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

[jules]

 

 

do you guys have an idea of where you are going next after exai or does that generally come together in jamming? or actually, do you define where you are not going?

i'd say its a bit early to tell, i wouldn't say anyway - whats the point, but in the past we've been quite 'over' the prev lp, partly cos it was 2-3 years of making pieces that at the time have no collective power in a way that then gets sort of configured as one whole move. once its handed to warp, another 3-6 months to get it out. so by then we're already moving on.

I'm sorry, I wasn't actually asking to tell the direction, it was more a general question of how you proceed. I don't like spoilers anyway.

[coax]

As far as I remember, Oversteps was unofficially announced in some Portuguese or other web magazine via an interview, and we had to use google translate and were confused if they just made a mistake, was that in any way planned?

[Rob Ae]

Sean, I like your avatar. I never got a chance to play Flashback, but Out of this World/Another World was one of the my early games that left a lasting impact on me. Do you think you could do me the favor of choosing my new Avatar for WATMM? I would very much appreciate it.

 

Also, what games, if any, do you have very fond memories of playing?

isn't there a Mac MAME of it somewhere no?

 

another world was ace too, flashback's incredible tho.

 

defender was sonic as fuck at the time and the way everything would glide around

zaxxon and some of the other weird titles for coleco-vision!

 

obv many atarii (sic)

 

enjoyed playing 'time splitters' (1) w/sean in his custom arenas.

[Sean Ae]

 

 

"the Elektrons", do you still use them a lot? Sounds like they are used on Exai, but more heavily processed than on earlier material?

nah they've been in a box since the quaristice gigs

 

apologies if it seems OCD or pointless coming back to this, but most of my dev revolves around Elektron gear so it's simply a topic that interests me more than just tangentially...

 

in Fleure @ ca. 3:59 there is a single 'knock' sound which sounds pretty much like a snare sound in the Perlences, most notably in Perlence Subrange 3, which very much sounds like it's the TRX clap from the Machinedrum. this was actually discussed in the forum, kind of a single percussion hit reaching back to Quaristice:

 

yes i was referring to the trx-clap from the elektron machinedrum, which is the source of this sound. but maybe it can also be done using a tomato in a closet.

is this intentional? is it the TRX clap? is the hit in Fleure sampled from earlier material then, or a different sound source which just sounds like it by chance?

 

the clap:

 

 

 

the sound in perlence is the trx clap but fluere is all msp

 

Sean, I like your avatar. I never got a chance to play Flashback, but Out of this World/Another World was one of the my early games that left a lasting impact on me. Do you think you could do me the favor of choosing my new Avatar for WATMM? I would very much appreciate it.

 

Also, what games, if any, do you have very fond memories of playing?

isn't there a Mac MAME of it somewhere no?

 

another world was ace too, flashback's incredible tho.

 

defender was sonic as fuck at the time and the way everything would glide around

zaxxon and some of the other weird titles for coleco-vision!

 

obv many atarii (sic)

 

enjoyed playing 'time splitters' (1) w/sean in his custom arenas.

 

 

tempest

 

oh and centipede which they used to have at middleton baths and i used to absolutely cane

Edited November 5, 2013 by Sean Ae

[Rob Ae]

Hey guys, a bit late to the party but I always wanted to know if the Criminal Justice Bill eventually changed your style in a way?

It seems like you can divide your catalog from before that era and after that era or is it just a coincidence?

hahha

 

we do get hit by reviews bashing us for being deliberately awkward (not true), but in the case of Flutter mbe they were right.

[Guest WNS000]

 

Sean, Rob,

 

when composing do you find it easier and more spot-on to do it live by pressing pads and keys and turning knobs or you prefer editing in DAW by mouse? I know you jam a lot but when you need to get some part of a track right after it was already put in sequence what would you do?

 

I mean, for example when I do some ambient pads composition I am often completely unable to do the tempo and dynamics to feel right. But when I play it live it turns out mostly in what I wanted it to be (which is not the case when trying to do those things with mouse). Also when dealing with the whole track structure (here is a "chorus/climax", here gradation here it stops and so on) I also find it much more intuitive and natural to do it live than sequencing it step by step. Editing is of course inevitable after that most of the time but you know what I mean.

