For Jonathan Stearne (JES) and Paul Schreiber (paults), who contributed much to the music world: creating, teaching, storytelling and inspiring.)
100% of my proceeds from this album go to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The idea for this album began as a sort of game of creative limitations, mostly arbitrary:
- The name of the album must start with an E. Why? Because I haven’t used that yet.
- The first note of the first track, and the last note of the last track, must also be E.
- Record all the tracks in album order, and transition between them smoothly.
- On odd-numbered tracks: Only use bass guitar as a sound source (not oscillators, samples of other things, software synths etc.), with whatever processing or layering that I feel like using.
- On even-numbered tracks: begin with DecadeBridge Sn, include Synthesis Technology modules in the middle (in VCV Rack form) and end with Arturia Easel V.
I sometimes found this set of rules a bit restrictive, wanting to run with some other bit of inspiration, explore some new plugins, or shake things up a bit; at other times it was really rewarding. I feel like I could have taken the bass much further in terms of sound processing and design, but I happened to find a comfortable meta-groove with it and stayed in that lane.
No “AI” was used for the creation of the music, artwork or text. All tracks were improvised, with minimal sequencing on simple loop-based sequencers in a few cases. Recordings had the effects baked in, with some old-school overdubbing rather than a more typical modern multitracking workflow.
(The album art is based on the rotating disc of a strobe tuner. The disc rotates at a specific speed while LEDs flash at the frequency of the note; the “wagon wheel effect” causes the disc to look like it’s sitting still when perfectly in tune. The distinctive pattern allows tuning to different octaves. The approximate frequency of the note “E” at the octave this album begins is 165 Hz, and Synthesis Technnology modules were all named “E” and some digits, e.g. E520, E352, etc.)
In the notes below, hardware is in bold and software is in italics. Basic utilities, dynamics/EQ processing, and some simple modulation sources are usually omitted from the descriptions unless they played an unusual role.
The main bass that I used was a Maurizio Uber Basses Miezo, 18 inch 5-string, described here. I also played a Hadean UKB-23 ukulele bass with Aquila Thunderbrown strings.
For controllers I use MN 0-Ctrl, 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: Wavesfactory Spectre, Toneboosters Equalizer Pro, Waves Curve Equator, DDMF MagicDeathEye, RJ Studios SideMinder Max, Voxengo Elephant & OVC-128 with metering from Voxengo Span Plus & Correlometer and YuLean Loudness Meter.
AD = Audio Damage
BW = Bitwig
IME = Industrial Music Electronics
ISS = Inertia Sound Systems
MI = Mutable Instruments
MN = Make Noise
MüB = Maurizio Uber Basses
NE = Noise Engineering
NI = Native Instruments
RE = Rabid Elephant
UA = Unfiltered Audio
WR = Whimsical Raps
01 Among The Stars
- MüB Miezo, Audiority Velvet Machine, BW Gate, Aegean Pitchproof, JMG Cyberdrive Core, Valhalla Delay, Make Noise QPAS (in parallel).
- A snippet of #1, looped and layered in.
- Another snippet of #1, filtered and pitched down an octave in Sound Forge, with Valhalla Plate.
- Miezo, Audiority Velvet Machine, MN Multimod. 6 Multimod outputs through Takaab Nearness, NI Raum, Sinevibes Integer, Dawesome Hate. 2 other Multimod outputs through NE Fala Versio, MN Mimeophon.
Full mix through Velvet Machine.
02 Caper
- DecadeBridge Sn, WR Silhouette with MN Mimeophon patched in feedback. Sequence from MN 0-Ctrl, modulation from WR Just Friends & MI Stages.
- VCV Rack [3x E355 morphing dual LFO, E350 Morphing Terrarium, NOI Sinensis], Moog MF-101S filter, NE Imitor.
- Xfer Serum 2, Valhalla Delay. Sequence from 510k Seqund. (This sounds like two parts thanks to velocity controlling the level of a lower octave oscillator.)
- Arturia Easel V, ISS Hinder, Aberrant DSP Lair
03 Auscultation
- Drone extracted in Sound Forge from a Hadean uke bass note.
- Uke bass, feedback loop with MN Strega and Bitwig Frequency Shifter.
- Uke bass, Valhalla Delay, MN Strega, Arturia Minibrute 2S, MN Spectraphon, Valhalla Supermassive.
- Uke bass through MN Strega, captured in MN Multimod; MN Mimeophon, MN QPAS
entire mix at end through Audiority Velvet Machine and Valhalla Supermassive.
