leon-k-musc3603

[leon-k-musc3603]

Composing Task 2 – Choose Your Adventure

Option 2

Artistic Vision

A sonic representation of my mental experience during Sydney’s second lock-down, and a digital tribute to long sessions with my acoustic guitar that became my artistic escape and meditative practice from the simultaneous monotony of blurred days and brewing anxiety over the uncertainty of the time period.

Want to take advantage of recordings made during that time period and build my pieces around them, making it into two separate pieces.

Current idea is to have one piece that’s more conventional and ambient, taking a lo-fi phone recording of a chord progression and overdub various layers stemming from new more polished recordings. Airy, lush, melancholic, repetitive – as to represent days becoming more of the same and blurring into one another mentally, feeling a bit formless with no clear path ahead….

The other will be more experimental and take notes from electro-acoustic music – drastic digital manipulations of recordings from my acoustic guitar that’s more ‘prepared’ and exploring more sonic possibilities from the acoustic side. Include field recordings of walks in the park, as to represent more of an ‘outer/external’ experience, where long walks alone were also another way that I coped with lockdown.

So, to start I began work on piece 1, which I’ll title…

Blank Stare at a Ceiling Above

The groundwork for this composition was a voice memo on my phone of a three-chord progression recorded around the time lock-down started. I actually started doing a bit of work on it, but it was left unfinished, and I thought this assessment was the perfect opportunity to flesh out these ideas and finish where I had left off; contributing to my own artistic practice. It was a bit difficult to figure what tuning I had my guitar in when I initially recorded it, but even eventually got around to it and began recording over loops of it.

I recorded acoustic guitar takes on a Rode NT2a microphone, placed few centimetres away pointing towards the end of the fretboard near the sound hole. With guitar takes, I usually like recording multiple versions of the same thing in order to be able to play around with stereo and creating nice doubling effects. So, in the end I stuck with two long takes of the progression played with a pick, and another played by strumming with my thumb, creating timbral variation in its sound that’s less attack-y and more boomy to occupy more low-end.

I also decided not to record on a click, in order to create a looser and more genuine feel to it, having to play along by closely listening to my previous takes rather than a click.

It was during these takes that I also came up with other section that could be introduced for a change-up at the end. Sounding slightly more hopeful, it could represent a form of relief from the musical repetition prior that alludes to a form of relief from one’s repetitious thoughts.

Thinking about this concept, another way I thought I could emphasise the repetition and unease of being stuck in one’s thoughts, is through the introduction of melodic motifs that roughly stay the same. One thing I did was I ended up recording a three-note, half-bar arpeggio, which I didn’t end up looping but rather played for the whole duration of the recordings thus far, in order to add incidental variation. This was a layer that I first began to edit digitally, as I felt like it needed some heavy effects to make it possess a ‘crumbling’/’decaying’ type of sound. To achieve this, I added a strong vibrato effect via. Ableton Chorus, a Vinyl Distortion and high compression in order to flatten the envelope of the sound. A reference point for me here was Bibio’s ‘Puffer’ and most of his early work in general – lots of lovely lo-fi guitar tones to be found there.

Another motif I decided to develop was trying to bring in another tone from the guitar, being harmonics. The twinkly bell-like sound of harmonics on a guitar has always had my ears gravitate towards them, and here I wanted to create a melody using them. After being a bit frustrated playing along with it with no luck, I decided to try tuning the guitar different in order to generate different pitches from the harmonics, which eventually I found to be satisfying and landed on a 4-bar melody to my likening. With the sound and melody, this felt like the layer to occupy a lot of space and be ‘airy’ with its drawn-out sustained notes at the end of phrases. Here I experimented with around with reverb and compression in order to try and enhance and perhaps exaggerate this quality that I was feeling from it. One interesting unique effect I found was applying an extreme compressor after a long reverb, which ended up making a more condensed yet pillowy sort of sound, almost like smoke which I thought was perfect in encapsulating ‘mind fog’. The only issue was the compressor was really increasing the presence of slight noise in the recording, which I fixed by applying a small gate and a bit more reverb which will carry the sound from the initial transients striking.

Feeling like it was too sparse, to lean in into the more ambient direction I wanted to take this track I created a synthesiser using a sample from these guitar recordings. I managed to get a nice smooth ethereal pad sound by reversing and cropping a small section of a guitar note and playing with the envelope and fade sliders in order to generate a nice continuous flowing sound. A band-pass filter really helped to create this ‘closed-in’ type of sound that I feel compliments well with the radio crackling effect of the short guitar loop constantly going in the background. Adding a vibrato effect on top of this to help to make the sound ‘breath’ a little, creating a wavering sort of effect.

Like my guitar takes here, I opted for a more improvisational approach to writing this section, where I recorded into MIDI using my keyboard and tried to get immersed into the soundscape. I found that I really loved doing a consistent minim rhythm in the lower register while sometimes jumping up high, continuing with the repetition in a rhythmic sense (fitting on-top with the 2-beat repeat and the constant quaver strumming). I stuck with this motif while being really loose with the melody, signifying a sense of movement within one’s mind that still remains unpredictable and changing despite fitting into this ‘grid’ of everyday life stuck inside.

It was at this point that I felt like I had the general composition and sound layers laid out. It would maintain that chord progression with slight variation (holding onto the last chord for a few bars sometimes to maintain some interest) for about the first 2 and half minutes or so as the layers unfold and have the aforementioned ‘relief’ B-section coming towards the end and fading out, for a bitter-sweet effect.

Here I decided to clean up the main acoustic guitar recordings, mainly by adding some EQ and compression to beefen up their presence and little and to not have the pick-strumming as prevalent as it was. Adding a bit of ping-pong delay to the panned double-taked guitar parts I found to be a nice little touch to blend them in a bit better in the stereo image.

The transition from the main A to the ending B section felt a bit abrupt, so I felt like I needed an additional part to come in. Sticking to the guitar, I recorded a little melody which I harmonised on-top of in a second track, panning them hard left and right. To lead into the section, I applied a reverse reverb effect which I achieved using a long reverb with auto-pan on a reversed version of both audio tracks. This final track is then reversed for the effect to work, which works well to have the sound ‘creep up’ as a little surprise and spark further interest as the new section comes in and fades out. To enhance the slightly optimistic mood of this section, I added some Grain Delay with a full octave pitch up, to generate that twinkly/sparkling texture.

Blank Stare at the Waters of Binary River

For this one, I wanted to drift away from traditional composition and create more of an electro-acoustic / noise / loop-based piece, composing through listening to the samples I collect. Inspired by acoustic guitar jams and long walks by myself during lock-down, I wanted to meld the two together by taking field recordings of both and doing drastic manipulations of both.

First began with recordings of my guitar using my Tascam portable recorder being openly strummed and hit with an open tuning in a variety of different ways, including pick, finger-plucked, thumb-strummed using brushes and in different areas of the guitar too.

