FINAL PROJECT

So it didn't quit turn out the way I had envisioned, but I'll explain that in the next post. Sweet.

"In Motion"

Drum and Bass

For assignment 4 I created a drum and bass track, pretty much just because I've never really done it before. It was fun to make but also challenging, I wasn't really sure about some of the techniques that a drum and bass producer would turn to, but I thought it came out pretty well. I still don't know how to automate in Logic, though, which is frustrating. Oh well, check out the cut and see if you like it...It's called Buggah cuz that's a hella British sounding word.

Nathan Griffith Reason Dance Track Analysis (And final project proposal)

I chose to analyze Nathan's Reason song, and in doing so I was quite impressed. Basically he used a very evolving approach in the overall construction of the track, and one that truly has a 2-part execution. There is a very dark and ominous introduction that uses a cloudy synthesizer rolling out a bass riff, which reappears later during the body of the piece. The riff plays as the percussion is slowly faded in and swells to a transition point when the main melodies of the song appear for the first time. Once these higher and lighter synths are added in the piece has a much more free-floating quality to it, even though the dark rumbling bass moves in after a few measures.

I particularly like the swell into the brighter section, it offers a very clean and appropriate transition between two seemingly opposite feels. The whole piece reminds me of video game music, which I also love. Nostalgia...


As for my final project, I'd like to explore the boundaries between two of my favorite genres, house and hip-hop. From my understanding, the vocal patterns and percussion rhythms in hip-hop are two of the main elements that set it apart from faster-paced, more "dance-oriented" genres like house and techno. Usually the vocals in house are more singing (as opposed to rapping) and are usually done by a diva or a vocalist that uses a more reverberating, soaring approach on top of the synths and quick-thumping bass. One of my favorite artists, Zion I, has always pushed this boundary between hip-hop delivery and house beats, and it's something that I've always admired but never tried myself. Below is an example of Zion I playing with these borders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxr3gnOD_4I

So basically I'd like to create a danceable house instrumental, and play with the conventional hip-hop delivery of vocals and sampling over top of it. (Maybe through some vinyl work in there as well)...

My Dance-Track Banger

So this last weekend I produced "assignment 3" which was an approximately 1 minute long dance track. Now I can't say it was my first time making one of these, not even one of these of this genre, but it was the first time I've ever done so using the Reason software, which was an adventure in itself. 

Previous to this I used Garageband, which is similar to Logic, but Reason is a whole different beast. I started out composing the percussion section, as I usually do, because I see this as sort of the backbone of the song, and once the beat is laid down it's way easier for me to compose a melody on top of it. I used 2 Redrum machines with several patterns on each machine so that I could layer the patterns in and out as the song progressed. It was funny because I wanted the percussion to be syncopated but really simple, and with even 2 patterns it just didn't seem the way I wanted it to. It didn't really sound "right" until I added the extra Redrum machine to it, then it got that bouncing feeling.

After creating the percussion sections of the piece I began layering other textures on top of it, starting with the bass "riff" (which is really only present in the 2nd quarter of the song). After that very simple pattern was added I felt that there needed to be a more enveloping texture to the piece, so strings were the obvious choice, I really like the element they added. After switching up the strings with the more dramatic female choir voices, I needed to pierce through the thick instruments with a clear melody, provided in this case by the sharp-sounding synths. 

All in all I think it came out pretty sweet for a little 1 minute experiment. Given more time I would've definitely faded in some more instruments and maybe used a few more filters, drawing out the swells more. One thing that did confuse me was how to record in real time with the filters (if you even can in Reason), like if I have a pattern and I want to apply a low-pass filter to it manually with my MIDI keyboard, how would I do that? I'm not sure, but given more time and that knowledge I definitely would've added one of those joints in. Hope you like it!

Shoogaplums

Click-sampled Dance Tracks!

For song #1, I chose to use a very straight forward approach, mixing 4 samples of the clicks in RadiaL and trying to maximize the chopping and buzzing of the static itself to create a whirling atmosphere.
For song #2, I basically exported a section of the loops from song #1 into Logic, tampered with it, then bounced it back into RadiaL to loop it again. In this way I was able to take a sped up sample and abstract it one step further by reapplying several processes over its first ones.
In the production of song #3 I got back to the basics of using the clicks sample, but this time I focused on pitch-bending and actually making a rudimentary melody. Very simple, but kinda catchy.
Overall I had some difficulty using the MIDI controllers, and since I only have 2 knobs it seems slightly pointless. Hopefully in the future I’ll have more knobs and sliders.

Track #1:


Track #2:


Track #3:

Created Ringtones

Making these ringtones has really turned out to be more difficult than I expected. For starters, my original samples were quite cryptic, very few actually had solid tones to them, although their textures were interesting. As far as the process is concerned it went pretty well, lucky for me Logic is very similar to Garageband. My final product is much more airy than I wanted, but I suppose that comes with the territory of working in a music concrete style to some degree. The ringtones kind of remind me of Cage's "Landscapes" piece, although they are much less varied in their sampling origins. Should be interesting to see how people react when my phone rings...

Ringtone #1:


Ringtone #2:

Russolo and John Cage

After reading Russolo's essay about noise-sound and its connection between the proliferation of machinery, I began thinking about the underlying messages within the text. From what I can deduce, Russolo alluded to the "boring" nature of traditionally composed music consisting of pure sound produced by traditional instruments and contrasted that with the intriguing unfimiliarity of noise-sound. Considering the emphasis he placed on the rise of the machine in today's culture, I am left wondering if the shift from less pure sound to more noise-sound necessarily coincides with the shift from less manmade sound to more machinemade sound. It seems as though many noise-sounds can be made through more organic means than those of "falling of pistons" or "the stridency of mechanical saws" mentioned in the essay. At one point he refers to "thunder, wind, cascades, rivers, streams, leaves" and a variety of other natural sounds, although he fails to further explore them. It would be interesting to hear a composition consisting purely of sounds from nature to see whether or not any recognizable rhythm would arise.

Also, after discussing the experimentation of John Cage today, I began to question wether a human's experience of sound is really the criteria for sound truly existing. For instance, when John Cage went into the polyurethane room and heard his own heart beating, he concluded that there is no such thing as silence. My immediate reaction was to consider what would happen in a vaccuum. If John Cage were to fire sound waves out into space he would hear absolutely nothing, however that doesn't mean that they wouldn't exist. That being said, what is the criteria for silence? Not percieving audible sound waves or not having sound waves exist at all? Would a def person experience John Cage's definition of silence, or would they technically still exist in a non-silent world? I'm not sure whether I agree with Mr. Cage or not, but I will surely contemplate this concept more in the future.