Confessions of a producer

I recently stumbled upon a website featuring the reminiscences of producer Mike Thorne. Amongst the fascinating essays on the site is a production note centred on the recording of the band’s first album ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabaret’.

In terms of the history of electronic music, this album is of prime importance. For the first time electronic music was becoming more than just a curio obsessed over by an underground cult. Soft Cell took the purely electronic formula and thrust it firmly into the pop charts all over the world.

Yes Kraftwerk wrote some great purely electronic albums in the 1970’s but they didn’t achieve the success of ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabaret’. Similarly, Gary Numan had topped the charts with his electronic sound for some time, but all of his work included a conventional rhythm section with an electric bass and a drummer.

Mike Thorne and Soft Cell were amongst the first who ditched the conventional drummer and let their drum machine do the work. In 1981 this was a bold move for a group attempting to achieve commercial success.

Thorne gives us a fascinating insight into the production of early electronic music and this site comes highly recommended. If nothing else it has put ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabaret’ back on my play lists and that can’t be a bad thing.

Yes box set: the verdict

Well, the Pet Shop Boys ‘Yes’ box set has been out for a few days and here is an inside look at what you get for your £300.

Firstly, the box set is delivered in a sturdy box packed with thick bubble wrap to cushion the impacts that the Royal Mail will surely inflict upon it.

Inside the bubble wrap, a clear plastic bag holds your investment and protects it from scratches.

Once out of its cocoon, the box set consists of a very shiny, opaque, black Perspex box with a gold coloured metallic ‘tick’ to the front. One detail I did not notice until opening the box was a door to the side of the box which is held in place by two magnetic catches. This door simply lifts off to reveal the records themselves.

Within the box there are 12 LP sleeves, each of a different colour. 11 sleeves contain 12” singles. Each disc plays one album track and the instrumental version on the b-side.

The twelfth sleeve is white and has the coloured tick from the ‘Yes’ artwork to the front. Inside there is a glossy card which lists the album credits and states this is a limited release. Also in the white sleeve is an art print which is signed and numbered (very clear full signatures in black pen).

Each sleeve has an inner which lists the lyrics on one side and a picture which forms part of a large mosaic portrait on the reverse. Each 12” has a plain coloured label and an indication of which side is facing.

The merits of this release are not in the music it contains. Some people (all of whom did not order it) feel it is amusing that the 'exclusive' instrumentals on this release will inevitably be widely available on the Internet in the near future. I, like most people who ordered this box set, couldn't care less about the 'exclusivity' of the music. I welcome digital copies of the instrumental versions which will save me from having to play my records. £300 for records you are not going to play? That's insane!

Well, no it's not insane. Looking at this in purely financial terms it represents a sound investment. With only 300 available, the few box sets being advertised on eBay are already fetching considerably more than the £300 retail price. By not subjecting the vinyl to wear/dust/static/scratches the condition is maintained and thus the value enhanced. Not playing the records makes sound economic sense.

Aesthetically this box set is also very pleasing. The whole point of this set is that it is a luxury item that could almost be considered a piece of art. It is crafted from fine quality materials and pressed on a relatively small scale. It's high cost also ensures its elite nature.So on the whole I am very pleased I ordered it and that I am able to justify such a huge price tag to myself. I just hope they don't make any similar box sets for future albums as I still have to eat and pay the mortgage.

Arrival

Well it's here......

It's pretty good, but not sure its enough to justify a £300 price tag. More thoughts as I assess my bank account and the product.

Tired of waiting

The extra special 'ultimate' edition of the latest Pet Shop Boys album got me really excited when it was announced. Having said that if you waited until it was officially announced you were likely to have missed out on one of the 300 11x12" box sets.

The promised release date of April 25th came and went. We are approaching June and still no box set. They were quite happy to take my £300 months ago, but it seems they are not so happy to actually get on with manufacturing the thing.

My initial excitement has been replaced with disinterest and boredom. Even the pictures on Mark Farrow's website of the initial proof copies has failed to rouse my interest. I'm just so sick of waiting.

But, no you can't have mine.

