Let's speculate on certain sounds and samples.

Everything related to our favorite Scottish duo.

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[GUIDELINES:
Kindly boldface the track title to make it easy to find your speculative thoughts. The format I will use below in my post will serve as an example.

If you can, "bring something new to the table".
There are a number of guesses on the bocpages wiki about certain sounds or samples, ones that are unconfirmed. If you've heard something that you think only you noticed, be unafraid to post it here.

Thank you.]


I'll start this off with one that I've noticed over time, and I think a couple others out there have as well...

I think I saw a YouTube comment that said the same as what I thought I heard, in:

Julie and Candy.
===================
Around 1:30 a loop in the track becomes more prominent.
Around 1:50/1:55 the instruments and beat pull back to allow you to hear it even better.

It's difficult to describe, I could edit it separate if you wish...but it sounds like a rise-and-fall sort of effect, it has a melody, and at some point, I noticed it sounds like a chorus of childrens' voices, with the pitch manipulated to give it the melody that they wanted.

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My favorite BoC sound will always be the end of A is to B as B is to C reversed
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Out and about.

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Poppy Seed (Boards Of Canada Remix)

Listen very closely at about 5:15:
"This is the compound in Waco today. Although not a follower of David Koresh, she is a devoted Branch Davidian"
"And I don't think you could come out and live in a religious community in a beautiful place out in the country and be away from it all"

So this track not only contains the sample used in 1969 (which we already know about) but also IABPOTC which I don't believe anyone else has noticed before.

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There's a repeated sample in The Beach At Redpoint that sounds something like a large animal growling that's been chopped up and spliced together, possibly from an old nature documentary or something? The same track also contains what seems to be a kid yelling "Wait!", and I don't think BoCpages has acknowledged either of these.

Also, if you listen closely about a minute before the track ends you can hear some of the background drones from Opening The Mouth very slowly starting to fade in.

Also, in Dawn Chorus, right before the "But you may be dead" bit, there's another unlisted sample of lips smacking or possibly someone giving a blowjob. BoC have shown in the past that they're perfectly willing to sample porn films (especially in Sixtyniner, P.C., and One Very Important Thought) so it makes a bit of sense, no?
If The Campfire Headphase was a butterfly, would Acid Memories be the caterpillar?
Spoiler: show
Unfortunately I have no clue lmao. But while you're here, go ahead and check out some of my tunes! You might dig 'em and stuff!

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Jango9 wrote:There's a repeated sample in The Beach At Redpoint that sounds something like a large animal growling that's been chopped up and spliced together, possibly from an old nature documentary or something? The same track also contains what seems to be a kid yelling "Wait!", and I don't think BoCpages has acknowledged either of these.


That's one of my favorite things they've done. That growl is beautiful chaos, and I've wondered about a different source:
Give a mic to a very young child, once they've really gotten into baby-babble but can't yet be understood, and just let them go nuts while you crank the gain/reverb and toy with it it through old speakers (placed safely away from said child, maybe in another room or at the end of a long hallway for reverb).
Great gurgling growling sounds from an unpredictable source.
-

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Omikron wrote:Poppy Seed (Boards Of Canada Remix)

Listen very closely at about 5:15:
"This is the compound in Waco today. Although not a follower of David Koresh, she is a devoted Branch Davidian"
"And I don't think you could come out and live in a religious community in a beautiful place out in the country and be away from it all"

So this track not only contains the sample used in 1969 (which we already know about) but also IABPOTC which I don't believe anyone else has noticed before.


This is one of the samples I've tried to find the most, now I NEED to watch that interview...
"Boards of Canada is a unique project that got a bit out of hand."

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Where can you find the interview?

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rolypablo wrote:Where can you find the interview?


It has yet to be found

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THE BOB wrote:Give a mic to a very young child, once they've really gotten into baby-babble but can't yet be understood, and just let them go nuts while you crank the gain/reverb and toy with it it through old speakers (placed safely away from said child, maybe in another room or at the end of a long hallway for reverb).
Great gurgling growling sounds from an unpredictable source.

I can name a few beautiful innocence-containing tracks like that offhand:

Aphex Twin - Cliffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqRoA32ZzL8

Air France - Collapsing Outside Your Doorstep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw9hU3jJQFE

Siriusmo - High Together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6OoQh2L4pQ

Nobody - Sun Child
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LERkOToheg

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Reach for the dead
So does anyone else think the choir-like pad that comes in sound like a very heavily processed Mellotron choir to anyone else?

also splitting the track into mono and inverting the bottom part is a pretty neat way of isolating parts and stuff.

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Cupz and I figured it out.

They're all Logic 3 presets from 1998. Roygbiv is "DEMO.midi"
Okay...now...wait for fog machine.

