project proposals

Erik and I have both recently worked on orchestral related tracks which made me think that perhaps we should try to do more in this vein.  I never work well unless I have deadlines set for myself, so we came up with the idea that we collaborate on a split ep with a somewhat orchestral theme with some sort of project completion date set beforehand.  We also decided to create sample sets for each other, thus thwarting attempts at falling back on old tricks.  After many transgressions, we settled on the parameters for the project. 

The sample sets we create for each other must contain:

• 2 minutes total of pre-existing orchestral material
• 2 minutes total of non-layered material
• 2 minutes total of sampled material

Rules for Sampled material:

• All material must be sourced directly from orchestrally related instruments (with no tricksey sidestepping).
• All samples must be created only using the instrument and some means of recording.  In other words, using a lo-fidelity device to record the sound is acceptable in that the effect it has on the sample will be from the recording process itself.  However, further editing the sample in logic is forbidden. 

Rules for use of material:

• 2 10 minute tracks will be made by each artist using only the sample set created by the other person. 
• No new material may be recorded, however heavy dismantling of aforementioned samples is acceptable. 
• Violation of any of these rules or guidelines will be grounds for immediate termination. 

This will be quite a challenge.  Not only do we have to create 20 minutes of music from a total of 8 minutes of sampled material, but we’ll have to adapt our ideas depending on what sounds the other person provides.  End results will be able to be attributed partially to the sample maker for arguably imposing restrictions and limitations, and partially to the composer for figuring out how to circumvent them. 

Erik, you’d better provide some decent material or I swear I’ll kick your butt when you get to New York!

Also, big up to hecanjog for making this nifty little blog thingy. 

glassworks

Here’s more fooling about and max/msp prep for when I get samples from Bryan.  Just some granular stuff on top of Apple’s nice multiband compressor and reverb. 

I realized today I could use audio units in max/msp via michael norris’ very nice au~ external.  I’m processing a recording of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra playing the first movement of Philip Glass’ string quartet number two (Company) that I recorded on my microcassette recorder last night. 

That was a really nice concert incidentally.  I got to hear Steve Reich’s Different Trains live for the first time as well!  As usual click the the grey triangle above to hear an mp3 snippet.

growing

While we’re in the sample recording phase I thought I might start developing the patches I’ll use to process the sounds Bryan gives me on the 20th.  Here is a modification of a simple generative patch I made for a piece called Growing I finished recently.  Growing is entirely synthesized, but I wanted to see if I could move the things I liked about it into granular territory for this project, since I won’t be working with any synthesized sound.  The patch I’ve started is pretty straightforward, but I’m happy with the direction it is going so far.  Here’s what it does:

1. a sound in a buffer can be played back granularly at different pitches.  i’m using a fixed grain length and jitter amount right now, but I may make it more flexible down the road depending on the sounds I end up working with.
2. the pitches are generated by an extremely simple algorithm that cycles through the first three partials of the overtone series.  growing uses the overtone series as its harmonic world too, and I’m having fun exploring similar ideas in a totally different sound world.  well, not totally different, but different.
3. there are larger “grains” that control the larger changes, each note is just a sine volume envelope whose pitch changes every time it starts over from zero.
4. the pitch is also shifted continuously away from the perfect intervals of the overtone series - the beating and dissonance I think ends up sounding pretty okay!

It sounds more complicated than it really is, it’s probably easier to hear what I’m talking about than read about it.  Click the grey play triangle above to listen.  The source sound for now is an A440 I recorded at a Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra concert a few days ago with my micro cassette recorder.

trombones

You can listen to the fruits of my first recording session above.  I’m starting off with trombone, and I decided to work on the two minutes of layered sound first.  Here are twenty layers of C2, C3, G2, and G3 recorded with the pinhole microphone of my laptop.  About half of the recordings were done with a cup mute down the hall from where my computer was, walking around. 

The effect I was hoping for (slight doppler shifts along with beating as I played a little with the pitch) was totally lost in the pinhole mic.  So for the second batch of recordings I stayed in the room.  I like how this trial run turned out, and I definitely think I’ll play around with this idea as I work on my layered recordings.  Felt nice to put a trombone to my face again as well!

a very short list

Since we came up with the project idea i’ve been making a mental catalog of the orchestral instruments and musicians I have access to at the moment.  Here is what I’ve tallied:

1. trombone (with various mutes)
2. violin (with a broken pickup)
3. my mother’s high school clarinet
4. a violinist cousin
5. a cellist cousin

I decided to use only the most traditional instruments in my collection.  I could probably rationalize the use of slide whistle, harmonica, toy piano, hand bells, and even guitar.  I use all of those sounds too much already though, and part of the fun of this project will be the challenge of the limitations imposed.  I’m collecting sounds as if I were going to use them, and I’m feeling a bit strict about sticking to the limitations.  Take that, Bryan!

I have also decided that this is a wonderful chance to call on family favors and see what other high school instruments can be dug out of closets.  My uncle is a music repairman a few hours from here as well, and I hope to pay him a visit.

here we go

Hi all!  I just finished this barebones blog where you can trace the progress Bryan and I make on our collaboration. 

How did this come to pass?  Both of us had been kicking around the idea of doing a project that uses a traditional orchestral pallet a starting point for some kind of electroacoustic treatment.  Once we realized we both wanted to do this, the natural next step was to join forces and see what we could come up with together. 

To make it interesting we’re approaching it a bit like a remix project.  We’re going to be preparing each other’s source material, which will then be the only sound we’re allowed to use.  All forms of processing and manipulation once we start working with the sounds we’re given is just fine of course. 

Here is an outline of what Bryan and I will have to prepare for each other by February 20th:

1. two minutes of raw, untouched instrumental recording.  we’ll bust out our respective collections of instruments (as long as they can be found in a traditional orchestra) and do our best to lay down some useful material with them.
2. two minutes of orchestral material performed by someone else.  this could be a clandestine microcassette recording of a live concert, or carefully chosen excerpts from that dusty old copy of the complete bernstein.
3. two minutes of layered instrumental recording.  this is where we get to take out our instruments again and get some help from the magic of digital multi-tracking to create some thicker ensemble textures that would be impossible by ourselves.

That’s the mission.  We’re both just beginning the sampling process, and we’ll report back here as we start collecting material!