Obsolete Components

Studiofeed SIM Footage

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Fri, 7 Sep 2012 11:00:00 -0700

Hi Everyone!
It has been a busy summer for all of us at Obsolete Components.
In Early July Mark and I put on a live performance for the SIM festival. Below is some footage of that with myself talking about the electronic music scene of Toronto.
Have a look and enjoy.

http://www.studiofeed.com/main/2012/09/07/in-the-city-matt-thibideau-at-sound-in-motion-2012/

PS. Some new releases are coming very soon.

Cheers
Matt Thibideau

In The Studio with Mark & Matt Thibideau

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:17:00 -0700

Hi Everyone.
Please check out this nice mini doc that studiofeed has created on our Studio, Music and Record Label.
Cheers
Love Obsolete Components

http://www.studiofeed.com/main/2012/07/10/creative-spaces-mark-and-matt-thibideau/

Matt Thibideau Live @ Mutek 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:51:00 -0700

http://www.mutek.org/en/festival/2012/artists/780-matt-thibideau

Come Join Obsolete Components & Matt Thibideau live Friday, June1st @ 10pm in Metrpolis, Montreal for the great Mutek festival along side Deniz Kurtel, Jimmy Edgar and Nicolas Jaar.
We will have limited vinyl and cd's available for sale at the festival.
We hope to see you there. Come and say hello.
Love Obsolete Components

repair evidence

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Fri, 4 May 2012 06:47:00 -0700

Hi Everyone!

Repair would love say a big thank you for all that came out to a packed event at the Drake Hotel on april 25th for one of our rare performances.

To all who missed out video footage will be available soon.

There is some evidence though. Check it out.

repair

Mark Thibideau
*synths & programming

Matt Thibideau
*synths & programming

Dawn Lewis
*bass & vocals

Ana Mulrooney
*backing vocals

.. here is a short video of "radio talk" live posted on youtube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMdYroEF4k4

ALIGNMENT

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Fri, 6 Apr 2012 21:49:00 -0700

ALIGNMENT

Obsolete Components is proud to present this experimental ambient
techno record - "Alignment"

Cobwebs, Space Dust and Heartbeats are the ingredients that make up this record.

We hope it finds a place in your mix, as well as in your heart.

http://www.beatport.com/release/alignment/883733

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/alignment/id508785899

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:17:00 -0700

come out and support this very rare and special event on april 25th at the drake hotel in the fine west end of downtown toronto!
the performance will feature vocals by dawn lewis and ana mulrooney with mark and matt thibideau playing the synths.
show starts art 8:30pm at 1150 queen street west, toronto, on, m6j 1j3
it is 5 dollars at the door and there will be some limited merchandise.
we hope to see you there.
sincerely
repair

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Thu, 8 Mar 2012 14:44:00 -0800

Hi Supporters!
It has been a very active winter here at Obsolete Components.
Blogs, performances, releases and general interest in the label has increased.
We wanted to thank everyone for the continued support.
There is some exciting releases coming very soon so stay tuned!
In the meantime Matt Thibideau has done a special live set for Studio Feed here in Toronto.
You can watch this video performance here..

http://www.studiofeed.com/main/2012/03/07/studiofeed-radio-the-hushlamb-free-range-show-episode-4/

Enjoy!

Obsolete Components

Scott Stanley Live

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 06:19:00 -0800

Here is link to Scott Stanley's live performance from a few weeks back in Toronto at the Rivoli.
Listen and Enjoy!

Sincerely Obsolete Components

http://soundcloud.com/spectrumeclectric/scott-stanley-live-feb-2012

Matt Thibideau Partial Video

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:11:00 -0800

Matt Thibideau / Partial / Obsolete Components
So Here is our Latest Offering From Matt Thibideau composed entirely on the Synclavier PSMT.
A Video for the track "Partial" created by Markus Heckmann using Touch Design.
The Music is available on Obsolete Components Volume II.
Available on Itunes, What People Play and Beatport.

