The Hatcliffe House Tapes
- Volume 12 -
Tools and Techniques
C60
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Side A
1. Logo Tone 12
- Synthesizer - John Lee Richardson
2. BlurRed
- Synthesizer/Drum Machine/Organ - John Lee Richardson
- Bass - Craig Tomlin
3. Weaver
- Synthesizer/Drum Machine/Organ/Bass - John Lee Richardson
4. Death To My Piece Of Mind
- Synthesizers/Drums/Drum Machine - John Lee Richardson
- Vocals - Rob Distant
5. Prepared Feedback Room
- Vocals/Microphone Feedback Array/Synthesizers - John Lee Richardson
- Guitar - Rob Distant
6. Quarks In
- Synthesizer/Drum Machine/Organ - John Lee Richardson
- Guitar - Rob Distant
7. It's Alright
- Vocals/Guitar/Drums/Bass - Rob Distant
- Remix/Tape Effects/Dub Effects - John Lee Richardson
8. Who's A Liar
- Vocals/Guitar/Drums/Bass - Rob Distant
- Remix/Tape Effects/Dub Effects - John Lee Richardson
9. Raindrops On The Window Plain
- Synthesizers/Organ - John Lee Richardson
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Side B
10. Out Of View
- Synthesizer/Drum Machine/Organ - John Lee Richardson
- Guitar - Craig Tomlin
11. Nano World
- Organ/Drum Machine/Dub Effects - John Lee Richardson
12. Around And Down
- Guitar/Bass/Drum Machines/Synthesizers/Organ - John Lee Richardson
13. Don't Expect.....Respect
- Drum Machine - John Lee Richardson
- Guitar - Rob Distant
14. The Last Page
- Synthesizers/Organ/Drum Machine - John Lee Richardson
15. Impulse
- Synthesizers/Organ/Drum Machine - John Lee Richardson
16. The Final Hurdle
- Guitar/Synthesizers/Drum Machine/Organ - John Lee Richardson
17. The Vanishing
- Organ/Synthesizers - John Lee Richardson
18. Distant
- Organ/Synthesizer/Lighter/Radiator/Cardboard Box - John Lee Richardson
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Music by:
John Lee Richardson
Rob Distant
Craig Tomlin
Recorded at Hatcliffe House
Circa 2001-2012
Remastered and Mixed by
John Lee Richardson 2015
at The Saints Room
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Volume 12 and the Final Chapter in the
Hatcliffe House Tape series is . . .
Availble on.....
C60 Cassette / CD and Digital Download
from.....
...TOOLS...
Equipment List:
Hatcliffe House Studio
-2001-2012-
-:Computers/Consoles:-
Laptop
Playstation 1 (Music Generator/Music 2000/Fluid)
Playstation 2 (MTV Music Generator)
Various PC's
-:Software:-
Ableton Live 5
Ableton Live 8
Arturia Storm
Native Instruments Limelite Solo
Propellerheads Reason
Sony Soundforge Acid Pro
Various Free VST Plugins
-:Recording Equipment:-
Casio Song Star Dual Cassette Karaoke Machine
Portable Radio/Cassette Recorder
Sony MZ-N510 Minidisc Recorder
Technics sl-eh790 Stereo System/Cassette Recorder/Record Player
TEAC CD-RW890MKII-B CD Recorder
Various Cassette Player/Recorders
Various DVD Players
Various Video Player/Recorders
-:Mixers:-
Akai APC40
Numark CDX CD Decks x2
M Audio NRV 10
Peavey MP600 Power Amp Mixer (B)
Pioneer DJM500 Mixer
-:Synthesizers/Keyboards/Organs/Drum Machines:-
Air Organ (B)
Casio Rapman Keyboard
Korg Electribe EA-1
Korg Electribe EA-1 MKII (B)
Korg Electribe ER-1 MKII (B)
Korg ElecTribe SX (ESX-1) (B)
Korg MS20 Legacy USB Controller
Korg MS2000 (B)
Korg Monotribe
Korg Monotron Delay
Korg Kaoss Pad 1 (B)
Korg Kaoss Pad Quad
Novation Supernova II (B)
Roland SH-201
Roland MC-303 Groovebox
Yamaha DJX-2 Keyboard
Yamaha Electone EL-100 Organ
Yamaha Portasound PSS-470 (B)
Yamaha DD-20 Electronic Drum Kit (B)
Yamaha DTX500K Electronic Drum Kit (B)
-:Various Instruments/Mics/Effects:-
Acoustic Guitars (B)
Amps (B)
Bongos (B)
Challenge VP Bass (B)
Drum Kits (B)
Effect Pedals(MultiFX/Distortion/Overdrive/Compressor/Delay/Reverb/Flanger/Chorus/Ring Modulator etc...) (B)
Flutes (B)
Found Objects/Everyday Sounds (Wind/Radiators/Clocks/Boxes/Bins/Toys Etc...)
Kazoo
Microphones (B)
Electric Violin (B)
Guitars (B)
Percussion (Tambourine/Triangle/Shakers/Rattlers/Found Objects etc...)
Sitar (B)
Violin (B)
(B) = Borrowed Equipment
"I would like to thank everyone who has lent me musical equipment over
the years, without you alot of these tracks would of never have been
made..."
Craig/Rob/Simon/Phil/Cooper/Dean/Sanders/Karl/Anth/Tim/Jason/Casper and Beaney for Computer Spares and Repairs.
...TECHNIQUES...
As you can see on the equipment list, the equipment wasn't the best, we
made use of what we had and tried to make as interesting sounds from
them as we could. Most of the recordings were improvised, coming from
experiments with the equipment through an array of effects to modulate
and twist the sounds so they sounded nothing like the original sound.
