itsarkitek

[itsarkitek]

Reflective Journal Evaluation

‘Hauntology’ aimed to become a 7 to 8 track album that focussed on using the equipment and techniques heard in early 90s dance music. Timbres such as low bit depths and effects such as time stretching were being used to apply to newer genres of dance music that didn’t necessarily exist in the early 90s. While still including genres such as Jungle and Breakbeat Hardcore to pay homage to the aesthetic that was being borrowed. High pitched vocals, rave stabs and moody chords were being used to accompany heavily syncopated breakbeats and other elements to infuse such genres together.

The album was a huge learning process and definitely helped develop a style the producer did not usually produce. The production techniques, samples and equipment were used in exactly the same way they would have been used in the early 90s. This explored the concept of the album which was hauntology; the theory that the past is haunting the present through the purposeful use and creation of timbres not found in modern dance music. This was accurately executed and specifically thought of when making every track on the album. Only 6 tracks were made for the album instead of 7 to 8. This was due to a lack of time management and the need to make sure every track is suitable and not rushed to hit the deadline. This needs to be developed for future albums and deadlines and has been understood as a potential weakness. The album also set out to collaborate with mastering engineers and vinyl pressing agencies. However, as seen in the Covid-19 post this was made not possible by the pandemic. These hurdles did not stop the production of the album however definitely had an effect on quality of production. As the tracks were getting made the producer had to learn the equipment inside and out so it could be used like producers used it in the 90s. This definitely took a large chunk of time to understand and learn which had a negative effect on getting the full amount of tracks made for the album. However, the producer did release it with a well known label within the underground music scene and is very thankful for that. The producer originally was going to release it themselves over Bandcamp, this would not have reached anywhere near as many people as it will now it’s in the labels hands. The release date is the 22nd June, which is less than a month away. However, this may be seen as negative to the deadline again but it is a positive in making sure the album gets the correct promotion and marketing it needs. This will not only give people time to see it but also give the producer much more opportunities in the future.

Overall, the album stuck to most of its aims besides a couple which were explained and understood as a learning curve for the producer. The album has executed the concept of hauntology and the feedback from producers so far has all been positive. This has been an amazing experience and definitely won’t be the last. This album will help the producer with future opportunities like gigs and releases with different labels marking this album as the first album created by Ark!Tek.

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Confirmation from Lemtek was received that they would like to promote and release the album. Even CD’s are going to be made for it which was something that was not even considered at the beginning of the project. This is definitely an advantage as through this label it will reach more people and also get properly promoted by using the mailing list of the owner and enough time to fully market the album before releasing it with a preview of all the tracks on the album.

The 22nd of June is less than a month away which shows a lack of time management. However, it will be better for the producer/artist to release it with a label and promote for longer than just sell the album on the producers Bandcamp as the following is not as strong as the label. This will create a lot more opportunities for the producer to get the album heard which is a positive attribute to the negative time management.

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Covid-19

Due to the pandemic a lot has changed within the project. The fact that people cannot leave the house and see their friends or family has definitely caused panic and anxiety among many including the producer. This has impacted how fast the mail is being sent and received which means that there definitely will not be any vinyl getting made for the album. This is negative because it has affected the original aims of the project but is also a positive because it saves the producer money. The fact that the producer has been put onto furlough is positive as it gives the producer more time to make the tracks but it also puts financial pressure on the producer. As a result the tracks will all be mastered by the producer instead of paying and collaborating with a mastering engineer as suggested in the aims of the project. There are positives and negatives of all limitations caused by Covid-19. The factors are labelled above to show consideration and why these aims cannot be completed.

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Peer Review

While producing the album it is important to make sure there is nothing that is getting missed or sounding out of place. Sending it to other industry professional producers and getting feedback helps with this as they might notice something that the producer hasn’t. After working on projects for a while, producers' ears start to cancel out sounds or mix problems. Feedback was received from many different producers including staff and students at the university. A couple of tuning mistakes with high pitched vocals needed to be understood and corrected. It was hard at first as the producer had listened to the tune for so long it sounded natural and normal but as soon as the pitching errors were corrected it sounded much better. The kick in the first track was also mentioned to not have enough ‘thump’, it sounded too flat. To increase this an EQ was used to boost around 250 Hz to achieve a thicker sounding kick drum. These among other points were very valuable and if the production showcase sessions were not attended, these mistakes would have stayed within the tracks up until the mastering process.

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High pitched vocals were a signature sound of 1992 breakbeat hardcore. These vocals were taken from soul, pop and house songs and pitched up. The reason for them being high pitched was because the producers at the time were trying to sync the vocals to the fast paced breakbeats, creating a chipmunk style sounding voice. Pianos, strings and sub bass were also included creating a feeling of urgency and euphoria at the same time, which would have aided to the feeling of the drugs the ravers were using at the time.

