Kamzik_Final Project_Spring 2017_The Man Who Laughs

Kamzik_Final Project_The Man Who Laughs

SPECIAL INFO REGARDING FINAL & BONUS BOINTS

It is essential that we all meet tomorrow in person so i am asking that everyone please attend the class for at least the first portion if you are working on other projects you need to take the time and meet with me.

 I need to discuss something with possible legal ramifications for the the entire class that i cannot share online yet so it has to be a personal meeting [LECTURE] meeting

You will get a BONUS 5% for attending tomorrow. So if you missed something or were shooting for an A+ or an A instead of a B+ today is the day you can do that.

**please attend  for special information**


ESSENTIAL

COMPRESSION

http://patches.zone/compression-guide/

MONDAY WORKDAY NO LECTURE

HELLO

you have time today to work on your finals. I will be in my office from 10AM to 2:15 for  you to meet with me or talk about your project, have questions answered or get a gauge on your grade if you like. Please exploit this free time to get some extra work done I will gladly review what you have or sit with you and look at your piece in my office beginning at around 10am.

Wednesday is our last day and there will be class and we will discuss our meeting for FINALS

remember it's going to be 1 hour later and go for three hours on the DAY OF THE FINAL

see you all soon

Patrick

Listening Assignment

Laurie Anderson, " O Superman":

This song was just completely weird to be honest. It was a different kind of weird though, like a cool weird, but overall I enjoyed the eccentric melodies. I felt like the song was a story but also focused on talking about weird and obscure things to spice up the melodies. The only thing that felt consistent throughout the whole piece was the “Hahahahahaha” stuff that kept playing in the background over and over again, it felt sort of like a weird hearbeat… it was a very intelligent use of sound repetition to add to the piece.

Midori Takada, " Through the Looking Glass": 

This felt super enchanting, like an ancient Asian melody passed on through generations and generations. I was really blown away by the use of various instruments to create a nature like effect with auditory pieces only and no visual representation other than what the sound created. The sound also had like a Native American Indian tribal type of vibe to it, which I was really digging. The flute sounds and wind instruments as well as the little chime, that shit was very dope and relaxing, it really put me in an upper echelon type of atmosphere just listening to all these sounds.

Robert Ashley, "Perfect Lives":

This just felt like a guy talking on a microphone, to an audience, on stage, over a piano. The feeling was clear that it was a story being told to an audience but at the same time the story felt very hard to follow and obscure. I enjoyed the feeling of the music and all I wanted to do was simply listen to the man speak forever and ever about whatever he spoke of just because of how engaging the melody and story was.

Conlon Nancarrow, "Study For Player Piano No. 37":

This was a super annoying piano piece that picked up in pace and annoyance as you kept listening to the song. I didn’t really enjoy this piece to be honest, like maybe that’s cool or difficult to do to pick up the pace of a piano that fast and speedy, but it was still kind of irritating to listen to. Despite my dislike of it, I felt it was a clever piece that others could enjoy, and I guess after a while of listening to it, it felt artistic in that the sounds build so fast that by the end they merge almost into a single sound. 

Listening assignment 4/17

Conlon Nancarrow, Study for Player Piano 

This was a very interesting and weird song to listen to. It sounds like someone was bored and just started playing random keys on the piano. There was no real structure to this at all other than playing progressively faster or moving from the left keys to the right.

Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives

Not really what the purpose of this is. I can’t tell if it’s a song or just some guy doing a very long monologue. Overall I think this is very bizarre due to its randomness and the repetitive pressing of the piano keys.

Midori Takada - Through the Looking Glass

I enjoyed this piece quite a bit. It’s very relaxing and soothing to the ears with its nature sounds and the simplicity of the instruments. This song sounds like it would be perfect for a documentary of animals or places in the world.

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

At first I was mildly disturbed and scarred of this piece. However, as the song progressed I liked it in a weird way. Like this song kind of grows on you and ends up being soothing. I like the synthetic sounds from the background instruments and the robotic noises from the singer. The only thing I didn’t really like about this piece is when she was just talking to the voicemail, I feel like it ruins it.

