Monday, January 31, 2011
Lumpy Gravy (not really a point?)
I cant bring myself to find any reason to the point of Lumpy Gravy. It seems to be a disconteccted collection of random bits of music with dialgue that mimics people being high on drugs and discussing random things. Im having trouble pinpointing the relationship between granular synthesis and this. I understand making "art" just for the sake of doing it, but usually someone has to enjoy it. I also watched/listened Poeme Elecrontique and was just as disappointed. I have no music background or skills but I do believe that it's a far cry to call this music. The use of the technology that far back is amazing but It may have been squandered in the name of art. I had to fight to listen to both the whole way through and couldnt really grasp the point.
Cecilia issues
I will give windows users the opportunity to use a MAC at Digital worlds or let yo into the lab [they still have not fixed the swipe as the Windows7 version of Cecilia is not working as i had hoped. Please contact me @ pat@digitalworlds.ufl.edu to setup a time.
If you have linux you may use the older version of Cecilia.
Let's see some chapter summaries and blog posts SOON!
pp
If you have linux you may use the older version of Cecilia.
Let's see some chapter summaries and blog posts SOON!
pp
Plunderphonics..... my thoughts,
While the essay may seem a little convoluted with the 2 billion comas, I was very impressed by the topics.
What is considered "illegal" and "legal"? What should be considered "copywriting" or stealing someone's creative genius? I felt like the whole essay was coming down to the conclusion that all of "sound" and what is "Music" is built on it self, making the idea of "copywriting" almost non existent. One example that he used (or eluded to) was the idea of the piano. The piano has 88 keys. Who owns those sounds? Is it the manufacturer of the original piano and thus any sound/ song produced from it would be copywriting/ stealing his sound? Essentially, the piano gives us 88 tones, specific in timbre, shape, dynamic etc. So in essence, if a person uses a combination of those 88 keys (in what ever fashion) to create a song/ melody, that would be stealing the sounds of Bartolommeo Cristofori, the creator of the piano. (1655-1731). Essentially this is the same as a person sampling a few sounds or parts from a Kanye West sound and putting them together in their own creation. They are taking the sound that Kanye has created (think of the different parts of the song as the 88 keys on the piano), and have made their own creation. Yet society today tells us that this is illegal.
I can relate to this argument and theory and see the validity in the point. To me, what I took away from this essay was the fact that plundering sounds (plunderphonics) isn't simply a black and white issue, there is a lot of middle grey. The only counter argument I would have would be to reference writing literature. Essentially you can relate the alphabet to the 88 keys of the piano and say that anything written from the alphabet is illegally copywriting the original works of the alphabet creator. I know this is far fetched seeing as the meaning of those letters only comes from the integration of them into words, where as the musical notes can stand alone and still create a musical understanding, but you get the idea I am hinting at.
Again, I think this discussion/ argument is very interesting and one that goes far beyond the polarized black and white.
-Tim
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Cecelia Windows wiki help
go here and see if this helps
http://code.google.com/p/cecilia4/wiki/Install
http://code.google.com/p/cecilia4/wiki/Install
Lumpy Gravy by Frank Zappa
Lumpy Gravy seemed to bounce between 3 emotional states to me. Between the dialog and the sound I found bits uplifting, humorous, and bothersome (there is a better word here but the only other one I can think of right now is horrific but thats far too strong). The music achieves the 3 emotional states by melody whereas the dialog achieves either humor or horror by the subject of the dialog. The monologue about wearing out women was funny while the discussion about being attacked by unicorns while giggling as if smoking a large blunt was a bit terrifying. With regard to the dialog I think the effect comes from the ability to relate to the state of the speaker - which is why people on drugs are often avoided and do not mix well socially with sober people.
Lumpy Gravy, however, still does not present content I would choose to listen to when I want to listen to music. The ever changing melody and content feels more like an audio track that has lost its movie than a piece of content meant to be enjoyed on its own. I suppose that actually raises an interesting question: why do we enjoy movies with such quickly changing contexts and perspectives while we (or at least many of us) abhor the idea of music which is always changing and presenting conflicting melodies?
Lumpy Gravy, however, still does not present content I would choose to listen to when I want to listen to music. The ever changing melody and content feels more like an audio track that has lost its movie than a piece of content meant to be enjoyed on its own. I suppose that actually raises an interesting question: why do we enjoy movies with such quickly changing contexts and perspectives while we (or at least many of us) abhor the idea of music which is always changing and presenting conflicting melodies?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Remote collaboration
Would not it be great if we crosspolinate our programs? Audio Design for Kino Design and back? Let's skype our classes together, what ya say? Some sort of inter-course!:-!
Plunderphonics
After reading Plunderphonics by John Oswald I'm uncertain what point he was trying to make. I couldn't tell if the theme was that sampling is acceptable, the argument of sampling is altogether superfluous/erroneous, or if the piece was just a distillation of our current views on sampling music.
I did find Oswald's mention of imitating Bruce Springsteen to be interesting. If we recognize that imitating another musicians sound is legal while using small samples is illegal than it would appear the issue is really about property and not creativity. We talk about musicians as artists, and we talk about protecting artists' creative works - but it appears its not their creativity they care about, its the sliver of the sound spectrum they stumbled upon which proves to sell.
Along the lines of audio "property," I personally reject the argument by popular musicians that pirating music is such a debilitating crime to their industry. There was once a time when music existed but highly replicate-able media did not. Back then it was all about live performances. It was simply the coincidental invention of recording media that allowed the music industry to enter this golden age of working far less and making exponentially more money. The way I see it, we are simply returning to a place in music production where you have to work for what you make. If you want millions of dollars, then make great music and play a lot of shows. In fact, in a live performance market you want your sound to spread virally to get everyone clambering to see your shows. The "stealing" of music is not the death of the music industry, its simply the 2nd transformation of the industry that comes with an implicit marketing strategy.
I also found the reference to the public domain to take an interesting perspective. It is true that we are utterly surrounded by music and audio. Today a good question really is: How can we possibly create audio outside the context of others' compositions? We hear them almost without pause (after all silence is one of the most valuable commodities in sound today, right?). Its no secret that our ears are very sensitive, and our memories and emotional center are certainly tied to what we hear. Therefore strict stipulations about the few contexts in which a composer/musician is allowed to skate on the fringe of sounding vaguely similar to another "artist's" work seems almost inhumane.
I did find Oswald's mention of imitating Bruce Springsteen to be interesting. If we recognize that imitating another musicians sound is legal while using small samples is illegal than it would appear the issue is really about property and not creativity. We talk about musicians as artists, and we talk about protecting artists' creative works - but it appears its not their creativity they care about, its the sliver of the sound spectrum they stumbled upon which proves to sell.
Along the lines of audio "property," I personally reject the argument by popular musicians that pirating music is such a debilitating crime to their industry. There was once a time when music existed but highly replicate-able media did not. Back then it was all about live performances. It was simply the coincidental invention of recording media that allowed the music industry to enter this golden age of working far less and making exponentially more money. The way I see it, we are simply returning to a place in music production where you have to work for what you make. If you want millions of dollars, then make great music and play a lot of shows. In fact, in a live performance market you want your sound to spread virally to get everyone clambering to see your shows. The "stealing" of music is not the death of the music industry, its simply the 2nd transformation of the industry that comes with an implicit marketing strategy.