This made the tracks fun to make and also gave a sense of euphoria when all the chords and pianos were in key with each other. A feeling found in early 90s breakbeat hardcore. It felt great re-creating and understanding how these tracks created so much energy.

Reynolds, S. (1999). Generation ecstasy: Into the world of techno and rave culture. New York, USA: Routledge.

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Time stretching is when a sampler digitally stretches the sample creating a metallic sound; this was used on vocals and breakbeats within Jungle music. As heard in Dread Bass by Dead Dred, this was also a signature sound of early 90s Jungle. Unlike pitch shifting, time stretching stretches the sample without affecting the original pitch.

All of these processes can be done within or by using the Akai s950 sampler, which is shown in the videos below. This definitely has a different timbre compared to performing the same processes within the DAW. The process was longer to learn how to use the functions correctly but the outcome sounded a lot fuller and unique compared to Ableton.

Reynolds, S. (1994). The Wire 300: Simon Reynolds on the Hardcore Continuum #2: Ambient Jungle (1994). Retrieved from https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-wire-300_simon-reynolds-on-the-hardcore-continuum_2_ambient-jungle_1994_

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Pitch shifting was used to change the pitch of snares and kicks within a breakbeat loop and was also used if the producer needed to speed up the breakbeat to fit the tempo of the track; they would sample the breakbeat and pitch it up until it fit.

This was used to pitch shift snare notes and kick drums. However, it did not help pitch the breakbeats to a key which was something that had to be worked around by using Ableton and it’s pitch correcting software.

Oliver, R. (2015). Rebecoming analogue: Groove, breakbeats and sampling (Master’s Dissertation). Retrieved from https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:13222

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Re-triggering, time stretching and pitch shifting were all major parts of the 90s sound due to the hardware samplers capabilities at the time. Re-triggering is the process of playing a sampled drum break from its original placement; starting it from the 3rd, 4th or 2nd beat instead of the intended 1st. This process is used on different breakbeats within Jungle music, like the Amen, Think and Funky Drummer break. This allowed the drums to flow like a drummer was playing them instead of it being a static loop as heard in early drum and bass music.

Oliver, R. (2015). Rebecoming analogue: Groove, breakbeats and sampling (Master’s Dissertation). Retrieved from https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:13222

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The first two tracks were finished and posted on SoundCloud within a playlist. There was a Facebook post that included a video preview of the first track and a link to the playlist and tracks that was made on Wednesday at mid-day to increase full engagement.

Elise Dopson (2019) states that a lot of marketers know that Facebook is one of the most important channels for social media to promote their business. Taylor Hurff, a digital marketing expert, explains how videos make people stop scrolling and pay attention before understanding what the video is about. An image can be quickly understood and scrolled past within a millisecond, restricting the user to digest as much information as stopping to click play on a video (Elise Dopson, 2019).

This is the reason for making a short video clip to promote the first tune of the album, with a link to SoundCloud where the listener can hear the track in full. Sprout Social, a social media management platform, found that Wednesday between 11am and 1pm is the best time to post for engagement or consuming goods. (Influencer Marketing, 2020). 

Due to the recent Covid-19 virus lock down, it’s more likely people are on Facebook more than usual, so promoting this video on social media didn’t come at a better time. However, due to everyone having a completely different schedule, wake up time and when they log on to Facebook these times may not be the best times anymore.

Dopson, E. (2019). Videos vs. Images: Which Drives More Engagement in Facebook Ads?. Retrieved from https://databox.com/videos-vs-images-in-facebook-ads 

Arens, E. (2020). The best times to post on social media in 2020. Retrieved from  https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/ 

Influencer Marketing. (2020). What are the Best Times to Post on Facebook?. Retrieved from https://influencermarketinghub.com/best-times-to-post-on-facebook/

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The second design got digitized and coloured by Drake (Artist)  and was the preferred out of the two designs. Drake then asked what font should be used from the selection ‘fontmeme.com’ had to offer; a royalty free font site. ‘Deadmobil’ was chosen because it used the Playmobil’s font, a toy that most children in the 90s were familiar with. This was used to achieve nostalgia using the concept of Hauntology; the font is remembered from the past and haunting the artwork in the present. 

On top of this, the owner of the label Lemtek was contacted and sent the first track of the album to see if they wanted to release the album in their name. However, when they got sent the artwork they were unsure due to the artist’s style being used for another labels releases.

