Does anyone have any idea what synths Bryn Jones used during his career? In interviews he's very vague and simply states that he uses analog equipment and no samplers or computers. In one song I noticed a Roland R-8, but that's the only thing I recognized. This man is shrouded in mystery.

Man, I love Muslimgauze... RIP. I can't see how he doesn't use samplers though. In fact check the picture...
Muslimgauze - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unless this is someone else's studio, there are racks of them behind his head.

just like RDJ ... same stuff everyone else used for dance music in the mid 90s.

from what i've heard, i'd bet studio jam with 808, 101, sbx-80 for sync to mmt-8 controlling s1000, whatever the hell's around, do second pass with hand drums, then sample islamic prayer calls from shortwave radio and hope no one gets angry about it.

he was great. and like other great artists you simply can't believe them when they say what they did. they will either obfuscate for self-protection or it's not something they are concerned with or they realise going into deep gear talk with music journalists is an exercise in futility.

He was so productive, I can't see how he'd do it without samplers. Unless he was a ninja with tape loops and multitracking. Gone at 37, RIP.

I seem to remember reading him talking about how he didn't buy gear, since it would just get so outdated so quickly so he would just go to the studio. But he was so prolific, I find it hard to believe just like him saying that he didn't use samplers.

Presets from cheap drum machines!
Use your multi outs to run individual sounds through distortions, fuzzes, etc.

I think the no sample thing meant no drum loops.

I wonder if he used Kurzweil because they have/had good sample libraries.

Or you just don't remember! Especially with post 90s studio productions and the advent of cheapish samplers, computers, patch bays and mixers, unless you're obsessively cataloguing your process.

My understanding is that Ableton Live got invented to solve the problem of not being able to reproduce or remember studio experimentation, and it later morphed into something used as a one stop production environment!

The Edge Interview

You use a fair number of samples (I believe that in your case you actually use tape segments.) in recording your projects. You must spend a great deal of time locating segments you wish to use? Where do you find all of these pieces?

Muslimgauze have never touched a computer/sampler. I use old equipment in a rough way. You use the same equipment as all the other; you all sound the same. Good luck with you. I don't want to sound like all the others. I use old cassettes/reel tapes/old equipment and I hope Muslimgauze sound unique. A Muslimgauze piece of music usually takes 3 hours to record/mix. It's written before, then worked in.

Judging by the rather prolific output of work by Muslimgauze you must spend a great deal of time in the studio? Do you work in the studio on a daily basis?

Some days Muslimgauze may produce quite a few tracks, other days nothing. It varies a lot. It's down to inspiration, I do something when I feel like it, which I hope makes for good tracks.

You must have quite an array of instruments. What all are the instruments that you generally use on a recording?

The main instruments are Arabic percussion, also found objects used in a different way. (e.g. clay pots, metal things, other objects) Making rhythm loops, working over them, adding, taking things away, whatever. I hope all Muslimgauze releases are worthwhile.

Weird how he talks about himself in 3rd person. Not familiar with his music at all... Will have to check it out.

Posting respect in a rare Muslimgauze thread s

I've often wondered what distortions boxes he used back in the day. Some of the richest sounding distortions I've ever heard are on Muslimgauze albums.

One of the only artist I know of who's music kinda creeps me out but I still listen because its awesome. He generated a serious amount of music in his life. 237 credits on discogs. Love this one.



https://www.discogs.com/artist/484-Muslimgauze

mad respect! i had a conversation a long time ago with Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, No-Man, etc., etc.) and he was the biggest Muslimgauze fan I've ever known. I wish i still had that email conversation because he went over all his favorite releases from him.

one of the most unusual and unique electronic artists to be sure. his label-mate Rapoon was another artist doing really interesting and unusual electronic music at the time.. it was almost like jon hassell's future primitive/4rth world concept. great stuff.

Thanks for posting about Muslimgauze. Big fan here. No clue about his gear... (and what about Vatican Shadow ?)

I picked up all the Vinyl on Demand reissues.

Im a fan of his sound. I just play them all after each other, sets a great mood and gets mesmerizing after a while. Also nice background chill music. And i love the artwork

I suspect much of it is just clipping the hell out of the DAT recorder or digital effect processor.

I get the impression he's using a Roland R8 on a lot of stuff, particularly the early 90s material (Emak Bakia and Vote Hezbollah, for example). There's a TB-303 on "Pulicharki Marastoon" on the Lazhareem Ul Leper album.