I also found the reference to the public domain to take an interesting perspective. It is true that we are utterly surrounded by music and audio. Today a good question really is: How can we possibly create audio outside the context of others' compositions? We hear them almost without pause (after all silence is one of the most valuable commodities in sound today, right?). Its no secret that our ears are very sensitive, and our memories and emotional center are certainly tied to what we hear. Therefore strict stipulations about the few contexts in which a composer/musician is allowed to skate on the fringe of sounding vaguely similar to another "artist's" work seems almost inhumane.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Assignments this Week
Assignment:
lumpy gravy, granular synth
cecilia modules- record and post @ least 5
readings:
reread chapter 1: blog
read: the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction
read: plunderphonics
Next week:
Synth
Bob Moog
Brian Eno on Windows XP
Supposedly this was also composed by Brian Eno for Windows XP. It is a one time play composition, that only plays during the Windows XP set-up process. I read that it was composed by him on many websites, but none too reliable... blogs, youtube videos and Microsoft wiki.
A smorgasboard of thoughts
Sound Unbound - Chapter 1 - Steve Reich
The chapter in and of itself was Steve Reich basically giving his career in review, but what I found most interesting about his career was that he seemed to take the concept of the voice as an instrument seriously. I had heard of "the voice as an instrument" before, especially as I have actually taken voice lessons. Yet the way he used voices was totally unique. Starting in his early career when he was interesting in phasing them, and then latter when he composed pieces such as Different Trains and used speech as melody. Aside from sounding interesting it added a more tangible historical component to the piece. Another piece that I found interesting where he did something similar was "Three Tales" which he did with Beryl Korot where he used interviews as the libretto. Of course all of this stems from the concept of sampling as instrumentation, and of course that sampling is not just limited to voice. One final point I thought interesting was that he didn't like synths.
Morton Feldmen
As I read through the article I discovered on Morton Feldman I felt one of the things I recognized most was that "Morton Feldmen was a friend of John Cage".
After learning such standard facts, such Jan. 12th birth in Brooklyn in 1986, I inevitably decided to let his music do the talking for him and decided to listen to "Rothko Chapel". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxSt_w2ODaQ
The initial violin certainly grabbed my attention, but I believe it was some of the initial intermitten sounds that I found difficult to identify that made it eerie to me. Then of course when the voices came in their "unique dissonance" only added to the effect. If found it interesting how majority of the time there was only one instrument playing and he seemed to initial use single instruments at a time to promote "the building effect" in the music, then finally mixed them.
One of the comments posted on the wall of the video was "listen to this in the dark". Seeing as I can be skittish that is certainly something I will not be doing ;however, I think if I were ever to make some sort of avant-garde haunted house and throw in Jean Cocteau and Mozart this music would definitely be playing.
Plunderphonics: Because "A good composer does not imitate, he steals"
In the essay Plunderphonics by John Oswald he discusses the way in which music is imitated, borrowed and "stolen". For example, he mentions how singers with original are often trying to imitate Bruce Springsteen's sound as opposed to studying his melodic contours. He brings up the "right of integrity" in relation to Canadian copyright law, and the however author can protect a work from particular distortion. However in my mind the most pivotal and interesting comment he makes in the entire article comes at the end where he states "All popular music (and all folk music, by definition), essentially, if not legally, exists in the public domain. It's a statement that I feel less compelled to write about, and more compelled to go play with and test out.
Some Supplemental thoughts on Harmonics
When searching for information about Harmonics I found multiple definitions of what exactly Harmonics is; however, in the end I found this article which related to Sympathetic Vibratory Physics more interesting http://www.svpvril.com/musicuni.html.
The article seems to be a mix of the spiritual and scientific, and contains statements such as "there is no such thing as chaos in the universe"
What is has to say in terms of Harmonics, including concepts such as 512 as being 2 times the Creator pitch is fascinating and although it requires some previous knowledge of Harmonics it is certainly a worthwhile supplemental read.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sound Unbound and my Audio Clips
Cinq Études De Bruits: Étude Violette - What can I say... it was reaaaaally short. It did, however, seem like something that I would use in a movie clip or something like that. It was a kinda cool piece. Now, would I go out of my way to listen to it over and over again? No. Not a chance. But it's still pretty cool.
Poème Électronique - I have actually heard this piece before. It was when took a music appreciation course. I didn't quite get it then, but since I've started listening to more audio clips and pieces like this, I've kind of gained an appreciation for it. While, once again, I wouldn't normally listen to it over and over again, I do realize that there is so much to this that you don't get out of what most would consider conventional music. It offers so much to think about, and puts so many different images in your head.
Concret PH - The one thing I really thought about when listening to this was a rainstick. I also heard these little beeps and boops that made me think it sounded like it was a computer generated rainstick, because it sounded like a rainstick... that beeped and booped...
I offered some minor descriptions of my pieces on the pieces themselves in soundcloud. If you would like something more in depth, please, feel free to ask:
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/little-lucy-draft-1
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/some-kinda-beat
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/techy
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/rock-meets-roll
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/mister-weird
Jon Tietz's Blog for the Week
You guys can check my 1-26-11 blog on all of these topics as well as with my audio compositions here.
Musique Concrete
Given that musique concrete lead to a mashup culture, I can respect the form as a stepping stone along that journey. However, when compared to the melodic use of samples today and the seeming perfection with which samples are cut, tuned, and organized, I can't help but see these legendary composers as little more than Stewart from MAD TV standing behind a synthesizer jumping up and down and yelling "look what I can do!"
Varese Edgard's Poeme Electronique sounds like a list of individual samples just strung together. I do not hear any order in the madness. Concret PH does not seem to attempt any melody or pattern. Perhaps the most mature of the pieces listed is Pierre Schaeffer's Cinq Etudes de Bruis. Though this composition still seems to use the process of phase shifted clips there is a sense of structure, melody, and progression. I could certainly see this piece being used in a suspenseful movie scene.
But then again I haven't looked too deeply into this movement and I can't really say what its motivation really was. As a friend of mine likes to tell me, art is about the process not the product - if that was the intent here then this movement must have succeeded given we now live in a world with Kanye "Im'a let you finish" West.
Varese Edgard's Poeme Electronique sounds like a list of individual samples just strung together. I do not hear any order in the madness. Concret PH does not seem to attempt any melody or pattern. Perhaps the most mature of the pieces listed is Pierre Schaeffer's Cinq Etudes de Bruis. Though this composition still seems to use the process of phase shifted clips there is a sense of structure, melody, and progression. I could certainly see this piece being used in a suspenseful movie scene.
But then again I haven't looked too deeply into this movement and I can't really say what its motivation really was. As a friend of mine likes to tell me, art is about the process not the product - if that was the intent here then this movement must have succeeded given we now live in a world with Kanye "Im'a let you finish" West.
Sound Unbound Chapter 1
My only regret after reading the author's first chapter of sound unbound is that I read the first chapter of sound unbound. However, I can certainly understand why the author asserts that reality largely exists in our minds - based on the complete lack of unified thought in that text, the author must have a few people living in his head.
One take away I obtained from reading the text is a firm confirmation that I would have hated majoring in English. There seems to be some obsession in expressive writing with using unnecessarily complex diction, and trying as hard as one can to bury the message of the piece. Maybe thats how literary scholars weed out the wannabes? If you can read a text and draw a single valid conclusion then you must be a literary genius. I, however, have little appreciation for this pointless weaving of an SAT verbal section into a quilt of an essay. Although....maybe its the opposite of intelligence that results in this kind of writing. Reading this chapter felt a bit like listening to Sarah Palin - you're never quite sure what word will come next, nor what context she thinks shes in. I am finding especially with musicians that there is some innate need to forgo context. I mean, of course the author believes the world exists in our heads - he describes the world as if talking to himself...why provide context or connection or explanation, he already knows what hes talking about and thats all that matters.
Communication strategies aside (despite the fact the author makes a case for everything being information while epitomizing absolutely terrible transference of said information), I was not at all convinced that this concept of sampling is anything special. In fact, I couldn't even figure out if the author was claiming it was something new and revolutionary, or something as old as dirt. First we see architecture and music related to this idea of sampling - art forms we know are very old. Then we hear about this great impact of software and the internet and FTP servers (for whatever reason that particular technology was chosen...). What was the message here? I saw no cohesion to the argument.
