notes: Arranged Coincidences

The title comes from two lines of thought that have been on my mind, since a few weeks before I began recording this project:

  • My process of making music. Sonic exploration, turning discoveries into something “frozen” into a recording. That moment of things coming together in a particular point in time. Coincidences, quite literally in the sense of unrelated events happening together… but pushed into happening together by a combination of physical/mathematical processes and my instinctive judgements (and sometimes, mistakes or impulsive departures that worked out great). I don’t compose in the sense of making up sounds from pure imagination — I listen and then interact with what I hear. As I add more elements to a recording, the later ones tend to be much more intentional, designed to complement the earlier elements (not necessarily chronologically but it works out that way at times).
  • The way religious experiences often seem to work for me. Most of them, in isolation, can be easily dismissed as confirmation bias. But to me it doesn’t usually matter whether I just got a message from a god, spirits, ancestors etc. or if it was just the pattern-matching part of my brain matching a pattern. It’s the inspiration, that “Eureka!” moment of humor and wonder. I’ve always felt that religion is an art, and practice it as such.

I made the cover image by blending several iterations of an algorithmic (non-AI) gradient tile generator and processing them in Paint Shop Pro 2020 Ultimate. It too was an improvisation, reacting and interacting iteratively with the things the software did.

All tracks were improvised; any sequencing was done with free-running minimalist loop sequencers; live recording of the full mix with effects baked in (not individual stems) and sometimes minor additional parts dubbed after.

Hardware is in bold and software is in italics; basic utilities, dynamics/EQ processing, and simple modulation sources are generally omitted from the descriptions.

For controllers I use MN 0-Ctrl, Roli Seaboard Block, Roger Linn Linnstrument 128, Tesseract Sweet Sixteen mk2, three Nektar expression pedals with a MIDI Expression Quatro, Intellijel Planar 2, and Bela Gliss.

For mastering I mostly used: Wavesfactory Spectre, Toneboosters Equalizer Pro, Waves Curve Equate, DDMF MagicDeathEye, RJ Studios SideMinder Max, Voxengo Elephant & OVC-128 with metering from Voxengo Span Plus & Correlometer and YuLean Loudness Meter.

BW = Bitwig
FI = Freakshow Industries
IME = Industrial Music Electronics
MA = Minimal Audio
MI = Mutable Instruments
MN = Make Noise
NE = Noise Engineering
NI = Native Instruments
NL = Neutral Labs
RE = Rabid Elephant
TB = Toneboosters
UA = Unfiltered Audio
WR = Whimsical Raps

1: Wanderer

  • WR Just Friends, Xaoc Tallin, MI Blades, MI Beads, MN Mimeophon. Sequence from MI Marbles.
  • Auza Wave Packets synchronized to JF’s Mix output with some additional modulation from MI Stages. TAL G-Verb.
  • Hadean ukulele bass, JamOrigin MIDI Bass (for the amp sim), Dreadbox Hypnosis, TAL G-Verb, Valhalla Delay.

2: Samhain

  • Madrona Labs Aalto droning, FI Dreameater.
  • yes, it was recorded on Nov. 1.

3: Get the Shovel

  • Xaoc Odessa FMd by a sine from MN Spectraphon, MI Blades. Spectraphon’s frequency modulated by MI Marbles sequence; Odessa’s Bank Length modulated by NE Clep Diaz and Tilt by MN Function.
  • IME Zorlon Cannon mk2, Xaoc Koszalin, NE Electus Versio, Valhalla Supermassive, UA SpecOps.
  • VCV Rack [4ms Ensemble Oscillator with pitch and Warp modulated by Befaco Rampage], two instances of Valhalla Delay in series.
  • Dawesome Myth, Sinevibes Integer, TAL G-Verb.

4: Surface Transit

  • Aaron Anderson Terrain modulated by a pair of BW LFOs, NI Raum.

5: Swamp Witch

  • Dawesome Myth (resynthesizing a recording of dry ice sublimating in the kitchen sink), FI Dreameater, Audiority Xenoverb
  • Arturia Minibrute 2S through MN Strega & Dreadbox Hypnosis. (In each pair of notes, the first is played on the Brute; the second, lower note is due to a shift in delay time modulated by the gate release.)
  • Noise burst from NL Elmyra 2, AtovProject cDVCA (with its frequency modulated by MN Manis Iteritas Alia), Djupviks Bunker Archeology.
  • Entire track processed with MA SpecOps inside of a ZPlane Peel band.

6: Frankly, No

  • NE Ataraxic Iteritas, RE Natural Gate, VCV Rack [2x E440 VCF in stereo], Valhalla Room
  • brown noise generated in Sound Forge Pro 13, Valhalla Room, Valhalla Supermassive
  • RYK Algo, MI Beads, Dreadbox Hypnosis, BW FX Layer [TB Equalizer Pro suppressing ambience into Audiothing Lines for distortion, and TB Equalizer Pro emphasizing ambience into Audiothing Speakers], UA SpecOps. Algo is set to 4x carriers and is sequenced by MN 0-Ctrl, with various envelopes into the 4 level inputs.
  • MN Mimeophon (oscillating in zone 0), Xaoc Koszalin, MI Blades, BW Grid [ring modulation vs. Algo’s left output through Chebyshev shaper], BW Harmonic Split [emphasizing fundamentals, reducing other harmonics, blurring inharmonics with Audiority Velvet Machine]. Sequence is from MI Marbles clocked by 0-Ctrl.
  • Parts of the mix processed with Wavesfactory Cassette and my own Octave Riot distortion, and parts resynthesized in Dawesome Myth.
  • VCV Rack [4ms Ensemble Oscillator], Impact Soundworks Gameverb, FI Dreameater.

