what is minimal?

teknobryan · Post by **teknobryan** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:19 am

yeah, but then you get these people who say "the minimal on that chart isn't minimal" so how do I know what's really minimal and what isn't? this is so stupid...

victorgonzales · Post by **victorgonzales** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:24 am

teknobryan wrote:" relating to or being a minimum"
well that helps thanks!

alot of self righteousness going on here. maybe I should have stuck with the Ableton and Logic Pro forums...

not if you want really good production advice. Just make sure you dont ask alot of questions like "how do I make sounds just like hawtin" That iritates people here.

I dont think minimal is really a genre bud. Anything that is stripped down is minimal. If it sounds like stripped down house it's minimal house. If it sounds like stripped down techno it is minimal techno.

I think with minimal music the focus is just on building a really good rhythm without a whole lot of instruments. There is usualy not a ton of drums and synths but the drums and synths used are used in more creative ways to create rhythm.

coldfuture · Post by **coldfuture** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:11 am

teknobryan wrote:" relating to or being a minimum"
well that helps thanks!

alot of self righteousness going on here. maybe I should have stuck with the Ableton and Logic Pro forums...

I was not being a smart ass really. I was trying to tell you that minimal is a philosophy more than it is a music-press invented genre.

The second definition speaks to the minimalism movement in both music and visual art. The point is that you have to decide what you think is sparse and stripped back music that gets right to the point and join the rest of us who are only providing an interpretation of what that means.

There is no set method or any one sound that encompasses it. Instead of getting all insulted over people trying to help you, listen to some of the classics artists of the genre I listed and also listen to some minimal classical composers starting with Phillip Glass.

Then, compare what you have heard to itself, and draw your own conclusion of what they all have in common. Then you will have your own working definition of what it is.

Minimalism is a long standing movement in art with a history that now goes back 50 years to Edgar Varese and Pierre Boulez, some would say even as far back as Maurice Ravel.

You aren't going to get an ableton tutorial that can sum it all up in a sine wave bassline and some phat 808 kicks, thats for sure. It takes analysis, and then if you decide to create some music/art in the genre, it will take you interpreting it.

niminal · Post by **niminal** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:54 am

in simple terms.

minimal is ....... micro house music

pigeon holed and all

Opuswerk · Post by **Opuswerk** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:08 am

Minimalism is usually about getting to the core of the meaning of what one is trying to expresss and getting rid of whatever else is superfluous, rather than stripped out and boring. This goes for art, architecture and music.

The best example of minimal for me are the Studio Eins tracks. As Wolfgang Voigt puts it : "it's music about what's not in the music". So it's music that lets you breathe and create a virtual scenery and musical reality in your own head. This can be done in such various ways, that there's no point trying to define minimal music by saying clicky drums and emphasis on the sub bassline. It's about music where nothing is superfluous and every element is INDISPENSABLE to keep the track going.

Ronny Pries · Post by **Ronny Pries** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:19 am

What are we talking about here really?

Imho there's minimal techno which concentrates on the bare minimum of complexity to keep a certain mood going. As put here, Studio 1, early Herbert, Steve Bug, Cari Lekebusch etc.

And then there's all this micro-clicky-stuff (is it mnml?) which has sound-, mood and contentwise little to do with minimal techno.

Uh yeah, those drawers again... Gneh

Oh wait, i guess it's the second meant here. Well, i'm out i guess.

(What a pointless contribution haha)

s.k. · Post by **s.k.** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:38 am

what is minimal? baby dont hurt me, dont hurt me, no more...

mine was pointless-er

aallvor · Post by **aallvor** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:49 am

teknobryan wrote:yeah, but then you get these people who say "the minimal on that chart isn't minimal" so how do I know what's really minimal and what isn't? this is so stupid...

If we're talking Beatport charts I totally understand why they would say that - BP sucks...

The lines are blurry regarding what is and what isn't...

However, there are some useful starting points.

Some labels:

Tuning Spork, Minus, Perlon, Klang Elektronik, Mobilee, Vakant, Ostgut.

Some (more or less) old skool minimal producers:

Daniel Bell/DBX
Farben
Rob Hood
Plastikman
Basic Channel
Jeff Mills
Glory B

New skool mnml (which, confusingly, isn't always that minimal):

Luciano
Ricardo Villalobos
Sleeparchive
Lee Van Dowski & Quenum
Repeat Repeat
Marcel Dettmann
Marc Ashken
Format B