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| Some possible Linux Tools for making techno ...jMax,SLab,SoundTracker , more apps here | |||||||
| 'Dance music is digital, electronic and instrumental -the perfect musical form for the internet, which will bring enormous synergies. The future key zone wil be the net itself, swamping domestic markets (including the UK) rapidly, in terms of influence and significance. DJs and producers from more and more countries will establish the new musical trends, all of which will interweave with all the current ones. Dancing all night long,"raving", or 'avin' it, will remain the key behind it all. no other leisure activity is more fun.' -Jonty Adderley | |||||||
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If You Can't Dance At The Revolution... : The Implicit Politics of Techno
by
Clint Small (clintsmall@hotmail.com) is a musician/writer.
He welcomes email related to this or any of his work.
Introduction
We live in a fracturing society. In Western society people are being divided on
the basis of geography, age, gender, race, sexual orientation, class, levels of
income, employment status, union affiliation, access to technology, access to
weapons, which form of taxation one prefers (quelle decision!) to name but a
few.
The tragedy of arguing for or against these individual ideas is that it is
pointless. As governments have progressively allowed corporations to set their
economic agendas, the ability of nation-states to set their own goals and do
the right thing (whatever that happens to mean at a particular point in time)
on behalf of the people they represent has diminished to the point where most of
the electorate, as pointed out in poll after poll, no longer has any faith in
them. The economic rationalist creed of, "letting the market decide," has
given the market tacit control over everything from public health and education
to the kinds of food we eat and how our drinking water is supplied.
As capital flies about the world and fortunes are made and lost in a matter of
moments, through computer and satellite networks - regardless of national
borders, the desires of governments, or the needs of local communities, the
feeling of ordinary people in their daily lives is increasingly one of
powerlessness and despair.
For young people this is especially so. While one can hardly assert that a war
is being conducted against everyone under 30, it is true that access to
education, employment, the media, etc., for people of that generation, is
increasingly for the lucky few. And for those few, the issue then becomes one
of quality. The most recent studies of work in America report that people
with jobs are working longer hours than at any time in the post-World War 2 era
and recent newspaper reports in Australia allege that they are not even being
paid for a substantial amount of that time. The corporatised media tut-tuts at
the figures and shrugs its shoulders as it publishes seemingly unrelated
stories on overcoming depression and the ongoing tragedy of youth suicide while
slavishly awaiting the latest developments in interest rates.
more...
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a Techno mini guide
It's a little like classical music in that you don't really need to know every term and period in order to enjoy the music but it sure helps if you know something when it comes time to ask for something at the CD store or compare notes with a friend. Generally speaking techno is machine generated music. The predominant textures are "obviously machine-made or altered" (3anon). It will probably have a motoric rhythm (be dance-able!). People writing about the history of techno usually place Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream at the start and follow with Detroit Techno and Cybotron. Maybe Edgar Varese and Steve Reich should get a mention too. (Varese used recordings of "found" sounds and Steve Reich builds varying patterns with accoustic instruments.) Sub-genres include ambient, intelligent, armchair, student, tech-house, minimal, detroit and some dance magazines will place epic, goa, and acid under progressive house/trance - you can make up your own mind! Some current artists include: GMartin, The Hacker, Rei Mitsui, Kotari and Mo, Orbital... (a really random assortment!) There are gazillions of websites that have some sort of techno slant. You could start at www.techno.de which has a few thousand techno links hanging off it (including MusicStation) from all around the world. If your Linux machine set up isn't quite up to making music and you're flush with cash have a look at www.rolandgroove.com for some goodies. Or, you can check out the Linux Sound Apps Page to try and get something together. Hyperreal.org has a lot of info and stuff for download. |
3anon talks about making it...
I live around. Sometimes in Europe and England. Sometimes US. My background is multi-racial and as a kid I moved a fair bit so now I'm at home in most places but I like to move when I'm bored which has its downsides. I'm married but I leave and come back again - a bit like my Dad (whose job made him do that). I didn't intentionally set out to emulate him in that way. I quite often use a different name for each project - partly because some of the music is super-disposable and partly because its fun to do it that way. It's anti-star as well but I'm in no danger of being one myself so for me it's just an attitude thing - a small subset of the punk ideal. My stuff gets played on radio and in some clubs but its no big deal and I don't actually get rich doing it. Equipment? I like to get away with a minimum. The good thing about having a lot of good equipment is that getting ideas down can be speedy but a simple set up is quite do-able. It just takes more patience. Which can be a good thing as it focuses you on what you're doing right now and stops you (me!) skipping ahead. The simplest set up possible? Maybe one of those portable Roland midi things although I haven't used one for more than a few minutes. You'd probably want a mini-sampler of some sort. The best simple set up is probably PC based. You'd want a sequencer program, a sampler program, a hard disk recording system, effects, and an editor. You'll also want the biggest hard disk you can find. You can do a lot with that. You'd then want to be adding outboard gear like keyboards pretty soon. You'll need a mic for the samples if you're making some yourself. It's key to have a half-way decent monitoring system. You can't intelligently make and mix music if you can't hear it properly. If you have nice speakers as part of your stereo system just wire them in (sound card line out -> mini-jack stereo adaptor -> leads to amplifier line in...if the cable run is more than a few feet seek expert advice as you might loose the tops. Start the mixer setting on low because some sound cards have quite a hot ouput). Most PC speakers are complete crap. You want access to a CD burner as well. There is no limit to the amount of gear you can add! I think it was Neil Young who said that there was a song in every guitar. Well, there's a groove in most synth voices too (and samples, and effects). more... | |||||
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