NEW BOARDS OF CANADA VIDEO [Tape 05]

[Cupz]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past and a synthesized harp. It would have been fine. I think its a real harp but I dislike the bashing of synthesized acoustic instruments that's going around this thread.

[Altruizine]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past

When did they use that? I bet it's something obvious I should recognize.

I mean... if they synthesize it to sound completely authentic, they'll gain some bragging rights but... seems like a pointless exercise. If they made a cool transition where it starts by sounding authentic and then the parameters shifted so it becomes all wonky that'd be a clear reason to synthesize.

[Cupz]

Synth flutes are all over their work. We even have this thread to commemorate: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4292

[smimble]

The first 30 seconds sounds like 'resonant tuning' from The Gateway Tapes to me. Not a mirror representation, but the same sort of sound that comes in waves and decays. The fact it proceeds the main show is another connection and I have no doubt The Brothers are very familiar with astral projection. I'd be interested to see if there are shared frequencies between the two.

[Altruizine]

Synth flutes are all over their work. We even have this thread to commemorate: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4292

I was gonna ask if you meant Olson. That’d sound shit with real flutes

[Den]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past and a synthesized harp. It would have been fine. I think its a real harp but I dislike the bashing of synthesized acoustic instruments that's going around this thread.

I agree, once you remember that they love Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants anything is possible, there is a kind of naive, synthesized quality to its timbre that I hear, which also could be the effect of degrading the real harp's sound in some way.

[Wildfire]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past and a synthesized harp. It would have been fine. I think its a real harp but I dislike the bashing of synthesized acoustic instruments that's going around this thread.

I still insist it's a koto, played live.

[Wildfire]

Someone posted this over on Reddit and I have to say it's quite incredible how similar it sounds, pretty much the exact same chord progression but a note higher...

phpBB [media]

[Den]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past and a synthesized harp. It would have been fine. I think its a real harp but I dislike the bashing of synthesized acoustic instruments that's going around this thread.

I still insist it's a koto, played live.

The attack does sound like a koto.

[Negamuse]

First time I heard it I thought it was from one of those old old samplers, like the Fairlight, you know? It didn't sound quite live. I need to go looking through the universe of sound archives and see if there's a koto sample in there.

[Twoist]

The more I listen (and it's been dozens, maybe a hundred times already) the more I hear. Through all those listens the consistent overriding feeling I keep getting is Tape 05 is the consolidated, distilled result of nearly every phase of Boards we've heard since the mid 90s. The elements are subtle but very present - I sense everything from AFOT and R35TT all the way to Tomorrow's Harvest in those three minutes. It explains why I find the track so comforting.

[Negamuse]

The thing that fascinates me about this track is just as the switch up happens mid way through and it starts getting beautiful there's something that sounds like it's going to be a choir or something and as it plays on it kind of morphs into the string line.

I don't know if that choir is actually there or it just tricks my ears every time I listen to it. It makes sense to me, at least as I'm interpreting the theme, that you hear the shadow of human made sounds disappearing.

As ever, I'm overthinking this. Which is what I love about BoC, firstly that there's these details to go in on if you want, or ignore if you don't, but they are done so well they kind of resist interpretation. I am not a good producer but I know how most things are produced. BoC is genuinely candy to my ears

[Wildfire]

The thing that fascinates me about this track is just as the switch up happens mid way through and it starts getting beautiful there's something that sounds like it's going to be a choir or something and as it plays on it kind of morphs into the string line.

I don't know if that choir is actually there or it just tricks my ears every time I listen to it. It makes sense to me, at least as I'm interpreting the theme, that you hear the shadow of human made sounds disappearing.

As ever, I'm overthinking this. Which is what I love about BoC, firstly that there's these details to go in on if you want, or ignore if you don't, but they are done so well they kind of resist interpretation. I am not a good producer but I know how most things are produced. BoC is genuinely candy to my ears

Ditto to all of this! I think with all the frequencies meshing together, new sounds are created that create auditory hallucinations and I wonder how intentional it is.

[Altruizine]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past and a synthesized harp. It would have been fine. I think its a real harp but I dislike the bashing of synthesized acoustic instruments that's going around this thread.

I still insist it's a koto, played live.

Hmm I can hear it not necessarily being a harp but kotos clearly sound tinnier from what I've heard? Unless you mean this

phpBB [media]

[AuHr]

IV III I

iykyk

Just checking because I've only made false starts when trying to learn music theory (still want to try with keyboard + classical guitar, very slowly). Is this a way of writing the "down a half-step, down a third" melodic pattern?

[Wildfire]

I don't really see the creative difference between using a synthesized flute as they have in the past and a synthesized harp. It would have been fine. I think its a real harp but I dislike the bashing of synthesized acoustic instruments that's going around this thread.

I still insist it's a koto, played live.

Hmm I can hear it not necessarily being a harp but kotos clearly sound tinnier from what I've heard? Unless you mean this

phpBB [media]

Depends how you mic it really, I may of course be completely wrong, but it just sounds more koto than harp to me.

[Den]

IV III I

iykyk

Just checking because I've only made false starts when trying to learn music theory (still want to try with keyboard + classical guitar, very slowly). Is this a way of writing the "down a half-step, down a third" melodic pattern?

Yes. So in C it would be F - E - C.

It’s played in multiple places in the Tape 05 music.

[Altruizine]

I still insist it's a koto, played live.

Hmm I can hear it not necessarily being a harp but kotos clearly sound tinnier from what I've heard? Unless you mean this

phpBB [media]

Depends how you mic it really, I may of course be completely wrong, but it just sounds more koto than harp to me.

Btw this debate seems a bit silly but that's fan forums for ya I guess. Maybe it makes some difference which harp-esque instrument it is, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's some big ole traditional Scottish harp and the bros are paying respects to the bloodlines. I just wish they'll go full liturgical and there are church organs too on the record

[DFD21]

It sounds like a genuine harp to me. I would be a bit surprised if they just happen to have a concert pedal harp sitting around in the studio, so perhaps it's more likely to be a Celtic harp. But who knows? And it's not like the brothers are going to tell us.

Anyway I'm not sure we get very far with these sort of "what instrument are they playing" discussions since this is BOC. Even if they posted a studio tour video on Youtube and then a three-hour interview with Rick Beato demonstrating all their trade secrets, we'd be no better off trying to replicate their sound world. We don't have the experiences they have, nor decades of dedication to their craft. I'm just glad they're still at it.

[zeoevil]

They both have kids. I wouldn't be surprised at all if one of them plays the harp.