How Ancient Electronics Write Music For Me

I was commissioned to write a piece for solo sax and electronics, something I have never done before. I decided I would approach the composition in the same way that I improvise with other musicians. I would compose as if I was on stage with the performer, Dr. Hall. The "live" setup I created for this ended up writing a good part of the music for me, in a human/machine feedback loop.
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/ shockinglymodern

[@Hainbach]

Get "Blech Elektrik" here: hainbach.bandcamp.com/track/blech-elektrik

[@Rozinanty]

Done that, it's quite beautiful :)

[@Hainbach]

@@Rozinanty Thank you very much!

[@clemdelaclem]

If you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you're a hainbach, everything blends well with "early electronic instruments"

[@michaelkonomos]

I love how much old and new technology is interwoven here. What a fascinating and very modern way to communicate instructions to a musician beyond a sheet of music. Love it.

[@simoantere7283]

Stunning collab Hainbach! That sax player really knew what he was doing. Beautiful.

[@uncletrash8770]

It reminded me of Edgar Varèse. Ionization, mostly. Using instruments that aren't usually found alone, and making music with tech that ain't made for music. Ionization is a piece written exclusively for percussions and a nuclear alarm. It's wonderfully weird and genius.

[@0cer0]

Interesting to hear how Dr. Hall interpreted your written instructions. He definitely added some of his own ideas about the piece, and I think he made it a little it more "musical" than you intended.

[@mattwillis3219]

Hainbachs philosophy on creativity and especially the way in which you should leave the sub conscious to process the ideas that cannot be forced into action is a valuable lesson for any artist, amazing work Hainy!

[@bricelory9534]

The soprano sax really does work well with early electronic instruments! It's so really fascinating to think about the complexity of transitioning from performer/improviser to composer!

[@DetroitMicroSound]

All reeded instruments do. By trade, I'm actually a double reed maker, for a few types of bagpipe chanter, and drones, as well as practice chanters (Boyd Reeds)

[@SOBINTAXIDRIVER]

the performance is insanely great, it's such an experience. i never thought saxophone would go so great with your music.

[@CharlesSchaum]

While listening, at about 15:40 ish into the video a siren for an emergency vehicle went by in real time, Doppler shifted high, then low, volume soft, louder, soft. It was not the two-tone sirens in Europe (Tatu tataa, tatu tataa, die Feuerwehr ist auch bald da) but the rising and falling American sirens, and it somehow harmonized with the sax and the electronic music. Like a passing ghost crying in the night, a Gespenst des Zufalls, as it were.

[@john_atco]

I hold you and your sounds in high esteem...Recently I have regained contact with an old friend, an accomplished alto and tenor saxophonist, This video has set my mind buzzing with ideas if a collaboration should come about. Thank you..Your work and equipment have long been of interest to me...Good luck and please keep composing.

[@bricelory9534]

I *really* love the last, melancholic section - the deep mysterious tones of the electronic instruments is such a good atmosphere. The piece was beautiful - I truly enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing it and your experience!

[@MisterCross]

Thank you Hainbach. Great words. Great knowledge. Thank you for sharing.

[@Claudia.K]

very intense piece, the mood was mysterious and also like "desperate" feelings. ( musical way and in good meaning) . Great combination and inspiring! Ideas came up in my head as well to play along with . Thank you for sharing :) cheers from Luxembourg

[@hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156]

Thank you so much for sharing this music. There is a lot to absorb in that sax/electro duet. Wonderful.

[@raven7350]

Whenever a video from HAINBACH comes out I feel everytime welcomed by a warm familiar vibe so unique! There is always many interesting interactions with all kind of equipment in the amazing studios, good listening, excellent learning! Glad to be here

[@danielleohallisey4218]

This is powerful music, and your behind the scenes look at how you approached it and scored it is truly inspirational and educational. Thank you so much for sharing this!

[@claybyers2589]

Wonderfully beautiful! I played Sax in school, and I'm into electronic music and synths now, so this is just perfect. Loved the spectrogram and completely agree about how it gives you a sense of insight into the composition without needing an explicit score. Another great exploration from you!

[@samcaldwell3024]

Wow, what a great project and presentation. Reminded me of some Jon Hassel songs I have heard. Really great performance.

[@pamdemonia]

It's my birthday today, and as a sometimes mediocre flautist and more often maker of noise (although mainly with a Lyra-8 and VCV Rack, instead of your beautiful test equipment), I feel like in some ways this was a unconscious birthday gift. Very interesting piece. Iiked seeing the score as he played, and I felt his interpretation of your instructions was very interesting. I've always liked the combination of the austerity of electronic music with the more gritty and human sound of an acoustic instrument, and this did not disappoint. Thanks for it!

