Marc Weidenbaum

I've wanted to get a white-noise module for awhile, and finally added one to my setup. This module has 7 different noise sources, including white, red, grey, and blue. Each is being triggered by a different sequence. They're all in sync, though one is slightly delayed, which lends a tiny bit of character to the cadence, I think. The only reason I skipped pink is because I don't have any pink cables right now, and the color-coded cables helped me keep track of things.

You can blame this on someone who's listened to too many Chain Reaction releases, too much Consolidated, and too many scores to Michael Mann films.

Slightly more technical information: The sequences are all in CV Toolkit (a piece of software running on my laptop), and they're getting to my modular synthesizer via an Expert Sleepers ES-3 module. The noise-source module is the Quantum Rainbow 2. The white, red, and grey sources are all receiving sequences directly from the software. The blue source is getting a slight trigger delay (and a slightly extended length to the trigger), thanks to the Doepfer A-162. The whole thing is being mixed in an ADDAC 802 VCA Quintet, and out through a Pittsburgh Outs, through a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4. It was recorded in Audacity. 

White Noise Beat

I was asked by the Dutch musician Michel Banabila to contribute a remix to Marilli Remixed, a collection of reworkings of tracks from his very first album, Marilli, released in 1983. I selected the fourth track on the first side of the LP.

The original was elegant, but had percussion throughout. I wanted the ambient quality more formalized, and the percussion a little more muted and arhythmic.

. . .  

Here are some notes on my remix. I’ll note in advance, they’re fairly technical, as a notebook entry on what went into this, and what I learned in the process.

I used the my modular synthesizer (mostly filters, and a little triggered live sampler), the software Audacity (to sequence it, and also for some effects), and my Monome (running the mlr patch in the software Max). 

First I stretched a relatively percussion-less segment of the original track to get an ambient bed, yielding in the end something about 30 seconds long. I set it to run eight times in a row, overlapping to varying degrees at each repeat. 

Then I extracted a small percussion loop from the original. I did a "live performance" of that percussion loop with the Monome (four simultaneous tracks: one straight through, two running tighter sub-loops against each other a little quieter, and one in reverse even quieter still, though it's also the last bit to fade out of that sequence, so it has a little moment in the sun). The loop ran a little slower than the original, and I used a small Novation Launch Control to manage the relative volume of the four tracks within mlr.

And then I used my modular synthesizer to create variations on the ambient bed, which I layered in at various stages. 

In the end I had eight tracks in Audacity:

The 1st and 3rd tracks are the eight sequential repeats of the ambient sound bed, each intersection overlapping to varying degrees.

The 2nd track is a filtered version of the ambient bed, which has a slow LFO on it (giving it a light Laurie Anderson–ish "ha ha ha" feel) and some echo. This was done on the modular using a filter (either the A-121 or the A-136 or the Z2040 — my notes are unclear — influenced by a digital LFO, the Hikari Sine, and then run through an Eko module).

The 4th is the "live performance" on the Monome of the percussion loop, running mlr. It has four tracks of the loop doing different things. I used a Novation Launch Control to balance the volume of those four tracks.

The 5th is a copy of the ambient sound bed, pitched lower for the full length of the loop. This gives it that deep vibe for the penultimate repeat of the ambient bed. In track 1 at that same stage the volume of the original ambient bed is a little quieter, to let the deep version sound even louder than it is, in relative terms. 

The 6th track is a copy of the ambient bed but pitched higher, and I just use it for a very short moment, a final peak before the track fades out. 

And the 7th and 8th are two different instances of the same tweak of the ambient bed, which I did in the modular using a Harvestman Polivoks. It's a tingling, slightly irritating sound, a momentary breach in the ambience.

The whole idea is it opens with this expanse, and then goes to something a little tribal, and then returns to the expanse. I'll be honest about my influences here. The ambient bed is striving toward Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon, and the rhythmic part has Peter Gabriel's soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ in mind. The first appearance of the Polivoks "irritant" is then repeated toward the end to provide a sense of reflection on where the piece started, but in between is that percussion performance. The deep vibe in track 5 gives an orchestral sense of closure, and the peak in track 6 is little filigree, like the clouds breaking, before it all ends.

