Disquiet Junto 0535 Jigsaw Disjunction
The Disquiet Junto prompt this week gave me an idea to use the cut-up technique on the national anthem.
Since Marc has started scheduling the project details to appear online ahead of the email, I've spent more time pondering how to respond to the Junto activity.
Last night, when I read the Disquiet post, I started reworking a popular Queen song and then thought better of it.
In previous Juntos I've referenced the Cut-up technique and re-written the Australian national anthem, so it interested me to combine the two.
(Also, it provided a process I could represent in the video visually -- although I've another idea to process 'Happy Birthday' that I might try over the weekend.)
My oldest sings in the choir at school, so I knew he'd provide the material.
I think it was William S. Burroughs who thought the Cut-up technique revealed hidden meanings in text, and it seems to me the Australian national anthem has language which seems to infer the white Australia policies of earlier eras.
The result is unmusical and I tried singing the new arrangement to the existing melody, which improved it but seemed at odds with the Junto directions this week.
naviarhaiku429 – over the moon
So I took two takes on my tongue drum and layered them together.
Disquiet Junto 0534 Transition Capsule
I spoke with my son about the Junto project and he told me they already do this at his high school.
Apparently there’s music over the school intercom, so it crackles and mostly the selection is ordinary – although my partner said she heard Iron Maiden one time.
naviarhaiku428 – end of rains
Disquiet Junto 0533 Numbers Magik
The Disquiet Junto this week activity involves remixing material from the trios projects earlier this year.
In the first round of those projects, RPLKTR hailed me as a fellow Youtuber and I'd wanted to respond to his track.
It has a lilting melody in a pop song structure, played on a little synth that sounds like an interpretation of a little Asian stringed instrument.
At the time I was stuck for how to contribute.
Last night, as I was finishing my track, I worried I might've become unstuck!
I'd looped a drum part and bass line, then had the idea to record through Volcas.
The Korg Volca range are fun and cheerful products, but I struggle to make them fit in a track.
When I played my son the recording, he thought it had smothered RPLKTR's track.
Memory of Nofi
At Disquiet.com, Marc remembers Jeffrey Melton and it's interesting to me that this memory of Melton's passing arises as we re-approach the Trios Junto projects.
While 'communing with Nofi' in '13, I had the delightful experience of discovering a Junto participant had chosen to jam with my response.
Lee Rosevere's drumming alongside my bass was a rare thrill for a musician.
It was one of those moments where I heard my music elevated by someone more skilful.
So inspiring, even when I think back on it.
That was my first Junto Trio and, in hindsight, I can see it encourages that thing musicians need to do and is central to the Junto's objectives: listening to each other.
My other recollection from the 66th Junto is that I spent a while listening to Nofi’s recordings and appreciating the way Melton sampled.
Nofi’s jams often hung on a well-known riff, such as Michael Jackson’s 'Thriller', but he’d take a bar or so and build a scaffold around it.
The result was like a construction site, where you could see through the mesh hung on the fence and glimpse an outline of the landmark.
naviarhaiku427 – marbled dawn
My track developed from a jam with the Omnichord and my collection of Roland Boutiques.
Disquiet Junto 0532 Other Means
This song is about my online shopping habit.
Naviarhaiku 426 – the long night
At first I considered recording the neighbourhood dogs that can be heard barking, as part of a response to the haiku shared by Naviar Records this week.
That seemed too literal and, after I'd set up my microphone, the little yappers across the street fell silent.
So I had a jam on my Omnichord, although I ended up reworking the MIDI instruments in Live afterward, so you can't hear any of the devices flashing during the recording.
Disquiet Junto 0531 Noise Sculpt
The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Listen for a mirage of your music within white noise."
At first I wasn't sure I wanted to listen to noise for an extended period, then I considered other sources.
I settled on one of the recordings I made on my last visit to Valla Beach and worked with Ableton Live to explore the key of the crashing waves.
After a while, I recorded piano and bass parts to accompany the vocoded synth pads that are hidden in the background noise.
naviarhaiku425 – Looking, not seeing
I've been throwing ideas at his bass line and the piano part was a melody he developed with his teacher, who recorded that instrument and likely played it too.
Disquiet Junto 0530 Minimally Viable Music
Recently I’ve established a tiny corner studio based around an Omnichord.
It came to mind for the Junto this week, as I’m trying to connect the minimum number of devices via MIDI to see if it doesn’t sound naff.
This week I took a recent jam, edited bits to cover a bad performance and tried not to mangle it too much in Ableton Live.
However, it seems the Omnichord still required a couple of VST synths and delays on top of the trio you can see blinking their lights.
Disquiet Junto 0529 Squared Off
The Disquiet Junto assignment this week asks participants to "Explore the number 23."
I decided to count back through my Juntos in increments of 23, then remix elements from those tracks together.
It turns out that I didn’t join in project 0414, so there were four Juntos to use this week:
- Sunset [disquiet0506]
- Lettera [disquiet0483]
- Blossoms [disquiet0460]
- A (distant) neighbour might be a pianist [disquiet0437]
The result is one of those unlikely Junto tracks, with a rock band supporting a typist while accompanied by a field recording.
naviarhaiku424 – sunset in snow
My Omnichord is going through Roland's TR-06 and SH-101a, as well as Korg's Volca Keys and FM synth.
Then I saturated the stems and mixed them together.
naviarhaiku423 – scattering ginkgo leaves
I like the line "faint sound from the wind" and, because I live in a semi-industrial setting, those sounds often carry noises from industry.
