(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: vocals, guitar, electronics, synthesizers, samples and recordings, drum programming, and found sounds
Compiled ca. May 6, 2015 to September 18, 2023.

Here are my sonic contributions to the experimental project assignments posed by Marc Weidenbaum [https://soundcloud.com/disquiet] of the Diquiet Junto [https://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto] [http://disquiet.com/]. Each week, Marc sets forth a set of guidelines and tenets for a limited-length original composition. See the Disquiet Junto pages above -- and My explanation below -- for more specific details.

Some of my pieces follow in perfect suit to the assignment; some--although initially inspired by the Disquiet Junto assignment--veer from the project guidelines completely, and, thus, were not submitted to the Disquiet Junto SoundCloud group [https://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto]. I find them attractive just the same. I pray that You will enjoy them, as well, reveling in their embryonic and experimental gusto.

Special thanks go to Marc Weidenbaum for his inchoate prompts!

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"The 'Disquiet Junto' are a group of [like-minded] musicians and sound-recordists who voluntarily participate in weekly, four-day assignments that inflict constraints upon their sound-creation processes. These constraints are intent to induce creativity WITHIN each participant, and to stimulate the communal sharing of novel ideas AMONG them. The sonic opuses that result are often achieved via experimental means -- instigated by the very nature of limitation, and through the inevitable mutability of subsequent, collaborative reworkings of extant works by group members, and those of intrepid, forward-thinking 'outsiders.'"

~ Michael Ash Sharbaugh

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playlist: "disquiet junto and almost junto"

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: synthesizers, synthesized percussion, blips, bleeps,glitches, and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded ca. August 3 to August 6, 2013.
sm6.

For this Disquiet Junto assignment—to treat a recently declassified and drastically redacted NSA document as a graphically notated musical score, I needed to collect my sound elements:

I had captured landline phone static and cellphone speaker interference to produce the drone of the piece, but deemed this approach too instinctive; I used them as percussive elements instead.

Using SonicPhoto, an application that renders digital photographs into sound, I fashioned two “bass drums” in addition to other sound elements and synced them to a 173.60 [86.80] tempo, which was the tempo of the beats I had originally heard in the landline static and cellphone interference.

I turned the NSA document once counter-clockwise and used the resulting visual--the black 'peaks' and 'valleys' at the top--to input ‘notes’ according to their locations on the grid into the Online Generative Musical Sequencer, OTOMATA [http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata ] and recorded the output. I increased the amount of distortion applied to this sound as the piece progressed--just as the black ink of the redactions would have done to the original metadata.

I utilized old recordings for source sounds and covered them with delay and reverb. As with the above OTOMATA sequence, I increased the amount of these effects as the piece progressed to smear and disguise the melodic qualities of the piece.

The rest was admittedly intuitive, with aesthetics clear in mind.


More on this 83rd Disquiet Junto project, in which a page from recently declassified documents related to NSA collection of telephone metadata records is treated as a graphically notated score, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/08/01/disquiet0083-redacted/

Image found via twitter.com/shearm and twitter.com/glennf

Full document at:

http://goo.gl/wVydxR

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

"Umbra" [disquiet0083-redacted]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: oscillator, drum machine, and found sound
Composed and Recorded ca. August 17 to 19, 2013.
sm4


Using Fluent Oscillator—a software program available at http://www.freewarefiles.com/Fluent-Oscillator-V_program_23927.html , I dialed in a muffled saw-tooth wave frequency that was aesthetically pleasing. I expanded it four-fold to slow it down and to make use of the sonic artifacts it contained and then fed it through an EQ, a ping-pong delay, and a flanger.

Into a Boss DR-202 drum machine, I then programmed a sound bed containing congos, basses, and a “Philly” sound effect, and tuned each element independently in order to forge some low-registered, harmonically odd chord. I fed the “Philly” output into a stereo delay and the congos and basses through a reverb that ‘smeared’ them.

For the melody, I opted to use a field recording with a Creative Commons license—in this case Evano’s [ https://soundcloud.com/evano ] “field recording #samsaranè” [https://soundcloud.com/evano/field-recording-samsarana-caff ]. I edited out a portion of the recording, timed it to my oscillator and sound bed tempo, looped it to itself once, and then ‘smeared’ the sample through the same reverb used for the drum machine sound bed.

This is the result.

(Most of the piece's energy lay in the lower frequency spectrum, so listening through headphones or full-range speakers is advised.)


More on this 85th Disquiet Junto project, in which a song is made with three simple parts (oscillator, drum machine, field recording), at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/08/15/disquiet0085-3parts/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

"Samsarana Smear" [disquiet0085-3 Parts]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: synthesizers and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded ca. March to September 19, 2013.
sm7 [2023 REMASTER] [DOLBY Thunder at 3p] [__AIF].

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"I had already started a musical piece under the working title, “Wind,” when this Disquiet Junto project came along; I had been dying to finish it.

“Wind” needed additional sonic material to just ‘push it over the edge’ of being ‘finished’; this Disquiet Junto assignment inspired, as well as provided, it.

I recorded the Voyager’s audio captures at an extremely low resolution; therefore, I was limited in how much I could manipulate the Voyager’s sounds. Hence, the Voyager’s sonic material is plainly recognizable at times. I used a variety of means to treat the Voyager material: time expansion, granular synthesis, and a program written for Mac OS 9.1--"th0nk."

Also, this Disquiet Junto assignment is late: I was on vacation for two weeks and away from my studio; I celebrated a birthday when I returned—September 16th (the due date for the assignment’s completion). Despite my tardiness, I henceforth acknowledge my strong desire to contribute to last week’s assignment by releasing this work—“Solar Wind.”

