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

[Rob Ae]

I remembered what I meant to ask ages ago - is the synth line that comes in towards the background at around 3:48 in YJY UX you quoting/paraphrasing yourselves from known(1)? I swear the synth itself and the phrase is very similar. Would be really interesting to know how much you take bits of your own older stuff and pull it apart/reassemble again.

ah yeah i think know what u mean - theres that high up staccato-ey bit that appears at 1'09''? , but no not a lift from one to the other at all, just tastes cropping up.

 

in older stuff we would reuse bits all the time, but more like getting a favourite sound and re-apropriating it over and over, esp, with live sets, i remember a sound we had that kept coming back 'Peng' . cannibalising tunes/sounds and reusing. don't really do that now though.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Rob Ae

[Ivan Ooze]

you'v been working with each other for more then 20years, does it happen that you disagree or get in an arguement with each other over a track?

[Rob Ae]

Are you avid coffee/caffeine drinkers? I tend to drink a lot of coffee when I'm working on creative projects as it tends to make the ideas flow faster, helps bring out the madness.

 

Also, I'm still curious if you guys ever deconstruct bits from old tracks and reintegrate into new tracks. I'll often hear something in a new ae track that reminds me of a sound/part of an older one, and I'm never sure if it's a coincidence due to similar methods being used, or if it's deliberately self-referential (which I think is cool, in case this is coming off as a criticism --it's not intended that way. I just find this sort of thing interesting). Sorry if you answered and I missed it.

i go a bit insane on coffee, so it gets deployed strategically with me, i think sean's def easier coping with it.

 

just answered similar q, but yeah we used to more and i liked ppl like baby ford for self impersonating, but at arms length thats ok as a fan, but as a producer, nowadays it feels more like lazy brand reinforcement. now if theres any similarities, its more likely habit by accident with me, or sean honing periodically.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Rob Ae

[o00o]

what do guys think about spotify / last.fm? how do you discover new music nowadays? Do you still go into record stores to buy vinyl?

[eugene]

what's your favorite skrillex track ?

[kausto]

Have you used the scripting functionality in Renoise, if so.. in what way and can you share some scripts?

 

hi, Jonas! answer is here

[Guest bitroast]

 

I remembered what I meant to ask ages ago - is the synth line that comes in towards the background at around 3:48 in YJY UX you quoting/paraphrasing yourselves from known(1)? I swear the synth itself and the phrase is very similar. Would be really interesting to know how much you take bits of your own older stuff and pull it apart/reassemble again.

ah yeah i think know what u mean - theres that high up staccato-ey bit that appears at 1'09''? , but no not a lift from one to the other at all, just tastes cropping up.

 

in older stuff we would reuse bits all the time, but more like getting a favourite sound and re-apropriating it over and over, esp, with live sets, i remember a sound we had that kept coming back 'Peng' . cannibalising tunes/sounds and reusing. don't really do that now though.

 

 

how about D-Sho Qub & nth Dafuseder.b? can you shed any information as to where these songs came from, which came form which?

 

( i rememeber the first time i 'got' D-Sho Qub. it sort of sounds like this massive wave of insanity (ala the nothing from neverending story) coming and destroy this city-like infrastructure of someone's mind. i don't quite understand sean's earlier comment re: oversteps being about memories. but for me, this song was always an audio representation a degrading mental state^^ )

[Guest Adam]

 

 

it's my birthday so could you name my old shitty laptop. the screen aint working and it has no keyboard if it helps to think of anything.

 

your laptop is now called stephen

 

whats it used as a USB warmer?

 

 

as an USB touchpad cus the touchpad is still working

[Rob Ae]

Ae = brain massage

 

question: is it just my ears or do i hear samples that continue to reappear thoughout your years of production?

are the sounds used on each release generated during the production of the release. or do you guys have a sample set you like to werk with? just trying to find out if my ears are tuned in or if im just hearing things.

 

question: when you guys 'cane' something....what on EARTH are you talking about. im a simple canadian, and am not up on your guys slang.

