The main voice in this says "since I started work, I must have lost a grand". This man was recorded on the 208 bus in South London and had plenty to say.
He had been going on about his life in the area. Clearly, he had been in trouble before, sleeping rough and taking drugs. I don't normally earwig in on people's conversations, but (and you can hear it in the track) he had a very penetrating voice and was sat right behind us upstairs. He pointed things out to his mate "I had a shag down there", and "I used to sleep in there, but they've tidied it up now. I woke up on fire once". He wasn't sure if it was falling asleep after doing a crack pipe that had caused the fire or whether his mates had set light to him. For the bit put into the track, he was going on about being ripped off by credit card companies. "Since I started work, I must have lost a grand".
The crowd voices were recorded at a protest march by the Congolese people in Whitehall, London. They were marching in protest of thier leader, I must admit I do not know much about Congo. The signs people held seemed to say that rape and murder were going on on a massive scale at the hands of their government. My son Dillon and I wandered into this march by chance. I recorded sound whilst Dillon took photographs. We got a lot of useful material. The march wasn't on the news that day.
Both of these samples seem to reflect our current troubled times. the man on the bus is one of the people that our idiot leader really wants to go away. But he won't will he? Boris (the mayor of London) promised to rid the streets of London of people sleeping rough by the end of this year. It transpires that the figures are rising instead. Cameron wants to take their benefits away. They juggle the figures. Putting graduates into Poundland stacking shelves for no extra money except for the benefits they recieve. Cuts to education and the health services. Times of austerity they say. Yet if you taxed the mega-rich 20% of their income for a year (don't worry, it won't hurt them) it could generate something like 80 billion pounds. So, no need for cuts then. It drives you round the bend..
Other sounds: There are shortwave clips and some synth loops built by Andi using Figure on the iPhone and some built by myself using Logic, and some synthetics made using a clip of white noise that has been sent through filtering and modulation effects. There is also a treated recording of a digger on a building site.
This track might be the last in the series of free ones we have dished out this year (it is the 8th). What we plan to do next is add one more to the collection and put it out on BandCamp as an album with some extra stuff (artwork and bonus tracks).
There is plenty more to come too.. This will be followed by a second album of new material and some tracks from the archives... we also still hope to perform some some live work. This time in front of an audience and with some visual things as well..
"Tang" is the result of a jam we had that was based around a couple of groups of sounds. The first group was a collection of loops made in Logic. These are the drum patterns, the distant reverberating synth, the twisting arpeggio pattern and a stabbing synth riff. The second group are a collection of shortwave samples recorded on the 1980s charity shop radio we acquired and some feedback guitar.
We began preparations for the jam (as we do most times) by "breaking" all of our sound samples using the various effects processing options in Ableton. We do this on our laptops at the same time as each other, which enables us to merge and knit the sounds together. Sometimes sounds get re-tuned or time-stretched in order to work well together.
In this tune, I felt that the feedback and shortwave melded particularly well, at times almost becoming one sound.
Once all the sounds are sufficiently broken, and we both feel we have enough material to work with for an improvisation, we jam it.
What you hear is a practically unedited version of the jam. I only chopped some of the beginning off. Once the jam was recorded the next step is the mixdown. What I do is to merge Andi's saved arrangement and mine together one one computer. Levels need to be adjusted, and in this process often new elements are revealed. This is partly because of the better monitoring conditions and partly because the dynamics are improved or I will alter the tone to create more space in the sonic landscape to assist clarity.
However, in X-Amount, we are often dealing with noise. Shortwave and feedback are prime examples, and what will happen in the process of creating "space" is that the noise elements become textures that sometimes will drift in the background, or sometimes will totally dominate and pollute this sonic landscape.
As I put the mix for "Tang" together I felt it needed some new parts. I added a sub bass pattern to give weight, and a snare beat (slightly "broken") and a white noise "cymbal" to help the rhythmic parts which were getting swallowed a little.
That was it, except for a couple of tweaks in the automation which I tried to make sound as human as possible, a bit like a hand slipping on the mixing desk. I used to believe in a clinical robotic perfection, maybe because my early years in mixing and recording during the late 1980s were highly inspired and influenced by the beautiful electronic productions of bands like Yello, Prince, Scritti Pollitti and the introduction of digital audio. Now, for me, perfection is built around the beauty of human error and decay and breakup in sound.
The fourth in a series of single track, free download releases for 2012. "Wire Frame Ghost" is an edit from a recent laptop jam at Andi's place. It is virtually unchanged from the original jam, we only shortened the beginning a little.
It is a more mellow track than some of our other recent efforts, and we hope that you enjoy this slightly different vibe. It begins with our typical sounds.. shortwave radio, sonar, and piano strings being plucked. Other sounds join; filtered white noise and tape hiss, backwards acoustic guitar harmonics, plus new sounds created with digital synths in Logic and patterns Andi generated using the Korg iMS20 on the iPad. Check the Korg out here. Its an amazing piece of kit.
