Music For the Ages

Iconic Music for the Decades:

50's - "That'll be the Day" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets
60's - "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals
70's - "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder
80's - "Purple Rain" by Prince and the Revolution
90's - "Come as you are" by Nirvana
00's - "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas

Rocky – Punchout Style

For my midterm project, I replaced the audio of several clips from Rocky and Rocky 3, namely part of the training montage in Rocky and the final fight in Rocky 3.  I used music from Mike Tyson’s Punchout on the NES.  Through Ableton, I processed the main music for both scenes from MIDI files, as well as a few of the sound effects.  The majority of the sound effects were downloaded or generated then processed through Audacity.  I placed the sound effects and music strategically throughout the piece in order to sync 8-bit punches and allow for the proper mood setting.  In order to collect the music for the project, I did a Google search of “Punchout Midi” and of “Punchout Music.”  The sound effects were collected either through the sites that held the music or were generated through the following site:

http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/

Waning Hope

For my piece, I selected a scene from Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) and redesigned the audio. Keeping with the cinematic nature of the piece, my goal was to update it, preserving the dramatic sound effects, but reconfiguring the bed and tone of the scene. In the original selection, the music takes almost a religious tone with choir like vocals accompanying the scene.  Though my version of the scene remains hopeful at times, I wanted to utilize a stronger, repetitive beat to relay the character’s frustration.

All the sound effects in my piece were found on free sound, including the water, waves, sails, footsteps and creak in the ship. For the waves, sails and water, I added reverb to increase the size of the room (the movie takes place in a small town-size dome). I also used filters, loops and adjusted the attack and decay for various portions. The bed of the piece comes from a midi file “Where is My Mind.” For my project, I worked in and out of Ableton, Audacity, Final Cut Pro and Noatikl.

Need video clips?

So I found a nifty little site that downloads any Youtube movie in any format.  You just need to find it on youtube and paste the link into the site's search function.  I suggest you use Chrome for this site, as it is in a foreign language (Finnish or something, I think?) and Chrome automatically translates, I believe.

http://www.lataayoutube.com/

Missed Class

I wasn't able to make it to class today, but can anyone give me a quick run-down on what was missed please?

Midterm Proposal

For my midterm, I'd like to design the audio for a clip from the Truman Show, specifically the ending scene on the boat. This project will allow me to experiment with sound effects as well as creating a bed and multilayer soundtrack. 

This is a clip with a terrible soundtrack I found on Youtube. It's not the complete scene (beginning at 3:23), but it gives you a good idea what I'm wanting to work on as far as the visual references go.

I have the movie, but I'm still trying to find a good converter/way to pull it from playing on my screen to a short 3-5 minute file with solid original audio.

If anyone has a suggestion of some freeware for Mac, please let me know.

Mid-Term

I didn't know what songs I wanted to remix and I don't know too many rock songs so I chose these 3 songs that I thought were pretty good midi's and will mix "My guitar gently weeps" by Beatles, "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots, and "Black Gold of the Sun" by Nuyorican soul. These are somewhat of the "feel" I wish to achieve

 or maybe

This is what I have so far
http://soundcloud.com/lewis-chester/gently-weeps

Plugged in Baby (mix)

http://soundcloud.com/squirtleswag-1/plugged-in-baby
The name pretty much tells you what artist's song is playing

Miguelsynth mix

Oh, heeeeeelp me pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry to put such SOS post on the blog! But I really don't know why when I drag an "audio effect" to a midi track, the volume track cannot receive the signal and always keep grey! I can input notes through my keyboard, but cannot edit the midi file outside! If anybody meet the same problem and already solved, please contect me! My email address is zhedeng319@ufl.edu!!!

Thank you again!!!!!!!

Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/479202575444898/

Join it!

Remix-- Live

http://soundcloud.com/michelle-lee-33/remix-1
http://soundcloud.com/michelle-lee-33/remix-2
http://soundcloud.com/michelle-lee-33/remix-3

Ghoul Fight!

So here's my Ableton filter... Let's see if any of you can guess what it was.

http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/ghoul-fight

Beck remixes Philip Glass

Here's the 20-minute entirety of Beck's take on Philip Glass' work. It's called "NYC 73-78" and contains Beck's patchwork remix collage of more than 20 various original Glass compositions.

As you may remember, Glass is one of the minimalists.

http://soundcloud.com/dunvagenmusic/nyc-73-78

homework - a populated midi file

assignment was to populate a midi file with new sounds. this is 10 bass guitars doing a classic.

Homework

Hi Everyone,

In case you missed it during class yesterday, here is the homework assignment.

• If you haven’t already, make a patch on the Pro One and post it to the blog. 
• Start bringing in samples, use one midi effect, one filter 
• For next week, record some midi data add effects, add reverb, randomize, and/or add a compressor. Mix at least four samples. Take something that we all know, make a sample or a loop and add to it. In class, slowly you can reveal the original song to the rest of us.

My time spent at Counter point 

This past week, I went to the Counterpoint music festival held at Atlanta, Georgia from September 27-29.  And because I would be away missing class, I was told to blog about it.  Too excited to ask specifics, I was on my way.  Well, now I sit in front of my computer and ask myself what do I say about Counterpoint?  Am I allowed to mention all the drug use?  And how exactly do I connect this all back to projection and audio design?  So here goes for those of you who care to hear my story...

