Disquiet Junto Project 0604: Heaven’s Gate 
The Assignment: Use a picture of the clouds as a plan for adjusting your sound.

Step 1: Think about the use of a gate in music production. A gate can be described as an “on/off switch, allowing signals over threshold to pass while muting everything below.” (It’s likely that discussion will occur during this project regarding useful explanations of the concept.)

Step 2: Take a picture of some clouds.

Step 3: Think of how to interpret the clouds as a model of a gate.

Step 4: Record a track employing the approach you determined in Step 3 using the picture from Step 2.

I took the cover photo in Ashland, Oregon, earlier this year; no filters were employed. Regarding the title, I’m a Michael Cimino admirer.

Source: https://tapeop.com/interviews/33/noise-gates/

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, July 31, 2023, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

More on this 604th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Heaven’s Gate (The Assignment: Use a picture of the clouds as a plan for adjusting your sound), at: https://disquiet.com/0604/

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-0604-heavens-gate/

Disquiet Junto Project 0604: Heaven’s Gate

release date: 27/07/2023
More on this 604th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Heaven’s Gate (The Assignment: Use a picture of the clouds as a plan for adjusting your sound), at: https://disquiet.com/0604/

About the Disquiet Junto: Disquiet Junto F.A.Q. – Disquiet

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0604-heavens-gate/

Heaven’s Gate (disquiet0604)

More on this 604th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Heaven’s Gate (The Assignment: Use a picture of the clouds as a plan for adjusting your sound), at: https://disquiet.com/0604/

About the Disquiet Junto: Disquiet Junto F.A.Q. – Disquiet

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0604-heavens-gate/

3-Zone-Heaven(disquiet0604)

Clouds and fog march in over the north shore of Lake Superior.

In The Way disquiet0604

An electronic sequence created in Pure Data & subjected to a touch of reverb & Noise Gate.

More on this 604th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Heaven’s Gate (The Assignment: Use a picture of the clouds as a plan for adjusting your sound), at: https://disquiet.com/0604/

About the Disquiet Junto: Disquiet Junto F.A.Q. – Disquiet

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0604-heavens-gate/

Gate of Clouds (disquiet0604)

I took this cloud photo last week whilst sitting on the beach in the early morning attempting to gather my thoughts, just before work. I had just captured a field recording of the sea when I noticed this cloud looming above the cliff edge, so I’ve chucked that in here too for good measure. 

I wanted to somewhat try to capture the mood I was in when I noticed the cloud. 

In response to the prompt I used:

Free image to MIDI Max for Live device in Ableton - to turn the cloud photo into midi data

https://tomcosm.gumroad.com/l/ZiGjZ

(White areas of cloud photograph image were rendered as absences of MIDI data i.e. 0s)

Probability gate on a Kontakt Irish Harp freebie VST I picked up recently which I'd been curious to try out and the prompt seemed as good a time to do so as any. I don't normally used sampled instruments much but this one was quite fun to work with. The multiple probability gates helped to make the rendered image to MIDI data less dense and more listenable to:

https://maxforlive.com/library/device/6982/mm4l-probability-gate

Disquiet Junto Project 0604: Heaven’s Gate
The Assignment: Use a picture of the clouds as a plan for adjusting your sound.

Step 1: Think about the use of a gate in music production. A gate can be described as an “on/off switch, allowing signals over threshold to pass while muting everything below.” (It’s likely that discussion will occur during this project regarding useful explanations of the concept.)

Step 2: Take a picture of some clouds.

Step 3: Think of how to interpret the clouds as a model of a gate.

Step 4: Record a track employing the approach you determined in Step 3 using the picture from Step 2.

I took the cover photo in Ashland, Oregon, earlier this year; no filters were employed. Regarding the title, I’m a Michael Cimino admirer.

Source: https://tapeop.com/interviews/33/noise-gates/ 2

Eight Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Include “disquiet0604” (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 “disquiet0604” (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-0604-heavens-gate/

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 fast are those clouds moving?