Further, I believe I saw an assertion early on in the chapter that this idea of sampling resulted from an exhaustion of possibilities. For example, the author mentioned a painter who stopped painting because he felt that he was just filling in the spaces. Yes, a very nice choice to try and make that point about having exhausted originality and therefore needing to compose non-original pieces to achieve originality. There is probably no better choice than someone who's life revolves around taking a white rectangle, filling it, hanging it, and finally grabbing a new white rectangle. However, lets consider the theme of mashups in our technology driven culture. The purpose in software development has nothing to do with running out of things to create, it has to do with progress. We have reached a point where the man-hour investment to move forward is prohibitively expensive in the absence of a preexisting foundation. In fact, sampling is THE MECHANISM which ENABLES original software services that the layperson considers both engaging AND original. These products are far more than the sum of their parts and in this context the samples are nothing but gears in the machine - do we consider watches to be mashups because they are made of re-usable parts (or any other machine for that matter)? I certainly don't. Once the casing is added, if that casing is sufficient to hide the influence of the parts entirely, then what you have is original.
Look at it this way - what we call "original art/creation" looking back over history consists of artifacts built on the framework of nature. Why aren't those mashups? One would probably argue, because they required human inspiration to draw art from the chaos of nature! But our revolutionary web services don't? Of course they do - our web services are built from a specific selection of technologies which come from a chaotic sea of technologies. In fact, it probably requires even greater inspiration today because nature isn't expanding exponentially - but the technology selection is. Based on this single chapter I certainly do not accept the notion that building on a man-made framework somehow makes something a mashup while the earliest art pieces are original because they were built on a natural framework.
Finally, if the theme was that all of nature is a mashup, then I must wonder why the author needed to spend so much time grinding away at this point. Of course nature is a mashup - we've had a pretty good understanding of that fundamental fact for at least 100 years, and an intuitive understanding of that fact for a couple thousand years. There are atoms, and molecules, and cells, and organs, and organisms, and ecosystems, and worlds, and galaxies, and universes. There are fundamental combinations with finite or bounded possibilities like DNA, states of electrons, particle velocities, orbital patterns, etc, etc, etc. This is neither a new truth nor a new idea - the only people who are really just now arriving at this idea of universal connection and universal information are the despicable data miners working to turn all our information, habits, and interactions into a streamlined commercialism....and I'd rather they never realized it.
So maybe it would be good for the author to worry less about the universal implications of relativity and scope the claims more to the recent history of audio and video design - because I'm really not convinced these claims hold any water past that domain.
One take away I obtained from reading the text is a firm confirmation that I would have hated majoring in English. There seems to be some obsession in expressive writing with using unnecessarily complex diction, and trying as hard as one can to bury the message of the piece. Maybe thats how literary scholars weed out the wannabes? If you can read a text and draw a single valid conclusion then you must be a literary genius. I, however, have little appreciation for this pointless weaving of an SAT verbal section into a quilt of an essay. Although....maybe its the opposite of intelligence that results in this kind of writing. Reading this chapter felt a bit like listening to Sarah Palin - you're never quite sure what word will come next, nor what context she thinks shes in. I am finding especially with musicians that there is some innate need to forgo context. I mean, of course the author believes the world exists in our heads - he describes the world as if talking to himself...why provide context or connection or explanation, he already knows what hes talking about and thats all that matters.
Communication strategies aside (despite the fact the author makes a case for everything being information while epitomizing absolutely terrible transference of said information), I was not at all convinced that this concept of sampling is anything special. In fact, I couldn't even figure out if the author was claiming it was something new and revolutionary, or something as old as dirt. First we see architecture and music related to this idea of sampling - art forms we know are very old. Then we hear about this great impact of software and the internet and FTP servers (for whatever reason that particular technology was chosen...). What was the message here? I saw no cohesion to the argument.
Further, I believe I saw an assertion early on in the chapter that this idea of sampling resulted from an exhaustion of possibilities. For example, the author mentioned a painter who stopped painting because he felt that he was just filling in the spaces. Yes, a very nice choice to try and make that point about having exhausted originality and therefore needing to compose non-original pieces to achieve originality. There is probably no better choice than someone who's life revolves around taking a white rectangle, filling it, hanging it, and finally grabbing a new white rectangle. However, lets consider the theme of mashups in our technology driven culture. The purpose in software development has nothing to do with running out of things to create, it has to do with progress. We have reached a point where the man-hour investment to move forward is prohibitively expensive in the absence of a preexisting foundation. In fact, sampling is THE MECHANISM which ENABLES original software services that the layperson considers both engaging AND original. These products are far more than the sum of their parts and in this context the samples are nothing but gears in the machine - do we consider watches to be mashups because they are made of re-usable parts (or any other machine for that matter)? I certainly don't. Once the casing is added, if that casing is sufficient to hide the influence of the parts entirely, then what you have is original.
Look at it this way - what we call "original art/creation" looking back over history consists of artifacts built on the framework of nature. Why aren't those mashups? One would probably argue, because they required human inspiration to draw art from the chaos of nature! But our revolutionary web services don't? Of course they do - our web services are built from a specific selection of technologies which come from a chaotic sea of technologies. In fact, it probably requires even greater inspiration today because nature isn't expanding exponentially - but the technology selection is. Based on this single chapter I certainly do not accept the notion that building on a man-made framework somehow makes something a mashup while the earliest art pieces are original because they were built on a natural framework.
Finally, if the theme was that all of nature is a mashup, then I must wonder why the author needed to spend so much time grinding away at this point. Of course nature is a mashup - we've had a pretty good understanding of that fundamental fact for at least 100 years, and an intuitive understanding of that fact for a couple thousand years. There are atoms, and molecules, and cells, and organs, and organisms, and ecosystems, and worlds, and galaxies, and universes. There are fundamental combinations with finite or bounded possibilities like DNA, states of electrons, particle velocities, orbital patterns, etc, etc, etc. This is neither a new truth nor a new idea - the only people who are really just now arriving at this idea of universal connection and universal information are the despicable data miners working to turn all our information, habits, and interactions into a streamlined commercialism....and I'd rather they never realized it.
So maybe it would be good for the author to worry less about the universal implications of relativity and scope the claims more to the recent history of audio and video design - because I'm really not convinced these claims hold any water past that domain.
Debussy pillage
I attempted to amend Claude Debussy's "Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun", with general un-success. Although the piece is really quite perfect at moments, I thought it might be nice to add some "jungle" techno, percussion to the whole thing. This did not work incredibly well, but I am posting the effort nonetheless.
Debussy remix by alexahenderson
I made the two beats in Ableton with MIDI drum racks, and reversed one of the beats in Audacity. I also downloaded a free midi manipulator called "SampleTank", which looked cool, but I have not installed as I do not remember the process. I also found a site which seems to have a TON OF VST plugins for Windows especially, and could be great to utilize I think: http://www.freesoundeditor.com/VSTFiltereng.htm
Debussy remix by alexahenderson
I made the two beats in Ableton with MIDI drum racks, and reversed one of the beats in Audacity. I also downloaded a free midi manipulator called "SampleTank", which looked cool, but I have not installed as I do not remember the process. I also found a site which seems to have a TON OF VST plugins for Windows especially, and could be great to utilize I think: http://www.freesoundeditor.com/VSTFiltereng.htm
Soundscapes and listening assingment
Here's the 5 soundscapes I created. Feel free to comment on them. Enjoy!
