In september of 2012 dubspot visited seattles famous decibel festival, where we caught up with electronic music pioneer robert henke better known as monolake, codeveloper of ableton live to discuss the past, present and future of ableton, sound synthesis, music composition, and more. On the heels of the release of ghosts, his latest album as monolake, we spoke to robert henke about his recording process, unique approaches to instruments, designing virtual space and more. Dark and colorful, with haunting and deep excursions into magic worlds of sound and grooves, held together by a fragmentary story as part of the artwork that indicates a continuation of themes present on silence ml 025cd. Henke born 1969 is a german computer music artist working in the fields of.
Robert henke makes ableton live and with it he creates electronic music. This is the work of a guy who knows both the software. I almost feel obliged to comment on this, given the fact that i spent so much time on the ableton forum, arguing about. Ive been obsessing over his stuff for the past couple of days now and it scratches, for me, the same itch that autechre does. The haunting atmosphere never lightens up, from smaller moments like the sealab 2021 computer voice saying, you do not exist in the opening title track, the ethereal whistling on the fringes of tuco and the phantom of the opera organ. This is the work of a guy who knows both the software and the hardware inside out. The eastern sensibilites of this classic dub techno release lie in its reductionism, repose, and restraint, rather than any globalist appropriation of traditional music. The creative king of ableton and early chain reaction innovator. Monolake is an electronic music act based in berlin. Their sound can generally be described as minimal techno filled with nice touch of fi. Hello select your address todays deals best sellers customer service best sellers customer service.
The album was composed, edited and recorded entirely in ableton live and the synthetic sounds are the results of tweaking the operator, simpler, sampler and lives audio effects, my max4live synthesizer granulator, a bit of convolution reverb and a lot of lives own reverb. Henke is of course a master technician, a textural magician par excellence. Monolake initially consisted of robert henke and gerhard behles, but behles departed during the early 2000s to run ableton, the music software company that both producers established in 1999. When his body touched the surface of the dark lake, he was already dead. Many of the same techniques are familiar throughout although ghosts has a darker feeling to it, as the name would suggest.
Robert henke is also a codeveloper of the music software ableton live, with gerhard behles. Monolake music listen free on jango pictures, videos. The sophistication of the processing and balanced construction he was able to achieve place this release amongst the highest levels in electronic music worldwide, leagues ahead of even his work. Founded in 1995 with gerhard behles coinventor of ableton live, monolake was originally part of the legendary chain reaction family. Jun 12, 2017 some of the initial goals of ableton live were very well defined, even before we had an idea how this software would really look in detail. This basically allows you to see piano roll notes from another track on your current piano roll.
Has anyone figured out a way to use ghost channels like fl. A few days ago, i asked a question about what software i should buy. Aug 27, 2017 monolake mutek, montreal qc, august 26. The development of ableton s live software was driven by our own experience with the software. Henke born 1969 is a german computer music artist working in the fields of audiovisual installation, music and performance. While weve been keeping tabs on the new release of ableton live 6, marc weidenbaum of disquiet has been listening to the latest from monolake, aka ableton cofounder and software architect robert henke monolake music releases are almost always timed to the arrival of a new live software release, but henke is more than just the companys marquee clothes horse. But if you wanted the actual audio file to be mono, then im not sure.
Mono makes it so that any phase cancellations youre creating in the stereo field will be obvious and then you can fix them. Monolakes px18 sequencer is a step sequencer and timeline with a multitude of mathematicalmusical features. With new ableton software, new monolake music cdm create. A bit later he started his own software company, ableton, which i joined. Robert henke, the man behind the roughly 15yearold monolake project and the ableton live software he utilizes, is both. Using ableton lives utility plugin to check mono compatibility of a mix the mastering engineer i use has an expensivelooking hardware button which he presses to check material in mono. The px18 as a software has left an iconic legacy as the sequencer that inspired ableton. Collapsing your bass frequencies to mono while maintaining stereo imaging is something you may want to do for a variety of reasons, but theres a simple way to do this with just the basic ableton devices in a rack. Having been a central character in berlins electronic evolution, monolake was the brainchild of audio mastermind robert henke who went on to develop everyones favourite music software ableton live, interstate was his second cd. In this mixing tip, will marshall demonstrates the importance of converting stereo tracks to mono tracks, and the most effective way to do this in ableton. Feb 26, 20 in this video i take a stereo audio file and demonstrate how to make it mono.
