20.4.14
Noise Setup as of April 20, 2014
No one has particularly asked what we use in our noise setup - so that's probably a good reason to talk about it. Really, for two reasons - one, we'll be adding some newer gear and may want to revisit this setup sooner or later, and two, I think this sort of gear porn is neat. Typically we have five channels that end up in a mix:
Track 1 is a "vocal" track - meticulously assembled on computer then dumped to 4 track cassette tape - allowing us to pitch up or down the track - or alternately cut out elements entirely should we want to. This may be run to a separate amp, or into our mixer (the Traynor pictured below), or into the house mix.
Track 2 and Track 3 are originating at the weird sound generator - which is essentially a dual oscillator. Both signals go into a Boss DS1 distortion to boost the signal and add some grit. Then it goes into a Boss looper, and split into two signals. One heads straight to our mixer, the other into the incredibly useful Digitech PDS 2020.
Track 4 originates from the Trogotronic 101, and goes straight from the source into the mixer.
Track 5 is a contact mic taped usually on the basket of a shopping cart (of course illustrated here as on the frame of a shopping cart) run through an extension cable to the Boss DSD-2, the Sampler/Delay version of the DD-3.
Track 1 is a "vocal" track - meticulously assembled on computer then dumped to 4 track cassette tape - allowing us to pitch up or down the track - or alternately cut out elements entirely should we want to. This may be run to a separate amp, or into our mixer (the Traynor pictured below), or into the house mix.
Track 2 and Track 3 are originating at the weird sound generator - which is essentially a dual oscillator. Both signals go into a Boss DS1 distortion to boost the signal and add some grit. Then it goes into a Boss looper, and split into two signals. One heads straight to our mixer, the other into the incredibly useful Digitech PDS 2020.
Track 4 originates from the Trogotronic 101, and goes straight from the source into the mixer.
Track 5 is a contact mic taped usually on the basket of a shopping cart (of course illustrated here as on the frame of a shopping cart) run through an extension cable to the Boss DSD-2, the Sampler/Delay version of the DD-3.
6.4.14
Master/Servant Relationships
So the (Skull) Servant, (Enormous Door) Master(ing) relationship begins.
30.3.14
23.3.14
Long Cold Winter
It's been a long cold winter. As primary servant in this unit, I've kept much of the projects under wraps - finally some of them will start seeing the light of day. In the meantime, hopefully this will amuse you enough to keep checking back here.
Because our performances are strictly speaking, without human vocals (we usually have a "vocal" track that serves to communicate somewhat with the audience), periodically we print off flyers or what we've come to describe as communiques. It's all very interesting I suppose, but without ruining all the subtext of this idea, we distribute the flyers before the performance, because after, all we typically want to do is get out of the fucking boilersuits and masks. They're very claustrophobic.
So while I've created flyers for the first and second shows, I never duplicated them. The third event, we did have them on hand, but they were forgotten in a car parked several blocks away, and frankly we were set up and ready to go.
For your consideration, here's communique #3.
Because our performances are strictly speaking, without human vocals (we usually have a "vocal" track that serves to communicate somewhat with the audience), periodically we print off flyers or what we've come to describe as communiques. It's all very interesting I suppose, but without ruining all the subtext of this idea, we distribute the flyers before the performance, because after, all we typically want to do is get out of the fucking boilersuits and masks. They're very claustrophobic.
So while I've created flyers for the first and second shows, I never duplicated them. The third event, we did have them on hand, but they were forgotten in a car parked several blocks away, and frankly we were set up and ready to go.
For your consideration, here's communique #3.
28.12.13
Unruh Effect
It should come as no surprise that Einsturzende Neubauten is a huge influence on how we as Skull Servant work - their repurposing of metal throughout their career to make noise at first, and now as instruments in their industrial approach to writing songs. We too like what they've done, and take it as great influence on the things we do. In every piece we work on, develop, and ultimately destroy, we want to have this element of percussion, preferrably with found objects.
N.U. Unruh takes us through his storage, which only serves to whet my appetite when it comes to percussion. I want one of those mallet-like hammers, I want to meet him and scrounge with him, banging on every object from here to the East End. Much respect is due, and this clip above certainly make absorb every scrap (pardon the pun) of the development process that Unruh takes to get his sounds.
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