3am - of the clock (album)

[justin3am]

Over the last 8 years, I've recorded these 1-take jams, some times in front of a camera, but mostly just to entertain myself. I finally took the time to mix the recordings properly and compile them into an album, which I recently released on Bandcamp.

It's $2 USD or you can just listen to the tracks on this page.

https://3amnoise.bandcamp.com/album/of-the-clock

Mastering by Gregg Janman at Hermetech Mastering hermetechmastering.com

[experimental.crow]

a strong jumping off point w/ 'decimal counter' ...
the timbrel palette is vivid and varied ...
you coax exquisite timings out of your gear ...

i also enjoyed 'leftover table' , and 'grasp' ...
this work cleaned up quite well , and presents itself favorably ...

[Forgotten]

Busy right now, but will check it out later!

[justin3am]

Thanks for listening!
I haven't had an album of mine mastered by another person before but I'm glad I did with this. I was happy with the mix but I recorded these tracks over such a long period of time, they didn't sound like they fit together (despite mostly being created a common set of instruments). Gregg's touch was subtle but made a huge difference. Particularly in places where the high end was kinda harsh and brittle, he helped give it a more organic feel. High marks!

[seismic1]

I've just started listening to this (I'm up to lacryfi now) but the overall sound is balanced, unified and clean. I'm listening on my Arcam/Mission system at a reasonably high volume. It sounds great.

There are 3 later tracks whose titles I recognise from earlier postings. It will be interesting to hear how these have "polished" up.

My tracks don't fit together, even in an individual context.

Good work

[justin3am]

Thanks very much for listening! I appreciate the feedback. I listened to the mixes on a bunch of different systems and found that hi-fi systems are the kindest to my work. It's funny to say that I caught more issues on laptop and TV speakers, than on my monitors. But the mastered tracks translate from system to system very well, I think.

[codec_spurt]

Just bought it without listening.

Wanted to see how easy it was to buy stuff off bandcamp.

Very easy.


Ah ha ah ha ah ha ah ha..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdzBelNmcw


3 ayay ayhem...

[codec_spurt]

Track 7: steep - is nice!

Sounds good.

Try and take it somewhere.

If you know what I mean.

[toonertik]

I started to listen to some tracks when you first posted this..
I had to go and cook.. it was night..
then forgot about it all... this bump has reminded me...

I will continue later... got to cook again very soon..

BTW.. I was enjoying what I did listen to... 3 tracks I think.

[vurt]

I started to listen to some tracks when you first posted this..
I had to go and cook.. it was night..
then forgot about it all... this bump has reminded me...

I will continue later... got to cook again very soon..

BTW.. I was enjoying what I did listen to... 3 tracks I think.

you eat every day? am i supposed to?

[toonertik]

you eat every day? am i supposed to?

I do these days...


BUT I sure had some days when food ...


nah... just another gram or 2... or

hang on... lets split an...

:whistles:

[thecontrolcentre]

Will listen later ... looking forward to hearing some "new" tracks Justin

[wagtunes]

Sorry it took me so long to get to these. Very interesting. Incredibly clean sound. Headphone listening is a must. Quirky, strange, different, full of surprises,

I am very curious as to what synths and drum machines you used. I'm assuming this is all hardware, correct?

Anyway, very enjoyable listen.

[justin3am]

Thanks so much everyone!

... looking forward to hearing some "new" tracks Justin

There are two tracks in this album which hadn't been released previously. But I do have a few new projects. They are a bit more ambitious than things I have done in the past. I've been working with acoustic instruments and mics again.

[justin3am]

Sorry it took me so long to get to these. Very interesting. Incredibly clean sound. Headphone listening is a must. Quirky, strange, different, full of surprises,

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the listen!

I am very curious as to what synths and drum machines you used. I'm assuming this is all hardware, correct?

Yes, I use a lot of hardware. As I mentioned, most of these pieces were recorded in one take (you can see some of the performances on my Youtube channel (no obligation). Using hardware makes doing those types of one-take recordings easier in some ways but there are more than a couple instances of Bazille and Zebra in there too. I aim for making the sources of the sounds a bit obscure... rarely is anything I do strictly hardware or software based since both have their strengths.

Here are a few things that I used pretty frequently on these tracks:
Elektron Octatrack
Elektron AnalogFour
Roland V-Synth GT
Waldorf Quantum
Make Noise Shared System
The Harvestman Piston Honda
The Harvestman Hertz Donut
Make Noise QMMG
Make Noise Maths
Make Noise WoggleBug
Mutable Instruments Clouds
Intellijel Korgasmatron
Expert Sleepers ES-3 and ES-6
Koma Electronic Field Kit and Field Kit FX
Old shitty Epiphone guitar
Ibanez SD-500
Pearl snare drum
Piezo mics
Eventide Pitch Factor
EHX Memory Boy and Deluxe Memory Man TT1100
Moog MF-103 (Phaser)
u-he Bazille
u-he Zebra
Bitwig sampler

There are a bunch of other instruments and effects I used, there are a fair few guitar samples that I recorded or things like toy xylophones and household objects. Those samples usually get loaded in the Octatrack for further abuse.

I also tend to approach my whole studio as an instrument, so something may have started out coming from a soft synth or guitar but then was run through the filters on the AnalogFour and later re-sampled. Then there are a lot of places where two sounds are played as one or a single voice is modulated in a way that it sounds like more than one instrument. I just mess around until something cool happens and then hopefully I get it recorded.

When mixing I processed a lot of stuff through analog signal processors. I have a bunch of 500 series compressors, EQs and preamps, most of which I built myself. I have API 2500 and 5500 for the master bus and Elysia 500 series modules which I frequently use on the drum buses. Doing a lot of gain in the analog domain also means boosting the noise floor quite a bit, so that contributes to the sound as well, especially in quite parts. I like using a lot of different flavors of back-ground noise. I even have some recordings where, if you listen carefully, you can hear me breathing or you can hear my turtle's aquarium or even my wife and her friends having a conversation. Super low level, you aren't supposed to hear it, but it adds to the atmosphere.