Reise (album, field-sample pack and collages)

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-08T12:14:16.384Z

hi everyone - I’m delighted to share my new project with you!

Reise is an album, a collection of field recordings and a small series of collages

~ about ~
Reise (journey) was created with 2 essential building blocks, recorded over 5 weeks in the summer of 2021.

a series of field recordings collected as I travelled around Norway with my family
Improvised guitar bits recorded in an old play house in our family cabin

These pieces shaped an idea of a project which then gradually evolved in my head.

In the second phase of the project I restructured/mangled/looped and re-recorded the material, added some new stuff and assembled everything. I’ve relied heavyily on Norns for this, with Cheat Codes, Otis, wrms v2 and Cranes.

Reise is a reflection of the places I’ve visited, memories and moments I cherish.

~ field recording from ‘Reise’ / sample pack ~

The field recordings of this project is available to download as a sample pack from today. Use them as you wish. These recordings are not of particularily high technical quality but you might find them useful nonetheless. To me they always have a memory attached

Recordings were done with a zoom h4n, LOM usi pro and an iphone, then recorded to tape.

~ collages ~
*pdf folder is included as in album download

reise_collage032350×2350 270 KB

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reise_collage011920×1920 263 KB

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reise_collage021920×1920 276 KB

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reise_collage041920×1920 286 KB

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reise_collage051920×1920 245 KB

Reise booklet.pdf (3.8 MB)

Blit · 2021-10-08T12:17:20.142Z

Nice! Congrats on this new release. I’m looking forward for the collages!

With the iphone, are you using just the built in mic?

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-08T13:10:02.789Z

Thanks @Blit ! Yes, I’ve used the built in mic on the iphone recordings. It’s perhaps not the best but very convenient and works ok imo. Usually I’m not able to prepare recordings, so having the iphone makes it possible to capture small moments.
On this collection I’ve recorded everything to tape which adds a bit of noise and saturation

Blit · 2021-10-08T13:35:27.640Z

Sure! I do the same and I think it’s good enough. One is creative when using less although Ive always wondered about those zoom mic adapters

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-15T09:43:10.063Z

the full project release is today - top post updated !

SMesquida · 2021-10-15T11:38:45.901Z

Wonderful album! It seems improvised and structured at the same time!

Would you mind to share a little bit more about the process?

Do you use guitar pedals? Which ones?

Do you improvise during the first phase of the project? Do you play with a metronome?

Do you use Norns during this first phase?

Blit · 2021-10-15T11:40:50.591Z

Amazing and beautiful work as always.
The cover art is beautiful! Did you make it as well?

circuitghost · 2021-10-15T12:42:57.141Z

Lovely music. So beautiful.

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-15T13:27:47.072Z

Thank you @SMesquida ! Love to share some more about the process

SMesquida:

Do you use guitar pedals? Which ones?

The guitar parts on this album are usually pretty straight recordings with acoustic guitar → microphone/recording device (no effect pedals). I’ve used effects in ableton (eq, filter, Rodrigo Constazo’s Confetti, Andrew’s Prosody etc).I wouldn’t call myself a guitarist so the stuff I do is almost always improvised/ jamming/ experimentation-based, and not particularily good from a techical point of view. There’s always an edit-phase of the recorded material to find decent parts, cut/paste, restructure etc. I should definitely focus more on good sound quality while recording, but I mostly prioritize working on ideas and getting stuff recorded.

I never use a metronome and almost never sync my gear. Partly because I’m a little bit lazy, but mostly because I think I’ve become comfortable with a way of making music that is very loose, with lots of parallel, asyncronous processes mixed and mashed together.

SMesquida:

Do you use Norns during this first phase?

In this project I didn’t. The first phase was made during my summer vacation and all I had available was an acoustic guitar and a zoom recorder. Guitar and field recordings were captured in this periode. In the second phase the recordings were structured/edited and used as a base for further experimentation with Norns.
Norns is essiential to my process and a very important part of all the things I’ve done lately. In other project Norns has/will be central from start-finish

robbbiecloset · 2021-10-15T13:28:43.442Z

Love it! Thank you for sharing.

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-15T13:30:34.010Z

Blit:

Amazing and beautiful work as always.
The cover art is beautiful! Did you make it as well?

Thank you @Blit! Yes, the cover art was part of the project. I’ve always wanted to explore collage techniques and made a little collection for this project. I feel the music fits well with the collage-aesthetics

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-15T13:31:56.265Z

circuitghost:

Lovely music. So beautiful.

Thank you so much @circuitghost ! I’ve added your recent release to my listening-list and will give it a spin when I have some time

Papercutnoise · 2021-10-15T19:16:08.296Z

Such a beautiful album. Had a lovely listen to it earlier while out walking.

“& Now” is simply stunning. Like Duelling Ants doing a mellow acoustic Tom Waits song. Would love to know some more about the process behind that particular track, and how the guitar was treated etc. It IS a guitar, right!?

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-15T20:06:31.467Z

Thanks a lot Greg ! Yes, that is guitar and it’s run through Otis on Norns. Otis adds a lot of grit and noise to the recording and iirc I used the lfo’s to add some movement. Great script!!

Papercutnoise · 2021-10-15T20:42:57.522Z

Wow, must dig into Otis some more by the sounds of it! Such a beautiful sounding track. Looking forward to more listens in headphones

Oh yeah, it’s Gary here, not Greg

glia · 2021-10-15T20:46:05.784Z

this is really cool!

DuellingAnts · 2021-10-15T20:48:02.080Z

omg, sorry, was typing too fast and must have mixed you guys up

Papercutnoise · 2021-10-15T20:48:53.778Z

Haha no worries, it’s the second time it’s happened tonight!

swhic · 2021-10-16T09:22:00.246Z

nice vibes …….