The Origin Of The Species...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Steve Hamann asked an interesting pair of questions on Twitter this morning: “What is the origin of the floating hands and electronic gear music video?” And he followed that up with this: “For a lot of people it seems to have become a musical end unto itself, I wonder where/when it started?”
I am obviously a strong proponent of this particular form of expression. My first YouTube upload, in 2007, was only the first in a long string of Hands videos in my channel; roughly two thirds of my uploads fit in to this category. These sorts of videos are de rigueur these days for any aspiring synthNerd, and Audio Damage even makes a product specifically for making them with your modular synth and iPhone.
If you’ve been a long-time reader of this site (10 YEARS NEXT MONTH HOLY SHIT!!) I’ve inflicted these videos on you many times. To address the second part of Steve’s musings, speaking strictly for myself, the video is absolutely the musical end, and I generally write the music specifically for the video. This started happening in the beginning of 2011; before that, I had generally done any sort of video upload as an afterthought, but this one is the first one where making the video was the goal in and of itself:
Many others followed, of course, and while the early ones were recorded and mixed, and the audio released elsewhere, I’ve gradually got to the point where the video is the release entire, and I don’t actually include any downloadable audio content. I’ll admit I hadn’t actually thought about the “why” of this until today, and I don’t have a good answer for it. In pondering it, I think that a lot of the reason I put up the videos (aside from demonstrating the cool shit we make) is that they show off my skill as a musician, inasmuch as I’m capable of demonstrating skill, and serve as “proof” that no trickery was involved. I think with the growing popularity of modular synths, and the dick-swinging inherent in that group of instruments, they also serve as a nice set of bona fides: “look at all this dope shit I have, and here’s proof that I’m good at using it.”
So, that’s me. But it leaves Steve’s questions sort of unanswered: where’s the Ür Hands Video? And why do other people do it? I personally am curious as to why people put up so many really shitty ones. One of the groups on Facebook that I belong to, it’s basically just a constant stream of really terrible sound (I won’t even call it music) with cell phone mic audio. These videos are essentially worthless, whether a demonstration of prowess or a snapshot of a musical moment. Your thoughts? Can we find the first Hands video on YouTube?
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For some reason I can't explain, I watch a lot of these kinds of videos. I was thinking about it out of the blue this week, here is a relatively new form of musical expression/end product created through the rise of free video hosting, and no one really talks about it as such, especially outside of the gear-nerd cult we inhabit.
The advent of blinken lights, through tenori-on and especially monome, feels like the catalyst for the rise in popularity of these videos. Hilariously, the earliest monome video I could find on Youtube is mostly inaudible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWK_Y-Kkv8I
Seems to have originated with professional and academic gear demos. My searching so far has found this post on Synthtopia from 2003 as an early example, pointing to this floating hand Audiopad demo from the 2003 Sonar festival:
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2003/11/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59zS7m23IsM
I've pondered this question for awhile. From my experience the videos are only understood (enjoyed) by fellow musician/synthgeeks. I think you are spot on with your "serve as "proof" that no trickery was involved" comment.
Otherwise put, Proof of artist integrity. I feel musicians & craftsmen will always take pride in creating something from nothing. With preset based tools saturating the world of crap music, these types of videos can be a counterpart/response. This is my over-thought take on the phenomena.
At the surface level.
- What other venues are available for this expression?
- We like showing off gear, even more so if it's being used.
- That DSLR video feature needs to get used sometime.
- Wider audience (the local girlfriend thinks it's all bullshit)
- Attention span, some of this shit is plain boring without experiencing the process.
- As for the hands in particular, it's all about the tools. Nobody wants to see the bearded D-bags controlling them.
Yeah, I think you're probably right. Generally, I make one when I have a new piece of gear or technique; I don't specifically say "I want to show off," but it seems to be a natural progression.
-CR
Personally, with the couple I've made and those I'm inclined to watch, it's about scratching the itch of live performance. A patch video is a patch video is a patch video (see also gear demo), but if I'm watching a hands video for 3 to 4 minutes I'm watching the performer, performing in the studio -- w/ good sightlines and audio. There's definitely an element of 'o yeah, this dude* knows his shit'. But more, especially for those I plan on making in the future, it's my lazy man's version of a local gig. Which leads me to...