[@wolfrobots118]

You are an amazing man.

[@Thefreakyfreek]

It sounds like a pease i heard from nort sea Jazz but you added so much more to it

[@bleigh6562]

Was so peaceful and relaxing and nice. Thank you 🙏 Like how you don't say what the piece means to you, it's up to us to say how it moves us.

[@lukebussey5218]

You’re a true pioneer

[@Thefreakyfreek]

Amazing love it

[@TheStudioDrummer]

Nice textures

[@JubalCreech]

Beautiful and mesmerizing! Wonderful prompts too! My interpretation is a sense of beauty coming from a place of empty vastness... Far out in the deep ocean perhaps, or trekking through the cold tundra. As always, I really appreciate your work! Thank you!

[@JubalCreech]

"We're in bat country now!" I think I might need to try that someday! Love it! Haha

[@Starthief]

I love it. I really like the idea of a spectrogram as a visual score -- I'll have to give that a try when I overdub parts. But it's especially nice to watch another musician interpreting a score like that and bringing in something new to the process.

[@RerunBayonne]

It's really nice to see the "happy accidents" that happen in your composition process! A very nice piece of music in the end as well...

[@DanHillman]

As a sax player who's into synths and electronics this is MY jam!

[@vaspers]

For just 99 cents per month, I'm now an insider on the Hainbach channel, with many perks. I rather doubt that I will subscribe to any other channels on KZbin, but for Hainbach, I know it will be worth it. There may be a few others worth subscribing to, but not many. God love him for promoting old electrical test equipment (which can sound massively better than fancy modern synthesizers, the old test gear can sound more mechanical and science fictiony)!!!!

[@EclipseAtDusk]

Oh man, I kinda wish I’d known about this, that performance was about an hour and a half drive from me!! Ah well. Still fascinating to get it now~

[@alextw1488]

Congratulations! It sounds amazing. I listened twice, first following the score and reading the written directions and second only with ears. Maybe I'm influenced by some of the directions but it was telling me a story of having drunk too much and holding back the nausea to stand again. Perhaps a wider existential theme! It's so wonderful how the sleeping human brain processes seeds sown and then again how the machine might seem to do the same and the feedback between the two. Thought-provoking video, thank you.

[@SkriimMusic]

Wonderful! Your work really inspires me and where I intend to take my art. Great performance from Dr Hall.

[@Lantertronics]

4:49 I want to know more about this awesome looking custom ring modular.

[@Hainbach]

It is wonderful - made by rerun-electronics.com

[@Lantertronics]

@@Hainbach Thanks!

[@lootwijk]

That worked remarkably well. Really beautiful. Interpretation? Well, it's just me, but I figure it could be about living with sorrow.

[@kumoyuki]

using the spectrogram as a score also provides an interesting KZbin presentation. I've been trying to think of ways to present material here, and I can't believe I never thought of that.

[@MikeS-1969]

Excellent. I listened to it very carefully but the piece was very captivating by itself.

[@matthewbenedict5923]

Beautiful composition!

[@danielpotes8508]

Absolutely AWEsome!

[@equalequalslopezcartoons3702]

7:34 a very compelling tip for producers and composers. Wow

[@p.meyerhiggins3157]

I loved it! Well collaborated, and thank you for explaining your approach and "process". I found your graphic score absolutely fascinating (and beautiful), and enjoyed Dr. Hall's interpretation. I'd have interpretated it very differently, so would love to see how different people interpret such a graphic score in their own ways.

[@p.meyerhiggins3157]

p.s. I was amazed by how easy it was to follow the spectrogram as a 'score' of the electronic music.

[@p.meyerhiggins3157]

p.p.s. It made me think of a hunt: the prey and the predator, the locking of eyes and the chase, the catch, and the final moments...

[@georgenelson9038]

Awesome, abosolutely beautiful & inspiring piece. Reminds me a lot of Colin Stetson's stuff!

[@DavidChandekStark]

Fantastisch!

[@PhillipRaymondGoodman]

I love spectrograms, even if I don't really entirely understand them I do find them extremely beautiful

[@joshroolf1966]

I thought Dr. Hall's interpretation was wonderful!!!💚💚💚 The beginning and several passages remind me of Pauline Oliveros non traditional use of wind instruments, and I'm sure she would have appreciated the method behind Hainbach's score. I was wondering what Ornette Coleman would have made of it all, ~15:00 it runs through his territory; and now I'm curious if he ever had a modular synth session, I sure hope so..... -with or without midi saxophone.....🤔🧠💢

[@MrDuntus]

Beauty

[@insufficientfuns]

I was expecting "A HUMAN/MACHINE FEEDBACK SYSTEM" to include some interaction between Hainbach's early electronic instruments and his static generating sweater collection.

