Music Techniques

Categories below are just headers; each bullet links to a focused, printable how‑to with diagrams, parts, gotchas, and references.

Recording

• Tape Echo via Aux Send/Return – Dub‑delay using a Revox A77 or similar; pre‑emphasis, feedback routing, varispeed notes.
• 4‑Track Bounce Architecture – Noise budgeting, EQ-on-bounce, parallel safety bounces for lo‑fi clarity.
• DIY Re‑Amp & Re‑Mic Tricks – Passive DI backwards, transformer choices, ground loop traps.
• Gated Reverb Without a Gate – Sidechain ducking & envelope‑following for 80s plate with budget gear.

Synthesis

• Suzanne Cianni Buchla Cookbook – Making FM behave like waveshaping; level scaling as a macro‑mod.
• Serge Slope as Voice – DUSG/Befaco Rampage‑style patching for VCO/VCF/EG in one loop.
• Tuned Noise & Formants – Vocal-ish timbres with bandpass arrays and subtle FM jitter.

Composition

• Composing with Tape as Arranger – Leader tape, splices, and “arrange by mute” for structure.
• Rule‑Based Forms – Constraint scores, coin‑flip macrostructure, Markov-ish progressions.
• Motif Through Process – Take one riff through time‑stretch, saturation, and re‑harm.

Improvisation

• The Mixer as Instrument – Feedback sends, PFL sneaks, pre/post tricks for hands‑on dynamics.
• Gesture Maps – Pre‑decided control gestures mapped to musical roles (density, register, noise).
• Liminal Tempo – Drifting clocks between devices to cultivate almost‑lock tension.