I started by recording a couple of modular feedback patches, with a loose goal of generating steady, slowly animated tones. A Doepfer BBD delay was used as a hub to process a mix of droning pulse waves from two VCOs—the result of which was fed back into the delay. The BBD also outputs CV that corresponds to manually set controls as well as input CV signals, and this was used to modulate other patch parameters in the feedback loop.

The output was split to a crossfader that was sent to a handful of filters and another delay with a long interval—the idea here was to create a bit of slow movement to keep the timbral/spectral qualities in slow motion. 

I stacked a couple of sections of the drones together in Ableton, and layered in parts of a recent recording Tides (in chord mode) being granularly processed with Nebulae v2. This created some mid-higher frequency 'blooms'. Also added some simple granular processing in Ableton that was spread wider in the stereo field. Lastly added in some looped field recordings that introduce some higher frequencies and textures that I wanted to include.

– • — • – • — • – • — • —

Disquiet Junto Project 0611: Music That Listens to Itself

The Assignment: Record a piece of music that repurposes itself as it proceeds.

Background: On September 29, 2023, there is going to be an event at a place called the Berkeley Alembic, in Berkeley, California, where I’ll play recordings of music that share a specific theme, and I’ll discuss the sounds with the people who come to listen. The event is titled Music That Listens to Itself, part of the Expanded Listening series developed by Erik Davis (Techgnosis, Burning Shore). That is the theme. Part of the goal of this project is to develop tracks for potential inclusion in the event, and to pursue ideas related to the event’s theme.

Step 1: The underlying idea is to produce music that, so to speak, listens to itself. This would be music that employs techniques to revisit itself — repurposes itself — as it proceeds. From reverb to echo to tape loops to granular synthesis to accessing a buffer, various techniques serve such a compositional and performance purpose. Consider a means to achieve this result.

Step 2: Record a piece of music that employs the technique you focused on as a result of Step 1. Please note: for the Berkeley Alembic event, I’ll be sharing music that is particularly quiet, particularly appropriate to a meditative state of mind. You don’t need to record quiet music for this project, but quiet music is what I’ll be playing at the event.

Additional details: disquiet.com. Tickets: eventbrite.com 1. About the venue: berkeleyalembic.org.

(...)

More on this 611th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Music That Listens to Itself (The Assignment: Record a piece of music that repurposes itself as it proceeds), at: disquiet.com/0611/

Some of the music resulting from this project may be included in a September 29, 2023, event at the Berkeley Alembic in Berkeley, California: www.eventbrite.com/e/expanded-list…ts-712124101357 1

About the Disquiet Junto: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-pr…-listens-to-itself/

Pulse Animation • [disquiet 0611]

You can find my notes on this track via this link at the Lines forum: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0612-drum-vector/64175/9

Disquiet Junto Project 0612: Drum Vector
The Assignment: Walk the listener through variations on the same percussive instrument.

Thanks to Mahlen Morris for having proposed this project.

Step 1: Pick a single percussion instrument.

Step 2: Record between 4 and 12 different short examples (roughly 20 to 60 seconds each) of playing that instrument. Imagine that each recording is by a different musician exercising a different aspect of the instrument. Make no deliberate attempt to match key or tempo or sonic quality between them.

Step 3: Imagine moving through space over the course of time, and encountering the sounds — overlapping somewhat — as you proceed. Arrange the recordings over the course of a track so that at least one and at most five of the examples are audible at any one time. To further the spatial movement, each could fade in at the beginning and fade out. They might, as well, move from position to position within the stereo field.

Step 4: If you wish, consider adding a noise bed underneath the entire piece to sew all of the pieces together, to provide a sense of the space one is moving through.

[Disquiet_Junto_0612] The Lure of Bells

Disquiet Junto Project 0612: Drum Vector
The Assignment: Walk the listener through variations on the same percussive instrument.