 

yeah i think the screen gets in the way

the sequencers that we build ourselves don't have much visual feedback at all, fwiw

 

 

So you have made your sequencers and mapped it to midi controllers and control it hands on? I mean I don't mind screen that much, the mouse is the problem most of the time when composing. I can get cool results when tweaking my Blofeld which has a screen but I would not get those results with a mouse tweaking "Blofeld VSTi". Strange isn't it?

 

I mind screen when mixing, so I turn it off often when making judgement but can't do completely without it - and closing my eyes does not work for me because I feel like I am concentrating too much and lot of other thoughts comes almost instantly :-)

Edited November 5, 2013 by Jev

[Guest ExtraLife]

 

 

What advice would you give a class of 5th graders in regards to pushing creativity in an ever-more regimented public school environment?

 

(This is a constant struggle of mine.)

ok so i'm from the uk and we don't have graders here, how old is that?

also i assume by public school you mean a school for the public (cos that's not what that means here)

About 11 or 12 years old. Public, as in freely available school for students of any socioeconomic status.

 

I'm sure you've grown up in some sort of oppressive system/era...how did you cope as an 11 year old?

[Guest skyking]

Hello again Sean, Rob.

Any recollections of this early 90's gig in Moscow? Heard it was a total fuck up on all fronts. Is this the reason you avoid touring in Russia? Any memories you can share are greatly appreciated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6uM93pJ0UI

You both are fans of original Alien. Your opinion on Prometheus?

 

Cheers!

[awepittance]

is this Autechre song used in the onedotzero advertisement part of a much longer song?

is it sampling bits of old autechre tracks? I feel like I hear a pieces of tri repetae tracks in there. Awesome track though, wish it was longer.

Edited November 5, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Sean Ae]

 

 

Sean, Rob,

 

when composing do you find it easier and more spot-on to do it live by pressing pads and keys and turning knobs or you prefer editing in DAW by mouse? I know you jam a lot but when you need to get some part of a track right after it was already put in sequence what would you do?

 

I mean, for example when I do some ambient pads composition I am often completely unable to do the tempo and dynamics to feel right. But when I play it live it turns out mostly in what I wanted it to be (which is not the case when trying to do those things with mouse). Also when dealing with the whole track structure (here is a "chorus/climax", here gradation here it stops and so on) I also find it much more intuitive and natural to do it live than sequencing it step by step. Editing is of course inevitable after that most of the time but you know what I mean.

 

yeah i think the screen gets in the way

the sequencers that we build ourselves don't have much visual feedback at all, fwiw

 

 

So you have made your sequencers and mapped it to midi controllers and control it hands on? I mean I don't mind screen that much, the mouse is the problem most of the time when composing.

 

I mind screen when mixing, so I turn it off often when making judgement but can't do completely without it - and closing my eyes does not work for me because I feel like I am concentrating too much and lot of other thoughts comes almost instantly :-)

 

 

well kind of yeah, our own seqs have varying degrees of control, and we sometimes use midi input to alter params (the seq is doing the actual pattern gen but might have some variables)

the mixing aspect is entirely controllable usually, altho it can be automated

 

only time i use a screen really is to check things like position or whether a param is on that i'm not on the right page for with my interface, or when i'm editing, which is later and obv requires a screen

[Rob Ae]

 

 

"the Elektrons", do you still use them a lot? Sounds like they are used on Exai, but more heavily processed than on earlier material?

nah they've been in a box since the quaristice gigs

 

apologies if it seems OCD or pointless coming back to this, but most of my dev revolves around Elektron gear so it's simply a topic that interests me more than just tangentially...

 

in Fleure @ ca. 3:59 there is a single 'knock' sound which sounds pretty much like a snare sound in the Perlences, most notably in Perlence Subrange 3, which very much sounds like it's the TRX clap from the Machinedrum. this was actually discussed in the forum, kind of a single percussion hit reaching back to Quaristice:

 

yes i was referring to the trx-clap from the elektron machinedrum, which is the source of this sound. but maybe it can also be done using a tomato in a closet.

is this intentional? is it the TRX clap? is the hit in Fleure sampled from earlier material then, or a different sound source which just sounds like it by chance?

 

the clap:

 

no its not anything elektron, its a sound taken from a recording using JJOS on MPC1K to smash another custom sound around. then smashed around on an MPC1K using JJOS.

[Blir]

Sorry to be a pain guys, but I made a tune back in 2006 which another user on here recently made a video for (Triachus) and I was wondering if you guys would mind providing a critique, maybe a short review that I can use on the EP cover when it inevitably gets a vinyl release?