An engineer, innovator and artist, henke is known for creating emotionally evocative high tech music and visuals, while wielding hardware and software of his own invention. My question is weather or not i should buy the download version or order the box version. The same unit has another button which reveals outofphase sounds in the track, at which point he says this is what youll lose when played back in mono. Monolake was formed in 1995 as the duo of gerhard behles and robert henke, although on later albums the group consisted of henke alone, with behles focusing his time on running the ableton software company. Ghosts is the seventh album from german techno music producer, monolake also known as robert henke. As a coinventor of ableton live, its no surprise that artist, inventor, and engineer henke has. Some of the initial goals of ableton live were very well defined, even before we had an idea how this software would really look in detail.
Mono basin hikes and bike rides mono lake committee. The easy way to do this would be to set up a utility on the stereo track and set the separation to zero, then resample. The filter has controls that allow for a myriad of timbre shaping possibilities. However, i dont think that ableton accepts mono plugins, even when the source is set to a mono channel ext. For a stretch, henke was monolakes lone member, but in 2004 he was joined by torsten profrock, who had previously recorded for chain reaction as various. And in some ways i kind of feel like the price paid for the development of ableton has been a lack of. The mono junction features a state variable filter with a myriad of controls. In 2003, he built his own midi controller, monodeck, and later he created a new version named monodeck ii. I had heard a few of his songs back in the day but didnt dig any deeper at the time. The trail ends at the scenic area visitor center overlooking mono lake, north of lee vining. Ghosts artwork paints a rather bleak image of a jungle wrapped up in the cocoon of dense mist thick enough to blot out the sun. Originally consisting of members gerhard behles and robert henke, monolake is now perpetuated by henke while behles focuses on running music software company ableton, which they founded in 1999 together with bernd roggendorf.
Drive past the lake and the store and take the dirt road beyond the beaver ponds to where it ends at a trailhead. One of electronic musics peerless innovators talks skrillex, ableton and cliches. Gerhard behles left the project in 1999 to found the software company ableton, which robert henke joined briefly after, to develop a software live which radically changed the way music is performed and produced, and which became one of the most successful and significant technical contributions to current music instrument technology. It is the second part of what is claimed to be a trilogy of three. The album was composed, edited, recorded and mixed entirely in ableton live. One of my essential roles in the company was to verify if the concepts actually worked out in real. This is really useful for writing a melody with the chords from another track on the same piano roll. How to make any stereo signal mono in ableton live youtube. Either i did not like specific elements in them or they did not fit read more new music from monolake ghosts. The third album, gravity, released 2000, brought the focus back towards dance music and. The flagship of our music training, with every ableton live course offered at the school. Explore over 60 devices made by artists, sound designers and audio engineers. Does anyone know of a way to resample a stereo audio to a.
The most significant legacy robert henke is undoubtedly his role in the creation and advancement of ableton, a software that truly revolutionised electronic music, for better and worse. Like silence, most of ghosts tracks weigh in at less than six. Robert henke is back with a new monolake album entitled ghosts. Robert henke is also a codeveloper of the music software ableton live, with. Robert henke is also one of the main creators of the music software ableton live, which since its invention in 1999 became the standard tool for electronic music production and completely redefined the performance practice of electronic music. Jan 05, 2012 new music from monolake ghosts robert henke has announced a new monolake album, ghosts, scheduled for release in feb 2012. Feb 27, 2012 many of the same techniques are familiar throughout although ghosts has a darker feeling to it, as the name would suggest. The percussion is sparse and has been positioned nicely in three dimensions. The great thing about mixing in mono is if you get a killer mix, you know its going to sound at least pretty good on other systems and different environments.
