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

[Lesley]

Does 11 is have any relation to Snorkel by Gescom?,

Later on in the track it sounds like Parhelic Triangle, were these deliberate things?

[Amen Lare]

 

 

omg this wasn't a draem! sup autechre!!!!

 

what do you think about flying lotus his music? imo i think he's great and has a lot of talent he uses well

why didn't he ask you for a track for gtaV that would have been awesome

 

i really like the track he did with earl

hoping he does more straight up hip hop stuff tbh, he's good at it

 

is it this earl?

 

 

 

More likely Earl Sweatshirt

 

[sc5]105561440[/sc5]

 

There's another song with him on Captain Murphy's mixtape

 

[sc5]69313963[/sc5]

 

Both good i would say

[Sean Ae]

i have an amplifier with 2 speakers and a sub but in my new house i have wires through to wall for 5.1 can you recommand me some awesome speakers to listen to autechre

 

i'm not very good at this but i have a mate who works at richer sounds who i could put you in touch with

[Sean Ae]

What's the worst or most annoying piece of gear you've dealt with.

 

prob something i don't own and never got my head round so it's like, not fair

anything i bother to stick with i usually have that fallback of whatever made me like it in the first place

the prophecy always seemed annoying but i think it was about just the number of pixels tbh

 

what's the deal with the photo of you guys kicking the snow?

 

we just don't like snow much. no big deal.

[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?

[Sean Ae]

i have been lucky enough to see you live quite a few times. i first saw you at warp 10 and new nothing of you work but have been buying your martial and going to gigs ever since.

my question is. would you ever consider playing a classic set or sets you did using the old gear you used?

also any chance your playing glastonbury?

 

thanks for taking the time to chat on hear and answer some questions.

i have to say the last few years of your live sets have been amazing and some of the best live music i have seen to date.

 

thanks

 

 

like, in principle i don't really mind playing old stuff as a one off, but it would be near impossible to do it properly, half the gear is on loan, requires rewiring for each track, there were loads of non-storable patches on analogue gear, plus reasons

the really old stuff was done on 4 track so we'd need like 7 of some things, 4 of others, etc. and 8 hands

[Rob Ae]

do you think about what people will think of your tracks while you make them or is it just about pleasing yourselves

also I saw that my questions sometimess come across weird...english is not my first language so that might be a factor

At times we might wonder if theres going to be some reaction to something happening in a track, (knowing theres probably no real way to ever find out) , and yes it is predominantly based on what we'd like to happen..... Like minds may enjoy the same bits i hope.

[Sean Ae]

do you have a favorite uwe schmidt release? ever met him?

 

nah, we emailed a bit ages ago

 

i love this

http://www.discogs.com/Schnittstelle-Schnittstelle/release/104173

[Guest cult fiction]

It looks like Noel Summerville uses a mix of digital and analog equipment depending on the album when mastering. For your work, which is mostly digital(max), do you request analog or digital mastering?

[Sean Ae]

- Sean or Rob, my machinedrum is on the verge of gaining sentience. Could you give it a name?

 

- I wonder what the design process was like for the Exai album artwork. Did you approach tDR with a loose concept or a few key references? Or do you let him generate a few concepts interpreting what he hears in the music?

 

 

your machinedrum is now called felicity

 

we gave him lots of text and he made something

he kind of grew concepts around ours. it was spot on actually how he did it, way better than we could have

[Rob Ae]

 

is there any audio available from the last gig at DOUR festival belgium, it was amazing and i was stoned like helll while people in front of me were puking out their drugs, it was with VxSx and otto von schirach i would like to hear that again

 

Farkin' lol!

 

Kinda like Glade 2006 for me, first time I ever saw Autechre live. Rob Hall nailed it DJing beforehand (as standard), but when Ae came on it all went pear shaped and I completely span out. Think the daytime heat had got to me, proper roasting that year. Wish I could hear that set again, it made no sense at the time and really shit me up.

