Like most kids, pre the internet age i dabbled with mix tapes. Hours spent recoding my favourite tracks from the radio, filling dozens of D90 audio cassettes for friends and family.
Doc Rogers talks to James Rutledge (aka Pedro) about why he has taken this concept to the extreme with one of his projects.
Doc: Hello James, can you explain to the Knitware readers what your idea is all about?
James: It’s a remix of the track Videotape by Radiohead, off their last album In Rainbows. It was done for a number of reasons. I like Radiohead and I loved that track. I never really wanted the atmosphere of it to end when I was listening to it. It also seemed like a slight reactionary statement about downloading (which I’m all for - I just have mixed feelings about it), gimmick releases, feeling swamped by the amount of music I was listening to, music press (this remix has been written about a lot, but could almost not exist) etc. The list goes on! I wanted it to be something that made people think a little. And smile. I’m proud of the music on there - that’s the most important thing I suppose.
Doc: Putting aside the artistic element of this for a minute, can we talk technical? What hardware and software has been used to create this work?
James: I used a very old version of Cubase and Pro Tools to put it together. And a secret program. Also just used various bits of old reverb and an ancient analogue synth. Then I messed around with the sound on a tape machine here and there. It was very hard work, as you can imagine. I felt like I was going crazy half the time.
Doc: Storing the finished mix on vhs was an interesting move, were there any problems with that and had you considered other formats.
James: Well - Phil Lane, the guy who did the video side of that helped me out. It wasn’t too difficult - line-in on a VCR. That’s the joy of working with older equipment; you just plug things in here and there. I didn’t consider any formats apart from Betamax, but that would have been costly! It had to be videotape because of the 4-hour length and the track title.
Doc: If you sell the tape are you worried that the buyer will upload it to YouTube or BitTorrent?
James: That would only decrease the value of the tape. I have to sort out all this legal rubbish before it gets auctioned.
Doc: In these digital times when almost anything can be digitised and distributed over the net, do you think that content can lose it’s value because it’s so easy to obtain?
James: I have mixed feelings about it and could go on forever. It’s great that lots of people all over the world can hear music so easily. The vast options you have with the internet make me feel anxious, like background radio interference in the brain. The whole idea of an album just being a product is sort of a joke anyway. But, the amount of stuff available makes me feel dizzy. I sometimes long for the days when I knew albums that I liked inside out. And also when getting a CD that you wanted was more of an effort, and something that you invested a certain amount of time and money in. It seems to take all the romance out of it. The fact is that smaller people like me get hit hardest by downloading in a financial sense. But, Heyho. I do some downloading. I use it as a giant listening post.
Doc: Do you have any other projects in the pipline working with outdated technology?
James: Most things that I’m doing at the moment involve older equipment. It’s just tactile and seems more fun to mess with. I just finished an album with all old synths and drums. Then another one that was made mostly with guitar pedals. The Pedro one that’s coming out was made using one synth, a PC and a pile of records. It seems more spontaneous to work with less equipment rather than just older equipment. I’m not some kind of retro equipment boffin. I’m a firm believer that you can make an album on a PC, without needing to ever leave those confines. All the musicians that have ever inspired me have very limited setups.
Doc: Thanks James, keep in touch and let us know when you sell the tape.
Loading ...
Post a comment