Historically, I would track its evolution to the general rise of YouTube. Remember that video we discussed many years back, where someone made a full album's worth of songs by remixing videos of people playing music on You Tube? That was gear demos, instrument technique & instructional & performance vids, etc. But aren't these but another facet of that? A drummer explaining how to perform break beats/a guitarist showing off his 'chops'/ A demonstration of beat making on the MPC/some kids earnest rendition of a Green Day tune/et al. For the majority of musicians the impulse is to perform, no matter the venue, the medium. As fun (maddening, engrossing, annoying) as it is making cool tunes in our boxes and rooms and bedsits, it is hard to not feeling we're howling into the void. So when you write a song you can perform in realtime, why not rack up a few hundred in views for it, right?
*Yeah, as far as synth, beat making, it definitely is provence of the penis baring side of the species. More's the pity.
Also, what shamann & Eric said.
Yeah, see also the rise of Justin Bieber and twee ukulele cover songs; presumably same drive to perform no matter where.
There's a kind of added bonus to having the video. A good example is the bit that Sonic Nick does at the end of his review of the MFB Dominion: https://youtu.be/i_tIDPxs9oQ?t=21m46s
You can get that music via bandcamp for a buck, ( https://soniclab.bandcamp.com/track/yodelling-dominion ) but I actually like it better in the video. Like stage musicals and opera I guess, the visuals augment the soundtrack.
Puffer brings up an excellent point. I greatly enjoy playing live; it's just at my advanced age, the pain-in-the-ass surrounding the actual performance has reached the level of diminishing returns. (That is to say that all the shit I have to go through to get to the act of performing isn't worth the act itself.) Also, when SMG was in its heyday, we were a well-oiled machine with a full support staff headlining theatres and radio festivals with 100K people at them. It's really a downer, after that, to play to a bar with 10 dudes in it. You can't keep 'em down on the farm...
So setting up a state on my modular, and doodling with it for 5 minutes, gives me the same little poke that the bar/10 dudes scenario does, with the added bonus that I don't actually have to pack up my gear and drive anywhere, and I can do another take if I fuck up. (Which I regularly do. That techno video I put up last week that looked all fluid and like I knew what I was doing and shit, that was like the 15th take.) It can, in no way whatsoever, replace fronting a good band to 1500 people for an hour, to be clear.
-CR
Agreed. The live playing element is for sure a factor. That escaped my thoughts. I don't perform nearly as much as I used/want to. Video can satisfy part of that desire.
My synth recording interest is largely do to my desire for musical independence. All those with "band" experience know the effort, compromise, & blood involved.
Is it the same, not at all. Creatively satisfying? Yes.
For those that like creating with/for a recording medium, video is fun path to figure out. It's also only been a few years a that an individual can capture/produce a quality image with readily available tools.
That said is this a good thing? Is publicly spitting out video experiments focusing on a narrow musical aspect that only 100 other synthgeeks enjoy beneficial? I dont know.
That effort put into a true/full musical composition holds more value to me. But the quick creative gratification making these is undeniable.
I guess these can be the equivalent of a low expectation band jam for electronic musicians?
I think i'll stop fukn aroung on the net, go figure out the in and outs phaedra + my new iConnect & make a video =/.
Jeff Mills' "Exhibitionist" DVD came out in 2004, just before youtube existed. Not exactly just a "hands" video (his face is in it too), but it's all about his performance with his hands, and it showcases DJ virtuosity in a way that makes the art of it really tangible.
I think that's partly what these videos are about. With other, older kinds of music making, there's more a shared understanding of what constitutes a performance - what kind of action from the performer produces / shapes sound, etc. With electronic music, the newness of it, and the huge variation in technical setups makes it appealing to show what we're doing in a really direct way, to make clear how a performance is happening, and that it's not just some computer magic without soul. The interface(s) of electronic music are not as widely understood as regular instruments (and not as visible to the audience), so it makes sense to show what's happening from the user / performer's point of view.
