Disquiet Junto 0762 Lunch Break
The assignment is to "Make music intended to be listened to in the background while one is reading in the middle of the day."
I don't normally like music while reading, so I asked Google and it recommended lo-fi beats.
This prompted a little bit of pondering, since the crunchy beats seemed at odds with background listening.
Investigation of different kits in Live led me to one that was "darker" sounding but had too much reverb, which was addressed with a gate.
Then I noodled around on the computer keyboard to play a bassline and added effects to make it darker too.
It sounded good, but I knew it needed something more and time was short as my family wanted to watch another instalment of Dune -- because my son seems to insist in only sitting still long enough for half an hour at a time.
To speed things up I repurposed the bass as a keyboard part, starting it at a different point and pitching it up a few octaves.
The video was shot last weekend while visiting Dr Greg Pritchard in Natimuk, where I had the most delightful crap accompanied by the kaleidoscopes he has sitting in the bathroom.
(If you're looking for an artist residency, then I recommend his studio and the nearby Mount Arapiles is also inspiring for rock climbers.)
Tapewarp with feedback amplifier
Interesting instrument, I think.
The way the feedback saturates with the vibrations on the tape reminds me how much I liked hearing Alan Lamb's "wires" through a polystyrene box.
And the visual sense of folding the tape for pitch makes it look like driving the reins on a runaway stagecoach.
Disquiet Junto 0761 When Doves Smile
The Junto assignment this week is to "Make music for (anonymously) someone who’s angered or disappointed you."
A magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) is known locally as a pee-wee and it isn't a big bird, but it will act aggressively toward larger birds and even people.
So I was watching a pee-wee swooping at a hawk on the drive home from the shops and started singing about it to my partner.
She was amused and I typed up my lyrics when I got home, then the Junto instructions arrived that night and the bird theme made me think it'd be fun to record the song.
It's directed at some people in my neighbourhood who've been cutting down trees recently.
The line "birdy peep" imitates a call I've heard from pee-wees, but also is a rallying cry for those who would like to see the bird habitat protected.
Sensitivity settings
My favourite audio effect is a gate and playing with the threshold brings out dynamics in parts.
Communication is imperfect. What’s being offered and what’s received don’t always match. Borrowing from my recent toe-dipping into the world of audio engineering, I’ve installed a few new signal-processing tools for navigating life: Two knobs and a fader. The first knob is labelled FEEDBACK. Feedback can be useful. It can help us understand how we’re being perceived, including the moments when that perception doesn’t align with our own sense of self. There is, of course, another kind of feedback. When a microphone passes in front of a speaker and creates a loop of increasingly ugly NOISE. When that happens, I’m learning to reach for the feedback knob and turn it down a little. Beside it is another knob labelled SENSITIVITY. Sometimes that one can come down a touch too. And while I was installing the new equipment, I added a fader labelled SELF-LOVE. Somewhat magically, as the feedback and sensitivity come down, I’ve noticed the self-love fader creeping up. Discerning what is your shit and what belongs to somebody else is a lifelong practice. I’m feeling a little more ease navigating it with these new tools
Disquiet Junto 0760 Harness the Light
The assignment is to "Use audio of a light bulb to express the pervasiveness of energy."
Musikfestival Bern shared an audio sample by musician and media artist Michael Vorfeld, which I manipulated and then added video from a Chocolate Factory fire in Marrickville.
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