Remix of Trifonic track, "Transgenic" (can be found on ccMixter). Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license. Edited in Ableton Live.

I took the original track and added a recording of short, raspy breaths that I resonated, making them unrecognizable. I used drumsticks and chopsticks to make the rain sounds which I also resonated and turned into a pulsating drone. I then took a recording of a thunderstorm and added a long reverb for a surreal, delayed effect. With the right speakers, the sheer intensity of the collection of sounds should overwhelm the listener.

Sturm und Drang

I used sounds from the library of Kevin Ernste (who got most of his stuff from musicians from the Eastman School of Music). I also made a few sounds of my own, particularly the drumbeat that keeps time for the whole thing. 
I was thinking about the use of polyrhythm in world percussion sounds when I made this, and I took a very spontaneous approach to its composition. As a matter of fact, most of this was improvised, so I guess that makes it a solo drum circle, for human hands and electronics. 
Drawing from childhood experiences with African drumming, I put together a selection of rhythms from my memories, and added in some flamenco clapping sounds for a fun twist. I have also included various other percussion instruments, like the bass drum and the bamboo sticks that make frequent appearances in this track. 
All of the non-percussive sounds are vocal utterances of some kind, many of which have been 'mangled' beyond recognition in Ableton Live. My favorite example is the growling sound at the end, which is actually a modified version of the humming sound that comes earlier.

Enjoy!

Drum Circle no. 2

Drum Circle no. 1

I performed this in Ableton 9 using the same sound library from Drum Circles. It was actually part of an assignment for a computer music course, and the vast majority of students perform some type of EDM for the assignments. There are the occasional experimentalists, but they are few and far between, and most of them are singer-songwriters. This was my attempt to be one of those people.
It failed miserably: the minute I found didgeridoo sounds in the local sound library, I knew the jig was up, and I thought, "screw the rules, I do what I want!" And that's how I got the title.

Enjoy!
BBD

I Do What I Want

This is the second iteration of my capstone piece, "For My Grandfather".  I wasn't satisfied with the initial piece or its recording, so I spruced it up in Live and added more of my grandfather's voice. I also think this version conveys more clearly the message I was trying to send in the first place, which was how I made sense of my grandfather's dementia. So, it's a heavy piece that deals with heavy topics. Have some tissues on hand.

For My Grandfather, take 2

The photograph is a shipping container turned Kaleidoscope Art Tunnel created for the 2013 Kobe Biennale by Masakazu Shirane and Saya Miyazaki. The sounds in this track were for a haiku project from a sound design class. We were allowed to choose a haiku to sonify, and I chose the following:

Kaleidoscope:
the little sound of a star,
shattering.

-Ellen Compton

image via [https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/07/wink-space-mirror-tunnel/]

Kaleidoscope

The Windhover

Violinist and street performer, available for hire for weddings and other events. Check out my "Busking Set" playlist to hear my latest work!

The Windhover

Adam Gianforte

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