Disquiet Junto 0191 Held Chord
I really enjoyed hearing the result of this Junto, where the idea was to use a single chord across multiple instruments.
I cheated, I think. My result used a MIDI'd chord and sampled instruments but I really liked hearing the chord progress seamlessly through a baker's dozen playing E.
The idea was that the range of the instrument would determine the order. I ended up recording the parts and then arranging them by ear.
Braille machine duet
Video made from footage collected at the RealArtWorks Nothing Is Useless camp outside Wagga earlier this month. Results will be exhibited at Wagga Art Gallery later this year.
Disquiet Junto 0189 Tone Layer
After having a break I felt a bit rusty getting back to the Junto but the assignment this week wasn't too demanding.
I decided to record the bass guitar but soon found I had to create very short loops to sustain the tones. The notes were going to be in the key of A but once in Live I dropped the root down six steps.
The rumbling bit was good, I'd like more of that. But, in hindsight, I wish I'd used a different instrument. I think human voice would've been better, as I always enjoy making vocal drones for Juntos -- although I rarely end up using those tracks on the albums I compile.
Disquiet Junto 0186 My Name
I've always wanted a theme song. One that could play like a soundtrack heralding my arrival in a room or a party. The Disquiet Junto project this week could be that song.
Early on I decided that a 5/4 time signature would suit repeating the five letters of my name. The drum beat came next, inspired by an Amon Tobin track. Then I used the MIDI for the beat to play the synth part. It all came together quickly.
This piece reminds me of an earlier Junto project that spelt my name using Morse code, which ended up on my album WHILE.
While on holiday
There was a creek crossing near where I was camping in southern Queensland. It had a pipe that made a droning kinda gurgle. I noticed that there seemed to be a few frogs around and wondered if they were attracted by the noise.
Naviar Series 006
The new Naviar Records compilation includes a slinky house track I wrote in 3/4 time signature. Download it here.
Here's a beaut review of the album and it singles out my track for a mention. Nice!
Disquiet Junto 0181 Instrumental Dream
The Junto this week takes the idea of realising within music the dream of an instrument. It's quite a sweet idea, I think.
I was feeling a bit discouraged when suddenly I had this idea of a string melody looped over a breakbeat, like something from a solo Wu Tang album. So I quickly sat down and figured it out on the bass. Then I had the idea of some chords that could accompany it and imagined them played by an orchestra.
Do bass guitars dream of leading an orchestra? Mine did, so I used Ableton Live's convert-to-MIDI function to drive the Suite of orchestral samples to get a lush result.
Trein leaves the station
On a recent visit to Sydney I collected the final part for my remix of KlanKman's Trein. Platform 23 was where I waited for the train to go to the Airport.
Disquiet Junto 0180 Matryoshka Music
The Disquiet Junto this week was based on the idea of Russian dolls. Y'know the ones? Each nestled inside the other.
I had a few ideas. At one point I thought about looping Kate Bush and playing it back through different sized reverbs. At another point I was jamming on the guitar and drums to a Peaches riff and singing creepy lyrics: "I can't wait to crack you open. I can't wait to see you're small inside."
I thought about recording the sound of dolls, as I'm sure there's a set in the toy box but I didn't want to deal with the toy box. I'm worried there might be food in there but I'd prefer not to know. And, dunno, it seemed too literal to record actual Matryoshka dolls.
Then I started MIDI-ing stuff. At first it sounded a bit robotic but the idea was to move upwards through keys. Then I went back to the guitar and recorded MIDI with it. What sounded like a dinky riff on the guitar ended up sounding even dinkier through an organ preset, but I thought it worked better for it.
Naviar haiku 074 Sing
Although it spoke of aeolian harps, this built on my experiments with 'the wires' in using singing and whistling. These can be seen in this video of my performance at the Unsound festival outside Wagga Wagga in 2004.
You can hear that I've added some instrumentation using Live's audio-to-MIDI function to trigger samples from their Suite.
[video forthcoming]
Disquiet Junto 0179 Tech(nique) Talk
The Disquiet Junto this week asks participants to share a recent technique 'figured out' in the production of music.
This isn't the most recent technique I've used in making music, that would probably be Live's audio-to-MIDI conversion that I think Ethan Hein has already discussed.
It's been about six months since I saw this technique on Tim Prebble's blog Music of Sound, in the excellent Detritus section.
The idea is to generate a piece by looping a series of ascending notes in E minor. I used this idea in my track Seabreeze.
For the piece recorded on glockenspiel this week, I've changed the formula to something closer to 4E2. I see something as I was loosely interpreting the tempo when recording and then manipulated one part further.
Disquiet Junto 0176 Walk It Out
My 100th junto asked for a track inspired by an idea recorded on a walk. While I've recently acquired a cellphone, I opted to record the initial idea using a camera -- leading to my 35th junto video.
Over the weekend I started to think about collaborating. My son and I recorded a song he chose. My daughter and I talked about using one of her recordings. Then I remembered the silos nearby and thought how they could inspire something, so I invited my regular collaborator to do something irregular.
My partner and I went to this abandoned site in my semi-industrial suburb. The silos were accessible, it appeared kids had been practicing their spray-painting there. We each sang a few notes and enjoyed the ambiance.
The mic I used didn't sound as good as the one on the camera. I added more reverb once I opened the recording in Ableton Live. Then I remembered the 'create MIDI' options and added a couple of Native Instruments synths. The result sounds a bit operatic to me, possibly inspired by the chapel-esque reverb.
My 100th Junto project
The Disquiet Junto is an "association for communal music/sound-making" with weekly projects that foster experimentation and learning.
Today I uploaded my 100th track that has resulted from Junto instructions, although that century is not reflected in being the 100th project. Because I submitted two tracks for a project earlier this year, I still have another project to complete before I reach 100.
I also feel a bit cheated on the century because I've stumbled on a couple of Junto projects. The first time I attempted a Junto I realised I'd misinterpreted the instructions and didn't submit my track. Another time I thought I drifted too far from the spirit of the project and didn't submit it. I'm not sure I'd feel that way these days because it's the tracks that fail that help me to learn my limits.
One thing I like about the Junto is having regular deadlines to develop work. My last couple of albums have been collected from these projects and many of my videos on Youtube too. See the playlist below for my Disquiet Junto videos.
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