Random Soundscape by lobochristian
Boat Fishing by lobochristian
Scary Movie by lobochristian
RestaurantSoundscape by lobochristian
RandomSoundscape3 by lobochristian
Also, I had the chance to listen to the 3 tracks in the Sound Unbound CD that Pat assigned:
1) Iannis Xenakis - Concrete Ph: I tried to figure out what source of audio Xenakis used in this piece but I really had no idea, especially when I looked it up. It's amazing to hear what the composers were doing back in the 50s. It looks like Xenakis is using different effects to create sounds in this track. Truly innovative for his time and something we still see in today's music.
2) Edgard Varèse - Poème Électronique: This track is a collection of sounds mixed together. I can hear some instruments and vocals. Just like the previous track, all of these sounds seem to be altered with filters and effects (echoes, fade ins, fade outs, phasers, etc). Something I found very interesting, and I'm sure it was revolutionary in its day, is the use of the sound panning.
3) Cinq Études De Bruits: Etude Violette - Pierre Schaeffer: Although this piece is a lot shorter than the other two, it is still very interesting. It sounds like Schaeffer enjoyed mixing sounds of different nature. I believe I can hear something that resembles a wind chime and maybe some rain in the background. This piece has an eerie vibe to it. Again, it can be clearly heard how Schaeffer used different techniques to modify sounds.
Random Soundscape by lobochristian
Boat Fishing by lobochristian
Scary Movie by lobochristian
RestaurantSoundscape by lobochristian
RandomSoundscape3 by lobochristian
Also, I had the chance to listen to the 3 tracks in the Sound Unbound CD that Pat assigned:
1) Iannis Xenakis - Concrete Ph: I tried to figure out what source of audio Xenakis used in this piece but I really had no idea, especially when I looked it up. It's amazing to hear what the composers were doing back in the 50s. It looks like Xenakis is using different effects to create sounds in this track. Truly innovative for his time and something we still see in today's music.
2) Edgard Varèse - Poème Électronique: This track is a collection of sounds mixed together. I can hear some instruments and vocals. Just like the previous track, all of these sounds seem to be altered with filters and effects (echoes, fade ins, fade outs, phasers, etc). Something I found very interesting, and I'm sure it was revolutionary in its day, is the use of the sound panning.
3) Cinq Études De Bruits: Etude Violette - Pierre Schaeffer: Although this piece is a lot shorter than the other two, it is still very interesting. It sounds like Schaeffer enjoyed mixing sounds of different nature. I believe I can hear something that resembles a wind chime and maybe some rain in the background. This piece has an eerie vibe to it. Again, it can be clearly heard how Schaeffer used different techniques to modify sounds.
After doing a little searching online about Xenakis I found this awesome youtube of a piece called Rebonds which is amazing! I have been listening to it all week, this guy is insane on the blocks, floor tom, congas etc. Here is the video of a guy playing the all percussion based piece. Amazing!!
I love his avante guarde style as seen in the piece Metasta.This orchestral piece is inspired by a combination of Einsteins concept of time and Xenakis's memory of war pieces and sounds. Xenakis was also a well accomplished architect whose concept of music played into his architecture. He said that while space can be seen from multiple angles and directions, music can only be seen by one.
Phillip Glass is very similar to john cage who i wrote about last week when pertaining to minimalist music. I love this style. It is essentially compositions with a repetative melody. It builds on itself creating a wonderful experience. He has written scores for movies such as the Illusionist which is amazing as well as video games such as Grand Theft auto.
Here are my 5 mixes from sounds from FreeSound, Enjoy
-Tim
Homework Assignments and blog posting
I hope to see ALOT more posting as required by the lecture last week.
remember i am asking for
1:) soundcloud links to 5 of your mixes -- homework for the grade
2.) Blog posts on ANY of the people and topics we covered in lecture
[Cage, Glass, REICH,Xenakis,Varese, Max Matthews, Terry Riley, Satie]
3.) A blog on the Introduction by Steve Reich and the 1st Chapter by the author
4.) I also made an assigment regarding the Xenakis and the Varese listening
We will cover the chapter in Depth tomorrow and be moving into types of sounds and creating our vocabulary for understanding waveforms and types of synthesis.
As of NOON on Tuesday I do not see very many of you completing the assignments as given
pp
remember i am asking for
1:) soundcloud links to 5 of your mixes -- homework for the grade
2.) Blog posts on ANY of the people and topics we covered in lecture
[Cage, Glass, REICH,Xenakis,Varese, Max Matthews, Terry Riley, Satie]
3.) A blog on the Introduction by Steve Reich and the 1st Chapter by the author
4.) I also made an assigment regarding the Xenakis and the Varese listening
We will cover the chapter in Depth tomorrow and be moving into types of sounds and creating our vocabulary for understanding waveforms and types of synthesis.
As of NOON on Tuesday I do not see very many of you completing the assignments as given
pp
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sampling and the Creative Act
I found this week's readings to be quite involved. Dj. Spooky's essay on "Sampling and the Creative Act" is rife with references to other people's work and ideas and is really quite impressive as a catalog of knowledge on various topics. Miller's writing style mimics the idea he is conveying: the world is at this point a shared information culture, and that more and more ideas intersect and people understand the world in terms of the technology that surrounds us. Paul seems to be invigorated by this idea, with a sense of possibility as to what can be created and experienced by this sort of "democratization" of media, information, and the creative pursuit. I tend to take a little more pessimistic view of the path that I see civilization heading down. Though I think that there is something very profound in the idea of a shared culture and experience on a global scale, I do think that there is too much emphasis on thought and information, which is leading to more and more technology and individual expression, and less and less to nature and more lasting forms connection, which may come from activities such as meditation, quieting the mind, and simply enjoying what is.
Among one of Spooky's many references is one to David Bohm's Thought as System. Upon looking into this resource, I was interested to see that David Bohm (a quantum physicist who helped develop the first atomic bomb) actually summed up much of what I was thinking with this book (a part not implicated by Spooky). From Wikipedia:
Thought as a System
Bohm was alarmed by what he considered an increasing imbalance of not only man and nature, but among peoples, as well as people, themselves. Bohm: "So one begins to wonder what is going to happen to the human race. Technology keeps on advancing with greater and greater power, either for good or for destruction." He goes on to ask:
What is the source of all this trouble? I'm saying that the source is basically in thought. Many people would think that such a statement is crazy, because thought is the one thing we have with which to solve our problems. That's part of our tradition. Yet it looks as if the thing we use to solve our problems with is the source of our problems. It's like going to the doctor and having him make you ill. In fact, in 20% of medical cases we do apparently have that going on. But in the case of thought, it's far over 20%.
Kooyanisqatsi
This movie was great. Personally, I thought it allows for reflection about humankind's impact on earth. There is a subtle but distinct transition throughout the movie: earth, nature, industrialism , man, technology.
I tried to focus most of my attention on the music composition of Phillip Glass. He has an amazing ability to engage the viewer and complement each of the images shown. In the beginning, soothing and slow pieces go hand in hand with beautiful landscapes, waterfalls, mountains, and clouds. As the movie progresses, and the human aspect is introduced, the music starts accelerating and increasing in power. Almost at the end of the film, the director portrays men as machines. It almost seems that the point he was trying to get across is to show men performing mundane tasks without thinking in a world where technology has taken over. Phillip Glass' music at this point has a march feel to it, hectic but steady.
At the end, it is impossible not to think about the effects man has had on earth and raises the questions about harmony between nature and mankind. The last scenes are a bit dark: pollution, city riots, beggars, and a space rocket exploding. These images leave you in a profound state of thought.
Kooyanisqatsi reminded me of another movie I've seen called Baraka. I did a little more research on both movies and it turns out the cinematographer for Kooyanisqatsi is the director for Baraka. According to Wikipedia, both movies are often compared. I suggest Baraka to anyone who enjoyed Kooyanisqatsi.
