Sublustris Versio

A piano chord is frozen into a still pad, a piano melody plays over it, and its last phrase is painted in.

Transcript: A grand piano plays one D minor ninth chord. A moment later the button is tapped, and the hall freezes the chord into a still pad that holds its level instead of fading. The piano plays a slow melody in three phrases over the pad, and the pad doesn't take them in. During the last phrase the button is held, and the melody's long high A is painted into the pad: from then on the pad carries that note too. A last tap lets the pad go, and it fades away.

Minor-ninth stabs on the send over a kick and rimshot, in a short, small hall that sits behind the groove.

Transcript: A dub techno groove at 118 bpm: a kick on every beat, a rimshot, a quiet hat, and short C minor ninth chord stabs on the offbeats. Only the stabs go into the reverb, a short, small hall: each stab leaves a soft, warm echo of itself that fades in about a bar, behind the drums, the way a reverb send sits in a mix. After eight bars the groove stops and the last tail dies away.

Single piano notes, each one swelling in slowly behind itself.

Transcript: A grand piano plays six soft single notes in A minor, about four seconds apart. Each note is dry and close; its reverb starts almost silent and swells in over the next two or three seconds, so every note blooms in behind itself and joins a long, soft wash.

A slow lead with one steady octave above it in the reverb.

Transcript: A soft, round synth lead plays a slow melody in D minor, with long notes and space between the phrases. The reverb adds one steady octave above each note: a quiet, higher voice that follows the melody and rings on in the tail. The lead has no octave of its own; the octave is only in the reverb.

Held poly synth chords with MOTION fully left, the tape side: wow, flutter, crinkle and short dropouts every few seconds.

Transcript: A warm analogue-style poly synth, saw waves through a resonant low-pass filter, plays held chords, D minor nine, G minor seven, C nine and F major seven, with a few single notes between, twice through; the last chord rings on. With MOTION fully left the whole tail wavers in pitch together, like a worn tape, with quick crinkles, and every few seconds a short dropout dips it and dulls it for a moment.

Picked guitar chords while MOTION is turned from noon to fully right: the tail narrows into an old radio and starts to phase.

Transcript: A clean electric guitar picks seven chords in D major, one every few seconds, each left to ring into a long hall. MOTION starts at noon, and the tail is full and open. As it turns right, the tail narrows, losing its deepest lows and its top, like the reverb is playing through an old AM radio, and a slow notch drifts through its middle so it swirls like a phaser. From about 16 seconds MOTION is fully right and the swirl is deepest.