The most technical member of the band

Famously, the band never put in the sleeve notes who does what part of the songs. However, when doing the side projects, it gave a lot more info and often had Bernard as responsible for keyboards/programming for Electronic, Hooky playing keyboards for Revenge/Monaco and The Other Two were in the NO vain in this area by not giving much away.

So, with regards to NO, which member of the band is the most technical in this area? I can't imagine Hooky is so I reckon it's either Bernard, Steve or Gillian. What do you think?

Guilty Partner wrote: Famously, the band never put in the sleeve notes who does what part of the songs. However, when doing the side projects, it gave a lot more info and often had Bernard as responsible for keyboards/programming for Electronic, Hooky playing keyboards for Revenge/Monaco and The Other Two were in the NO vain in this area by not giving much away.

So, with regards to NO, which member of the band is the most technical in this area? I can't imagine Hooky is so I reckon it's either Bernard, Steve or Gillian. What do you think?

Its a tough one. For me Steve seems to be extremely gifted. Ive never heard him f*ck up when playing live (whereas the other 3 members do quite often). Maybe in the studio Bernard is a genius, and who can really comment unless theyve seen them in the creative process in the studio. I get the impression they all share responsibility and all contribute significantly.

I would say that Steve is the most consistant though.

I would vote Stephen, because a great many tracks develop around a drum pattern or sequence that he helped program. He was probably the one who introduced all the sequencers/computers to the band. But don't count out Barney, who I'm sure does a lot of work in the studio (when he can be arsed to do something).

I voted Bernard Because his technical knowlege runs deepest. underneath the clueless fuckwitt exterior, the man's claver as fuck, he built synths and sequencers. Not only that but he is TOTALLY a mna after my own heart....no amp....I'll solder a jack socket onto the tonearm of my granny's phonogram (and presumably bypass or alter the preamp)...fucking Da Vinci smart in my book.

However, the brains of the band? steve the man eats sleeps and shits computer based sequencers, bernard oddly doesn't....the reason Neil Tennant got involved in Electronic, was that Barney needed someone to show him how Passport worked. (source: barney in SOS or music technology). Gillian no doubt has her input, but the main backing to most electronic slanted NO stuff is mostly Steve (tho i believe bernard also shows up with half finished sequences, presumably ones he's been using to help him write).

hooky's programmnig (if it was all him) on Revenge is bollox. Some really excellent songs die a death because they sound like a yamaha keyboard demo. worked it out by Monaco time tho. Phil may have been clever once, but look at the expression he wears these days, he's had his brain melted by those nutters.....at the apollo when Barney started gooning around on BM, Phil just adopted a father dougal look and looked at Steve for help.

If you were gonna "geek out" with one of them, Steve would be your best bet, but if you could get Barney in the mood to talk about it, you;d learn an enormous amount...FFS he taught Kraftwek how record a DMX kick right!!!!!!!

who the fook voted for Hooky? (I can think of one person who wants to stay out late tonight or something, but who's the other :D )

He may well be my favourite and most admired musician, but technical genius?

i've been told I'm in the top 3% of Bassplayers cos i can sign my own name FFS. I've also been told that a bassplayer who can sightread (any of you round here?) can live like a Harley street Doctor!

I dunno, it's never occurred to me that he bothers his hole getting deep into anything but that old stick of his. He handles his stage rig like a man who is either TOTALLY ignorant of it's insides, or could field strip the thing in a club at 3am wasted. there's no middle ground for someone who casually whacks buttons like he does, it's either "I better re-route the flurblhenge modulator through nebblebop cogitator, with a 78degree phase shift" or "daaaa what dis one do".

(JH, if you're reading this, I think it's best we don;t know, I never want to have the image of a confused Hooky standing there while u say "FFS u daft old duffer THIS button switcthes the bypass in so u can use the tuner without annoying everyone"....ewwww horrible)

Actually, messing around aside, he can't be THAT daft....