 

[Sean Ae]

 

 

What advice would you give a class of 5th graders in regards to pushing creativity in an ever-more regimented public school environment?

 

(This is a constant struggle of mine.)

ok so i'm from the uk and we don't have graders here, how old is that?

also i assume by public school you mean a school for the public (cos that's not what that means here)

About 11 or 12 years old. Public, as in freely available school for students of any socioeconomic status.

 

I'm sure you've grown up in some sort of oppressive system/era...how did you cope as an 11 year old?

 

 

tbh i kind of lost faith in school around that age, i rem my science teacher saying that atoms were the smallest thing and i was going what about protons neutrons and electrons and he said 'ah i don't need to teach you about them' and i said 'well i could do your job then'

that's the same age when i really got into music, it kind of filled the void for me having mates asking me for mixtapes so i just kind of went with that

 

 

 

"the Elektrons", do you still use them a lot? Sounds like they are used on Exai, but more heavily processed than on earlier material?

nah they've been in a box since the quaristice gigs

 

apologies if it seems OCD or pointless coming back to this, but most of my dev revolves around Elektron gear so it's simply a topic that interests me more than just tangentially...

 

in Fleure @ ca. 3:59 there is a single 'knock' sound which sounds pretty much like a snare sound in the Perlences, most notably in Perlence Subrange 3, which very much sounds like it's the TRX clap from the Machinedrum. this was actually discussed in the forum, kind of a single percussion hit reaching back to Quaristice:

 

yes i was referring to the trx-clap from the elektron machinedrum, which is the source of this sound. but maybe it can also be done using a tomato in a closet.

is this intentional? is it the TRX clap? is the hit in Fleure sampled from earlier material then, or a different sound source which just sounds like it by chance?

 

the clap:

 

no its not anything elektron, its a sound taken from a recording using JJOS on MPC1K to smash another custom sound around. then smashed around on an MPC1K using JJOS.

 

 

lol yeah it is u melon

[Soloman Tump]

 

describe the machine that is autechre in a haiku

 

an easy one, then

i guess i should have a go

actually, fuck it

 

 

 

syllable fail.

[Sean Ae]

 

 

describe the machine that is autechre in a haiku

 

an easy one, then

i guess i should have a go

actually, fuck it

 

 

 

syllable fail.

 

 

not if ur from manchester

[khov]

Pan Sonic, just like Autechre, is one of my favorite band, They kinda started at the same time as you, with roots in the rave scene, then going more experimental, just like you. But Pan sonic were mostly recording in real time, improvising, with few edits (as far as i understood). They splited up a few years ago. Do you think having separated studios, not seeing each others every single day, might be helpful for your longevity ? I mean many bands releases records after 20 years but really few bands still releases KILLER records (oversteps, exai) after 20 years. As a fan those recent records were the biggest surprise.

[Guest jasondonervan]

 

 

 

What advice would you give a class of 5th graders in regards to pushing creativity in an ever-more regimented public school environment?

 

(This is a constant struggle of mine.)

ok so i'm from the uk and we don't have graders here, how old is that?

also i assume by public school you mean a school for the public (cos that's not what that means here)

About 11 or 12 years old. Public, as in freely available school for students of any socioeconomic status.

 

I'm sure you've grown up in some sort of oppressive system/era...how did you cope as an 11 year old?

 

 

tbh i kind of lost faith in school around that age, i rem my science teacher saying that atoms were the smallest thing and i was going what about protons neutrons and electrons and he said 'ah i don't need to teach you about them' and i said 'well i could do your job then'

that's the same age when i really got into music, it kind of filled the void for me having mates asking me for mixtapes so i just kind of went with that

 

 

 

"the Elektrons", do you still use them a lot? Sounds like they are used on Exai, but more heavily processed than on earlier material?

nah they've been in a box since the quaristice gigs

 

apologies if it seems OCD or pointless coming back to this, but most of my dev revolves around Elektron gear so it's simply a topic that interests me more than just tangentially...

 

in Fleure @ ca. 3:59 there is a single 'knock' sound which sounds pretty much like a snare sound in the Perlences, most notably in Perlence Subrange 3, which very much sounds like it's the TRX clap from the Machinedrum. this was actually discussed in the forum, kind of a single percussion hit reaching back to Quaristice:

 

yes i was referring to the trx-clap from the elektron machinedrum, which is the source of this sound. but maybe it can also be done using a tomato in a closet.

is this intentional? is it the TRX clap? is the hit in Fleure sampled from earlier material then, or a different sound source which just sounds like it by chance?

