Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers
The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers.

This project is the first of three that are being done in by the Disquiet Junto in collaboration with the 2025 Musikfestival Bern, which will be held in Switzerland from September 3 through 7. The festival topic this year is « Kette » — which translates, as the organization explains, to “Chain”: “Chains connect but they also bind. They create relationships but also restrictions. As a gift they look nice, feared when used in vice, and yet they can span bridges across fire and ice.” All three Junto projects will engage with the work of Svetlana Maraš, who is the Composer-in-Residence for the 2025 festival.

We are working again at the invitation of Tobias Reber, an early Junto participant, who is in charge of the educational activities of the festival. This is the seventh year in a row that the Junto has collaborated with Musikfestival Bern.

Step 1: Record 10 to 15 layers of continuous sound.

Step 2: Create a piece of music in which you only change the relative presence of those individual layers from Step 1 over time. Some light effects and panning are certainly fine, but the majority of the impact should be how the prominence of the individual layers changes.

Deadline: Monday, May 5, 2025, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

Details: disquiet.com/0696

Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers

Phew! Thankfully this track didn't pass muster with the SoundCloud algorithm ... and so won't be recommended to potentially interested listeners ... Always a signal that something is probably worth a listen! 😁

See the accompanying video at https://youtu.be/wjrGJtwQnP0

This project is the first of three that are being done by the Disquiet Junto in collaboration with the 2025 Musikfestival Bern, which will be held in Switzerland from September 3 through 7. The festival topic this year is « Kette » — which translates, as the organization explains, to “Chain”: “Chains connect but they also bind. They create relationships but also restrictions. As a gift they look nice, feared when used in vice, and yet they can span bridges across fire and ice.” All three Junto projects will engage with the work of Svetlana Maraš, who is the Composer-in-Residence for the 2025 festival.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

visuals

halF layereD [disquiet0696]

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

11 samples created from looping short sections taken from a pre-existing piece entitled 'Narrative' [ https://soundcloud.com/xiiixxi/narrative ]. The volume of each continuously sounding loop is auto-faded in and out using a pair of linked oscillators in addition to being shaped to bring each to the front once at least once throughout the duration of the piece.

Disquiet Junto | Chain of Layers - disquiet0696

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

portales de andros [disquiet0696]

Edited, mixed & mastered on 01 May 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA. 

Layered guitar synth

This piece evolved through three distinct passes with the last having three of its own:

1 - Almost every day, I record something. On April 13, I recorded about 20 minutes of guitar synth with a voice sound using a cheap SX guitar as the controller. I recorded with DAW effects but for this piece, I used the raw recording without effects. The synth has some built-in though.

2 - On May 1, I spread this recording across 15 tracks, stretching some to fit the same duration and adding leftover bits throughout. I panned them across the sound field. Though I created a wall of sound and did a rough mix, I felt this arrangement wasn't working for me.

3 - Inspired by fabric patterns and metal chains, I drew a subtractive volume automation on one track, moving down and diagonally, bouncing off the side and back until reaching the 15th track. I then drew another pattern at the beginning of the last track, moving up diagonally. As the piece took shape, I added a third pattern in untouched spots where it felt right. These patterns began precise but became organic—like a handmade garment rather than a machine-made one. The final run evoked an old painting shirt, and that's when I knew it was complete.

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, Aug 2019, Massapequa, NY, USA - at the time, an in-progress painting I called “Injury Or Suffocation.” 

©2019, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

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This original version of “Stepmother In Chains” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers. The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696

Stepmother In Chains (disquiet0696)

Disquiet Junto 0696's assignment was to record 10 to 15 layers of continuous sound and create a piece of music only by altering their relative presence over time.

I immediately thought of the story of how the iconic 1975 10cc song "I'm Not In Love" was created. The backing vocals are lush and rich and unearthly. (If you don't know the song, just listen to the first 30 seconds or so to get the gist). The story is that the band recorded themselves each singing a long, sustained note until they had 48 notes on individual 12' tape loops. For the final recording, the tape loops were played simultaneously and mixed into harmonies live on the console, essentially turning the mixer into a musical instrument. 

With this technique as inspiration, I recorded 7 tracks of ebow guitar, each playing a different note in the A harmonic minor scale. Ebow can make dynamics difficult but I managed some good textures I think. I hand-mixed each of the tracks to come in and out in sequence, creating a rising step pattern.

Then I bounced the seven guitar tracks to a single track. This track was duplicated and pitch shifted to create 4 tracks spanning 4 octaves. This essentially multiplied my original 7 tracks by 4 to give me 28 guitars. I applied volume automation to create a primitive Shepard scale out of the result.

Aside from a couple of acousmatic accents and a low-fi kick drum, every sound is from the guitar.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

What Became of Grandfather? (disquiet0696)

A chain of layered sequences with a mix of electronic and recorded sounds.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Chain of Events (disquiet0696)

Different layers of sounds created from synths, strings, birds, choirs, slowly transforming, evolving into a sunset drone by varying the mix between the layers.

A drone to immerse yourself into the sunset. 

This track was inspired by this week's Disquiet Junto project:

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Sunset Duvet (Disquiet0696)

13 Levels; my track for disquiet0696

Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers
The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers.
Step 1: Record 10 to 15 layers of continuous sound.
Step 2: Create a piece of music in which you only change the relative presence of those individual layers from Step 1 over time. Some light effects and panning are certainly fine, but the majority of the impact should be how the prominence of the individual layers changes.
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More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

disquiet0696_13levels

Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers

The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers.