At least that's where I ended up. It wasn't where I started. When I started, it was all gonna be about this firecracker/rattle sound in the original, but in the end I went a totally different direction.

Free Album Download

"A4. Marilli Rmxd 14"

no-input mixer
Solo set 
2008/2016

http://www.federicobarabino.com.ar/p/sets.html

no-input mixer // solo set

Stray Sods (for cello and tape)

Listening to Lizard Point from "On Land" I always got the impression it was played back significantly slower than the source recording. Here it is sped up 2x to reveal what sounds like rhodes, guitar and barking dogs.

Double Speed Lizard Point

"Heavy Sun" (feat. Rocco DeLuca) by Daniel Lanois from the album 'Goodbye To Language' available September 9th

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lanoise
Twitter: https://twitter.com/daniellanois

Daniel Lanois - Heavy Sun (feat. Rocco DeLuca)

A ../.... pattern is sequenced on a Moog BFAM and on a Tirana modular sequencer. The Tirana is running tones created by modulating a Make Noise Telharmonic, with pitches randomly generated by a Qu-Bit NanoRand. As the track progresses, the Tirana sequence speeds up, and distortion and delay are applied further to the BFAM.

A distorted field recording is looped on a Radio Music and sent through spring reverb.

Finally, a Minitaur drone underscores the whole thing.

Fair warning: this gets really loud in spots.

Karin: Eurorack modular
Bruce: Moog BFAM + Strymon El Capistan, Moog Minitaur

Recored live at The Library

* * * 
Disquiet Junto 0236: Hello Jun(t)o

More on this 236th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Say hi to the Juno Spacecraft by embedding Morse code in an original composition” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0236/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place on a Slack (send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for inclusion) and at this URL:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

More on the Juno Spacecraft technology at:

http://spaceflight101.com/juno/spacecraft-information/

More on the “Say ‘Hi’ to Juno” ham operator project here:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1263

Image associated with this project courtesy of NASA.

Juno and Monsters Beyond the Infinite [disquiet0236]

For this week's Disquiet track, I took three 10 second samples from an old work of mine, mangled each of them separately, laid them out according to the dictated pattern, adjusted the transitions a little,  and then 'worldised' them using the technique from a few weeks back (speed track up 4x, add reverb, slow track back down 4x) to help the three samples all sit well together. 

More on this 237th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Build a 90-second composition from three 10-second segments” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0237/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place on a Slack (send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for inclusion) and at this URL:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Combination ABCs (Disquiet0237)

A Magnificent Gray (single)

WAV / MP3

A Magnificent Gray

FM operations between OP-1 and Monomachine. OP-1 FM synth being sequenced and processed by Monomachine, accompanied by a pair of MM's FM-PAR machines.

FMMMOPm

My Music Videos - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc_iQ5JFusPt9EIwKIZ5rew
Made a nice grimy drone in Magellan then cloned, eq’d differently and shifted slightly. Then brought out a field recording (from the iPad) of a turbine fan to another track. Copied those three tracks and chopped them up for a rhythmic element. Added a few different effects and played with a lot of panning and what you hear is the result. Once again made entirely on an iPad with Audioshare, Cubasis, Audiobus and a few effects I can’t remember on the field work :-O      @disquiet



More on this 240th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Compose a piece of music in which a drone slowly, imperceptibly, gives way to something rhythmic and/or melodic” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0240/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place on llllllll.co and on a Junto Slack (send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion).

Season of our Disquiet

Something In Here(disquiet0240)

"Deconstruction" (feat. Rocco DeLuca) by Daniel Lanois from the album 'Goodbye To Language' available September 9th
Pre-order on iTunes: http://found.ee/DL_GTM

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lanoise
Twitter: https://twitter.com/daniellanois

Daniel Lanois - Deconstruction (feat. Rocco DeLuca)

Had fun with the great SoundScaper app today, found that it did wonderful things to my pianoimprovisation. Added a field recording from this summer of cicadas on Mallorca, Spain

Deconstructed piano improvisation and Field recording etude No.5

"Project Steps:

Step 1: As you now know, Jóhann Jóhannsson was selected to score Blade Runner 2. The news means, among other things, that you didn’t get the gig. Please reconcile yourself with this.

Step 2: Please share your favorite track from the audition tape you sent to Ridley Scott."