Love for Muslimgauzes music and his distortion. I think it came from wiggling cables around amongst other equipment. And i can confirm he used samples. I found a drum loop sample CD he used on several tracks. if you are interested PM me. would also be really thankful if somebody could guide me to more muslimgauze sample related stuff expecially drum loops. (those on Sarin isreal Zinoa are so good!!!!)

YouTube

imo he used samplers. i think he did a lot of subterfuge to keep his technique hidden. but really who knows. its kinda nice its a mystery.

a friend of mine had a track of his on a compilation. I'd love to find it again. definitely a later piece. it has a real early dubstep vibe. anyway the hihats were especially great. incredible flanging. then a lion growling and a voice comes in: 'babylon!' just incredible stuff. wish I knew the track.

Here ya go-

YouTube

Thanks!!!

Hard to believe that track is from 1996!

https://www.whosampled.com/sample/50...-Band-Hihache/
https://www.whosampled.com/sample/42...nis-Abu-Zeluf/
https://www.whosampled.com/sample/60...all-of-Saigon/
https://www.whosampled.com/sample/43...ziz-İstanbul/

I've never actually heard him before today, but on two of the tracks I'm listening to, it seems like he's just over driving some preamp and hitting a magnetic tape too hard.

As for him not using a sampler... I'm hearing an awful lot timing imperfections that lead me to believe that maybe he isn't... or at least was manually triggered... but maybe should have? In all honesty, zerocrossing would rather listen to actual bands that make this music, like Tabla Beat Science.

I think at that time it was typical thing to do, esp. with weird music. Quite a contrast to todays general transparency or outright exhibicionism about how "we" make/record/mix/master music. Of course it's fun both ways .

All of this is pretty well documented here
http://www.muslimgauze.org/articlesIndex.html

As was Jones' practice, the drums were played live, not looped, and recorded onto analog tape. From there, Jones approached the layered tracks with a dub sensibility, throwing in phasing effects, echo, and sudden shifts in volume. Some of the compression is insane, encircling the percussion hits in a spiky halo of grating distortion. But Jones was also a fan of extreme dynamics. Some tracks begin with seconds of pinging electronics so distant they are barely audible but which then amplify to speaker-blowing levels in an instant.

I love Muslimgauze, used to be on the subscription series back in the day and have lots of his stuff. In fact I have more Muslimgauze cds than Legendary Pink Dots cds and I have nearly all of their stuff so that's saying something. Dude was prolific.

Anyway, he definitely didn't use a computer DAW. Samplers, I don't know he always claimed not to. He didn't seem to use them in a very advanced way if he did, just chopped up loops, so it could all be tape like he claimed. As for the one photo of him with a rack of samplers in the bg, I doubt it was taken in his home studio. In the early days, for the releases on Extreme, he was recording and mixing in rented studios. He ditched all that and became home studio based around '93, when the Soleilmoon/Staalplaat releases started pouring out. You can hear a change in the sound and style. The Extreme stuff was lush and professionally engineered, and the Soleilmoon/Staalplaat releases sound thin and crunchy at first as he figures out how to mix himself. I don't think that photo was taken in his home studio simply because he was such a recluse.

Pretty sure he was mixing straight into the ADAT on the later stuff and the extreme distortion on several releases is from deliberately clipping the ADAT.

YouTube clips don't convey it but those later releases are the LOUDEST CDS YOU HAVE EVER HEARD, it's insane. There will be the quietest little synth gurgle or Arabic voice and then MASSIVE DISTORTED TABLAS blow out your speakers. The loudness wars are over, man, and Bryan Jones won. And he was already dead.

In the book that came out in 2016 on VOD he says he used CD players as samplers , he used looping function on CD players a lot.

Nice! gotta check out that book someday

I swear to god, I remember some old interviews that talked about some of his gear and techniques, and I'm fairly sure he definitely had some old akai rack samplers.

Listen to the SN-R8-06 Ethnic Percussion demo at 11:58



Compare to stuff like this:

I have a R8M and the Ethnic Percussion card. Had thought about selling it because I never really used either (kind of a pain to program the R8M in 2020) but as a big Muslimgauze fan you’ve inspired me to give them another go.

I can't seem to find the book available anywhere - I believe it's called "Chasing the Shadow of bryn jones". Does anyone know where I could buy a copy?