Disquiet Junto Set 2014 (Mark Rushton)

“Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something of it” 

Like last year, I used the Samplr app for iPad for processing the ice recording. 

Two standard ice cubes from a freezer tray were put in an 8 ounce drinking glass and nervously shaken in front of a Zoom H1.

Once the loop was in Samplr, I created six views but only used three.  The sample was lowered four octaves in each view and reverb added.  I recorded it live after I found a mix that I liked.

This year I wanted something more restrained, but with an underlying amount of tension.  The background sounds like it's bubbling.

The picture is by me, taken a few days ago as I drove by the Buddha on a hill along Scott Boulevard near my home in Iowa City.  I watched this Buddha get carved all summer long by numerous people working in the hot sun.  Now it's ridiculously cold out with winter and the Buddha looks like a giant snowman in that landscape.

For more about my music, visit:  http://markrushton.com/

More on this 105th Disquiet Junto project (“Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something of it”) at:  http://disquiet.com/2014/01/02/disquiet0105-ice2014/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:  http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at:  http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

The Nervous Rhythm (disquiet0105-ice2014)

For this week’s project, use the sound of a wind chime as the rhythmic foundation for a track.

Back in 2007 I recorded some wind chimes at a private residence near Toddville, Iowa.  Unfortunately, most of the recording was unusable for a variety of reasons:  the wind kicked up, plus I also captured the sounds of a shooting range a couple miles south of the residence.  The recording was made with my old Sony Minidisc recorder and unprotected binaural microphones, likely one of the last recordings I made this way before I got a Zoom H2.

However, I kept the audio around.  It got on a hard drive, then a backup drive, and it was labeled, so it was easy to find.

8 seconds.  That was the longest and best segment of audio from about 45 minutes that wasn't ruined by wind or gunfire.

I loaded the file into Samplr on my iPad Air and came up with the track fairly quickly.  This recording was done live to a Zoom H1, and I was tweaking it all the way through so you'll notice some slight changes and a couple of noticeable shifts.

For more about my music, visit:  http://markrushton.com  or join my mailing list at http://mailinglist.markrushton.com

More on this 107th Disquiet Junto project (“Use a wind chime as the rhythmic foundation for a track.”) at:  http://disquiet.com/2014/01/16/disquiet0107-aeolianmetrics/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:  http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at: http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

The Momentary (disquiet0107-aeolianmetrics)

My musical senses are in an industrial/noise mode recently.

I used Samplr on my iPad Air.  Made several different recordings.  Arranged the recordings in Sony Acid until I created something I liked.

For more about me and my music, visit http://www.markrushton.com

In addition to what I have here at Soundcloud, I now have all my commercially available recordings at YouTube for free streaming:  https://www.youtube.com/user/markrushtoncom

Thanks to a Creative Commons license, this track contains elements of music by Juan Manuel Castrillo (“Horizontales,” from the album by that name on the netlabel Impulsive Habitat), J. Surak (“Improvisation for Prepared Autoharp,” from the album If You Smell Gas on the netlabel Zeromoon), and Maddame Cell (“Auto Tempo 1,” from the album Autotempo on the netlabel Xylem).

More on this 111th Disquiet Junto project (“Rework work from Impulsive Habitat, Xylem, Zeromoon (via actsofsilence.com)”) at:  http://disquiet.com/2014/02/13/disquiet0111-actsofcommons/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:  http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at: http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

The source audio for this track is available for free download from these netlabel websites:

http://impulsivehabitat.com/releases/ihab084.htm

http://museumofmicrocassetteart.bandcamp.com/album/moma086-if-you-smell-gas

http://xylemrecords.bandcamp.com/album/autotempo

The audio was sourced from reviews posted originally at the excellent website actsofsilence.com, which is run by David Nemeth.

Industry (disquiet0111-actsofcommons)

This week’s project is a celebration of the new album by Dave Seidel, who also goes by Mysterybear. Titled ~60 Hz, it just came out on the great Irritable Hedgehog record label.

I got the five pieces, converted them to WAV files, extracted about 30 seconds of each file, and loaded them into Samplr on my iPad.

Eventually I crafted the files into the following track, which is rather bass heavy, has a bit of reverb, and is rhythmic.  Wear good headphones while listening.