PRAXIS LIVE

noreply@blogger.com (jakobthiesen) — Wed, 1 Feb 2012 06:20:00 -0800

Basic Soul Unit

Scott Stanley

Feb 2 / 2012

Scott really killed us New Year's Eve, for those that missed it - here is your chance!

Mark Thibideau Live Jan 20th

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:44:00 -0800

This is a direct recording of my live set from Jan 20th, 2012. I played this for my good friend Eric Downer. It was his farewell party at Li'ly lounge in Toronto, Canada.

It's free for everyone so enjoy and share all you like!!!

http://soundcloud.com/mark-thibideau/mark-thibideau-live-jan-20

Mark

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:45:00 -0800

http://soundcloud.com/matt-thibideau/matt-live-nye

Here is a recording of Matt Thibideau's current live set from NYE.
Listen and enjoy.. this is all new stuff!

noreply@blogger.com (jakobthiesen) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:32:00 -0800

Mark Thibideau Live

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:42:00 -0800

Hello everyone!

Come join me and friends on Friday January 20th as we say farewell to our good friend Eric Downer. He is moving down under so it will be one more chance to see him here in Canada before he goes. I will also be playing a special live set at midnight for this event.

dont miss out.

its at Li'ly - 656 College Street, Toronto.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Mon, 2 Jan 2012 05:30:00 -0800

Happy 2012 from Obsolete Components!

Here is some evidence of our fantastic New Years Eve party to welcome 2012.
It was streamed and will be archived for your listening pleasure soon!

Scott Stanley at sound check making sure everything is set up and ready to go.

Arthur Oskan doing his sound check while Mark Thibideau and Markus Heckmann Adjust the PA and visuals. Scott Stanley is adjusting some mutes on the MPC.

Jakob Thiesen in action bringing us until midnight with his machine drum and memoryman delay unit.. dubbing us from time to time.

Mark Thibideau delivering welcoming 2012 with a deep house/ tech set that got everyone going!

Making Repair Radio Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:20:00 -0800

Repair Radio Talk

Some of the Synthesizers we used to compose "Radio Talk" are the Synclavier PSMT, a custom Analogue Solutions Concusor Modular, Roland System 100m, Arp 2600, Roland Jupiter-8, Oberheim OB-8, OBX, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and E-mu Emulator II.

We had a lot of fun in the Sessions for this EP. The Synclavier was the main sampler of choice for drums, pads, strings, stabs and experimental samples. Much of these sounds were made in our own environment using mics, found objects combined with analog modular synths and then all sampled and edited within the Synclavier for each track. The Arp 2600 and Roland 100m was a great sound source for making some drum sounds.

The Roland System 100m and Analogue Solutions Concussor played a very large role in all of the sounds actually. We decided to go back to using Control Voltage Step Sequencers as a source of inspiration for melody, the Bass Line, and using to trigger off the filters for sound processing. The Step Sequencer was also working to control the Oberhiem OBX and Jupiter-8's filter and Volume ENVs. So this became a pretty elaborate process. The Emulator II, OB-8 and PPG were great for additional layers over top of the backbone of this mixes.

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:04:00 -0800

Shiriyazaki

The concept for this track involves the observance of the Tsunami in Japan from the perspective of the Shiriyazaki Lighthouse along the Japanese coastline. A fascinating place really and a milieu that evokes serenity and peace - until devastation hits. The ambient tech track builds tension with this experience in mind, while imparting a sentiment for the vastness of nature and the weight of calamity.

The EMU SP-1200 was used for this track.

While many would describe the 26.04 kHz sampling rate, 12 bit resolution and 10 seconds of memory limitations on the SP-1200, these were essential in the making of the track - Shiriyazaki. With the limitation of sample time and the challenge to sustain notes, the initial focus was to lengthen trails and carefully apply effects… However, as with most of the machines used on this compilation, the more time spent manipulating the sounds, the greater the result.

By using 'Multipitch' and 'Tune/Decay' several artefacts in the sampled elements were created via the SP-1200's circuitry. These artefacts contribute to the color and sometimes the tone of the samples used all of which was welcomed on Shiriyazaki.

