The Secret World of Modular Synthesis.

Session 063 by Mat Watson featured in issue 104 of Electronic Sound magazine UK.

ADALITA/MICHAEL HUTCHENCE  

ROOMS FOR THE MEMORY 2023

Recorded to honour Ollie Olsen who has been diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy, a degenerative and terminal neurological condition.

Radio Waves at the End of Time

This release features a selection of recordings made between 2007 - 2014 (with one exception which I took license on and added for flavour!)

Some of these recordings sound like library music, some are simple vignettes and others, like what you’d expect from this instrument!

Made all the better with mastering by Casey Rice.

Released 4th October 2024

Available to purchase and stream everywhere via Eternal Music Projects.

Reflective Hits  

A collection of animated electronic sounds, short compositions and asymmetrical expressions exploring shape, tone and colour, extracted from a hard drive, which was otherwise to be archived in time.

Realised and mixed by Mat Watson using an expanded Frap Tools modular system at Imaginary Sound Fields in Melbourne, Australia.

Mastered/Finalised by Casey Rice

Artwork: Anthony's Ear by Ali McCann

Released March 15, 2023

via Eternal Music Projects

Modulisme 063

Artist feature including an extended interview and 60 minutes of newly recorded music over 5 movements.

Recorded using a Synthi Aks, Erica Syntrx and an expanded Frap Tools modular system.

Released April 22, 2022

via Modulisme (France)

SPIN PATTERNS

SPIN PATTERNS comprises 21 separate movements that have been arranged to span two sides of an album, with the intended purpose of being listened to as a complete work. It was recorded over several late night recording sessions throughout January & February 2020 using a Buchla 200/e system at MESS (Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio), and arranged in solitude in March 2020.

Realised, recorded & arranged by Mat Watson
Mixed & mastered by Casey Rice
Artwork by Mat Watson

Originally self released August 27, 2020, Eternal Music Projects will be re releasing this album in limited numbers on CD with expanded artwork in 2023

Triple Synthi: Live

Recorded live in concert for MESS Presents: Spectral Resonance, at Howler in Melbourne on 20/12/2018. This solo performance features 2 x Synthi AKS, 1 x Synthi A, and an Octatrack used to mix and process the 3 x Synthi's. This work was composed specifically for this event. It was created as three separate movements, using a graphic score to map the flow of tonal, rhythmic and melodic elements. Each movement is a unique sonic environment, and the success of this performance relied heavily on improvisation across each of the three Synthi's to navigate transitions between each movement.

No pre recorded material was used in this performance.

Live mix: Stacey Wilson
Mastered by Cornel Wilczek at Electric Dreams Studio
Artwork: In Flux Design

Released April 19, 2019

Force Fields

Drones, melodies and meditations for the Synthi Aks. Written and recorded during a time of reflection and retreat.

Released in April 2019.

Other Places: Lost in the Sea of Paradise

Traces of the early Detroit Techno sound exist in harmony with 1970’s Dusseldorf and Early 60’s Southern California on 3rd album by Melbourne leftfield electronic producer Other Places.

All music written, recorded & mixed at 154 Sound Studios by Mathew Watson in Melbourne, Australia Mastering : Casey Rice
Cover image : Hisham Bharoocha
Design : Luke Fraser/Ahr+

Released June 28, 2017 via It Records

Other Places: Symbols

Crusty drum machines and crusty synthesisers.

Self released October 18, 2013

Other Places: Other Places

The self-titled debut album Other Places was released in 2011, garnering strong support from Australian radio, a feature interview on Germany's national broadcaster Deutsche Welle and a support slot for New York math-rockers Battles. Channeling a love of Joe Meek, early LFO, Ben Burtt and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, “Other Places took the classic sounds of Krautrock and science fiction soundtracks, refracted them through a 21st century digital prism and beamed a Kosmische light into the future of electronic music.” Beat Magazine

Recorded in 2009 and self released November 13, 2011

Modulisme Session 075

Galvanic Echoes was made using two instruments – my Synthi Aks and DSI Polyevolver. I used a 64 HP Make Noise control system with a Rene Mk1, Pressure Points, Brains and clock generator to create a steady pulse on the Synthi. Sometimes adding a little rigid outside control yields interesting results. I used a Htt TBX2B microtonal midi box to retune the Polyevolver’s wavetable oscillators and added a healthy amount of Roland SDE1000 delay which, I think, really defines the mood of this piece. Some of the Synthi fm overdubs are drowning in a Moog 104Z delay. My Moog delay has been with me since 2005 and seems to get dustier as the years go by. Galvanic Echoes was recorded and mixed quickly. It evokes a nice scene in my mind.