In my own work recently, I've been creating more longer-form ambient-ish singles, so I took the entire five minutes to create something that zones me out.  

The title is an anagram of Dave Seidel's name.

Pic is from my local grocery store.  Can't remember when, maybe a month or two ago.  It's been a long cold winter here in Iowa City, Iowa.

For more about me and my music, visit http://www.markrushton.com

Or sign up for my mailing list at:  http://mailinglist.markrushton.com

More on this 114th Disquiet Junto project — “Combine elements of Dave Seidel’s album ~60 Hz (Irritable Hedgehog)” — at:  http://disquiet.com/2014/03/06/disquiet0114-60hz/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:  http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at:  http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

The source audio is from Dave Seidel’s ~60 Hz album, released on the Irritable Hedgehog record label. More on the album at:  http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/dave-seidel-60-hz

Leaded Vise (disquiet0114-60hz)

This week's project instructions:  "It is understood that one should brush one’s teeth for two minutes: half a minute each for front and back, top and bottom. Compose a piece of music made of four portions, each 30 seconds in length, each 30-second segment intended to direct a segment of the brushing The music should be placid enough to be listenable to at night and in the morning. The juncture between each 30-second segment should signal to the listener to rotate from one portion of the mouth to the next."

I've been using a Braun Oral-B electric toothbrush for the past several years.  It's a Triumph Professional, 5000 Series.  It's pretty neat.  Wireless charging.  There's a timer/clock you can look at that uses Bluetooth to communicate with the brush.  Got it real cheap through my dentist office - probably $59 after discount and rebate.  They cost more in retail stores and online.  Heads are reasonably priced, available anywhere, and last a long time.

And it's got this vibration notification every 30 seconds to switch brushing quadrants in your mouth.  Just like the Junto instructions!

Before I get into how I created this track, I must preach about the importance of using a quality electric toothbrush like this Braun Oral-B that I have, and a story about how I got to this opinion.

Growing up, I used a manual toothbrush.  I flossed.  But every time I'd go to the dentist there would be problems.  You know:  gum issues, cavities, plaque and calculus buildup.  It was difficult to impress the hygienists or the dentist, no matter how much effort I put in.

Then, when I was living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a decade ago, I went to a dentist office near my then-home that turned out to be a huge scam.  The practice had a new building, fancy equipment, flat screen TVs everywhere, and all the dentists were younger - and obviously heavily in debt as a result!  There was a constant hard sell of extra services that showed "practice management" was being employed to wring out every last dollar of their customers.  I was told that my gums were totally falling apart, and that I needed prescription strength chlorhexidine gluconate rinse, which tasted disgusting, and "deep cleaning" of each tooth (at a cost then of $40 a tooth!).

After researching the problem myself, I learned that probably all I needed to do was buy a decent electric toothbrush.  I bought one the office offered, an expensive Rota-Dent model.  It helped my teeth considerably, although I later wasn't so impressed with the difficulty of finding the model's expensive replacement heads.  Even after I brushed with the new electric toothbrush and my gums showed improvement, the practice still wanted to drain my wallet with every half-baked scheme and rinse they could offer.  So I switched dentists (to a small plain office with one dentist), got a second opinion, and the new dentist schooled me on what they had tried to do.

When I moved to Iowa City in 2007, I found a single-dentist practice near my house and they've never tried to up-sell me on anything.  At the checkout desk, they displayed the Braun Oral-B unit at a reasonable price, so I got one and have been very happy with it ever since.  Cleanings go smoothly.  It thrills me to no end to have the dentist peer into my mouth for a couple of minutes after the hygienist is done and declare "Everything's great!"  It's become the norm.  

Obviously, I planned to use a recording of my electric toothbrush in the soundtrack.  I made several recordings with a Zoom H1 and loaded them into the Samplr app on my iPad Air.  After creating four different projects and coming up with a different "sound" for each, I recorded two minutes of each project direct to the Zoom H1.

The audio created in Samplr was then put into my usual DAW, Sony Acid Pro, with 30 seconds selected from each segment, and I thought I'd embellish it a bit with some old loop library samples.  As you'll hear in the track, I went for beats, breaks, and bass - which I've used in the past but not so much lately.

