Sure, it’s not as simple as just do X, Y, Z because who knows what was done, what was processed and reprocessed, and what version ended up on the recording after multiple sessions – BoC are known for retrying things over and over and being very meticulous. But trying to reverse engineer something in this way is only going to lead to frustration imo – maybe even BoC couldn’t recreate it exactly as it was if they were tasked to do so because they have forgotten what happened etc etc. My main point was that it’s not the specific techniques as such but the near-endless experimentation, the careful crafting of a sound aesthetic, and knowing exactly when things are just perfect for your tastes. Knowing when to stop processing.
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Try it again. Your onto something
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I’ll take a guess here. After listening to the first track, and then the video where the sample may be coming from, I would guess that the sample is possibly pitched down and processed and used for the background, while someone noodles over top on a synth with a triangle oscillator patch. I don’t believe the sample makes up the entirety of the track. Just a guess.
Of course, for all this to be true, we also have to believe that what is stated on that website, about where the sample came from, is accurate.
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The SP404MKII’s workflow involves a lot of resampling, and I’m finding that by pitching, slowing, applying effects, layering, and resampling over and over as part of the workflow, you often end up with stuff that is totally unrecognizable from the original source material, which can be good or bad. I’m actually having to make notes in certain cases as I can no longer even recall what the original samples are. I don’t think I could replicate some of these sounds myself, let alone anyone else.
When I was researching this sampler before I got it, I was thinking that there was something very BoC about the workflow.
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Yeah, it’s not like there are any unrecognised and misunderstood men that have killed themselves with substance abuse in the art world. She had the rare opportunity to do what ever she wanted and she did just that. Addiction is addiction no matter what the gender is. I find this kind of victimising by blame shifting absolutely ridiculous.
I’d look at that from a different angle: The best performers let simple techniques shine in a very special light. You could call that aura.
What differentiates an artist from the mundane is the courage/intuition/boldness/… to do so and put that into a new meaningful context.
I’m struggling with this, this month. It comes and goes, I guess.
To my ears, they took that tiny fragment (4s was it?) from the very end, deep into the fade-out; then slowed it down (not just pitched down, but actually slower, it was the 90s after all)… then repeated it every bar or two, through loads of processing - all of tone, dynamics and time modifications (reverb/delay). It’s not a straight loop, I think it cuts off leaving only the reverb/delays between triggerings. The gap serves as a dynamics change, so the overall effect is like a wave. It’s really nice. I almost never do that kind of design (I’m very synths-first).
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Great analysis. What you say makes perfect sense and goes a bit deeper.