How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
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How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
1–10 of 69 posts
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#2Xtal is one of the very few songs that I could not possibly imagine getting sick of, no matter how many times I hear it. It always seems to sound new, letting you notice different dimensions of it every time.
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#3Aphex Twin has been a large influence for tons of well-known artists today. There is just something special in how his songs convey different moods and feelings, with one of my favorites being Avril 14th, which reminds me of playing Minecraft as a young lad, although I think 180db_ [130] is my all-time favorite.
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#4He used pretty standard pieces of gear, (Kroger MS-20, DX7) the difference is the obsessive amount of time he spent making music, and what he managed to get out of that gear. Weird, detuned moans, crazy skittering beats, all kinds of odd filter modulation and crazy stuff, and it all works well together.
Then he bought himself a Mac and made the Richard D James album, that was 1996(!)
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#5Christ, this an impressive album... I revisit it every few years and it continues to blow me away.
Shottkey 7th Path. Holy smokes.
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#6He used pretty standard pieces of gear, (Kroger MS-20, DX7) the difference is the obsessive amount of time he spent making music, and what he managed to get out of that gear. Weird, detuned moans, crazy skittering beats, all kinds of odd filter modulation and crazy stuff, and it all works well together. Then he bought himself a Mac and made the Richard D James album, that was 1996(!)
(with tongue firmly in cheek) From here on out I'm referring to MS-20 mini as the 7/11 MS-20, to distinguish. The kit is obviously the Ikea MS-20.
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#7This is awesome. It reminds me of what they do on the podcast "Song Exploder." In that podcast, the host rarely talks, and instead all you're left with is the artist, and their explanations of where the stems for their songs came from, along with clips of those stems.
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#8Aphex Twin has been a large influence for tons of well-known artists today. There is just something special in how his songs convey different moods and feelings, with one of my favorites being Avril 14th, which reminds me of playing Minecraft as a young lad, although I think 180db_ [130] is my all-time favorite.
Funny how Avril 14th is one of his most popular and recognizable songs while... not being anything like most of his works. It's a straight and fairly straightforward piano song.
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#9This is one of my top 10 albums. "Tha" is one of my favorites.
Also of note, Selected Ambient Works Volume II. I used to mix ambient tapes from a variety of sources in the mid-90s, and this was always features somewhere. One good mix was Autechre's _VLetrmx21_ over Aphex's _Blur_. None of it is in sync, some of it's dissonant, but it works.
I miss 90s Ambient and IDM. Em:t label of was a top one. There was a sound to all of it, and it probably had to do with 99% being produced with outboard gear straight to tape. Everything now seems to be so over-produced and "perfect".
Re: How Aphex Twin Made Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#10> James likely also used the onboard sequencers on the Roland SH-101, while using CV and MIDI to keep different devices in sync.
> These ambient pads were likely recorded with the Yamaha DX-100 or DX7, as these were the only polyphonic synths James mentioned owning at the time. He likely used the DX strings patches, as they have long attack and release times as well as mellow, sine-like oscillator sounds.
> These were likely recorded on the Roland SH-101, a revered analog monophonic synth from 1982.
So is this all speculation of RDJ's production methods or was this directly sourced based on what RDJ himself said?