The Happy One on OSM...he's the only member of the band there, doesn't matter if they had the entire keyboard tech crew, specialists from Roland, Emu and Apple,and a flaming hotline to Bob Moog...no one but Hooky would know how it was meant to go (I'm hoping some of the senior vikings will back me up and say that it took Gillan to get more than a half hearted attempt at a tune out of the machines, like a race team....25 guys to make it go, only one can drive it). Even if someone else cabled it up (cables are my first instrument, and I'D have got someone else to do that lot), he'd have had to get it going. So he must be fairly fucking clued up (BTW kiddies, this was real world, steam powered machinery none of your laptop and kaospad pish, proper racket making members of the band). Is he a technical powerhouse in NO. No, they proably say "aye whatever, you're the bassplayer, shut up and play your bass" least that can't tell him to "stand in the corner and play root notes" tho I'm sure someone tried once; ONCE!. :D (2 points 4 the movie referrence btw)

I voted for Barney because wiring up your grammy's phonograph to use as an amp is fucking awesome.

not that I know what i'm talking about, but it's probably steve. Just based on the shallow idea that steve's home studio is often mentioned by magazines etc As there has been a lot of talk about them not playing some different songs in their setlist that require the re-programming of their machines does this mean it's steves fault? but also doest that mean that it was his work to include the short sample of TPK during BM recently? so is it steves fault we're not getting Face-up,TPK and 586 etc etc

Stevie boy for me. Seems the intellectual type gadget,gizmo geek to me. In norderstory he is sat in front of a fairlight,to the layman a fairlight is the be all and end all of "musical" instruments.Well not really its just a computerand it must be slightly out of date by now. PSB have used them for years.

p.s at least i think it was a fairlight,pls correct me if i'm wrong.

i picked steve, rigging your gran's gramaphone is impressive i will admit , but learning to play drums on an offical Sooty(did i get that right?) Kit is genius Barney is a very close 2nd

I voted for Gillian. It brings me back memories of "The Perfect Kiss" video (keyboards and adjusting the audio equipment) and the reason why the band is not quite the same without her now. Ah, I miss Gillian, don't you?

cozmonite61 wrote: I voted for Gillian. It brings me back memories of "The Perfect Kiss" video (keyboards and adjusting the audio equipment) and the reason why the band is not quite the same without her now. Ah, I miss Gillian, don't you?

I think the adjusting you were speaking of was her turning the "ON" button

Technically, I think Barney and Steve are the engine-room of New Order. I'd guess that Barney did most of the keyboard stuff on the albums to be honest (or at least through Movement and P,C&L).

frank smarra wrote:

cozmonite61 wrote: I voted for Gillian. It brings me back memories of "The Perfect Kiss" video (keyboards and adjusting the audio equipment) and the reason why the band is not quite the same without her now. Ah, I miss Gillian, don't you?

I think the adjusting you were speaking of was her turning the "ON" button

they're voyeyetra slave units, multiplexed thru the main keyboard. I only actually grasped their true nature very recently thanks to an excellent link somone posted here. it is normal for synth and sampler makers to offer the equipment as keyboard or rack (so you don't end up with a studio full of unplayed keyboards with all but one played over MIDI). I always thought the racks were just rackmount Voyetra8's, but it's odder than that, the rank units are not just MIDI modules, they are slaves to the main keyboard, tied to it, and using some of it's controls. Gillian's front panel mixing (which is what she's doing in TPK) is rivalled only by her battering all the patch test buttons one at a time at the start of BM on PFD. I fucking loves that woman. And BTW, even if she WAS just hitting "go" or "on".....can anyone, ANYONE, name a single cooler push of a go button than Gillian at the start of WAS on PFD...it's fucking ballet (sniff).

Fairlight? In Steve's studio? That i the great fairlight letcher, I who have seen NO story about a trillion times, have not seen? You sure? Which machine are we talking about? Then only display units I recall seeing are macs.

Be funny if he did have one, not just cos they've never used it, or becasuse hannet left in sulk cos they bought the hacienda instead of buying him one, but mainly cos I didn;t spot it.

frank smarra wrote: i picked steve, rigging your gran's gramaphone is impressive i will admit , but learning to play drums on an offical Sooty(did i get that right?) Kit is genius Barney is a very close 2nd

I forgot about that one. And the cheeky bastard has the balls to laugh at gillian about her plastic bontempi organ.

Royser wrote: not that I know what i'm talking about, but it's probably steve. Just based on the shallow idea that steve's home studio is often mentioned by magazines etc As there has been a lot of talk about them not playing some different songs in their setlist that require the re-programming of their machines does this mean it's steves fault? but also doest that mean that it was his work to include the short sample of TPK during BM recently? so is it steves fault we're not getting Face-up,TPK and 586 etc etc

2 thigns....

