As of lately I have had a real fascination with hardware and making it sound as raw it can sound.

I really love the texture and grit of equipment, especially when something isn’t working right. My ears prick up when I can hear the values step on tunings due to dirty pots and knobs. My favorite is when oscillators sound like eggs being cooked in corn oil, all spittery and sputtery.

I thought about it for a while and decided that I wanted to find a hardware delay that sounded kinda nasty. I wanted to hear the low bit rate of an old digital delay, so I sought one out. I knew that I would be tweaking it out so I wasn’t worried when I first took a listen to it.

At first the DM1000 sounded rather nice. No real grit to speak of, no real bit rate degradation.

I opened it up (with the encouragement of Matt Scopp) and found some nice little pots that said, of all things, clock. Nice.

Actual 4 bit sound playback sounds totally different than 4 bit crushed audio, played back and output as 24 bit from a computer. The real 4 bit output has real crunch, density and presence

In order to make some nice sounds I hooked up a few more pieces of gear. My trusty Oberheim OB-1 that has just been resurrected from the grave, and, i dug up the ‘wrekah’ — a bent ibanez distortion pedal that does one thing, wreck sound

I hooked the wrekah up to the Elektron Machinedrum. You can hear it come in at 4:32 in session 2.

All of that and some midiverb 4, and away we go.

There are 2 different pieces in this series. The first piece is entitled ‘oberheim’, and it was the third take during the first session. That session took place during Matt Scopp’s visit. The second piece is entitled ‘hardware’ and was recorded earlier today. I mastered both of these tracks today, July 26 2008.

Theses pieces are about playing with tension and release, challenging the listener’s focus, and the suspension of disbelief. These are themes that I enjoy exploring again and again. I feel there is a lot of work that can be done in this realm.

I found it interesting to look at both of these waveforms side by side so I decided to share the screen grabs. It appears that both performances have a similar overarching structure, as well as, interestingly enough, timing. It could almost be said that they are different performances based on the same score.

Session 1 Overview

Listen to a clip of session 1: oberheim

oberheim session clip

Session 2 Overview

Listen to a clip of session 2: hardware

hardware session clip

Zip of both sessions.

Follow the link below to download both sessions mp3s in their entirety.

Download zip of MP3s here - [30 meg / 2 files]

So, I am sure that you know about The Wire. It is the ‘Modern Music’ magazine based out of the UK. They write some of the most in-depth and well informed reviews and articles that you’ll find anywhere, on the web or in print. Really. Where else will you find a magazine that features, ON THE COVER artists such as Ricardo Villalobos, Phil Niblock, Throbbing Gristle, Terry Reily and Vladislav Delay? Absolutely no place. They are pretty much ‘the defacto’ place you turn to when you want to read about the stuff that really matters.

If you didn’t know, on their site they have some really great exclusive content - both mixes and tracks. One of my favorites is a Mira Calix mix from the ‘Faster than Sound’ festival competition page. Some are to download, and some are to stream. Downloading is nice, streaming is problematic if you want to listen to that track on your iPod while riding the subway. You can trick the site into letting you download the files if you take a look at the URL and modify it slightly. I don’t want to get into too much trouble so that is all I will say on that. :)

The other reccent audio treat that has been tickling my ears is the 74 minute uneditted interview with the iconic free jazz trumpeter Bill Dixon.

I can’t help but think that this interview would make for some *amazing* source materail for sampling and sourcing. Stream only? Not really a problem. Take a look at the URL and do a little tweaking and you should be good to go.

Keep on reading and listening to all the wonderful music that is out there!

Recently I had the honor of participating in a series of releases curated and released over on the modyfier blog. Shepherded by the ever-insightful Rayna, this series of site-specific works focuses it’s attention on not only the product of the works, but on the process behind them.

I wrote a 3 page paper to accompany the 4 composition to be posted on the site. Here is an excerpt of what I wrote.

“… Another aspect of the project was that improvisation was used as a central part of the compositional structure. The general form for each song was created using a MIDI sequencer, but the final recorded version was a combination of improvised performance and structured composition. It was this paring of improvisation and composition that allowed this series of compositions to stay fresh and novel. …”

Visit modyfier for the full text as well as to download the tracks. They are experimental and minimal.

Artist: Richard J Valeo
Title: Programmatic Responses
Catalog Number: trans.009
Type: Digital EP
Release Date: 14.05.2008
Format: 320 CBR MP3
Duration: 28.3 minutes
Size: 61.5 meg
Purchase:

Programmatic Responses, the first release by artist RJ Valeo under his ‘Richard J Valeo’ moniker, explores some of the darker and more complex ideas first presented on his 2003 Type Records release “September”.

