Mono-Poly, TESTLAB, 12" Vinyl

Mono-Poly, TESTLAB, 12" Vinyl

This LP was composed and recorded at the Waveform
Research Centre between July and September
2018. This studio is located in WORM, in Rotterdam
and is set up and maintained by yours truly.
It is a collection of electronic test equipment that
was never designed for making music, but made
for measuring errors in other equipment and to calibrate
devices.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s there were several
studios like this that made electronic music, as in
that period there were no (modular) synthesizers
to make music with. At that time, pioneers like
Delia Derbyshire, Dick Raaijmakers, and Karlheinz
Stockhausen made music in studios like the BBC
Radiophonic Workshop, Natlab and The WDR studios;
to name just a few.
The Waveform Research Centre is a studio with
a similar set-up to those studios; though we’re not
working with old tape machines. We use a computer
to multitrack and mix compositions and add
modern digital FX. The studio was created in order
to work with this great collection of old devices to
make new music. We think that nowadays electronic
music is much more appreciated soundwise
than it was back then. The studio has its limitations
(there are no VCA’s, no envelope generators and
no sequencers) but that only makes it more of a
challenge to work with. And there is a lot of stuff
you won’t find in any modern synthesizer.
This LP has 6 tracks that were composed and recorded
live in one take in the studio, with no editing.
The idea was to do totally different kinds of tracks
to give the listener a good idea of what can be
made in an electronic studio like this. I hope you’ll
appreciate this LP and I assure you there will be a
lot more in the pipeline.
Dennis Verschoor