 

freakin great of you guys to take the time to field all the questions you have been. fun reading them.

 

thanks much, in advance

second scout

cipater

laughing quarter

skin up youre already dead

prac-f

 

we do have loads and loads of lib folders with loads of minute variants lying around samples etc… and its building all the time, so they may form a tiny basis for something at any time,

but never really a go - to kit.

 

hahha 'caning it' i would say is (mbe from a cane / stick that's used to whack ppl with as old school punishment etc) but the idea that u thrash something till it breaks,

like a cane would if u hit someone enough times with it. brutal sorry, i didn't invent it, just gets used lots round here. "caning it last night" - doing something till u can't do it no more!

 

cheers CANADA

[Rob Ae]

What do you think about things that barely exist? Like the short bits in films where nothing happens and you only see rain and people passing by, or some detail from a TV ident, or the corridors in tube stations, or elevators, or very short moments in everyday life where there's something that's actually very different from everything you experience usually but which is somehow kept in a way in which you can't make much out of them (i.e. nothing much ever happens in corridors, idents just show you the logo and then end... but at the same time there's something else in these things, and they're definitely different from the spaces you usually inhabit, or the programmes you usually watch...)? I mean, when you walk along a corridor it's a bit as if you were aslees. To me sometimes Quaristice feels a bit as if these things were extended and you were allowed to see what's in them, if that makes any sense, also because all tracks seem to lead into each other and have a definite room-like feeling with movement at the same time (for example the end of Simmm, or Tankakern... I love the rhythms in Simmm by the way), but maybe that's just because I remember when it came out and that was a strange period of my life.

 

 

(Sorry for my convoluted pseudo-questions.)

i get these feelings from good documentaries, the bits where the subjects aren't necessarily being involved. its a nice descriptive - behind the scenes way at observing life.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Rob Ae

[Guest jasondonervan]

Have you heard any of the vocaloid music (created using advanced vocal synthesis) that came out of Japan in recent years? Does the software itself, or even just the idea of it interest you at all?

 

Favourite William Gibson book, if any?

[Rob Ae]

 

 

My last question for today: You guys are not into classical music at all? Whatever era, I'm generalizing. Just curious. Because there's a whole world to offer in that department and you can believe me, the enthusiast classical listeners go crazy/insane/however:emotional while listening to their beloved pieces like other music listeners do. Because many people think its just boring, but its a similar statement like saying Ae is random sounds - utterly wrong.

 

i just dunno anything about it

recc me some

 

 

Can i try?

Hard to represent hundreds of yrs of music history in 10 min but here's my take with my fav piece. It was originally composed as the last movement of of one of Beethoven's later quartets but no one understood it back then (1827.) so it was soon published as a separate piece.

So if your music isn't understood immediately as it isn't i'd say it's a good sign. ;)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjUh11EPGcM

 

Question:

Do you ever 'humanize' your tracks making them more acceptable? Do you do that on the album level?

 

dunno if I've ever thought they need it tbqh. on a track level. not to be too one thing about it, but they should be 'as they are' in a way.

 

on an album level, flow is all important, humans are listening after all, so it figures yeah. dunno why i see a distinction tho'. by that time we don't have to humanise any tracks as they're finished. if anything. don't even know how much sense that makes sorry

[jules]

why was there no ep for untilted?

[cear]

is the gantz graf video ever going to be released full-hd?

Edited November 6, 2013 by vincentvc

[Rob Ae]

Rob, Sean, have you guys heard this? Your thoughts on it? When I passed this on to some of my mates, some thought it came off better than the actual album.

 

http://vimeo.com/62752031

 

 

ah not heard, yeah i bet they did - bloody gets. :)

 

mbe ask them to do a phase inversion overlap job as well, see what pops out, (not loaded btw) just interested.

[cear]

is this interview going to be made into a 12-hour-long spoken word album by the two of you for your next release?