Through the use of constantly evolving rhythmic and melodic structures, “Programmatic Responses” draws us into a hypnotic world of rhythmic evolution. Created from overlapping pattern fragments repeated at un-synchronized lenghs, and overlapping melodic elements that are built from Reich-like “phasing” time signatures, the compositions on “Programmatic Responses” are based firmly in the digital-futurist world.

Created using a custom developed live composition and mixing environment (comprised of Numerology and Bidule) the compositions were performed and captured live in one pass with no post production. With “Programmatic Responses”, Valeo — a student of the groove, creates the perfect soundtrack in response to and for the constantly shifting inhabitants of modern cities everywhere.

Now available on Amazon.com for purchase.

Artist: Jeremy Idol
Title: Moonbase Apha
Catalog Number: TRANS.008
Type: Digital Single
Format: 320 kbps MP3
Duration: 4:23 minutes
Size: 10.2 meg
Link:

So, I don’t usually post music on my site from other producers, but this is one of those exceptions, I mean, Moonbase Alpha? How could I refuse!?. A friend of mine that I have worked with in the past hit me up with this track and asked if I was interested in releasing it on IO-Records when it re-launches this fall. While I really do love the track, I can’t release it (and get him paid) due to the fact that it has some samples in it that are going to be cost-prohibitive to license.

It’s an electro-ish techno track that has influences from old school industrial, glitch and a little bit of “the edit” throw in. I hope that you enjoy “Moonbase Alpha”. If you are a sci-fi head as I am I am sure you can tell where he sourced the sample from, if the cover art didn’t give it away already. Enjoy.

Listen Here:
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/jeremy_idol/Moonbase_Alpha.mp3]

Artist: Isomer Transition
Title: Mission to Mars
Catalog Number: TRANS.007
Type: Digital EP
Format: 160 kbps MP3
Duration: 28 minutes
Size: 28 meg
Link:

Mission to Mars, the first episode in the “Behind the Shadow of the Moon” story series, is now available as a free 160 kbps download on transelectronic.net. If you prefer 320 kbps or WAV format you can purchase them from Beatport.

Diaspora is the story of a group of renegades scientists that are racing to Jupiter to save a mysterious planetoid from being destroyed. Releases in this series take the form of audio narratives, with the song titles representing ’scenes’. You can read Captain Rethan Doepfer’s journal entries and other story snippets here.

This is a digital release on transelectronic.net of a previously released EP. In addition to this site the music is available via iTunes, eMusic, Beatport and other fine digital retailers. The reason that I am giving these tracks away is that it makes me happy to have people listen to my work. If you like the tracks, make a donation to my paypal account (rjvaleo@gmail.com) or simply email me and let me know what you think.

Listen to the tracks:
Deep in Space - 6:00
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/01_Deep_In_Space.mp3]
Loop Me Through to Control the Mains - 6:38
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/02_Loop_Me_Through_to_Control_the_Mains.mp3]
The Exploration of Region 13 - 5:49
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/03_The_Exploration_of Region_13.mp3]
Space Madness - 6:26
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/04_Space_Madness.mp3]

Download this release as 160 kbps mp3s - CLICK HERE

Purchase this release on Beatport as WAVs or as 320 kbps mp3 - CLICK HERE

Isomer Transition Live in NYC @ LESS, Jan 26 2008

Title: Live at LESS Jan 26, 2008
Artist: Isomer Transition
Catalog Number: TRANS.006
Type: Live Performance
Year Recorded: 2008
Format: 267 kbps VBR MP3
Duration: 1 hour 07 Minutes
Size: 128.9 meg
Link:

Recorded live at Igal, Eddie and Vadim’s weekly minimal techno party on the lower east side of NYC at The Annex. Their night there is called, appropriately enough, LESS. They even use the << as a “logo” of sorts.

The night is one of the better weeklies in NYC for techno, and I have had the honor of playing at LESS several times. The crowd is always into the music, and people come there to dance, amongst other things.

This set, recorded 2 days after my 3o-somethingith birthday is particularly special to me as it is all new material never played out before. For this performance I used Ableton Live for audio, an M-Audio sound interface, and both a Drehbank and Trigger Finger for control. I hope that you enjoy.

The cover art for this release was donated by my good friend Ilan Katin. He is a graphic designer, and VJ that is currently residing, in all places, Switzerland.