We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Vintage Vol​.​1 - 1990​/​91

by DJM

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
modulation 03:35
5.
6.
7.
8.
under water 01:06
9.
atlantis 08:55
10.
11.
herakles 09:05
12.
13.
monolith 03:02
14.
d.o.p. 2 03:51
15.
16.
d.o.p. 1 12:27

about

This volume contains my earliest recorded electronic tracks, so don't expect something like Cosmic Ground here...

The tracks 7-16 were issued in April 1991 on cassette tape with a fotocopied insert cover and were given to friends or sold. 50 copies on C60 were made.

The equipment (and also the music) was very basic at this time. All recordings were done on an open reel tape recorder from the 70s which had the ability to make tape echoes while recording (a regular technique in the 70s). This tape echo was the only effect I had to create these tunes, which are very heavily influenced by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Ashra.

The tape machine and most of the echo tapes still exists, so now in 2021 I could master them in 24bit quality in Wavelab and had the chance to edit and combine several versions, an opportunity which I could not have dreamt of in 1991. Some people will complain that some tracks are shorter than on the old cassette release. But
these tracks are much better now, with the bad parts edited out.

My attempt was just making the sound the best possible, so all you can here was played in 1990/91 with some mastering treatments and edits from 2021 (EQ, Dynamic processing, Reverb, etc.) All I could do was to edit and work from the original stereo source, no multitracks.

In 2001 a limited edition CD-R of "The Columns of Herakles" (Tracks 7-16) was issued (only around 30 copies made), were I played overdubs with mellotron samples on top of the old tracks. This did not turn out very successful and destroyed the original atmosphere a lot. So here I avoided unauthentic methods like this completely.


Equipment used: Korg MS20, Roland SH-1000, Moog Prodigy, Davolisint, Yamaha PSR-2500, Brandless Guitar, Fender Jazz-Bass, 4-Channel mixer, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K, Philips N4419 Tape Machine.


From The Attic 1-3 (Jan./Feb. 1990)
3 of my earliest recorded tracks ever. Still digital, 1980s sounding and amateurish, played with only one Yamaha Keyboard with tape echoes. I edited out some of the bad parts and added some reverb.

Modulation (Feb. 1991)
After learning analogue subtractive synthesis for some months with my newly purchased vintage analogue synths, this simple track was recorded.

Just Before This (March 1991)
In that time I found a way to program my old tiny Sinclair home computer from 1982 as a sequencer to trigger the Korg Ms20 (I had to program the notes in Basic). This track was the first recorded attempt using this technique.
The original track is over 21 minutes long, but had so much bad and boring parts, which I edited out to make it listenable.

Echoes of March (March 1991)
Just a little guitar tune with tape echoes.

Crystal Ocean (March 1991)
The intro to my first tape album.

Under Water (March/April 1991)
3 Versions of this were made and recorded. But I was never satisfied with any of them. All sounded like a bath tub (which is what you actually hear).This is the heaviest treatment I did for all these old tracks: I mixed up and edited all 3 versions with echoes and reverb to make it sound more like the title suggests.

Atlantis (March/April 1991)
Herakles (March/April 1991)
Both tracks were made the same way: All played by hand, no sequencer (the basic tracks were recorded before track 5, see above). There were several versions of these on the echo-tapes, so I could combine the best ones.

The Columns 1+2 (March/April 1991)
2 short guitar tracks with tape echo. Just some little edits.

Monolith (April 1991)
simple line played on bass guitar with some pseudo-mellotron noodling. Bum notes edited out and shortened to an acceptable length.

DOP II (April 1991)
I found 2 versions of this on the old tape reels. One with a happy melodic synth over the organ, the other with phased strings. The second versions was used here. The (pseudo)-phasing was done with the MS20 filters as I had no real phasing effect.

Temple Of Amon (April 1991)
A simple sequence with a lots of synth noodling. Several bad parts edited out.

DOP I (March/April 1991)
4 Versions of this tune were recorded, all using the same organ backing track. So here I had the chance to edit one good version out of them. My favourite track from that era, nice drone. The roots of Cosmic Ground...


Dirk Jan Müller, March 2021

credits

released April 30, 1991

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

DJM Aachen, Germany

contact / help

Contact DJM

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like DJM, you may also like: