Difference between revisions of "Equipment"
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There has been much debate on what equipment Boards of Canada uses to get their unique sound. Due to their reclusive nature and lack of touring, not much is known for certain, but there is much speculation. | There has been much debate on what equipment Boards of Canada uses to get their unique sound. Due to their reclusive nature and lack of touring, not much is known for certain, but there is much speculation. | ||
| − | == Secret | + | == Secret weapon == |
BoC themselves have, in multiple [[interviews]], mentioned the use of a "secret weapon" they use to generate their unique sound. As the name implied, they have declined to provide any specific information on what this "weapon" might be, but most expect it to be some sort of old analog synth. | BoC themselves have, in multiple [[interviews]], mentioned the use of a "secret weapon" they use to generate their unique sound. As the name implied, they have declined to provide any specific information on what this "weapon" might be, but most expect it to be some sort of old analog synth. | ||
Revision as of 14:24, 30 June 2008
There has been much debate on what equipment Boards of Canada uses to get their unique sound. Due to their reclusive nature and lack of touring, not much is known for certain, but there is much speculation.
Contents
Secret weapon
BoC themselves have, in multiple interviews, mentioned the use of a "secret weapon" they use to generate their unique sound. As the name implied, they have declined to provide any specific information on what this "weapon" might be, but most expect it to be some sort of old analog synth.
Many believe the Yamaha CS80 to be this weapon. In the WATMM thread "ATTN BOC-sessives, CS-80 on eBay, however, jbible refutes this, saying
"The synth used by BOC often mistaken for a CS80 is a Crumar with a BOC emblem covering the name of the synth on the back.".
Since jbible has seen BoC live (and is the source of the Live @ ATP bootleg), his comments hold some weight.
Here is a detailed "write-up" of the CS-80, courtesy of the SynthMuseum.
Synthesizers
A blue Yamaha CS-1X is visible in a 1999 Lighthouse Party photograph. It is more likely to have been used to trigger samples than generating its own sound, though this could ostensibly have been used for such sounds as Olson's filtered piano.
Native Instruments
In a 2001(?) interview with Mate Galic of Native Instruments, Boards of Canada is listed as one of the artists using NI products (but not details on which ones). [1]
Tape decks
Grundig
Unknown tape deck
“We love these low-quality tape machines,” Eoin says. “The great thing with machines such as the Grundig is that it's tragically bad. Whatever you record into it just doesn't come out unscathed. There's a ‘magic eye’ valve display on it, and when you hit the tape deck with the right volume, enough to fill out the magic eye, it's at that exact sweet spot that it is saturating the tape. So if you then sample back the playback, it's got a thousand years' grain on it.” Remix, 2005
- Possible models:
Tascam
Unknown 4-track
We drop a lot of our music down onto a Tascam 4-track that has a great saturating effect on the sound. Remix, 2002
MSR-16
Whether they're working separately or together, getting ideas down is generally a result of recording extended jams to tape on anything from a Tascam MSR-16 reel-to-reel to an old Revox recorder to a Grundig machine to an ordinary cassette. Remix, 2005
Samplers
Akai
S1000
We have five or six samplers, but my favorite by far is still the Akai S1000. It's an old tank now, and the screen has faded so that I almost can't read it, but I know it inside out. It's the most spontaneous thing for making up little tunes. It adds something to the sound — maybe the lower bit depth has something to do with that. - Remix, 2002