Each 30 second segment had a plan.  Since I normally go the 2 minute distance with my electric toothbrush in the morning, this piece should be considered mainly a "morning" soundtrack.

The first 30 seconds slowly gets started with upright bass and a simple groove before fading into an obvious break.  In the background is the drone audio created in Samplr.

The second 30 seconds features a different drone with sub bass and a slightly crisper beat.

The third 30 second section doubles up the drones, offsets the sub bass, and changes up the beat with a bit of horn punctuation.

The final 30 seconds brings back the gentler beat and on-beat sub bass with the drone continuing to hover overhead until a fade out at the 2 minute mark.

The same drum break is used at 30, 60, and 90 seconds.  I equate this with my Braun Oral-B using the same pulse rhythm for each similarly spaced notification to change brushing quadrants in my mouth.  After 2 minutes, the Braun Oral-B uses a more elaborate pulsating break, but since the total track time is 2 minutes I figured I would just drop the beat near the end and fade it out.

The photo is an Instagram-filtered closeup of the LCD charge indicator on my brush.

More on this 116th Disquiet Junto project — “Record a score for daily dental hygiene” — at:  http://disquiet.com/2014/03/20/disquiet0116-brushx4/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:  http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at:  http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Triumph (disquiet0116-brushx4)

“Write a score to accompany a short piece of text you wrote a year ago today”

A year ago I wrote and read the text as host of the 89th Bound Off monthly literary audio magazine, released June 15, 2013.

(And later tonight I'll be recording as host of the 101st edition of Bound Off.)

Bound Off has all episodes available as free downloads.  Visit the web site http://boundoff.com for more details and a list of the authors published.

The music in the background is "Mem", a track I had created in late May of 2013.  It was also used as background music in that podcast.

For this Junto, I kept the original voice recording, but re-tracked the music and made it more up-front.

More on this 128th Disquiet Junto project — “Write a score to accompany a short piece of text you wrote a year ago today” — at:  http://disquiet.com/2014/06/12/disquiet0128-ayearago/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at:  http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at: http://disquiet.com/forums

This Podcast May Include Adult Content (disquiet0128-ayearago)

Disquiet Junto Project 0138: Video Sonic Void

Amniosis [disquiet0138-videosonicvoid]

I had the serendipitous experience of watching the video while a track I’d been working on was playing. To me, it just worked. I timed what I considered to be “events” in the video, found an appropriate section, grafted the opening (reversed) to the end so that it could be played as a loop like the video, and selected a short section from within to be used about 1 minute in, significantly altered and mixed down so that its effect was almost subliminal.

Amniosis is (in layman’s terms) a condition whereby the developed foetus is unable (or unwilling?) to leave its amniotic sac and be born into the real world.


----------------------------------------------


The Assignment: Compose a 2.5-minute soundtrack to complement a work of silent video art.

Many thanks to the San Jose Museum of Art for inspiring and encouraging this project.

This week’s project involves writing music to accompany a short video. The video is “Untitled #8, 2004″ by the artist Josh Azzarella. His original work is silent, and we’ll be adding music to it that complements the source material. Do note that the video is intended by the artist as a “Never Ending Loop.”

The instructions are straightforward:

Step 1: Watch the following video.

Step 2: Compose and record a piece of audio that matches the video in length.

Step 3: Upload your piece of audio to the Disquiet Junto group’s SoundCloud page, following the instructions below.

Step 4: Listen to and comment on the other tracks posted by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

The “Untitled #8, 2004″ video is archived along with other works on the following page at the artist’s website. “Untitled #8, 2004″ is the fourth video in from the left. Its length is 2:31 (2 minutes and 31 seconds):

http://www.joshazzarella.com/videoworks200408/

https://vimeo.com/21678371

Background Information: The “Untitled #8, 2004″ video by Josh Azzarella is part of the permanent collection of the San Jose Museum of Art in San Jose, California. This Disquiet Junto project is the result of an invitation by the Museum for me to develop a sound installation to be displayed on its second floor from October 2014 through February 2015. Tracks submitted to this project will be considered for inclusion in that installation.

Restrictions: Please do not, at the museum’s request, post the video online with your audio.