My time spent at Counterpoint was supposed to be of excesses; of sensory overload of good times.  It was supposed to be about experiencing the atmosphere created by the music, freedom, excitement, and possibilities.  And it was, and it was much more too.  You see, I ventured into Counterpoint with a car, three friends(Mauricio, Alex, Monica), camping material, a  red/black bag of my cool clothes and merchandise, food, beverages, illicit drugs, my camera and a bottle of water in hand.  My goal was to experience the moment and capture it.  

I got off of work and was home packed and bathed by four p.m.  I waited an hour for everyone else to shower and soon enough we were driving north to Atlanta.  Arriving at the city some six hours later.  We had no hotel to stay the night and the campgrounds(where the event would take place) would not open until 10 a.m. the next day.  So somehow we ended up hanging out at the Westin hotel...  And boys and girls, if you have never heard of the Westin Peachtree Plaza; well, it’s a 73 story behemoth presiding over the downtown area with the revolving Sun Dial Restaurant apex of it all.  We stepped onto the glass structured elevator overlooking the city and rode up to the Sun Dial.  It was so fun, we set the dial to repeat.  We were setting the precedent.  As we rode up and down we got our highs and lows just like we would do once inside the gates of Counterpoint.  

We woke up the next day having camped at a Super Walmart parking lot crammed inside of Alex’s car.  The 10 a.m. hour was nearing and Pokemon trainers from the far reaches of the Kanto region gathered at Viridian city to prove their merit against the best.  Except this was festive goer’s from the far reaches of the American continent gathered ‘round some rich dude’s private property to do our best at dub-stepping out to electronic music.  And so it finally begins.  We got inside, set up camp and soon enough Alex and me were interacting with the three cute neighbours, Jenny, Stephanie, Hannah and there was Chris with the cool owl tattoo across his chest.  We made wrist band from beads, messed with some hullahoops.  It was Thursday; we stepped into the gates by 3p.m.  Inside, there is a security gate to search for illicit stuff, there was the Point and the Counterpoint stage, the Beat and Backbeat venue.  The musical acts include Adventure Club and Big Gigantic Thursday.  Atmosphere, Crystal Castles, Avicii, and Bassnectar on Friday.  Zoogma, Big Boi, Skrillex and Pretty Lights on Saturday.  A Ferris wheel, a revolving ride of sorts, a silent disco, a Heineken, a Playstation, and a smoker’s venue.  Not to mention all the food, arts, porta-johns, and general mayhem created when nerd, bro, hippie, hipster, freaks, geeks, american, etc etc kind  of cultures are brought together on a rolling plot of fertile landscape.  My Thursday night went off without a hitch.  It was the calm before the storm.

I awoke Friday morning inside of Alex’s car to damp weather.  I had some drugs I wanted to take for the night.  The hot afternoon air was giving way to the cool evening breeze and I could not be more excited.  The night was young as we made our way to a giant board with the nights line-up.  Lets just say like Popeye, I took my spinach as I headed to the Counterpoint stage.  Atmosphere was rocking it hard.  The crowd was going into a frenzy as Atmosphere joked with his fans and shook us like a beehive when he spit into the mike.  A wave of energy was building.  Avicii was the next act I experienced.  There were bright lights of all colors pulsating from the stage as they intertwined with smoke.  I was deep inside the belly of the beast as sweaty bodies convulsed to the beat of the music.  Meanwhile, on stage, Avicii was building up the bass only to drop it down like a thunderous crash.  The crowd went Tsunami.  My energy was spent, I needed a recharge.  I wasn’t gonna let this feeling go away and so more spinach I took to no avail.  The night was still young but the storm had passed and now I was left to pick up the pieces.  I was rolling down hill.  And what came next was a feeling of despair.  My night wasn’t over but for all it was worth; it wasn’t much.  

Weary of my previous’s day feeling of emptiness, I went armed with my camera on this last day of the event.  I had lived it, now I wanted to capture it.  I walked around everywhere looking for something beautiful to capture.  I took pictures of the campgrounds, of the way everyone had creatively set up their tent.  I shot a single blade of grass, of the secret passageway to the river, of the stage where the artist performed, the unique art placed all around, of branches swaying in the wind, of the texture of the mud, of people chilling out atop the Counterpoint hill.  I took pictures of people expressing their individuality.  Everyone was free to be themselves.  And the promoters of the event facilitated this through the use of big projectors, loud sound systems and so much more.  This is only the beginning.  

Sounds from Planets and Space: Sonification

 Check this out:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07966.html

Then listen to this


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5MHsnc67yw

 Charles Dodge is an important computer music composer and pioneer whose early workEarth’s Magnetic Field is an interesting example of sonification of a natural function. Dodge (with his collaborator, scientist Bruce Boller) used a graph of what are called the K_pindices, which chart the "average magnetic activity" for the Earth:

"The succession of notes in the music corresponds to the natural succession of the K_p indices for the year 1961... The musical interpretration consists of setting up a correlation between the level of the K_p reading and the pitch of the note (in a diatonic collection over four octaves), and compressing the 2,920 readings for the year into just over eight minutes of musical time" (from the liner notes to Charles Dodge, Earth’s Magnetic Field, Nonesuch LP H-71250).

http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/musicandcomputers/popups/chapter1/xbit_1_1.php