TLA Fat Track

Boom. There you go. Beautiful piece of gear with those classic VU meters, two tube stages and a (really) nice EQ section. I don’t want to bore you by listing tech specs, you can read all about it HERE (and judging by the amount of people requesting pre/post clips, you already know all about it).

My main interest with tube gear is actually to harshly overdrive the tubes to get some nice fuzzy distortion out of it, but I was also interested how well some subtle warming up could be achieved on digital material. Instead of just running sine wave through it and comparing the output, I wanted to test the unit with some musical material so I made a quick clip which starts just with a beat to hear how the unit handles the transients, then a bassline is added to hear how the lows can be beefed up. After that pads are slowly brought in to make the high end distortion characteristics more audible, then the beats are dropped off so I could test how a constant sound can be cranked up and lastly everything is on to test the possibilities on a complete master.

At first I routed the signal through one tube stage, line-in, EQ bypassed, not overdriving the signal. The tops of the transients are slightly chopped off as the drive light was occasionally slightly blinking but there’s nothing too audible so I stopped with just the drums, anxious to crank it..

As I mentioned my main interest was the tube drive, but a very pleasant surprise was actually the EQ section, especially on the low end. You can really dial up lots of lows and beef up the sound up to it being overpowering but still without it getting rumbly. The lows are really smooth and rounded. The highs can bring up some some noise from the tubes (or the source) if cranked up but on decent levels it is not too audible (NOTE! This unit has matched Telefunkens instead of the original ones so the character is most likely slightly different) Here goes, same as above but EQ section enabled, dialed up lows and highs, really mild dip on the mids (can’t remember the exact frequency, who cares). Subtle warming, slightly excessive on the lows.

Ok, time to push the tubes a bit. Same as above but now the tubes are slightly overdriven so you can hear the distortion characteristics. You can clearly start to hear the crunch here so might be smarter to use this on individual instruments/groups instead of master..

Ok, well… Subtle sh*t aside. Let’s crank it up and tweak the EQ to attenuate different parts (I dropped off the beats for a longer time as I was focusing on the EQ sweeps). Goes slightly from side to side as I’m adjusting L and R gains at the same time.

Good distortion or bad.. you be the judge. I personally enjoy what the overdriven tube combined with the EQ does to the pads and bass together. The sound of the overdriven tube doesn’t fit everywhere and as some people oddly seem to think, they are not magical devices that turn the sound into awesomeness just by adding them into your chain. The overdrive might sound a bit off on the previous examples as the material might not be suitable for it. But when put into the right context, it might be a different ball game. So I made this.

In case you want to hear how that sounds dry, here goes:

If that’s not enough tube for you, you can actually route the audio first through one stage of tubes and then from the balanced outs back in to the EQ section and another stage of tubes and then out from the direct outs. Both stages can be overdriven so you can get pretty extreme tones if you for example make the highs squeal with the EQ.. Warning, watch the volume with the following clip. Just a beat, basic sine bass, noise and a little synth to fill the whole spectrum. First dry, then cranked through two stages.

Well.. umm.. not so subtle anymore.

Now I probably should write some kind of a summary, right? I think the TLA Fat Track is a really solid unit if you’re looking for not just subtle tube warmth (works well for that too) but also a really tight EQ section to beef up the lows and a unit that can really crank up your tubes when needed. My five cents. Now go read a real review.

Just wanted to drop a line or two about the past year and thank you all for the support. It’s been a surprisingly hectic year actually. I played a little set in a hotel room, built a live performance with Jolea, played a little in the US with her, did Priceless, did The Den, started my journey with Nueva Forma, remixed a little, showcased some live electronics crashing the setup mid-set, got caked, had a warm and welcoming reception on the RxJ set back home. All in all, this was actually a pretty damn fun year.

So what’s to come in 2013? The promised live related release with Jolea is on its way. Actually In the Attic #2 is just around the corner, we just need to sort few tech issues out. We’ll hopefully get to do the opposite side of the world than the US, fingers crossed. One ongoing development is that I’ve started to work on new Recue solo material again. Don’t want to make any schedule promises; the ground work has already been laid some time ago so the material is there. It will be a step to a more inward-looking sound, but more on that when the time is right. There will also be some more remixes coming out, one being for Kaiti Kink Ensemble’s officially-unofficial Under the Iron Sky soundtrack. More info will follow. I’ll also promise to try something new next year.

But for now, BIG thanks to everyone who were involved in any way on what made 2012 may it be coming to see a live show, organizing, inviting to play, shaking hands and having beers after a set or just listening to the music and sharing it. So here’s a little freebie to fetch for the end of the year. It’s a cover track we’ve played on just few RxJ sets and it will not be released anywhere ever. Go get it, hope you’ll like it and see you next year!