 

the clap:

 

no its not anything elektron, its a sound taken from a recording using JJOS on MPC1K to smash another custom sound around. then smashed around on an MPC1K using JJOS.

 

 

lol yeah it is u melon

 

 

lol

[Sean Ae]

Hello again Sean, Rob.

 

Any recollections of this early 90's gig in Moscow? Heard it was a total fuck up on all fronts. Is this the reason you avoid touring in Russia? Any memories you can share are greatly appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6uM93pJ0UI

 

You both are fans of original Alien. Your opinion on Prometheus?

 

Cheers!

 

nah that gig went p well, it was the night before that went totally weird

 

yeah i mean i'm not dying to go back there, we had a bit of a rough time, rich and mark p both got brutal food poisoning and bruce had a gun pointed at him

and we don't have any distribution there or anything

 

i thought prometheus was alright really even tho there were some well stupid bits

[Rob Ae]

 

 

Hello Rob.

some questions

What is your fav acid house 12"

 

it changes, prob my most awesome fave is very often : Jaquarius - Love Is Happiness(Acid Rain) 1988 - YouTube

 

 

Just thought I'd chip in and say thank you for playing that track in the last radio session you did.

 

I heard it a single time, live on the radio, over 25 years ago and always wondered what it was. I bought every single Phuture/Pierre record in the hope of finding it, convinced it was by them. Not having a recording of it, I couldn't play it to anyone, and had to try to describe it in words - cloudy, sleazy, convoluted chicago acid, etc - didn't get very far with that..

 

As soon as it started up on your broadcast I couldn't believe that I would remember it so well after all that time (and that it was so great, of course)

 

Shame it's so bloody expensive, lol.

 

Erm, question.. Do you have a few words to say about 808 State, and what kind of impression they made on you in those early days? As a manchester teenager at that time following Chicago/Detroit music, 808 were largely responsible for shaping my musical language, and when Warp got into gear, it was just a logical progression.

 

Oh, and could you please name my SK-5? :-)

 

running behind on these, so hope its not been done yet….

SK-5 , 'Vimt 0'

 

yeah 808 state were a major catalyst around here, them and baby ford and gerald, a few others too. but 808state had that whole step seq shift thing going on, yknow more notes than steps, or vice versa (like Tdream but fully mancunian hard-nosed about it) and all the scallies would rate it as much as the toffee nosed critics. they would always make tracks that got in the charts yet had major drops or breaks that were an 8th note short of a bar.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Rob Ae

[Sean Ae]

Pan Sonic, just like Autechre, is one of my favorite band, They kinda started at the same time as you, with roots in the rave scene, then going more experimental, just like you. But Pan sonic were mostly recording in real time, improvising, with few edits (as far as i understood). They splited up a few years ago. Do you think having separated studios, not seeing each others every single day, might be helpful for your longevity ? I mean many bands releases records after 20 years but really few bands still releases KILLER records (oversteps, exai) after 20 years. As a fan those recent records were the biggest surprise.

 

i dunno i mean panasonic are really diff people to us, and they had a bit more distance to contend with than we do

plus the internet wasn't as fast back then

[xox]

Have you come across any praiseworthy modern 'academic' computer music? Any recommendations?

[Guest WNS000]

 

 

 

Sean, Rob,

 

when composing do you find it easier and more spot-on to do it live by pressing pads and keys and turning knobs or you prefer editing in DAW by mouse? I know you jam a lot but when you need to get some part of a track right after it was already put in sequence what would you do?

 

I mean, for example when I do some ambient pads composition I am often completely unable to do the tempo and dynamics to feel right. But when I play it live it turns out mostly in what I wanted it to be (which is not the case when trying to do those things with mouse). Also when dealing with the whole track structure (here is a "chorus/climax", here gradation here it stops and so on) I also find it much more intuitive and natural to do it live than sequencing it step by step. Editing is of course inevitable after that most of the time but you know what I mean.

 

yeah i think the screen gets in the way

the sequencers that we build ourselves don't have much visual feedback at all, fwiw

 

 

So you have made your sequencers and mapped it to midi controllers and control it hands on? I mean I don't mind screen that much, the mouse is the problem most of the time when composing.