After doing this, I took a stroll at a local park with recorder and walked around. I was particularly attentive to the bird sounds, as well as walking on the grass, sometimes moving around leaves to get some sounds. An interesting issue that arose was the presence of interference noise, which upon hearing initially frustrated me but actually presented itself as an interesting opportunity to rethink my vision a little. Finding particular angles to produce more noise than others and with altering pitches, I became more and more engaged with these sounds as I walked through the park. I thought about how this could represent the phenomena of not being able to escape the huge outreach that technology has on us today, where even in attempting to free one’s mind in the environment around (as I was during lockdown) the temptation to glance at your phone and think about extraneous things was always present. I decided to take this concept and have it become more of a focal point of the piece.

So, after getting my source material, it became a lengthy process of listening through all the raw material and finding little sections and chunks of sounds that I found to be interesting. By using the loop function on the arrangement view, here I was able to also find some potential loops that could serve as foundations of sections.

First loop that I gravitated towards was one from using my brush drum sticks on the guitar, where cutting abruptly to the post-attack sound of the guitar with the brush trailing off made for a nice loose rhythm to build upon. Since the trail was substantially quieter than the initial attack, I flattened the dynamic range by using a heavy compressor, with some EQ to try and soften some of the harsher frequencies brought about by the brush.

From that same recording, there was a snippet where I hit the body of the guitar with the brush in a rhythm while it still rang out with the open chord, creating a resonate tone. Pitching this up and messing with the warp tool made for a cool metallic pitched sound, creating a shorter rhythmic loop that sits well with the first selection.

The next few loops I gathered came from the feedback recordings I got from the park, where I found that by transposing them down a lot you could make the harsh frequencies of the interference have a more definitive pitch and timbre, making it more of a musical feature while still maintaining its status as a ‘noise’ layer in its brittleness. Pitching these to the rough key of the guitar tuning, it makes for a nice subtle background layer that makes the piece ‘breathe’ and not feel too empty. Decided to intersperse a few along the timeline, but one consistent sample is one where I accidently hit the mic but pitched down and looped actually made for a nice additional rhythmic layer. This required quite a bit of cleaning with EQ however, as the rumble becomes for even more emphasised in a lower pitch, but working with that and adding additional effects such as a Frequency Shifter worked in masking the unwanted elements to the sample, making it sit nicer in the mix.

Other notable samples that I picked up from the recordings included:

· Bird calls – varying the use of this sample by speeding down the recording made for an interesting effect; separating the origin of sound and association while maintaining it a little in the listener’s mind by introducing it as-is initially.

· Rustling of leaves and footsteps – to create a greater sense of environment

· Thumb strokes of open chord and individual strings – using the blunt attack of these samples I was able to make nice pad sounds similar to ‘Blank Stare at a Ceiling Above’, making for a slight call-back. Here was where I was also able to make the main ‘bass’ synth using the low E string note, and with the acoustic having a slightly ‘wavering’ tone pitched down it created this unique authentic vibrato effect which I quite like.

· Manual stereo swirl – one recording involved myself moving the Tascam around the sound-hole which created a disorienting feel as it affected the stereo image. This worked well as a little sample to incorporate here and there

· Twinkling guitar plucks – during the guitar recordings, I played around with strumming the strings at the head of the guitar and on the fretboard behind the capo. These created more quieter, resonant tones with less body, which I thought could make more a good element to occupy the higher end register.

Now that I had the bulk of samples that I wanted to work with, it was now a matter of arrangement.

Not wanting to start with the initial rhythmic samples I found, I thought it would be nice to have a more disjointed/disconnected intro. For this, I reversed a clean recording of the acoustic being strumming with a pick, creating a nice classic sharp attack at the end. I also ended up doubling this with a similar sample with the ‘twinkling’ guitars being strumming down in reverse, with delay in order to create a little separate subtle trail for the abrupt end of the initial sound.

The trail introduces the environmental sounds – including the bird call with leaves rustling. Here I start playing around with transposition and pitch manipulations, including ones that don’t involve warp in order to create effects of repeating the loop but with varied speed as well as pitch.

Found it quite nice to be more involved with creating unique sounds with splicing, transposing and working with the arrangement view rather than instinctually seeking out plug-ins and effects to find something cool. A little limitation I put on myself at times to try work more in that traditional ‘electro-acoustic’ / ‘musique concrete’ style.

Since the manipulated environmental sounds introduce the glitch element, playing the reverse guitar sample again, I decided to deconstruct and mess with the sample towards the end, also cutting in and out some of the environmental sounds to emphasise the ‘disconnected’ feel of the intro.

To lead into the first initial sample pick, I took the full-length sample and decided to play it up until the end of the loop I had chosen as a way to introduce it, then continuing to loop my selection, establishing the main section of the piece.

From this point, it became a sort of free-form process of placing in samples in an improvisational style and leaving it in sections it seemed to fit nicely. A main element that became more a mid-ground element where slowed-down guitar hits, that I liked having weave in and out in the left and right channels. Pitching each accordingly to a slow brooding melody that sits on top of the repetitive loops, with the ‘beats’ warp feature creating a nice glitch effect.

I developed a recurring 4-bar bass motif as well, where it mainly stays in the low bass root but for the last bar it does a little descending run. To try and double this motif in another section, I created another synth using a guitar sample – where this will function as a mid-high melodic layer with its own motif, but possessing the similar descent as the bass layer. This melodic layer will ‘seep’ eventually into the mix.

I also created a ‘distorted’ reverb return track that the melodic layer gradually gets feed into, using Ableton Reverb, a Frequency Shifter with a Max/MXP LFO altering the frequency of the ring modulator

To create another variation – I wanted to subtly shift the rhythm of the main sample by making it sort of stammer/stutter into the next. Achieved this through gradually shifting the start time of the sample with each repetition until it landed on the rhythm that I felt suited.

To create yet another layer onto the piece for variation, I decided to utilise granulator on a sample where I slowly strum each string of the open chord on the guitar. What this made for was an interesting workflow where I felt by messing with the parameters I could almost ‘play’ the instrument like I would by finger-picking, but in a warped digital sort of manner. Really liking this general workflow and idea, I recorded some improvisational material, assigning different parameters of the granulator such as ‘grain’ and ‘spray’ to the knobs on my MPD controller and just playing. Ended up with a roughly 4-minute-long recording, from which I began to listen to figure out how to incorporate into the mix.

Really liking the sporadic and unpredictable nature of the granulator, I left it mainly untouched and placed a 2-minute long excerpt and have it ‘seep in’ through a long volume fade-in. What I also loved about just placing it on-top of the already existing material, is that there was a section in the recording where I decide to hit another note on the keys, so it changes the key. Created an accidental yet cool variation, that initially didn’t sit well with the other elements, but to accommodate for this, I pitch-shifted the other loops for that period in order to create an unusual shift. Slowly turning on a heavily modulated low-passed ‘Echo’ effect also made for a cool sound, creating an ‘absorbing’/’enveloping’ sound as the ‘environment’ around dissipates (through a fade-out). Through this accidental change in focal point (to the granulator), I developed an outro that I was satisfied with – the end embracing the calm entropy and randomness after trying to make sense of the noise and clutter of the main section of the piece.