I tried to focus most of my attention on the music composition of Phillip Glass. He has an amazing ability to engage the viewer and complement each of the images shown. In the beginning, soothing and slow pieces go hand in hand with beautiful landscapes, waterfalls, mountains, and clouds. As the movie progresses, and the human aspect is introduced, the music starts accelerating and increasing in power. Almost at the end of the film, the director portrays men as machines. It almost seems that the point he was trying to get across is to show men performing mundane tasks without thinking in a world where technology has taken over. Phillip Glass' music at this point has a march feel to it, hectic but steady.
At the end, it is impossible not to think about the effects man has had on earth and raises the questions about harmony between nature and mankind. The last scenes are a bit dark: pollution, city riots, beggars, and a space rocket exploding. These images leave you in a profound state of thought.
Kooyanisqatsi reminded me of another movie I've seen called Baraka. I did a little more research on both movies and it turns out the cinematographer for Kooyanisqatsi is the director for Baraka. According to Wikipedia, both movies are often compared. I suggest Baraka to anyone who enjoyed Kooyanisqatsi.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Audacity Mixes
Below are the 5 audacity mixes I created this week:
Assn1-tribal-beat by user8480020
Assn1-trance-track by mcindafizzy
Assn1-Ambient-Horror-Storm by mcindafizzy
Assn1-ambient-track-2-creek by mcindafizzy
Assn1-ambient-track-3-lab by mcindafizzy
Please feel free to hit me with your thoughts.
Assn1-tribal-beat by user8480020
Assn1-trance-track by mcindafizzy
Assn1-Ambient-Horror-Storm by mcindafizzy
Assn1-ambient-track-2-creek by mcindafizzy
Assn1-ambient-track-3-lab by mcindafizzy
Please feel free to hit me with your thoughts.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Freesound audio "remixes"
Hello, here are four of the Freesound audio combinations I have put together. Will post an actual remix later...
Remix 1 by alexahenderson
Remix 2 by alexahenderson
Remix 3 by alexahenderson
Happy baby by alexahenderson
Remix 1 by alexahenderson
Remix 2 by alexahenderson
Remix 3 by alexahenderson
Happy baby by alexahenderson
Friday, January 21, 2011
How Techno Music Is Made
I found the following video while browsing some techno videos, I thought you guys might get a kick out of it:
Ravel's Bolero
I grew up listening to this piece. My mom would play it often at home and I've known about it since I was probably the age of 10. I was very surprised that Pat talked about it in class because I never thought of it as the "first minimal music composition". I knew the theme was repeated over and over by different instruments but I never researched or read anything about its origins.
Wikipedia has an interesting subsection on the structure of the song where it shows how the composition is played and the order of instruments.
I truly enjoy listening to this song especially how it slowly builds up from a single snare to an epic finale involving the whole orchestra.
Wikipedia has an interesting subsection on the structure of the song where it shows how the composition is played and the order of instruments.
I truly enjoy listening to this song especially how it slowly builds up from a single snare to an epic finale involving the whole orchestra.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Koyaanisqatsi for Free, and Legal on YouTube
A year or two ago, some films became legally available for watching on YouTube, uploaded by the studio or distributor with the rights for it. Koyaanisqatsi was one of the first films that MGM released to YouTube and can be watched in its entirety here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sps6C9u7ras
Looks pretty good, but I'd still rather see it on a DVD as it is closer to how it was meant to be seen (dark theater with large screen). Oh and also without interruptions, this one has five commercial breaks. Nonetheless, very useful! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sps6C9u7ras
Looks pretty good, but I'd still rather see it on a DVD as it is closer to how it was meant to be seen (dark theater with large screen). Oh and also without interruptions, this one has five commercial breaks. Nonetheless, very useful! Enjoy!
Mashups
Pat keeps mentioning mashups, and I figured I'd just put up a post about the first mashup I ever heard. It's called Thunderbusters, and it is a mashup of Ghostbusters and Thunderstruck. I must say, I never would have expected the two to go together so well... but they do. I had never even really heard the term mashup until I heard it. Since hearing that one, there haven't been too many that I liked, but I still love the concept. Here's the link to the video in case you haven't seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiH1wNmZTII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiH1wNmZTII
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Ambient Music / John Cage
Brian Eno is an experimental music musician, so far covered in class for his use of and heavy contributions to ambient music. Apart from that Eno has worked on other minimalist music, glam and art rock acts, electronic music among others. He's worked with David Bowie (popularizing minimalism), David Byrne (apparently this song was used in the recent Wall Street movie), among others. His composition Ambient 1/Music for Airports, came to be in an attempt to make soothing, obstructive ambient music that can diffuse the tense atmosphere of airports.
In class it was mentioned that this piece was designed to also be something that can be easily interrupted, and continue playing without the abruptness of inserting a pause in the middle of a pop song, and the sudden change in tempo between the announcer talking and the song. I tried this myself using the YouTube clip that was played in class, and noticed how certain this is. While a straight cut (clicking on a different point in the timeline of the clip) doesn't work when it occurs just after a new note is played, it never fails when the clip starts playing again regardless of where I start from. In fact, the music falls to the background so easily, that if instead of going back to where the first cut was, going ahead to another portion would most likely go unnoticed by people in airports. The abruptness of the initial cut (from music to interruption) can easily be diffused by having a one second fade or a crossfade into the tone that signals that a message is about to be announced.
Eno also designed the Windows startup sound for Windows 95. Here's a video that has all the windows startup sounds up to 7, and in my opinion, the best ones are Windows 95 and 98, surprisingly enough, the Vista/7 sound sounds very uninspired.
Somewhere where I read about minimalism John Cage came up, so I read about him and realized he was the composer of 4'33". I didn't know the name of it at the time, but had heard from many teachers and professors about a composer whose composition consisted of the performing sitting at a piano and not playing, but rather that the "music" or sound of the performance was that made by people as they shuffled in their chairs, coughed, or talked as time went by and the performer "didn't do anything." I realized "ohh this is the guy," and after reading about him I'm not surprised it is so.
Going off that type of composition (which he revisted twice as 0'00"/4'33" #2 and in One³), comes a link between him and ambient music. 4'33" pretty much presented ambient sounds to an audience, its own ambient sounds that its members would produce under such circumstances. As in Brian Eno's Music for Airports, where it's designed for it not have any active listeners, Cage's 4'33" has the opposite, extremely seeking listeners, at least on that first performace, evidenced by the fact that some people left the theater. Ironically at the same time, these first listeners were also extremely passive, as in their search for music or the hint of any musical sound, most, or at least the ones that left, were completely passive to the ambient sounds of the hall, the coughs and shuffles, making 4'33" an ambient composition.
In class it was mentioned that this piece was designed to also be something that can be easily interrupted, and continue playing without the abruptness of inserting a pause in the middle of a pop song, and the sudden change in tempo between the announcer talking and the song. I tried this myself using the YouTube clip that was played in class, and noticed how certain this is. While a straight cut (clicking on a different point in the timeline of the clip) doesn't work when it occurs just after a new note is played, it never fails when the clip starts playing again regardless of where I start from. In fact, the music falls to the background so easily, that if instead of going back to where the first cut was, going ahead to another portion would most likely go unnoticed by people in airports. The abruptness of the initial cut (from music to interruption) can easily be diffused by having a one second fade or a crossfade into the tone that signals that a message is about to be announced.
Eno also designed the Windows startup sound for Windows 95. Here's a video that has all the windows startup sounds up to 7, and in my opinion, the best ones are Windows 95 and 98, surprisingly enough, the Vista/7 sound sounds very uninspired.
Somewhere where I read about minimalism John Cage came up, so I read about him and realized he was the composer of 4'33". I didn't know the name of it at the time, but had heard from many teachers and professors about a composer whose composition consisted of the performing sitting at a piano and not playing, but rather that the "music" or sound of the performance was that made by people as they shuffled in their chairs, coughed, or talked as time went by and the performer "didn't do anything." I realized "ohh this is the guy," and after reading about him I'm not surprised it is so.
