Artist description The name Analogue Starfield was chosen to cover my solo musical output from 1983 to 1987. In those days everything had to be recorded to tape -- high speed multitracks if you could twist the bank manager's arm, or a double-speed four-track cassette if you couldn't. Sadly I'm one of those that couldn't. The four-track used was of Yamaha origin and employed a headroom expansion system that time has forgotten. The music on this page was recorded during breaks from the project "The Name Escapes Me" and reflects a very personal view of electronic sound. Much of it will be inaccessible to listeners who expect to find sequencers, drum machines, samplers and a bevvy of high-tech digital synths in electronica music. I used mainly analogue synths, played freehand and committed performances directly to tape (there were no hard discs big enough in those days to cope with the 20-minute tracks I ended up creating). The music -- if it can be called music by the popular definition -- attempted to create feelings and images through sound. The main inspiration came from early 70's electronica, as well as the classical works of Sibelius. The four-track recording system, with its perculiar headroom expansion system, disappeared many years ago, leaving these solo recordings to bide their time until 1999 when I was turning out a lot of old junk and came across them (along with material from The Name Escapes Me). A new four-track was acquired to play them, but since the headroom expansion system was totally different, the full original sound was lost. These recordings now sound over-bright, often with edge-of-seat sharpness, and in quiet passages a degree of mechanical noise from the original cassette recorder can just be heard. The sound can be cleaned up to a point, but beyond that vital material is lost and everything begins to sound flat and muddy. Hopefully the scrubbed music that finds its way onto this page won't be too far from the original, though you may want to adjust tone controls if you think it sounds too shrill.

Music Style creating moods and images through sound

Musical Influences early 70's experimental electronic artists

Similar Artists Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultze, Kraftwerk, Kitaro, Tomita, Jarre, System 7, Eno, Cluster, Orb, Orbital, Yanni, Vangelis, Robert Schroder

Artist History I have always been fascinated in purely electronic music, and in the late 70s got heavily into all those bands and artists coming out of Germany. During the 1980s money became available to acquire equipment, new and second hand, and my preference was for analogue sound -- warmer, smoother, somehow alive, whereas digital can be harsh and machanical and is nowhere near as easy to maniupulate. A collaboration project "The Name Escapes Me" was developed (yes, we couldn't think of a name for it!), and I also found time to follow my own personal direction. These recordings date from a period 1983-1987, after which pressures of modern living forced me to sell the equipment. Since then I have watched the PC evolve into a reasonably capable music machine, and a degree of musical inspiration has returned. My direction is very different now; new material can be found on the Spiral Galaxy project (www.mp3.com/spiral_galaxy).

Group Members F. M. Havicon

Instruments analogue sysnths (mainly Korg and Roland)

Location Brighton, East Sussex - United Kingdom

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