The Secret Weapon

[saturdayindex]

They're also very good mathematicians.

I have the formulas for all their songs around here somewhere..

Can I verify my formulas with your formulas?

[harpoon dodger]

What about the mathmagicians man

[Pantheon]

I just found this video on youtube while doing my weekly search for cool synth videos.
Everything about this video is how i picture boc at work in their studio, this guy has some skillz:



Some of the early demos he does, sounds very much like some boc style patches.

Haha, this guys videos are awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/3/p_KdPQ_GkY0

[turquoise70]

I just found this video on youtube while doing my weekly search for cool synth videos.
Everything about this video is how i picture boc at work in their studio, this guy has some skillz:



Some of the early demos he does, sounds very much like some boc style patches.

Haha, this guys videos are awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/3/p_KdPQ_GkY0

these are so beautiful sounds and melodies

[Pantheon]

Holy shit at 6:30 in the last video, its the EXACT same sound as in June 9th on maxima.
I want his patch!

[747Music]

I just found this video on youtube while doing my weekly search for cool synth videos.
Everything about this video is how i picture boc at work in their studio, this guy has some skillz:



Some of the early demos he does, sounds very much like some boc style patches.

Haha, this guys videos are awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/3/p_KdPQ_GkY0

these are so beautiful sounds and melodies

Definitely. Great stuff!

I love how the video was made too.

[747Music]

Check this out http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/0/upX8w4-0dZo

At 6:00 in he plays the theme from Pi. Then he plays Autechre's Kalpol Introl. Cool guy indeed.

[turquoise70]

Check this out http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/0/upX8w4-0dZo

At 6:00 in he plays the theme from Pi. Then he plays Autechre's Kalpol Introl. Cool guy indeed.

Watching this guy is kind of like seeing a country perform a successful nuclear test.

He's like "I COULD completely take the musical world by storm and blow everyone's mind with some of the most haunting, driving, beautiful sounds ever heard....buuut I'll just stay here making videos with stunning editing and displaying the raw power of man and synth."

[polar sky]

I always thought too that maybe they record their music to VHS tapes and then make a copy of a copy of a copy to get that degraded sound. If you haven't done it, it sounds cool. I have a 1985 Zenith that sounds so good when you do this.

[SonicDimension]

I agree with the people here who emphasize the importance of BoC's music/production skills and imagination rather than focusing on which specific tools they use. It is interesting to know how they make various cool sounds, but obsessing over exactly which tool is the 'secret weapon' seems kind of pointless.

From an interview with the band:

Sandison: If you let yourself get carried away with technology, then you end up spending all your time reading magazines and talking about high-tech gear but never actually writing any music. We'd much rather use what we've got and push it to do things it was never designed to do.
...
Sandison: ... most of our sound is achieved through a bunch of tricks we've taught ourselves. We've been experimenting for years.

[SonicDimension]

Truly a lush sounding instrument that would please anyone looking for that J.M Jarre or Tangerine Dream sound.

Boards of Canada's school of sound design is not about making 'lush' J.M. Jarre or Tangerine Dream sounds.

[Skytree]

Check this out http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/0/upX8w4-0dZo

At 6:00 in he plays the theme from Pi. Then he plays Autechre's Kalpol Introl. Cool guy indeed.

Watching this guy is kind of like seeing a country perform a successful nuclear test.

He's like "I COULD completely take the musical world by storm and blow everyone's mind with some of the most haunting, driving, beautiful sounds ever heard....buuut I'll just stay here making videos with stunning editing and displaying the raw power of man and synth."

Haha...well said, Cole. These videos are great.

Here's one on my most recent synth acquisition: http://www.youtube.com/user/Jexus#p/u/33/ZaVU_vqaMSU

Now I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day playing with it and my new EH Holiest Grail 'verb...too bad.

[philtr]

In interviews, the band have mentioned playing guitars on their albums and I've not heard much evidence of this on MHTRTC or Geogaddi.

However, I'm pretty sure that a lot of their trademark, wobbly synth sounds (MHTRTC period) come from strumming or picking an electric guitar through a vocoder.

I've achieved some very similar detuned synth sounds using this method...

[SonicDimension]

I'm pretty sure that a lot of their trademark, wobbly synth sounds (MHTRTC period) come from strumming or picking an electric guitar through a vocoder.

I've achieved some very similar detuned synth sounds using this method...

That's a cool idea. I'll have to give that a try.