More on this 138th Disquiet Junto project — “Compose a 2.5-minute soundtrack to complement a work of silent video art″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/21/disquiet0138-videosonicvoid/ 


More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/?p=16588


Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/    




Amniosis [disquiet0138-videosonicvoid]

About three years ago I got really interested in field recording as the main sound source for my pieces... especially different techniques to listen to hidden sounds in structures and trees. I made the piece "Inaudible Communications" from two recordings. The main sound throughout the piece is a contact mic. recording of a wire mast (approximately 150 feet tall) holding cell phone antennas and satellite disks. The other sound is a coil pickup recording of the electromagnetic radiation from a cell phone...panned and positioned in time...

Disquiet Junto Project 0139: Tech Technique
The Assignment: Create and upload a track that exemplifies explain one key process you’ve developed.

The Junto is as much about musicians listening to and communicating with each other as it is about making their own music. This week’s project aims to combine those two goals. The instructions are simple:

Step 1: Think of a specific technique that you are proud of having developed, perfected, or in some way folded into your work.

Step 2: Produce a short track that includes that technique.

Step 3: Upload the track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud, and in the notes field associated with the track describe the technique.

Deadline: Monday, September 1, 2014, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your finished work should be between 1 and 4 minutes.

Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, 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.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0139-techtechnique″ in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, please be sure to include this information:

More on this 139th Disquiet Junto project — “Create and upload a track that exemplifies one key creative process you’ve developed″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/28/disquiet0139-techtechnique/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at http://disquiet.com/forums/

The image associated with this track is by Wesley Fryer and was used thanks to a Creative Commons license. Originally posted here: https://flic.kr/p/2xz92x

- end -


“disquiet0139-techtechnique″ Inaudible Communications

Disquiet Junto Project 0139: Tech Technique

Gamalien [disquiet0139-techtechnique]

Audacity plugin: Sliding time scale

This is a simple plugin that is part of Audacity. It can also be used to provide a glissando, sliding pitch change. 

The time scale change stretches the duration of whatever piece of sound you sample, but in an irregular way – the longer the time selected, the more the sound is stretched at completion. It does this without breaking the sound up (as Tempo Change does, also a useful effect). Used over and over, and applied to a large sample, it stretches into something approaching a sine wave, but retaining the tonalities of the sample. Used to extremes, it begins to take on very strange characteristics and pulls the sound apart like toffee being stretched, with odd grains and sub-melodies appearing. You can take this further by repeatedly applying the effect to the tail end of the stretched sample.

This track is made from a random sampling of gamelan sounds (see http://ketuk-ketik.com/ ), treated in a number of ways using Audacity plugins. The first half is me having fun. The second half displays the Sliding time scale effect better than I can describe it.


----------------------------------------------


The Assignment: Create and upload a track that exemplifies explain one key process you’ve developed.

The Junto is as much about musicians listening to and communicating with each other as it is about making their own music. This week’s project aims to combine those two goals. The instructions are simple:

Step 1: Think of a specific technique that you are proud of having developed, perfected, or in some way folded into your work.

Step 2: Produce a short track that includes that technique.

Step 3: Upload the track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud, and in the notes field associated with the track describe the technique.


More on this 139th Disquiet Junto project — “Create and upload a track that exemplifies one key creative process you’ve developed″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/28/disquiet0139-techtechnique/ 


More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/?p=16588


Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/    




Gamalien [disquiet0139-techtechnique]

My Technique may not be so fancy. This is created from only one breakbeats, one midi note triggered of each.  5 layer of samplers applied various controls. the pitches and harmonies you can hear are all processing results, extremely short loop oscillations, colored ambience from the snippet of drums. as usual such way is so hard to soften wild artifacts. bit heavy compression still harsh.

