Executing the modular album

[alanza]

I love these reflections on the, like, Zen of recording with modular!

I’m also curious to hear more from people about their more superego-led use of modular as well. I mean the times you’re multitracking, engineering more than meditating, working with multiple takes, etc. The Zen of the context-switch, if you’ll let me be fanciful about it.

[sellanraa]

Just to offer a counter-point.

I totally love and value the ephemeral nature of the modular and treasure stretches where I’m exploring and unpatching after every session. That said, I balance that with stretches of intensive revision and refinement of a patch if I’m working toward something I’m going to share. I was talking to Vance up in Burlington on the tour about this and he was stunned my patch has stayed pretty stable for a couple months leading up to the shows. That isn’t to say I’m precious about it, but over the course of that two months I’m working to dig below the surface and working against common methods and tropes that I find myself defaulting to.

If I leave things unpatched and just start patching in a hurry, it’s fun, but without reflection and revision (which takes time), my patches wouldn’t be nearly as deep as I think they become with that time invested in development. Or at least they’re deeper TO ME

[sandy]

I tend to leave patches up for a while if I like them to explore the possibilities. It’s usually the ones I’m not so enamoured with that get pulled at the end of one session.

The late Richard Lainhart (he died far too young - such a generous and helpful person) used basically one patch with variations on his Buchla 200e for years. The patch recall abilities of the 200e certainly help with this sort of exploration as you can have a patch you like, save it, and then experiment safe in the knowledge that you can return to the original.

[kburwash]

I’ve been struggling with this lately as it would appear everyone does. I’ve had all of the same thoughts and issues. I guess we are all in the same boat.

My usual process is to explore and learn things from my system, usually making sounds or ‘music’ I have no interest in recording. But over the course of a session, I’ll slowly try evolve whatever it is I’m exploring into something that fits in with where I think I’m trying to take my recordings. I then often record a live ‘performance’ of a patch. Over the next few days, depending how the recordings turn out, I listen back in the car/work/etc to look for things I’d like to improve/change if anything. I used to record just a stereo mix, and felt that worked, but I started to find that I would decide that sometimes the best performance would have some sort of technical issue with the mix that could easily be fixed if I were multi-tracking (too much bass, etc. my set up for monitoring/recording is far from ideal) I recently got a K-mix and it hasn’t really changed my process, only now I’m able to record a stereo mix AND multi-track if I feel that I could just touch up a recording.

My first album seemed to really come together under a theme quite quickly, granted, my system was just a Phenol at the time, so it was very constrained. As I’ve jumped in to Eurorack, I find the somewhat ever changing system makes my level of contentment also ever changing. Of course, as the charm with modular is the exploration, I find it hard to go back and edit or compile. I have days worth of recordings, yet the task of editing and trying to put a release together is so daunting, I just keep recording instead.

[jwhiles]

I’ve been working on trying to make a conceptually complete record recently by creating, recording and then deconstructing a series of patches which have sonic, and melodic similarities. Currently I’m trying to keep my sequencing, similar and incorporate field recordings. I’m enjoying this process and finding that I’m getting good results.

I’ve also taken the approach of trying to record one ‘performance’ of a certain patch, but I’m finding that I will consistently have one or two errors - often very noticeably. C’est la vie.

[mrsoundboyking]

1. The long interval between dances.

2. Turn off the giant TV.

3. Hear paws hit the carpet.

4. A lighted match is enough for warmth.

5. What to bring across into one of the worlds.

6. Spasms, psalms.

7. Buzz of earth, buzz of the earth.

8. More compassionate violence.

9. “The one on the horse.”

10. Little soul.

11. The hot sun all day.

12. Green and black and blue.

13. Sow a meager beam.

14. The inanimate, the homeland.

15. What about Jerry?

16. One stirring of the air.

17. The early times.

18. Toy worlds.

19. Hang over an abyss.

20. A balloon tracking map.

[ellips_s]

this is honestly the way i prefer recording the modular. my original purpose for modular was to use it as a performance instrument. because for me, modular music is nothing like that of a band, in the sense that if i were to record an album, i wouldn’t be expected to play my album in live modular performance. sure i might borrow sequences or motifs from my recordings, but the results could be radically different. but i’m too much of a perfectionist to just record myself noodling on a performance patch and call it an album.

before i downsized to my current system (and while i was still in school), this was a track i made in this vein of really trying to multritack, arrange, and produce the track. it ended up being this sort of 3 part form that crosses ambient, groovy, melodic and glitchy territories.

fun fact: it took my (at the time 12u) system plus 1.5 school modular systems just to make a snare drum sound i was happy with. also this track is my argument for why i prefer Elements over Rings (although i did use both, but mostly elements )

https://soundcloud.com/j_t_johnson/lucidity-i-ii-iii

[Jonny]

If I leave things unpatched and just start patching in a hurry, it’s fun, but without reflection and revision (which takes time), my patches wouldn’t be nearly as deep as I think they become with that time invested in development. Or at least they’re deeper TO ME

I’ve been working with this mindset too lately, sticking with a patch for a while. Once it’s built up, the process feels more like tending to a bonsai tree, carefully considering what belongs and what doesn’t. This has produced a good amount of material that I’m pulling together for a release, hopefully by the end of the year. Once I get into the mastering phase, I’ll probably break the patch down completely and start from the beginning again.