Dragged my wooden tongue drum out of the closet for this one. Recorded too many variations and had to cut a few. Basically just used different reverbs and delays to give each variation it's own space.  Also played with panning on the cross fades to make it seem like you're walking from one area to the next.  Then for a noise bed I routed everything to a new track with more reverb, resonator, effects and so on.  Automated the stereo width on that one rather randomly.

More on this 612th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drum Vector (The Assignment: Walk the listener through variations on the same percussive instrument), at: https://disquiet.com/0612/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0612-drum-vector/

splinter vector (Disquiet0612)

Step 1: Pick a single percussion instrument.

Step 2: Record between 4 and 12 different short examples (roughly 20 to 60 seconds each) of playing that instrument. Imagine that each recording is by a different musician exercising a different aspect of the instrument. Make no deliberate attempt to match key or tempo or sonic quality between them.

Step 3: Imagine moving through space over the course of time, and encountering the sounds — overlapping somewhat — as you proceed. Arrange the recordings over the course of a track so that at least one and at most five of the examples are audible at any one time. To further the spatial movement, each could fade in at the beginning and fade out. They might, as well, move from position to position within the stereo field.

Step 4: If you wish, consider adding a noise bed underneath the entire piece to sew all of the pieces together, to provide a sense of the space one is moving through.

Eight Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Include “disquiet0612” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.

Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0612” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.

Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.

Step 4: Post your track in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0612-drum-vector/

Step 5: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #DisquietJunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.

Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Step 8: Also join in the discussion on the Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to marc@disquiet.com for Slack inclusion.

Note: Please post one track for this weekly Junto project. If you choose to post more than one, and do so on SoundCloud, please let me know which you’d like added to the playlist. Thanks.

Additional Details:

Length: The length is up to you. How long a walk do you want to take the listener on?

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, September 25, 2023, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, September 21, 2023.

Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).

For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:

More on this 612th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drum Vector (The Assignment: Walk the listener through variations on the same percussive instrument), at: https://disquiet.com/0612/

Thanks to Mahlen Morris for having proposed this project.

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/ 1

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0612-drum-vector/

Tin drum ( DIY drum sample maker ) - disquiet0612

a reworked version now appears on:

https://howthenightcame.bandcamp.com/album/hostile-architects

- - - -

first time layering two sampled drum beats

More on this 613th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Test Drive (The Assignment: The Assignment: Do something you’ve been meaning to do), at: https://disquiet.com/0613/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0613-test-drive/

[disquiet0613] test drive

Bless the Temple (naviarhaiku508)

More on this 613th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Test Drive (The Assignment: The Assignment: Do something you’ve been meaning to do), at: https://disquiet.com/0613/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0613-test-drive/

Davion (disquiet0613)

Been meaning to get around to posting something to a Disquiet Junto, and since this Junto is about finally getting around to something this seemed like a good time to jump in.

Musically the idea is to do music for meditators, similar to the sound bath genre. Sound Bath music usually uses sounds associated with Buddhism, like gongs and bells from Tibet. I find those instruments a little corny, appropriated, exoticist. My background is americana and folk. That's what I can play in an authentic way. So the main instruments here are from bluegrass - an old Gibson mandolin and a National steel guitar. In addition to those I'm playing a synthesizer, an Arturia Microfreak, using a bell sound that recalls traditional sound bath influences. All of these sounds are passing through a Microcosm pedal, which adds some classic ambient flavors like delay, glitching, and heavy reverb. The song that this is all based on is a fiddle tune called "The Black Water Fall."

MP3 and sheet music etc are on my blog at https://playingintongues.com/2023/09/28/on-the-third-day-she-left/

The Black Water Fell (disquiet0613)

[disquiet0613] Momijigari

More on this 613th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Test Drive (The Assignment: The Assignment: Do something you’ve been meaning to do), at: https://disquiet.com/0613/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/ 1

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0613-test-drive/

Disquiet0613 Harshnoodles

Artwork by Marcus Wendt via Field.io — see full design case study here:
https://www.field.io/project/interim-camp/

new album *ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɴᴛʀɪᴄ* out now on Mystery Circles

MPD

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