 

So a question, do you plan a set differently for a festival gig? Sometimes festivals are part of a larger tour where I guess you just carry the same sound on, but (iirc) the Glade gigs were kinda separate?

Festival slots for us can be so varied that, some in old bingo hall like bloc, or outdoor field natural amphitheaters so it totally shapes how we play it, mostly cos of how we hear it and whats most exploitable about the setting... Vibe.. Acoustics etc...

[Guest WNS000]

Rob, it is said you are the more melodic part of AE (no offence Sean, it is just what internet says).

 

Would you therefore agree with me that In Sides by Orbital is a masterpiece? :o))

 

Thank you.

 

(What is this need of mine to share opinions with significant people to please my ego, I feel embarrassed but cannot help myself :-D)

 

Another one for both of you:

 

How do you cope with crazy teen-like fans trying to get you name their stuff (and babies too)? Some of them looks like they are really serious about it. How do you cope with fame generally? People on streets recognizing you etc.

[Sean Ae]

How about Mark Fell's Composing With Process PodCast?

 

in the upcoming second part of the first episode they will play a track by Sean Booth called Horizon

 

31:44 Sean Booth 'Horizon', 2004 (20 min)

'Horizon' is a generative piece composed in the BBC BASIC programming language. It was composed for the rand()% generative internet radio station in 2004 but was never broadcast. The aim of the piece was to use as little code as possible and be interesting enough to hold the attention.

 

Where is it?

 

oh yeah

basically we're exclusive to warp, but we can do stuff with mates as gescom (but we can't do solo stuff or use any other names, particularly our own names)

mark just didn't know so he put my name, and we couldn't put it out then even if he changed the name.. it was my fault for not saying

happened w/kouhei as well but that was already produced when i found out (oops)

[Sean Ae]

 

 

Did you ever have very little sleep (Like what RDJ said he used to do)?

Did you ever heard Caustic Window LP (Cat023)? If so; How it was?

I forget to say this yesterday but, this is so cool of you to talk with us! Thanks!

 

yeah sometimes i work with next to no sleep

rae was made in that kind of warm fuzzy state

 

yeah i like almost everything richard's done

 

But Cat023 was made available to only a couple of guys (Cylob, Mike Paradinas and a few others I think).

Do you work standing up, sitting down?

Do you make music in nature, gardens or places like that?

 

 

oh right i don't rem things like cat numbers

i work both sitting and standing

sometimes gardens

but tbh surroundings aren't the thing for me, i get lost in the sound so it's not really important what the room's like, the sound becomes the space

[zlemflolia]

 

How about Mark Fell's Composing With Process PodCast?

 

in the upcoming second part of the first episode they will play a track by Sean Booth called Horizon

 

31:44 Sean Booth 'Horizon', 2004 (20 min)

'Horizon' is a generative piece composed in the BBC BASIC programming language. It was composed for the rand()% generative internet radio station in 2004 but was never broadcast. The aim of the piece was to use as little code as possible and be interesting enough to hold the attention.

 

Where is it?

 

oh yeah

basically we're exclusive to warp, but we can do stuff with mates as gescom (but we can't do solo stuff or use any other names, particularly our own names)

mark just didn't know so he put my name, and we couldn't put it out then even if he changed the name.. it was my fault for not saying

happened w/kouhei as well but that was already produced when i found out (oops)

 

This seems ridiculous

 

You're one of Warp's top acts and they can't give you a little bit of freedom?

[Sean Ae]

 

 

each of your albums have their own unifying 'vibe' or identity that comes both from the hardware / software used as well as the compositional process:

 

untilted - densely programmed step sequenced kit.

quaristice - looser & sparser live jams with hardware.

oversteps - evolving generative melody (i'm assuming sequenced via Max?).

 

i'm curios what the process/vibe was for Exai? what was the hard/software situation that the album grew out of and how were those early experiments refined and evolved to get the 'Exai sound' ?

