Boards of Canada sounds

[teelm05]

Anyone know or have an idea of what Boards of Canada is using to get the keys sound on the song "Music is Math" off of the album Geogaddi? There are lots of weird sounds on this album but i am particularly wondering about this song. I love the vibrato on the keys at the beginning. The keys remind me of a Moog Polymoog, but thats just me. Its really rich sounding and warm. Also the sounds off "Julie and Candy" and "Alpha and Omega" has quite a bit of musical content to it as well. If you have any thoughts on that one, that would be great to. Thanks.

[oblio]

my guess is overdubs of mc202 or sh101 with vibrato into reverb. or something along those lines. but i could be wrong.

[Yoozer]

BoC's beats and chord progressions are a lot more essential (and harder to mimic) than the sounds themselves, which usually already sound BoC-like with a slow LFO on the pitch. What you use is not that important.

Also, the effect is not complete without background noise of some kind.

[blue monk]

the Ensoniq ESQ 1 had been mentioned before as essential for BoC`s sound

[golden beers]

don't know about the specific tracks in question.

but allot of their stuff sounds exactly like JP8 to me

[shadowfac]

I don't know if they actually use an ESQ-1 / SQ-80, but they are perfect for those lo-fi detuned sounds. That plus one or two analog monosynths and you're good to go. Some tones are definitely more moogish than roland-ish. But the important part is not the source itself, but how the sound is processed to make it sound like it comes from an old record. I think they sample a lot of air and noises from everywhere and layer those samples with their melodies and drums.

[Simonator]

Coincidentally, my friend mentioned to me just a few days back that they covered BOCs studio techniques on his college course. Apparantly they record everything to tape, which would perhaps account for some of the 'warmth' mentioned in the OP, & the 'noise' that someone else here mentioned.

[Dorkhearse]

An SH 101 for sure-at least on MHTRTC. I also think a Siel DK 600 or Opera is doing poly duty. Slow LFO for sure and most importantly they use TAPE in the process-before and after sampling. Multiple generations of dubbing that create both noise and distance. Their sounds are occasionally recorded to different (low) quality cassette tape recorders of the handheld variety and then they shake em' a little bit. A lot of sampling from television and specifically old television synthy bits (station identification's, sesame street "Orange", PBS and NFBC)...actually a lot of sampling of their own music...they have a HUGE sound library that they pull from. I stayed with a friend who had 4 CD's of unreleased BOC (years before all of that stuff leaked all over the net in various incarnations) and I begged and pleaded and would not shut up about it...he relented...revelatory. I would like to see them drop the beats out or down to extremely "kraut" levels of inaudibility in upcoming releases. The melodies and patina are what always blew my mind. As you can tell I am A RAVING LUNATIC FANBOY!!!

[aeonlux]

Originally Posted by Yoozer

BoC's beats and chord progressions are a lot more essential (and harder to mimic) than the sounds themselves, which usually already sound BoC-like with a slow LFO on the pitch. What you use is not that important.

Also, the effect is not complete without background noise of some kind.

Well-said, and well-done, sir!


cheers,
Ian

[herokiller]

Pretty much a noob here but a lot of things sound BOCish to me when you put a bit of Wow n' Flutter on it. But as already stated, the greatest thing about BOC is their chord progressions and compositional skills. Their tracks usually sound like fully fledged songs. I love Geogaddi and Music Has The Right To Children.

[mildheadwound]

Lofi loop Junkie does a great job.

YouTube - ZVex Lo-Fi Loop Junky

[sleestack]

I would get a vcr and tape stock that a pbs station would have owned in the 80's and sample stuff with that. Synth lines etc. Crinkle the tape. and then sample back into your sampler.

[Jarkko]

Originally Posted by mildheadwound

Lofi loop Junkie does a great job.

YouTube - ZVex Lo-Fi Loop Junky

Wow... Interesting pedal. I feel the gas coming...

[rockmanrock]

Originally Posted by herokiller

Pretty much a noob here but a lot of things sound BOCish to me when you put a bit of Wow n' Flutter on it. But as already stated, the greatest thing about BOC is their chord progressions and compositional skills. Their tracks usually sound like fully fledged songs. I love Geogaddi and Music Has The Right To Children.

Well I'm going to disagree here, I think BOC's production is excellent but they leave me wanting with their arrangements. As an example, take the favourite 'Roygbiv', it just a simple loop that builds up for 2 mins then fades out! It sounds great but I always think another few minutes with some other musical ideas added on would have made it even better. It just reminds me of my own failings when I get stuck on a loop on the sequencer.