Ubu: My Barbarian

http://www.ubu.com/film/barbarian_night.html

Nelson North

I'm not entirely sure how to properly explain this video at all. It had a very low budget, Student project vibe to it. Getting very psychedelic, and tribal, and just down right weird for pretty much the entire time. The sound design was pretty good, but felt a bit too overbearing at times. To the extent that it felt like the accompanying music was telling me how i should be feeling rather than enhancing the atmosphere itself.

Ubu: Fried Sweat (2008)

http://www.ubu.com/film/rottenberg_sweat.html

Fried Sweat, 2008

Mika Rottenberg

Watching this film looks like some type of freak show performance, not to be negative. I say this because at first you hear the sounds of indian music then all of a sudden you hear a grown man groaning and hear something sizzling which turns out to be this guy sweating. As this grown man is  here forcing himself to sweat, some of it drips down onto the pan then sizzles and evaporates, then afterwards you see a woman just flexing and performing and behind her is a man breaking wood. The whole purpose of this was for the, "audience to be drawn to theses sensations abilities and physical attributes of the objectified other-". As the piece continues I almost see it as them putting out so much energy for this piece it actually creates a meaning and feeling for the piece if that makes sense, I feel as though once you hear it you'd get the sense of that energy put into this piece and understand the purpose of it. 

Weekend Listening

Laurie Anderson, " O Superman": At first in the beginning, all you hear is "ah" repeated over and over and it sounds more like a broken record instead of someone actually stopping and saying "ah" again, if that makes sense. This is definitely something I personally never heard of before, this type of music is out of the ordinary of what I usually expect a music piece to be. There's defiantly a lot going on and various sounds like one the person singing it's auto tuned to make it sound like a robot then the repeating "ah", even in one part of the piece you hear almost like "nature" in the background like the birds chirping/singing. 

Midori Takada, " Through the Looking Glass": I personally like the fact that this piece is only sounds of nature, at least that's the way I took it as. It's definitely a calm piece and it almost reminds me of the amazons, it gives it that type of theme if you listen close enough or if you've watched a documentary about the wildlife before. It kind of gives it off that way, but overall I'd give this piece another listen to because it is something that I could relax to or just something that could clear up your mind.

Robert Ashley, "Perfect Lives": Throughout this piece I could barely get what he was saying it was hard to hear with all these other sounds coming from the same piece as well, unless it was made to be that way then it'd definitely worked. If not then like I said before it was a little hard to piece it together and understand what he was saying. It almost sounds like he's telling a story while sounds are being played in the background. The piano, in my opinion is the key to this piece because without it, it's just weird sounds playing, while this guy and his raspy voice is speaking about whatever he's telling to the audience. I feel like after a while it gets over played with the same beat playing over and over. 
Conlon Nancarrow, "Study For Player Piano No. 37": Since I'm not used to hearing a piano played this way, it was actually really hard for me to keep my attention on this piece. It felt as though someone just pressed random keys and was testing to see if every piece on the piano worked. After doing a little more research turns out the artist was studying the capabilities of the player piano and it honestly does sound that way, so it definitely was a success. I feel like since our ears aren't adjusted to listening to music like this, it is very hard to put your attention on it. If i never did further research I'd just think it was someone playing random notes for the fun of it but turns out it's not exactly like that.

Weekend Listening_Kamzik

Dan Kamzik

Weekend Listening

4/15/2017-4/16/2017

Onlon Nancarrow - Study for Player Piano- This was an interesting compilation of tracks. I have an appreciation for clever mechanics, and player pianos are high on my list of “col mechanical devices.” I have had the pleasure to see many player pianos up close. It seems to me that Nancarrow was seeing how far he could push the player piano and it’s mechanical system. The music introduced into the reel isn’t what I would call overly listenable, but it displayed at times elements of ragtime and jazz; sometimes shuffling off to an almost untimed composition. Seeing the keys play such a diverse and changing range of notes provides a striking visual at the very least.

Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives: The Bar- I like songs that tell a story or else songs that provide a captivating mental visual through lyrics. This song is interesting in that it does indeed tell a story and set a scene, but over a long period of time. I don’t particularly like how most of the “lyrics” are spoken. I feel that it detracts from the music in the background, as if they don’t really belong together in the same track. One of my favorite all time bands, The Doors, is famous for doing this. Morrison would frequently fall into spoken soliloquies, like in The Lizard King. This was reminiscent of that for me.

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass: This was in interesting track. I like ambient sounds, so this was pretty enjoyable to listen to. It brought images of the jungle to mind, for some reason. I guess it’s the pan flute in the background and the trilling sounds of the flute that mimic bird noises. This track is an accomplishment in both ambient noise and sound that draws attention. You definitely get the “Wall of sound” vibe from this track at times, but in a different sort of way; the noises presented are all pretty soft and mellow, so it creates sort of a ‘soft’ wall of sound.

Laurie Anderson - O Superman: I wasn’t too sure about this track when it started off. Its an interesting pneumonic device Anderson employs in this track. She takes a short noise made from her mouth, then duplicates it multiple times until she derives her beat from it. The rest of the song is pretty strange, but incorporates a good many sound effects placed into the voices we hear. Phase and flanger were clearly employed. In the end, it’s a very creative track and somehow enjoyable to listen to.   

ubu

http://www.ubu.com/sound/price.html

this has a ton of different sounds, some of which i could use for my project . the beginning is eerie but if you croll through there are all types of sounds to choose from. there are different types of drums and bass noises. all the sounds are interesting, unique and can be used so many different ways.

weekend listening

Conlon Nancarrow, Study for Player Piano- not sure how i feel about this one. it took a lot of focusing to listen to everything that was going on it was hard to visualize or put yourself in any sort of head space. There was a back an forth between really loud fast and cluttered to slow quiet no rhythmic sounds. There was sort of a pattern like for a split second the piano makes a nice rhythmic sound than quickly adds on and repeats until its no longer coherent then it slows down and then starts again.

Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives- the bar- this one was slightly comedic. his voice didnt pace well with the background music but both rhythms where clear but i couldnt listen to both at the same time. im not sure what he was talking about it seems very random and the background music changes grabbed my attention and away from what he was saying. it seems like he was making jokes like in a comedy club or something.

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass- full of ambiance and high pitched complementary noises. i heard some ancient asia inspired tunes. felt like i was going through a trance. it got repetitive alot of the time but i know that was part of the trance experience but i was trying not to get lost in it. some of the ambiance sound seeped inside my head and made my ears hurt while wearing headphones

Laurie Anderson - O Superman -in a strange way i liked this. the honking"ha" in the background was annoying but her singing was nice. The song was very cryptic and mysterious. very unique and seems alot shorter to listen to than it actually was.

Ubu Participation

http://www.ubu.com/film/friedman_jodie.html

I stumbled upon a piece by Dara Freidman that was interesting and similar to my film I will be working on for the final.

     Description was as follows: Friedman documents a model during a fashion shoot, the exaggerated,      staccato rhythms of her camera punctuated by machine-gun like bursts of fireworks and the            chiming of bells. The model veers wildly between states of calm and hair-wringing distress in a    short, hyper-kinetic sequence bookended by image fields of solid color; a slow approach to an   intense, intimate proximity.

It took footage that would normally be enhanced with sensual and calm accents but Freidman used short cuts and harsh sound effects.  It made the ordinary photoshoot seem creepy and uneasy which is fairly difficult.  Freidman completely rearranged the theme of the event in which the footage came from and instead of a sensual, heavenly composition it was more scary and evil.

Ubu Participation

UbuWeb: Sound

Dj Food

Raiding the 20th century 

This sounds like some old school rap music. I can't really say I can understand all the words, the song right now is very fast and sounds almost chop and cut up. I am still listening to it and now I hear some artists that I recognize like Busta Rymes (Rap), Sean Paul (A Jamaica artist), Queen (Rock & Roll) but the songs or sound in the background are not of the original sound. Chopping and Screwing these sounds and blending these sounds together is very interesting and cool especially to see that just by changing the music in the background can make a song sound completely different, even though our heads are confused by the difference and wants to here what we already know what to be true. 