Going off that type of composition (which he revisted twice as 0'00"/4'33" #2 and in One³), comes a link between him and ambient music. 4'33" pretty much presented ambient sounds to an audience, its own ambient sounds that its members would produce under such circumstances. As in Brian Eno's Music for Airports, where it's designed for it not have any active listeners, Cage's 4'33" has the opposite, extremely seeking listeners, at least on that first performace, evidenced by the fact that some people left the theater. Ironically at the same time, these first listeners were also extremely passive, as in their search for music or the hint of any musical sound, most, or at least the ones that left, were completely passive to the ambient sounds of the hall, the coughs and shuffles, making 4'33" an ambient composition.
I really enjoyed the idea of just intonation because I was able to link together other passions of mine with this theory. I play piano and trumpet and when we discuss the perfect 5th or the 6/5 minor 3rd (blues) I can relate that all back to playing certain styles on the piano.
Just intonation is simply a musical tuning system which are related by ratios of whole numbers. Some examples of groups that rely on JI would be barber shop quartets that are all assigned a note, 1,3,5,7 (or something).
We went over some pieces of John Cage in last semesters class around the idea of minimalistic music. This type of music is where the art is stripped down to it's core fundamentals and essentially loops on top. I love to see how this all connects with the tuning roots mentioned above. It just allows a deeper understanding of the music your playing. (whether on an ipod or live).
I have been listening to a lot of Erik Satie this week and truly enjoy his ambient work. Gymnopedie is great. They are very gentle yet somewhat eccentric and don't complete consume your subconcious when listening. They allow for multitasking. It's interesting because these works were the pieces that were said to be most different from his grass roots (His parents pieces) which were salon music. This was his attempt at radical change almost. He slowed the music down and provided a slight dissonance against the harmony which provided that mild melancholy feeling.....
All n All, everything we are talking about in this class is wrapped up in that pieces. Making the listener feel a certain way by producing certain sounds. Manipulating our feelings through chord structure and frequencies.. Interesting stuff
-Tim
Not a post about Just Intonation
Because Pat said we could blog on anything he talked about, I figured I'd talk a little bit about things I understood to some degree. While Just Intonation had some things about it that made sense, I really wasn't able to grasp it fully, so I figured I'd talk a bit about John Cage.
When Pat first mentioned John Cage, what immediately came to mind for me was the altered piano. I must admit, the fist time I ever heard the altered piano, I was a little put off. I didn't know what to think. I laughed a little, strained my ears a little and just thought, "well maybe if I listen again..." For those of you who don't know what an altered (or prepared, if you'd rather) piano is, it is a piano that has had objects like erasers, forks, etc. put on and between specific strings inside a piano. This gives the strings altered sounds when they are struck, which allows for an all new alternative kind of music, which is exactly what I first heard from John Cage. If you're going to look up any pieces like this, I would suggest Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, Sonata No. 2. If you google that exactly, it should pull up in the video links.
Something else I would like to talk about is ambient music. When I heard Music for Airports I thought "huh... so this is ambient music." Then I remembered a couple pieces that I have written and thought "well now I know what to label them as." Ambient music is not something I think I would go out of my way to listen to, but I will agree that it probably wouldn't ever really get on my nerves. It really is a background sort of thing that you hardly notice, but when you do notice it, it's not because it bothers you.
Anyway, I guess I'll leave off there for now. See you all tomorrow.
When Pat first mentioned John Cage, what immediately came to mind for me was the altered piano. I must admit, the fist time I ever heard the altered piano, I was a little put off. I didn't know what to think. I laughed a little, strained my ears a little and just thought, "well maybe if I listen again..." For those of you who don't know what an altered (or prepared, if you'd rather) piano is, it is a piano that has had objects like erasers, forks, etc. put on and between specific strings inside a piano. This gives the strings altered sounds when they are struck, which allows for an all new alternative kind of music, which is exactly what I first heard from John Cage. If you're going to look up any pieces like this, I would suggest Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, Sonata No. 2. If you google that exactly, it should pull up in the video links.
Something else I would like to talk about is ambient music. When I heard Music for Airports I thought "huh... so this is ambient music." Then I remembered a couple pieces that I have written and thought "well now I know what to label them as." Ambient music is not something I think I would go out of my way to listen to, but I will agree that it probably wouldn't ever really get on my nerves. It really is a background sort of thing that you hardly notice, but when you do notice it, it's not because it bothers you.
Anyway, I guess I'll leave off there for now. See you all tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Just Intonation Afterthoughts
Though it is probably clear to all of us what Just Intonation means, I thought the following was a very concise definition:
Just Intonation: system of tuning in which the distances between pitches are based on the natural harmonic series instead of the octave being equally divided
Now, can anyone explain to me the meaning of terms like 5th's, 3rd's, 7th's, etc? I know we said in class that 3's are 5's and 5's are 3's to remember that two particular ratios were called a perfect 5th and a perfect 3rd (at least I think we said it was 3 and 5), but that really doesn't mean anything to me. What is a 5th and whats a 3rd?
In the Just Intonation article 5th's, 3rd's, 7th's, and a myriad of even stranger terms were equated to all sorts of unusual ratios. Now I couldn't see any obvious correlation between the factors of these ratios and the 5th, 3rd, 7th, etc being used to describe it. Therefore when he started speaking in terms of these constructs I really couldn't follow along - I'm sure he was making a very interesting point but I don't have a clue what he was trying to say.
Any help out there?
Unusual Scale Similarity
Reading the piece of Just Intonation I made my way to the authors mp3 recording where he claimed to use a 16 pitch octave. When listening to it, I immediately recalled the Marilyn Manson track from Resident Evil. I have no idea if Marilyn Manson used a similar scale or if its just the way I'm hearing it, but to me the two tracks seem to have some striking similarities:
Author's Track:
Marilyn Manson Track:
Also since we will be talking about the effects of certain audio choices on the listener, I find that the unusual pitch in the Manson track is really what makes that song feel a bit terrifying...when I watched the movie for the first time that song really up'ed the anxiety level, but somehow in an exciting way.
Opinion on Steve Reich
I also had the opportunity of reading through the first chapter of the book written by Steve Reich. I searched for most of the songs and videos mentioned in the text as I read with the intention of understanding a little more. I'm not going to lie, my first impression was: "what the hell is this guy doing?". I don't mean to insult anyone and by no means I consider myself an expert in the area. I just didn't get it; especially "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out". I found both pieces hard to listen to. I honestly tried my best to make it past the 2 or 3 minute mark. Something I do have to mention is that this is innovative for its time. In Steve Reich's Wikipedia article it is mentioned that "he is considered to have altered the direction of music history". I'm pretty sure you can't say that about a lot of other artists.
My opinion started changing a bit when I searched for "Violin Phase" and "Drumming". In the text he talks about stepping away from technology for a bit and do something more instrumental so it could be played live. So I searched for live performances of these two songs. Then, my mind was blown away. Not necessarily by the content of the work but by the skilled musicians who actually play it. I am not trained in music, the little I know I've learned on my own, but I understand enough to know that playing this and this takes a lot of focus and training. To purposely move around the beat in phase then out of phase is amazing. So, I think I understand Reich's work better now.
I appreciated more of his late work, like Alexa mentioned. "Different Trains" and "City Life" is much more complex and I find it a little more pleasing. It was very interesting to learn about Steve Reich and knowing the importance he's had on music history.