This heavy black box has been a reliable source of great sound and sequencing for over a decade - long live the SP-1200!

Calst (a.k.a Darren Healy)

Repair - Radio Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:11:00 -0800

Available now on:

Beatport

Repair "Radio Talk" Video and EP Out Now

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:41:00 -0800

Video Filmed and Edited by Mass Transit Film in Toronto.

Merry Xmas from Obsolete Components

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:26:00 -0800

happy holidays to everyone and thanks for the support in 2011!

Linn Drum - alternate sounds demonstration tape (3rd edition)

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:25:00 -0800

Obsolete Components - Volume 2

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Thu, 8 Dec 2011 18:13:00 -0800

Available now on:

iTunes

Beatport

WhatPeoplePlay

Mark Thibideau - Lag Time Generator Video

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 17:58:00 -0800

OC V2 - Hexbydecimal

noreply@blogger.com (Obsolete Components) — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 08:33:00 -0800

During the initial discussions of our volume 2 compilation it was agreed that we would write our tracks entirely based on one synthesizer.

I chose the Ensoniq Mirage.

I’m not sure what I was smoking when I said that. It’s not that it’s impossible to compose a 5+ minute song on a mono, 8 bit sampler (basically equal to an original NES), with a maximum of 16 samples, at an overall maximum sampling time of 6.5 seconds at a whopping 10khz... it just means that certain sacrifices need to be considered like, high end, sample length, polyphony, structure, timing, etc... and since it uses blocks of memory, one shouldn’t expect sample truncation or looping points to be accurate either.

Fortunately I had 2 rack mount Mirages to work with.

For those who truly know this machine, they know it can so effortlessly have a magical, dirty yet warm characteristic that is all it’s own.

However, personally I think I may have set my expectations a bit too high when I originally envisioned what my track could be.

Initially, I began to writing my track at a faster tempo (something a little more techno oriented). H owever, I found that the 2 Mirages would frequently drift in and out of midi timing. When I slowed the tempo down though, they seemed to play nicely together.

Another issue I faced was the overall mix. Having only 2 mono outputs made it very difficult to EQ an entire mix and it didn’t help that every sample had to be very short and at a low sample rate. This killed all the high end in my song. Though is is possible to adjust the sample rate for each sample, the downside of that is when you increase the sample rate, you need to be even more stingy with your sample time. Also, it would have been difficult for me to incorporate effects on an entire mix.

At this point I was left with a decision to either create a very minimal, dirty song or multitrack the Mirages to really show off some of their capabilities. I did my best to meet in the middle.

Whenever possible, I attempted to group certain sounds and track them together or in some cases, record a sound individually.

The Mirage is actually pretty amazing at creating certain sounds. A few notable would be rich pad type sounds (thanks to it’s Curtis filter) and cool sounding dirty drum loops.

One other unique element of the Mirage is the fact that it only has a 2 character LED display and the parameters need to be programmed in hexadecimal. There is no data slider so, you must use the up and down buttons to step through the values of each parameter.

Overall, this track more or less ended up writing itself. After hitting so many limitations I began to feel a little cursed so, I decided to step back and try to work within the confines of the machines temperamental capabilities. Hence the title “Hexbydecimal”.

OC V2 - Lag Time Generator / ARP 2600

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:08:00 -0800

Mark Thibideau - LAG TIME GENERATOR

My long journey with the ARP 2600 began in the early 90’s.
After finding out that Depeche Mode used one and my favorite producers (Flood) had one, I knew that I eventually wanted to own one of these machines. Upon the first time I played with the 2600 i knew I was going to have this machine for a long time. It made so many strange sounds that my other synths couldn’t do, and with the offering of modular patching, my head could explode from sound making possibilities. The Arp synth offers a aggressive and big sound that can scream at you, commanding attention.
For lag time generator, I used this synth for all sounds, drums and even a lot of the processing ( built in spring reverb and processing through the preamp, filter and ring mod).
Making music with this machine is always fun and interesting. always getting sounds that are unexpected and unique.

Mark