Industrial dystopia sends us back to the womb

A new track...

Recorded Portsmouth 2013.

'Industrial dystopia sends us back to the womb' is a drone/noise/ambient piece made with a small Doepfer A100 system.

No midi sequencing, just good old fashioned knob twiddling...

Recorded in mono, then converted to stereo in Logic with manipulation to create a wider field.

Schneiders Test Salon Modular Synthesis Workshop

On Saturday I spent a enjoyable and enlightening couple of hours at Scheneiders Test Salon in London.

The event was organised by Simon Lynch to help publicise all the salon has to offer, and give folks a hands on introduction to different modules, and styles of synthesis. He began by demonstrating a selection of different systems - subtractive, analogue FM, digital wave table, which we were then allowed to knob-turn, twist and bend to our hearts content.

Thanks to all the participants and organisers.  I came away on a modular high, and would definitely recommend the next event to anyone with an interest.

The salon is also open to individual users. There is a film about how it works here.

Synthesis of a crappy keyboard

A new Neal Beard and his Machines track...

Recorded Portsmouth 2013.

Yes, it's meant to sound like this!

Bass, melody, and noise from a Doepfer A100. Drums Yamaha DD10.

For filtering I used Doepfer's A124 Wasp module, which created lots of unusual glitchy type effects. The audio was also split and overdriven through several VCA's across the stereo field.

New tracks in Progress

Two new tracks in progress:

A composition called Crappy Cat V,VI,I,ii in C (although I think I might rename this Crappy Keyboard Synthesis V, IV, I and ii in C) and an improvisation called Back to the Womb.

Both tracks created using an A100 and a circuit bent Yamaha DD10. The A112 sample was of my daughter.

Nearly, but not quite finished...

Bowie and Beyond: A Music Fan's Guide to Berlin

Slightly off piste for Neal Beard, but I just heard about this programme coming up on BBC6 - Bowie and Beyond: A Music Fan's Guide to Berlin.

feedback

I've always been a big Bowie fan, especially of his Eno-Fripp-electronica-infused-Berlin-era, so this programme piqued my interest, especially as I'm due to go to Berlin in a few weeks.

Blurb below...

Here writer and broadcaster Danny Robins looks at what has made the German capital into a rock n roll mecca, exploring the cultural and social forces that have shaped the city's rich musical history from Weimar times, via the Bowie years, to the techno revolution of the 90s and the still vibrant present day music scene.


Danny follows in Bowie and Iggy's footsteps, on a guided tour with former recording engineer Thilo Schmied, who takes him around some of the pair's old haunts and shows him round the legendary Hansa studios where they recorded, in the shadow of the wall and within shooting range of the East German border guards. Bowie and Iggy inspired a creative influx of bands and singers in subsequent decades. Danny meets producer Gareth Jones, who worked with Depeche Mode and Nick Cave at Hansa, and Mute Records founder Daniel Miller, still a resident of Berlin.

Noise: A Human History

Noise: A Human History 

This new series coming up on radio four sounds interesting... I like the title anyhow!

A bit more about the series below-

Noise: A Human History is a thirty-part series for BBC Radio 4, starting Monday 18 March, 2013. We hope it will be a vivid and richly textured exploration of the role of sound in the past 100,000 years of human history. Recorded on location around the world, it will take us from the shamanistic trance-music of our cave-dwelling ancestors, the babel of ancient Rome, the massacre of noisy cats in pre-revolutionary Paris, and the sonic assaults of trench warfare, right through to our struggle to find calm in the cacophony of a modern metropolis. This is not about sound in the abstract: it is about sound as a matter of life and death, pain and pleasure, feeling and intellect. People, and their past behaviours, are at the heart of it. The series is written and presented by Professor David Hendy from the University of Sussex and made in collaboration with the British Library’s Sound Archive. The book of the series will be published by Profile Books in March, 2013.

The Bells

The Bells (a song for Trotty) - a new track now up on Soundcloud!