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, July 31, 2023, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, July 27, 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).

Cumuliform disquiet0604

[disquiet0604] Frequency

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/.



Same Thing (disquiet0708)

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/

Disquiet0708 - Loulou

Good(k)night [disquiet0708]

Recorded, edited, mixed & mastered on 25/26 Jul 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA.

Voice, effects

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, 03 Jan 2016, Massapequa, NY, USA

Music & art © 2016, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

---

This original version of “Beachcombing In The Existential Voice” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0708: Vocal Chords. The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice.

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

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The 
Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/

---

Look for me at patreon.com/blisterpop - patrons get my albums for free!
Sign up for my mailing list - http://eepurl.com/ciZNa5 

Patreon & Soundcloud - blisterpop
YouTube - Jimmy Lem
TikTok - jimmlem
Bluesky - jimmylem.bsky.social
Mastodon - blisterpop

Beachcombing In The Existential Voice (disquiet0708)

Taking inspiration from this week's Disquiet Junto project, I created this ambient track using recordings of my own voice.
I sang some sustained notes, recorded them, and used granular and spectral synthesis, as well as applying many different effects, to create the soundscape and the more vocal-like sounds. Everything is really based on my voice.

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/

La Voix du Rêve (Disquiet0708)

Layering two samples of vocal "hums" and "aahs", plus a sinewave synth and percussion. It turned out more choir-like and dramatic than expected, 

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/

Vocal chords [disquiet0708]

Disquiet Junto Project 0708: Vocal Chords
The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice.

Step 1: Create simple chords by layering the sound of your voice.

Step 2: Do something with those chords.

Tutte le parti non propriamente strumentali sono create usando la voce (droni, fasce etc...)
Non avendo un timbro di voce decente  (estremamente nasale), nelle parti in cui la voce risulta più nitida, ho cercato in qualche modo di mascherarla/trattarla con FX vari.

All the non-strictly instrumental parts are created using the voice (drones, pads, etc.).

Given my rather nasal tone, which lacks a pleasing timbre, I treated the more exposed vocal parts with various effects to blur, shape, or disguise their raw character.



VC LAYERS (disquiet0708)

Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto music community, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have five days to record and upload a track in response to the project instructions.

The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice.
Step 1: Create simple chords by layering the sound of your voice.
Step 2: Do something with those chords.

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/

SONG 113 - Disquiet0708 - Vocal Chords

More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/.

Autonomía [disquiet0708]

This week's prompt was, "Do something with layers of the sound of your voice."

I wrote a quick poem, recorded four instances of myself reading the poem, then time stretched it significantly in Reaper. I thought the result would stretch out the vowels and create harmony, but really it just created an (interesting but vowel-less) wash.

Still, time was of the essence, so I pressed forward. I used SPEAR to analyze the pitches in the wash, and recorded them as a sequence of very atonal chords.

Then, I added a loose piano melody, trying to follow the outline of the weird chords. I took a tip from Music for Airports and recorded the piano at double speed and then slowed it down.

Then, I mixed it! I left the original Reaper stretched sounds in the left channel and the chords in the right channel. I added a little simulated tape pitch-drift to the piano.

Not quit what I had in mind, but a good exercise (especially in using SPEAR)!

* * * * *
More on the 708th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vocal Chords — The Assignment: Do something with layers of the sound of your voice. — at https://disquiet.com/0708/

Vokal Shops (disquiet0708)

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.

During the early 1990s I studied Mathematics and Computer Science. The world wide web was still largely text-based and mostly empty. Today things are obviously different, though I still thoroughly enjoy art, design, cinema and music in all its forms. I have traveled all over the world for nearly two decades, visiting just over 140 countries. Japan is my favorite. All of this I attempt to incorporate into my music and art.

[disquiet0604] Frequency

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