Creating a sound pallet for me
to mix live over the top of either Craig or Rob, playing more
conventional instruments, with effects over the master channel to help
blend the overall sound together.
At first the recordings went straight onto cassette tape, before i got a
computer around 2003. The computer opened up so many possibilities for
recording, especially multi tracking and editing. Although we always
used the computer for recording after that point, i still to this day
record the final mix back onto tape, then back onto the computer, to get
that vintage feel you can only capture through recording onto tape.
Everything was also run through a
Peavey Amp/Mixer which gave off a nice hiss and reverb too. It made the
recorded sound more live and real, rather than polished and faked. Craig
and Rob came from a band background and I was a synth and sound/visual
production nerd...I still am. We were all into our own music styles, but
met in middle when it came to post punk, new wave, krautrock and
psychedelic music. We were bored of the music scene, especially the rock
scene at the time and wanted
to do something new, taking influence from past masters like CAN/Joy
Division/Pink Floyd/Kraftwerk/Cabaret Voltaire/Tangerine Dream/BBC
Radiophonic Workshop...the list goes on and on. I was also making alot
of dance music at the same time too, that's how i started off in music
production and i have never stopped, my next series will see/hear my
solo electronic music recorded at Hatcliffe House during this same time
period; under my Acrelid alias.
At the time i was a big fan of Labels like Warp/Rephlex/Ghostbox and
alot of influence came from artists like Richard D. James, Broadcast,
Boards of Canada, The Advisory Circle and Autechre. These were artists
who were doing something
very interesting with music at the time and helped push the art form
forwards, in many cases taking a step back to move forward. It was
discovering Krautrock, New Wave and Library music that really kick
started things off with me wanting to explore working with
guitarists/bassist and drummers in a more
conventional format, rather than recording solo electronic experiments
by myself. This all started off when i was younger, i was given a
cassette tape compilation called "2000 Girls and 1 Guitar" coming from a
Rave background this opened me up to all sorts of Space/krautrock gems,
the tape started with Can
"Spoon Live" then moved onto Neu "Neuschnee" these two tracks alone blew
my mind. The cassette continued through a krautrock and new wave
odyssey, with such greats like Faust/Kraftwerk/Cabaret
Voltaire/Cluster/Stereolab etc... making an appearance to my ears for
the very first time. I thank Craig Bennett to this day for that tape as
it took my music in totally different and new directions. The tape was
so well put together as Mr Bennett is a master at compilation albums,
each track seemed to roll into the other, seamlessly. This
and my DJ background and love for mixtape culture, is why i decided when
compiling The Hatcliffe House Tape recordings, to mix them together
into volumes, finding tracks which fit a feel or genre, which roll into
each other. Hoping to recapture that feeling i had when listening to
that tape for the first time, and with hope, new listeners can share
that same experience with this series.
Another big influence was the Hauntology scene what was emerging at the
time, through labels like Ghostbox and the work of Broadcast and Boards
of Canada. This appeal for vintage electronica got me wondering down all
sorts of strange library music avenues, a never ending treasure trove
of forgotten sounds and sonic exploration, which i am still exploring to
this day. The BBC Radiophonic Workshop got me re-interested in
exploring and experimenting with the tape format, something which had
seemed to of disappeared at the time with the rise of digital
technology, but i am happy to see it re-emerging today.
I am a self taught musician and producer and in the days before i had
access to knowledge through the internet, i had to work stuff out for
myself as i didn't know anyone into the same sort of stuff i.e. synths. I
didn't get my first midi lead until 2005, i used to sync everything up
manually and cut out the parts that went out of sync, syncing up layers
on my CD decks, using a DVD player as a sampler. I had a CD burner,
which i used to record layers on to,
The purchase of Ableton 5 was a massive help when syncing up audio
layers and made multi tracking/Editing and looping more possible, also i
could add effects from Ableton straight onto the recording channel and
effect things live whilst recording. Craig and Rob used to come round to
the flat regularly, Craig i have known since school and is one of my
oldest friends and Rob i met through
a mate who introduced us and throughout boredom we just started jamming,
plug the guitar or bass in and jam along to a track i had set up at the
time. This evolved over time as we became more involved in what we were
making. I started to acquire alot of borrowed equipment as people
started to hear our experiments and lent us the equipment they weren’t
using at the time, on loan. So the spare room in my flat after my
lodgers had moved out, turned into a studio, a drum kit in a flat was a
bit cheeky, but i got away with it by recording loops and layers during
the day while the other Tennant was at work,
then mix the layers in ableton at night. Craig and Rob would come round
for a session, record a load of stuff, then go home and i would be left
to mix it all together as i pleased, unless like in many instances, we
nailed it in one take. To be honest I used to record nearly everything
into one layer up until a few years ago when i got an audio interface
which allowed
me to record multiple layers at once. This meant we had to get things
right on that take, notes, audio levels and the mix or the whole
recording would be ruined. So it had to be tight, which was a pain in
the arse in the early days before i figured out Midi and took alot of
multiple takes to get right, but it's very enjoyable for me listening
back and wondering...how did i do that with what we had. I would of
liked to have done a full equipment list on each track on the album
artwork to show this process, but my memory failed me in too many
instances, so i just stuck to a summary and full equipment list at the
end, for the listener to decipher. In all i recorded over 300 hours
worth of music in my time between 2001-2012 at Hatcliffe House. This
first Hatcliffe House Tapes series is a small fraction of that.
Before i move onto my next compilation series of archive releases I
would like to thank everyone who has ever visited Hatcliffe House, all
my Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Musicians and Random People. Without
you this music would have never of been possible and it helped shape
who i am today.
Thank you...
John Lee Richardson