Junto clap remix

This week's Disquiet Junto involved recording clapping and remixing applause. It's another interesting exercise in revealing how different people approach the same material because claps seem to produce very similar transients, so everyone is almost using the same ingredients.

To record my clapping I used a Rode NT1 with an Audio Technica AT4040 (I think, it's the cheap version of that model) in an XY position. I thought it would be interesting to compare these two mics as I don't use them much and was thinking of Ebaying them. The NT1 is a bit brittle and the AT4040 is kinda quiet but the waveforms showed quite a bit of difference between the two, although my ears didn't register much as the placement of my hands varied the results more.

It was interesting to experiment with hunching over the mics to get more lower frequencies reflected around them and leaning back to get more attack with the reflections from the roof. I think this was the case, I was also extenuating the treble in the slap at the time too.

Manipulating the recordings in Ableton Live led me to loop a couple of claps, vary the loop placement and then have them follow each other with a bit of a Beat Repeat effect. It sounded like I couldn't clap in time for a while but eventually I got a minimal percussive part going and lost interest. At this point I often think it's best to start afresh with a clearer idea of what results can be achieved, but instead I continued.

Returning to the track I sought to develop a harmonic progression but the short transients wouldn't give me much joy. Then I remembered the Sine Vibes plug-ins and used a few of their presets. After that I arranged those parts, added some dynamics with effects and mastered.