Richard D James SoundCloud - A Gift To The Fans

[adiscoball]

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

 

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records.  He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer.  He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.  

[koolkeyZ865]

 

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

 

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records.  He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer.  He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.  

 

Really? What's the source on that?

[marf]

Totally sounds like an aphex track. Get your ears checked

[ZoeB]

 

 

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

 

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records.  He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer.  He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.  

 

Really? What's the source on that?

 

It's always good to check, so:

 

Everything was originally mastered on standard tape on a hi-fi cassette deck...  It's 99% sequenced.  Strings I'll play, but everything else has to be accurate...  I never keep sounds on disk.  This does record companies' heads in 'cos they like you to remix, but I just don't like to do it.  Sometimes I might spend three or four days to get the sounds together, then do a track with them.  The next time I work on something, if I have a wicked idea for a melody and I'm feeling lazy, it would be too easy to use a disk of drums that I'd used before.  That's why I don't save anything, because I like everything to be different.

 

 

Over twenty years later:

 

...there were no analogues runnin live on druqks at all...  none of the tracks on syro were multi tracked into the computer , they were all recorded live to 2 track, which is kinda insane but the way i like it.

 

It all depends on the setup he's using at the time.  There's no right or wrong answer.  Most of his music, I believe, is heavily sequenced, with some live FM pad playing over the top, recorded live, albeit with multiple takes to get one that's spot on.  He doesn't seem to multitrack record all that much, which seems bizarre to me, but there you go.  Then for Drukqs (and I'm guessing the Richard D. James album), it's all samples of analogue gear that he then composes with after the sound design, as far as I can tell.  Yay tracking!  Takes me back...

 

It seems odd to me that where most people would just record a part, then record the exact same part again to double it, he'll instead buy twice as many modules to do the same thing live:

 

that 1.54 [into Fenix Funk 5] is a conventional europatch but dual path , so like 2 mono synths, so 2 filters,2 osc's 2, vcas etc i rek it was mostly doepfer modules, there wasnt many other eurorack modules out then anyhow, you can make the doeper modules sound much smoother/delux like that, 2 of everything and pan it

 

I'm not sure how he avoids the problem of running out of hands two twiddle knobs with...  Presumably he uses a lot of automation!

[Bubba69]

Wow I missed that part with syro. That's cool because that's what i do now too to avoid using computers so it makes me feel more justified.

 

I knew that Analord was recorded live into a fucking minidisc recorder. That blew my mind at first, the Syro thing is even more mindblowing.

 

I'd like to hear more about the recording process for the tuss.

[ZoeB]

OK, my turn: anyone have the citation for any Analords being recorded to MiniDisc? I can find another WATMM thread on it, but again with no citation.

[jejunum]

I just spent a few days scrutinizing the spectral content of every Analord track and found no signs of ATRAC compression.

[Bubba69]

OK, my turn: anyone have the citation for any Analords being recorded to MiniDisc? I can find another WATMM thread on it, but again with no citation.

 

 

I want to say soundcloud comment but unfortunately I cannot find anyone that archived them.....

[d-a-m-o]

 

 

 

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records. He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer. He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.

Really? What's the source on that?

It's always good to check, so:

Everything was originally mastered on standard tape on a hi-fi cassette deck... It's 99% sequenced. Strings I'll play, but everything else has to be accurate... I never keep sounds on disk. This does record companies' heads in 'cos they like you to remix, but I just don't like to do it. Sometimes I might spend three or four days to get the sounds together, then do a track with them. The next time I work on something, if I have a wicked idea for a melody and I'm feeling lazy, it would be too easy to use a disk of drums that I'd used before. That's why I don't save anything, because I like everything to be different.

 

Over twenty years later:

...there were no analogues runnin live on druqks at all... none of the tracks on syro were multi tracked into the computer , they were all recorded live to 2 track, which is kinda insane but the way i like it.

It all depends on the setup he's using at the time. There's no right or wrong answer. Most of his music, I believe, is heavily sequenced, with some live FM pad playing over the top, recorded live, albeit with multiple takes to get one that's spot on. He doesn't seem to multitrack record all that much, which seems bizarre to me, but there you go. Then for Drukqs (and I'm guessing the Richard D. James album), it's all samples of analogue gear that he then composes with after the sound design, as far as I can tell. Yay tracking! Takes me back...