Ubuweb: Spot

I just listened to a piece called "Spot" by Ivo Malec. It's an eerie piece that uses what I believe are the sounds of water drops, paper crumpling, and string hits that creates the feeling of a cold, lonely environment.

ubu participation

Klaus Kinski (1926-1991) Und Was Bekam Des Soldaten Weib? 6:16 (Not sure if this is the title because it is in german)

 

This was kinda interesting to listen to and also a bit scary. German music, maybe because of how the language is structured, it sounds like you are being cursed at. Even when it has a nice guitar background, and the voice is almost whispering at you. At the end it starts yelling with no guitar and to be completely honest, it's a fragment that could very well be in a WWII movie.

Besides it being dark and scary, I feel like I you understood the lyrics it would probably not be a bad piece.

weekend listening

Conlon Nancarrow, Study for Player Piano

This was so hard to listen to to be honest. It almost sounded like they were just playing random keys on the piano. Felt like there was no correlation between the notes whatsoever. It had a nice change of pace although it still didn't mean anything to me. Not a bad peace if your goal is something very random.

Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives (Private Parts) - The Bar

This was another very random and weird piece. Just a nice background music and a male going on in form of a monolog about something that almost put me to sleep. Can't really find a musical value to it.

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass

This almost sounded like it was just coming straight from nature at some points. Very calm background, reminded me of something people play at night so they can have a better sleep.

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

The beginning hum really scared me for some reason, then the chorus comes in and its better. Besides this, this was another weird piece to listen to. It was basically a woman going (a,a,a,a,a,) and then a robot voice which i'm not sure if it had a purpose.

Weekend Listening

Conlon Nancarrow, Study for Player Piano- (Link I listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFz2lCEkjFk) This was really crazy and it was hard to listen to.  There was no real structure or balance for most of it and it seemed like me mashing the piano.  However, after listening to it for a bit it got less meaningless but still would have to listen to it a lot more because my ear is not accustomed to this.

Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives- (Link I listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YKOCpNpk4s) This was also something strange to my ear.  It was a bit jumpy and chaotic when getting in to it, but in a weird way I could meditate do it probably.  Some parts had a more popular feel but it was mostly unique use of music and vocals to put you in a trance.

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass.- (Link I listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWGjYg2LmZQ) Very serene project and something I can definitely meditate to.  I really liked the "Crossing" part, made me feel upbeat and happy instantly.  Awesome diverse piece with interesting sounds and prolonged sequences.

Laurie Anderson - O Superman- (Link I listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfpi2H8tOE) Really weird.  The "ha" drone I couldn't get in to and it turned me off.  The vocals were cool though, very unique.  It seemed like without the drone repeating I would like it a lot more, and in a more chilled out track.  For what it is, its very cool to listen to and I bet after a few more listens I would like it even more.

miller

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/miller-puckette-the-man-behind-the-max-and-pd-languages-and-a-lot-of-crazy-musichttp://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/miller-puckette-the-man-behind-the-max-and-pd-languages-and-a-lot-of-crazy-music

Ted - Lies of Sound Design, Listening

The Beautiful Lies of Sound Design | Tasos Fratzolas | TEDxAthens 
Extra Credit:
This ted talk is really going to help me with my final project. The idea that, "Our brains are conditioned to embrace the lies" really opened up my eyes well..., ears to all the things in the movies and video we watch today. Movie makers create these illusions that their live recordings of the video and sound are being used in the actually film when in fact they are syncing sounds to a living story but from other sources outside of the actually object or thing making the sound. For instance the use of frying bacon to create the illusion of the sound of rain is genius and creates a lie if one were to find out the truth but, thats the whole point of it all to think of sounds outside of what were normally here and see. He went on to say that loudness is nothing without silence, which allows the viewer to paint their own thoughts or interpretation of the sound or emotion in the scene without having to actually hear anything because with our eyes we see and with our brain we judge.
What I found interesting:

• normality ----> example: birds chirping unseen but understood sounds
• mood, set pace, make us laugh, scared ----> in itself is a language 

Listening Assignments:

• Public Enemy “Don’t Believe The Hype” -

Hip hop isn't like this anymore. This song is full of excitement, and contains some funk and hardcore rap. This music isn't the typical hip hop and has different feels and sets all kinds of emotions. One second I just want to chill and vibe out to it and next I want to get up and hop on stage with them and jump around.