Anyone heard Tycho (Scott Hansen) ? He's more BOC than BOC sometimes!

[DanielW]

Apparently shortwave transmissions and what is referred to as "The Conet Project", believed to be overheard transmissions from various spy organizations, was a source for sounds on Geogaddi.

[Number 6]

I was (apparently) reliably informed that they use an Oberheim Matrix 1000, among other things. They're rather cagey about what they use, aren't they?

[rockmanrock]

Originally Posted by Number 6

I was (apparently) reliably informed that they use an Oberheim Matrix 1000, among other things. They're rather cagey about what they use, aren't they?

Not surprising when you get people like Tycho replicating their entire sound and artwork style! Tycho's stuff is very well done but I just think what's the ****ing point? There was someone on VSE who'd done the same with Richie Hawtin/Plastickman, he'd got the 303s, a shaved head and his tunes on MySpace all had track titles with the extra Ks in them. Found it: Syn303â„¢ on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Videos (check the artwork too)!

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by rockmanrock

Anyone heard Tycho (Scott Hansen) ? He's more BOC than BOC sometimes!

Haha, yes! To Scott's credit, he's a really good designer who doesn't have to copy BoC's style of artwork, and I like the tunes.

It's not like the town isn't big enough for both of 'm .

[tompty88]

101 is your ticket to most getting the sound of most BOC basslines and leads

[matia]

spoke with jack dangers aeons ago about them. they did a remix for him. said it was all mpc+101.

-matia

[modistylee]

Weird? I always thought their main board was a Prophet 5. I know they used the MPC and other older Akais.

One thing I've read in interviews is their unique tape processing technique, in which they would bounce loops back and forth on multiple tape machines to increase the wow/flutter, tape hiss and compression artifacts.

[matia]

i can again vouch for the fact that a 101 will do a lot of those sounds especially when sampled/resampled ...


-matia

[lovekrafty]

Well I have lots of synths and I love BOC,
A few synths to look at for that BOC sound

Prophet 5, Akai AX80 , Studio Electronics SE1X, Siel DK600 and analog tape.
I use a Korg SE500 tape delay to great effect.

Cheers
LK

[analogbass]

Nice but these days most sounds are fairly generic. Meaning there are many synths or software that can approximate this. Definitely *not* a sound that would require a vintage synth even if it is an SH.

The bigger question isn't the exact synth but how to derive this sound from any number of sources. This one wouldn't be difficult though.

YouTube - Boards of Canada - Music Is Math

[tompty88]

Originally Posted by analogbass

Nice but these days most sounds are fairly generic. Meaning there are many synths or software that can approximate this. Definitely *not* a sound that would require a vintage synth even if it is an SH.

The bigger question isn't the exact synth but how to derive this sound from any number of sources. This one wouldn't be difficult though.

YouTube - Boards of Canada - Music Is Math

Now I know you get people who split hairs till the cows come home over filters, I am not one of those people. Except in this case. Using env mod on the 101s filters, I have stumbled across patches that match a number of their sounds perfectly, it has a very very particular sound to it.

[lovekrafty]

Originally Posted by analogbass

Nice but these days most sounds are fairly generic. Meaning there are many synths or software that can approximate this. Definitely *not* a sound that would require a vintage synth even if it is an SH.

The bigger question isn't the exact synth but how to derive this sound from any number of sources. This one wouldn't be difficult though.

YouTube - Boards of Canada - Music Is Math

I'm just talking from experience with these synths, you go to your synth plug-in's and tape plug-in's, I prefer vintage synths to do this kind of sound, cheers.

LK

[analogbass]

Originally Posted by lovekrafty

I'm just talking from experience with these synths, you go to your synth plug-in's and tape plug-in's, I prefer vintage synth to do this kind of sound, cheers.

LK

Calm down, i'm all-analog 24-7 but the truth is that something like this is easily approximated with any number of things.

I agree that this might have a little more of the Roland character but still.

[lovekrafty]

Originally Posted by analogbass

Calm down, i'm all-analog 24-7 but the truth is that something like this is easily approximated with any number of things.

I agree that this might have a little more of the Roland character but still.

It's all good, at the end of the day it's about the artist that uses the tools
not the tools themselves, I was just commenting on what synths I've found to have a BOC feel.

Cheers
LK

[patrickg]

I heard a rumor that they're not from Scotland, but NY. Anyone heard this?

[bleebert]

does anyone know which tape machines BoC uses