So Peter Wade has been suggesting to use a Shepards Tone somewhere in our music since our first day writing music together.  A Shepard tone, named after Roger Shepard, is a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the base pitch of the tone moving upwards or downwards, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually ascends or descends in pitch, yet which ultimately seems to get no higher or lower.^[1]

The U.B.C.L. (C.L.U.B.) hook on that record has always sort of dissatisfied us since we first made it.  It seemed like we didn’t try hard enough to come up with a distinctive vocal treatment.  So recently, Peter Wade put into place a Shepard’s Tone patch and inserted the vocals to create an ever ascending and descending effect to the vocals.  Very helium mushrooms.  It took a lot of concentration and focus to create this patch, but I think we got something very new for vocal treatment.

Here is what it looks like as a patch in ProTools.  So those of you who have the original version of C.L.U.B., get ready to hear an updated version.

Have a new song I am very excited about.  Peter and I began the song in an awesome manner.  We both just stopped talking and started to make beats.  They were both in the right vein.  So we took my beats and ran it through this ipod speaker thing.

I modeled a timpani…how nerdy. 12 osc drum hit with varying decays and filtering to expose different harmonics. After some massaging from Peter with reverbs and mic-pre’s, I believe it turned out pretty good.

It really added another dimension to this new intimate headphone bleeder. Out of all of the MNDR records, Peter and I wanted this song to appear as if I was living inside of your skull and singing out of your ears.

Chained to Change is a record that you want to listen after some extreme things happened…or at least that’s what I think or imagine. While writing this I imagined one could fall in love or break up….maybe get fired too.

If you have a Nord G2 I am posting the patch for you to download.  Have a “good” time.

Timpani Patch

MNDR was recently in Los Angeles writing with Peter Wade, Eli Epstein for some MNDR records and also met up with two producers Wally and Xandy and wrote a serious record about the jungle for a pop diva.  Wally and Xandy’s studio is a historic studio that The Doors and the Velvet Underground recorded in.  Los Angeles is always pretty surreal.  The hills were on fire in I was in a pool talking shop and meeting people.

My last night there I went to Tony’s bar in Downtown LA to swim in a pool and slip down a slide while Fool’s Gold played live.  Super fun!

Here is some of my favorite street art from that trip.  Awesome Michael Jackson poster and some truly outrageous graf.

I am making MNDR dance 12 inches right now.  I can’t stop.  After playing shows and hanging with my friends Eats Tapes I just dove back into making techno or techno influenced records.  Feels like a bath of spaghetti.

This new record is titled Variation Repition.  All of the synth work for this record was made on my Sound Lab Suitcase Synth.  I made the initial beat and then ran a signal out to the CV Gate on the Soundlab in order to trigger it in sequence.  I also made some different keyboard midi sequences and than sent those signals out to the synth in order to make different keyboard leads.

I bounced the Soundlab synth stems and then ran them through this filter pluggin made by Sound Toys called Filter Freak.  This is hands down the best sounding and most unique filter pluggin I have heard or used.

I just wrote a MNDR dance record called Caligula for some of the 12 inch releases I have on deck.  I was really looking to channel some classic lyrical dance concepts and also channel some brutally minimal techno and early House feelings for this record.  However I am dedicated to bringing these concepts into my style and into a modern record.

The B section needed a devestating synth sound to lift the record.  I designed a 4 osc synth on my Nord G2 and then ran it through this distortion called Distorto.  Peter Wade ripped the distortion out of his Squire guitar and “mounted” it on some cardboard with drum sticks.  The distortion sounds amazing and it is truly the most hilarious circuit bending I have ever seen.

Here’s a pic.

Now that I have an ep finished I am embarking on my next set of songs.  Three of my songs are up on MNDR myspace.  I have kept one of the songs Sparrow in the vault as of now because it hurts that good.

My tastes and interests seem to always be shifting, evolving, or returning to past ideas. These next grouping of songs are reflecting my NYC life sonically and lyrically.
Peter Wade and I are experimenting with different sounds and textures for the new songs.
We have a new track we are finishing that is more cinematic and dramatic than the other records.  This is a picture of us running keyboards and drums out of some swag Peter received. It is a BMI ipod carrying case with an internal speaker. We ran beats and keys through it and recorded it on his Neuman.

I had the honor of meeting Dave Smith the designer of all Sequential Circuits. at an Eats Tapes/White Willimans concert in San Francisco.  I was super nervous.  His most famouse synth is the Prophet 5, the first programable polyphonic synthesizer.  It is probably one of the most decade defining synths of all time.  My favorite use is on Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues. Regardless, it is a classic and timeless synth!

My band Triangle made our entire first out of print EP using a TOM.  We had two and I had the latin and sound effects cartridge.  I love love love this drum machine.  It is 8 bit and sounds amazing because a true genuis designed it.  The claps are unstoppable.  Peter and I are working on a track right now and we plugged in the TOM to get that snare and clap sound.

claps!

OMG!  Check out this youtube demo.

Also here are some pics of a Prophet 5 and the undeniable consumer monophonic synth, Sequenctial Circuits Pro-One (which reminds me of a Yamaha CS 10….Dave Smith later sold Sequential Circuits to Yamaha).

Dave Smith has not stopped in making defining gear.  I have only programmed the Evolver.  You can check out all of his new designs on his website.

First Programmable Polyphonic Synth

Monophonic Synth

Synth and Sequencer

Finally added the grounding synth for MNDR song Jump In.  Peter and I ran the Yamaha CS 15 through the Dynachord PDD-14 and out of the Yamaha 4 x 12 (probably keyboard amp.  Sounds slightly out of tune in that great way.  Reminds me of my favorite early Electro Reggae off of Taxi Gang, Sly and Robbie’s label. Here are the real time photos in the studio!

Peter Wade and I have been using the McDSP Synthesizer 1 a lot for MNDR songs or other artist songs.  I can tell you I am way into this synth.  The interface is great for me because I like to dig deep and it allows me to do so along with allowing me to draw my own wave forms! Peter and I were asked by the designer to make some presets.  We designed one patch that we use on my new MNDR song Fade To Black (Swon Song) entitled The Egyptian.  The sound reminds of a modified Optigan.

Keep your eyes out for McDSP stuff if you are on Protools.  Only thing I gotta say is I hope he makes VST versions as well for us Logic/LIVE people.  Either way…awesome synth if you want to really get an original sound, but still make the synth pop.

Here is an Optigan in action.