Having the main structure of the piece sorted, I felt like the biggest issue to tackle was creating variation amidst the repetitive loops.

Some additions included:

· Another ‘warped’ return track for the main loop to be fed into gradually, using delay, noise vocoder and a third-party vibrato effect.

· Altering the role after a while of the ‘rhythm interference feedback’ loop into one of pure background noise, it becomes looser and more random.

· Increasing and automating the drive of the overdrive on the bass layer towards the end, to create subtle distortion swirls.

------------------------------

Blank Stare

Part 1: At a Ceiling

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TYSsM5Wjqmy70ILGlnCwh5dLEvBh6RvD/view?usp=sharing

Part 2: At the Waters of Binary River

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dasQOlGdsvwiI-XyTqNqC7wJ-V_HJzpS/view?usp=sharing

[leon-k-musc3603]

Fix the Mix Assignment

Selection: OPTION 2 (MEDIUM): "Uncertain Tea" Pop Song

For this assignment, I decided to go with a slightly different approach - where instead of a written process diary I have done a video walkthrough of my Ableton session in order to allow for a more fluid and comprehensive dive into my process, where I’m able to isolate and demonstrate some of my techniques!

(Note: Unfortunately the Zoom call exports the audio in mono, which while not ideal it still works fine as audio demonstrations)

Link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MK2Ua_nu3Q

Here’s the link to the final track!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rCPLp8ceebqH9N7QuvxEvBFxN5fPib35/view?usp=sharing

[leon-k-musc3603]

Assignment #1 - Remix Heaven

Advanced Digital Music Techniques – Remix Heaven

Sample Selections

I’ve decided to base this composition task on the song ‘Erosion’ by Grozny, who are both one of my favourite local Sydney bands and close friends of mine.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/4PsiH8rpg7rdmgbUcgXpCu

Upon request, I received all the (processed) stems, being drums, guitar, guitar FX bass guitar, synth FX, main vocals and spoken word vocals.

Artistic Vision

Upon listening for potential sections to sample, I gravitated towards the spoken word passage in the bridge of the song, where the vocalist Jay recites the following:

“I remember the sights

I recall the sounds

chambers of concrete

a hall of mirrors…”

Inspired by this imagery, I wanted to continue the gritty dark cold tone of the piece (ala ‘concrete’), but also focus and try to sonically elaborate on the mirror imagery through the experimental use of digital effects, specifically delay and granular synthesis, in order to play around with spatial elements (‘hall’) and reflective sound (‘of mirrors’).

Process - Intro

·      Begun by soloing both of the FX stems in order to find good loops of noise and ‘dirt’ to play around with. Through this I started looping various selections, all with differing processing in order for each to ‘breathe’ and evolve rather than remain static.

o   First is a loop pitched down from the ‘Synth’ stem, using auto-filter and a quick ping-pong delay to add slight change over time and widen the stereo image respectively:     

o   Cutting that sample up into a small part, I created a new layer through the use of the plug-ins ‘Erosion’ (hah) that adds a sine distortion and also Grain Delay with the wet signal gradually coming in through automation, which I will be indulging in further with other layers. Here it creates a nice fluttery effect, prominent on the right channel and the raw track is on the left.

·      Similarly, I searched loops with in the ‘Guitar FX’ stem track, which mainly consists of feedback loops and other assorted non-harmonic sounds, perfect for contributing more noise amidst the harmonic drone of the synth layers I have already.

o   Found a cool section where the noise ‘slides down’, and where there is a ringing reminiscent of a phone when it is disengaged. Thought this association would be cool to play up, by doing a drastic sweep of high and low end and boosting the mid-range with an EQ. Cutting it, splitting into different lengths and changing the pitch every few iterations in order to vary it.

o   For the second guitar FX layer, I decided to cut from a longer feedback section and ‘chop’ it up less so, rather relying on an effect in order to create a ‘crazy’ layer to seep in last. Decided on a ‘Tremolo’ preset on Frequency Shifter, which cuts in the sound in-and-out and ‘spinning’ through the left and right channels.

·      It was here I decided to use the initial inspiration, grabbing an excerpt of the spoken word passage and placing it as the last layer in this section.

o   Used a similar EQ setting to that of the first guitar loop and also slight downsampling using Redux, for that gritty ‘telephone receiver’ sound.

o   Hard panned left, and sending through a return channel with a distorted delay effect on it that is hard panned right. This is to create the environment that’s not yet completely ‘reflective’ – still within the confines of the ‘phone’.

·      Towards the end of the passage, each layer repeats smaller and smaller sections in order to create tension and that ‘skip’ effect.

·      I turn the gain up drastically (with a limiter to prevent peaking) on the return track in order to place emphasis on the last line, “a hall of mirrors”.

·      Arrangement of the loops:

Process – Section A (“Hall of Mirrors”)

·      Here I want the core of the section to revolve around the drum stems, contrasting the previous section with a rhythmically orientated one. This is mainly because of delay being a great tool for generating cross/polyrhythms with simple source material, and when you take a slightly mechanical approach, you can create interest with variations. Having that sense of being able to feel a particular pulse/rhythm differently on close listens - that you can ‘grapple’ onto whatever subdivisions you feel is right. This all revolves around the concept of ‘mirrors’ obviously.

·      I settled on a drum loop from the bridge of the track, where it goes half-time on the groove in order to have more of a despondent/slow feel.

·      Since I’ve begun the track without consideration of a grid/tempo, decided I’ll continue this workflow also to add to the ‘disorderly’ feel I want to create by the slight discrepancies in rhythm that will inevitably turn up.

o   Though with this workflow, there are also difficulties with keeping track and developing a consistent rhythm. So as a work around, I decided to find a consistent sample to loop that will act as the foundation (as opposed to a visual grid).

·      Decided to sample the open floor-tom hits, and to use them as a sort of ‘low distorted shaker’ through the reversal of the sample (to make reverse the attack effect) and the stacking of effects. Here I decided to try out a ‘randomizer’ Max plug-in on Ableton, where you can assign it to a parameter of your choice. Here I used it on the downsampling knob on Redux, to further fluctuate the distortion effect. This is alongside an auto-filter that is using an LFO is change the sweep over time.

  ·      Now working on the initial drum loop I found, I began cutting it up and arranging it according to rhythm of the shaker layer I just made (doing it by ear as best as I can). Here I created a return track with a delay plug-in, where after playing with both the L and R delay times for a while until I settled on a rhythmic pattern I was satisfied with. Here it is creating the varied ‘reflections’ of the space that push through the second half of a bar phrase (when the clean loop is done).

·      To add a bit more colour to the drum stems (which already had processing on them), another return track was created with a reverb plug-in – separating the two effects of delay and reverb this way allows for greater control which I used to neglect when merely stacking everything onto the track itself.

