COLLAGE ROCK

Feb 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Robert Hanson

Richard Warren (aka Echoboy) boasts, by all accounts, an impressive musical resume. Warren began his career in the United Kingdom by fronting a band called The Hybirds, which parted ways soon after releasing its critically revered, self-titled 1998 debut (Heavenly). Since then, Warren has recorded extensively under his Echoboy moniker; he's been pursued by Noel Gallagher to join Oasis, and his new live band includes several members of Spiritualized. For his latest release, Giraffe (Mute, 2003), Warren, a consummate studio musician and engineer, teamed up with legendary producer Flood (Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Erasure) in hopes of bringing a new dimension to his New Order- and Primal Scream-influenced brand of electronic music.

“The last three albums I've done were a little bit more experimental,” Warren says. “This was a new beginning for me. I wrote a bunch of pop songs and combined them with strange bits of electronica. And that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a record that people could sing along to, but at that same time, their mind is still saying, ‘What is that strange noise?’”

Warren began the writing process for Giraffe two years before meeting Flood — a pairing that came about at the urging of Mute's president, Daniel Miller. Within the confines of his personal studio (located in his cellar), Warren tracked more than 60 demo versions of songs, as well a number of small snippets and ambiences. His primary recording medium was an array of Alesis ADAT recorders, and the instruments of choice ranged from acoustic guitars and pianos to a number of synths and samplers. Once Flood came onboard and listened to the raw material, the ADATs were transferred to Pro Tools LE with Warren's then-new Digidesign Digi 001. The pair sought to create a collage of sounds and textures, combining the bits Warren had already recorded on his own with new elements that he and Flood sought to create — all without losing the lo-fi feel of the original material.

“We approached it much a like a DJ in a club, mixing different elements,” Flood explains. “We tried to find elements that worked together or segued well. Every track was a very involved process. Some of the tracks are even comprised of two or more songs that, through time compression and pitch-shifting, play off one another.”

Warren and Flood moved much of the project to Flood's studio, which includes a full-blown Pro Tools TDM system; a Roland System 700; a Moog Modular; an ARP 2600; an Oberheim Expander; selections from EMS, Avalon and Helios; and a host of other vintage and contemporary synths and outboard processors. Their recording techniques ranged from playing a piano in one room and miking it in another to running different songs together though a pair of Drawmer gates and allowing the entire mix to distort into something completely different.

“What we did was very close to what I'd imagine someone like DJ Shadow does, where it is all sample-based,” Warren concludes. “But instead of using other people's records, we just used things that I had already recorded. When you listen to the record, you'll hear a lot of time stretching and samples that only loosely fit together. And you get that kind of woozy psychedelic feel, which I really like.”

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