''Structures from Silence'' is the third studio album by American

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

musician Steve Roach. It was released in 1984 on Fortuna.

Recording

The title track, ''Structures from Silence'', took Steve Roach a few months to compose. He would play the song using an

Oberheim OB-8 The Oberheim OB-8 is a subtractive analog synthesizer launched by Oberheim in early 1983 and discontinued in 1985. As the fourth product in the OB-series of polyphonic compact synthesizers, the OB-8 was the successor to the OB-Xa. The number of ...

and

Oberheim DSX Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim. History and products Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and contract manufacturer of electronic effects devices for Maestro (most ...

sequencer day and night, adjusting it until it sounded right to him. Finally, he went to a recording studio and recorded the song in a single 30-minute long pass, using his own gear along with a second OB-8 as well as a

Lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

224 digital reverberator.

Release

A remastered version of this album, with a different cover, was released in 2001 by

Projekt Projekt is a Portland, Oregon-based independent record label started by Sam Rosenthal in 1983. Projekt releases music in the styles of darkwave, ambient, shoegaze, gothic rock, ethereal, dream-pop, and dark cabaret. Projekt artists include S ...

. A 30-year anniversary edition was released by Projekt in 2014. The album was remastered in 24-bit/96 kHz from the original analog mixes. There is both a single-CD edition, and a 3-CD deluxe edition that includes two bonus discs created in 2013. Both editions use the original cover art. The remastered original album (but not the two bonus discs) was made available as 24-bit/96 kHz digital downloads.

Video release

In 1987 a VHS video titled ''Structures from Silence'' was released. It featured imagery created by Marianne Dolan set to the album's title track. This video was also released on

laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

under the title ''Space Dreaming''.

Reception

In late November 2014, Steve Roach was selected as Echoes Radio's #1 Artist and ''Structures from Silence'' was voted as the #2 album. ''

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' listed ''Structures from Silence'' as the tenth best album of the 1980s, calling it a "thoughtful, slow-paced study in synthesizer" and one of the important ambient albums of all time. They listed the 2014 reissue as the fourth best reissue that year, commenting that "it's a perfect time to return to this classic album – still spellbinding, three decades on." In 2016, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' listed it as the 33rd best ambient album of all time.

Track listing

30th anniversary bonus discs

Personnel

Per liner notes. * Steve Roach — performer, producer,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

Michael Stearns Michael Stearns (born October 16, 1948) is an American musician and composer of ambient music. He is also known as a film composer, sound designer and soundtrack producer for IMAX, large format films, theatrical films, Documentary film, document ...

— spatial enhancements *

Kevin Braheny Kevin Braheny Fortune (born Kevin Braheny, 1952) is an American musician. He composes and performs quiet ambient music, often more melodic than other music of this kind. Biography Kevin Braheny was on the early design team of Serge Modular, a ...

— spatial enhancements * Richard Bailey — cover art

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Structures From Silence 1984 albums Steve Roach (musician) albums Projekt Records albums Space music albums by American artists