·      To further lean into algorithmic/generative elements, I placed a Beat Repeat on the Delay return channel with a 50% chance dial of triggering. Setting up the rest of parameters so that it isn’t too off-putting when done, adding this extra indeterminate element to the reflections will work once I want things to ‘break’ apart a bit.

·      Saturator was added to colour up the sound after all the processing, and to also have a plug-in that I’ll be able to automate once I want the delay signal to crunch up and get heavier.

·      Moving away from the drums, I sifted through the bass stem in order to find anything of interest. The main riff in the verse is notable for its use of harmonics, which give a nice-bell tone, but with the distortion also muffles it. In order to play around with a new plug-in, I decided to take a short sample of those harmonics and place it into Granulator II, a Max/MXP plugin.

·      Realising its similarity to Simpler and Grain Delay (favourite tools of mine), it didn’t too long to wrap my head around. Really enjoy the spray function and what effects you can get by placing some automation on the grain parameter. I thought the sample was perfect and playing around on my MIDI keyboard gave rise to a cool motif that I recorded and will use as the basis for this section after the drums establish its presence.

o   Didn’t want to colour this layer too much, considering the spacey-ness already present with other reverberated layers that I will play around with. Supposed to be a glitchy harmonic foreground layer.

·      To generate more noisey back/middle ground layers, I messed around a lot with recording the alteration of MIDI parameters of effects but printing the results on an audio track.

o   One example with taking the ‘low shaker’ sound, placing it into another track and recording it while messing with the transposition knob on the Editor and other assorted warping techniques. Getting a cool rising ‘slurping’ sound, I decided to try out a Resonator, where it creates a cool metallic effect and by automating the fine - pitch parameter I can place emphasis that ‘rising’ feel.

·      Feeling like low-frequency content is missing (a common problem with my work it seems), I decided to try use a sub 808 sound to double the kick that hits at the start of each phrase. It was here I also realised to would be neat to double up on the rising effect I was playing with earlier, by utilising the ‘pitch envelope’ function. Liked it so I kept this form of doubling as opposed to trying to find a plug-in for added sub to the sample.

·      I changed my initial vision of having this section be instrumental, as I found that as a consistent rhythmic foundation was being set, it paved the way for the vocals to sit on top quite nicely. Taking the first verse and playing it over worked really well with some chopping and slight speed changes. Having an upfront purely melodic layer will I think help give the piece a sense of direction and somewhere to go from as it gets heavier.

o   Not too much processing (considering the stereo double-take nature of the stem) except I wanted to continue on using delay, but to create another vocal layer. Here I made the timing slightly align with the delay of the drums with a high-pass filter (reminiscent of the intro vocals), but this time I printed the delayed vocals on an audio track so I had more control over more effects I may want to use. After doing so I added a phaser, a special reverb and an EQ on-top in order to proper distinguish it from the main vocals [working as background].

 Process – Section B (“Can we go on?”)

·      Conceptualising this whole idea of getting fully immersed and lost in reflections around you, here I wanted to let the delay effects run wild and for things to fall apart further and further, ‘falling down’ as opposed to building up to something like previously.

·      Gradually increasing the saturator effect and the feedback with the drum echo loop builds the tension in the first section, but I found it interesting how by virtue of not having a steady dry-signal by letting it go, the rhythm changes and goes a bit wild. So this effect (unintentional at first) worked super well to change up the rhythmic feel of the track, and as it disintegrates through the feedback loop it becomes more of a textural as opposed to a purely rhythmic layer.

·      By feeding it snippets (instead of full chunks of a rhythmic loops like prior), it also orders and feeds it into the chaos. Here a place some pitched up reversed snippets which you can hear it being fed into the echo.

·      To transition into the next section, I decided to reprise the synth loop from the start (the wailing sound), pitched and speed it up to act as a sort of drone.

o   Also created a new delay return track for this section, where it is heavily modulated with its delay time while in ‘fade’ mode, which instead of doing the classic ‘pitch warble’ it creates an interesting scattery digital effect instead. Doubled with a vocoder modulated by a noise generator, it serves as an eerie trail to the last lines of the vocals.

·      Deriving some influence from ‘dub’, I isolated a snare drum hit and placed a ‘dub reverb’ effect to snap some clarity back into the mix.

o   Further elaborate on this influence by taking a snippet of bass and playing it alongside with a very similar effect.

·      Considering I haven’t done much with the main guitar track, I decided it could be put to good use here, taking some of the dissonant guitar stabs and aligning them with the snare hit and scattering them around. Here I also went a bit crazy with the return effects track, here with tremolo, auto-pan and auto-filter (creating a warbly underwater background sound).

·      To further drive home the dissonance (and to compliment the wailing from the synth loop), I made a synth using Simpler, using a loop I found from the Guitar FX stem. Here I do a cheeky interpolation of the intro of a track by a band who’s a big influence on this one (24 Track Loop – This Heat).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xZ4JOTC53o

 o   Slightly piercing, I decide to roll off some harsher frequencies and turn down the levels gradually.

o   Also duplicated the layer and transposed it down an octave, which plays over after some time.

o   Here I also used a vibrato plug-in, with a very slow rate which creates an eerie wavering sound when 100% wet.

·      Feeling like it still needed more, I decided to chop some more vocals to lay down as a background layer. Still using the ‘telephone’ EQ preset, I took the chorus lines from both iterations and have them looped left and right respectively. Creates a slightly dizzying effect as it phases in and out slightly with the rhythmic phrasing of the lines.

o   Also added variation by manually adding in pauses and skips into them by cutting.

·      With the tension still high, I wanted to make way for a section where it completely breaks apart from the ‘mirror’ setting, ‘breaking free’ from this space that I tried creating.

·      Using a similar technique to the ‘low shaker’, I took the original drum loop and played with the transposition, recording it onto a separate audio track, reversing it while messing with reverb parameters. Here it will create a ‘reverse reverb’ effect which is one of my favourites.

o   Rearranging it with added saturator and compressor in order to crispen the sound, it serves well to add a layer that forcefully steers the piece away from the underlying broodiness and tension.

  Process – Outro (‘breaking free’)

·      Transitioning into the track after the warped drum sample, I first placed a glass-breaking sample, one version that’s clean and another to glitch out using Warp and stretching transient points.

o   I noticed that by slightly adjusting the ‘transient envelope’ so it wasn’t 100 makes for a very cool trial as it stretches.

·      Here was also an appropriate time to sample a sound effect that was in the stems, being a low-rumbling ‘explosion’ sound, which I also stretched to last longer and EQ’d in order to boost the low end.

·      Decided to leave the piercing feed-back synth playing, with the original pitched down – also altering the vibrato parameters for variation.

·      Here I decide to loop the phrase but this time completely clean (with the original reverb)

·      Took a longer guitar line (as opposed to the guitar stabs) to play over this in order for contrast and to create that ‘relief’ as it comes in and fades out.

o   Also done by reducing the auto-pan and turning off the auto-filter on the return track.