 

It seems odd to me that where most people would just record a part, then record the exact same part again to double it, he'll instead buy twice as many modules to do the same thing live:

that 1.54 [into Fenix Funk 5] is a conventional europatch but dual path , so like 2 mono synths, so 2 filters,2 osc's 2, vcas etc i rek it was mostly doepfer modules, there wasnt many other eurorack modules out then anyhow, you can make the doeper modules sound much smoother/delux like that, 2 of everything and pan it

I'm not sure how he avoids the problem of running out of hands two twiddle knobs with... Presumably he uses a lot of automation!

How can you tell that the pads are played live and not sequenced ?

[ZoeB]

He said this, quoted above:

 

Strings I'll play, but everything else has to be accurate

I might be misinterpreting it, maybe he played them and recorded the MIDI data of playing them, then when he was recording everything he was barely doing anything at all, just letting it play out...  Although this was 20-30 years ago anyway...

[ZoeB]

I just spent a few days scrutinizing the spectral content of every Analord track and found no signs of ATRAC compression.

 

 

Not that it matters, but what the hell...  How about e.g. Boxing Day?  The steep cutoff points at 15kHz, 16kHz, 17, 18, and 19 look very reminiscent of lossy encoding to me.  While I've only looked at MP3 files as far as that's concerned -- I haven't had a MiniDisc recorder since iPods took off -- I'm guessing ATRAC might look like that too?

[marf]

man we are anal. They are making some old sampler plugin's like the emulator II. I bought the sample library from some brit for 50 usd before it was released..  That could provide a good time located aphex fake. There are people out there with some skills. I never understood the desire to put up fake tracks though. It's like Hot or Not for your music maybe. You get your plays that way? What is the final outcome?

[marf]

He sounds angry about the Kyma system. He must have used the hell out of it though. 

[ZoeB]

I kinda like the fact that there's fake Aphex Twin tracks, it's like a fun little Turing test.

[phudoshin]

Outright fake is usually crap but "mistaken-for" or "re-labeled" fake is usually great.

 

Anyone remember "Ted Oggie" by the Tuss?

 

Savage Wisp track! 

[Bubba69]

Even ended up being released on Rephlex! It's funny how that situation ended up.

[marf]

Aphex could also release fake fakes to test whether he's resting on his laurels. Or his fame might be skewing people's opinions. If he cares.

[ZoeB]

Releasing things pseudonymously is a good way to try to gauge whether they're good, without getting false positives from people who already trust you.  Although then you can get false negatives, what with there being so much new material from lesser known new artists.  The Tuss was a pretty neat idea in that respect.  I'm not sure how a "fake fake" double bluff would work though.  Isn't that what the SoundCloud dump was in the first place, kind of?

[HexagonSun]

A true fake true of confederathing thru fake would be faking nice

[AJW]

Old Dick has a handful of ok tunes here

 

bimbongo

2 came filtered

25 funnel

5 sline

35 japan

bonkophone2

15 sekonda

 

there may even be some more hiding in there

[Kennylogg Bubblebath]

Sekonda already got the Bleepstore treatment. It's on ICBYD.

 

Plenty of other Soundcloud bangers that haven't been ported across yet.

[Bubba69]

Releasing things pseudonymously is a good way to try to gauge whether they're good, without getting false positives from people who already trust you.  Although then you can get false negatives, what with there being so much new material from lesser known new artists.  The Tuss was a pretty neat idea in that respect.  I'm not sure how a "fake fake" double bluff would work though.  Isn't that what the SoundCloud dump was in the first place, kind of?

 

 

It wasn't even known to be Richard at first. But it was simply so good, (especially when rushup edge came out), that it was assumed to be. Then again it didn't sound quite like anything he had made, the closest being analord 10, at the time. Community was split, but most agreed that it was very good. I think there are a lot of slow burners made by unknown artists that aren't immediately great to people, but are actually very good. The ones that seem immediately amazing usually get spread pretty widely.

[Ifeelspace]

After all this time I think I can say that Winding Road and Medieval Rave Mk.2 are my favourite tracks from Richard's glorious dump.  There are many others, but damn these are fine

[Soloman Tump]

Last week I spent 4 hours walking through some forests by myself in Northern Ireland, listening to just the soundcloud dump. It was a rather magical and relaxing experience.  I have no idea what tracks I listened to as it was on random play and I never stopped to look at the screen but it was all pure aphex goodness.

 

thx rdj

[atypic]

Last week I spent 4 hours walking through some forests by myself in Northern Ireland, listening to just the soundcloud dump. It was a rather magical and relaxing experience.  I have no idea what tracks I listened to as it was on random play and I never stopped to look at the screen but it was all pure aphex goodness.

 

thx rdj

 

Facebook like.  I want more things like this.