The next step was to pay Drake and find another label that would be interested in releasing the album while waiting for confirmation on whether i could release it with Lemtek.

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Drake (Artist) then transferred the picture into digital format and coloured it in as seen in first picture. The result was relevant, stuck to the theme and relevance of the character. However, Drake thought he could make it better by sketching up another design where the character would look more flung through time instead of flying through time, as shown in second picture. The first design was brilliant but the artist believed he could do better to see which was the preferred one altogether.  

[itsarkitek]

Drake (Artist) was contacted to collaborate on this album due to him designing Ark!Tek’s logo and his drawing style which has always been favoured! After contacting Drake a decision was made to keep the same character as the one in the logo; which would seem familiar to the audience who listen to the album. The concept of the album and idea for artwork was explained, which was to have Ark!Tek falling through time with various items and symbolism around the falling character. As seen in the (Bottom Right) 1st picture, Drake sketched up a few ideas and figures of how Ark!Tek could be falling; different hand movements, different body positions and how animated the fall was. In the 2nd picture (Bottom Middle) various items were also drawn up to include around the character which were suitable and relevant items or symbols from the past. Character and items were agreed upon and the sketch of Ark!Tek falling was made as seen in other two pictures. 

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Tennenbaum (1992) explains the relationship between the musical tuning of A4=432Hz and the universe, the human body and geometry. Tennenbaum (1992) explains that the standard tuning of today (A4=440Hz) should be diminished due to there being no relationship between geometric patterns, the human body and the planets in the universe. Bach and Beethoven used the tuning of A4=432Hz which was counted as unnatural tuning by Helmholtz.

Hemholtz also believed that musical tones could be measured by lengths along a straight line and that the human ear was a passive resonator which analysed tones and overtones. Music, the human voice, human mind and the universe are completely non linear. Kepler analysed geometrical shapes such as the Pentagon, which includes the ‘Golden Section’; the ratio between a side and the diagonal of a pentagon. In Leonardo Davinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’ it shows that the human body makes up the shape of a pentagon (Head, Two arms and two legs). This idea that the living organism is relative to the golden section means that the processes within the living organism also relate to the golden section; alike the human voice. Tennenbaum (1992) explains how Kelper finds relationships between geometrical shapes within ‘space’, the human voice and the planets in the solar system which all resonate at the tuning of 432Hz. Tennenbaum then goes onto state that Gauss’s conical spiral action defeats Helmholtz straight-line action in explaining the motion of the human voice singing one octave up to another. He then explains how the shift within the voice is related to the shift within planets of the solar system. Proving the tuning of A4=432Hz is also the tuning of the human voice, the solar system and geometrics, whereas the tuning of A4=440Hz does not relate to anything.

The tuning of 432 Hz is going to be used for all 8 tracks on the album due to Bach and Beethoven originally using this tuning. This links to Hauntology as it’s using an older form of tuning instead of the tuning which is widely used today (440Hz).

This did not make much sonic differences in the tracks original tuning but the theory sounded interesting and related to and older form of tuning that supposedly vibrates at a natural rate. This tuning is now haunting the present within the album, showing it’s existence once again after many years.

Tennenbaum, J. (1992). The Foundations of Scientific Musical Tuning. Fidelio, 1(1), 47 - 52.

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Hauntology - Concept

Daniels (n.d) and Gallix (2011) state that Hauntology is a theory that was created by Jacques Derrida; a French philosopher who wrote the Spectre of Marx. The theory defeats the idea of belonging and identity in the sense that everything that existed in the past is still alive in the present; like a ghost haunting the present. Buse and Scott (2005) show an example of Hauntology by asking if a ghost belongs to the past or the present; it is a being from the past haunting in the present which defeats the idea of temporality. In music Hauntology has been used to describe music that borrows aesthetics and sounds from the past and using them in the present. Fisher (2013) Gives the example of Burial and Tricky sampling a vinyl crackling in their tracks; an aesthetic which would be common to hear up until the early 90’s when tape and CD’s were being sold; allowing the vinyl crackling to haunt the present.

The album is going to adopt the name ‘Hauntology’ due to the tracks nature and aesthetics. By using specific sample packs from the 90’s, equipment such as the Akai s950 and techniques such as time stretching, pitch shifting and re-triggering; the aesthetic will be borrowed from the past to create new genres such as Hardtek and Breakcore, while still including classic sounding Jungle and Breakbeat tracks. The tracks will include high pitched vocals, moody chords and rave stabs which are famous elements found within early 90s dance music like Breakbeat and Jungle.

Buse, P. and Scott, A. (2005). Ghosts. Basingtoke: Macmillan Press.

