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Nominal

by INSTRUMENTS

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  • Full Digital Discography

    8
    releases

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of National Laboratory (2018 Analog Remaster), Spirit Duplicator, The End of Light By Heat, Eleven Found, Assembly Room, King Dick, National Laboratory, and Nominal. , and , .

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  • Vinyl + instant download
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    Big thanks to everyone who bought the Nominal 12" vinyl - we are sold out with no immediate plans to re-press.

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1.
Data Processing 02:21
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2.
Black Kite 05:10
lyrics
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I couldn't open my mouth. I couldn't move my arms. So I crossed the yard, and took the lenses out. There was a black in the sky. I said, "That's my kite from yesterday". And we watched it creep away. Iain was seven, I was nine.
3.
Titled by Date 04:19
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4.
Skull Decay 03:59
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credits

released July 19, 2005

Re-released as a 12" vinyl + cd package 20 January 2009. Distributed in Canada and the USA by Endemik Music (Revolver/FAB).

JON HUTT - Drums, Percussion, Samples
J. LAPOINTE - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Samples
DANIEL MACDONALD - Bass, Media

Created and assembled at The Archive, Audio Projects, and Craxophenia!, 2001-2005
Engineered by J. LaPointe
Vinyl version lacquer master by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering, Brooklyn, NY, USA

The master level of this digital recording has been set to allow for the full natural dynamic range of the analog master tapes. Please adjust your playback volume control accordingly.

This sound recording copyright 2005-2008 INSTRUMENTS (SOCAN/BMI)
1 of n
11-1429

Technical notes:

With every new project I’ve always intended to keep a recording log book, but in the action of the moment it never seems to happen. The following is my attempt to retrace our steps through the recording of Nominal. I put all this down as much for my own records as anything. It is perhaps too technically detailed for general interest, but if you the reader do manage to glean something from it then I salute your dedication.

(J. LaPointe, Dec 2007)


Data Processing:

Fittingly, this song was the first one that we ever recorded as INSTRUMENTS. However, just prior to finishing Nominal we deemed the original version to be a little too lo-fi, so we re-recorded it in the newly finished studio in Mineville, NS (The Archive).

JH: drums, keyboard
JL: bass, sub-bass, keyboard, guitar
DM: bass
CT: original concept

Recorded at The Archive, Mineville, March 2005. 24/96 digital into Samplitude via Crane Song HEDD converters, with a few channels of drums via M-Audio converters. Mixed in Samplitude with external analog eq on the drums (Manley Massive Passive). Mixed to both ¼” 15 ips analog (Otari MX5050 BII) and back into Samplitude via HEDD converters (24/96). The analog version was used on the album.

Black Kite:

The story of a particularly strange event my brother Iain and I experienced as children.

JH: drums, samples, guitar
JL: bass, mallet and slide guitars, vocals, samples

Recorded at Audio Projects, Ferguson’s Cove, NS, 2002. Tracked to ½” 8 track analog via Tascam TSR-8, no noise reduction. Transferred to 24/44.1 digital into Samplitude via M-Audio converters. Samples recorded on location at Ferguson’s Cove. Vocals recorded at The Archive, Mineville. Mixed in Samplitude.

Titled by Date:

The control room in Ferguson’s Cove had an unbelievable view looking across the outer harbour from the very edge of the rocks. This song makes me think of that view at night, with huge container ships gliding by seemingly silently, save their nearly infrasonic rumblings that we felt but rarely heard except as creaks and rattles in the well weathered structure.

JH: drums, samples
JL: bass, guitar, samples

Ambient section: Recorded at Audio Projects, 2002. 24/44.1 digital into Samplitude via M-Audio converters. Samples recorded on location at Ferguson’s Cove. Edited and mixed in Samplitude.

Band section: Recorded at Audio Projects, 2002. ½” 8 track analog via Tascam TSR-8, no noise reduction. Mixed on a Hill J-Series console to ¼” 15 ips analog (Otari MX5050 BII).

Skull Decay:

A four year project spanning the technology shift from the MOTES era to present day.

JH: drums, keyboard
JL: bass, guitar, samples

Recorded at Craxophenia!, Tantallon, NS, 2001. Drums recorded on a Yamaha MT120 cassette 4 track, transferred to 24/44.1 digital into Samplitude via M-Audio converters. Bass recorded to 24/44.1 digital (Samplitude). Transferred to ½” 8 track analog (Tascam TSR-8) for additional tracking at Audio Projects. Mixed at Archive Mastering (Dartmouth location) on a (by this time) modified Hill J-Series console (input amplifiers and eq bypassed, level and pan control only) to 24/44.1 digital via HEDD converters. Later transferred to ¼” 15 ips analog (Otari MX5050 BII).

NOMINAL era equipment (in general)

Microphones:

Quantloop Omnis (Jecklin disc and spaced pair)
Oktava MK219
Sennheiser e609
Astatic 335H-7
Shure SM57

Preamps / Outboard:

Normandy AP-1
Hill J-Series console pres / eq
Traynor custom racked pres / eq
McCurdy custom racked pres (Expo '67 Special)
RNP 8380
RNC 1773
dbx 266
Manley Massive Passive EQ
Pendulum ES-8 Limiter
Squashomatic 2000
DOD 680 analog delay

Guitars / Basses / other instruments:

Original batch of heavily modified oddball guitars and basses used on most of Nominal stolen from Audio Projects, 2002. Currently (and for later Nominal material):

Gibson SG Standard
Epiphone Les Paul Special II
Jay Turser P-Bass copies
Yamaha DX-21 synth

Amplifiers:

Traynor YBA-1 Bass Master heads
GK 400RB bass heads
Unknown mini practice amp (head removed)
Custom 4x12 and 1x15 cabinets

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INSTRUMENTS image

INSTRUMENTS Halifax, Nova Scotia

Minimalist sci fi nerd rock since 1993.

Membership:
J. LaPointe, Jon Hutt, Daniel MacDonald

Location: Mineville, Canada.

Previous Affiliations:
North of America, The MOTES, Recyclone

Status:
Active ... more

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