More on this 139th Disquiet Junto project — “Create and upload a track that exemplifies one key creative process you’ve developed″ — at:
disquiet.com/2014/08/28/disquie…139-techtechnique/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
disquiet.com/?p=16588
Join the Disquiet Junto at:
soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

photo: https://flic.kr/p/n5zXm8 by Jonathan Potts


Cold War Kids [disquiet0139 - Techtechnique]

After reading the Disquiet Junto assignment this morning I knew that I had to perform a duet with my soundboxes and the birds, wind and distant traffic... I live en a rural area so there isn't a whole lot going on apart from the above mentioned sounds...I found it to be sufficent to perform a piece, though. The picture show the soundboxes and the stage where i performed... My amigo Derek Holzer (American, living in Berlin) invented the soundbox and holds workshops around the world, where participants build their own. It's a small (0,5W) amp build into a woodenbox with a speaker. You use it to create feedback with a piezo pick up...my pickups have springs and strings glued ontop. You can alter and filter the sound by placing various objects on/in the speaker or on the box.... I really like my piece around the middle (1:10) where I get a conversation going with a crow... 
Check out Dereks page here: http://macumbista.net/ 


Disquiet Junto Project 0143: Tuning the Hood
The Assignment: Play a live duet with the world outside your window.

The steps this week are straightforward, and fairly open-ended. You’ll be recording a live performance of between two and five minutes.

Step 1: Choose a single musical instrument that you feel comfortable performing on solo for an extended period of time.

Step 2: Position yourself near an open window.

Step 3: You’ll be recording your performance, as well as the sounds outside your window. Position the microphone in a manner so that, to whatever extent possible, the outside is at a volume level somewhat equal to that of your instrument. This might best be accomplished by using two microphones simultaneously, and adjusting the volume after the performance and recording process are complete.

Step 3: Upload the finished track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 4: Listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow participants.

Deadline: Monday, September 29, 2014, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your finished work should be between two and five minutes in length.

Upload: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, only upload one track for this assignment, and 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.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0143-tuningthehood″ in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, please be sure to include this information:

More on this 143rd Disquiet Junto project — “Play a live duet with the world outside your window″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/09/25/disquiet0143-tuningthehood/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/



“disquiet0143-tuningthehood″ feedingthebirds

I wanted to stack more firewood today and figured one load would take about 3 minutes round trip. It seemed to encapsulate the nature of my recent walks, that being fall.

Processed channel was the original recording run through wah>phaser>comb filter>reverb

http://disquiet.com/2014/11/06/disquiet0149-processingthepresent/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Jerolek and used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/9piCmd

Getting Firewood [disquiet0149-processingthepresent]

A shimmering soft, meditative fragrance from Forelight Laboratories.


More on this 150th Disquiet Junto project — “Record a subtle personal mobile score” — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/11/13/disquiet0150-sonicperfume/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Ben Crowder and used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/B5gLF

Parfum no.2 [disquiet0150-sonicperfume]

The Disquiet Junto project #150

My notes:
If this music is something that would be with us all of the time and be heard by others, I wanted to create something that I liked, but would not be offensive to others. Also, I wouldn't want something too up or too down, too dark, or too distracting. It had to have movement, but not rushed. That led me to the title, because my requirements are similar to the Buddha's teaching of The Middle Way. 
- I used six synths - 5 Alchemy and 1 Zebralette.
- During mix down I ran into a situation where one track just would not make it into the recording, yet I could hear it in the DAW (ReNoise) playback. I wasted about three hours trying to figure it out - and have yet to. I ended up pushing the audio output to Audacity. The irony of this challenge was not wasted on me, given the title and concept for this piece.

More on this 150th Disquiet Junto project — “Record a subtle personal mobile score” — at:
http://disquiet.com/2014/11/13/disquiet0150-sonicperfume/

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

Join the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:
http://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Ben Crowder and used thanks to a Creative Commons license:
https://flic.kr/p/B5gLF

The Middle Way [disquiet0150 - Sonicperfume]

I used the track: Nightpatterns https://soundcloud.com/dascott/disquiet0350-nightpatterns      
vcvrack

R.e.m(disquiet0351)

I hope this helps you get to sleep...

I used Ethan's It's Oh Disquiet:
https://soundcloud.com/ethanhein/its-oh-disquiet-disquiet0350

 separated out the left and right channels to mono tracks, chopped it up and stretched it various amounts. added in the Shhhh from the Bjork track originally sampled and a ticking clock from freesound.org:

343130__inspectorj__ticking-clock-a

This Podcast May Include Adult Content (disquiet0128-ayearago)

Mark Rushton

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