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

[Rob Ae]

If you live to be old men, will you still make music?

 

If when you die you cease to exist and it becomes for you as though you never existed (the obvious truth as the brain matter in which you exist decays), what's the point in doing anything at all?

yeah i really hope so, i mean it'd be nice to keep a grip on all my faculties enough to still make stuff of any distinction.

 

but yeah once I'm off, i won't know will i?

[Rob Ae]

Okay so I haven't read the entire thread yet (but plan on it), so hopefully this hasn't been brought up yet...

 

Can you guys identify this track please? You played it in the liveset you did for Xltronic a while ago. It's always stuck with me, and I've never figured out what or who it is...

 

And for an actual question:

 

Is Nuane = N-vane = Envane? As in, are the four quarters actually remixes/versions of Nuane? They seem like they could be to my ears, but I'd be interested to hear the official answer.

 

Also, any chance of a digital release or a reissue of the Quaristice Versions material from the deluxe edition of that album? I'm an obsessed collector like many others here, and I don't listen to things unless I own them in some official form...help!

yeah I thought it was roedelius or cluster, I was asked earlier but i still can't find the name…...

[mcbpete]

Aye, I'm still on the hunt on that track (I was the one who asked earlier)

[Rob Ae]

Hi guys

After many years listening your tracks, I still can't control my shivers and can't understand properly what happening in me with the track "Recury"

Can you just give me some words about the moments you made it, about this tracks who seems to give me sense about everything about the illusion of this world

Cheers :)

yeah thats nice. shivers rock :)

we were in sheffield at the time, not sure what i can answer for u.

i like the high ceiling room feel it has on the perc, and the 'crowding' building up from 1'30'. and the general steady mayhem building. + the hat/swing/downbeat.

Who would win in a fight between SuperTed and Bananaman?

orm & cheep

[Mellow U]

Leafs posted that it is the opening track on Flieg', Vogel, Fliege, which makes sense as that album is supposed to be one of his "selfportrait" albums...

 

Thanks Rob for the answer though! Between all these questions and those marathon live sets, you two must be extraordinarily patient.

[modey]

I love that comment that Sean (I think?) made about Parhelic Triangle being more complex/taking more time than it seems from the finished recording. For me that's one of the tracks (most of which appear on Confield) where I don't even have the vaguest idea where the 'percussion' sounds came from.. so I guess the hard work was worth it.

 

Anyway, much like everyone else, I'm pretty thankful for you guys doing this. Really helps to break down the barrier between famous musicians and us 'hobbyists'—realising you're just a couple of guys like us, who like to make fucked up/awesome sounds, it's really inspiring me to ramp up the synth jams!

[Rob Ae]

Aye, I'm still on the hunt on that track (I was the one who asked earlier)

yeah i thought so, well nail it

Leafs posted that it is the opening track on Flieg', Vogel, Fliege, which makes sense as that album is supposed to be one of his "selfportrait" albums...

 

Thanks Rob for the answer though! Between all these questions and those marathon live sets, you two must be extraordinarily patient.

no its not i checked all thru selbs...

 

he's super close, really similar

Edited November 7, 2013 by Rob Ae

[mcbpete]

Leafs posted that it is the opening track on Flieg', Vogel, Fliege, which makes sense as that album is supposed to be one of his "selfportrait" albums...

Ace, you're right - When I googled 'Hans-Joachim Roedelius; Über berg und tal' it point to this which credits the track:

 

[auxien]

1. In what time signature is the weird melody that is nearly alone in the middle of Garbagemx? 7/4? 15/8?

2. Do you have your own Quaristice-era playlist of tracks? A fair amount of us have our own versions of the album/s. See mine:

3. It's been mentioned before that you get early releases of gear and/or get given the new stuff for free. Is this the sort of thing that they want your technical expertise (where their rep asks "okay what's wrong with it, how can we make it better?) or a situation where they're hoping you'll endorse their gear?

4. Do you use any vintage gear to create music with, such as specific monitors or headphones, mixer, etc.?

5. When was the last time you used a minidisc in creating a track (either a track that's released or not)

6. How the hell do you get those awesome white/pink/whateverfuckingcolor noises in so many of your tracks? In many older ones (PIOBmx, Second Scout, etc.) it sounds like the noise is often artifacts left from a recording that you've recorded or sampled that've been manipulated afterwards, but a lot of the newer stuff seems like more of a digitally created noise...or is that a secret?

7. Have either of you ever been somewhere unfamiliar and heard your own music being played; e.g., a car drives by you with Left Blank blasting? (like basically not at a friend's place where you know they have your stuff or whatever)

8. The bit of vocoded stuff that comes to the foreground a bit before 7 minutes into recks on 'til about the end, is that actually vocals? It sounds like vocoded synth or vocoded delayed percussion.