The title "Wire Frame Ghost" seemed to fit the vibe generated from metal strings and electronic interference. Artwork is again by Andi.
New ones for Feb 2012. The second in a series of one track releases. "He Was A Chef, He Was" is initially an edit of a laptop jam we had. The "Bubble & Squeak" remix was done in Logic Express. Both are free to download. Enjoy, and as Andi says "hope it doesn't make your ears bleed too much".
The first new track from X-Amount this year. It's called "I Told You Not To Eat That" and, as usual, it's a free download. This will be the first in a series of free tracks we will release in the next coming weeks. The track is an edited version of an instrumental jam we had at Andi's place. The original was fifteen minutes long. I have cut it down to six, and only did some minor adjustments to complete it as it is now. We did the usual thing, I had prepared some musical loops in Logic, and then we improvised some tracks using the loops and some field recordings in Ableton. This time though we had some new bits of kit to try out. We had both bought the very cheap Korg NanoKontrol 2, which gave us a series of knobs and faders that we could assign to various digital controls in Ableton.
The Korg NanoKontrol 2
This is why the track ended up so heavy on the dubs. It was great fun. We set things up so that we had knobs on the NanoKontrol set to control delays, reverbs, filters and so on in Ableton. It was easier to fade tracks in and out using real faders (rather than fiddle with the cursor on screen). It was quite liberating and not only sped the workflow up but also enabled us to do things that we could not do before, controlling several parameters at once. It meant that it freed up more space for creativity than having us bogged down in setting up (having said that, did have to spend a little time preparing first, choosing parameters for the jams and getting it all to work properly). This "freedom to create" is an Apple ethic, and one I firmly support. In the days that Andi and I put together the tracks that became "Some Previous" and "Leakage" in the 1990s, it would take us hours, or sometimes days just to get the sounds set up. Programming samplers, synths with no memory, cabling everything together via hardware effects (that would sometimes need programming) into mixers, then programming beat-by-beat into an ancient version of Cubase on the Atari STe and eventually (after having to rehearse the mix several times) recording it all to yet another device.
1990s X-Amount gear
Nowadays you are up and running in minutes or even seconds. Mind you, we hit some problems and found some of Ableton's shortcomings. Any movement you make on the NanoKontrol (such as a knob, fader movement or button press) can be recorded by Ableton, or so we thought. It turns out that this is not the case with the solo buttons. We had jammed three tracks before we realised this, and Andi had gone to town with the solo buttons creating fantastic shocks and jolts in the arrangement whilst I caused mayhem with delays. It all became apparent on playback. No recorded solo buttons. Furthermore, we found that there is no way to set this up either. We have since experimented with using one button to create multiple mutes, but have not managed to get this working successfully yet. Ideas anyone? What it meant for the mix, is that I had to play the fifteen minute jam and sit with a notebook, writing down all Andi's solo movements and then programming them back in on the mute buttons in Ableton. Tedious. Anyway, I think that the end result was worth the hassle. We hope you like it. Let us know what you think.. plus, if anyone has any ideas regarding the non-automated solo buttons in Ableton, please let us know. We love your comments! Simon x Thanks PS: The artwork photo at the top of the page is one in a series of scaffolding pictures by Andi.
Head To Head was a band based in Salisbury (2005-2008) that I played keyboard live for (in the studio I also played some guitar on the recordings and produced & mixed).
"Whatever" was one of the most popular songs for Head To Head, both live and the studio versions. This version was recorded with Lou Watts singing the lead vocals and never mixed down until now.
Lou was a friend of the band, having previously worked with Tack (bass) and Noel (drums/vocals), and she also kindly co-ordinated our visit to her hometown of Gorinchem in Holland, where we played some of our best gigs, and Lou also sang with us on the visit. She also joined us at Glastonbury in 2007, where we played a storming set at Slippery Dick's Love Shack.
We recorded Lou over the top the demo versions of the songs that we had completed before we went on to record the Head To Head album that is available on iTunes. The demo versions are still available for free download on LastFM (here), and in some ways these raw early versions are better than the frantic sounding album versions. This was the only track that Lou recorded lead vocal on, but there are four others that she recorded backing vocal for, which I shall also remix at some point. (Simon).
Lou (left) singing with Head To Head at Glastonbury 2007
Another remix from "Degraded". This one took a couple of days before I was happy with it. Often I will get the whole thing done in a day, I like to work fast on a remix, as it is easy to lose sight of what you are doing when you become over-familiar with something. I have spent hours on these tracks. It's the same as when an artist creates a painting. You get so involved in all the tiny details and technicalities that you can easily lose sight of what the thing looks like to your audience, or you can forget what it was that you set out to do in the first place.