Daniels, A. A Study of Hauntology in Berberian Sound Studio — Talk Film Society. Retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://talkfilmsociety.com/articles/a-study-of-hauntology-in-berberian-sound-studio

Fisher, M. (2013). The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology. Dancecult, 5(2), pp.42-55.

Gallix, A. (2011). Hauntology: A not-so-new critical manifestation. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jun/17/hauntology-critical [Accessed 13 Dec. 2019].

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Deadman (2014) interviews Kid Lib, a Jungle producer who owns Green Bay Wax; A label which specializes in bringing the old-skool 90’s Jungle sound back. Kid Lib mentions some of the other producers like Tim Reaper, Dwarde and Percussive P who are also producing this style of Jungle. In an interview Kid Lib mentions he uses the Akai s950, a Mackie mixing desk and various hardware synthesizers to arrange his tracks inside Cubase. He explains that he records his samples into the s950 and changes the bandwidth so he can increase his recording time.

The problem with using the Akai previously was that the input was only being used and the samples were not actually being recorded into the sampler. Further research was needed to learn how to record into the sampler to take full control of the samplers capabilities; like changing the bandwidth for a crunchier/lo-fi sound.

DXA Records (2009) made a video tutorial on how to record samples into the Akai s950 explaining how to name the samples and change the bandwidth. This was experimented with and tested which produced a lot better results. Two samples at different bandwidths are shown in the video which shows the crunchier sound was achieved more than the first attempt in the previous video. The 12-Bit sample rate could be heard a lot more after recording into the Akai s950, which is what producers did back in the 90’s.

This definitely had an impact on the sound and the time taking to learn it was beneficial. In future the equipment would be learned well before making the album so that no time is wasted experimenting and understanding how the equipment works.

DXARECORDS. (2009). Akai s950 Video Manual [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXP13duwPaY 

Deadman, A. (2014). Deadman Presents - Ep 5 - Kid Lib - Post Collide [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcstFeZ-VlA&fbclid=IwAR2vCr3yf8yFmqWkaoM-ZQePqYMKNj4Kvy-fXDA52scUwiVNknH8CyrJQvY 

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Owen Palmer, NickyNutz and Dwarde are some of the producers who has helped acknowledge that specific sample CD’s were used in the early 90’s. CD’s such as Zero-G Datafile series, Zero-G Jungle Warfare series and Future Magazine CD’s such as X-Static Goldmine were used heavily in the 90’s music production. With the excessive amount of samples available today, these CD’s and samples are rarely used in music today. All of these sample CD’s mentioned have been acquired and are currently being ripped and imported into sample libraries that can be used within the D.A.W. These samples have been experimented with and definitely have an authentic, ‘old-skool’ sound that can be heard within older tracks produced in this era.

These samples gave all the tracks a sense of ‘old-skool’ identity, as samples from 90s tracks like vocal snippets and beats are found within these CD’s. Reviving these sounds allowing them to haunt the present in the album.

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After interviewing NickyNutz, John Reilly, Ron Wells (Jack Smooth), Owen Palmer (Hattrix), Dwarde, Jahganaut and Amaretto. Russ (2013) supports that the Akai s900/950 was a main ingredient of early 90′s production. The producers mentioned above are a mix of old and new producers who produce/d Breakbeat Hardcore and Jungle music. Themselves and Martin Russ have helped to understand that the Akai s900 and the Akai s950 were two of the first samplers available to the public at an affordable price in the late 80’s/early 90’s. The Akai s950 had a specific tone and character due to the bit depth being 12-Bit, which also allowed the user to change the bandwidth and pitch of the sample which was an advance to its predecessor the Akai s900. The Akai s950 sampler was used heavily in early 90’s ‘Jungle’ and ‘Breakbeat Hardcore’ music which is why it’s bit depth limitation is a signature sound within these genres.

The difficulty in learning the equipment was that there weren’t many tutorial videos on YouTube or the internet; showing how the equipment can be used to its full potential. This meant that the official manual had to be referred to when learning the controls of the device. To import samples from the D.A.W, a jack from the output of the sound card was put into the line in port of the Akai. The Akai’s output was then inputted back into the soundcard, which allowed the pre-amps of the Akai to be pushed. When the samples were being pushed; they gained a crunchy/gritty timbre due to the bit rate of the sampler which is 12-Bit, this helped saturate and round off the samples. This was not the original way in which the samplers full capabilities could be taken advantage off so the manual will need to be learned better so the techniques can be more refined to understand the pitch and bandwidth capabilities the Akai s950 has to offer.

Russ, M. (2013). Sound synthesis and sampling (3rd ed., p. 216). New York, N.Y.: Focal Press.