Mastering and a new review

Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar have asked me to master their future release of "Wander". Wander is a cooperational project, just like Beequeen is. It is actually the first time I heard their music of Wander, although they have been releasing music since 2000. Wander circles around organ and synth layers, I think it's recorded live.
Of course I know their Beequeen project; I've remastered their second release of Time Waits For No One.

This project is a bit of a challenge since I only got a stereo mix and not multi track project. On the other hand: with the current state of technology there are lots of ways to attack a stereo mix and get more out of it.
Wander on [ discogs.com ]


Other news: Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) was reviewed at Neural.it . Read it [ here ]

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Writing reviews

I have received quite a pile of relases for review during the past weeks. Pheew.. that means listening and listening and then listening and writing. What did I get? Jacob Kirkegaard's "Labyrinthitis", three discs by Zeitkratzer (coops with Carsten Nicolai, Keiji Haino, Terre Thaemlitz), two new Entr'acte releases, Roel Meelkop's "an ear for numbers", Aidan Baker/Tim Hecker, Palac, Morfrom. That's just to name a few.

Reviewing is at the same time a nice way to get into contact with new music, a way to express your thoughts on music and a time consuming effort. I take reviewing music quite seriously. Musicians and composers have gone through great lengths to produce the stuff and it would be quite disrespectful to just dismiss stuff at first hearing or just skipping through the music. So each disc gets at least two hearings before I start writing. So that takes almost two hours. Discs that I don't like or just don't appeal to me, or stuff that is completely off or blatantly following an easy path don't make it to the writing process. Unless someone is applying for a decent slashing, of course!!

Anyway, EARLabs will publish the reviews shortly.

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crackle session #1

I did some serious tests with the crackle box today. I am slowly finding my way with the instrument. My difficult is to produce a steady tone. Most times the tone goes up (slowly or in a flash), I think because there is some kind of capacitator filling up electrons. But you can release the electrons by setting your fingers at different positions on the pads. Another technique is using a spike on the right hand side and the fingers on the left hand side. This enables me to produce much more subtle sounds.

I have recorded the crackle box with a MXL mic and did a second round with the MXL assisted by the binaurals. Let's see where that gets me. If I were to follow Michel Waisvisz's exact instructions I would not even be allowed to record this. Michel seems to have been a good Mensch (I didn't know him personally) but he was a bit too rabiate about performance art. The fact that the crackle box, even the new editions, have no line out plug is because you are not supposed to record it. Only perform with it. Right... So actually there should not be electric guitars either, I guess? Talking Heads wrote a nice song about this, come to think of it. Lemme see where the lyrics are.... ah here:

An electric guitar is brought in to a court of law
The judge and the jury (twelve members of the jury)
All listening to records
This is a crime against the state
This is the verdict they reach:

Never listen to electric guitar

Isn't that weird?

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Krrraakkkllll

Today I received a small package in my mailbox. After opening it I felt like looking into the past. A CRACKLE BOX!!!!! I first encountered a similar box to the one inside in 1984. It was owned by Kees, the bass player of VH De Straks, a local punk band (influenced by Wire, but singing in the Dutch language). I have since never had one in my hands. And now I have my own box. It's number 345 of an edition (the 4th) of 500. It is very cute and invites me to touch it all the time.

I was surprised to see that it is (almost) exact like the old ones. I expected to see a slot for a connection to a mixer or something like that. Instead it is still producing the noise through a tinny speaker. Which adds to the romantic feeling of course. The box is built with delicacy, just like a cigar box, out of cedar (?) wood, lackered.

You read all about the crackle box [ here ]

Thanks, Dick Rijken !!! I'm quite happy with my precious!

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Re-aligning a zebra

Have been working on a Zebra composition. Roel Meelkop and Frans de Waard produced this a month ago. It's just two stereo tracks that I placed in Reaper and started working on. Zebra's working method is, in the studio, quite straightforward. They talk about a theme (like 70's sympho rock), prepare this at home and then go to the studio. There they do some trials and then record directly to disc.

So my material is an almost finished mix, actually. But, since i am given total freedom to do what I want,that's exactly what I do: what I want.

Look and listen: [ zebra at myspace ]

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