04 Permanent Error
- DecadeBridgbe Sn, MI Beads, NE Lacrima Versio, Valhalla Vintage Verb
- RYK Algo, RE Natural Gate, ISS Hinder; played on MN 0-Ctrl
- VCV Rack [2x E340 Cloud Generator, Sckitam 2D Rotation, 2x Cytomic CF100], AD Ratshack Reverb
- NE Ataraxic Iteritas, Doepfer A-130-8 VCA, MI Blades, MN Multimod, WR Silhouette, Brainworx BX_Aura
- Arturia Easel V, Valhalla Room
05 Trudge
- MüB Miezo, BW Grid [comparator through VCA controlled by the amplitude envelope of a dome filter, Sallen-Key filter], Valhalla Delay, Audiority Velvet Machine, D16 Decimort 2, 3x Sinevibes Integer in series, Brainworx BX_Aura. Also through Valhalla Room & additional EQ/compression in the first sections.
- Miezo captured in MN Mimeophon, MN Multimod and MI Beads in parallel, into NI Raum. Beads pitch modulated by NE Clep Diaz.
- Miezo, same Grid patch as #1, D16 Decimort 2, Sinevibes Integer. Rhythm adjusted, dynamics flattened and pitched down an octave in Sound Forge; Wavesfactory Spectre at end.
- Miezo captured in MN Multimod, WR Silhouette, Sonic Charge Echobode, Aberrant DSP Lair. Multimod and Silhouette modulated by NE Clep Diaz & MI Stages.
06 Flying Bigfoot
- DecadeBridge Sn, MN Mimeophon. Sequence from MN 0-Ctrl.
- VCV Rack [E350 Morphing Terrarium], Arturia EFX Refract, Sinevibes Integer
- ALM Akemie’s Castle, WR Silhouette with Shadow feedback, NI Raum. Silhouette Spot & Focus (delay time) modulated by NE Clep Diaz (causing pitch changes even though Castle’s pitch is fixed)
- Arturia Easel V, MN Multimod, Takaab Nearness, Audiority Tube Modulator, JMC Retronaut, UA Sandman Pro
07 Mundus Sine Caesaribus
- MüB Miezo sampled and pitch-shifted and looped; Audiority Velvet Machine, with Toneboosters Equalizer Pro emphasizing specific harmonics.
- Miezo, Jam Origin MIDI Bass, MN Strega, Arturia Minibrute 2S, Bitwig Gate. Layered with a looped snippet of itself, with EQ and dynamics processing to partly fill in the gated gaps. Only half the notes were actually played; alternating notes are the echoes from Strega’s delay.
- Miezo, Aegean Pitchproof (down an octave, 100%), Minimal Audio Invigorate, Dawesome Hate, two instances of NE Imitor.
- Miezo, Pitchproof (up a fifth, mixed), Overloud Gem Mod, Strega, Minibrute, Audiroity Tube Modulator, Valhalla Supermassive.
08 Won’t You Have Some Tea?
- DecadeBridge Sn, WR Silhouette, NE Fala Versio, VCV Rack [Sckitam 2D Rotation], Sinevibes Integer
- IME Zorlon Cannon mk2, MN Multimod, Takaab Nearness, RE Natural Gate, Aberrant DSP Lair
- VCV Rack [E350 Morphing Terrarium modulated by E355 Morphing Dual LFO], AD Circa (looping 3 separate times).
- NE Cursus Vereor, NI Raum, D16 Decimort 2, Valhalla Delay. Sequenced by [secret beta test product]
- Arturia Easel V, Phonolyth Cascade
09 Osmium
- MüB Miezo, Mystic Circuits Ana 2, MN QPAS, MN Mimeophon, Valhalla Room. Ana and QPAS modulated by MN Multimod.
- Miezo captured in AD Circa, TAL G-Verb
- Miezo, Audiority Velvet Machine, captured in AD Circa, Nudist Audio Nudistort, Valhalla Delay
10 Mostly True Tale
- DecadeBridge Sn with its output multed to its own VCA CV input and the Algorithm button held down, Freakshow Industries MISHBY
- Sn with its VCA modulated by envelopes from MI Stages triggered by three MN Multimod outputs, Sinevibes Integer
- 4 other Multimod outputs, Takaab Nearness, NE Fala Versio
- VCV Rack [E350 Morphing Terrarium modulated by E355 Morphing Dual LFP], Fors Sala, Toneboosters Equalizer Pro emphasizing the reverb
- Madrona Labs Aalto sequenced by 510K Seqund, captured in AD Circa; resampled with a feedback loop patched around Circa.
- Arturia Easel V, amplitude modulation from MI Blades self-oscillating, AD Circa acting as a triple tape delay with reverb on one layer, Valhalla Delay.
several iterations of Valhalla Plate at the end.