I had intended to produce an extended version of "Flight" (or "Short Flight" as it is known on the album version), firstly because it is one of my personal favourites and secondly, because I wanted a version that I could DJ with.
As I began re-arranging the track and stripping away the sounds, I had ideas for additional parts, so I created a short reference mix and imported it into Logic. Then I dusted off my guitar and recorded the rhythm guitar part. It did not sound quite as tight as I wanted (partly because I had lost my box of plectrums and had played it in using a home-made one cut out from a business card), but it seemed to work ok.
The synth part I had in mind I thought would suit the Pulse, so I set about programming. This can be a very difficult process. It feels like walking along a tightrope to me. The Pulse sounds so lush, and each time you try something like adjusting the filters, you get inspired to go with what occurs, so its easy to get distracted and seduced by its versatility. You can lose what was in your head in the first place.
All the same, I managed to stay focussed and created a new loop. Once I heard it against the track though, it was not quite working, so I dumped it and, after some experimentation, created it using Logic's ES1 synth.
After that, it was back to Ableton and into the remix. I got the arrangement in place and added some dub effects, which reminded me of days when I did a lot of live dub with bands like Back To The Planet. I added the dubs live just like I would have done in analogue days by throwing echos and reverb smashes at the drums mostly. Doing it live keeps an organic nature to the track.
Eventually, after re-organising some parts and balancing levels until I felt they were correct I decided that it was finished.
Being "finished" is another area of mixing and production which is the same as painting (or writing, or other arts) which is crucial and tricky to get exactly right. You can easily over-work something, or miss something vital, or lose sight of the big picture.
I reckon its ok. I often get a bit of a buzz when I am working that tells me "this could be a good one" and I got one this time round.
So.. there are now 4 remixed tracks from the "Degraded" sessions. That might be it. Andi and I will begin work on new material soon. Also, sadly I think, there has been a rather apathetic reaction to my requests for others to remix us (and to the album to be honest - a few loved it, mind), so we may move on.
We still want to put the live show together, but it could well take time as the practical aspects of the project are proving difficult to sort out.
Another remix for your downloady and listening pleasures.
I did this one slightly differently. As I wanted to add more synths, I moved the whole track's parts into Logic Express, and remixed it there. I created some new versions of Andi's building site loops, and added some madness using Logic's ring modulator and spectral filters. Again, it was intended to be more DJ friendly.. I am considering abusing people's ears with an X-Amount DJ set somewhere soon. Offers?
I thought it might be of some interest (especially to the musos and techies out there) to describe the way that X-Amount have been constructing the new album, as our process (we think) is somewhat unusual.
At first Andi & I thought it best that we keep our methods secret for fear of being ripped off, but there are a couple of reasons that changed our mind. Firstly, that even if other artists copied our methods completely, stole all our samples and tried to do the same thing entirely, it would still come out differently to our version and should be quite interesting to hear anyhow.
The second reason is that we have such a minimal audience, it probably wouldn't make any difference anyway. We have decided to give all our music away free, and have no illusions about becoming pop-stars any more (we used to think that was on the cards when we were young and pretty), so we really have nothing much to lose.
Personally, I have had plenty of attempts by people to steal what I do in the past, they never came out the same (and usually were poor imitations). These days we would welcome some skilled imitators, they could do gigs with us, or even pretend to be us for all we care (preferably wearing mustaches).
Anyhow.. after the Gits Encroaching EP, we decided that we would maintain momentum and go for more explorations in sound with a view to putting out another album. We seemed to be on a roll with our new working methods and, most importantly, we were really enjoying ourselves.
The Zoom H2
So... the first thing that happens is that Andi collects a group of sound recordings with his iPhone and I collect a group using my Zoom H2. The Zoom is an excellent portable recorder that has 4 condenser microphones built into its small frame that enable stereo and surround recording, and I am sure you all know the iPhone.
We have captured loads of stuff: drainpipes, building site noise, thunder, squeaky gates, pumps, engines, animals, gas, water, conversation and ambience of all kinds, subtle types as well as horrible rackets.
These sounds are then transferred into the free sound editor Audacity on the computer, and chopped into usable sections.
Audacity
The other part of pre-production is done using Logic Express on the Mac. I record live bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitar and again these parts are eventually edited into usable loops using Audacity (I find it easier to convert to mono using Audacity and this saves on CPU later). I use Logic's amp simulators as well as some dynamic effects like compression, limiting and equalisation, but essentially the sounds are recorded dry so that we can process them later at the improvisation stage.
recording bass in Logic
The drums and percussion parts are done slightly differently. Some percussion parts have been recorded live (like tambourines and simple tapping) but most of the samples we have created so far have been programmed.
