Making Some Minimalistic Techno

[Alex K]

I need to make some computer music. I'll get back to y'all

[Edwardo Piet]

Withheld grace kind of reminds me of "The Orb."

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Do you like The Orb?

I quite like their Don Solaris album but I'm not much of a fan of them.

I'm much more of a fan of Orbital. Orbital are my favorite band of all time.

[The Industrial Atheist]

Withheld grace kind of reminds me of "The Orb."

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Do you like The Orb?

I quite like their Don Solaris album but I'm not much of a fan of them.

I'm much more of a fan of Orbital. Orbital are my favorite band of all time.

I have fond memories of The Orb but haven't listened to them in quite some time. Like my name, I mainly listen to Post-Industrial and Darkwave.

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[Edwardo Piet]

Have you heard Orbital?

[Rev. Rye]

That massive plateau on the first one worries me; you ever read about the loudness war? It just makes everything sound worse.

Also, I'm currently rewatching the Knick (an excellent show, by the way; if you can stomach the graphic surgery scenes or the racism that's part and parcel of New York in 1902, drop what you're doing and watch it, whether it's on iTunes, Amazon Video, or the DVD/Blu-Ray editions), and Cliff Martinez does some pretty good minimalist techno with his score:





And there's about 20 episodes' worth of music where that came from, and, if it's not being performed on camera, it's all in this low-key techno vein.

And, of course, there's a lot of "Serious" classical composers who could easily be good inspirations for such an endeavour, Steve Reich in particular.

[Edwardo Piet]

I love Steve Reich's music for 18 musicians. That's gorgeous.

What massive plateau?

---

Here's one of the first ever classic successful minimalist techno albums:





Oh and yeah I totally know about the loudness war. I didn't realize my song was loud. You must have your volume turned up high... I always have mine near the bottom

That way my songs are only super loud when you have the volume up max

The idea is maximally loud should only happen at maximum loudness

I almost always have my volume right down the bottom. Even when recording....so of course if you want your music quiet then have the volume on low

[The Industrial Atheist]

Have you heard Orbital?

That's the first track of theirs I've heard, and I like it. I appreciate the harshness and sense of urgency. Those are some of my favorite things about Industrial Music. Well sometimes Dark Ambient and more Ambient leaning Electro-Industrial can meander a bit.

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[Edwardo Piet]

Wow. First track of theirs you've heard?

Try this one on for size:





And here's them live:





They're amazing live.

I think they're the only fully instrumental techno act that's ever been so highly critically acclaimed live.

[Rev. Rye]

Oh and yeah I totally know about the loudness war. I didn't realize my song was loud. You must have your volume turned up high... I always have mine near the bottom

That way my songs are only super loud when you have the volume up max

The idea is maximally loud should only happen at maximum loudness

I almost always have my volume right down the bottom. Even when recording....so of course if you want your music quiet then have the volume on low

Seriously, you didn't notice that the fact that most of the Soundform waveform for "Minimal 2" was almost completely flat, implying a complete lack of dynamics.

Here's the thing: dynamics is a big part of what makes music interesting.

Just to take one example, here's the orginal mix of "Killing in the Name of". The original release of that album is actually praised and is actually used by many audiophiles to test equipment. Now listen to the "Fuck You I won't do what you tell me!" section about three minutes in, how Zack de la Rocha's lyrics slowly build up from whispers to screams, and the mastering reflects that:





And then, 20 years later, they really dropped the ball. Notice how, despite the fact that while you can notice when his delivery changes, the volume really doesn't.





Really, it's not about simple volume. It's about poor mastering making music that should sound good a lot worse. And, yes, some of the most famous producers in music today, like David Friedman and Rick Rubin, are notorious for this. Really, after looking into this, I can't help but think that something like this is happening throughout the mastering rooms of the music world (start around 2 minutes in):





Bear in mind that the biggest catalyst for this was the heavily brickwalled mix of "Wonderwall," produced by Noel Gallagher in the height of his cocaine addiction.

[Edwardo Piet]

Yeah I know about the loudness war.

My point was not that my song doesn't lack a variety in volumes... my point is that my song isn't too loud if you don't have the volume up too high.