NS Newsletter 011: 18 January 2001

[this issue]

[theme from fingers]

it's been a busy last few months, with at least four new tracks in the works. the first of these to be finished is "theme from fingers", a dark and moody piece that mixes ethereal synthesizers, grungy guitars, vinyl breakbeats, detuned telephony and esoteric samples.

the track was used as the soundtrack to the short film "fingers", produced by matt parker, simon wright and april sims. it was an entrant in the australian nescafe short film awards.

the soundtrack to the 4 minute film was written over a period of 4 days in july 2000, using a variety of sounds from sample cds or self-recorded. the weirdest sample has to be the coffee mug tapping sounds i used throughout...

the original impulse tracker file is available for download now and can be played back in most mod-players. an mp3 version will also be online for a short time.

[new album/demo soon?]

it's time to announce that namesuppressed is back in the studio and feverishly working on a new album. this doesn't mean it will be out anytime soon but it does mean it's closer to becoming reality.

details haven't been finalised but here's the current plan:

as for release dates... maybe mid-2001, maybe end-2001, maybe even early-2002. i wouldn't have a clue. it's all a question of cash flow and timing, but it's definitely closer than it seemed a year ago. it's already got a title, but i'm not saying anything more just yet...

also in the works is a 3 or 4 track demo CD, to hopefully be released before the album, but no real details have been decided yet. i'll keep you informed.

[rumour mill runs overtime]

there's been plenty of rumours flying around about namesuppressed recently. let me respond to them one by one:

[new studio kit]

in between working on the songs, i'm in the process of adding new kit to the studio. i recently upgraded to cool edit 2000 version 1.1 with directx, and have been testing new vst and directx plugins. here's a few of my current faves:

tweakin' toys: a collection of mastering and effects plugins for cool edit 2000 by syntrillium. it comes with a hard limiter (great for producing loud mixes, my tracks are coming up 7dB louder) and a pan/expander for making really wide stereo mixes. the pitch bender & convolution plugins are fairly useless though.

db-l mastering limiter: another hard limiter, but this one has a much better user interface and better metering than syntrilliums. i prefer this one but it costs nearly as much as the tweakin' toys.

antares autotune: an automatic tuner for vocals and instruments, and the results are just about perfect. it's used on many hit records, typically the current batch of boy/girl bands. i've played with this plugin and it's pretty good but damn expensive (audiomidi.com and sweetwater.com have good prices). meanwhile my friends assure me my vocals don't need it (thanx cec and matt) and i've found something better anyway...

[beta-testing the tweaker]

over the next few weeks namesuppressed will be one of some 15 groups helping to beta-test the new rbc voice tweaker pro audio plugin, expected to be released sometime late next month.

if you haven't heard of it before, voice tweaker is a realtime tuner & pitch shifter. it can tune instruments or vocals to a set musical scale, or alter them radically with presets such as "womanize" and "maleify". it works in programs supporting directx audio plugins.

the pro version brings new features, including the ability to add your own tuning scales, a graphical pitch editor similar to the one in antares autotune, and support for new cakewalk features (so you can tune your audio according to a melody you play in realtime on your midi keyboard).

the beta version is still buggy (to the point that it won't work at all in cool edit) but from my tests using wavelab, this is going to be one awesome plugin. i think i've fallen in love with it already

[listener's comments]

some early feedback from those who have heard the demos and bootlegs of the new album that are currently floating around:

"... think there's some good stuff on the album, reminds me a lot of NIN..."

"... I really liked Leave, Tilted, Everything and Nothing, Superstar... okay I won't list them all...."

and some special feedback i received a few months ago:

"I have listened to your songs, and you have made me feel like a new person again. I just sit and listen to your music and it makes me think...."

i've edited the above comment to protect their privacy, but it's pretty special to hear that your music has helped someone out.

keep the feedback coming. let us know what you think of the new stuff, or even the old stuff. check out the mp3s online. who knows, there might even be a reward for the next person with feedback.

what do you think of "theme from fingers"?

[signing off]

not much to add this time round. keep an eye on the namesuppressed website, we might be updating it slightly inbetween newsletters... stay tuned everyone!

.infant sense infantile.

______________________________________________________________________

      n a m e s u p p r e s s e d   n e w s l e t t e r   0 1 1

                          january 18th 2001
______________________________________________________________________



[this issue]

      *  theme from fingers
      *  new album/demo soon?
      *  rumour mill runs overtime
      *  new studio kit
      *  beta-testing the tweaker
      *  listener's comments
      *  signing off



[theme from fingers]

it's been a busy last few months, with at least four new tracks in
the works.  the first of these to be finished is "theme from fingers",
a dark and moody piece that mixes ethereal synthesizers, grungy
guitars, vinyl breakbeats, detuned telephony and esoteric samples.

the track was used as the soundtrack to the short film "fingers",
produced by matt parker, simon wright and april sims.  it was an
entrant in the australian nescafe short film awards.

the soundtrack to the 4 minute film was written over a period of 4
days in july 2000, using a variety of sounds from sample cds or
self-recorded.  the weirdest sample has to be the coffee mug tapping
sounds i used throughout...

the original impulse tracker file is available for download now and
can be played back in most mod-players.  an mp3 version will also be
online for a short time.

   download:        https://namesuppressed.com/ns/downloads.shtml
   feedback:        feedback@namesuppressed.com