• Beastie Boys “So What Cha Want” -

Without watching the actually video it sounds like hip hop mixed with rock. The way the artists are singing correlates more to rap music where the music in the back sounds more like a rock and roll band so in a way in add more substance to their music drawing in different varieties of people.

• Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” - 

The drops in this song Bruhh!!! I have heard this song before but never sat and actually listened to it. the instrumentation is genius. Definitely could picture working out to a song like this or playing this when trying to stay up to study for a exam. Although, that might not be best seeing that I might get really distracted lol.

• Carpenters - “we’ve only just begun”- 

Real smooth. Something you play when you trying to change the mood. Real soft, not jagged at all. Still listening to and the long extensions on the notes in the voices and instruments really sets a tone. I am pretty sure my mother has played this around me as a child though it might has been some type of Jamaican remix lol.

• America - “horse with no name” -

Oh yea definitely heard this before. I grew up playing Grand Theft Auto Games and I am pretty sure this had to have been on one of them maybe I'm wrong...just check yea it was San Andreas lol. Cool song to listen to while in the car on a long ride. I am sure this song was and is still used in movies we watch today.

• Simon & Garfunkel? -“the boxer” -

1:02-1:13,2:10-2:22 and on... One of my favorite parts of it. I am really into bass and percussions and I feel like the usage in this song was placed well. There wasn't to much and though it was little it was placed very well. I believe the song was met to be soft but have the points in it that has a totally different affect on the listener, especially towards the end where it seemed to speed up and gradually get louder and introduce heavy felt bass sound effects and instrumentation.

weekend listening_kamzik

The Carpenters, We've only just begun: I've always liked the Carpenters. Their music is very soothing and incorporates elements that do not see much use today. Couple that with captivating and buoyant vocals and you get some really nice music.

America, A Horse with No Name: I 've always loved the lyrics to this song. Its trippy with its own sense of style. This is probably America's biggest hit, and for a reason. This track is one of a kind in that it incorporates unique vocals in conjunction with a rhythmic feel that is reminiscent of a mix of both country and reggae (lots of upbeats). The imagery this song conjures up is also enthralling. I love songs that either tell a story or have interesting imagery. This coupled with the excellent music America produces, and you get a timeless classic.

Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer: Another song with triumphant amount of imagery. The more esoteric imagery paired with the stark physical imagery ("I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, Such are promises, all lies and jest"/esoteric/ "he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame"/physical/)
makes for interesting listening. Simon and Garfunkel had their own unique musical style as well; their words and instruments usually fall very lightly on the ears. This style is contrasted in The Boxer by having soft vocals and instruments paired against a thundering and slow drum beat. 

EXTRA CREDIT FOR FINAL

EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/

CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/

INSTALL:

1.) Install this software

https://www.automatonism.com/the-software

READ & FOLLOW

2.) follow the directions on the page and run the examples.

make your own "patch" sound and record it.

DO THE WORK

3.) USE one of the ways we covered in class to get the audio from the program to Audition/Audacity

mix it into your final with Audition (preferably during the graphic section of your project) hint

4.) More details at office hours & during lecture today

EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/EXTRA/

CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/CREDIT/

you should ALREADY have pd installed...hmmmm

do it and get without penalty +5 on the final

Listening , TED EX

TED EX- There trillions of different sounds in the world and it would e impossible to create them all. Modern technology has made it possible to create what ever sound we want even the once that dont exist outside our minds and screens. This talk was very informative on the world of sound design and just how much work and creativity is put into making sounds. The level of understanding of the world we live in and the relationship between our ears , our mind, space and time is amazing. ambient sound was the most interesting part for me to hear. i never thought about room sounds and what the world outside vocals, animals and machines sound like. It makes me wonder if i could recognize the sound of my own room.

carpenters -We've Only Just Begun-  beautiful voice very captivating. the song is very calming and cheerful and the vocals makes me want to sway left to right. when the drums and the pace picks up its very cheerful but i like the slower parts better. the faster paced sections i feel take away from the voice and its less relaxing, the slow parts makes me feel warm and cuddled like im being sung to buy a motherly figure.

