I Hate Demos / Today's Improv/Composition

[Robert G]

A couple recent pieces:


http://soundcloud.com/eppleyca/charles- ... maged-life


http://soundcloud.com/eppleyca/charles- ... g-midnight

I'd buy a tape if these were the A-side and B-side.

In the meantime, I've taken up "prepared guitar" playing. This is me with a severely detuned Yamaha Pacifica with alligator clips... I recorded it with my computer mic and it's being played through a Marshall practice amp, so bare with me.

[anasara]

I'd buy a tape if these were the A-side and B-side.

thanks for the kind words.

and incidentally that is exactly what this is - should be out soon on fairchild tapes:

http://www.discogs.com/label/FairChild+Tapes


you've got a nice sense of space with your guitar playing - i might even push the silences further. the tone resonance toward the end is a good touch and could be an area in which you could get some nice texture.

[Moon]

Hello friends,
I'm a little stuck with some work I'm doing,
mind having a little listen?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/89618/context%20container.mp3

The background story is that I've broken into a military zone and amateurishly record myself walking around until weird sounds from a metal container starts to affect me. I approach the container, give it a knock and become an involuntary audience to the container's electroacoustic composition.

It's meant to be like an electroacoustic version of those handheld home-video + fake insane stuff happening you can see on youtube (oh, ok, fine, say cloverfield then).

There's a lot of sounds missing, some simple dramaturgy I'm mixing in, like doing little gasps and yelps, and more knocking of course. The composition itself is what I'd like some comments on. And maybe some ideas on where to go from where it ends?

[Robert G]

you've got a nice sense of space with your guitar playing - i might even push the silences further. the tone resonance toward the end is a good touch and could be an area in which you could get some nice texture.

Thanks! and yeah that resonance is me smacking the guitar; it definitely adds something. Oh, and I forgot to mention I have a wooden spoon between the bridge and the bridge pick-ups to add some tension.

Earlier today I went out with my mom's Memorex Vox tape recorder and recorded the river (Rocky River, to be Cleveland-specific) by my house. I plan to use this as a backing tape/accompaniment in the near future (though there's also traffic sounds and airplanes from Cleveland Hopkins in the background, ugh). I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda shooting for a kind of Mirror or Jewelled Antler Collective thing here. I'll up this soon.

[Robert G]

Earlier today I went out with my mom's Memorex Vox tape recorder and recorded the river (Rocky River, to be Cleveland-specific) by my house. I plan to use this as a backing tape/accompaniment in the near future (though there's also traffic sounds and airplanes from Cleveland Hopkins in the background, ugh). I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda shooting for a kind of Mirror or Jewelled Antler Collective thing here. I'll up this soon.

Here it is. The first half was practically inaudible, so I cut that... I then lopped off the ends since they were of me turning the recorder on and off. Pretty certain this qualifies as unusable.

[Dohol]

I can be a noisy bastard...

(made with a freeware faux mini-moog thing..)

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... e1ffd49b4f

[thrillho]

the awakening of the machine, a formative period, a sense of mission, frustration with the creator, evolution of reality...



this is a work in progress for a video project, critique welcome...

[Moon]

I like having breaks
I like Porgy

http://bobobilbjorn.tumblr.com/post/519443466

[flies]

I can be a noisy bastard...

(made with a freeware faux mini-moog thing..)

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... e1ffd49b4f

there's a sweet spot at about 2:15. I like the sputtering as a texture, but the quality of the sound is somewhat lacking (digital). you could try bouncing the track through an analog distortion or overdrive to add some grit, which could improve the sound.

[RFKorp]

I can be a noisy bastard...

(made with a freeware faux mini-moog thing..)

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... e1ffd49b4f

there's a sweet spot at about 2:15. I like the sputtering as a texture, but the quality of the sound is somewhat lacking (digital). you could try bouncing the track through an analog distortion or overdrive to add some grit, which could improve the sound.

No, it wouldn't necessarily improve the sound unless you think extra grit is always better. I for one love the digital tone. It's thick and detailed without being too dirty. And the sensation after 2:15 where it seems things start to cancel each other out and holes suddenly emerge in the sound is particularly awesome as is.

I don't mean to jump on you flies, just felt this perspective should be expressed too.

Love downloading your occasional tracks Dohol. I should try to remember to comment more often. This is definitely a great one. I've got the volume cranked up hard right now.

[flies]

I don't mean to jump on you flies, just felt this perspective should be expressed too.

different strokes. what i said is surely a cliche, especially in noise (analog>digital). it's possible my years of listening to mediocre IDM have conditioned me against liking that VA sound. De gustibus non est disputandum

[Dohol]

Thanks for the listen and the critique guys..As far as the digital/analog, shiny versus gritty spectrum..well..I think both have their places. I just don't know exactly where!

This thing is what it is. I torture myself over making a mono track into a two channel track, let alone doing any other kind of editing/modification..

I just still have to learn how to make something sound good with my limited resources.


Again, Thanks dudes!

[nnudl]

http://soundcloud.com/lawrencedunn/cjaveli

First foray into Granular synthesis (sounds a bit, well, granular to my ears, a little too Curtis Roadsy, but at least a start). Hope you like.

[flies]

This thing is what it is. I torture myself over making a mono track into a two channel track, let alone doing any other kind of editing/modification.

you can send your computer output to a distortion pedal while you're playing.

[flies]

the awakening of the machine, a formative period, a sense of mission, frustration with the creator, evolution of reality...

this is a work in progress for a video project, critique welcome...

woah, sub-bass. are you sure the audience for the video is going to have good speakers?

you're working a lot with short sample loops, it gives a very claustrophobic feeling. I think you would do well to open it up at some points - ok, you have done toward the end there.

what's the video gonna be like?

[flies]

http://soundcloud.com/lawrencedunn/cjaveli

First foray into Granular synthesis (sounds a bit, well, granular to my ears, a little too Curtis Roadsy, but at least a start). Hope you like.

i really like the crackly sounds at the beginning (at first I wasn't sure if the player was messing up ). the quiet sounds around 3-4 minutes too. the dense, noisy clouds are the parts that work the least well for me. the pitched clouds are great - lux aeterna-esque.

overall, i'd say working exclusively with granular synthesis like this may be too limiting in pallette.

can you tell me a little bit about how you made this?

[nnudl]

Thanks!

overall, i'd say working exclusively with granular synthesis like this may be too limiting in pallette.
can you tell me a little bit about how you made this?

Yeah. Agreed.

It's actually a single (improvised) performance of a patch I made using Absynth. The new 'cloud' filter on Absynth 5 is basically the centre of it. So technically its rather rudimentary. But yeah, it is limited, but I hope a start.

[flies]

Thanks!

overall, i'd say working exclusively with granular synthesis like this may be too limiting in pallette.
can you tell me a little bit about how you made this?

Yeah. Agreed.

It's actually a single (improvised) performance of a patch I made using Absynth. The new 'cloud' filter on Absynth 5 is basically the centre of it. So technically its rather rudimentary. But yeah, it is limited, but I hope a start.

wow, absynth is one hell of a tool!!

[free math]

apropos of nothing really, here's an experiment in multitracked melodica. based on a couple chords from "ambulance blues" although i think it wound up sounding more like mick turner. just testing out a mic and some software, i've never done much multitracking before.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/036kv9

[A Consumer]

http://soundcloud.com/a-consumer/05-wave-after-wav

I spent a few hours designing this patch. My first attempt at Wavetable Synthesis.
This is a one take improv using a Waldorf Micro Q synth, Novation Remote controller, EHX Looper/Delay.
I've since done some work on this patch to tame the ultra high frequencies.