#61

one of my favorites:

this sounds almost like an acoustic take on the electric drone music of Rafael Toral; it’s vibrant, full-bodied, and affecting.

this was recorded during summer 2008, it’s my mates and I (3 of us), using a variety of instruments (califone turntables, yamaha portasound keyboards, a big old dusty mixer that makes great feedback sounds, a roland mc-202, electric guitar, and effects) - http://chthonicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/transformer-blues
–the first 1/3 of it is somewhat atonal and muddled; it’s a MD recording, using a cheap condenser mic, but the ‘action’ sort of coheres and the sun emerges about halfway through. I played a yamaha (pss-560) keyboard, using delay/flange to try to approximate the sounds of Rafael Toral’s electric guitar drones.

7 Likes
#62

Interesting.

I found that DPLPG wasn’t very good for drone for me, it could have been because my function generator was outputting 8v (Mutable Stages), but I found that I couldn’t get slow attack transients to work very well, that the response was only exponential (though I didn’t try using attenuation as I don’t have space for a dedicated attenuator in my modular-electroacoustic hybrid drone instrument thing that I’m building). I’ve replaced it with the Abstract Data linear triple VCA in 4hp that runs on 8v - which is working really well for me.

Might not be be too effective with 16n though.

1 Like
#63

The Drive circuit on the Lyra 8 is a knockout. I recently picked up the Analogue Heat, and to my ears the Lyra 8 has as much character as any of the 8 circuits on that, and a surprising range of sonic flexibility considering all you have is a drive knob and a mix knob. Assuming it’s the same circuit on the FX unit, that is worth a large part of the price on its own.

I expect you have thought about this already but if you are into drones you should consider choosing the full unit over the standalone FX section - the voices and the hyper-LFO delay modulation are key to making this such a unique and compelling instrument.

5 Likes
#64

I came here to post a link to this Pitre album. It’s very good imo. One of many great releases I’ve discovered via this forum. :+1:

I’ve used AudioMulch for drones for years too. I tend to get a bit restless and end up putting other things over drones. But certainly, Mulch is really well suited with its architecture being based around patching, including matrix mixing, and being open to feedback. It’s easy to slowly tweak a constant yet evolving sound. I’ve even done this in the software version of a no-input mixer.

3 Likes
#65

I’ve done this before, though not for a while. A whole strange world can open up if you’re careful enough!

1 Like
#66

Has anyone ideas of acoustic drones recommendations? Recently a friend of mine showed me this label which I’m digging a lot so far. Monotone and blissful acoustic drones

2 Likes
#67

I discovered drone music during my first year of fine art school, Eliane Radigue came to play the Trilogie de la mort, the concert was outside in June in a amazing place, started at sundown and ended in total darkness, it was amazing. She also made an outdoor sound installation in (well, out of) the contemporary art center of the school and I worked there all summer as a an exhibition mediator. The year after Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit played there too (but inside), I still feel so lucky for these moments :slight_smile:

This book just came out, it’s a long interview of Eliane : Éliane Radigue - Intermediary Spaces. There is also this one on Phill Niblock’s work.

6 Likes
#68

The Duane Pitre album mentioned upthread a bit is sublime… it’s called Organized Pitches Occurring in Time … I believe it’s all acoustic, but I’m not 100% sure.

There’s a Radu Malfatti album called Dusseldorf Velfaches (on b-boim), it’s ~really~ good; less consonant but not entirely dissonant-sounding… a bit uneasy. it’s definitely worth seeking out. There are many players listed in the liner notes–one person is even credited with (playing) a “credit card” …acoustically

3 Likes
#69

This is the best drone piece I’ve heard in a long time:

Longform, electroacoustic music from a duo based in Stockholm. Transcendental. (Track is called /\ )

Can be found with more here:

http://isakedberg.com/music.html

8 Likes
#70

My second favorite acoustic drone instrument, after the tanpura, is the multi-string monochord:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHGX9Ik_R10

I’ve collected all the parts I need to build one except the strings. Any day now and I’ll have my own.

6 Likes
#71

Oxymoronic name…the multi-stringed monochord! perhaps a unison tuned Zither.

more to the point though it does sound good. Have you decided on a string gauge for yours? Are you putting zither pins both ends or using guitar strings and anchoring them at one end using the ball end?

1 Like
#72

Town and Country is a great band for this–they’re defunct, but they had five or six albums on Thrill Jockey, all utilize drone to a greater or lesser degree, and all are sublime. I see people recommending Pitre’s album Organized Pitches–I don’t know that, but I can confirm his Feel Free culminates in a great acoustic drone. Tony Conrad, much of the Phill Niblock stuff, the three John Cale archival discs from Table of the Elements, La Monte Young…

1 Like
#73

France is great, would love to see them live. A really nice related project/record-

theres quite a bit of acoustic stuff in the list I posted above- Palestine, Oliveros, Radigue’s new work is all acoustic, Fullman, Arkbro, Lamb, Nitsch, Harley Gaber, Yoshi Wada, and a lot of the rest use acoustic instruments but with either electronics or just amplification. It isn’t specifically drone but uses them a lot, but for a sort of american primitive guitar meets “raga” played by a band type stuff check out Pelt - Ayahuasca and Pearls From The River are good ones.

2 Likes
#74

Plugging some danes.
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard. His Sound x Sound series is pretty fantastic. Continuous multiplication of instruments.
For hi-hats:

For recorders:

Kristklangen (http://nielslyhne.com/kristklangen.html)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OitcAsZqJOM

Jacob Kierkegaard:

4 Rooms (ala Lucier’s I Am Sitting In A Room)

Phonurgia Metallis

Kierkegaard and Lykkegaard together:

9 Likes
#75

Love the Hi-hats that’s good stuff, thank you.

#76

Yes, the name is screwy. I have zither pins at one end, and ferruled holes at the other. I’ve identified a brand of guitar strings that are 41” long, but I haven’t yet studied the question of what gauges to buy.

2 Likes
#77

Most SUNN O))) is drone, but the new one, Pyroclasts, is especially:

There’s also a new Deathprod, Occulting Disk, out today if you want to keep things spooky for halloween:

2 Likes
#78

41" strings! Wow, long scale length. Are you going electric or piezo under the bridge? Love to see and hear it when its done. Good luck with the build.

1 Like
#79

Oh wow. New Deathprod is always cause for celebration~!

2 Likes
#80

Also if you get obsessive about fine tuning zither pins can be a bit crude and awkward. A long scale length actually helps here. Some fine tuners like these can help a lot

They only really work on thinner strings. Im pretty sure you can add them on after stringing and just use them where you need them. put them between the bridge and the anchor.