The Roland R8 MkII
We have built up a library in the last few months that involves drum patterns that come from either Ultrabeat in Logic or from our old faithful Roland R8 drum machine. Both devices are highly versatile with large degrees of change possible (such as ADSR, pitch and even filtering). The bass drum and hi-hat patterns are again recorded dry. The snare patterns are mostly recorded dry, but we have also found it useful to record variants with reverbs and other effects recorded on, as often the sounds get reversed or twisted, and having an effect already present in the sample can yield exciting results.
Ultrabeat in Logic
The percussion tracks are put together in the same way, sometimes with mad effects or edits. Logic has some impressive and unique effects, these are great with percussion (often create keyboard parts using them as well).
The keyboard loops are created either by recording live from my WaldorfPulse or the Novation Bass Station (we have also considered sampling the old Roland D110 thats gathering dust after listening to some of the sounds created on it for "some previous"). Or they are recorded after I have programmed sounds using the synths inside Logic.
The Waldorf Pulse+ & Novation Bass Station
After all this preparation we then set up for a session at Andi's place. The last few times we have worked we have begun with 50 or 60 new loops.
We both listen to the new material quickly. Some loops have been created to work together, but this is rarely adhered to. We copy each others loops and field recordings onto each others laptops and we are ready to go.
Each Mac is running Ableton Live, and using the Mac's "Airport", we are able to synchronise the pair wirelessly. Initially we select loops and warp them out of shape using time-stretching, pitch-shifting, filtering and any of Live's effects which, like Logic's, often have their own unique sounds and sonic possibilities.
Effects in Ableton Live
Soon the layers of sound begin to gel and we reach a point when we feel we are ready to go and we hit record on each laptop at the same time as recording a reference live mix onto the Zoom via its line-in inputs.
We then attempt to build a groove or atmosphere improvising the arrangement and throwing effects at each other.
Things inevitably reach an agreed conclusion and we move on to the next jam.
eejits
We then end up with a recorded arrangement on each computer for each jam, which I later merge in to one for the mixdowns and edits.
This is done in my home studio where I have a set-up that I know well, acoustically. After getting the levels sounding roughly the same as the reference recordings I then edit the jams down as they are nearly always too long - some have been as long as 25 minutes.
As long as this is done as soon as possible after the initial jam, its fairly obvious which parts to chop out (Andi and I usually discuss the reference recordings before I do this as well).
Ableton Live arrangement page (click on it to see more detail). You can see the list of samples on the left and some in the arrangement itself.
Once edited down to a reasonable size, I am more than often sure about where the "tweaks" need to go. I rarely need to do much as we get pretty close to what we like at the jam stage, and I try my best to maintain the spirit of the initial jam and to avoid any over-working. We have found this sketch-like ethic to be to our advantage.
Editing notes
Errors are corrected (usually they will be minor timing mistakes or unexpected volume errors). Other tweaks will be about perfecting what the effects were supposed to be doing, because at the jam stage we don't want to waste time endlessly adjusting parameters, so we sometimes just get a near approximation of what we were trying to do. However, most of the time we do get it about right in the jam.
I then go about balancing the mix and fixing the dynamic range. Bass guitars have any necessary compression sorted out and I add subtle reverbs here and there to some things as well as moving things around in the stereo field to create a kind of sonic landscape of sound in 5 dimensions. Yes, 5: left, right, near, far and time (sometimes I think there are 7 as it may be possible to move sound up and down too (but that might be the effect of misbehaviour in the old days).
This mix is then exported from Live as an uncompressed stereo sound file. It is better not to compress at this stage (and I am talking about both dynamic compression and file compression) to retain the best possible quality. This is even important when putting together the most hideous racket!
The mixes are then imported into Logic for the final mastering stage.
Mastering in Logic Express
After listening to most (or all) of the tracks for the next release and trying various settings out, I end up with with a template containing combinations of effects, usually an equaliser, compressor, exciter and limiter (in that order). I try my best to get each track to sound as if it belongs with the others in terms of tonal and dynamic quality, so that you end up with a complete sounding finished record.
And thats it. The tracks are exported at full quality and normalised. The artwork and titles are decided upon and finally we upload them as mp3s for people to listen and download. I do also make a few copies on CD as these will have slightly higher quality than mp3, and the artwork looks better too.
I suppose none of this actually sounds that unusual, the unusual part is in our choices of sounds, they way that they are put together and the way that they are processed and manipulated. Both Andi and I see beauty in decay and distortion, feedback and noise. It follows that a squeaky gate can sound beautiful when "singing" over distorted drums and bass. Hopefully our audience hears that beauty too (do ya?).
The initial idea of this piece was to describe the mixing process, but I have already said enough, so I shall write more on that another time..