So my recording brings those to the fore.
Disquiet Junto 0528 Landscape Architecture
The Disquiet Junto prompt this week is to "Think about the concept of creating an unobtrusive path through the musical equivalent of fragile vegetation."
My mind immediately went to a blackbird recording I made last spring.
Then my mind went to a recording I'd made of an omnichord jam.
naviarhaiku422 – the edge of the world
My track developed as I wanted to make use of the drums I'd recorded for the Disquiet Junto this week.
As I played with ideas, I flicked through the randomised options in a 303-style VST and liked the way the slide worked with the beat.
Disquiet Junto 0527 Magic Number (3 of 3)
When I started listening to the Disquiet Junto tracks from last weekend, I had an idea that I might program a beat on a drum machine.
Then I realised it'd be more nuanced to play the drums.
I didn't leave much time, so I didn't bother setting up a mic and just used the camera.
As a result I had to spend more time trying to make it sit in the mix.
In the end I used phasing to take the force out of the drumming and tried to make the different parts sit together, although I'm not sure if more compression would help or hinder.
naviarhaiku421 – White and white
It's been a busy year for these white butterflies, which seem to have crowded out all the other varieties that I've seen around my flowering mint.
I've used the chords from Shark With Lasers' piece for a recent Disquiet Junto.
Disquiet Junto 0526 Magic Number (2 of 3)
For the second part of the Disquiet Junto's asynchronous trio project, I jammed along with Shark With Lasers' track 'L Chord Pulse'.
If you want to join us, the audio (wav file) and video (mov file) can be downloaded from these hypertext links.
Since this Junto allows further contributions, I've joined Seramind on the track 'Skrap' with a drum track.
I've used gates to try and tame my playing, as well as saturation to make it sound at home.
Again, if you want to join us, the audio (wav file) and video (mov file) can be downloaded from these hypertext links.
naviarhaiku420 – adorned with raindrops
Disquiet Junto 0524 Sunset Waveform
So I recorded a couple of takes using the gated guitar rig and tried to keep in mind the shape of the treeline.
There are a number of inputs all triggered by the guitar, through its pickups and the MIDI and the Submarine pickup on the lower strings.
It’s largely a single take, although I added a little reverb in post.
Disquiet Junto 0521 Cannon Canon
The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Record a canon using (or produce a facsimile of) the sound of a cannon."
I've gone on a tangent but it was fun and gave me a reason to try recording at different frame rates.
Disquiet Junto 0520 On the Clock
Recorded this song earlier in the week and it felt close, but not complete.
When I started I thought I'd edit the shape a bit, but as I listened it seemed to have a good structure.
There were definitely bits where the drums needed to drop out though and it took a while to consider filtering them out.
Then I added some reverb and delay for movement, before trying to add effects for a similar visual result.
naviarhaiku414 – grim wartime relics
Disquiet Junto 0519 Looking Glass Remix
This is my 300th video for the Disquiet Junto and it remixes material from around the time I started following their prompts.
It was 2012 and I was about a year into my project to remix Leeton's playgrounds for the town's centenary.
I'd quit my job and was following the one idea I thought was good.
It's funny but this is one of a couple of attempts at Junto projects before properly joined when I published the Tanku remix.
Then I started producing video responses to the Junto prompts with number 100, which was driven by disillusionment with Soundcloud.
One observation is the workflow is a lot quicker to produce a video now, particularly thanks to Ableton Live's video editing capabilities and my 2019 model Mac Mini.
I made a dubstep track and that seems suitably 2012.
This video was largely produced using Live and took less than a day using the raw recordings, whereas I think the earlier Enticknap Park track took a few days to complete.
Disquiet Junto 0517 Inside Out
This weekend I'm away from home and, while the passing trucks and trains speak to the Junto theme of civilisation, when I heard the microwave I knew it was the sound I want to share.
My microwave at home sounds like a truck backing up, so the chip-tune melodies played by this little oven are delightful.
Disquiet Junto 0516 Outside In
When the Junto arrived this week, I was sitting at work and remembered a recording I'd made of cicadas while working at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum.
I've uploaded the file here if anyone wants to use for the next Junto assignment.
From the ground up
Long Distance Dan is one of my favourite producers and we both contribute to the Shinobi Cuts Remix Chains.
Recently he asked for a bassline and our collaboration can be heard on his latest release.
Disquiet Junto 0515 Talking Cure
The Disquiet Junto prompt this week is to write a piece of music for a psychotherapist's office.
While I've never been in a psychotherapist's office, my impression is that it'd be good to have something ambient with enough variation to mask the possibility of hearing a voice from the next room.
Last weekend a swarm of bees arrived at the end of my driveway and I'd been looking for an opportunity to incorporate this recording into something.
I liked the idea that one might be eased out of the bustle of daily life by hearing something more bustling than human life.
As I listened to the looped bees I turned to the bowed vibraphone samples that are one of my favourite ambient instruments.
After exporting a two-minute version to loop, I realised it didn't work as seamlessly as I'd like.
So I went back and created this four-minute version, which was almost the limit of my bee recording.
Disquiet Junto 0514 Chord Channels
The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Take two chords and connect them over time."
I chose Dm and G, then played them on the guitar picking out notes and shifting between them.
The result doesn't have the sustain needed, I think.
I've used the MIDI to add M-Tron and re-amped the electric guitar, which is nice but feels like it could use something more.
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