7: Common or Garden

  • MI Rings, NE Electus Versio, MN QPAS, MN Mimeophon, TB Equalizer Pro (to change emphasis on ambience), Audiority Velvet Machine. Sequence is from MI Marbles, which clocks NE Clep Diaz which modulates Marbles’ own clock rate and note bias.
  • Arturia Augmented Woodwinds, Wavesfactory Spectre (two-note bass line repeated a few times; all other bass content is sustained feedback from the Rings part).

8: Siren’s Tail

  • ALM Akemie’s Castle, Xaoc Koszalin, MN QPAS, Brainworx bx_Aura, BW Grid [adding noise via Swarm Oscillator clocking Dice through filters and delays], UA SpecOps, Inphonik PCM2612, Sinevibes Integer. Pitch sequence from MN Marbles, envelope for FM depth & filter modulation from MN Function.
  • RYK Algo, Xaoc Tallin, Xaoc Katowice (with frequency modulated by LFO), MN Mimeophon. Pitch is extracted by a BW Grid patch from QPAS’ left output, giving it instability.
  • Decadebridge Sn, MI Blades, NI Raum
  • Entire mix through Valhalla Vintage Verb.

9: Blockhead Kuzushi

  • Arturia Easel V, BW Harmonic Split [NE Imitor + BW Chorus+ on fundamental, other harmonics are muted], Melda MAGC (to gate the echoes from Imitor). Sequence is from Mario Nieto’s Harmony Bloom.
  • NL Elmyra 2, MN QPAS, MA Ripple Phaser, Valhalla Supermassive.
  • BW Organ, TAL G-Verb. Sequence from a second instance of Harmony Bloom, quantized to 14 EDO.
  • BW Organ, using the same sequence as above but transposed, delayed, repeated and requantized to 10 EDO.

10: Departure

  • Arturia Augmented Voices, played on Roli Seaboard.
  • NE Toros Iteritas Alia (beta version), Djupviks Bunker Archeology, ZPlane Peel with Audiority Velvet Machine in the high band, BW Delay+ with gate and compressor in its feedback loop for the low band.
  • WR Just Friends, MN QPAS, Valhalla Room
  • MN Spectraphon (SAO mode), Sonic Charge Echobode, NE Imitor
  • IME Zorlon Cannon mk2, RE Natural Gate, NE Lacrima Versio, Kilohearts Filter Table (separate instances for L/R stereo), NE Desmodus
  • Entire mix processed in Cytomic The Scream.

11: I Don’t Mean To Jinx It:

  • Subtle background noise as well as noise “zaps” with broken reverb: IME Zorlon Cannon mk2, TB Equalizer Pro, Izotope RX7 De-Click, Brainworx bx_Aura. Constantly running at below audio rate, with frequency occasionally modulated by one-shot sequences of dynamic envelopes from MN 0-Ctrl.
  • Spectral drone: Inear Display Lancinantes, Kilohearts Filter Table, Aberrant DSP Lair
  • Deep pulse/kick drum and distressed notes: NL Elmyra 2, Mystic Circuits Blinkus (Elmyra’s output vs. its LFO2), Voxengo Oldskoolverb+.
  • Deep gong: MN Spectraphon (SAO mode) modulated by MN Function, sampled in a previous session; NI Raum, BW Compressor+, Valhalla Room.
  • Secondary chord drone: Lancinantes’ output through MN Spectraphon (SAM mode), NE Fala Versio (beta version), Audio Damage Ratshack Reverb, MA Ripple Phaser, Overloud Gem Mod, BW Convolution+. Slide/Focus modulation of Spectraphon from IME Kermit mk2.

12: Gatti Amari

  • Madrona Labs Aalto, Cytomic The Scream, TAL G-Verb
  • Arturia Augmented Grand (sequenced by Harmony Bloom), Impact Soundworks Gameverb, NE Imitor
  • NE Toros Iteritas Alia (beta), Bitwig Delay+ with Aberrant DSP Lair in its feedback loop, Sinevibes Integer.
  • IME Kermit mk2, MI Blades (in mono) and NE Fala Versio (beta) (in stereo) mixed, Valhalla Delay
  • Blades’ output through BW Grid [zero crossing pitch detector controlling a sine oscillator], Valhalla Delay

13: Larger Than Me

Based on two phone recordings. Recording A was tapping the corner of my phone, in a rubber case, against an aluminum water bottle. Recording B was the surf

  • Phone recording “A” (tapping the phone in its rubber case against an aluminum water bottle). Bottle hits mostly edited out, leaving the sound of my breathing and soft background noise. BW Harmonic Split (with LFOs subtly modulating even and odd harmonic levels), Audiority Xenoverb, PSP Pianoverb.
  • Phone recording of the surf at Myrtle Beach, SC, highpass filtered. U-he Uhbik-G (granular downward pitch shift), BPB Dirty Filter, Audiothing Fog Convolver.
  • Recording “A” with just the bottle hits extracted from the background noise, played in BW Grid Sampler in Textures mode; Cytomic The Scream, Valhalla Delay.
  • MN Strega, MN Spectraphon in SAM mode, BW Grid [Swarm oscillator modulating a crossfade between the dry Strega output and Spectraphon, at audio rate].
  • The bottle hits from recording “A” through a BW Grid envelope follower, pinging MN QPAS; U-He Twangstrom, Djupviks Bunker Archeology.

14: To Protect Against What Might Happen

  • Madrona Labs Sumu, Valhalla Delay.
  • Pure sines in two octaves generated in Sound Forge Pro 13, to extend the sustain of the final note.