On the old Blade Runner OST there was this subtle mix of orchestra and synths, but I don't really think Blade Runner 2 is going to be subtle, so there's a mix of that here but it's obnoxious. I also intended this track for Isidore because I thought like he got the short end of the stick in both the movie and book versions and was hoping he'd have a better time in BR2 (and if he's just dead in the movie version, well, maybe that IS a better time (I don't have high hopes)). 
The inspiration behind it is likely the end titles from the original soundtrack, which was always my fave piece from that entire event. 
Also there's like six synths here. Is it overkill? I dunno, Deckard had to kill six replicants the first time around. Some do stabs, some dance around in harmony, others stay consistent throughout, some were just a repeating bassline. Tried to give them personalities like the replicants. 

More on this 243rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Share the best track from your audition tape for Blade Runner 2” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0243/2

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/1

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/1

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0243-synth-trial/4288

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Isidore Overture [disquiet0243]

For Disquiet Junto Project 0243: Synth Trial
The Assignment: Share the best track from your audition tape for Blade Runner 2.

Step 1: As you now know, Jóhann Jóhannsson was selected to score Blade Runner 2. The news means, among other things, that you didn’t get the gig. Please reconcile yourself with this.

Step 2: Please share your favorite track from the audition tape you sent to Ridley Scott.

Process: there was no particular extra thought other than the instructions. I made a plain simple quick track using sounds for which I got associations out of my categories for "soundtrack" "bladerunner"  "futuristic" "melancholic" "silent street" "robot" "oldfashioned-modern" "acoustic-electronic". Using clichés I guess.
Instruments used are DSK Strings and Overture, Drumatic4, field recording of a steam train, MM SY 55 LEADER Synth, Bass Station, some robotizer effect, and other usual effects.
would have liked to have more time for making it better but there needs to be a reason why I wasn't chosen, right. 




More on this 243rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Share the best track from your audition tape for Blade Runner 2” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0243/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0243-synth-trial/4288


drawers with streets [disquiet0243]

Recorded quickly with multiple passes on a Yamaha CS-80. A touch of reverb added in mixing. 

Dark Flight [disquiet0243[

My dishwasher usually has a pretty good groove going, but today is especially exceptional.

Dishwasher Swagger

@disquiet posted https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/2016-09-02_14-19-14-wav so I made this.



Etude For Small Combo And Dishwasher

disquiet 0245
Disquiet Junto Project 0245: Practical Music
Write a piece of music for getting things done, suitable for playing on repeat.

Clean up, routine, tiding up....that leads me to repetitive stuff.
I played a simple riff on my “diaz custom5”  drake bass guitar, very repetitive and yet variations going from A to D to D/E with no real structure.
Added a synth bass drone, and a Wurlitzer A200 electric piano improvising a bit.
Then some repetitive voices (tah-tah-tah-tah...) in four part harmony/
My usual rhythmic delays played a big role, here in 1/8th and 1/4th notes.
You can loop this, there’s no lead in or lead off.
Love
DD
Recorded in Paris, France September 9th  2016.

More on this 245th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Write a piece of music for getting things done, suitable for playing on repeat” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0245/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0243-synth-trial/4288

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is by jurek d. and is used thanks to Flicker and a Creative Commons license:

http://flic.kr/p/npLwcU

clean it and loop it - disquiet0245

This is based on a Pure Data patch I made called "Oval Noise" because it reminded me of Markus Popp's ovalcommers-era sound. 

The patch is a mess since I just kind of threw it together with 3 oscillators playing one of four pitches randomly, with 2 of them summed up and the other being sent to another effect along with being summed with the other 2. 

Pure Data measures tempo by millisecond, so I started at 500 (i beat every half second), then divided it by 2, 4 and 6. The last little bit is divided by 8. 

Recorded into Audacity where I cropped it and fixed some clipping issues. 

||||

More on this 246th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Compose a piece of music that increases speed in stages as it proceeds.” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0246/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/double-quadruple-sextuple-music-disquiet-junto-project-0246/4549

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is by Oliver Gouldthorpe and is used thanks to Flicker and a Creative Commons license:

flic.kr/p/sMDxq

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Marc Weidenbaum

Little Joe