SYNTHISIS SONORIS III

SIDEBANDS is a snapshot taken from a series of recordings I created on my Aks in 2014. This piece feels like raw electricity and sounds like liquid flowing through the machine. I get a sense that the electricity is very close to the surface. Like all of us working with modular systems, ideas are not the problem but time to realise our ideas can be. I love creating drone pieces like this as an antidote to the feeling of there not being enough time. By spending my time creating sounds that inspire a sense of timelessness, I am able to momentarily make the very concept of time redundant. The Synthi is my time machine in that sense.

Released February 4, 2022

SYNTHISIS SONORIS II

I purchased my Synthi in early 2007 and Day Breaks was one of the first complete pieces I recorded with it after an initial period of experimentation. I love the relationship between the envelope shaper and Trapezoid in the Synthi. It inspires a different approach compared to other modular systems. That one section of the Synthi can influence and be influenced within a patch to create interesting pulses and shapes. It is often the secret to opening a patch up for me. I recall using a DK1 at the time with the Synthi and would find myself switching between the Ks and the DK1 depending on the types of sound/control I wanted to explore. A self cycling envelope generator with a voltage amount tied to that shape which can also be triggeredinterupted by an external source was a revelation at the time. This piece has always resonated with me due to its simple approach and now, in hindsight, as a moment which reflects a pure period of creativity and change within my own practice.

Released January 14, 2022

SYNTHISIS SONORIS I

My first contact with EMS was via Australian music legend Ollie Olsen. I met Ollie through a mutual friend back in January of 2006 and we quickly became great friends and started to make music together. Ollie’s sensibility and approach to electronic sound had a profound impact on my own approach to electronic sound.
Working with Ollie at that time signalled a huge shift in focus as I moved away from primarily playing in bands, to immersing myself in a highly personal sound world, with a focus on exploring process and art. I often think of this personal sound world as a response to a waking life, or coming from some type of dream state. Those are the sounds and ideas that continue to inspire and excite me and the Synthi is the machine that allows me to explore those curiosities and reflections.
I find the Aks can go from brutal to fragile in a breath and I love exploring all of it. The big revelation was learning to let go, accept and listen, not to bend it to my will. Embracing the Synthi’s nuanced behaviour allowed for those beautiful synchronous moments of an inner world manifesting through the instrument. Discovering empathy for the machine was a liberating moment. Each session I spend with the Aks yields new ideas, which lead to new sonic experiences and ultimately inspires a sense that time is standing still.

Released December 22, 2021

Let Your Freak Flag Fly - 3CR Community Radio Compilation #3

Taipan Tiger Girls

Live at the Melbourne Town Hall

The final album for Taipan Tiger Girls. Recorded live at the Melbourne Town Hall in 2017.

Taipan Tiger Girls: 2

Taipan Tiger Girls brings three exceptional musicians together, united by love, mutual respect, and a relentless drive to experiment with all kinds of sonic textures. Composer, producer and all-round electric statesman Ollie Olsen has been making music for nearly four decades. His extensive and critically acclaimed body of work includes early synthesiser compositions, ambient music, pop songs, industrial, dance, and soundtracks. Olsen has a long history of experimental collaborations, and has been playing various synthesisers with drummer, percussionist and fellow synth obsessive Mat Watson (Other Places) for many years. Watson’s drumming is individual and unpredictable, effortlessly shifting through complex rhythmic intricacies to ecstatic 4-on-the-floor stompers. This heady mix is complemented by feedback, noise and voluminous drones from the guitar, and on this album, organ, of Lisa MacKinney (Mystic Eyes / Hospital Pass)

Released August 19, 2016 via It Records

Taipan Tiger Girls: 1

Released July 23, 2015 via It Records

Ollie Olsen - Synths
Mat Watson - Drums
Lisa MacKinney - Guitar

2013

2010

2008

2006 - album no longer available online.