Sunday Synth Jam: This video captures a live performance by ‘mid-century electronica’ artist Atomic Shadow (Rod Mitchell).
Mitchell uses a mixture of modern and vintage gear to create soundscapes inspired, in part, by the work of mid-century electronic musicians.
The performance comes from the 2014 Knobcon synthesizer convention. Mitchell’s live rig consisted of two signal generators through guitar pedals, EMW-200 mini-synth, Roland SP-404 and a mixer.
The track is a live version of When Robots Started Dreaming, from the album City Of Chrome And Glass. See atomicshadow.com for more.
“The basic track was initially put together from a stereo recording that I made in an old elevator equipment room,” notes Mitchell. “There were a lot of open faced relays clacking open and closed.”
when I worked for BT back in the day of electro mechanical switching I rather neglected not recording the sounds as calls were routed through. Late at night when there was little traffic (calls going through) you could hear what sounded like conversations similar to the effect you get at noisy parties. Oh hindsight.
This music made sense in the 50s and 60s. Today is just a copy from the museum.
At least he is doing something that isnt the boring and played out 909/303/808 dance track that is now 30 years old.