
A Look Into Moby’s Manhattan Studio - fogus
http://www.motherboard.tv/2009/10/19/electric-independence-moby--2
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idm
I had to laugh every time the starry-eyed "interviewer" somehow stumbled into
the shot, but I suddenly respect Moby a lot more.

I think this is a pattern, too: every time I see someone's workshop and the
tools they use, I understand the product a lot more. It doesn't matter what
the domain is; the tools fascinate me. If I don't respect the tools, then I
don't respect the product as much. I think this is where Autotuner comes in...
Although as an aside, I do have a lot of respect for the autocorrelation maths
that lurk beneath the surface of Autotuner.

I also got a gestalt feeling of loneliness from the interview. I used to jam
with some friends between 2004-2008, and when I moved across the continent, I
lost a really major social aspect of the musical experience. Like Moby said,
you don't have to wait around for everyone to get their schedules in order if
you're a one-man show, but it's not as much fun either. It's also more work to
make _sound_...

Live music with several people can just happen, once you've set up.
Multitracked, solo music involves as much process and perseverance as it
involves technique and vision. I think the quality of my solo work is better
because it's more intentional, but the live and social experience of jamming
feels much more humane. Not surprisingly, it's more spontaneous, and with the
warts and everything, it feels more genuine.

Sure, when you take a band into the studio, you get the whole "process and
perseverance" aspect back, but with solo music, you never get to leave the
studio.

More than anything else, I think the reflection on "drum machines as church
organ accompaniment" captures the interview. To echo jnorthrop's comment (i.e.
that Moby's studio is devoid of art) it seems to me that the term "studio"
isn't apt at all. It's the Church of Moby, where we speak in whispers and wait
for the right moment to listen, for the first time, to "ancient" electronics.

------
mmphosis
_books_

The Manhattan Transcripts - Bernard Tschumi

Things Just Get Away From You - Walt Holcombe

Reason For Hope - Jane Goodall

The Love Book - Robert Rosenheck

A Season In Hell - Arthur Rimbaud

Here Kitty Kitty - Jardine Libaire

American Desert - Percival Everett

Sex in N.Y. City - Alison Maddex

The Paris Review -

Let's Put the Future Behind Us - Jack Womack

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

A History of the Middle East - Peter Mansfield

Blinded By The Right - David Brock

? - Jack London

Oariannus 1983 - ?

The Medici Aesop - The New York Public Library

Futurist Manifestos - Umbro Apollonio

Scatalogic Rites of All Nations - Captain John G. Bourke

Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo

Orson Scott Card - War Of Gifts

National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky

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jnorthrop
Its amazing to me that as an artist Moby's workspace is completely void of any
art, or even color. It looks like he has his gold and platinum awards in a
hall but everything else was either white or equipment.

I understand that is a certain aesthetic and I don't mean that as a criticism
just an observation. In stark contrast check out the Gigapan of Wilco's
recording space (<http://wilcoworld.net/loft/gigapan.php>).

~~~
vorador
Maybe it's because they're not in the same branch.

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fogus
His last two sentences are worth the price of admission.

~~~
edu
Mmm, I don't agree. 'Cool' is so subjective.

~~~
zandorg
I agree. How can he say ALL electronic artists are nerds? What about
Portishead? Michael Jackson? The Human League?

'Nerd' isn't even an insult in my book.

~~~
adw
Portishead _cut samples of their own playing back to vinyl_ so they could
bring them back in as scratches.

Anyone that dedicated is, in the best possible sense, a bit of a nerd.

~~~
pronoiac
I'd say that makes them geeks or wonks, but I think nerd has a "socially
inept" connotation.

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mikegioia
What a collection of drum machines he has. My level of respect for Moby just
went up. Electronic artists have software like ableton, fruity loops etc that
takes you so far away from analog. It's nice to see this level of dedication
and love.

~~~
zandorg
Recently I bought an Akai S950, a popular sampler used by Moby (and others),
and it is amazing how much better it sounds than a software sampler -
especially if you route the 8 outputs through an old mixing desk and adjust
EQ/level (and put a compressor on a drum through the Insert channel).

~~~
SwellJoe
Better is subjective. The S950 is a 12-bit/48kHz sampler, which is pretty
atrocious resolution by today's standards. Accuracy is less subjective, and
one can quantitatively prove that a 24-bit/96kHz sample on a modern machine is
more accurate than a 12-bit/48kHz sample (most users used lower sample rates
to save memory and fit more samples in at once).

I happen to like gritty old sounds, too. Though I've gone even further
back...I use a C64 and a GameBoy as my primary electronic instruments lately.

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ivenkys
Did anyone else find the website really slow (constant buffering) ?

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rcbuse
I think it might have been their flash video player having a poor
implementation. For some reason it pegs my cpu at 100% and starts to glitch.

~~~
haseman
My Macbook Pro maxed out too. It's 2009. How is it even possible for anything
to peg my CPU playing video?

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radley
"...but then eBay happened." Best line =)

