Bill Youngman¶
Bill Youngman is an American electronic musician and producer based in Berlin. Best known under his alias Headless Horseman, he makes dark, industrial-influenced techno with a hypnotic intensity that he brings to the stage playing his live sets. His work spans IDM, acid, electro, experimental electronics, and hard techno as well as the occasional tv series soundtrack. He has released music on labels such as Serotonin Records, Tresor, Scandinavia, Killekill and 47.
Live Setup¶
Benjamin Weiss: You play electronic music live a lot and you use machines in contrast to using a laptop or something else that’s more prepared. What’s your general MO? How do you go on stage?
Bill Youngman: The live set is a mixture of loops that I created with hardware / software, tons of one shot samples that could be manipulated on the fly, and a couple external effect pedals. I have some parts that are tempo-specific and can be stretched out a little bit (plus-minus 5 or 6 BPM), depending on the feel I’m aiming for. I’ve tried out many different types of gear in the past, such as Maschine, Ableton Push, and MPCs. In the past and also due to gear limitation, I was sequencing all of my music via MIDI. For the last 12 years, I got into the Octatrack because I’m able to load up and break my tracks on the computer into individual parts and have rhythmic loops: percussive things, extra percussion, random hooks, and noises. The Octatrack was the sweet spot between breaking my tracks into stems and having a slew of performance capabilities. I also have a few pre-produced tracks loaded as a plan b in the event that everything falls apart.
The Octatrack Workflow¶
Bill Youngman: The way I use the Octatrack at the present is fully sample based (not using its midi tracks) so I can play audio bits of all my own stuff and things I’ve designed or put together. There is no synthesis in that. I like to have something extra I can jam with, so I’ll bring an extra box, such as an Access Virus or an Elektron Syntakt.
I have the Syntakt and that’s been powerful. I’ve used it for many shows and it’s a nice addition to my other live gear. It really compliments the Octatracks power. Having the possibility of other things to jam out with my hands to keep busy is very important for me. I do a show and it doesn’t feel like playback. It’s not static; I want things to have movement.
On the first 4 tracks of the Octatrack:
Track 1: Kick patterns. They are loops in time-stretch mode, but I export them close to the BPM I’m going to play at. I keep them close because if you go too far up or down, they start to sound unnatural due to the time stretch as the audio engine is not crystal clear. You’re going to get artifacts on most machines and software, similar to Ableton.
Track 2: Hi-hats or percussive one shots, ie: snares / claps / toms.
Track 3: A chuggy, percussive thing or something rhythmic that doesn’t have a specific key. It can work on anything—techno, just atonal.
Track 4: Little hook sounds and other things that are looped with effects already recorded. Some are longer loops so they sing out and breathe more.
The other 4 tracks (5, 6, 7, 8) are stems that I can load on the fly. I have everything on the card and the triggers already set. You hit a trigger and the “Yes” button, and it will start playing the loop. It’s like firing off a clip or a scene in Ableton. If you have the record button enabled and you hit “Yes,” it will fire off only the track you have selected. If you have no track selected, or the recorder button is not enabled, it will start triggering everything from the one that’s starting, so I can play back a track that’s broken down into multiple stems.
While it’s playing, I can double click the track and load the next part. It’s like going to the next clip and then hitting the next scene for the whole thing. In Ableton, I populate the clips, hit record, and jam out with volume automation and EQ. Then I’ll go into the arrangement view and clean it up.
When I put the percussive loops in, they are usually one bar in duration. I can record and play on the keys in Slot Mode live. Entirely new beats are quickly materialized as I can jump from loop to loop and create something fresh to escape repetitiveness.
Sometimes I’ll use sample chains too. There’s enough memory in it for the show. It’s running off the compact flash card, but sometimes I’ll export 8 or 16 perfectly cut loops in Ableton and then enable slice mode in the unit. Once that is good to go, then crossfading between the slices brings a lot of enjoyment.
Effects and EQ¶
Bill Youngman: I use the crossfader a lot for the effects. I have the DJ EQ with 3 bands on every track. If you hold the encoder down and push, you can drop the bass off or boost the highs. I have them all enabled in a way where I can cut things. Those EQs are all at +63—their maximum—and I lower the volume in the track just so I’m able to drop things out and put them back in. When I put them back in, I don’t have to look at it; I just turn it all up. I’m not trying to fine-tune it to a space. That’s why I have them all the way up; everything’s normal with no gain with the volumes.
I pre-produce all my samples ahead of time so they sound good going into the box. People say the sound quality is not good, but you shouldn’t put an unprocessed sound there and try to treat it with effects. You’re using up real estate for effects in that case.
I have a bunch of things assigned to the crossfader. I have the “A” side muted—that’s off. “A” is just the cue (the part itself), and “B” will be treated with effects and other locked parameters. I’m using “B” for the whole system.