1. you've been un dj land, or using music software too long....step back...deep breath...don't want to shock you. TPK over the end of BM, was Bernard pissing around, the method was as follows, find a generic warm analogue string sound, and place your fingers on the keys in a pattern which is in accordance with the piece of music in question. (he played it, and sent Phil into hysterics too i might add, he just blankly looks at steve like "help?")

2. I've rambled endlessly about this, so I'll keep it short. It would require one of two things to have all our loves returned to the set LIVE. Firstly, they could drag out all the old gear and it's mistress, not gonna happen. OR they can convert the songs to new gear....try it yourself sometime, grab one of the more accurate NO MIDI files around, and using whatever instruments you can beg borrow or download, try and get something that sounds remotely like NO. You'll be luck to even get the phrasing and the feel right never mind the actual sounds. They have no advantage over you except money. A tune written on one rig is invariable a cunt to move to another rig, even IF you've been faithful to general MIDI, which no one is, ever ever ever, cos only daft home keyboards and workstations use it.

frank smarra wrote:

I think the adjusting you were speaking of was her turning the "ON" button

I think she was just twisting the volume knob...

yeah, front panel mixing :)

not seeing a patch test button there, hmmmm how DID she do that racket on PFD.

EDIT: except for the enormous "A440" buton. MOOOOOO LOL

BTW, have you ever tried to FIND one of these? Forget it, i've seen one, and it was lots of money. I think anyone who has one hordes it cos of those impssibly tight little noises and wolloping basses.

Steve Campbell wrote: BTW, have you ever tried to FIND one of these? Forget it, i've seen one, and it was lots of money. I think anyone who has one hordes it cos of those impssibly tight little noises and wolloping basses.

I came REALLY close to buying one several years ago. I had a tough time justifying the purchase because it was quite expensive for what it is. You are right in that they're tough to find. Maybe somebody will be nice and release a software model sooner or later?

Steve, for me, is the most technical member of the band. No logical reason, except for the fact that he owns a very big tank

My technical expertise follows as thus:

I switch my amp on, plug in my bass and make one hell of a din. That's all I need to know.

I'll let you techie people take over again now

:D

definitely steve. he's spot on behind both the drum kit and the keyboards.

hard to say in the past it was a toss between Steve and Barney. Heck Barney even built a synthesiser. Steve i think did much of the programming.

These day I don't know do they do any programming themselves?

Steve would prolly get my vote-I mean having to keep in time with a sequencer behind a drum kit requires spot on timing. Remember that the former Joy Div. guys are all ex punks so that playing ability was never really played up or brought to the forefront

I saw "Guitar Player" magazine a few months back and it had a story on Phil & Barney. the Photos had Phil with his Les paul & barney with his Gibson SG. He uses a Gretstch for LWTUA.(I think) Barney said that he thought he was no more proficient a player than he was in 1979 & that he saw his guitar as a song generator.

I've put my vote in for Steve - I've just always considered him the most technically able from the impressions I get in interviews. Even though I admit that Bernard's got a lot of knowledge upstairs about how it all gets pieced and routed together, Steve seems rather consistent with the delivery of not only his drum prowess, but general geekery with the "what's this new piece of machinery we can mess with here" mentality.

For those of you who are laughing at my lack of knowledge of the volume knob, I'm sorry. I was born in the mid-80s, and only know the equipment from the turntables on. When I first saw the video for TPK, I actually thought that it was the on knob. But I couldn't see the letters too good, so I couldn't be sure. I'm going to laugh at myself for this silly flub.

Though I voted for Gillian, I feel that all of the members are equally technical. Don't forget that Moby said that the group was the first to merge rock with technology. You know you are experiencing New Order with Bernard's guitar and keyboard, Steve's drums, Hooky's bass riffs (and, at times, electric drum pads), and Gillian's keyboard, guitar, and synthesizer. I'm listening to "The Beach" as I'm writing this.

cozmonite61 wrote: For those of you who are laughing at my lack of knowledge of the volume knob, I'm sorry. I was born in the mid-80s, and only know the equipment from the turntables on. When I first saw the video for TPK, I actually thought that it was the on knob. But I couldn't see the letters too good, so I couldn't be sure. I'm going to laugh at myself for this silly flub.