[@harmanburns]

the moment at 11:40 is pure magic

[@TMOFD]

Great piece :)

[@theinnermostsanctum]

I love it! Snake Jazz anyone???

[@valley_robot]

That was very cool

[@EduardoRohdeEras]

I really wish I could improvise some music with you Hainbach! Explore dissonances in the piano alongside the atmospheric universe of your electronic creations... Unfortunately, I'm no one.

[@GizzyDillespee]

It had me thinking of the winter melt, then a rainstorm, then electric cicadas waking up from their long winter, slowly stirring, and then they're all buzzing around, and then a spaceship lands on them.

[@Sevetamryn]

This is great. Unfortunately i lack the skills ...

[@VarionJimmy]

“Human/machine feedback”.. Since music is its own language of feelings, it can be spoken and understood in all kinds of collaborations. HumanMachine. ComposerTextSaxophonist. And it works in both directions! 😁

[@MrEarlabs]

bravo, maestro!

[@Hainbach]

Mille Grazie Jos!

[@EscapeMCP]

I know you said you didn't do it, but couldn't you let us know the ideas behind just one composition (maybe something that will never be released)? I'd like to get an idea of what sort of things you are thinking about and how you form those into musical ideas and then actual music. Would make a fascinating video.

[@HerbaceousM8]

i just found a Precision E-200C signal generator near me and i am resisting starting a collection like yours

[@kenschestok9515]

wasn't "blast of glory" a rare b-side from Peter Brötzmann ? nah just kidding! love this!!!

[@mutedsounds2k]

Kosmische Musik on another level. After all, also Florian Schneider's instrument of election was the flute, while Ralf Hütter's always been into synths (and vocals as well). This piece reminded me of the early works of Kraftwerk. This track in particular (I can't post links because of KZbin): "Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk - Ruckzuck HD"

[@loopinnerthe]

It came to me in the night, the faintly whispered words; strong, familiar, like the smell of creosote or coffee but yet completely impossible to identify or capture. Searching scanning running through every cell of my being, every experience passing insomnias eyes. I tried to locate their meaning before they wafted away. From faint oscillations in the air I must harvest their thought, tissue paper thin messages. Scratching at them maybe they could be false fearsome frightening . As I gasped for the morning air all was known in their loss.

[@OMEGAGENESIS-gw2fx]

7:11 This sounds like something that Alchemist and Griselda would make/rap over. This is the type of music that inspires me. I love dark haunted music, with an aggressive edge, but it still has soul. All it needs is a singer like Nina Simone or Beth Gibbons to add some vocals. It would be cool if you guys made some sample packs, with stems and midi. There's not enough sample sites who focus on live instruments. I find a lot of guitar, but real brass, strings, and woodwinds are rare. Real classic synths/test equipment are also sounds that are harder to find. A lot of sample sites just have over processed sounds, that were made in a DAW, and that's generally pretty lame in my opinion. I'm basically looking for samples that are made like music in the 70's, with genres like soul, blues, classic rock, movie/television scores, and psychedelic rock. Those used to be my go to genres when I was still sampling from albums. It's really hard to find those types of samples on the sites that sell samples. I don't care for buying samples that I can make with a DAW and plugins on my own. It's not hard for me to tell the difference between a real string, brass, or woodwind recording, compared to a plugin. I also dislike samples that sound like someone poured syrup all over them, due to huge effects chains. Some of these sites chew all of the meat off of the bone, and leave nothing for the imagination.

[@BrunoWiebelt]

Danke für diesen künstlerischen Einblick hinter die Kulissen !!! Zauberhaft schwebend frei

[@Hainbach]

Immer gerne

[@cornicello]

Fantastic piece! Also, an interesting solution to the "live electronics" problem. Even though the sax is 'following' the electronics, it comes off as an equal pairing. The graphic score really helps, also the fact that you're having the saxophonist improvise within constraints. Seeing it roll-by as a moving spectrogram makes it easier for the player to anticipate and work with pacing. This is a great innovation. FYI - did you know that the original "Kontakte" was meant to have an improvised piano and percussion part?

[@Hainbach]

Yes! I heard about that when I researched Kontakte. Fascinating how a piece develops.