·      Slowly cut away all the layers until it’s just the vocals and the wailing synth, until the last utterance.

 Final Track

And here is the result!

Erosion (Hall of Mirrors mx):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J2-H0LXxGvoQ6NRvNaT3sX1GSgs2rJL5/view?usp=sharing

[leon-k-musc3603]

Assessment #3 - Choose Your Own Adventure

Option 1: Create a 6 - 8 minute piece in which you manipulate a single sound source. A minimum 50% of the material should be derived from the original sample.

Artistic Vision

Single sound source chosen is an iPhone, utilising and manipulating system and application notification sounds.

I want to explore the ubiquity of notification sounds in their continual and functional presence in the day-to-day lives of majority of people, which in a way build and implant associations in our minds from consistent usage of smartphones. Ingrained in our sub-conscious, these sounds of alert trigger a sense of alert within ourselves, and by collecting and manipulating them in a composition I aim to depict the underlying anxiety that brews under the security and reliance we feel with these devices; the psychological grip that technology and overstimulation can hold on us.

 Musical Direction & Inspiration

Want to try and experiment with making a piece without a grid/tempo, having rhythmic irregularities and feel like a soundscape of sorts, with ambient music, musique concrete (i.e. tape music) and noise being points of inspiration.

-       Nuno Canavarro first came into mind, as I would like to initially implement a similar playful approach to manipulating the sounds. It is also the way that his music feels like sounds and voices being conjured from an empty white spacious void that resonates to me as being something to sonically aim towards in conveying the vast, sterile and deceptively clean sheen of internet and smartphone technology (i.e., the minimalistic and futuristic feel of Apple branding), soon to be contrasted with the resultant reality of anxieties.

o   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RHVq98KUJ4

-       James Ferraro, and his use of kitschy MIDI instrumentation and OS sounds to create unsettling compositions in his album Far Side Virtual.

o   https://youtu.be/tNpFFHd4y8Q

-       Autechre, and their boundary-pushing use of sample manipulation and digital software; consistently cerebral and sonically explorative in the realm of electronic digital music therefore always serve as inspiration.

o   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev3vENli7wQ

-       Arca, particularly their album ‘Mutant’ which has so many good instances of noise and distortion being used in a controlled yet wild manner.

o   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW4I_y56DC0

 Sound Sourcing

It was a little bit difficult to source a high-quality collection of iPhone system sounds, but I managed to find compilations on YouTube from which I downloaded the HD video and extracted the audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-V_eyIgDiA

Other than those sounds, I needed vibrations that would be able to fulfil a low-end background role within the mix of the composition.

At first, I attempted to record my phone vibrating from a phone call on my wooden desk; but I soon found difficulty in trying to make a brooding drone synth out of it due to it lacking the low-end and also the subtle background hiss from my condenser microphone. So instead, I decided to use this sample as an introduction to the piece, rather than anything used thoroughly in the composition.

I ended up finding vibration sounds that more suited what I desired through foley websites such as freesound.org.

 Composition Log

My general approach to composition for this piece will be first creating sounds of interest and from there hopefully inspires a musical direction to take. Thinking about making it a tripartite piece, with each section revolving mainly around one specific sound.

After sorting out the various sounds, the first few sounds I gravitated towards were ‘bell’ alerts. Started making the first section, with the recording of my phone vibration as an introductory element. Filtering it in gradually, it’ll serve to establish the ‘sound source’, and as a way to allude to the elements of the soundscape (i.e. playing the sounds in their original form before manipulating them in various ways later on). Double the last few vibrations with the bell sounds, playing at same rhythm. Repeating the sequence and re-pitching them lower serves as a way to transition into the surreal ‘void’ soundscape. Found a ‘wooshing’ sound effect among the samples that also worked to transition, with a quick pan sweep from left to right.

To create an uneasy atmosphere, I played around with the ring modulator on Frequency Shifter, which along with the spread setting help create a sense of woosy spaciousness. To ground and provide a foundation for the section, I utilised a pitched down phone vibration sample, giving it more sub low-end content that through EQ’ing is emphasised to push its looming ‘buried’ character. These two are to serve as the central sounds, and here they are looping at separate rhythmic intervals for a disassociating effect.

 From here I continued to try find different ways to manipulate the bell samples. One exercise I did was putting a Filter Delay 100% wet on the bell track while it looped, recording onto an audio track. Since Filter Delay has three separate delays (L, R & L/R) with their own frequency filter, you can create a really varied stereo effect as you tweak with it. Once recorded, I placed it fairly low in the mix to make it a background layer, and aligned it with the bell hits but manipulating it by reversing, pitch-shifting, etc. Creates a unique call-and-response effect, where the delays unnaturally precede and ‘call’ the bells to respond.

  Returning back to the project I find myself in a little creative struggle in thinking of what more to add to the section, so I begin looking through more samples. It is interesting actively analysing these sounds that I’ve heard so many times in a passive manner, as you begin to notice some legitimately interesting tonal and textural qualities.

For example, I found that the iOS charging sound effect had a cool mellow tone with a fast but smooth pitch contour, so I put into a ‘Simpler’ instrument and played around with it using my MIDI keyboard. Immediately I heard potential with this sample, and I heard an interesting effect when playing chords where the length of the loop on each note would vary. This results in each sample going in and out of phase while played simultaneously, creating its own unique distinct rhythm. To make it sound wider, I used the “Ran > Pan” parameter which makes each sample be randomly panned as they play, experimenting with indeterminate elements. An issue with the sound I found was the abrupt volume dip from the initial pitch rise to the lower constant pitch (which serves as the loop), and to try fix it this I applied a decent amount of compression which served to reduce its dynamic range to a suitable degree.

Once getting the sound sorted with a nice amplitude envelope, I recorded some chords onto MIDI, playing long sustained drones with no strict timing alongside little flourishes in the higher register. Found good elements from the resultant recording (mainly inversions of Cmaj7 & Dmaj7 chords), so I decided to make this a new section from which to build upon.

 I similarly use another phone vibration sample, but this time as a consistent droning low-end element that follows the root of the chords through looping in a Simpler. It first retains its original pitch and ‘buzzy’ quality but becomes distinguished once pitched down and applied with a low-pass filter and some distortion (through Overdrive and Drum Buss). Also utilise a portamento slide feature to still keep its ‘vibration’ connotation. This is later doubled with a sub-bass sample that I derived from a “Siri bell sound” pitched down significantly, both fulfilling the bottom low-end of the layer-cake.

  To introduce a melodic layer, I duplicated the Charging Sound FX synth, but got rid of the pitch contour so it only had the last lingering tone. By changing the amplitude envelope and increasing the gain, it lend itself to being played like a synth lead, with the slightly hissy quality giving it a unique edge that corresponds with phone call audio quality, and to give it a more melancholy and distant feel, I added some delay with LFO’s altering the delay time slightly and a reverb with a long decay and diffused character. A layer to try symbolising the struggle to clearly communicate amongst an inevitable bombardment of stimuli.