I can crossfade and hold down ”B” in order to change the effects, as well as jump through different locked effect settings while it’s playing. The new Elektron Tonverk does this now with the buses. You can route sounds, patterns, or individual sounds to the buses in real-time. It’s like using the crossfader. You hold the routing button down, select the bus, and jump to it. You have 2 effects per bus of the 4 buses and you have 3 sends. This is all per track, and you have 8 voices per track. You can experiment heavily with the routing.
Need for Polyphonic Playback¶
Bill Youngman: The one thing that’s missing from the Octatrack and playing live is that I need to have something polyphonic. The way it works now is for loop playback. You can play a kick, snare, and hi-hat on one track in slot mode, but they are going to choke each other off.
I always need something to jam on more. I was doing it with two Octatracks for a while. The effects are limited, but with filtering and EQing—and spending time loading up the clips—it fills up the hour of the set. Using other hardware in the performance adds a lot of value to filling in the sonic blanks. I don’t like using presets. As far as hardware gear, whenever I use a synthesizer and MIDI it up, I want to use something that’s part of my signature sound—create and edit presets to make them your own.
The Virus is good for that. Any Korg in the past—Electribe or something like that—where you can mangle it enough to get it close to how you want to sound. I’m a sample-based guy for playing live. The nice thing with the Tonverk is the auto-sample feature. It is really cool because you can twist knobs while it’s auto-sampling to get a weird range of keys or noises. You’re filling up a lot of sample real estate on one track by doing that.
As I’ll show you when we turn the Tonverk on, the drum machine tree are called ‘Subtracks’. You have 8 single sounds you can play polyphonically, and you can modulate everything. You have 2 LFOs for each of the 2 effects per track of the 8 tracks. You have 16 effects in a pattern, plus the 4 buses, the 3 sends, and the master effect—24 effects per pattern afaik. The next pattern can be a whole set of different engines and effects. It’s not global, which is powerful.
It has USB-C power and USB-C for sync and the sound card. That’s what I need for live: something that can hold a lot of samples, time-stretch loops, and provide enough things to jam on. I don’t like to just sit there and let something play; I want to jump to the next thing.
Benjamin Weiss: So you don’t want to get bored on stage.
Bill Youngman: I don’t want to get bored. Making smooth transitions is nice. With the Octatrack, you can double-click the track and queue the next part while the other part is still playing on the same track. The audio is not killed. You just say, “Yes, I want you to play now.”
Track Breakdown and Transition Strategy¶
Bill Youngman: I break the track down into percussive elements, the drone, the atmosphere, and the top line. When I get that top part, I’ll start over and load the drums from the next track so they’re not clashing harmonically or sonically. Then I’ll bring the next drone section in. I’ll drop the volumes of each of those tracks before I bring them in. When one is done, I’ll bring the next one in. I’m actually using the physical volume now.
Tonverk has a mixer page matrix which is great. I’m working on coming up with a system where elements happen on the same tracks so I know where I am. You have 8 tracks and 8 mute buttons. When you mute a track, the effects still ring out. That’s important; they don’t just cut off.
In Ableton, if you turn off a track, it goes off. If you have a send, you’re cool, but if you turn the track off, everything’s done. I want transitions where things don’t just vanish. On this hardware, if you have something ringing out and you go to the next pattern that doesn’t have delay, it will flutter and lock itself into the next part. Otherwise, you lose that fluidity.
Performance Structure & Flexibility¶
Benjamin Weiss: Do you have a fixed order of tracks on the Octatrack, or do you react to the audience?
Bill Youngman: There is no fixed order. I have everything loaded on the compact flash card in an order I understand. There are 127 slots for Flex machines (small loops/one-shots from RAM) and Static machines (samples that stream directly from the card) that have no fixed length.
I load parts according to how it feels. The beats and individual shots are patterns that I don’t change much live and act as the backbeat. The next pattern might be a lot different—more broken, then straight, then IDM. By having more than one machine, I get those layers and a “wall of drums.”
I can always change the drum patterns on the fly. The step sequencer visual on the Octatrack as far as what is currently playing is not as self-explanatory when samples are stepped locked. Utilizing parts on the OT is another good method of working, but I personally don’t use it as its not my preferred workflow.
Hardware Standards¶
Benjamin Weiss: Is it important for a new machine to adhere to certain standards, like the 8-track scheme?
Bill Youngman: Not at all. I like change. On the Octatrack, for example, I would have been fine with 4 tracks. You can step-lock samples from the project anywhere you want, so you get a lot of mileage out of one track. You have all the automation, step locks, and modulation sources per sound.
As far as the Tonverk is concerned, the effects are plentiful. There is a comb filter that sounds very lively. There is a degrader/bit-crusher with stutter and 3 reverbs that sound much better than the Octatrack ones. The delays are playful, and there’s a chorus-flanger and a rectifier distortion module amongst other things. The filter has panning now, and there is a frequency sidechain on the compressor. It’s a lot of upgrades.
Portability and Travel Considerations¶
Bill Youngman: I was looking at the 1010music Black Box. People said to get rid of the Octatrack and use that, but I like the form factor of the bigger machine. I use effect pedals a lot—Boss or Eventide—running out of an Allen & Heath DJ mixer.
