Disquiet Junto Project 0663: Drive Way
The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive.

This week’s project was proposed by novelist Robin Sloan (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Sourdough, Moonbound) in response to a post I made on social media about the annoying sound of an HDD drive I accidentally purchased. I had mistakenly thought it was an SSD drive. We previously did a project inspired by Sloan’s work almost exactly 7 years ago, at the end of August 2017 (more details at disquiet.com/0296).

Step 1: Either record the sound of an HDD drive or use a field recording available online, such as this one from Freesound:

https://freesound.org/people/eardeer/sounds/401271

Step 2: Consider how that drive sound, even when quiet, could be irritating if heard while one is listening to music.

Step 3: Per Sloan’s proposal, “record music to harmonize with, or play against, the whirr.” (It’s up to you if you want to include the sound of the drive along with your music.)

. . .

Deadline: Monday, September 16, 2024, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

More on the 663rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drive Way — The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive — at https://disquiet.com/0663/

The image associated with this project is licensed thanks to a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. It was taken by Evan Amos — whom Popular Science has reportedly referred to as “gaming’s most famous photographer” — as a part of Vanamo Media.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laptop-hard-drive-exposed.jpg

Disquiet Junto Project 0663: Drive Way

701733178214 [disquiet0663]

acoustic bass and hard drive hum
hard drive sound courtesy of eardeer on freesound
https://freesound.org/people/eardeer/sounds/401271

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More on the 663rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drive Way — The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive — at https://disquiet.com/0663/

disquietjunto

disquiet0663_drivedriftingaway

I mixed a number of hard drive recordings and combined the result with a drone sequence created in Pure Data.

More on the 663rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drive Way — The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive — at https://disquiet.com/0663/

The image associated with this project is licensed thanks to a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. It was taken by Evan Amos — whom Popular Science has reportedly referred to as “gaming’s most famous photographer” — as a part of Vanamo Media.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laptop-hard-drive-exposed.jpg

Drive Drone (disquiet0663)

Holly Myers — disquiet0663

Disquiet Junto Project 0663: Drive Way

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0663-drive-way/68624/1

Step 1: Either record the sound of an HDD drive or use a field recording available online.
Step 2: Consider how that drive sound, even when quiet, could be irritating if heard while one is listening to music.
Step 3: Per Sloan’s proposal, “record music to harmonise with, or play against, the whirr.” (It’s up to you if you want to include the sound of the drive along with your music.)

I wanted to add a futuristic element to this suggestion. The ambient drone is paired with distorted plucked synths, while evolving bass growls blend with the futuristic rumble of a cyberpunk car. I wanted to evoke the dystopian feeling of driving through abandoned, overdeveloped landscapes. The eerie atmosphere is intensified by dissonant, off-key sounds, with sharp, jarring moments created by the clashing harmonics of the lead synths. This track is designed to engage the listener’s imagination of this scenario while also provoking discomfort through sonic shocks. I hope you appreciate this piece by not enjoying it! 

*I used and AI image generator to create the cover art; suggestions described the  cyberpunk dystopia I wanted to present to the listener*

MAX DURHAM - CYBER-DRIVE (disquiet0663)

Bittersweet (Disquiet0663)

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.

Bittersweet (Disquiet0663)

Made6336

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