 Continuing on this general idea, I played along to the recorded chords, starting off melodically sparse and gradually introducing more. Eventually climaxes to moments where the notes are held on towards the end of phrases, creating loud dissonant chords. For the last ‘climax’ section, I decided to re-introduce the bell sounds from the start to double the last note played.

 These loud dissonant sections needed more edge to it, as these are the points where I want to convey a sense of nervousness and anxiety. Here I decided to look up online appropriate Ableton plug-ins to tastefully approach making sounds noisier and decided to use ‘Saturator’, which provided highly flexible in shaping the tone of the noise compared to the simple ‘Overdrive’ plug-in I used previously. Placing one on a return track with an ‘Auto-Pan’ and Limiter, I gradually fed the droning vibration synth into it which created a dominating and overwhelming movement to it. Placing one Saturator on the lead synth also achieved a desired effect, by gradually increasing the Dry/Wet, but only by a small amount.

  This section also like the last has other assorted sounds dispersed throughout (e.g. phone typing, message incoming/sent) but gradually getting more and more prominent as it leads to the noisy sections. One sound effect in particular made an interesting ‘heart-beat’ like sound once slowed-down and looped, therefore a very apt association to evoke in a ‘panic’-driven section, where I decided to make the interval between iterations quicker as it climaxed (like an increasing heart rate). Intentionally did not want to add much processing (such as reverb) to these more middleground/background layers as to not clutter the mix and create a textual contrast between the already established foreground layers which are initially spacey and far-out. Serves to ground the piece into a false sense of ‘reality’.

  To add to the rhythmic disorientation, I decided to use the classic ‘Radar’ alarm tone which already has stressful connotations to many (including myself) and implement a similar method of rhythmic crossing and in-out phasing by having three layers of it on-top of one another, one with the original pitch and others at faster speeds. The original has an Echo slowly applied, with input gain increased to make the echo more prominent and distorted, adding to the sonic chaos.

Yet again, I start again looking for what other sounds I could play with and potentially build upon. Taking the ‘Siri’ bell prompt sound that I already used as a sub layer, I found it having a nice metallic chime quality when played up higher, almost like a music-box. With this association in mind, I began playing little short melodic motifs that I thought would be interesting to use as a loop for an ending section, to represent the ‘calm after the storm’, but almost in a deceptive way by contrasting the child-like quality with other eerie elements. I ended up settling on a motif and while looping it I added a few more effects to thicken the layer such as a flanger to space it out and a bit of a mid-high-end boost.

 I found that by extending the loop of the sample (instead of just one of the chime tones) to incorporate all three bells in the sub-bass synth, made a great rhythmic layer too, as it starts with two higher bass tones and falls down to the last deep note. A longer loop contrasting with the really short melodic loop on top of it.

Duplicating the ‘music-box’ synth, I wanted to use the occurrence of the really harrowing deep note as a call for something to respond to. Here I reversed the MIDI sequence of the motif and transposed into a lower register, still harmonising with the melodic loop but out-of-time. Adding reverb and a different ‘circuit type’ filter in the Simpler, I discovered an interesting effect when applying the gain parameter with increased resonance on the ‘MS2’ low-pass filter, creating a harmonic distortion that was nice to introduce with an upwards ‘swirl’ on automation.

Decided to differentiate the two even further in terms of space, by panning the main loop to the right and this new one to the left.

This is also a section I want to be ‘floaty’ and ‘spacey’ like the first, but not in a disorientating manner. So, I played with the Charging synth sound in order to generate some fluttery high-end tones at the highest MIDI range of my keyboard, as when you push a sample to its tonal limits the pitch becomes less defined but can become an interesting textural element.

Yet again used this synth, but to re-introduce the noisy-section but as more of a middle-ground element. Here I decide to increase the distortion and also implement Beat Repeat to get a glitch-y effect, and through these added effects I improvised over the loops established.

With the recording, I converted it to audio in order to additional glitch it out through Ableton’s ‘Warp’ tool, and by stretching the transients with the ‘Beat’ warp mode and re-pitching, I was able to get some suitable eerie and jarring tones to add on top of the created layer.

 It is at this point that I’ve satisfied my initial idea of having a 3-part piece, as now I have laid down three distinct sections with similar thematic elements but utilising different samples as centrepieces. However, in doing this I felt like they might perhaps be too distinct from one another, so in revising these sections I made some additions and changes in order to sonically expand upon each layer and try to make the piece as a whole feel more cohesive.

Part 1 (A/Intro):

-       Extended the whole section, initially felt too short and abrupt, but now it leaves a little more room for things to unfold.

-       Duplicated the vibration sample, hard panned both to opposite ends and slightly de-tuned one. Creates a doubling unison effect that places it more in the foreground and makes it feel more ‘shaky’.

-       Added more automation to the ring modulator, generate more interest by shifting the modulation rather than remaining stagnant as it was previous.

-       Created more texture with the reversed Filter Delay samples, by using Redux to create a sharp crackly tone to contrast with the smooth bell sounds.

-       Implement the similar reverse delay effect on a ‘iOS recording - ding’ sound, creates sonic consistency.

-       Added more bell samples towards the end with different pitch-shifting, thickening it up and creating more interest.

-       Introduce the ‘Charging’ sound effect in its raw clean form, alluding to its use in the next section.

-       Similarly, I allude to the bass layer from the last section, using its sample reversed and slightly pitched up here.

 Part 2 (B):

-       Begin to feel like the main ‘charging’ chord synth may lack a bit of higher-end frequency content and could generally using some form of textural doubling to increase interest. Here I decided to grab a bell-sound and placed it into similar settings on a separate Simpler and combined the two synths together. Tweaking the settings, such as the filters and EQ, I found it worked well to introduce this timbre gradually as it subtly thickened the layer. It also generated more rhythmic complexity as it loops at a different speed (with the differing length of the sample), creating an even more enveloping ‘phase in-out’ effect, but to not accentuate it too much to the point of being too overwhelming too quick, I reduced the attack on the amplitude envelope.

-       It’s here that I decide to use the ‘lock screen’ clicking sound effect to act as an indicator of a new section. The movement from A to B is to stay abrupt but this gives that little bit of needed cohesion/clarity, as to showcase a rapid fluctuation of mood (from starting the day feeling uneasy to feeling ‘connected’ and fine [at first]).

-       Addition of a subtle delay effect on the main charging synth – yet again attempting to thicken the texture a bit more and create a wider space.

-       Panning effects on the interspersed aux. sound effects (i.e. the typing sounds doing swooping movements from left to right).

-       Introduce the ‘music-box’ melodic motif from the 3rd section by fading it in in this section, adding to the noise. Also is alongside the second motif but it is repeated similarly on a constant loop (rather than spaced out).

