you're using your Max programs for instance, param editing, composing, jamming, is your mode of working more prevalently computer-y with a screen, QWERTY keyboard & mouse?

or do you consciously spend time to think about & augment your HI's with dedicated controllers (monome, ipad etc.) to get a more instrument-like feel from your applications?

seems like last couple of years controllers have evolved quite a bit due cheaper/better parts from mobile phone tech etc.. use any of these like, dunno, q-nexus? data-gloves? vr-helmets?

hands on is important to a greater/lesser extent depending on what were up to, like configuring one that adapts as fast as the system (in the case of max) initially the cons outweigh the pros. so mouse/trackpad is cool enough for blazing through patching. something super simple but mega flexible that mirrors what were doing works well on end results, (as seen on oversteps tour).

 

but i rate most of my hardware for its controls interface, i.e. old nord modular V1 kbd. my bitstream BS3x's.

[Guest]

something super simple but mega flexible that mirrors what were doing works well on end results, (as seen on oversteps tour).

tbh I couldn't see anything other than laptops :)

(lol @ google image search for autechre oversteps tour)

may I ask what you had in front of you back then?

[Woozz]

Hi Æ. I can't believe I'm talking to my favorite artists ever. This is insane. Anyways, here are two questions (and sorry in advance if they were already posted):

 

1) Do people often recognize you in the streets of your city, or wherever you go ?

 

2) Do you have special memories, or exclusive infos about "Garbage EP", and specially the track "VLetrmx", (which is for me the beautifulest track that a human being ever made) ?

 

Thank you so much guys for all you've made. You changed my life. For real.

[salvakkpooo]

Was the software used in the Oversteps tour the same as the one used for the album?

What were the roles that your Macs/ PCs played in live shows, over the time?

I remember you (Rob) talking about that you could do entire tracks on old computers and that now we need lots of processing power to do that same. What software did you run on those old computers?

I remember seeing Sean in a video with some IBM laptop, making stuff with granular synthesis. What software was that?

I am a computer guy.

Sorry for all this batch.

Thanks.

[Rob Ae]

 

something super simple but mega flexible that mirrors what were doing works well on end results, (as seen on oversteps tour).

tbh I couldn't see anything other than laptops :)

(lol @ google image search for autechre oversteps tour)

may I ask what you had in front of you back then?

 

 

Hi Æ. I can't believe I'm talking to my favorite artists ever. This is insane. Anyways, here are two questions (and sorry in advance if they were already posted):

 

1) Do people often recognize you in the streets of your city, or wherever you go ?

 

2) Do you have special memories, or exclusive infos about "Garbage EP", and specially the track "VLetrmx", (which is for me the beautifulest track that a human being ever made) ?

 

Thank you so much guys for all you've made. You changed my life. For real.

1 not really on the whole, it has happened, mostly when were in a town with a show that day and theres some likely attendees floating around.

 

2 yeah i remember being particularly excited by the nature of the kick drum transient with the bass tuning that we got on garbagemx, and yeah the result of vletrmx

[jhonny]

I spend most of my time driving the snake pass and can see why it's been important/referenced by you (and rdj). It really pulls you in but is massively frustrating as well (mottram bypass pls). It's also pretty magic in the dead of night and a great time to listen to tunes. Do you still get up to Sheffield much? Fancy DJing the new Computer Club night at the uni that Hanal is sorting?

sorry but I think my crappy question got skipped. Was drunk. Thanks!

[triachus]

Do you guys go to concerts sometimes? Together? Which concerts have you seen this year? What did you think of them?

 

Do you guys go out and do things (drinking, disneyland) as Sean+Rob or do you try to avoid that?

 

 

Also, I quickly edited this into my previous post at the last moment so I think you may have missed it:

 

I have no music making equipment in my room. Only an old acoustic guitar. Haven't touched it in years. Maybe I would pick it up again if it has been given a name by you guys. I'll try and make beats with it then.