Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
stuff to blog about
You can blog about this… Look it up, watch the movie (Tom Dowd and the Language of Music). Pay particular attention to the part with Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, where Dowd is talking about Layla and how it was recorded. Give a quick little review of it.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
King Crimson and the Mellotron
I did a little more reading on the Mellotron, as I was a little confused in class. It sounds like the idea is actually pretty straight-forward: a sampling machine that uses 8 second recordings of instruments and beats, divided into two keyboards (lead instruments such as flutes, horns, strings on right; prerecorded beats at left). The Mellotron has been used by influential and especially Progressive Rock bands, such as the Beatles (not Prog rock) in "Strawberry Fields", The Moody Blues, Yes, Genesis.
The use of the Mellotron, now that I know what it sounds like, is very evident in King Crimson's "Court of the Crimson King". The main "movement", which is repeated over and over is dominated by the Mellotron sound (after the words "in the court of the Crimson King"), along with the keys in the "lighter" part of the song. Though the aim of the Mellotron was to emulate other instruments, it's sound is actually quite distinct, often sounding roughly like an in-home organ with some other tones on top of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to several of King Crimson's songs. I had never heard of them before our class when Professor Pagano introduced them, but I can see why Wikipedia credits them as being one of the "foundational" progressive rock groups. The group, though somewhat amorphous in it's makeup and styles, seems to be pretty cutting-edge since it's inception in 1971. With a comeback in 1981, and again in 1994, King Crimson keeps reinventing it's sound. Apparently, in the 21st century, the group has turned more to the use of drum n' bass style loops and incorporated the use of midi into it's compositions.
The use of the Mellotron, now that I know what it sounds like, is very evident in King Crimson's "Court of the Crimson King". The main "movement", which is repeated over and over is dominated by the Mellotron sound (after the words "in the court of the Crimson King"), along with the keys in the "lighter" part of the song. Though the aim of the Mellotron was to emulate other instruments, it's sound is actually quite distinct, often sounding roughly like an in-home organ with some other tones on top of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to several of King Crimson's songs. I had never heard of them before our class when Professor Pagano introduced them, but I can see why Wikipedia credits them as being one of the "foundational" progressive rock groups. The group, though somewhat amorphous in it's makeup and styles, seems to be pretty cutting-edge since it's inception in 1971. With a comeback in 1981, and again in 1994, King Crimson keeps reinventing it's sound. Apparently, in the 21st century, the group has turned more to the use of drum n' bass style loops and incorporated the use of midi into it's compositions.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Software Analysis Project Assists
If you choose the Pure Data program as your Sound Design program analysis be sur ethat you download and evaluate the pd patches located here
they are offered free of charge for download and help with the realization of many of the topics we cover in class and enable you to create sounds in pd.
FYI- A "tarball" is the unix version of a zip file.
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