According to their web site, the musical development of monolake now is mostly driven by robert henke, while behles has started a software company, ableton. The creative king of ableton and early chain reaction innovator deals these days only with sounds of the most pristine variety. Ghosts in the machine on the heels of the release of ghosts, his latest album as monolake, we spoke to robert henke about his recording process, unique approaches to instruments, designing virtual space and more. Some people are doers, and some people are perceivers. From 2004, torsten profrock became a member of monolake. On the heels of the release of ghosts, his latest album as monolake, we. Using filtering, you can remove frequencies fed from the raw harmonics of the oscillator in a technique akin to sculpture. And then there was monolakes px18 sequencer, a step sequencer cum timeline with loads of interesting trackerstyle and mathematicalmusical features. Ironically it mirrors the stagnation of ableton and the resulting rise of the. So i was digging through ras feature on basic channel its worth spending some time digging through here and i came across a monolake track. The plucky german helped create ableton live, which ghosts was recorded and mixed using, so its a record on his terms. Has anyone figured out a way to use ghost channels like fl studio.
This can be applied to individual tracks even though i used the master track in this example. Its a neat metaphor for the artist known as monolake. Then i played back the results with sampler in live and transposed. This is the monolake step sequencer from 1995 that inspired.
During the entire year 2011 i composed a lot of sketches, mainly rhythmical tracks, but most of them i had to throw away at some point. Analog industries notes that ableton architect robert henke monolake has created a successor to his custom monodeck controller. The plucky german helped create ableton live, which ghosts was recorded and mixed using. Interstate originally edged its way onto the electronic music scene back in 1999, just after the creative axis of basic channel and chain reaction hit its peak. Granulator ii also offers two multimode filters in series to further shape the resulting timbre. The eighth monolake album, and second part of a trilogy, following the lead of 2009s silence, theres a thick layer of ominousness running through ghosts. Granulator ii is the latest incarnation of a series of granular based synthesizers i wrote for my own usage since the additon of real time audio processing to max in 1997.
Apr 23, 2015 ableton live producer certificate program. In fall 2004, torsten profrock became a member of monolake. Well, i decided to get ableton live basically because after toying around with the demo, it looks like it can do everything that i need. Monolake is a german electronic music project, initially consisting of members gerhard behles and robert henke, monolake is now perpetuated by henke while behles focuses on running music software company ableton, which they founded in 1999 together with bernd roggendorf. The second part of monolakes trilogy, ghosts, is both darker and more physical than its predecessor silence beats clank against moody, monotonic backgrounds. For a stretch, henke was monolake s lone member, but in 2004 he was joined by torsten profrock, who had previously recorded for chain reaction as. He was born in munich, germany, and lives in berlin coming from an engineering background, henke is fascinated by the. Robert henke has announced a new monolake album, ghosts, scheduled for release in feb 2012. Robert henke and gerhard behles formed monolake in 1995 and released several 12.
The new controller has lots more knobs, leds, and buttons. Henke, in addition to being a composer and professor of sound design, is one of the creators of ableton live. Craig richards curates two more nights at fondazione prada in milan. We assume that software is ephemeral, likely to be lost to history. The album, as an extension of that, is one built under a sense of motion, of searching, seeking, desperately hunting for a way forward, a way out, a means of escape. After completing this program, you will leave with a portfolio of original tracks, a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the dubspot producers certificate in ableton. Feb 18, 2016 way back in 1995 when the personal computer was barely a thing, robert henke and gerhard behles now the ceo of ableton, created monolake. Makes production life much easier no need to reedit clip in session view, then move it over again into arrangement. Monolakes minimal, dubinfluenced techno helped establish the. A very nice video from ableton and robert henke about his max for live device. The incorporation of white noise adds to the tense mood. My role eventually became this person with a great overview of the product, and of what people do with it, helping ensure the internal decisions match what the outside world could use.
1017 664 846 726 967 1362 478 972 778 1382 856 1060 680 27 1192 1115 1569 136 1030 887 77 19 762 599 291 12 1346 19 449 1142 625 129 1098 1212 908 1245 24 1458 603 592 1124 1039 902 792 1217