 

I mind screen when mixing, so I turn it off often when making judgement but can't do completely without it - and closing my eyes does not work for me because I feel like I am concentrating too much and lot of other thoughts comes almost instantly :-)

 

 

well kind of yeah, our own seqs have varying degrees of control, and we sometimes use midi input to alter params (the seq is doing the actual pattern gen but might have some variables)

the mixing aspect is entirely controllable usually, altho it can be automated

 

only time i use a screen really is to check things like position or whether a param is on that i'm not on the right page for with my interface, or when i'm editing, which is later and obv requires a screen

 

 

I see. So you use something similar like Mackie Control Universal Pro for mixing? I am thinking about such interface for mixing but I can't really imagine controlling EQ and compression with it if resolution of knobs (or steps) isn't good and flexible enough. And neither I want to use hardware processors for this as I see them as a pain to use with 40 + tracks.

[Sean Ae]

 

 

 

 

Sean, Rob,

 

when composing do you find it easier and more spot-on to do it live by pressing pads and keys and turning knobs or you prefer editing in DAW by mouse? I know you jam a lot but when you need to get some part of a track right after it was already put in sequence what would you do?

 

I mean, for example when I do some ambient pads composition I am often completely unable to do the tempo and dynamics to feel right. But when I play it live it turns out mostly in what I wanted it to be (which is not the case when trying to do those things with mouse). Also when dealing with the whole track structure (here is a "chorus/climax", here gradation here it stops and so on) I also find it much more intuitive and natural to do it live than sequencing it step by step. Editing is of course inevitable after that most of the time but you know what I mean.

 

yeah i think the screen gets in the way

the sequencers that we build ourselves don't have much visual feedback at all, fwiw

 

 

So you have made your sequencers and mapped it to midi controllers and control it hands on? I mean I don't mind screen that much, the mouse is the problem most of the time when composing.

 

I mind screen when mixing, so I turn it off often when making judgement but can't do completely without it - and closing my eyes does not work for me because I feel like I am concentrating too much and lot of other thoughts comes almost instantly :-)

 

 

well kind of yeah, our own seqs have varying degrees of control, and we sometimes use midi input to alter params (the seq is doing the actual pattern gen but might have some variables)

the mixing aspect is entirely controllable usually, altho it can be automated

 

only time i use a screen really is to check things like position or whether a param is on that i'm not on the right page for with my interface, or when i'm editing, which is later and obv requires a screen

 

 

I see. So you use something similar like Mackie Control Universal Pro for mixing? I am thinking about such interface for mixing but I can't really imagine controlling EQ and compression with it if resolution of knobs (or steps) isn't good and flexible enough. And neither I want to use hardware processors for this as I see them as a pain to use with 40 + tracks.

 

 

nah i'm using a kenton killamix mini atm

i only have 8 channels running usually

 

but i also have a bcr2000 here for bigger tasks

Have you come across any praiseworthy modern 'academic' computer music? Any recommendations?

not for ages

think the last thing i really liked that could really be described as academic was a horacio vaggionne thing in like 2003 but i can't even rem the name of it

was on GRM anyway

[soundwave]

You guys say your mainly software based now when creating (max/msp), does any tactile interface come into play with sound sculpting or are you just as happy tapping a mousepad with a brew?

 

What's your opinion on the direction of new electronic hardware from the 5yrs?

 

 

Thank you both for giving your time the most awesome watmm thread ever btw :)

[Rob Ae]

 

 

ok dang it I'll finally join the crowd.

 

my wife is 2 mos pregnant with our second kid (yeah, only 7 months after the last popped out). Any ideas for a name (girl and boy options)?

 

(at first this seemed more than a bit tacky but come to think of it, if you propose one that gets the approval of the missus, it'd be an awesome backstory).

 

for ref, my daughter's name (in my av) is Haley.

 

wait you're genuinely asking?

not sure if i should even answer

 

haha, yeah, I'm really asking. If it's too weird, no worries, I'll just do it myself. "Come here, little Acroyear..."

 

hahah insane,

 

i named our #2 hal just to get the job done, but many ppl don't like it for the simple reason they don't like it as a trad name, and as a futuristic one. although the downside of a real name is that if someones' met a 'XXXXXX' before, they're immediately basing things on that prev character. so yeah. lets see what gives,

 

u nutter.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Rob Ae