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what I really love about BOC is not even the certain sounds and samples, but how they incorporated and timed them in to the track to create some sort of effect, this is even more subtle, like the sounds in White Cyclosa, may sound like laughing, or the bassline in The Beach At Redpoint like screaming seagulls, or create some sort of breathing and pullsing feeling in Turquoise Hexagon sun...
speaking about samples, that one in Satellite Anthem Icarus, there's no way they just sampled that see breeze sound, I think it may be also some sort of synth sound alteration
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Agreed. 'One chalk mark... and knowing where to put it' and all that

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I've got so many of these I'm not sure where to start― they're probably way off, and they're not all about the samples, but maybe someone will find them interesting. This is gonna be a pretty long post; I'll put my guesses/observations in spoilers, so as not to clutter up the thread. Here goes:

Twoism
Spoiler: show
Sixtyniner
==============
The hihat in this track sounds to me like a real hihat mixed with a beatboxed hihat (tss tss tss tss). Considering BoC did something similar in An Eagle In Your Mind, maybe I'm not too far off.

In addition to that, a certain flute sample comes in at around 2:35 that can be heard in a bunch of BoC's other songs, like Flute Frum Thing, Powerline Misfortune, It's Too Orangey, Twoism (song), and Everything You Do Is A Balloon to name a few.

Oirectine
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The intro synth line in this track sounds almost like it was recorded hot to tape, because of the hiss and distortion. If you listen carefully to the main drum loop, you can hear a quiet, constant bongo roll.

Iced Cooly
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The intro bit sounds like it's been run through a noise gate (as the quiet bits are missing) before being run through reverb (likely digital.) I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out, but the whole song was probably played in one key and then parts of it were pitch shifted to achieve the result heard in the final song. It probably sounded something like this before: http://puu.sh/nMUpp/3a332fc94b.mp3

Basefree
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The same flute as in Sixtyniner can be heard at the end of this track.

Twoism
============
The intro is played on the same flute as the one in Sixtyniner. I don't think anyone has pointed this out before, but the main drum loop (the one after the intro) is the same one used in Spectrum off A Few Old Tunes. I think the squeaky noise is a saxophone.

Smokes Quantity / 1986 Summer Fire
============
I think the synth in this song was bounced off of cassette tape, probably a Walkman or similar― this is especially obvious at the very end of the track, when the compression and distortion subside and the sound of the tape's reels and the recorder's motors spinning can be clearly heard. This has probably been pointed out before, but the drum loop from Seeya Later is also sampled in this song.


Music Has The Right To Children
Spoiler: show
Wildlife Analysis
===========
I suspect that it was originally played faster and then later slowed down, which is how it appears on the album. It also sounds like it may have been bounced off of VHS tape.

An Eagle In Your Mind
===========
I believe the eerie pad sound all throughout the track is actually a slowed down Native American Flute recorded into one of BoC's samplers. This is backed up by the various Native American flute phrases that can be heard throughout the track, which also happen to be the same ones that can be heard in Opening The Mouth: https://soundcloud.com/transmisiones-ro ... e-50-lpeed

I always thought the “I LUV YOU” at 2:50 or so sounds like it was recorded off a TV because of the reverb, although I'm starting to think it's just a reverb unit now. I think I can hear some of the vocal percussion right after that sample as well.

Towards the end of the track, more details fade in, including a little flutey run (I think it's another Native American Flute sample, or perhaps something played on the SH-101) and a vocal sample (I always thought it sounded like a woman or a child saying “Null” over a walkie talkie or a radio).

At the very end is an ascending run that's reminiscent of something you might find on an old VHS tape, or perhaps a TV station in the 80s. It triggers nostalgia for me every time I hear it.

Telephasic Workshop
==========
The little vocal stab that you can hear throughout this track always sounded to me like a man saying “pink” that was sped up. Also, I'm pretty certain that it's “Bordering Canada,” and not “Border in Canada.”

Triangles And Rhombuses
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The Sixtyniner flute sound can be heard again at the end of this track. Also, this is completely irrelevant, but if you take a look at the vinyl edition of MHTRTC, the filter modulation on the first half of this track creates a nice pattern that you can see without the aid of a microscope. It kinda looks like diagonal lines IIRC, haven't looked at it in awhile.

Sixtyten
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There's a texture in the intro of this song (it starts at around 9 seconds in) that sounds like it was recorded on a shortwave radio. Probably a carrier signal or some coded transmission. The drumloop in this song was probably run through a notch filter with saw wave LFO.

The samples in this song have always sounded to me like “Heyooo!” “Watch it,” “Get off of me!” and “Drown me?!”

Turquoise Hexagon Sun
==========
The main key sound in this song sounds like one of the internal waveforms in one of BoC's samplers (probably the S1000). There's a gasping sound and some heavy breathing shortly after the beat comes in that I think may have been sampled from a porno, and the sound of pool balls/billiard balls (or, as Jango9 once said, “the sound of a lobster being thrown against a wall,”). Shortly after that, you can hear a voice saying what sounds to me like “There's been a...” or perhaps even “Husbands are...”

You can also hear the sound of party chatter/giggling slowly fading in.