[@cornicello]

@@Hainbach Do your other works with instruments follow a similar score? I definitely like the idea of a 'controlled improv.'! I'm rooted in both jazz and 'classical'. Unfortunately, I can't give a 'classical' player chord changes (!), but this seems like a good work around. A lot of the activity in the live electronic world has been on 'score following', where the computer is literally following the score and waiting for a cue to trigger the next settings. But this kind of turns that paradigm around, in a odd way.

[@washevzla]

Muy buena muestra Hainbach. Hace unos años realicé un trabajo con unas flautas indígenas "wayuu" de Venezuela, agregando procesos electroacústicos. Me envías un e-mail y te la comparto. Saludos. Buen contenido.👍

[@Hainbach]

¡Hola! Por favor escríbame a través del formulario de contacto en mi sitio web (and in english if possible, I can get 70% of written Spanish, but for all the rest its google translate)

[@T.H.W.O.T.H]

🎷🎷🎷☕

[@ScottSiegling]

Watching this in Rock Island, what are the chances?

[@lukashornby7628]

What channel were you referring to when you mentioned spectrograms please ?

[@Hainbach]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hF7Zk2xtqtCFoLs

[@prospectnyc]

Is that live performance available to watch or listen to somewhere?

[@Hainbach]

It’s in full length in the video and available on my Bandcamp

[@streamtracker]

👏 🎷📻!

[@Lantertronics]

18:40 What's the device with the black cancel button in the middle and the six knobs along the top and switches on the bottom that look like electric organ stops?

[@Hainbach]

That is a Maestro Woodwind Processor

[@reggiep75]

What do you think of this, Hainbach? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHLQqGCKiaxletU . It was a random suggestion by the YT algorithm but I thought it would be something you'd like to look at.

[@Hainbach]

Seen this when it was announced - beautiful, simple, but rather expensive. It will slay in Instagram vids though.

[@LucaColaMusic]

Is it at all possibly to record a Signal Generator without a Mixer? Instead, is it possible to connect a single Signal Generator to an external speaker and record it with a microphone into a focus rite 2i2? Is that a viable option or do I need to spend more on a mixer?

[@Hainbach]

You can do that, or connect it to your focusrite.

[@LucaColaMusic]

@@Hainbach Is it safe to connect to my Focusrite due to the voltage? If I did would I also need cable adaptors? Many thanks for your comment, I apologise for the many questions, I'm rather new to Function Generators, Oscillators and such!

[@IXxTAKTIKZxXI]

What microphone + preamp do you use for the voice overs?

[@Hainbach]

Gefell 670 UM70 + WSW. I had a distortion problem here I only noticed after, normally it’s smooth

[@T.H.W.O.T.H]

Who was that amazing trumpet player in the clips before the piece?

[@Hainbach]

www.ensemble-modern.com/de/ueber-uns/mitglieder/sava-stoianov

[@T.H.W.O.T.H]

@@Hainbach Thanks H. H. I think I've just found my nsxt rabbit hole! 🎺

[@temporoboto]

💙👍💙

[@eduardoraon]

Speaking of Saxophone + electronics, maybe you will find this piece interesting: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJaci61raNtrj6M

[@Hainbach]

That is wonderful, thanks for sharing!

[@eduardoraon]

@@Hainbach you are welcome. Enjoy!

[@rhallsax]

The performer on that recording, Daniel Kientzy, is a pioneer in music for saxophone and electronics and one of my heroes!

[@eduardoraon]

@@rhallsax, very true. Daniel Kientzy was a seminal developer of the instrument's role in contemporary music. He had so so many new compositions commissioned, recorded, premiered by him. Thanks for the added info.

[@salazhonok]

это аналаговое,технека щяс паполярная,цефравое ну не всем цефравое нравется хоть и она может семолировоть,аналоговою ну скоро,по явется квантовое технека и она всем по нравется

[@willthecat3861]

I'm glad all I can play is the radio. I wouldn't want to be caught up in this over audiophile priced audiophile old test equipment nonsense. Of course, nothing wrong with the music. It's great.

[@pcmaster888]

Is your Mic clipping or is that the "warm analog sound" of that specific Mic? Not trying to be mean, lol

[@Hainbach]

I have no idea what happened there - I only noticed after an hour of recording and then I tried my best to declip. The curse of being musician/presenter/videographer/sound engineer all in one 😩

[@danosdotnl]

Sleep!?

[@Hainbach]

Is amazing

[@needfortweed8734]

This is miles away from what I would chose to listen to, but somehow the video nonetheless was interesting!