Oblique Noir
Oblique Noir is a concept of ambivalence. The project is exploring musical crosstalks – between digital rigour and analogue aesthetics, between live performance and reproductive synthesis. The sound may be described as “organical vs. electronical”. Oblique Noir perceives innovation as a convergence of the groundbreaking and the well-tried – resulting in hierarchy, agreement or chaos (possibly, these arrangements are our sources of inspiration).
Read more here.
Making of…
Wilhelm explains his technical approach to «Passage»:
To record this album, I used an RME UCX as the audio interface with all pieces in general.
I used two AKG C 2000B microphones recording in stereo in pieces 1-3 and two Earthworks QTC30 microphones recorded in stereo for pieces 4 and 5.
The RME UCX was connected into my DAW, Logic Pro 9. I recorded in several ways.
In most pieces I recorded dry, but in some I recorded with a reverb turned on. In most pieces I played without adding EQ first. When using any EQ or reverb while recording, it was Logic Pro effects, not from the RME UXC.
Mostly I add EQ and reverb after recording. I only did slight imaging panning in some pieces, so no panning, only global panning to more or less locate the instrument in the center of the aural space. Some pieces are slightly to one side, I notice as I am hearing the passage (for X) 2.
For reverb I used two tracks consistently. I use a small room reverb at a higher volume level and a larger hall reverb at a much lower volume level. No two pieces have the same proportions, I mixed specifically for each one.
The two tracks are balanced to be as loud as possible at their peak level without clipping. I did not use any dynamic limiter, to maximize the dynamic range of all of the pieces. The quiet passages are equally important as quiet as the louder ones are played loud.
All the remaining magic is done during the mastering process by Weldroid.
Sorry about the heater clacking noises in some places, and I heard a train passing at the end of the 2nd piece, but then again, it is real! I will create some window barriers this summer. I have deep windows into which I could stuff sound absorbing material 🙂