[awepittance]

I've noticed a lot of people listen to Quaristice as a kind of custom playlist including a lot of the extras and replacing the short songs with the longer counterparts.
Have you tried listening to Quaristice in a similar way?
how do you feel about people making their own versions of say a track like perlence based on all the different ones that exist? Are you ok with people sharing these custom edits? what about on this forum specifically (example: members posting custom perlence megamixes)?

and lastly how do you feel that Quaristice ranks or stands symbolically in terms of the rest of your catalog?

Edited November 6, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Rob Ae]

 

When your gigs are recorded from someone in the crowd, they usually capture some pretty hilarious crowd comments. Particularly on the Melbourne 2010 recording (which is probably the best quality one out there IMO), there's some hilarious stuff the punters says, particularly:

UGGGH ... I love this! ... [unintelligible] ... It's amazing! It never stops moving! It never stops moving! ... I want to know how! I WANT TO KNOW HOW! I want to know how. ... [unintelligible] ... It's like they're throwing noise at one another! ... Yeah he is! ... It's like a moving visual... like an aural painting! ... [unintelligible yelling] ... It's amazing! ... Muahahahahahaha!

1) Any favourite comments you've heard on crowd recordings of your own gigs?

And some more general questions of interest:

2) Fans of noise music? - Merzbow, Incapacitants, John Weise, etc.

3) Travelling - any favourite destinations?

4) If someone does recognise you out in public, are you okay with them approaching you, chatting, photos, autographs? Seems some musicians can be royal pricks about this, but you guys don't seem like ones who'd get approached all that much.

5) Also, my daugher's teddy bear needs a name. Can you please give him a name?

 

1 - yeah thats prob the best at the mo right theyre!

1b - farmers manual had an awesome nonheckling once in Sheffield from a pissed up guy, bumping into their shit wobbly table really too close, slurring all through a really quiet bit, he wasn't shouting, more a monologue at them speaking as if he wasn't aware of anyone else anymore but Ozzy and his 3400 powerbook, "have u got a 'bass button' wheres the bass button?"

 

5 - fibre

Edited November 6, 2013 by Rob Ae

[pyramidpanes]

Hey Sean & Rob! just wondering if you would be interested in doin something here next summer? -

 

briefly it's a sculpture park in a car park in south london which has been havin some increaseingly aural based projects, (acoustically it sounds amazing like a echo chamber) im a visual artist but in close contact with the organisers, would b mental if you did something & could be any project/experiment u guys have been wanting to do but having got round to doin,-

 

anyway some links - http://boldtendencies.com & http://lcmf.co.uk/ (just realised its called London Contemporary Music Festival)

 

give me a shout if you would b interested or need anymore info, is this the best way to contact u about it? lol

 

ps would be happy to send you guys a small artwrk/painting to say thanks for the soundtrack over the years, peace!

[Guest Gloom Nox]

Hi!

You mentioned the Logic Environment earlier in the thread and setting up complex routings there. Would love to hear some elaboration of that workflow.

Alos, myself, I would like to be able to control all parameters of my hardware synths stepwise. But I just can't get my head around it. I have build synths in Reaktor that can do it but I don't understand how to communicate with the hardware synths parameters.. I want something like having several 16 step sequencers with 0-127 corresponding to any given knob on the hardware synth. If you would point me in a direction to solve this, what would you do? The environment? Max patch? Something else?

Thank you!

All Best !

[eugene]

 

 

What are the elements of IDM?

 

ask someone who makes idm

 

 

Oh Sean thank you for this! Thank you!

I hope this is the beginning of the end of IDM-ism. ism. ism

 

 

i think he meant to say that they're making post-IDM.

[Rob Ae]

Also as an aside, I would liek to show appreciation for the blyz cstl, 6852, I guess they are pretty overtly old school hip-hop influenced and maybe pushing the boundaries on what is considered a-side ae(?), but recks on surfacing on a proper album is jsut great (although still technically(?) a b-side..?). any comments?