My opinion started changing a bit when I searched for "Violin Phase" and "Drumming". In the text he talks about stepping away from technology for a bit and do something more instrumental so it could be played live. So I searched for live performances of these two songs. Then, my mind was blown away. Not necessarily by the content of the work but by the skilled musicians who actually play it. I am not trained in music, the little I know I've learned on my own, but I understand enough to know that playing this and this takes a lot of focus and training. To purposely move around the beat in phase then out of phase is amazing. So, I think I understand Reich's work better now.
I appreciated more of his late work, like Alexa mentioned. "Different Trains" and "City Life" is much more complex and I find it a little more pleasing. It was very interesting to learn about Steve Reich and knowing the importance he's had on music history.
I read the Intro by Steve Reich in "Sound Unboand" and looked up the sampling pieces "It's Gonna Rain" as well as "Different Trains", to better comprehend the fascination with minimalist music, phase shifting and what can be achieved with looped sounds. Although I thought the accompanying visuals someone put together to match Steve Reich's first composition were much more moving than the music alone :
Steve Reich - It's Gonna Rain - Part 1
Uploaded by inlandempires. - See the latest featured music videos.
I am trying to approach the music from the idea that what Reich was doing with taped sound- working with phase shifting and creating beats and "textured" compositions out of new repetitious materials using new technology (tape recordings)- had never been done before in 1965. Then I can appreciate the work a little more fully.
His 1988 piece, "Different Trains", which won him a Grammy, is more "mature" in it's artistic expression, which makes sense, as he would have been working for over 20 years at this point as a musician. The piece interweaves tape recordings of Holocaust survivors, people talking about train routes in America, taped recordings of trains, as well as music he wrote for violin and cello, to create another novel listening experience. I did like this better, as there seems to be a little more of a point, or "motivation" for the work than just the novelty of phase recording. Though the beginning sounds are in a key that sounds more foreboding, after the first third, the piece turns to more of a hopeful, upbeat tone for most of the song. It is interesting to hear what can be done with largely repetitious musical phrasing.
Steve Reich - It's Gonna Rain - Part 1
Uploaded by inlandempires. - See the latest featured music videos.
I am trying to approach the music from the idea that what Reich was doing with taped sound- working with phase shifting and creating beats and "textured" compositions out of new repetitious materials using new technology (tape recordings)- had never been done before in 1965. Then I can appreciate the work a little more fully.
His 1988 piece, "Different Trains", which won him a Grammy, is more "mature" in it's artistic expression, which makes sense, as he would have been working for over 20 years at this point as a musician. The piece interweaves tape recordings of Holocaust survivors, people talking about train routes in America, taped recordings of trains, as well as music he wrote for violin and cello, to create another novel listening experience. I did like this better, as there seems to be a little more of a point, or "motivation" for the work than just the novelty of phase recording. Though the beginning sounds are in a key that sounds more foreboding, after the first third, the piece turns to more of a hopeful, upbeat tone for most of the song. It is interesting to hear what can be done with largely repetitious musical phrasing.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Just Intonation vs. Equal Tuning
Ok, I am just weighing in on the mathematics/logic of the scale/tuning. I read up on the "Just intonation" and I thought it made sense until I read down partway through #2 and realized we were not talking about the scale I was thinking we were talking about (now I know the one I am thinking about is the Equal Tuning scale). I think I need to discuss these concepts more in class if I am going to understand them...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Intro and other things...
Hello everyone,
My name is Christian Lobo and I'm a Masters student in Mechanical Engineering. I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I am very passionate about music and sounds and I'm very excited to be taking this class.
I'm not really sure if I can add much more to what has been said about harmonics. I tried looking up some videos that would show this phenomena and I'm came across this one. It's interesting to see how the nodes and overall shape increases in complexity as the frequency goes up. Also, this video shows the importance of the harmonics into identifying a known sound to us. I wonder how other things would sound if we take some harmonics out.
For the soundscape assignment, I created a random one which ended up being pretty cool and a fishing themed.
One last thing I came across a while ago and something I might be interesting in doing as a project in this class. It's almost unbelievable how you can manipulate and modify sounds to make them whatever you want given the right equipment.
My name is Christian Lobo and I'm a Masters student in Mechanical Engineering. I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I am very passionate about music and sounds and I'm very excited to be taking this class.
I'm not really sure if I can add much more to what has been said about harmonics. I tried looking up some videos that would show this phenomena and I'm came across this one. It's interesting to see how the nodes and overall shape increases in complexity as the frequency goes up. Also, this video shows the importance of the harmonics into identifying a known sound to us. I wonder how other things would sound if we take some harmonics out.
For the soundscape assignment, I created a random one which ended up being pretty cool and a fishing themed.
One last thing I came across a while ago and something I might be interesting in doing as a project in this class. It's almost unbelievable how you can manipulate and modify sounds to make them whatever you want given the right equipment.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Harmonic Series and Freesound mix
Here is the link to my freesound mix:
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/audio-design-1
One description that I read about the harmonic series said this:
"The Harmonic Series
If a listener concentrates well while hearing a single, sustained pitch (or looks at the sound waves of the pitch on an oscilloscope) the listener hears not only the strong tone of the pitch but also higher and softer pitches above the more noticeable lower tone. These additional higher and fainter pitches that occur above the stronger and lower pitch are produced by the vibrating object. Because they are softer than the lower tone they are much harder to hear. A listener must concentrate intensely to be aware of these acoustical phenomena; however, they are seen quite easily on an oscilloscope."
I don't really know if this is pertinent to the harmonic series, but when looking at this description, I couldn't help but think about octave pedals. I don't know how many of you are into guitar, but an octave pedal allows you to play any tone from several octaves at a time. It's something that, like a harmonic series, is rather tough to notice, but really offers a cool tone if you happen to be listening for it.
http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/audio-design-1
One description that I read about the harmonic series said this:
"The Harmonic Series
If a listener concentrates well while hearing a single, sustained pitch (or looks at the sound waves of the pitch on an oscilloscope) the listener hears not only the strong tone of the pitch but also higher and softer pitches above the more noticeable lower tone. These additional higher and fainter pitches that occur above the stronger and lower pitch are produced by the vibrating object. Because they are softer than the lower tone they are much harder to hear. A listener must concentrate intensely to be aware of these acoustical phenomena; however, they are seen quite easily on an oscilloscope."
I don't really know if this is pertinent to the harmonic series, but when looking at this description, I couldn't help but think about octave pedals. I don't know how many of you are into guitar, but an octave pedal allows you to play any tone from several octaves at a time. It's something that, like a harmonic series, is rather tough to notice, but really offers a cool tone if you happen to be listening for it.
Blog Assignments
Are not optional.
It is now 12:08 and several of you have not blogged on the Harmonic series as requested and will not get full points on the assignment. I will explain in depth and give you options on what you may choose to blog on each week, but i expect that you blog prior to the class day so i may read them and we all may comment and communicate with each other during the week.
If you have NOT blogged on the harmonic series YET, please do so but realise everything AFTER this post is essentially LATE and will not receive full credit.
pp
It is now 12:08 and several of you have not blogged on the Harmonic series as requested and will not get full points on the assignment. I will explain in depth and give you options on what you may choose to blog on each week, but i expect that you blog prior to the class day so i may read them and we all may comment and communicate with each other during the week.
If you have NOT blogged on the harmonic series YET, please do so but realise everything AFTER this post is essentially LATE and will not receive full credit.
pp
Fundamental Frequencies and Harmonic Series
Hey all,
I'm Andres, Film and Media Studies major and Mass Communications minor, looking to graduate next fall. I have a pretty sound/music intensive project I'm currently working on and I'm looking forward to this class as it will probably be of great help.