As you might know I’ve worked every now and then with Jolea in the past. Her beautiful vocal work was included already in the first ever Recue release Between Stations back in 2006. The next proper feature track was ‘Morning Dew’ on Leftover Love but I’ve actually remixed and unscrupulously sampled her voice here and there uncredited as well… The recent live thingy I did with acapella vocs got me thinking that why not take it a notch further and try it with real vocals as I happen to know an amazing vocalist. I asked her, we gave it a shot, and as a result I’m more than happy to announce the following (official words from audiobaum.com):

Recue and Jolea are joining forces, packing their bags, and heading for live gigs together. The combined set brings together the best of both worlds: Jolea’s stellar vocals and reflective songwriting with Recue’s spacious sound design and detailed pounding beat work. The atmospheric otherwordly soundscapism and electroacoustic textures that are key elements to both of their work are there, but the result is more up paced with a bass heavy dancefloor emphasis. It’s an interesting mixture of eyesdown melodic electronica and plastered thumping beats drifting in and out of double/half stepped syncopation.

The premiere of the Recue x Jolea live set will be at Priceless Festival held on June 29th – July 2nd in Belden, California. The set will include both; remakes of their previous work and completely new material. Glimpses of the new material have already been surfaced around the internet. Different versions of a collaborative track called ‘We’re Not Like the Most’ have been featured for example on Kid Kameleon’s guest mix done for Tom Ravenscroft’s BBC6 show and Recue’s own acclaimed ‘Do Not Disturb’ live performance. Results of Recue’s and Jolea’s work together will be released later this year as an EP on Audiobaum, so needless to say, we’re more than excited!

We’ve been spending some time in the studio and things have started to roll. New material is coming together quite nicely so we’re actually really happy to share a little taster with you! This is an 808 driven dancefloorey version of a sluggish head-noddy original called “We’re Not Like the Most”. The download count is limited to 100 so if you want to get a copy, act fast! If you miss it, don’t worry; It will be properly released as a mastered HQ version as the whole release is finished and polished. But for now, hope you enjoy this one nevertheless.

The next chance to hear us live are the following but more dates are added as we go. Stay tuned in the social media.

Live Dates:
June 30th – Priceless Music Festival, Belden, CA
July 6th – The Den, San Fransisco, CA
August 31st – TBA, Bristol
September 1st – Ginglik, London
October 27th – MBar, Helsinki
November 3rd – Venue, Helsinki

For further info, booking and promotional material contact info@audiobaum.com

In case you somehow missed the front page, I’ve just finished a live-mashup-jam-bootleg-remixtape-thing called Do Not Disturb. It’s a live set built in a hotel room somewhere in Sweden basing on messing around with random hip hop and pop-music vocals combining them with bits and pieces of unreleased Recue material (do check out the front page if you really missed it).

In case you’re like me, you’re probably here for some tech details! The set is built around a fairly basic Ableton Live + NI Maschine setup with a Novation Launchpad and the awesome Liine Lemur running on an iPad controlling tons of stuff. I’ve been trying to hide the computer (from the audience yes, but mainly) from me lately in live situations so that I wouldn’t have the option to stare the screen to check what I’m doing. Hiding behind a laptop is what you see too often on EDM sets and I’m trying to avoid that. The controllers these days provide good amount of feedback on the set anyway. It doesn’t make me an instant rock star performer but it challenges me to trust the controllers more as instruments and not just remotes for software.

The set is played on a knee high night table and filmed using professional hollywood grade equipment like an ironing board and a night stand. Initially the whole thing was actually twice as long but to keep it consistent, the essential tracks were picked (and I don’t think my back would have really been able to cope with one hour of nodding in an over 90 degree angle). Do Not Disturb is completely free to download on its soundcloud page and if the 1000 free download limit is reached, I’ll be dazzled and stoked and throw in some extras from the outtakes. So if you appreciate what you hear/see, do consider sharing it (maybe with an orthopedist or a chiropractor to study).

Hollywood grade camera rig.

Also noted from the video besides the goofy swaying is that I do those typical “ouch that button was hot!”-pinches that look quite entertaining. Also.. what’s with the sticking pinkies again?!

You can get Foundations from Bandcamp, Beatport and Juno Download.

Two weeks ago I posted an upcoming remix on soundcloud without revealing any details on the artist or track. I left it for the listeners to figure that one out. After few subtle hints and nearly 200 listens the answer to the mystery has been found! The one solving the “riddle” and proving his knowledge on Scandinavian electronica was Christopher Hatton. He was able to draw the link to the remixed artist who is… the excellent Planet Boelex featuring the lush vocal work of Lisa’s Antenna. Planet Boelex is gathering an army of remixers for an upcoming release and this is my take on ‘Walk Ahead’ from 2008 Planet Boelex and Lisa’s Antenna collaboration album Little World. If you’re unfamiliar with Planet B, shame on you, as Chris puts it so well: “Pretty unmistakeable voice… Anyone unfamiliar, and wanting some soothing chillout for the quiet moments do well to check out their excellent (and free!) album.” and RIGHT NOW, I would add. For this awesome display of awesome awesomeness, Chris gets himself a copy of Leftover Love – Extended Collectors Edition. Congrats.