Having multi-effects in the box would be cool. Carrying pedals weighs a lot and takes up space. They need cables and everything. I’m into traveling with less now; gear is so powerful you don’t need to bring your whole studio. With the Tonverk, I can sample the modular, make multi-patches, and use auto-sampling. You can select the note and velocity range, or use random velocity and probability. You’re going to get some beautiful sequences that sing nicely. They also recently added a granular engine. You can’t resample live on that yet—you have to save it and restart—but you can resample the input and get very enjoyable results.
Resampling Workflow¶
Bill Youngman: The Octatrack is nice for resampling live. I have the buffer open so I can sample external synths. On my crossfader, I have a resample playback assigned. It turns the volume down and plays the resampled part back. I can then queue the next pattern, but that resampled part will keep playing. You can change your backbeats while the longer stems keep going. It’s fluid—clip, clip, clip, then the whole scene, just like Ableton theory.
I want stuff to geek out on that’s reliable and feels good to use.
Benjamin Weiss: What does “feel good to use” mean to you?
Bill Youngman: It’s not just the build, but the aesthetics. It should feel like a comfortable environment—like having a night light on instead of overhead lights. Knob feeling is important; I like the rubber knobs on this one and I like buttons that click and react. It shouldn’t feel cheap or break in a backpack.
Back in the day, stuff in suitcases would rattle apart. You’d get to the gig, find a frayed cable or screw rattling around inside a box and have to either duct tape or do some quick soldering if the means were available. I’m very gentle with my gear at first, but eventually it just gets chucked into the backpack. All of the TLC aside, I’d like to avoid the fuss of wrapping my gear in towels.
The Missing Piece: Multi-Effects¶
Bill Youngman: Ideally, I’d like another small synthesizer where I can design my own patches and have them on a small unit MIDI’d up with a solid clock. Just 4 things: filter, decay, release, and effect send.
I’m missing custom multi-effects. I sold the H9 because it was too limited to play with for me live. One knob and scrolling through menus in an environment with little visibility was challenging for me. It would be nice to design cool effect chains ahead of time on a computer and take that on the road in a smaller form factor.
Benjamin Weiss: Is there any plugin you would like to have as hardware?
Bill Youngman: Some kind of beat-repeat with a filter like a granular playback thing where I can grab a sample and cut through slices or grains. I want to mangle audio quickly—filter it, stretch it—without that “time-stretch” sound.
In Ableton, I use LFOs on reverb decay and size at different rates to create movement. I did that with Tonverk the other day for a snare part. The fundamental sound stays pressurized and upfront, but the effects provide the movement. I want a master effect in a modern format that can be daisy-chained: ie: chorus, flange, auto-pan, and a variety of reverbs and delays.
The Eight Track Border¶
Bill Youngman: Eight tracks is the sweet spot without clutter. If a device had 16 tracks, I would design the set differently. We played gigs in the 90s with 1 MB of memory and made it work. I remember having to load up a multitude of floppy disks on an old MPC and playing one synth part at a time due to memory constraints.
If I had something to replace effect pedals with more power in a compact size, that would be a win. Nothing beats routing a piccolo snare through an old Lexicon, but I like modern things with a little glitches—taking particles and re-looping them. When you land in that sweet spot sonically during a minimal section, it’s a “whoa” moment.
Benjamin Weiss: Would that master effect be an insert or a send?
Bill Youngman: I’m hesitant to run an insert on the whole master because it colors too much and you lose dynamics. It’s like getting your track mastered into a “sausage.”
I used to use the RNLA (Really Nice Level Amplifier) on two of the four outputs of the Octatrack for the drums. It glued everything together nicely. If the faders were at unity, it all sounded good. But the master volume and threshold knobs got loose and wobbly over time, which is risky for a live set. It was also on the heavier side and didn’t fit in my backpack along with everything else I used to carry. If I can fit two Elektron sized units in a regular backpack plus some effects pedals, I’m winning.
Interface Design & The TBD Prototype¶
Benjamin Weiss: [Introduces the TBD prototype] How would you want to set this up? A web interface or an app?
Bill Youngman: A separate app would be amazing. If you could drag around blocks of effects—like the Axe-Fx or Kemper—that would be super cool. A big selection of effects that consumers can mangle quickly would be great. If the screen is big enough, you could select the effect, adjust parameters, save it to a slot, and name it. That’s enough for me.
The size is perfect; it fits in a jacket pocket. I don’t need a battery—that could add extra weight and heat—but running off a USB-C power bank would be convenient.
Benjamin Weiss: Is something like Ableton Link important for you?
Bill Youngman: MIDI is enough for me. It’s nice in a studio so people don’t trip over cables, but for me, it’s not a necessity for studio or live. If you can design some sounds on the road and save them, that’s a plus. I’m always skeptical when companies boast about too many features. Does it do any of those things well? With open-source stuff, you have to find your own way. If there were templates for live performance as a starting point, I’d be excited about that.