We weren't laughing at you... I promise. By thinking back to that video and what I know of the Voyetra 8 synth, it had just occurred on me that it was probably the volume knob. Guess I found it funny that it was even less technical than hitting a "start" button for the sequencer. I'm easily amused... carry on. :)

I think probably Steve - never mucks up. Ever. Ever.

I'm sort of going from the side projects a little too. I'm really not a fan of electronic and listening to their programming I dont think its that great. Wheras The Other Two have sokme really fantatsic teck work in their songs - really complex and catchy.

Voted for Bernard because he has a reputation as a perfectionist etc...I think that he is probably the one most responsible for the overall song structure...good evidence for that can be found in the fact that Get Ready was basically Twisted Tenderness II with Hooky added in...and that much of Republic sounds just like a logical extension of Electronic.

I would also like to vote for Hooky as the most creative/talented...what he gets out of the limited number of notes he plays is amazing.

Steve is the most reliable performer of the bunch...Gillian the best looking

GILLIAN!!!

Her synth brilliance was the missing piece in the last two albums.

Indeed!

You must be really bored to be dragging up a thread that's been dead for more than 2 years. I almost feel sorry for you.

my mind wanders and at these late hours i agree with you all, hooky is the only member with *slump

Simple answer Barney

NOOLigan wrote: You must be really bored to be dragging up a thread that's been dead for more than 2 years. I almost feel sorry for you.

Great to drag it up again though, I missed it first time round, I can't vote cos its a tie between barney and steve, in the tech mags it's always either of them two, and both know what they're talking about.

Barney does seem to be more hardware synth and studio gear oriented whereas steve is more a software and drum machine guy, though in one mag (can't remember which) it was said the barney was now using reason to make the tracks more dancey (not an exact quote).

I've offered this before, but if anyone is interested, I have a PDF of the artical from sound on sound 1988 about the making of technique, anyone wants it PM me.

BTW Doctor, your film reference was Johnny Dangerously, don't ever hang me on a door, my mother hung me on a door once, ONCE

Do I win the usual £40.00?

BonoShed wrote: Steve would prolly get my vote-I mean having to keep in time with a sequencer behind a drum kit requires spot on timing. Remember that the former Joy Div. guys are all ex punks so that playing ability was never really played up or brought to the forefront

I saw "Guitar Player" magazine a few months back and it had a story on Phil & Barney. the Photos had Phil with his Les paul & barney with his Gibson SG. He uses a Gretstch for LWTUA.(I think) Barney said that he thought he was no more proficient a player than he was in 1979 & that he saw his guitar as a song generator.

You don't have a copy of that guitar player magazine story do you? I'd love to read it.

I think it's a close-run thing between Steve and Barney although I think Gillian was no slouch during her membership. Anyone who can look after no fewer than 5 (count 'em!) Prophet 5s at one gig (around 82-3) deserves respect. They had that many because the polysequencers they used loaded their data from little dictaphone mini-cassettes so one setup would be loading a song whilst Gillian was playing another!

Seriously both Barney and Steve became immersed in the whole tech thing as time went on because they were the ones - primarily - who needed to know to get the sounds etc they needed. Quite where the bashing-the-Emulator-with-a-hammer-on-the-leg thing comes in i don't really know!

The autocue

, hands down.

Hell, no one else I've known of could pull off drums and synths like nobody's business.

And of course, can't forget the .

I'd say steve...only because Drums happens to be the only instrument I can't play anything on :(

I say Hooky Baby for sure he kicks ass for sure He will always be my favorite and creative band member for sure. Sorry Hooooooooooooooooooooooky all the way good for you babes Miss Hookooligan

Funny, I felt sure you'd say Phil.

Isn't the correct answer Roger Lyons?

I would say the one and only Steve Morris because, for me, playing drums is very technical. I tried to do the drumbeat from Transmission and It's so exhausting:\ohwell: I admire him. :)

Stephen Morris, by far. His precise drumming is unlike anything else I've ever heard, and he learned to program drum machines for the band. He is my absolute and ultimate hero. Everytime I play drums at practice or a show, I think of him. I also really, really want to get a drum machine and start implementing electronic elements into my music (which is pretty much straight punk at the moment.)