9. I remember a story being told of a Gescom show in Japan or somewhere that was just like 4 or 5 dudes in Hazmat suits or something similar on stage with minidisc players randomly hitting play or some shit. Any truth to that at all?

10. What personal portable headphones do you use (assuming either of you use any).

11. There are a few instances of 3's in Tri Repetae (C/Pach focuses on 3 measure loops, as does Dael). Are there others that we've not noticed, that you'd divulge? :)

12. How much hassle is it for you/Warp when a fake track (like this fake tac Lacora that I made: http://ge.tt/70Z4ePt/v/0 how good of an Ae copy do you think it is? I thought it came out okay...) comes out ahead of release?

13. What is the hint out there about the meaning of myslb? I've never heard any info at all that might be a hint (as in no info at all).

Again, thanks so much.

[Guest ExtraLife]

What is the greatest concert/performance you have ever attended? What made it so memorable?

[Rob Ae]

I love that comment that Sean (I think?) made about Parhelic Triangle being more complex/taking more time than it seems from the finished recording. For me that's one of the tracks (most of which appear on Confield) where I don't even have the vaguest idea where the 'percussion' sounds came from.. so I guess the hard work was worth it.

 

Anyway, much like everyone else, I'm pretty thankful for you guys doing this. Really helps to break down the barrier between famous musicians and us 'hobbyists'—realising you're just a couple of guys like us, who like to make fucked up/awesome sounds, it's really inspiring me to ramp up the synth jams!

hahha yeah we've probably spawned another multitude of competition now! good though, i mean we started making tracks mostly to tryout things that we could see others (mostly heroes and ace producers/artists) doing stuff that blows us away - but but then missing a bit. or whole takes on tracks that were never fulfilled by anyone

[lawrenke]

Hi Rob & Sean,

What is your preferred method of timekeeping in Max? Do you mostly make use of the Transport, Metro and Counter objects (amongst others), or is it based more on the protocol you said you created as an alternative to MIDI?

Cheers!

[thehauntingsoul]

What's the deal with SonDEre-ix? Sounds like someone was having nightmares about lawn gnomes.

[Rob Ae]

 

1. In what time signature is the weird melody that is nearly alone in the middle of Garbagemx? 7/4? 15/8?

2. Do you have your own Quaristice-era playlist of tracks? A fair amount of us have our own versions of the album/s. See mine:

3. It's been mentioned before that you get early releases of gear and/or get given the new stuff for free. Is this the sort of thing that they want your technical expertise (where their rep asks "okay what's wrong with it, how can we make it better?) or a situation where they're hoping you'll endorse their gear?

4. Do you use any vintage gear to create music with, such as specific monitors or headphones, mixer, etc.?

5. When was the last time you used a minidisc in creating a track (either a track that's released or not)

6. How the hell do you get those awesome white/pink/whateverfuckingcolor noises in so many of your tracks? In many older ones (PIOBmx, Second Scout, etc.) it sounds like the noise is often artifacts left from a recording that you've recorded or sampled that've been manipulated afterwards, but a lot of the newer stuff seems like more of a digitally created noise...or is that a secret?

7. Have either of you ever been somewhere unfamiliar and heard your own music being played; e.g., a car drives by you with Left Blank blasting? (like basically not at a friend's place where you know they have your stuff or whatever)

8. The bit of vocoded stuff that comes to the foreground a bit before 7 minutes into recks on 'til about the end, is that actually vocals? It sounds like vocoded synth or vocoded delayed percussion.

9. I remember a story being told of a Gescom show in Japan or somewhere that was just like 4 or 5 dudes in Hazmat suits or something similar on stage with minidisc players randomly hitting play or some shit. Any truth to that at all?

10. What personal portable headphones do you use (assuming either of you use any).

11. There are a few instances of 3's in Tri Repetae (C/Pach focuses on 3 measure loops, as does Dael). Are there others that we've not noticed, that you'd divulge? :)

12. How much hassle is it for you/Warp when a fake track (like this fake tac Lacora that I made: http://ge.tt/70Z4ePt/v/0 how good of an Ae copy do you think it is? I thought it came out okay...) comes out ahead of release?

13. What is the hint out there about the meaning of myslb? I've never heard any info at all that might be a hint (as in no info at all).

Again, thanks so much.

 

ouch this posts way too chunky =P

 

1 its 202 onboard sequence at shorter than measure length so i'm not sure its either,

2 well no not really, we made it so u could do all that instead of us.

3 more like they want endorsement, fair enough to some, cos they're really into what they're doing, and small business etc…. so using in public hopefully addresses any lost leads

4 yeah sometimes, we have some HW around, not because its vintage, because its what we have. i like the PSE spring mentioned earlier, and our 4track, its not all that old tbh

5 ages

6 yeah haha

7 yeah can't rem the last time tho' i think it was a swimming pool.

8 custom gear

9 that was manchester cathedral gig - not randomly hitting play tho' we all hit play at the same time.

