The technical side .. ohh yes ... there is a note from Edgar on this website somewhere that explains how they developed loops, or something like it ... and I can see a thing or two here.synthman1 wrote:That isnt the purpose or focus of the request for the informational DVDs. Its from the technical "how to" side of it. The mixing, mastering, live performance configuration and set up side of it.
Be mindfull that this is vastly different than learning Chuck Berry and/or scales ... and then go out on a stage and perform it!
In the loop example they got someone to do something to get a specific/particular type of sound out of it ... some of these today are envelopes and/or have other names for their function in a synthesizer, be it phaser, compression, whatever ...
When I'm writing a poem, I "see it in my head" ... and I scramble to find terminology to put it on paper ... AND for me poetry is better here -- hoping that a few words can create a visual ... that others might be able to see and interpret.
Likewise, Tangerine Dream music --- in the early days for me -- were extremely capable (another topic altogether) of creating "visions inside my mind ... that were totally different and foreign compared to "normal everyday life" ... and all my writing is off this space!
For Edgar ... this is the "trick" as I see it ... he hears sounds ... in his head ... and he plays on these machines looking for those sounds and helping those sounds he hears come to fruition ... can be difficult ... and one thing that people do is end up finding the oddest and strangest things and then "coloring them" ... so ... while turning on a machine something happened and Edgar heard a funny sound ... it will probably be used next time in one form or another.
The other way is ... I hear a sound ... and it creates a visual (this is how I am teaching myself music btw) ... and I use a musical passage that is close/similar to it, and try to assimilate the feeling that created with the "sound" ... and you can see this clearly in the early synthesizer days (Beaver and Krause and so on) when they were trying to get the synths to do sounds similar to the ones we "knew" ... in order to prevent these new instruments from sounding so "strange" and so "foreign" ... and folks like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis ... in a way ... took that foreigh sound and added melody to it ... so it would not be foreign to us ... but that is not to say that these "sounds" did not color something that Edgar, Chris ... or anyone in TD has ever seen ... chances are that it did, although I tend to think not as much in Jerome's case ... he did not come up in the "nothing" era of this kind of music.
So the answer to your question ... the trick to "creativity" is not what Edgar knows ... but what he sees. And the technology is centered around his ability to translate that through anything ... he would use a spoon on a microphone if it gave him the sound he wanted ... instead of synth ... I doubt ... SERIOUSLY DOUBT ... that the machines, and the technical side of it has anything to do with it all ... remenber this ... they were doing these things before all this "trickery" and "software" ....
I try to color a "feeling" with some words ... you would do this with an instrument or sound ... and by all means ... create your own "technical side" and "technique" ... this is the only thing that will differentiate you from anyone else.
Don't fight it ... I often call it in the JJ Godard school of thinking ... its "anti-music" ... you need to throw it all up in the air and then see what you have when it's all coming down ... YOU are the secret ... even to all the technical bs that is around ... don't get swept in the thought that knowing what Klaus does, or Edgar does ... will make you better ... it won't ...
Only YOU can make YOU ... only YOU can define WHO you are going to be ... don't be afraid ... stop asking others ... just get into the "vibe" of what you are doing and let it guide you .... you will NEVER regret this, or this inch of advise ...
Hope this helps ... when I read your bit I hear someone trying so hard to be as good and sound as good as someone else ... I think you will endup a much better musician and happier with your work if you sound like you and you learn to "color" and "describe" YOU ... through your own technique and ... whatever instruments you have ... and by all means use the spoons (Vangelis) and whatever else is available to help you enjoy your findings!