[new album/demo soon?]

it's time to announce that namesuppressed is back in the studio and
feverishly working on a new album.  this doesn't mean it will be out
anytime soon but it does mean it's closer to becoming reality.

details haven't been finalised but here's the current plan:

   * 15 or 16 track CD release
   * roughly 45-50 minutes runtime
   * CD-ROM section
   * tracks will include "talentless" & "antisocialite"
   * should also include "getdown" and "theme from fingers"
   * full colour booklet
   * plenty of hidden extras

as for release dates... maybe mid-2001, maybe end-2001, maybe even
early-2002.  i wouldn't have a clue.  it's all a question of cash flow
and timing, but it's definitely closer than it seemed a year ago. it's
already got a title, but i'm not saying anything more just yet...

also in the works is a 3 or 4 track demo CD, to hopefully be released
before the album, but no real details have been decided yet.  i'll
keep you informed.



[rumour mill runs overtime]

there's been plenty of rumours flying around about namesuppressed
recently. let me respond to them one by one:

* namesuppressed to write a video game soundtrack - i can confirm i
  have been approached to write a soundtrack for a game.  however
  discussions have not progressed past that stage and i suspect this
  will not go ahead.

* namesuppressed to write a film soundtrack - i did write the
  soundtrack to the short film "fingers", but anybody who says
  namesuppressed wrote the soundtrack to a full-length hollywood
  feature film is lying

* namesuppressed tracks to be remixed by a uk group - a group has
  shown some interest in remixing namesuppressed tracks, but nothing
  is absolutely definite (though it looks like this one is going to
  go ahead after all).  more info soon, all in good time....

* new namesuppressed bootlegs - some people have received cd-r copies
  of "november 2000 demo", featuring unfinished versions of most of
  the tracks from the next namesuppressed album.  it is *not* the
  finished copy of the album as some might think.

* namesuppressed is dead - not true.  i'm just sleeping



[new studio kit]

in between working on the songs, i'm in the process of adding new kit
to the studio.  i recently upgraded to cool edit 2000 version 1.1 with
directx, and have been testing new vst and directx plugins.  here's
a few of my current faves:

tweakin' toys: a collection of mastering and effects plugins for cool
edit 2000 by syntrillium.  it comes with a hard limiter (great for
producing loud mixes, my tracks are coming up 7dB louder) and a
pan/expander for making really wide stereo mixes.  the pitch bender &
convolution plugins are fairly useless though.

db-l mastering limiter: another hard limiter, but this one has a much
better user interface and better metering than syntrilliums.  i prefer
this one but it costs nearly as much as the tweakin' toys.

antares autotune: an automatic tuner for vocals and instruments, and
the results are just about perfect.  it's used on many hit records,
typically the current batch of boy/girl bands.  i've played with this
plugin and it's pretty good but damn expensive (audiomidi.com and
sweetwater.com have good prices).  meanwhile my friends assure me my
vocals don't need it (thanx cec and matt) and i've found something
better anyway...

   antares:         http://www.antarestech.com/
   dave brown:      http://www.db-audioware.com/
   syntrillium:     http://www.syntrillium.com/



[beta-testing the tweaker]

over the next few weeks namesuppressed will be one of some 15 groups
helping to beta-test the new rbc voice tweaker pro audio plugin,
expected to be released sometime late next month.

if you haven't heard of it before, voice tweaker is a realtime tuner &
pitch shifter.  it can tune instruments or vocals to a set musical
scale, or alter them radically with presets such as "womanize" and
"maleify".  it works in programs supporting directx audio plugins.

the pro version brings new features, including the ability to add your
own tuning scales, a graphical pitch editor similar to the one in
antares autotune, and support for new cakewalk features (so you can
tune your audio according to a melody you play in realtime on your
midi keyboard).

the beta version is still buggy (to the point that it won't work at
all in cool edit) but from my tests using wavelab, this is going to
be one awesome plugin.  i think i've fallen in love with it already

   more info:       http://www.rbcaudio.com/



[listener's comments]

some early feedback from those who have heard the demos and bootlegs
of the new album that are currently floating around:

   "... think there's some good stuff on the album, reminds
    me a lot of NIN..."

   "... I really liked Leave, Tilted, Everything and Nothing,
    Superstar... okay I won't list them all...."

and some special feedback i received a few months ago:

   "I have listened to your songs, and you have made me feel
    like a new person again.  I just sit and listen to your
    music and it makes me think...."

i've edited the above comment to protect their privacy, but it's
pretty special to hear that your music has helped someone out.

keep the feedback coming.  let us know what you think of the new
stuff, or even the old stuff.  check out the mp3s online.  who
knows, there might even be a reward for the next person with feedback.

what do you think of "theme from fingers"?

   first get mp3s:  https://namesuppressed.com/ns/downloads.shtml
   then criticise:  feedback@namesuppressed.com



[signing off]

not much to add this time round.  keep an eye on the namesuppressed
website, we might be updating it slightly inbetween newsletters...
stay tuned everyone!



                       .infant sense infantile.



------------------------------------------------------  namesuppressed

the  namesuppressed  newsletter  is an  occasional  e-zine  providing
information  on  the  electronic grunge/techno  band  namesuppressed.

  - website -
      https://www.namesuppressed.com/ns/
______________________________________________________________________

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