Vinyl is the future

I have always been a bit sceptical about the supposed ‘warmth’ and dynamic range of LP’s compared to CD’s and other digital sources. To me there was little difference between the sonic characteristics of analogue and digital sources other than the obvious crackles and associated background noise a vinyl LP always generates.

Yet as I begin to rediscover my vinyl collection I am stuck by the difference between these analogue sources and their digital counterparts I have become accustomed to. In the last week the new Pet Shop Boys album ‘Yes’ has been released as a limited edition of 1000 heavy weight vinyl LP’s. Since it’s original release in March I have become very familiar with this album from its CD and MP3 versions. On playing the LP for the first time, I was struck by the difference in sound.

This difference is best described by one of my recent experiences in a high end Hi-fi retailer. I was present at a listening session in which I was confident of not being able to detect the difference between a £1000 Japanaese manufactures amplifier and a £3500 British manufactures amplifier. Surely there isn’t much difference that an amplifier can make is there? Wrong, very wrong. Another listener best described the difference between the two as: “The Japanese amplifier sounded like you were listening to a CD. The British one made you feel like the singer was in the room.” Thus what I always assumed was a relatively benign component of an audio set up was clearly illustrated as making an enormous impact in the characteristics of the sound. When you consider the original source is likely to make an even bigger impact on the characteristics of the music you listen to than the amplifier, it makes careful consideration of the source a worth while exercise.

Analogue sources DO sound warmer and offer a much greater dynamic range than their digital counterparts. The best way to detect this is to listen to one source or the other exclusively for a long time. Then swap to the alternative source whilst retaining the same audio set up; the difference is quite striking and is enhanced the more familiar you are with the original recording.

Having said that, not all vinyl is created equal. I have plenty of flimsy and scratched 12” singles that offer the same sound quality as if it were being played into a wind tunnel whilst the sound of a gas leak steadily pesters your ears. The key to a fantastic listening experience is in the quality of the source and with their latest LP release Pet Shop Boys have excelled once again. You have no excuse for not owning a turntable.

Don’t judge a book by its cover (or an album by its box set)

Come on admit it. When you heard Martin Gore was buying mountains of vintage analogue gear to make Depeche Mode’s new album you were excited. Yet when it was released in its mammoth box set version on Monday, we were all left sorely disappointed.

Here is how to produce a Depeche Mode album the Ben Hillier way:

Step 1: Get the track up and running with a good beat and melody
Step 2: Add the vocal and any overdubs
Step 3: Remove good beat and add tiny almost imperceptible analogue percussion
Step 4: Remove melody and add an out of tune drone
Step 5: Add distortion to EVERYTHING
Step 6: Ensure anything approaching melody is removed
Step 7: Add distortion to everything again just make sure
Step 8: Turn everything in the mix up until it distorts
Step 9: Ensure the mix engineer adds distortion to everything just to be doubly sure
Step 10: Ensure the mastering engineer is instructed to make everything very loud and distorted

I have noticed there are many ways to buy the album ‘Sounds of the universe’. It’s very difficult to just buy a straight forward CD with the album on. The afore mentioned box set is a truly amazing item with many many extras, there is also a CD/DVD package, a 2xLP and CD package and of course the digital downloads.

All of this additional content and extraordinary packaging makes me wonder if we are supposed to be distracted from the quality of the album itself and simply admire it for how it is presented to us. This album has very little musical worth due to the way it has been produced and it sits squarely alongside the worst of Depeche Mode’s back catalogue.


I wish Alan would come back and sort this bloody mess out.

CD storage is impossible

I love music. Consequently I have lots of CD's. I collect records by the Pet Shop Boys and have lots and lots of those. Storing them is a real pain. I often muse over the benefits of a digital music collection.

A friend of mine recently sold her entire CD collection after she copied it all to her hard drive. I think she will regret that decision one day, especially if her hard drive melts. Also, I consider the packaging of a record to contribute to its overall worth. Why else would I spend £300 on a Pet Shop Boys deluxe edition album when I already own the music it contains?

I recently found this picture of my entire Pet Shop Boys collection on my hard drive. It is circa 2003 and in 6 years it has grown. The second picture is merely the CD's as I couldn't fit all the vinyl in the same picture.