narcissist barty's techno party

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
great write ups but unfortunately 80s detroit techno is mostly superfluous to electronic music history. it's just a weird side show that a few resident advisor types have talked very loudly about since. chicago and nyc were where the really important developments occurred.

mvuent destroyed by facts and logic

 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
i think these tracks - or some of them anyway - would have sounded pretty immense on a club sound system, certainly by the standards of that time (a lot of house anthems made in the 80s sound really thin and cheapo compared to today's high-def sound design)

You have this in 90-91-92 ardkore and house as well, especially the stuff which is breakbeat led. even quite a bit of 93 stuff needs to be adjusted with the gain knobs to fit in with modern productions in the mix. Of course, that amateurism is precisely what we love, but it's also how 4hero and the reinforced crews productions circa journey of the light stood above everyone else in terms of dynamics. That's not even a debate.



 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
Bleep was arguably the first high definition music in that regard. Mainly because Rob Gordon was a reggae sound engineer. Detroit techno has little to do with dub proper, but UK techno has an awful lot to do with it.




I still maintain this is one of the best techno tracks ever made. Predating Basic Channel by 2 years.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
I mean I can kind of understand why people who split from ardkore in 92 did. Clearly I don't agree with them but the austere sophistication of early bleep and UK techno productions is unsurpassed. To them it must have seen like chancers cashing in with their amigas and rinky dink italo house records, lowering the standards.


I mean...


This could literally come out tomorrow and it wouldn't sound old. 1990.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I know this is poncy to say but the synths sound quite faint and submerged and lo-fi and that adds to this feeling of historical distance, me on my typical (probably burial-derived) weepy melancholy sad to have missed rave shit
 

blissblogger

Well-known member
Bleep was arguably the first high definition music in that regard. Mainly because Rob Gordon was a reggae sound engineer. Detroit techno has little to do with dub proper, but UK techno has an awful lot to do with it.

I get the impression that a lot of bleep was recorded in proper recording studios. It was before the whole DIY made on a computer in a bedroom thing really took off with the breakbeat hardcore. So the Sheffield stuff, I should imagine much of it would have been recorded at FON - the studio that second-wave avant-funk outfit Chakk built using their advance from MCA. Richard H. Kirk had his own proper studio as well as I think.

A lot of the quality of the sound in bleep probably comes from using hardware synths and drum machines etc rather than working with samples.

It is striking how well recorded and clean and fat the sounds are in bleep.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
I get the impression that a lot of bleep was recorded in proper recording studios. It was before the whole DIY made on a computer in a bedroom thing really took off with the breakbeat hardcore. So the Sheffield stuff, I should imagine much of it would have been recorded at FON - the studio that second-wave avant-funk outfit Chakk built using their advance from MCA. Richard H. Kirk had his own proper studio as well as I think.

A lot of the quality of the sound in bleep probably comes from using hardware synths and drum machines etc rather than working with samples.

It is striking how well recorded and clean and fat the sounds are in bleep.

All of that is true, but I still maintain its more high definition than a lot of euro techno that came later, which was also recorded in proper studios. Yes, it's all crystalline, geometric perfection, fully formed neon metallic doors which won't budge. It is paradoxically less post-disco than the detroit stuff, more electro indebted. I think you mentioned this in E Flash. Also where Autechre et al come into the equasion.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
forgot to post this bleep classic last night.

Electro wobble bass given the dubheads treatment. A one of a kind record, and has the DNA of everything from techstep to wobble dubstep and tearout grime.

 

version

Well-known member
All of that is true, but I still maintain its more high definition than a lot of euro techno that came later, which was also recorded in proper studios. Yes, it's all crystalline, geometric perfection, fully formed neon metallic doors which won't budge.

Could be down to the emphasis on chunky bass and bleepy synths? If it's mostly top and bottom end there'll be more space in the mix.
 
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