[polar sky]

I'm pretty sure that a lot of their trademark, wobbly synth sounds (MHTRTC period) come from strumming or picking an electric guitar through a vocoder.

I've achieved some very similar detuned synth sounds using this method...

That's a cool idea. I'll have to give that a try.

Try recording it to tape and messing with the tracking or LFO on the synth.

[polar sky]

Truly a lush sounding instrument that would please anyone looking for that J.M Jarre or Tangerine Dream sound.

Boards of Canada's school of sound design is not about making 'lush' J.M. Jarre or Tangerine Dream sounds.

The CS synth line can do a lot of sounds, not just Jarre or Tangerine Dream styles. That wasn't my statement, that was VSE's statement.

Listen to the clip of the synth...

http://www.vintagesynth.com/audio/cs70m_mix.mp3 (very BoC sounding leads to me)

You can get a lot of different sounds and genres with these beasts.

[polar sky]

I agree with the people here who emphasize the importance of BoC's music/production skills and imagination rather than focusing on which specific tools they use. It is interesting to know how they make various cool sounds, but obsessing over exactly which tool is the 'secret weapon' seems kind of pointless.

I would love to know what they use just out of curiosity. I respect their skill of course. They are amazing at what they do. If it was pointless to discuss which tool is their Secret Weapon, then why did they bother to say it? When you say something like that, people are going to wonder.

Yeah yeah yeah, the music is the most important thing! The sound and the feeling of it all and this and that. I get it, I feel it and I know how it makes me feel. Putting on a song and totally being sucked into it like a magnet. It's love, it's hate, it's strange, it's comical and sad... It doesn't matter if you have the latest VA synth or the oldest Analog gear! It's what you put into it emotionally.

But at the end of the day? Personally, as a hobby and for personal pleasure? I love reading about old analog hardware. And that's why I care about what they use. Out of curiosity. I respect their music and the creativity. AND, what they use.

[bleak.]

[

http://www.vintagesynth.com/audio/cs70m_mix.mp3 (very BoC sounding leads to me)

You can get a lot of different sounds and genres with these beasts.

ah, remember hearing this a few years back. beautiful

[dono]

I would love to know what they use just out of curiosity. I respect their skill of course. They are amazing at what they do. If it was pointless to discuss which tool is their Secret Weapon, then why did they bother to say it? When you say something like that, people are going to wonder.

Yeah yeah yeah, the music is the most important thing! The sound and the feeling of it all and this and that. I get it, I feel it and I know how it makes me feel. Putting on a song and totally being sucked into it like a magnet. It's love, it's hate, it's strange, it's comical and sad... It doesn't matter if you have the latest VA synth or the oldest Analog gear! It's what you put into it emotionally.

But at the end of the day? Personally, as a hobby and for personal pleasure? I love reading about old analog hardware. And that's why I care about what they use. Out of curiosity. I respect their music and the creativity. AND, what they use.

Amen brother. This is how I feel.

[SonicDimension]

I agree with the people here who emphasize the importance of BoC's music/production skills and imagination rather than focusing on which specific tools they use. It is interesting to know how they make various cool sounds, but obsessing over exactly which tool is the 'secret weapon' seems kind of pointless.

I would love to know what they use just out of curiosity. I respect their skill of course. They are amazing at what they do. If it was pointless to discuss which tool is their Secret Weapon, then why did they bother to say it? When you say something like that, people are going to wonder.

Yeah yeah yeah, the music is the most important thing! The sound and the feeling of it all and this and that. I get it, I feel it and I know how it makes me feel. Putting on a song and totally being sucked into it like a magnet. It's love, it's hate, it's strange, it's comical and sad... It doesn't matter if you have the latest VA synth or the oldest Analog gear! It's what you put into it emotionally.

But at the end of the day? Personally, as a hobby and for personal pleasure? I love reading about old analog hardware. And that's why I care about what they use. Out of curiosity. I respect their music and the creativity. AND, what they use.

I understand what you mean. It's just that it is easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much attention on the tools and toys rather than the art. Electronic musicians have so many options that it is easy to get lost in the world of infinite technological possibilities. I think it's really important to find a balance between the technical and artistic aspects. These are decisions that each person must make individually, but tbh I would much rather listen to artists like BoC who thrive with the tools they have rather than being another one of these mediocre 'IDM' artists who think making music is like computer hacking or electrical engineering or something. That's just my opinion, though. The important thing is that they stop talking/reading about and collecting toys long enough to produce some decent music.