A friend of mine that is music inclined once explained to me the harmonic series, I just didn't realize it was what we were talking about in class. But to get there I should first discuss what I've found on fundamental frequency. In plainest terms, the fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency at which an object vibrates freely. This is one of the definitions I found, but mostly applies to just physics. In music however, this is incomplete. A fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. If I'm correct, periodic waveforms in sound are sustained sounds without varying pitch, although their frequency may be low enough that you can hear the variations in wavelength. Because the wave is periodic, meaning it repeats exactly the same, one period alone of the wave serves to describe the entire wave. This period is thus known as the fundamental period, and the lowest frequency for which this smooth repetition remains true is the fundamental frequency. The fundamental frequency is also the first harmonic.
The harmonic series then is the series of sounds produced when the frequency is increased by adding the initial frequency repeatedly. For example if the frequency of the fundamental is 50 Hz, the second harmonic would be 100 Hz, the third 150 Hz, etc. The harmonic series is related by whole number ratios, and like stated before, have periodic waveforms. When these are played in conjunction to each other, they sound very smooth and pleasant, whereas other notes whose frequency does not fall in the harmonic frequency, have irregular and/or non-repeating wavelengths, and thus don't sound nearly as pleasant. This is because all the tones on a harmonic series are related by whole number ratios; same wave with increased frequency by two times, three times, four times, etc.
I have heard this being played in a piano, going up a harmonic series from C to C to G... etc, and with dissonant keys not from the series thrown in to clarify the point.
On another note I found this video on YouTube about an iPod application that may help on the understanding of periodic waves.
I'm Andres, Film and Media Studies major and Mass Communications minor, looking to graduate next fall. I have a pretty sound/music intensive project I'm currently working on and I'm looking forward to this class as it will probably be of great help.
A friend of mine that is music inclined once explained to me the harmonic series, I just didn't realize it was what we were talking about in class. But to get there I should first discuss what I've found on fundamental frequency. In plainest terms, the fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency at which an object vibrates freely. This is one of the definitions I found, but mostly applies to just physics. In music however, this is incomplete. A fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. If I'm correct, periodic waveforms in sound are sustained sounds without varying pitch, although their frequency may be low enough that you can hear the variations in wavelength. Because the wave is periodic, meaning it repeats exactly the same, one period alone of the wave serves to describe the entire wave. This period is thus known as the fundamental period, and the lowest frequency for which this smooth repetition remains true is the fundamental frequency. The fundamental frequency is also the first harmonic.
The harmonic series then is the series of sounds produced when the frequency is increased by adding the initial frequency repeatedly. For example if the frequency of the fundamental is 50 Hz, the second harmonic would be 100 Hz, the third 150 Hz, etc. The harmonic series is related by whole number ratios, and like stated before, have periodic waveforms. When these are played in conjunction to each other, they sound very smooth and pleasant, whereas other notes whose frequency does not fall in the harmonic frequency, have irregular and/or non-repeating wavelengths, and thus don't sound nearly as pleasant. This is because all the tones on a harmonic series are related by whole number ratios; same wave with increased frequency by two times, three times, four times, etc.
I have heard this being played in a piano, going up a harmonic series from C to C to G... etc, and with dissonant keys not from the series thrown in to clarify the point.
On another note I found this video on YouTube about an iPod application that may help on the understanding of periodic waves.
Harmonic series.. so essentially every sound has a frequency which is a wavelength, the higher the note the shorter the wavelength and the shorter the frequency. Each instrument creates a different sound due to its structure which creates a different wavelength and frequency even though they all may be hitting the same middle c.
A harmonic series can have any note as its fundamental wavelength. So there are many different harmonic series but the relationship between frequencies in the series are the same. So essentially say you have a trumpet on a middle C, that creates a fundamental wavelength...lets call it the "Fundamental note"..or the "Fundamental Harmonic"... the second harmonic always has exactly half the wavelength (twice the freq) of the fundamental; the third harmonic always has exactly a third of the wavelength (3 times the freq) of the fundamental.. etc..
Thats essentially it. From what i understand
-Tim
Interesting Stuff
Hey guys. Just thought you all might be interested in seeing this... It's a pretty cool little project, I think. It's called Tanguy Ukulele Orchestra, and it is this guy who put together little clips of himself humming and what not. They actually come together to be something tangible. I was thinking about doing something like this for one of the projects. Let me know what you all think.
http://www.miniclash.com/tuo/
http://www.miniclash.com/tuo/
Introduction
Greetings,
I just wanted to introduce myself to the class. My name is Matthew Carroll and I am a Masters student with Digital Worlds. I have bachelors degrees in both Computer Science and Mathematics. I'm with Digital Worlds to help gain some proficiency in creative media to compliment my software development skills.
When it comes to audio design I have zero experience. I played with Fruity Loops and Rebirth about 10 years ago but gave up very quickly. However, I do love techno music and hope that we can pick up some skills in that area this semester.
I read a bit about harmonics as requested but it seems the amount of it I understand has already been posted on this blog. There is one element, though, that might benefit from some clarification. We keep hearing this term "fundamental" and it wasn't clear to me what "fundamental" was. One finds that harmonics are multiples of this "fundamental" frequency - and a "harmonic series" is based on multiples of the fundamental frequency. In examples it seemed that the fundamental frequency was taken from nowhere - just some hypothetical number.
So I'd like to clarify how one arrives at a fundamental frequency. Consider a string. If you hold that string taught at both ends and pluck it, that string will vibrate in and out at some frequency - this frequency cannot be changed no matter how hard you pluck because its based on the length and type of the string. The longer the string, the more distance in its vibration, the lower its frequency. The shorter the string, the less distance in its vibration, the higher its frequency. Thus this "fundamental frequency" is that frequency at which a string will vibrate when held taught at both ends. However, this concept extends to other media as well - for example air in a cylinder has this concept of a fundamental frequency, and though I don't remember this for sure, my guess is that metal rods also have this fundamental vibration frequency (tuning forks?).
I hope that helps someone.
Matt
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Harmonics
I did a little reading on "harmonics" and the "harmonic series". I play the guitar, so this is good stuff for string instrument players, especially, to understand. Basically, I am understanding that most of the sounds we hear are complex. A sound oscillates, or vibrates at multiple frequencies for even one note. If the frequencies are integers of a fundamental frequency, they produce sounds that are harmonics of each other.An integer of something means simply that if the fundamental frequency is 25Hz, that 2 x 25Hz, 3 x 25Hz and so on, would produce the harmonics for that particular wave. Conversely, if a wave is oscillating at partials/frequencies that are not integers of each other, the sound is referred to as inharmonic and not so pleasing to the novice ear.
The way that our ear discerns the different styles of sound or timbre (ie: the difference between the flute and the clarinet playing the same note), is the result of the relative strengths of each individual frequency making up the sound.
Monday, January 10, 2011
SPRING 2011
Hello and welcome to Sping 2011 ADDP
SO far we did the intro to the class and covered what we will be doing and i gave a basic outline of my expectations, history and qualifications for this course. I hope you all are as excited as i am about this class, we will have a nice intimate class and i hope to get to know you all and share some great design ideas, technologies and interests inside this semester.
SO far i have asked that you
DOWNLOAD AUDACITY and play with it a bit if you can
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download
Join Freesound
http://www.freesound.org
and create a soundcloud account too
http://soundcloud.com
just so we can find, edit and upload our work as well as joining blogger!
see you all tomorrow when we start tweaking!
SO far we did the intro to the class and covered what we will be doing and i gave a basic outline of my expectations, history and qualifications for this course. I hope you all are as excited as i am about this class, we will have a nice intimate class and i hope to get to know you all and share some great design ideas, technologies and interests inside this semester.
SO far i have asked that you
DOWNLOAD AUDACITY and play with it a bit if you can
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download
Join Freesound
http://www.freesound.org
and create a soundcloud account too
http://soundcloud.com
just so we can find, edit and upload our work as well as joining blogger!
see you all tomorrow when we start tweaking!
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