 

Any thoughts on rick rubin's early work? U got a few years on me, and might have been digging into more obscure stuff then but that was my intro to 808 badassery and got me from there to here.

 

ah fuck it.. name my machinedrum plz?

 

Also have you considered yr answer to the favourite cartoons/animation question froma couplea days ago RB?

cartoons animation yeah i forgot i have a few bests, but my mind froze with the prospect of trying to package them up . here goes

 

moebius - collections like Starwatcher, Chaos, film Maitre du Temps, nearly all his, as long as its not early cowboy era giraud really.

jodorowsky & moebius - Apres L'incal

Druillet - Delirius, Yragael, Chaos, Lone Sloane

Roland Topor & Rene Laloux - La Planete Sauvage

 

prob some i can't think of again sorry , might crop up later.

[Rob Ae]

i noticed you missed my question about Beamz. here's a helpful video to introduce you to the gear. your thoughts.

 

http://youtu.be/8w-Sfa5HzK0

whah! ok, we just for the rekkd, most gestural gear gives me serious creeps. is it over yet, can i unhide now.

 

he looks contently bored.

 

 

Proportionally how much or your time in the studio is spent mixing? How much do you worry on stuff like EQing to reduce clashing frequencies or compression?

not a huge amount, we mix as we go along

there's no 'mixing stage' as such

Do you consider the design of one sound in relation to another to be a sort-of mixing process?

 

pretty much i do.

[Rob Ae]

Hi Sean, Hi Rob!

 

I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on arts and about creative capabilities of a human being from religious perspective

 

Do you think that one's output is fully his own creation, or it have something to do with transmitting some information/energy from somewhere/something beyond? i mean, from one of the religious point of views, creative capabilities and talents is not something you build yourself, but it's something that is given to you, a Gift. (for example, you didn't do anything to be born as Sean Booth or Rob Brown and as a result grew up in circumstances that made you the Autechre) And that this gift can be used either for transmitting the light of God (as a source of good, order and love) through the prism of your person and character, either for transmitting "energies" of God's enemy, wich perverts your gifts into opposite to God's forces

 

I am asking you this because for me it's quite interesting to listen your music from this perspective - i feel a lot of dialogues of good and evil in it, especially in your early works - the most bright album from this point is Chiastic Slide, and the most dark is Confield. And a good example track is Second Peng - i hear something like evil insectoid alien swarms there!

 

so, the question is - have you ever felt that by your music you are transmitting some minds, messages, creatures that are out-of-this-world? And if yes, in the light of mentioning psychedelic drugs, did it felt more distinctly under the unfluences?

 

Do you feel that these forces you bring are more good than evil?

 

cuz some of your music makes me feel "good" (examples - Cipater, Pule, Cichli, Yulquen, C/Pach, 444, Theswere), but some of it, despite the fact that it's very interesting to listen, makes me feel more distant from God (Confield is a great example - for me it's the most complex and deep album of yours, but so deep it's "bad for your soul")

in a nutshell i have quite a bit of trouble discussing theology, 'need to be in the room so to speak, this isn't it, so not being bluntly dismissive and ignoring here. more later mbe

[usagi]

how did the Skeng remix come about? did Ninja Tune contact you to get something special for their XX boxset, or did Kevin, or did you guys initiate? how do your remixes come about generally, do other artists/labels contact you first? do you choose to remix stuff depending on how you like the original tune, or just if you can think of interesting ways to mangle it?

 

I have to say I was excited as fuck when I heard that you were doing that one, and it turned out top-notch in a way that I totally didn't expect but which made total sense when I heard it. shit was "correct". the Earth remix was another one that I was really pleased to discover you did, although I have to say it's the most puzzling one I've ever heard lol. I know there's subtle differences (gated/compressed snare, if I recall correctly) but I can barely hear them. maybe if I listened for 3 hours and got into a way-out headspace...

 

keep up the stellar work btw. your consistent output and dedication to the craft is inspiring even to non-musicians.

Edited November 6, 2013 by usagi