Kaini Industries
==========
I'm not sure if anyone else has suggested this yet, but I think the bit at the end could be sampled from a NFB documentary, probably one on Native Americans. That, or perhaps it was taken from one of those collections of recordings made by ethnomusicologists.

Rue The Whirl
==========
I haven't got much to say regarding samples in this track, although I did notice that if you reverse the bit at the very end, you'll get something that could easily be an interlude on its own: http://puu.sh/nMYOd/5b2ca4a19a.mp3

It almost sounds to me a bit like a crossover between Bocuma, Alpha And Omega, and I Saw Drones.

Aquarius
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The distorted drum loop that comes in towards the end sounds like it was maybe custom recorded by BoC. I love it.

Open The Light
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The synth at the beginning sounds like it's been run through spring reverb, it almost reminds me of an old home organ. You can hear the Sixtyniner flute in this track as well, although it sounds a bit like a french horn here.


Peel Session EP
Spoiler: show
Happy Cycling
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I'm not sure why, but the repeating vocal sample in this track always sounded to me like “Bob dingle!”
A Youtube user commented on the Vangelis song this track samples, saying that the vocal sample in Happy Cycling sounds a bit like “BOBCAKE!”

Olson (Version 3)
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The vocal sample throughout this song is also used in the BoC remix of Dirty Great Mable, and sounds to me like a kid saying “eeee! 1, 2, 3.”


Geogaddi
Spoiler: show
Music Is Math
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I've never really been able to hear “we all fall down,” in the (vocoded?) voice sample that appears throughout this track. I always thought it sounded like “now,” or perhaps “meow.”

Beware The Friendly Stranger
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I don't think the crackling in this track is actually a campfire, but is instead vinyl crackle. There's also a 16khz sine tone all throughout the track, the kind that you might get from recording something from an old TV.

The Devil Is In The Details
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The wailing sound in this track sounds to me like a kid.

Over The Horizon Radar
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This track sounds to me like it's made up of a Fender Rhodes run through reverse delay among other effects.

Dawn Chorus
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I think that the vocal sounds in this track are probably just children― the one at around 1:03 sounds to me like a child saying “Byyyeee!”


The Campfire Headphase
Spoiler: show
Chromakey Dreamcoat
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The loop that starts off this track reminds me of a Japanese koto recorded to cassette on a Walkman or something similar, although it's probably just a guitar.

Oscar See Through Red Eye
==========
Most of the drums in this track sound like old drum machines, such as the 606, 808, and LinnDrum.


I might think of more later, this is all I can think of for now.
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Cosmic Manta wrote:I'm not sure if anyone else has suggested this yet, but I think the bit at the end could be sampled from a NFB documentary, probably one on Native Americans. That, or perhaps it was taken from one of those collections of recordings made by ethnomusicologists.

I actually watched the 3 videos that document the life of native people in Canada narrated by Pete Standing Alone himself (you can watch them on the official nfb website) but with no luck...

I would like to comment about a possible sample source that appears in Dawn Chorus, is the voice that says 'Mary'.
I think it may come of this Sesame Street segment that also appears on episode 2852, called camping with the rhymies, which I'm sure some of you may have already seen it, perhaps even thought that this was the souce of the sample:
https://youtu.be/abRj6Gninvs
Although it could be 'Barry' or 'Larry' what we hear in the song...
"Boards of Canada is a unique project that got a bit out of hand."

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ParticleGhost wrote:Reach for the dead
So does anyone else think the choir-like pad that comes in sound like a very heavily processed Mellotron choir to anyone else?




Yeah I always thought it was a band pass filtered and gated Mellotron. There's Mellotron all over Tomorrow's Harvest

Alpha and Omega
The fluty flourish is in Aquarius as well.

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Tarkus wrote:Alpha and Omega
The fluty flourish is in Aquarius as well.


As well as Warp-10 Track 3.
Mexicola wrote:Marcus had that beard and longer hair waaaaay back.

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The second track from the Blade Runner OST composed by Vangelis, contains a very similar sound to the main synth in Julie and Candy (not the flute).
At 01:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFrHCn069Sc

Another one, a similar sound that appears in the song Metall Auf Metall by Kraftwerk is heard in Pete Standing Alone:
At 01:08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlatOPOMlyA

At 01:11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tznKkts0nG0
"Boards of Canada is a unique project that got a bit out of hand."

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Sure sounds like Geddy Lee's voice being chopped up in parts of Telephasic Workshop. Plus it sounds like Neil Peart saying "Order of Canada." Rush received the Order of Canada in 1997. I'm sure there are recordings of them speaking about it.

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blankleader wrote:Sure sounds like Geddy Lee's voice being chopped up in parts of Telephasic Workshop. Plus it sounds like Neil Peart saying "Order of Canada." Rush received the Order of Canada in 1997. I'm sure there are recordings of them speaking about it.


Isnt it "Bordering Canada"?

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