America- A Horse with No Name-A cowboy rode into town on friday, stayed 3 days and rode out again on friday. How did he do that? Thats just the first thing that came to my mind lol. The song was decent the interesting part was the lyrics. it was like he was sharing an experience but not necessarily telling a story. The lalalas where catchy and the guitar gave the song a fun vibrant vibe. The lyrics where seemingly random and confusing but intriguing and gave the song depth.

Simon and Garfunkel- “The Boxer”- i liked the guitar in the beginning for the first few seconds then it quickly sounded like a children rhyme. the trumpets (i think it was a trumpet) gave it even more of a childlike feel. The music was very cheerful but the lyrics where slightly darker but the tone of voice was very soothing and fitting for the music.

TED EX + Listening HW

TED EX

Beware because everything around you is a lie, that’s what I got from this video. It’s crazy to think that the things we hear on film may be a deception and are created using the things we would never imagine would create those sounds. Bacon sizzling is rain? A guy doing a cannonball in water in an underwater submarine? Bones breaking are just vegetables being stabbed/crushed? What you see on screen and what you hear are not always one and the same, that is the point I got from the video. This concept is what creates illusions, it is what deceives us, what tricks us into believing that what we see literally sounds like what we hear, I know there are plenty of things we see on film like a car exploding that we never heard in real life so how does one know that the sound actually sounds like that if you never experienced it in real life, that makes me think that Hollywood can trick even our perception of sound and train our ears to hear differently than they are supposed to, and that thought is scary as shit. I feel that this Ted Talk opened my eyes to the reality that we are being deceived and that we should be more aware and analytical of the things we encounter, on film, on television, on radio, in music, on all forms of media, TRUST NOBODY, and in the words of Gambino “Stay Woke”.

Carpenters- "We’ve Only Just Begun”

This song immediately makes me feel happy like I’m floating on cloud 9 and im as happy as ever. I felt like I was eating cotton candy and skipping like an immature idiot thinking that the world was all sunshine and rainbows, holding hands with a beautiful girl running across a rainbow high as a motherfucker. I like the way this song made me feel, I like the way it made me forget about the shitty world we sometimes live in and how it can transform your mood to be absolutely lifted and joyous. #LOVE-HAPPY-SONGS

America- “A Horse with No Name”

I’m not a cowboy, but this song reminded me of some cowboy shit because of the whole desert thing, all I envisioned was sand blowing in the air and a cowboy riding a horse trying to get to a source of water. At some point, he loses his horse but finds water under a lone tree that gives him enough shade to carry on with his gangsta thug life style. Later he thinks he sees his horse in the distance and runs towards it, it turns out to be an illusion. He turns around to return to the tree but it’s gone, so is the water. He looks up and his horse is falling from the sky and he thinks it’s going to crush his body, instead he sinks into the sand and once he’s in below the sand he starts drowning, he’s losing consciousness and his eyes close, seconds later they reopen and he is emerged in water, he swims up to find himself next to the same tree he was resting at and sees his horse drinking from the water. He found his horse and thinks to himself what the hell he’s being dreaming about, he hops on the back of his horse and rides the desert plains returning to wherever the hell he journeyed from.

Simon and Garfunkel- “The Boxer”

Well it’s been a long journey, and a long day and I finally want to just lay in bed and let go of all my worries, that’s what I feel like when I listen to this song. It made me feel like life was this eternal struggle to become someone honorable and great and you’re in a fight with yourself constantly struggling to become Great realizing only on your last day on earth that you have always been Great. That Greatness has always been inside of you and that you were chasing yourself, running in circles this whole time. If only you’d stop to realize you were chasing yourself you’d feel like a fool for running in the first place. That’s what this song truly brings out, what it makes me feel like and think about.

