How to DrO)))ne

[moose23]

I generally make drones with various oscillators, either homemade or a drone lab, and effects, here's a nice example.

http://wolfbaitcult.bandcamp.com/track/hawthorn-rattle

Rest of the two albums on the bandcamp all have harsher drones throughout.

[louderthangod]

How about some drone of a different sort? Mark Rothko's paintings have always seemed like the drone version of painting. Seeing this really excited me and changed a lot of how I see art and expression. It's an hour long but a great watch I think. Actually all of Simon Schama's Power of Art are pretty awesome (Caravaggio is my next favorite of his):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEIn1914XSM[/youtube]

[D.o.S.]

When I think of drone-style paintings I think of the individual stroke canvasses that Chuck Close is famous for--the ideal of repeating the same method over and over again to create a larger piece with an overarching image.

[louderthangod]

I think they have similar qualities but flipped in a way. Rothko reminds me of early Sunn. Monolithic, larger than life pieces that are disarmingly simple but once you've gotten over your "anybody can do this shit, even me phase" you realize there's a lot of detail in there especially details that you can really get lost in and your mind starts adding images and sounds that are distinctly there. A lot of Chuck Close's pieces seem too me to be far beyond my ability but when you look closer (which the size facilitates) you see the repeating themes of simplicity that create a larger whole (or automata to steal from Stephen Wolfram). I guess I see it more like the reciprocal nature drone and post rock. Godspeed is no more complicated than early Earth but there are more pieces repeating simple movements to the point that it appears complex. I really want to overly intellectualize this but I'll try and hold back because I'm just not that smart but I enjoy the exercise. These are the kinds of conversations I'd like to have if I had someone to smoke weed or drink some nice whiskey or scotch but nobody I know really cares so I rarely smoke or drink.

[gunslinger_burrito]

Not to back up too much, but I tend to either
a: zone people out at my shows
b: make the drunk morons either fall asleep or leave
c: make the chatty people leave the room

all by..... playing REALLY LOUD. So loud that I have to wear ear plugs in order to hear what the hell I'm doing.

It's cool to start a set with some build up, but sometimes it's cool to let the abrasive noise and volume blast the shit out of the audience early on, so all the casual audience members will get the hint and either shut up or leave. I like to ramp up loud early on for this reason, then settle into some quieter, more-ambient parts in the middle of my set. It helps to get a feel for whatever venue or location you're playing. I don't think drone will do well in bars, for obvious reasons..... unless you're lucky enough to be opening for some bigger act that attracts people who appreciate drone more already.

On the note of paintings, if you dig through Stephen O-Malley's blog, he puts up all kinds of baddass abstract art on it. I never appreciated some of that kind of visual art until I got into making noise/drone/doom. Go figure.

[Blackened Soul]

How about some drone of a different sort? Mark Rothko's paintings have always seemed like the drone version of painting. Seeing this really excited me and changed a lot of how I see art and expression. It's an hour long but a great watch I think. Actually all of Simon Schama's Power of Art are pretty awesome (Caravaggio is my next favorite of his):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEIn1914XSM[/youtube]

I see what you are getting at. A drone version of painting to me is more where you have a long series of paintings where they take you on a journey in a way or out of focus and blurry things which I know is odd considering all my vids are all nature stuff On the other hand I think Buddhism and Hinduism art are very drony, these are cultures where their spiritual music is basically drone though so maybe that makes too much sense.

[D.o.S.]

Not to back up too much, but I tend to either
a: zone people out at my shows
b: make the drunk morons either fall asleep or leave
c: make the chatty people leave the room

all by..... playing REALLY LOUD. So loud that I have to wear ear plugs in order to hear what the hell I'm doing.

It's cool to start a set with some build up, but sometimes it's cool to let the abrasive noise and volume blast the shit out of the audience early on, so all the casual audience members will get the hint and either shut up or leave. I like to ramp up loud early on for this reason, then settle into some quieter, more-ambient parts in the middle of my set. It helps to get a feel for whatever venue or location you're playing. I don't think drone will do well in bars, for obvious reasons..... unless you're lucky enough to be opening for some bigger act that attracts people who appreciate drone more already.

On the note of paintings, if you dig through Stephen O-Malley's blog, he puts up all kinds of baddass abstract art on it. I never appreciated some of that kind of visual art until I got into making noise/drone/doom. Go figure.

You should check out Seldon Hunt's album art if you dig the Stephen O stuff.

How about some drone of a different sort? Mark Rothko's paintings have always seemed like the drone version of painting. Seeing this really excited me and changed a lot of how I see art and expression. It's an hour long but a great watch I think. Actually all of Simon Schama's Power of Art are pretty awesome (Caravaggio is my next favorite of his):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEIn1914XSM[/youtube]

I see what you are getting at. A drone version of painting to me is more where you have a long series of paintings where they take you on a journey in a way or out of focus and blurry things which I know is odd considering all my vids are all nature stuff On the other hand I think Buddhism and Hinduism art are very drony, these are cultures where their spiritual music is basically drone though so maybe that makes too much sense.

Makes sense--the whole thing is basically an exercise in Aum.