 

the software used for exai grew out of the software we made for oversteps

mostly realtime stuff so, long jams edited down

not all of it tho, some of it was worked on more compositionally (the software can do both)

 

Is this software that's part of something else (Max/Msp or whatever) or software that you two've created entirely on your own?

 

 

 

we use max as a hub really, with c externals and gen, few bits of hardware

 

we don't program in OSX Assembler (would that count?)

[o00o]

Would you ever rerelease Quaristice Versions or Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae on vinyl? I am sure a lot of people would buy it

[Sean Ae]

I wanted to ask this for years:

 

How can someone learn to compose great melodies?

 

Do you start tracks by loading midi files of tracks you like and start to manipulate until they sound like you like them?

Do you generate your melodies using tools or do you jam them on a keyboard?

Do you take melodies of tracks you like and change them?

 

What is your favorite key?

 

 

don't know

 

no

both

no

 

don't know

[Ivan Ooze]

do you think timbaland is an overated twatb

[Sean Ae]

what ae track has the lushest pad?

 

drane 3

i remember an interview with russian film maker Andrej Tarkovsky, he said that as an artist, he did not fear anything, but as a man, he feared for his family and beloved ones. do you have that same confidence regarding your creativity ?

 

yeah

why would anyone fear making stuff?

[logakght]

when will Richard release the next Aphex Twin album?

[Guest Papillon]

 

Hi Guys

1. How does it feel knowing that your music is being played by people/fans all over the world in so many different scenarios/settings?

I remember hearing your music being played on a ghetto blaster by some woman. I was riding the Sakura Jima ferry to attend a wedding that was being hosted on the island. It was 35 degrees and I was sweating my ass of in my suit, all of a sudden I hear this insanely loud music coming from the other end of the deck, and I realized it was one of your tracks. It was so inappropriately loud and awesome at the same time. This smoking hot girl was playing your music and she didn't give a fuck what anything thought about it. It was an unforgettable moment. I realized how cool it must be to make music with that kind of reach or impact on people.

Thanks

Adam

Great tale, it seems like it was worth it after all, just for that one hot girl with a ghetto blaster to play ae - which track?

 

It was surripere! The music that came after was forgettable I always get goose bumps when I hear that track, so dope. Basically couldn't have chosen a better track myself. I was with a date. But man I was tempted to throw her overboard, just so I could hit on the AE girl. It's a moment I have replayed in my mind since then and no matter how I look at it I can't reconcile that I didn't go after her....

 

Thanks for reading...and cheers for all the wicked tunes Rob.

[Sean Ae]

is there any audio available from the last gig at DOUR festival belgium, it was amazing and i was stoned like helll while people in front of me were puking out their drugs, it was with VxSx and otto von schirach i would like to hear that again

 

no idea, we never heard anything

Hi

 

How do you guys agree wich each other on the "sound -style" for your next album ?

 

 

for example Untilted is very hardware related and harsh , oversteps is more software i guess and sounds friendlier and happier for me.

 

or does is simply evolve ?

 

thx for the answers !

 

 

it just happens, over time something grows and as we become aware of it we shape it

 

 

so we picked up on the vague album numbering system. Someone here said you should name your next release "twelb", is this up there with some of the hot favourites?

twelb is hilariously bad

i doubt anyone will ever top that, but peely almost managed

 

Who is peely? Are you referring to John Peel?

 

 

(Btw, I came up with Twelb. If you two have any other albums or objects lying around that need naming, just let me know.)

 

 

yeah john peel

 

ok

[Guest MastaN8]

We spoke yesterday about the tracks you sent to coil that have been archived. Also mentioning that chiastic slide has been getting some spins lately as well. I love that 97 vibe you guys had going, is there any other unreleased stuff archived from that era that may see the light of day?

[Diabrotikos]

- Sean or Rob, my UC-33 midi controller is still alive after 10 years of intense use (seriously, i was pretty sure it would be my first piece of gear to die, but it won't). Could you give it a name ? :)