donderdag 28 april 2016

IRCAM

Since I studied sonology at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (1999-2001), I wanted to visit IRCAM. IRCAM is the Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic / Music, located at Centre Pompidou in Paris.
The institute was founded by Pierre Boulez, back in 1977, and became the place where several concepts for electronic music and audio processing have emerged.
Musical inventors like John Chowning, Miller Puckette, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, Jean-Claude Risset, Terry Riley and even Frank Zappa and Jean Michel Jarre, created pieces of historical importance at this location.

Since a couple of years there aren't being done guided tours anymore, so it was a privilege to finally get the opportunity to visit the institute and get insight into the various offices and studios inside the building.
I made an appointment for the end of the morning on Friday, April 22nd. After a short wait, we (my sister and me), were welcomed by Deborah Lopatin, who was about to guide us through the building.
After we walked alongside the offices where preparations were done for musical experiments and projects, we entered three of IRCAM's eight studios.
The others were occupied.

Largest part of the building is located underground and the studios are built on poles, which are part of their 'floating' constructions. Further direct contact with the building is avoided as much as possible, so any extern conditions (such as the metros) can't influence the studio's acoustics.

The first studio we visited (studio 1) contains a grand piano. And besides the various recording equipment the room is also filled with monitors for surround productions and experiments.

In fact the second studio we visited is the most interesting.
The walls, ceiling, and even the ground were entirely isolated with (very expensive) sound absorbing foam. There is a small platform in the room to stand on, containing a chair and table with laptop on it.
As soon as the door closed we were confronted with absolute silence. My own studio is also isolated with (much less expensive) foam, where you can also notice a same kind of tempered effect. But the circumstances in this studio are far more extreme. The absolute silence to be encountered here doesn't even come close to the acoustics in my studio. You are only able to hear the reflections of your inner self. Which is a real bizarre experience.

A vintage Studer D9505 is the core of Studio 8. There has been discussion about the replacement of this mixing desk because of its age, but people who make use of this studio agree that this wonderful piece of technique should be maintained because of its sound and nostalgia. It was also nice to hear that besides the experiments that are being established, there is also being worked on commercial studio productions to fund the institute sufficiently.

After 15 years, I am delighted to have finally gotten the opportunity to visit the significant IRCAM.
Another item can be taken off my bucket list.

Many thanks to Deborah Lopatin for taking the time to guide us and supply all information.

vrijdag 15 april 2016

Archives 3

The third release of my archives recordings is available. This edition features my concert at the 8th edition of the Langweiligkeit Festival in The Hague, as well as an improvisation session, both from 2007.

Here are the details:
Since the early 90s, Remy registered an uncountable amount of compositions, improvisations, try-outs, sketches, studies and performances.
Remy always felt the need to release a lot of this material, but with such a huge variety of recordings, it was never possible to release everthing.
During the selection process for the released REMY-albums, a lot of music was rejected. Simply because these tracks didn't fit into the concept or feeling of the specific release.
A large amount of unfinished tracks, sketches, etc. will definitely never be released. And there also is enough stuff that is absolutely not good enough by means of technique and recording.
But through “Archives” there is this possibility to publish and share a lot of these recordings. Recordings that otherwise would never have seen the light.
Besides the fact that “Archives” offers music that could never be heard before, it gives the perfect insight into Remy's musical and artistic world, as well as it might also help to understand the direction Remy's music evolved into.
“Archives 2” contains material from 2007.



Tracklist:
1. Zeta (concert, 27-7-2007)
2. Sigma (improvisation, 23-4-2007)

Here you can hear excerpts from each song:


"Archives 3" consists of mastered archives recordings and is available as 320 kbps MP3 and 16 bit / 44,1 kHz FLAC. The accompanied artwork contains the necessary background information on each of the tracks, as well as some photos from the period of the specific music pieces.

The digital download only release "Archives 3" is exclusively available from www.desertedislandmusic.nl.

woensdag 13 april 2016

New digital downloads and remasters

New album
As you could have read in one of my previous blogs, I am very excited to share a new studio album with you soon. My first solo release since 5 years.
I am planning to have a cd release of "Fears" somewhere in October. Within the last months there have already been some opportunities to hear some of the album's tracks on various internet radio stations. And there is more to come!

Digital downloads
Three of my recent albums are now available as digital download (MP3 and FLAC) from the Deserted Island Music webshop:
- "i-Dentity"
- "The Great Church Trilogy"
- REMY & My Breath My Music - "Sessions 2012"

Until October - before the release of my new solo album, "Fears" - the entire REMY back catalog is also going to be added to the webshop as digital downloads. Step by step, each three weeks another album.
Wouter Bessels has done the mastering of my music since "This Is Not The End". For the digital downloads he also took care of the remastering of all albums before 2008. The content of the strictly limited bonus CD-R's that once had been available to the first people who bought the CD's, are also included.
On top of that, I also revisited the artwork for all titles.

But we are kicking off with "Archives 3" on April 15th. This third episode of my archive recordings contains a concert and an improvisation from 2007.

Upcoming releases overview*:
April 15: "Archives 3"
May 13: "Exhibition of Dreams" / "Exhibition of Dreams" (bonus)
June 3: "The Art of Imagination"
June 24: "DisConnected" / "Connected" / "DisConnected Sessions" (bonus)
July 15: "Different Shades of Dust" / "A-Live" (bonus)
August 5: "Sense" / "Sense" (bonus)
August 26: "This Is Not The End" / "This Is Not The End" (bonus)
September 16: "EoD"
October 7: "Archives 4"
October 29: "Fears"

* April 20th, the dates have been adjusted.