Disquiet Junto 0291 Lantern Effect

The Disquiet Junto this week asked for a sonic equivalent to "the 'lantern effect' — the way light is filtered through the textured material of a paper lantern."

You can see I've used my MIDI guitar, with the MIDI triggering a vaguely oriental-sounding piano and the guitar fading in over the length of the track.

My idea is that the reverb on the piano part gives the impression of the diffused light, while the emerging guitar is meant to convey the opaque view of the lighting source as you draw nearer to a paper lantern.

Drop beats not bombs

Naviarhaiku186 – looping around town

I've been eagerly awaiting the haiku shared by Naviar Records this week as it marks the start of a collaboration that will form the Crossing Streams exhibition in Narrandera during late October.

For my response to Greg Pritchard's haiku I've focused on the idea of looping the words "around town," as well as using creating a simple electronic track that revolves around three chords.

The speed at which I've created this audible response shows in the video, which might be reworked for the exhibition.

Naviarhaiku185 – harmattan moon

The haiku this week got me to rethink my approach to a chord progression I'd recorded.

This barebones version is part of take and you'll notice there's an edit in the middle.

I recorded the MIDI part with the guitar and experimented with different instruments, before settling on a reversed piano.

My alternate version picks up where this one finishes and features gritty percussion.

Disquiet Junto 0290 Text-to-Beat

The Junto this week asks for a track built on a rhythm created with text-to-speech software.

One of my first considerations was how to show the process in a video, but I soon remembered the V-tech Alphabet Desk that has been used by my kids for about a decade now.

I'm a fan of the V-tech toys, having used another one in an early Ninja Trax recording.



This afternoon I set up my SM7 microphone to record the Alphabet Desk and was surprised at how quiet the level seemed to be, since when the kids use it it seems impossible to ignore the recorded voice.

This evening I started exploring making loops in Ableton Live, adding gates to emphasise rhythms.

The X proved to be a versatile syllable, with the initial "eh' serving as a snare and the 'chs' becoming a hi-hat.

You can also hear a lot of the B.

As the Junto directions suggested 2-3 minutes, I figured it was just enough time to not worry about developing harmonic progression but I did adjust the pitch in parts.

All of the parts come from the V-tech except for the kick, which is an 808 sample.

All you lovely ladies

Naviarhaiku184 – deepening winter night

The haiku this week suggested something gritty, so I turned to my circuit-bent Casios.

Really bad turnout

Disquiet Junto 0289 Ancient Artifacts

Step 1: Imagine an instrument that has been lost in the sands of time.

Step 2: Imagine what that instrument sounded like.

Step 3: Record a piece of music employing that instrument.

The idea of an ancient instrument suggested one that used the human body. Chest-thumping, hand claps, finger snaps and flicking stretched cheeks were the result.



I can imagine sitting in a cave and hearing the reflected sound of flicked cheeks. My beard helped stop my cheeks aching and the cotton gloves did too.