	Those evil fiends over at the freesound project dared everyone to make something between two and four minutes long out of the following ten randomly chosen sounds (yeah: I pretty much used the four minutes). In the rules of the dare — which can be found quite easily at www.freesound.org if you are interested in playing — all contestants are graciously "allowed to transform the samples using whatever effects or other means at your disposal." Also, we are strongly encouraged to explain what sorts of audio mutilation we engage in while performing the dare.

	Here are the sounds and what I did to them:

http://www.freesound.org/people/Jovica/sounds/6663/   copied to two tracks; both tracks use added reverb ("plate"); 2nd track pitched +200 cents   This sound is used both as a tone-color and serves, I think, as what "harmony" there is in this piece. I should add I didn't actually set out to make it "music" in any traditional sense. But then again: I almost never do. ;—)

http://www.freesound.org/people/CyberiaLainKittyKat/sounds/60196/   pitched -1400 cents   This track is mixed very low and is used mainly as a subtle rhythm (indeed, I set the tempo of the piece around the length of this sound) during the middle section; I think of it like a clarinet gone haywire or something.

http://www.freesound.org/people/denalwa/sounds/57916/   no effect   This sound makes me (and nearly everyone else, I suspect) think of a Zen flute at the foot of deeply mysterious mountains and not much of a rusty barn-hinge at all. Congratulations to denalwa on some really excellent crafting! In the fourth section this sound is run through an amplifier simulation ("British clean") and the very last bit of it is choppily stretched out. You'll hear it.

http://www.freesound.org/people/grosgraingras/sounds/33331/   no effect   This sound is repeated a few times and faded in at the end of the second section. It makes me think of inner-city cops and rushing ambulances and things like that.

http://www.freesound.org/people/domrodrig/sounds/119099/   no effect   This sound is repeated continuously during the third-section fade, mixed with the sound of the Ketagawa as recorded by morewaves (below). So peaceful. (It's not relevant, but I'm also using this sound as an alarm clock; very nice in the mornings. Thank you, domrodrig!)

http://www.freesound.org/people/kosden/sounds/112583/   copied to two tracks; 1st track uses bit-crushing, flanging and added reverb ("small hall"); 2nd track uses bit-crushing, added reverb ("medium hall") and is pitched -200 cents   The vocals of the piece. I love this sound! In the fourth section (this sound is the reason there is a fourth section, yo) bit-crushed, delayed clones of this sound are chopped into differntly-pitched 16th notes (+200, +400, +500, +700 and +1400 cents) and run through a multi-band compressor cranked up really high.

http://www.freesound.org/people/theta4/sounds/67291/   uses multi-band compression and equalization   This sound is used more like toms than a kick drum. But I think it sounds really cool.

http://www.freesound.org/people/NoiseCollector/sounds/126810/   uses multi-band compression and added reverb ("plate")   This sound is the "snare" sound during the second section.

http://www.freesound.org/people/batchku/sounds/10116/   copied to two tracks; 1st track uses multi-band compression, phasing and added reverb ("spring"); 2nd track uses multi-band compression and is pitched -389 cents   The compression was used in mirror-image on the two tracks, making one essentially more 'high-frequency' and the other more 'low-frequency.'  The 'hi-freq,' slightly reverberant version is faded in during the first section, the two clones are then re-blended to form one kick sound during the second section.

http://www.freesound.org/people/morewaves/sounds/31534/   copied to two tracks; both tracks chopped into many slices; 2nd track pitched +227 cents   The chopped, panned and pitched bits are used as sort of hi-hat-like sounds during the second section. The original sound is allowed to play out, without effect, in the third section. What else can I say about this excellent sound? It makes me miss Japan.

	Also, I was pretty liberal in the use of pan and volume automation. The resulting two-track mix was run through a gentle multi-band compression algorithm (the algorithm was gentle but I spanked the mix pretty hard, hey) and I added the merest touch (2% on the wet/dry mix) of a fairly dark reverb.

	I singled out denalwa above, but thank you to all the folks who made these sounds — I know I will be using Noise Collector's trash-compactor impulse-sound again, to test room responses if nothing else — because they are all very nicely done. So thanks. I had a great time participating in this dare and I look forward to the next one!

—e


Ps.: The names of the reverb-sounds and one amplifier-sound are in parentheses and quotation marks to indicate that they are not, in fact, halls, plates, springs and a 1968 Orange … but math. I belabor this point because I like real spaces (and real amplifiers!) a lot and often process sounds using them.


ericksommers