Drone
Ambient · 2001 · also known as Drone Music, Drone Ambient
The sustained note as a complete form: descended from La Monte Young and minimalism, carried forward by the guitars of Stars of the Lid or the amplifiers of Sunn O))). Drone works the raw material of sound over long duration, beating harmonics, suspended time. Sitting between ambient, metal and composed music, it is a transversal continent more than a closed genre, claimed by all three worlds at once.
15 reference tracks
- Stars of the Lid: Requiem for Dying Mothers Part 1 (2001)
- Sunn O))): It Took the Night to Believe (2005)
- Tim Hecker: Chimeras (2006)
- Stars of the Lid: Dungtitled (in A major) (2007)
- Sunn O))): Aghartha (2009)
- Sunn O))): Troubled Air (2019)
- Sarah Davachi: Play the Ghost (2020)
- Kali Malone: Living Torch I (2022)
- Roy Montgomery Featuring Martha Skye Murphy: At Dawn (2023)
- Stars of the Lid: Don't Bother They're Here
- Sunn O))): Orthodox Caveman
- Stars of the Lid: Apreludes (in C sharp major)
- Tim Hecker: (They Call Me) Jimmy
- Sunn O))): Sin Nanna
- Stars of the Lid: The Evil That Never Arrived
At a glance
- First appeared: around 2001
- Machines: Guitare électrique, Amplificateur à lampes, Magnétophone à bande, Archet
- The sound: Guitares en sustain infini, Cordes et archets traités, Amplis en saturation lente, Boucles de bande
- Labels: Southern Lord, Kranky, Table of the Elements, Room40, Important Records
- Key artists: Stars of the Lid, Sunn O))), Éliane Radigue, Tim Hecker (frange), Kali Malone
Producing Drone
There is no tempo, and time is measured in minutes: a drone piece is a single note or chord held for ten or twenty minutes, with no events at all, since the movement lives entirely in timbre. Set a BPM of around 40 purely to sync LFOs, otherwise think in seconds. Beating between two close pitches produces a few beats per second, and changing that gap changes the pulse, the only metronome the genre has. There is no percussion: rhythm lives in the harmonics beating against each other, the tremolo of a tube amplifier, a bow crossing the string, or looping tape returning again. Stack two layers of the same sound slightly detuned to let a slow beating appear, and work intervals in just intonation, since a pure fifth does not beat while a tempered one beats slowly.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Drone?
The sustained note as a complete form: descended from La Monte Young and minimalism, carried forward by the guitars of Stars of the Lid or the amplifiers of Sunn O))). Drone works the raw material of sound over long duration, beating harmonics, suspended time. Sitting between ambient, metal and…
Who are the key Drone artists?
Stars of the Lid, Sunn O))), Éliane Radigue, Tim Hecker (frange), Kali Malone.