Jeff Mills is coming out with a followup that I think is less about DJing and more about production / live electronic performance (though even his DJing just with turntables kind of blurs the line, I think, given how much he's doing).
Hmm. I guess I'd better do a Hands vid one of these days in order to establish my legitimacy as a synthNerd. Gods forbid anyone question that.
I can't help but think that vids like this are popular because the selfie in its myriad forms is popular. In other words, people put up Hands videos because "everyone" is putting up Hands videos. So, somewhat what puffer said: Hands videos exist because YouTube exists.
Along with that, one could speculate about personality types. Synth nerds are into gear, assume that other synth nerds are into gear, and hence make videos that showcase their gear rather than themselves. By contrast, in my extremely limited observation, self-made vids of guitarists aren't framed to visually cut the player off at the biceps, putting the focus solely on the the hands and guitar. Why? Well, guitarists have this reputation for wanting to be the center of attention...
Personally I find it more interesting when there's at least a glimpse of part of the rest of the player, e.g. in some of CR's videos you can occasionally see him bouncing up and down with enthusiasm. It's possible, though, that I'm biased about this in that his boundless enthusiasm for whatever he chooses to focus on is in part what keeps Audio Damage rolling along over the years (and in particular during the, um, less-than-enthusiastic struggles I inevitably go through with any product's development).
--Adam
Oh, forgot the original point regarding origin: may I direct your attention to this video, which pre-dates YouTube (go to 0:30 for the hands if you're impatient): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY
Now, I may be stretching the point slightly to say that that's really the origin of the species, but that song is so influential (and damn rightly so) that it might as well get credit for this, too.
--Adam
I have done a few videos. The main reason I'm doing them is to provide visitors something - a downloadable preset pack, sound demo of an instrument, exploring a special feature on a synth etc. It's never about showing off how good I am because I'm not. All my videos with multitracked machines are pure fakes which explains why my performances are always out of sync (songs are made in advance and then filmed).
The reason why you only see my arms is because I don't want people to see how I look like. I once started on a video where my upper body would be visible so I wore a hooded jacket but I never finished that project.
Preset pack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls_RK0GqKo
Feature demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFxEy5jz22c
That brings up an interesting point: due to the general Pain In The Arse level a multi-camera shoot entails for a one-man show, the vast majority of really high quality edited hands videos are essentially lip synced. ("finger synced?") Nothing wrong with this, of course, and most people would be unlikely to notice.
I've seen a few where I'm like "I've been to that dude's studio, and I know he only uses one camera..." and then it becomes fun to try and figure out which parts of the video are live, and which ones are faked. For the repetitive music that most of us do, it's pretty easy to cut in shots of sequencers running or envelopes triggering or whatever that were filmed outside of the main performance, but still look to be in sync.
I think the following is true: if you're making a video specifically for other Extreme Nrrrds of your particular skillset, then the contiguous, un-edited live take is the way to go. But if you're making something for more general viewership of the musician community at large, or demonstrating the music rather than the gear, then the edited fake multi-camera with some live elements is going to be the more interesting video.
Just my opinion.
-CR
I don't know the origin of these videos and I don't remember where I first saw them but it could very well have been the ones you've posted on this blog. Inspirational stuff, I've tried doing a couple myself and found it quite rewarding.
The first one I did was just a test to see how Ableton Live and Push would sync up with the few bits of hardware I had - I mainly put it up just because I thought other people would be interested in seeing how well the hardware/software combination would sync up. I don't think it's anything special, but I was my first of the kind nonetheless:
https://youtu.be/1Gn745kUFh4
I've done a couple multi-cam ones (or lets call them Zoom Q3HD, iPhone 5, iPhone 4 and iPad). In my other band where I play guitar we had a gig recorded on multi-cam with high quality cameras and I had to edit it myself. I didn't have any experience with editing different angles, so I decided to do a studio-jam in multi-cam, just so I would have some material to practice with. The decision to do more than one angle led to the decision to play guitar - otherwise there wouldn't really be any point in having all those different angles:
https://youtu.be/c2GfZDbsV3w
The second one is really just a demo of a Microbrute when I first got my hands on it. That video is actually a longer performance where I cut the best sequences together. The audio was recorded live along with the video, so in that sense it's still live:
https://youtu.be/1cbmg1b0FWM
In both of these muti-cam ones my enthusiasm of all these angles are pretty obvious - watching them now I wish I wasn't so trigger happy with the cutting back and forth between camera angles.