 Decided to develop a new short transition section (abrupt moment of clarity), with the idea being to introduce the ‘Siri’ bell sound effect in its clean unaltered form and then cutting it up just before entering the 3rd section. Because of its association, I wanted to use a short snippet of Siri dialogue but struggled to find any phrases or samples that were suitable or thematically relevant. I discovered online that I could actually use MacOS to do text-to-speech with a similar Siri voice through the terminal, which was perfect. Here I settled on a recording of the voice saying:

 “I’m sorry, I can’t help you with that.”

 Being a common type of response, it is recontextualised and serves a different purpose given the emotions of helplessness and anxiety that I wanted to convey with the noisy cluttered section prior. To further delve into this, I used a ‘reverse reverb + delay’ effect, which serves as a good way here to make a spacey and uneasy texture whilst maintaining clarity of the voice, and by ending with no trail it leaves this uncanny silence afterwards. I double the last words, “with that” by pitching down the voice to further drive the creepiness home.

  Part 3 (C/Outro)

-       Doubling technique with bells applied here, where it plays along with the music-box synth, hitting same notes here and there, more frequent as it progresses with differing panning positions.

-       Have both music-box synths end their playing by leaving a long trail through increasing the release time on their respective amplitude envelopes. Creates a lingering effect for the bass motif to continue for a little longer before fading out naturally.

-       Don’t want to clutter this section up much but adding much more; currently like the minimalism in how it contrasts and lets the piece fade away.

Here is the piece!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11RjbLUFkewYpcrj35k5gz5T4f0JXCfgj/view?usp=sharing

[leon-k-musc3603]

Finishing off the track!

Continued to work on the last A (A’) section, with the added drum sample that breaks into it. Decided to use a drastic sidechain effect on the master, taking the signal from the main kick drum so it dips everything else down while the kick is played. This generates a more driving forward beat, and I emphasise this even more with the (dry) claps now being played on the upbeats (2 and 4). Also added a shaker sample for an additional rhythmic element, panning with an Auto-Filter to create more space as it travels from the left to right channel.

 Percussion Layers in Part A’

The BB sample from section B is kept in A’, just for a sense of continuity though turned down very low in the mix in order to turn it into a background element (as it was foreground in B).

Here I also focused quite a lot on mixing, especially when it came to EQ’ing my stems. While I did do rough EQ’ing as I went along and composed, when I showed a second draft it was clear to Damian that I emphasised too much of the mid-range (i.e. the ‘bright’ bands), which became even more evident to me when he ducked down that range and it sounded a bit more polished.

To overcome this issue, I begun to focus more on this range and noticed that by tendency I boosted these very frequencies too much; especially when it came to the vocal-sample synth layers that I used. To create a more balanced mix, I revised these levels with that range and lowered them a little and already found them sitting in the mix more comfortably.

E.g.: Vocal Arp Synth: Before

 Vocal Arp Synth: After

I also removed more of the lower end frequencies of the main ‘clap’ sounds, as I also noticed when playing the draft on the monitors that they created too overwhelming of a sound, therefore just added a stronger high-pass on it.

With it sounded more clearer, I’d say I’m happy and finished! Here is what the whole project looks (with all the tracks collapsed into their respective groups):

Arrangement View

Session View (1):

Session View (2):

Thanks for reading and listening!

[leon-k-musc3603]

Section B Time!

This session I’ve delved more into sampling in order to form a contrasting B section.

The sample I based it off was derived from a recent discovery that’s been on my personal listening rotation as of late, which is a Beach Boys (BB) cover of Burt Bacharach’s song “Walk On By”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx_UciEAh9s

I ended up sourcing a high quality mp3 (320kbps) and cropped it to what I find to be the most compelling and drawing section of the piece, being from 1:14 onwards. The chromatically descending then ascending vocal line, shifting between dissonance and harmony with Wilson’s high belted note perfectly sonically encapsulates this shift between hope and despair brought about by the lyrics and its resonating qualities had me allured and wanting to try sample it.

Surprisingly, the sample itself was to a similar tempo as the piece, so I did not have to do too much tinkering for it to be on the grid. All I ended up doing was slightly adjusting the segmented BPM and the markers on Warp in order to better line up the peaks.

A challenge was more so getting transition right with the elements of pitch, as the sample is also in a different key (though not to a detriment as I’ll elaborate on). As I wanted to use the rising chord progression from the BB track to lead into the sample, I faded it in and as it becomes more noticeable creating a slight sense of dissonance, I adjust the arp, guitar sample, melodic synth and play around with piano roll accordingly to fit the last two chords.

To accompany this harmonic rise to the core sample, a slow-attack reverse cymbal is added for good measure to its usual effect.

As the main sample comes in, I felt like it didn’t hit with as much of an impact as anticipated. To try and overcome this I added a Grain Delay on the sample, set up with a very short quiet pitch delay (pitched up a fifth), adding even denser harmonies that allow for it to stand up on its own a bit more. I also added another ‘washy’ cymbal, this time as it comes in to really give the section change an impact.

I continue to use the guitar samples, but this time with no glitchy effects in order to unmask it; allowing it to breathe in other words (contrasting with the somewhat chaotic nature of Section A).

Repeating that 8-bar loop motif, I lead back into manipulations by limiting the piece again, by restricting the loop to the last bar creating a noticeably loopy sound again (with the imperfect trails and vocals starting abruptly). Mirroring the transition to the B section, I fade back in the Arp Vocal synth and slowly re-introduce the main motif in order to lead into the new A section with added in elements of what was introduced prior.

It’s here where I begin to deviate away from my initial vision of a ‘progressive electronic/ ambient” track and start having fun stylistically. Looking through my ‘sample diary’, I remember a drum sample that I’ve been meaning to use for a long time due it’s sheer crispy sound and interesting rhythm. It’s the intro to Brian Eno’s song “Dead Finks Don’t Talk”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlC-9dDMk4

Cutting up and playing around with it on the arrangement view, I found that it worked quite nicely in the context of the A section. Added some compression and crunch via Ableton’s Drum Buss which usually never fails to give the hard-hitting distorted tone that I enjoy.

Both the Beach Boys and Brian Eno sample on-top of each other; here the drums are slowly fading in with the BB sample fades-out, paving for the new section.

This will act as the main differentiator between the first instance and the second instance of the A action, turning it from an abstract ambient feel to a ‘big beat’/’hip-tronica’ sort of sound. Major point of reference is Bibio’s “You”:

https://youtu.be/dDl8udKk8Zg?t=173

Here I want to try to emulate this build-up into the last ‘huge’ section, creating a similar effect. So to lead into the A section again, I (like the other returning layers) introduce the drums with a fade-in, though soaked in reverb, phaser and glitched by Beat Repeat as to obscure it before get its clarity, removing all of those effects in the next A section.