Listening assignment

Carpenters -We've Only Just Begun

The song “We’ve only just begun is a very calming and soothing to the ear. I love the sounds of the vocals and how everyone sings in unison. Sadly, whenever I here this song I am instantly reminded of the horror movie “1408” since they play this throughout.

America - A Horse with No Name

I actually remember hearing this song before. I really enjoy the sounds of the guitar playing throughout song. It just makes me feel like I’m out on the open road going on a road trip to anywhere.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer 

I’ve always enjoyed Simon and Garfunkel soft and gentle singing especially with their more popular song “sound of silence”. In the beginning the song gives off a melancholic feel but by the end it became more uplifting and inspiring.

Monday

Make sure you are up to date on all past submissions. I will meet with each of you personally this week to discuss your film selection. I will be working this week to make the splash pad 5.1 ready so by wednesday we should be ready for final project sign ups. Send me an email or come to my office hours this week for a short meeting about your final, a setup file for Audition and some options discussion

Ted Ex Sound: Extra Credit April 3 2017

The first example he used with the bacon and rain made me rethink my life for a second lol. I’ve seen some sound design stuff on the sound production of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but you never really notice how much of the sounds you hear are fake in movies. Sometimes when it comes to sound you can sort of tell that things don’t match up or that they sound off, like when he “broke the bone” and then reveals to you its them breaking celery. Even if you had put that in a movie, I would have known that something was off which has happened in some movies for me. However I loved when he gave the example of the reverb and how you can use it for a flash back, a voice in someones head or god (Morgan Freeman). I also love how he can be informative and still be entertaining to the viewers even if he says some corny jokes. I’ll have to put in a little more thought while watching movies with sound now, in a way I feel likes it’s ruined it a bit. What happened if I start seconds guessing every sound in a movie?!

Weekend Listening April 3, 2017

Carpenters - We’ve only Just Begun

I can’t recall where but I’ve actually hear this one before, I love how soft the instruments are. She has a lovely voice and the lyrics to this song are cute. Her voice and the softness of the music flow really well together.

America - A Horse With No Name

Has a unique voice, it’s not an accent but there is something different about it. I like that you can tap your foot to the beat and how mellow it is! I’ve also seemed to noted that they played this song in Breaking Bad.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer

Soft and conforming, like something you’d listen to on a summer night with friends. (That is if you guys didn’t look at how depressing the lyrics were) The lyrics and beat itself give me a melancholy feeling and I love that when you're wearing headphones different instruments play in each ear.

Weekend Listening and Ted Ex on Sound Design

Carpenters- "We’ve Only Just Begun”: The young woman’s voice is really beautiful and soothing especially having the flute in the background It goes very well with her voice and everything else through out this piece. Even the tambourine itself made an effect to the piece when everyone begins to sing along, you don’t notice at first but if you listen carefully the tambourine just makes that much of a different to the piece. The song itself gives a meaning of, it’s never too late to do what you want to do because it’s just the beginning of a new chapter/life. 

America- “A Horse With No Name”: I can say it’s an interesting piece that I’ve listened to. It has a very mellow beat, the vocals are fairly monotone but in no way grating or boring. It almost centers around one note but it complements the feel of the song quite beautifully either way it’s a chill song to listen to and even listening to the lyrics themselves is different. The way I see it, is how as you grow older, you’re more on your own. The horse being mentioned in the piece is something you’ve grown up with and as that horse runs away towards the end that person has to learn to continue growing up and doing things on his own.

Simon and Garfunkel- “The Boxer”: In my opinion, speaking for all the pieces that I've listened to, including this is pretty cool, just being a young person and stumbling across stuff like this. It’s like music from another dimension. Especially music played in this generation, hearing music back then is different has so much more of a meaning then. This piece itself you can tell the lyrics are profound and thought through. It’s pretty upsetting towards the end of the song, the mood seems to change it's almost this dark and eery sounds\ but then it stops and transitions to how it first started playing in the beginning.