In all these videos I wrote the music after deciding to do the video. I think the reason I find making a video rewarding is because it forces you to get the music done in order to arrive at your destination. With the bonus of having a souvenir of your own performance which can be helpful if you also do live shows.
To be honest I'm surprised how many people are actually watching these videos. I only thought a handful of nerds would care for these, but it seems like putting a video on YouTube can be more worthwhile than putting music up on Soundcloud, at least in my case it seems the videos are getting more views than the music is getting plays. Which I guess are yet another incentive for making them.
One thing I noticed is the more gear and the more blinking lights the better - generally speaking. Chris latest video is great example.
I did a few vids like this for the now defunct downshiftradio.com back in 2000-2001
Electribes and am RM1X and a shitload of guitar pedals.
A few years ago, Dan, aka Khan Edison, the guy who ran downshift sent me one of the files, I have it on a disc somewhere in my spiral of neverending discs...
I enjoy watching the "hands on gear" videos, even more so if it was shot on a decent camera and the audio was decently recorded (which yours are). Cell phone video/audio clips are pretty worthless and annoying.
Also, holy shit 10 years? And smg.org before that.
I think you guys are really overthinking this "floating hands" thing. It's fundamentally what is necessitated by the medium, and it's nothing new.
Take, for example, this solo professionally recorded and edited solo piano performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSKKq4RKdxI
It's probably 75% floating hands.
With a synth or keyboard, where the playing surface faces toward the performer, you have to get behind the instrument and the player to really see anything performance worthy. It doesn't make much sense to show a guy's backside bobbing around, so you crop it out. The result: floating hands.
And really, what's the alternative? A front-shot of a guy hovering over a rack of equipment staring downward and randomly tweaking stuff that you can't even see? It doesn't make any sense. Showing a little bit of face wouldn't be a bad thing, but if you only have one camera and one take, it's obviously got to be the hands.
I've done 2 multi-camera vids. But I should have just used one camera.... the editing takes too long for something that is a essentially trying to be a 'live' performance.
Than again, I don't do lots of takes, instead I record 1 long performance and then edit it down. So I have to have some sort of b-roll to cut to.
Also I like re-interpreting old blues songs on synths.
https://youtu.be/x9q8dpsSULI
https://youtu.be/JHovU4i9vrA
.... And my point with the blues song covers, was that that particular genre kinda loses something essential if it ain't live
atlastop - those synth blues covers are fucking awesome. I actually think the multi-cam complements the live feel. The editing doesn't have to take that long, just do it as a one-take in real time as a performance. The split-screen parts look cool.
I agree that the interaction between hands and instrument are the important bit, so if there's just one camera then that should be the focus.
@atlastop: I had no idea you did those. I have a project I've been working on for years that is Delta blues / IDM. This appeals to my interests, and has perhaps lit a fire under my ass to finish it.
-CR
@soren thanks... I should get back to doing more of these covers.
@chris a delta/idm ep from you would be awesome... The Devil his due is still one of my favourite of your albums. I'd love to hear some sort of hybrid between that and RT60... Shot as a hands and synth video.
*gigglesnort* Us, overthink something on this forum? Never.
--Adam
One of my 2 studio performance videos was a cheated multi-camera. I used one camera, then performed the improv (which had a loose song-like structure) 4 times. This allowed me to use best performance as the audio (I think I went with the shortest; and even that was a tad long), and edit together 4 angles. Like @atlastop says, it's a lot of work. Honestly, after about a minute of the song, I was often just grabbing as I needed them. (No vocal, so this was a lot easier.)
But I think those blues cover video look terrific. Of course good music helps. (Seriously, well done, sir). If I were to do another I would go this route again.
Of course, upon reflection, I realize I'm just talking about '"live" in studio' now. Not specifically what this post was originally about. But as long as we're overthinking it...
The best hands video of all time.
Sometime in 2006 I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqM7bN3Kc7I
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