In spite of Monika and Daniel residing in London and Michal and Tobias in Bratislava we were certain about one thing: Urbsounds Collective as a whole.

Our website became a temporary storage space for our emerging sound files and a platform for an exercise in interdependent collaboration.

All four of us uploaded the first track of a song to the FTP client, along with its name and the concept behind it. In the next round, each member downloaded somebody else’s track and, bearing in mind its specific concept, contributed a new track to the song. The same happened in the third and fourth rounds, until everyone had contributed to each song.

The outcome is 4 songs consisting of four different tracks made by four people. Each of us participated equally in their creation. Everybody started a song, everybody added one track to each song and everybody did the final mixing of one song.

None of the songs should be viewed as a work on its own; all of them make up a single whole whose individual parts remain incomplete unless approached in the context of the others.

Back Mirror is our collective work that retained its openness through all stages of production and is completely free of any hierarchy in terms of authorship. Should you discover any hidden signs in it feel free to interpret them in your own way.

25.11.2008 released as 10" by [/] urbsounds collective

net release will follow soon .. .

press txts > english < ||| > slovak <

recommended price Ł8 / €8 for vinyl (postpaid not included) and Ł4 / €4 for download; please contact us via [http://urbsounds.sk] or [collective(/)urbsounds.sk] for mp3 / flac download details

to listen back mirror tracks ~ myspace.com/urbsoundscollective

personal interference At a time when everything changes quickly and all is in a hurry communication becomes important. My idea was to make sounds referring to emotions based on a different type of communication. We as Urbsounds Collective are scattered now and this project made us create and build up a common sound work with a different approach. I started recording my first track with dsi evolver hybrid analogue/digital synth and I tried to make sounds the way I hear my internal communication issues.
Michal

This was even worse! Getting two synchronized tracks without a multitrack recorder. Three lines in and two mixer outs finally did. I burned Majkl’s track on a CD, which I plugged into the mixer, along with my Korg synthesizer and Yamaha sequencer. Mixer Aux Sends went right into the MD recorder and another cable from Mixer Tape Out into the amplifier. CD Auxes were set down to zero while their Level went up. Yamaha and Korg Line Ins had both Auxes and Levels up. Suddenly I was so chatty…
Monika

How do I respond to this? I have just turned on my old Yamaha SU 700 Sampler and recorded some samples from Roland TR-505 drum machine and toy Yamaha Porta Sound PSS 390. Why do I want to reconnect so much of my childhood? I used to be fascinated by this Yamaha PSS 390 when listening to my friend playing it in his room in of the tower blocks in Petrzalka. Now I have got it here with me in a flat with a tiny garden in east London. Perfect connection.
Daniel

If you talk to yourself, you’re a fool. If you talk to someone, it’s a dialogue. If thousands talk to themselves, it’s a madhouse. If thousands talk to each other, it’s a central station, ..and what’s your favourite place to produce? field recordings,, multitrack
Tobias

Stress It was on a Saturday and I was feeling quite stressed as usual. So much behind me and even more ahead. Did not have any cigarettes though. After abandoning the idea of making something with my sequencer I switched on my Korg MS2000BR synthesizer and decided to play with PWM waves to get something tasty … Recently I quite prefer PWMs run through LP filter. Since I do not have a computer or a multitrack recorder I recorded everything live on an MD. I made several versions and chose the one I liked most. God I was so stressed…
Monika

I don’t like order & vice versa. I’ve recorded some vacuum cleaner samples and cleaned out my room meanwhile. without any stress. vacuum-cleaner samples,, multitrack recorder
Tobias

Stress is fine if we can take it easy. Then it’s fun and no stress. When I heard the tracks from Monika and Tobias it was fun… The sounds from the vacuum cleaner along with the synthesizer and some positive stress in my head … Again I decided to turn on my nord modular and designed a stressy rhythm player with some trashy digital sound to join my stressed friends’ song.
Michal

Sorry but really no time to write anything about this song
Daniel

Bashing Man & ape were the same thousands years ago. Now apes can’t be proud of it. However we don’t care. Bashing like primitives again and again and again. sampler yamaha su 10 - 1 white noise sample,, selfmade electronics,, mixing board
Tobias

I was not sure what Towdie meant by the track he recorded. Was he stressed a bit because of the coming deadline? What I added was a bit of space for Monika. Shit, now I have just remembered his suggestions: please play some guitars...
Daniel

Korg, two timbres, third track The police //arrested the men who// bashed an immigrant in the park LFOs are bashing back
Monika

I like this song very much. The tracks I got were just in my mood. After a long time I grabbed my old guitar again and tried to design some special sound. Running the guitar thru dsi evolver synth, it is noisy and it is weird but it is different. There is random noise and guitar sounding like overloaded time. To put all four tracks together I used a multitrack on my PC. I did it the way that you can hear what bashing means :-).
Michal

keyborg dancing I was thinking whre to strats. Shit! So many typing errors. How many do we make when typing these sentences? Later on, the same afternoon, I got absorbed with the typing sounds of my keyboard. What do we follow more these days? What if it is more the keyboard sounds themselves than the grammar of the actual sentences? Fascinated by the short pauses followed by blowing starts. Maybe we should set up rules for sound typing and follow them the way our ancestors followed the rhythm of church bells. What would the dance floor look like then? Could we possibly dance on it? If yes, what would the dance be like? Oh, c’mon! Broken fingers, tired eyes.
Daniel

… I only continued in what Daniel had started. We used kyberia.sk as a communication tool. The idea of keyboard sounds impressed me. I wanted to distort and add some kind of accent to his base track. I used clavia nord modular G1 as an effect unit. I used the filter and self designed synth that gets modulated and controlled by the incoming audio signal.
Michal

Communication isn’t when I tell you, that you’re my friend. I’ve got to text you. Then we can dance together. simple self-made theremin,, sampler yamaha su 10 -- 1 ringing sample
Tobias

I programmed some rhythms with my Yamaha Rm1x sequencer. Since I wished to modify these ugly sounds I connected the sequencer to the Audio in jacks I found at the rear panel of my synthesizer. Four virtual patch routings provided me with greater freedom in creating my back mirror communication. Added a bit of distortion, adjusted the knobs and my part was accomplished. This one was a bit erotic::::
Monika