Ted Ex on Sound Design: 

Already from the start this blew my mind completely when he showed those three different clips of rain but in the end it turned out to be sounds for bacon sizzling. That in my opinion is just genius and when you actually think about it there’s so many clips and videos, movies, etc. made, that actually had to go through this process and create every little sound they can. Thats just so much hard work and dedication people don’t know about and now when I start looking at films or other videos it makes me wonder, were these sounds created? What did they have to use to make that specific sound? this just makes me realize and appreciate the sounds much more than I ever did. After watching this clip it actually opens your eyes and notice sounds you never did before, even as he talks about how theres never any “silence” in any movies and for there to be silence there's still noise involved just faintly for you to hear, it's interesting to know that now. Again, it’s just amazing how sound can make you feel and think, if i was never introduced to this video I’d continue thinking everything is just done and made in that moment, for example a bird flapping their wings but it’d just turns out it was someone just flapping a pair of gloves to make that sound more vibrant, clear and realistic.

weekend listening

Carpenters -We've Only Just Begun

Very good song. Really liked the background music and the main vocalist. The chorus was also very well put.
Great overall rhythm. The flute added a nice effect to it as well. Not my kind of music but very good for it being an older song.

America - A Horse With No Name

I can see how this was a hit some years ago. The vocals are very catchy and the guitar makes it a great song. The hairstyle of the men in the group was definitely the best part even though the song was great.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer

Very profound lyrics written by a very good songwriter. The reverb in the background beat adds a nice effect to the song. It's a nice listen.

Ted Ex Sound

This video was amazing. The speech overall was fascinating to listen to. Very cool how some people have that touch to speak in front of an audience.
On a different note, the content was very interesting as well. Makes you re-think every movie you've watched, specially the animated ones. Stuff that you never think about (Except you work with sound probably) but watching this it really opens your eyes in that matter. Specially when he talks about ambient sounds, how there is never silence in movies, and how for there to be silence, there also has to be loudness, yin and yang. Depending on the movie, a silent moment can be more, or less silent. What I mean is like, for example a calm moment in a Fast and Furious movie, maybe would be a somewhat loud moment in any other movie.
Great video for the final assignment.

Weekend Listening & TED EX EXTRA CREDIT

Carpenters -We've Only Just Begun: Really nice track, I think it was a flute sound throughout that complimented the vocals really well.  Calm and cohesive production that I enjoyed.

America - A Horse With No Name: The guitar in this track was my favorite part.  I also really liked the bongo/tom sounds too.  The vocals were really cool too.  Like this song a lot.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer: Nice guitar in this track too.  Might just be my version of the song I found but I heard a drum tapping in my right ear and others sounds in my left and it gave it an interesting dynamic.  Lyrics in the song are amazing too.  Cool track overall.


The TED Talk was really interesting, the most interesting part for me was how I had no idea that almost all sounds in video today are created in post-production.  I never realized how much better the records are with this process, and audio for a video is so important that there is really no other way to do it most of the time.  I also liked his point about balance of silence and loudness.  And it is crazy how off-screen sounds have so much room for creativity.  At the beginning, I totally thought the 2nd video was the bacon and felt pretty stupid when they all were; I should have saw the trick coming.

Lamar- Ted EX on sound Design

Ted EX on sound Design

After watching this video, it really got me thinking about every single film I’ve ever seen in my life. Now I realize that almost everything I’ve heard in a movie was probably created by something completely different. I just found this Ted Talk extremely fascinating on how in depth and creative they get with creating these sounds. Never have I considered how much goes into sound design.  Now when I watch a film I will second guess what I am hearing. If there is a rainy scene I’m going to wonder if I’m just listening to bacon crackling. Whenever there’s a “quiet” scene I’m going to listen for subtle sounds that may be playing in the background. In addition, I’m going to see how they use different sounds to manipulate a scene to make it scary, funny, intense, etc... It's amazing how sound can influence how you feel and think.