10 i have sennheiser buds' for bedtime and walking

11 there must be shed loads……

12 i think most ppl can tell whats what, its not a hassle, we have the real tracks.

13 no hint, we haven't told anyone what it means is all.

 

you're super welcome

[modey]

 

 

I love that comment that Sean (I think?) made about Parhelic Triangle being more complex/taking more time than it seems from the finished recording. For me that's one of the tracks (most of which appear on Confield) where I don't even have the vaguest idea where the 'percussion' sounds came from.. so I guess the hard work was worth it.

 

Anyway, much like everyone else, I'm pretty thankful for you guys doing this. Really helps to break down the barrier between famous musicians and us 'hobbyists'realising you're just a couple of guys like us, who like to make fucked up/awesome sounds, it's really inspiring me to ramp up the synth jams!

hahha yeah we've probably spawned another multitude of competition now! good though, i mean we started making tracks mostly to tryout things that we could see others (mostly heroes and ace producers/artists) doing stuff that blows us away - but but then missing a bit. or whole takes on tracks that were never fulfilled by anyone

Yeah, for sure. I spent a long time emulating your music, and eventually settled into my own style (I hope!) but every now and then I'll throw in a nod to the ae-style, just because it's so damn fun to jam out with.

The one big insight I took from this thread, though, is learning that more of your tracks were edited from longer jams than I thought. I do record long jams quite often, but hardly ever think to edit them for some reason. Now I'm inspired to get together with friends, combine our gear and jam out for hours, so thanks for that.

 

also, I read something about megadrive sound earlier in this thread; if you guys are interested in a midi interface for the megadrive sound chips, a friend of mine makes one that allows for insane levels of control:

http://little-scale.com/

[Rob Ae]

What's the deal with SonDEre-ix? Sounds like someone was having nightmares about lawn gnomes

 

yeah its a house track basically, but with a garden

Edited November 7, 2013 by Rob Ae

[jaderpansen]

dear autechres,

 

i'm asking you... FOR TRACK IDS:

https://www.wetransfer.com/downloads/42153ebde00da4ae6f3c365cf234323320131107012338/28db1ea876de3c1c242941ff01aa726f20131107012338/6ff2c8

 

 

'specially the first one, please! (were mostly played during 2006 xltronic autechre marathon)

 

*bump*

 

oh yeah, prolly should have mentioned: i mashed a couple o tracks together into one file, yes.

[Rob Ae]

 

 

 

Is there a good way of doing real-time FFT based shenanigans without the obvious latency issues that get introduced from to the block size you're manipulating ?

mbe if u have a time machine? or massively parallel setup?

 

So I'm guessing the only way to do it is render down what you want and then bump it back in sync with the DAW. (or hopefully Doc Emmett Brown can invent a negative plugin delay compensation)

 

 

ot: renoise has some sort of negative pdc

 

ok i thought u said realtime.

[olo]

Hey Rob & Sean,

 

Jeff Lorber - Rain Dance or Dynasty - Adventures in the land of music?

 

sidenote: You guys into 80's boogie at all?

 

side-side note: Thanks for answering my shit questions. God Bless, all the best to you & your families & future endeavors.

[ishishiba]

Have you guys checked out the opal tapes label? It's been the best new musical discovery for me this year.

 

Rob and Sean, huge thanks for taking part in this. You guys have made my week. And of course cheers for all the insanely good music!

[Rob Ae]

What is your favourite breakfast cereals? I like cinnamon toast crunch myself.

i do rolled oats in OJ at the mo.

[mcbpete]

 

ot: renoise has some sort of negative pdc

ok i thought u said realtime.

 

Ideally yes - Ableton also appears to have a negative pdc though I have no idea how that's meant to work (probably just delays everything else forward by the modulus of whatever you've set the track back by so they're all in sync)

[auxien]

One or both of you asked for music recommendations...I'll mention a few you may not have heard that that might be interesting to you.

C-Clamp, anything off the album Longer Waves, such as Meridian.

 

Miocene, check out their A Perfect Life with a View of the Swamp album.

 

Genghis Tron, their album Board Up the House is ace, I really think yall would enjoy it.

 

Have y'all listened to any Death Grips? Lil Wayne? DJ Screw?

 

There's a bandcamp artist called WWC that I've been coming back to A lot lately, and a fella called QBLA on bandcamp as well, our own watmmer Friendly Foil stop that label if I'm not mistaken.

 

Cheers, hope y'all find something to your tastes.

 

Sent using magic

 

 

[jhonny]

Repost

 

Hi guys

 

What were the last presents you bought each other for Christmas/bday?

[Rob Ae]

Hey guys,

 

how do you feel when I tell you that you're my favorite artists and I don't have a clue how you make your tracks and that I don't even want to know how !

(not that i'm not curious, I just feel it's beyond me and i just like it that way.)

 

Do you think it's important to know how something is made to enjoy it ?

its not important, i'm glad u asked.