I think they have similar qualities but flipped in a way. Rothko reminds me of early Sunn. Monolithic, larger than life pieces that are disarmingly simple but once you've gotten over your "anybody can do this shit, even me phase" you realize there's a lot of detail in there especially details that you can really get lost in and your mind starts adding images and sounds that are distinctly there. A lot of Chuck Close's pieces seem too me to be far beyond my ability but when you look closer (which the size facilitates) you see the repeating themes of simplicity that create a larger whole (or automata to steal from Stephen Wolfram). I guess I see it more like the reciprocal nature drone and post rock. Godspeed is no more complicated than early Earth but there are more pieces repeating simple movements to the point that it appears complex. I really want to overly intellectualize this but I'll try and hold back because I'm just not that smart but I enjoy the exercise. These are the kinds of conversations I'd like to have if I had someone to smoke weed or drink some nice whiskey or scotch but nobody I know really cares so I rarely smoke or drink.

The only dumb thing you can do in a conversation like this is cut yourself off prematurely.

I see a lot of Sunn style being a fairly easy corollary to what the Expressionists were doing while exploring non-objective painting--rejecting established forms of then-modern art while still sticking with the same tools.

[phantasmagorovich]

Well, there is not much to add to what AA wrote, but some cents from my side:

- Use filters! Filters, at least if they are equipped with a blend control and not of the stupid, envelope following, but of the good fixed kind, can add a lot to your sound. Trim a nice Low Pass Filter to resonate in a frequency that is roughly two octaves below the root of what you're playing and have that singing undertone massage your manparts. It works! Of course there are also other frequencies you might want to boost or even run through different frequencies with an expression pedal. I use filters as an important part of my drone bands' sound.

- Forget about the volume. It really is in the intensity and concentration. A good drone set is like a meditation, it means indulging in the smallest particle, into music that is no music any more. For that it is not necessary to be loud, it is necessary to listen closely. I am most comfortable with that when I am playing at room level, a bit louder than speech. For you it might be different, I'm just saying loudness is not the important part. Listening is.
(Volume helps with feedbacking though, so take that into account)

- Listen to Drone Music. It will help you listening to your own stuff. Learn to hear music in a non-linear, non-rhythmic, non-melodic way. Listen to Phill Niblock or Yellow Swans or Sunn O))).


Here's one of my band:

http://owwldrone.bandcamp.com/track/31- ... 5-21-135-e

[kbit]

I strongly second the notion of listening to Yellow Swans. I haven't listened to a lot of their material (so much), but Endlessly Making an End of Things is the most psychologically intense music I've listened to. It's so uncomfortable but it works. & Going Places is one of my deserted island albums.

[Blackened Soul]

Well, there is not much to add to what AA wrote, but some cents from my side:

- Use filters! Filters, at least if they are equipped with a blend control and not of the stupid, envelope following, but of the good fixed kind, can add a lot to your sound. Trim a nice Low Pass Filter to resonate in a frequency that is roughly two octaves below the root of what you're playing and have that singing undertone massage your manparts. It works! Of course there are also other frequencies you might want to boost or even run through different frequencies with an expression pedal. I use filters as an important part of my drone bands' sound.

- Forget about the volume. It really is in the intensity and concentration. A good drone set is like a meditation, it means indulging in the smallest particle, into music that is no music any more. For that it is not necessary to be loud, it is necessary to listen closely. I am most comfortable with that when I am playing at room level, a bit louder than speech. For you it might be different, I'm just saying loudness is not the important part. Listening is.
(Volume helps with feedbacking though, so take that into account)

- Listen to Drone Music. It will help you listening to your own stuff. Learn to hear music in a non-linear, non-rhythmic, non-melodic way. Listen to Phill Niblock or Yellow Swans or Sunn O))).


Here's one of my band:

http://owwldrone.bandcamp.com/track/31- ... 5-21-135-e

You guys are wonderful!

[dase]

all by..... playing REALLY LOUD. So loud that I have to wear ear plugs in order to hear what the hell I'm doing.

While I'm all about 'it's not necessarily about the big wall of amps' with this music this is where I'm going lately. What I'm doing is creeping ever so slowly in a much more swans / jodis influenced direction, to the point that I've started including actual chords and vocals and a bit of melody and stuff, albiet highly processed. To distinguish it from the old 'guy in metal bands puts on a flannel shirt and picks up an acoustic' busker du / rites of springsteen garbage that I hate, and to also get over my own nerves of playing kind of actual songs by myself to people, it's meant that I've started using a SHITLOAD more volume. That way I can't hear people talking over the top of it, and anyone in the room has to deal with it or leave.

[louderthangod]

There is definitely something to massive amounts of warm volume. It just resonates through you, the air becomes a sonic plasma and it overwhelms your senses. It's the closest like I'll ever feel to a fundamental partical in string theory resonating to the hum of a dying universe. If you can then take that to a whisper and still hold the crowd then regardless of anything else, that will be amazing

[dase]

Yup. But my thing with volume is you can usually get a lot of it from a half decent pa, don't necessarily need the amp wall.


The amp wall is REALLY fun though haha.

[chamberpain]

Just read this and thought of this thread:

But still more it was an act of self hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of the consciousness by means of rhythmic noise-1984

[Ancient Astronaught]

Just read this and thought of this thread:

But still more it was an act of self hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of the consciousness by means of rhythmic noise-1984

I want that as a tattoo!!!!!! In a decorative font on sheet music......