Meanwhile on the other side of the internet, visual artist Rosie Jane has created a short blipvert for Korento (All the Wrong Places, 2008). Looking really nice I’d say. Definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more of this.

Sorry about the bad rhyming on the riddle, I’m still practicing on my mad villain skills. Anyway, it happens to be so that I’ve just finished a remix for an excellent artist! More details and the future of the remix will be disclosed later on.. but here is the catch. Be the first one to recognize the artist and the track being remixed and win yourself a copy of Leftover Love Extended Edition! You’ll get an awesome c-cassette plus of course the lossless digital files (of your choice) for your mp3 player in case your walkman is busted. Submit the results of your investigation by adding a comment right here to this post or in the soundcloud page of the remix.

But here is the track. The beautiful mellow and melodic original mutated after a couple of studio sessions to this kind of dubby half stepped, even housey track, with a twist of d’n'b.

Go ahead give it a shot, it’s actually not that difficult once you give it a thought.

The cover designer clearly knows what's hot at the moment!

The bangin’ track taken from “Korean Folk Songs 2″ is called ”Peasant Music”. It’s a club anthem with a couple of clearly separated parts. Each part is accompanied with a nice squealing synth flute lead, each of them annoying in their own distinctive way. The track starts with this kind of Vangelis-ish analougue-ish intro…ish thing, picking up to an oddly shuffled chilled down beginning (you know, that trendy unquantized shuffle which you just don’t know when exactly you should nod your head with). I could really imagine this playing in the background at a local mall (or an elevator) in Pyongyang, if only there was one. Half way through the track they really pick it up with a slamming midi-drum solo! Hands in the air! The track gets a whole new tempo, like they’re on a hurry to end it so they can make it to the rice field. The end part is actually filled with these awesome drum fills to keep the groove going. Really makes me want to harvest my crop!

Ok, I promise that the next post will be Recue related (and I’ll try to make the content-goof-ratio a bit better). I’ll have something new for you to listen, but I just need to get one thing mastered for you first.

PS. Quite many have been asking what that little noise box thingy in the Tape Deck Saturation post was. Well it was this lovely little DIY synth called WSG by Music From Outer Space.

Let’s kick things off with some “sound-design” (always a nice pretentious term) studio wankery. At the moment there seems to be a craving for that lofi retro sound. Everyone is trying to get rid of the clean digital output of VST’s and digital synths by adding another VST’s to their fx-chains that simulate analog gear.. or by purchasing analog gear that costs an arm and a leg. Here is a trick that costs about 10,- euros and looks way cooler than any VST!

Some time ago we were laughing with my brother as we noticed that a gear manufacturer had released a rack unit that included a tape head and you could route audio through it to “add that analog warmth”. The cost of the unit was thousands of dollars and it didn’t even include an actual tape. I’ve always been under the impression that tape-compression is introduced by the tape itself and not the head.. so of course it had to be tested with a real tape player! The thing is, you don’t actually have to record the audio to a tape and bounce it back or anything like that. Just go and purchase one of those cheap tape-to-CD-adapters used for old car stereos and route the audio through that. It’s as simple as that! Naturally you also need a tape deck… We went and stole the old cool brushed aluminum tape deck with AWESOME VU-METERS lying in our parent’s basement which we played with as kids.

The results are actually surprisingly nice sounding (depends on what you’re after). Of course the character of the sound completely depends on the components of the tape deck you use; the condition of the tape heads, connectors, mic pre’s etc. The sound is far from hi-fi, so if you’re after that, just go purchase a real reel-to-reel unit. In the case of Hitachi D-230 I use, there are a couple of different options for obtaining a different sound. The audio can be just played back through the tape, but it can also be fed through the line-in’s, “recorded” to the tape capturing it’s output. Both of the methods give actually quite a different sound. With the former method you can get a moderate crunch with a rather clean sound. With the latter, you get loads of more noise, but also A LOT more distortion and a nice pumping compression when pushed. A third option is to use the mic pre’s and crank them up for some extreme clipping.. Ok, what am I babbling, let’s hear it in action!

The video uses the “playback” through the deck with the clean crunch, but with the more aggressive settings you can also get some interesting results:

Liking how the VU’s are smashed to max on this one! If someone for some weird reason wants to download the audio in better quality for these. Knock yourself out.

Oh, the video is titled “vol 1″ and that would imply there is more coming… f*ck!


PS. If you are like me and enjoy tapes that actually include some music, you can get one right over here (also a FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE OMG!)