[leon-k-musc3603]

Building on Section A

After showing my first draft with the first section roughly sketched on the Wednesday class, I gotten some constructive criticism from Damian that shaped how I approached the work I did to the track today. One of the pointers was the idea of adding and removing from a sound layer during moments of sparsity and density (respectively) in order to generate more interest in the intro. As the track starts with the main motif being introduced alone by a single synth, it was suggested to add to this sonic layer, which I’ve done by utilising the “Instrument Rack” on Ableton that allows you to stack on multiple MIDI instruments that will act as “one instrument” and mix them together according to your liking. Found a nice pad sound with a bit of a slower attack that I find compliments well to create a ‘swirling’ effect that gradually gets louder, and during the denser later section of Part A it takes over the original synth in order to strip it back (as I find it works better in the context of the mix, as the original synth sound clashed too much with the bass drone synth I chose [both sawtooth-y and similar in sound]).

New Main Synth Sound:

{With automation on the levels in order to adjust the texture accordingly for different parts}

An issue that was also highlighted to me during the listening in class was the muddiness of the kick-drum that was definitely accentuated with the monitors and being in the room. Easy to miss when I’m primarily using headphones for the sake of convenience. As it is quite an important element (being the consistent base/ground for other rhythmic elements that gradually becomes more complex as the piece goes along), this was something that I tried to hone in on during this session. To try and solve this, I messed around more with the EQ, having the ‘layer-cake’ imagery in mind. As it occupies so much of the low-end, I tried to be more mindful of how it travels upwards on the frequency spectrum. The big challenge really is to maintain the “boomy” and “big roomy” sound of the kick drum (which I want to maintain for stylistic effect; spaciness) sit within the mix well. To start off, the reverb I added to it adds a lot more content in the upper frequency ranges, so I toned it down by adding the in-built filter cut-off feature within the Ableton Reverb plug-in; allowing for the reverb itself to not muddy the lower register and dominate too much of the higher. I added an additional EQ plug-in to further shape the sound, accentuating the overall low-end for a ‘thump’ effect and dipping some low-mid range. Topped it off with a gate at the end so the lingering reverb doesn’t stay lingering in the mix past a certain level.

FX Chain of Kick Drum

 Added more layers to the A section, and these include:

·      A high-end looped sample of Ella’s vocals, that act more as an intentionally jagged rhythmic element; inspired by glitch.

·      Another looped sample of her vocals but this time used more like a synth pad with an “Ooo” sound. The sustain and lushness is to contrast with the previous sample and the overarching randomly arpeggiated vocal synth.

·      Delayed claps (sampled from original recording; very inspired by Comfy in Nautica – Panda Bear). They are introduced with heavy effects and re-pitching in order to mask the sound; gradually taken off to reveal it as a ‘clap’ with more of a definite shape and purpose.

·      Sampled Guitar – taken from another original (”threes”: https://soundcloud.com/clueyonder/threes) from 2 years ago, it’s strung-out chords to introduce another layer for the transition into section B. Intentionally re-pitched and slightly glitchy (via. Ableton Warp) to continue to play with the idea of manipulating ‘natural’ samples such as guitar and vocals.

Another addition is the use of Beat Repeat on the Arp Vocal synth, which is incorporated sometimes to add a ‘glitch’ effect at the end of every second bar.

This experimentation has gotten thinking more about the concept just mentioned; the idea of “reverse” manipulation, of pulling back the layers and effects to be able in a way reveal it’s natural bare form. Will start working on a contrasting B section that will perhaps continue to explore this idea by exposing the natural side of the sonic palette introduced so far (and more).

[leon-k-musc3603]

Starting off!

Begun work on the first assessment, where we have to take certain ideas from Paul Mac’s “Cataplexy” that Damian has begun elaborating upon to create our own track.

 For this I want to go in the direction of a progressive electronic track, ala Oneohtrix Point Never and Tangerine Dream, as I feel like the use of contrast and the whole concept of background/middle-ground/foreground has an interesting dimension when done so in this style. Essentially want to undergo something like “Cataplexy” but hone in on the atmospheric elements rather than the more techno/house elements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqlKiC7fD6E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyBXjfGBfJQ

 Want to explore the ways in which certain textures and instrumentation throughout a track can actually move back and forward between their ‘ground’ role. While the beginning of the piece can be sparse with one or two layers, these elements can eventually fade into the background more, as the track progresses and new musical ideas and sounds unfold in the mix.

To start off, I looked through my sample library that largely consists of Ableton Live Suite packs, and within those I found a nice sawtooth-y bass synth. Using this, I came up with the main motif (based on a Eb major triad) that will form the basis of the piece, perhaps only the Part A section, but we will see where we go from there. To fill-up it’s somewhat empty short sound, I made it loop for a longer sustain and added Chorus, Compression, and Echo (all stock plug-ins). The choice of Echo was inspired by ‘Cataplexy’, as the main motif in that track is also based around a delayed synth.

Bass Synth

Taking inspiration from Damian’s quote regarding ‘nature’ (not verbatim) of “Everything complex boils down to components following simple rules; with a degree of randomness/entropy.” To explore this idea, I’ve introduced a sample-based synthesiser on Ableton, arpeggiated onto strict 1/24th notes but with the ‘Random’ setting, as to represent this concept in a contrasting way; where the listener hears rhythmic consistency (therefore a recognisable pattern [simple law]) but the note sequencing is all over the place (therefore representing the element of randomness). This synth samples vocal tracks that I recorded of my friend, Ella (a.k.a Hot Goblin), for another song of mine called “blu moon”:

https://soundcloud.com/clueyonder/blu-moon-feat-hot-goblin

Exploring those ideas using a human voice manipulated a lot through effects and arpeggiation also develops contrast within the one sonic texture.

“Ella” Synth

Want to try and extract more elements (i.e. synth presets, guitar samples) from my previous work to perhaps illustrate a concept of my personal subjective experience in writing and producing. By removing elements of my other previous work from its original context, I hope to bring new life and engage in a sort of ‘self-reflection’ in a creative manner.

Alongside these two main textures, I begun adding more synth presets from previous work that I’ve saved, and used in quite a different way. For example, a ‘Sax’-synth preset I manipulated long-ago I discovered creates a really strange quivering whistling tone when playing in the highest register of my MIDI keyboard. Since it is an interesting tone that could be used to fill the background, I recording myself playing it in an unstructured/indeterminate way. Another synth I used is a similar sawtooth-y one, but created through a VST rather than a sample. This one fills the low-end register via. a drone but also acts as a ‘response’ to the main motif with it’s movement to the higher register in the second half of its phrase.

One last thing I added was a kick-drum (despite my apprehensiveness of using percussion in this piece), but layered with a strong phaser, creating a changing-pitch metallic sound. I also duplicated it, and played around with it on the higher register (adding distortion and ring modulation) which creates another noise layer to fill the piece up.

This all contributes to the ‘A’ section, which each element gradually being introduced. Still not sure what exactly to do with the B section just yet, but I feel like something along the lines of a dramatic change of instrumentation would be interesting (i.e. acoustic guitars, vocals, etc.). Here is what the Ableton project looks like now on the arrangement view: