Bernard Estardy – Electro Sounds Volume 2
Bernard Estardy was one of the most prolific (and sought after) sound engineers in the French music scene during the 60’s and 70’s. After being involved on a number of sessions with Nino Ferrer, he took the initiative to build his own studio from scratch (the CBE as it’s known, built in 1967). It is said that in the first two decades of operation, records that were produced here accounted for 200 million copies sold.
When he wasn’t busy working on albums with popular French artists such as Francoise Hardy, Johnny Hallyday, the aforementioned Ferrer, etc .. Bernard was recording background music for French television, film and radio (not to mention composing weird concept albums, see: La Formule De Baron). Electro Sounds was a two-part ‘mood music’ series Estardy recorded for the popular Paris-based Tele Music library label in the early 1970’s.
This recording contains an interesting collection of repetitive ambient and electronic tunes, as well as a couple more uptempo jazz/funk tracks you come to expect when dealing with these kinds of records. I’ve included two tracks which seem to stand out for me. The first, “Asiatic Dream” sounds like children’s library music for adults (if that makes any sense) — xylophone, droning organ, moog bass, subtle background chorus, and delayed percussion hits. “Tic Tac Nocturne” is a tense electronic-organ and xylophone driven track with some clock sounds added in.
Asiatic Dream
Tic Tac Nocturne
Sadly, Bernard passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 67. Please visit French Attack to read their Estardy interview from last year — very interesting material regarding his studio/gear, La Formule de Baron LP, and more. RIP.
7 Comments
It’s a shame that Bernard has passed away. For all his work with french pop/synths and recording the likes of Ferrer. He will be remembered for the fantastic ‘Formule de Baron’. An absolutly fantastic album that has to be listened by everyone. Thanks for the insightful interview and pictures of the man in later years. I shall always remember him with the wool coat, large sideburns and him stood ontop of a hill.
Great stuff! Definitely more musical than a lot of the old electronic stuff, which seems to be more a vehicle to show off new sounds than to actually be something you’d want to hear over and over again. Cheers.
just found the 45 ‘universal energy’ by him…great stuff!
This is fantastic. Asiatic Dream sounds like it could be a Tortoise ‘TNT’ out-take! Thanks for this gem.
Asiatic dream sounds like a demo from Air. Would be interesting if there is any connection between.
http://waxidermy.com/2006/06/06/j-matthews-electronic-music/
Estardy’s Tic Tac Nocturne was also sampled on My Elastic Eye by The Chemical Brothers as it demonstrates being a dance & techno song avant le lettre, great!