Step 1: Record 10 to 15 layers of continuous sound.

Step 2: Create a piece of music in which you only change the relative presence of those individual layers from Step 1 over time. Some light effects and panning are certainly fine, but the majority of the impact should be how the prominence of the individual layers changes.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Chain of Layers (disquiet0696)

Createtd for the Disquiet Junto Project No 696: Chain of Layers

I used a C and 14 overtones in the harmonic series for my layes, and automated them to create chords, textures and rhythms. A touch of reverb on the 2bus to make it a little more enjoyable. 


The Organ Grinder Has Lost His Marbles [disquiet0696]

disquiet0696

sound art for disquiet0696.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

hendecad cascade (disquiet0696)

This is my submission for this week's Disquiet Junto assignment.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

250503 [disquiet0696]

This was my contribution for Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layer. The first of three that are being done by the Disquiet Junto in collaboration with the 2025 Musikfestival Bern.  The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers.

Here’s a copy of my post on the Disquiet Junto 0696 discussion thread on Lines:

Recorded 11 tracks from my modular synth using Make Noise Telharmonic and Verbos HO modules for the voices. Layered them in Ableton Live in the sequence in which they were recorded – fading one into the next. Also inserted 4 samples from field recordings I had and interspersed them between the synth tracks, and also at the end. So this has a total of 15 layers. Some reverb using Valhalla Room and a bit of auto panning using built in devices were the only effects added. Image by Ruido-98 via Unsplash. It's been altered slightly in Photoshop.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Fifteen Waveforms [disquiet0696]

The track I prepared probably does not correspond perfectly to the rules of the challenge....anyway.
Nothing experimental, it is a classic tonal track, totally instrumental, without samples and particular sound design.
Simple Euclidean sequencer in B flat/F key that drives percussive instruments (wood, metal).
I found an old piece (only the final master) in which each independent cell of the sequencer generates a new pattern and each pattern represents a different channel/layer (12 in total).
The variations of the layers are therefore given by the score.
This creates a game of interlocking pieces, in which the alternation/modification of the channels is given by the fragment/channel played.
The various patterns/channels are parallel (Pan and L/R).
For the continuity of the sound I created drones with  organ and double bass (long bow).

Canone XII (disquiet0696)

Chain of Layers [Disquiet0696]

This week's #disquietjunto prompt was to record 10 - 15 layers of continuous sound and then make a piece by only changing their relative volumes.

This was a pretty thought-provoking prompt - for starters, what is a "continuous" sound?  Does it have to be constant? Is it enough if it's frequently occurring? Sustained?  Decaying? Frogs croaking in a pond may not be a continuous sound, in that there are silences in between their croaks.

I ended up choosing field recordings that had constant sound, even if the sounds were irregularly occurring.

Then, I thought about how to structure the sounds. Ternary (ABA) form is usually a good choice for something like this, but 10-15 sounds is a lot of sounds!  I decided to go with a sort of arch form, or nested ternaries:
ABA CBC D CBC ABA

4 sections for 10-15 sounds means there will be some layering. So, each section basically became a bucket of multiple, layered sounds. I assigned each recording a number and mapped it out. The first section A is sound 1, the second section A is sounds 1 and 2, the first section B is sound 3, etc.

Realizing that in Ableton created another head-scratcher. Then, I did some math and made each section 13 seconds long. I interpreted the prompt to mean that all the sounds were audible all the time, but only some were in the forefront. To keep track of this, I made the portions were a recording would be quiet dark grey and where it would be audible a brighter color. 

I normalized all the samples volumes at about -12 dBs, using the fader and the Utility plug-in. Then I used volume automation to adjust the volumes. I ended up using fades in and out because I thought that was more musical and less choppy.

The sounds were all taken from my phone, recording at various locations, from NYC to rural New Hampshire, so the piece ended up being something of an audio diary.

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More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Teleology (Disquiet0696)

Submission for Disquiet Junto #0696. Distorted sine waves in a 5 limit tuning and a crunchy recording of water, captured on my slowly dying tape deck.

until nothing remains - disquiet0696

Credits:
Ángel L. Martínez: electronics

Layers of synth organ sounds.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Mapa 3 (disquiet0696)

per: disquiet junto 0696

Step 1: Record 10 to 15 layers of continuous sound.

Step 2: Create a piece of music in which you only change the relative presence of those individual layers from Step 1 over time. Some light effects and panning are certainly fine, but the majority of the impact should be how the prominence of the individual layers changes.

all source material came from 4 or 8 bar loops i made via synthstrom deluge. the rest was LPF, HPF, gain and panning.

layer [disquiet0696]

My 33 1/3 series book about the Aphex Twin album <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> was published in 2014. The book was one of the top 5 bestselling titles for the calendar year, and in 2015 was ranked by Pitchfork as one of the "33 best" of the 100-plus books in the 33 1/3 series. It has subsequently been translated into Japanese (2019) and Spanish (2018)

Since 2012 I have moderated the Disquiet Junto group, which began on SoundCloud. More at disquiet.com/junto. 

I've written for Nature, Pitchfork, The Wire, Down Beat, Boing Boing, NewMusicBox, Red Bull Music Academy, Art Practical, the website of The Atlantic, and many other publications. 

I've exhibited sound art at galleries in Los Angeles (Crewest), Manhattan (apex art), and Dubai (DUTAC), and I had a audio-visual installation at the San Jose Museum of Art as part of its 45th anniversary.

And since 1996 I've run the website Disquiet.com about the intersection of sound, art, and technology.