[andrewhuang]

it took my (at the time 12u) system plus 1.5 school modular systems just to make a snare drum sound i was happy with

i admire this dedication.
great track!

[Joakim]

Not an album, but I did compose my debut EP on a 6u84hp system. It was recorded live because the tedious DAW arrangement techniques rarely work for me.

I wrote it in about a week - unpatching has never been a issue for me but rather a beneficial workflow. It makes me work more efficient and ‘capture the moment’.

edit: not sure if this answers your question but for me a fast workflow has always worked out best for me and given me the best results… I.e having the mind set of ‘never looking back’. Not over thinking too much

EP Link

[giftculture]

I really love the sound of your track that you posted!

[jamescigler]

How do yall overcome the endless cycle of making a cool patch, recording it, then never using it?

I’m also new to modular and I think about this every single patch I make. I need to keep reminding myself that this is one of the reasons I got one - to create something, record, and move on. (There’s some life lesson to be learned in there somewhere…)

Sorry if I jumped over someone saying this same thing, but…

Even if you have a great patch, you don’t have to record it. In fact, whenever I can I give the advice of “Don’t record it”. Don’t write down patch notes. Just REMEMBER it. Sit and study the patch for an hour if you have to, but commit what you did to memory. Once you understand how you got there, even if everything was an accident, you will be able to do it again. Maybe not 100% identical phase-cancels-itself accurate, but you will be able to it again.

One thing I really lament is that over the time that recording equipment has become more affordable is that it’s saddled musicians with also having to be recording engineers - and we really don’t have to. The joy should be in the creation, not in the capture. And, imo, the more you create with the understanding that you’re not doing it just to capture it, the more skilled you get a creating.

[cmcavoy]

This topic has been dormant for a year, wanted to give it a bump.

In the past I’ve rejected “looping DAWs” in favor of a “digital tape” approach…record lots of things, different tempos, rhythms, keys, then stitch them together into something. The last mini-collection I put out was several long jams that I cut up into shorter tracks.

For the last couple of months I’ve been working with Ableton / Push and modular. a) because I like fun toys and b) because I wanted to try a new approach.

I’ve been recording ~ minute or so clips, keeping consistent tempo / key, then piecing them together dj style in sessions. Things tend to pull towards a grid and boots and pants beats, so I started using ‘grooves’ (I’m a total ableton noob, grooves were a revelation) and more recently applying grooves to my modular audio clips. Interesting stuff coming out of it, but nothing that’s hit me as “this is what I want to make.” I’m all for fun process, but I want to put things out that I like.

I changed my default tempo to 60 bpm to encourage something like a non-grid / longer / ambient-ish feel…which is helpful.

Anyone have any ideas on using ‘loop’ based DAWs and modular? I know about CV integration with Ableton / Bitwig - so I guess I’m looking for ways to use clips? Clips feel like pieces of tape, so there’s definitely a path there to how I’ve worked in “digital tape” and cassette 4-tracks. Looking for surprises

[autotectonic]

for me, the process of putting together an album of modular work is all about curation - cutting and editing. i’m about to release a full-length album and i’ve had all the material recorded for a while… but the real work is the process of cutting, and cutting, and cutting, til only what’s really good is left.

i think with ambient, experimental, or other music in an album format where you’re recording cool patches and ideas, what really matters is vision for the album as a whole, singular work. it’s difficult but there should be no room for material that doesn’t support what you’re trying to achieve.

tracklists are also rly important. putting material in the right order, for the listener, can make a HUGE difference for whether or not a track belongs.

[_VM]

… but the real work is the process of cutting, and cutting, and cutting, til only what’s really good is left.

i think with ambient, experimental…what really matters is vision for the album as a whole, singular work. it’s difficult but there should be no room for material that doesn’t support what you’re trying to achieve.

tracklists are also rly important…

Well said and couldn’t agree more. Such crucial points, especially the idea of having a strong, consistent vision for the album as a whole. Golden.

[hermbot]

I think it’s crucially important for the artist and the listener. I think concept albums work really well in this regard.

As an artist, a “concept album” kept my compositions ground and gave direction and intention.

As a listener, it gives them something to grab onto, some idea to tie things together. In what could (and usually) end up being abstract or ambient pieces, even one-word titles can impart a framework that the listener can use to prescribe their own meaning.

[autotectonic]

yeah! writing titles is so important . a good title can completely change a track’s emotional valence

[ThurberMingus]

This is good advice. Best to keep recording synth music and worry about putting it out in the future

[eothdl]

I’m at a similar point exploring modular and Live clips. Haven’t tried to look for this yet but I imagine it’s possible to build a clip sequencer in Max for Live.

I picked up a senseless morph to use as a controller for launching clips, among other things.

[ruibonito]

Hi guys, I was searching for this precise subject on google and got to this topic.
Very pleased with the replies I’ve read. I see that some here had the same questions I’ve been reflecting on lately.
I’m using the modular for almost two years.
I generally multitrack record directly into an 8 track soundcard.
As I come from the improvised music field, I’ve always felt that recording everything live was (and still is) my most pleasent approach to the modular, but sometimes I listen to some amazing stuff out there that was entirely made with overdubs.
Still, I don’t feel like to overdub for some of the reasons mentioned before on this topic, plus it feels to me that it ends up being a bit of a superficial approach to the modular itself.
The other thing I don’t usually do is to sample the modular, I prefer to do it with other instruments / sources and mix them on my patches. I also found multitracked tape a great addition to some of my compositions.