spktra's debut album, Tactile is out now
Tactile is out today.
If you’ve been using Noir Labs for a while, you’ve already been part of this album’s story for years. You just hadn’t heard most of it yet.
I started making Tactile nearly a decade ago. While working on it, I kept getting frustrated with plugins that weren’t doing what I wanted them to do. That frustration led me to teach myself Max for Live and start making my own. All of those tools became Noir Labs, and every plugin came from some problem I needed while making this record.
Volume Buddy, for example, started because I was manually measuring the level before and after every effect while mixing “Spirit Jumper.” Chain Shaper came out of trying to mix “Shadowplay” and “Ritual Echo” and keep the drums punching through the leads without killing the leads like traditional side chain was doing.
I finished Tactile on January 1, 2020. Then the world shut down, and I decided to wait before releasing it.
The plugins became Noir Labs and I started making the animated music video for “Spirit Jumper,” which turned into another five-year project.
So everything came out in the wrong order. The software ended up getting to people first. Then the film and now finally the album.
Tactile is eight tracks pulling from UK garage, jungle, shoegaze, and the electronic music and bands I grew up with.
It’s strange releasing something I’ve been sitting on for so long, especially when so much of my life since then came directly from making it.
If you’ve bought a Noir Labs plugin, recommended one to someone, sent me feedback, or followed what I’ve been building over the years, thank you. Your support for Noir Labs is a big part of what allowed me to keep following everything that came out of this record.
Now you can finally hear where it started.
Josh / spktra
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