~ Michael

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"More on this 89th Disquiet Junto project, in which the sounds of interstellar space are used to make "goodbye music" for the Voyager 1 space probe, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/09/12/disquiet0089-vger/

Source audio courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Iowa via:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIAZWb9_si4

Special thanks to Mark Ward (mark-ward.org) for having suggested this material as the subject for a Disquiet Junto project.

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

~ Marc Weidenbaum

Solar Wind

"Solar Wind" [disquiet0089-vger] [2023 REMASTER]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: synthesizers, tape manipulations, and found sounds
Composed and Recorded ca. 1987. Transferred and Remixed ca. 2007 to October 24, 2013.
sm1 [nh]

Medley contains:

"City of Fischer I: Industry"
"City of Fischer II: Bells"
"City of Fischer III: Harbour"

I was seventeen years old when I composed and recorded this in 1987, having just been given my first consumer level keyboard--a Casio HT-700--for my sixteenth birthday the year before. I had learned how to synthesize on this synth, which was one of the only Casio consumer models to feature user-editable synthesis. By this time, I had already procured a Tascam Porta One four-track recorder.

My father did a lot of investigating people over the telephone, so he had a Radio Shack adapter for recording phone conversations. I plugged that in after suctioning it to the phone and began to experiment. I recorded various telephone tones--busy signals, redialings, etc ... After recording them to cassette tape, I began to manipulate the speeds at which the various phone sounds were recorded.

Thus, armed with my trusty HT-700 and phone tone recordings, I envisioned an overbuilt and industrial futuristic city that was mired with pollution--physical, chemical, and sonic--and tried to convey that in a soundscape. This series of three pieces joined together is the result. I transferred it from four-track in 2007 and am just now getting around to "remastering" the track.

More on this 95th Disquiet Junto project, in which musicians post recent tracks with the express purpose of getting constructive feedback, at:


http://disquiet.com/2013/10/24/disquiet0095-discussamongst/


More details on the Disquiet Junto at:


http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

"City of Fischer" Medley ["I: Industry" + "II: Bells" + "III: Harbour"][disquiet0095-discussamongst]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizers, percussion, and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded January 25 to 27, 2014.
sm3 [LANDR].

Humanizing this piece was of the utmost importance. Throughout its composition, I could not keep Bassel Safadi [ باسل صفادي ] out of my head: his plight, his privation, his predicament. I viewed the video as requested, but it ‘went in one eye and out the other’; Mr. Bassel was my prime concern.

Having never composed Syrian or Syrian-type music, I familiarized myself with Syrian music scales as approximated to Western scales. Multifid are the Syrian scales I discovered, so I settled upon one that felt aesthetically comfortable: C – Eb – E – F – Ab – (C).

Further unsure of my handle on these Syrian scales, I secured (paid for and downloaded) an improvisation based on the most ancient tablets containing Syrian music transcriptions—pianist Malek Jandali’s “Echoes from Ugarit.” Without listening to Jandali’s part, I imported the introduction to this piece into my DAW, pitch-shifted it down a whole-tone (from D to C), expanded it to conform to 123 BPM, and improvised to it myself using the musical scale outlined in the paragraph above. I recorded my improvisation. It took about sixteen takes.

I then removed (muted) Jandali’s recording and added ‘contrapuntal’ tracks—bass, bell, and strings. The driving rhythm was provided by a sample of a bottle dropped onto a concrete sidewalk and almost broken—a sonic representation of what it might be like to be in Mr. Bassel’s place. The field recording of Syrian grasshoppers was added to highlight what I could imagine would be the despondency and loneliness of Mr. Bassel’s predicament.

More on this 108th Disquiet Junto project (“Create a soundscape for the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.”) at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/01/23/disquiet0108-freebassel/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

More on the campaign to free Bassel at:

http://freebassel.org/

For their collaboration on this project, special thanks to: Niki Korth, Barry Threw, and Jon Phillips.

Ballade of Bassel

Buy on iTunes ...

"Ballade of Bassel" [disquiet0108-freebassel]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizers, 'found sounds,' and 'found sound' manipulation
David Seidel: [ n/a ]: sine wave generation and manipulation
Composed and Recorded ca. March 7 to 13, 2014.
sm5b [ARIA(A)].

-+-

"(This finished piece is based upon an unfinished work that was intended to fulfill the requirements for the 114th March 7-10, 2014 Disquiet Junto project, 'disquiet0114-60Hz,' which -- to paraphrase for simplicity's sake -- was 'to compose a piece of music using only pre-recorded sine waves.' Below is my description of the process.)"

~ Michael

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"Prior to importing the sine wave chunks, I first fixed the tempo of my DAW to 60 BPM to reflect the frequency of the sine waves within. Therefore, with respect to the piece’s title, “Infrastructure” (named in deference to a phrase in Marc Weidenbaum’s liner notes in David Seidel’s release), I could introduce sonic elements at exact temporal multiples and divisions of the number, “60”—reflective of the frequency of those electrons flowing throughout my native United States [US].

Unsure as to whether I broke the rules or not, I layered the five chunks together, muted sections of chunks 1 and 5 in order to form a seamless bed at the instant of one minute, with beginning chunk 1 left raw and ending chunk 5 fed through a distortion and reverb.

I then chopped sections from each of the others. Those sections I had chopped up were multiplied and pitch-shifted several times to form a Bb-minor chord, a Db-diminished chord, and an F-major chord. Each ‘chord’, strained as it sounded, was fed into the same distortion bus as chunk 5, which sometimes overpowered the smaller chorded chunks due to its immense low frequency power; thus, some were barely audible.

After hours and days thinking of how to make this piece musical, I realized that all waveforms are made up of sine waves. Seeking a piano waveform and a vocal waveform, I experimented. I time-compressed several sections of the chunks and layered them, which resulted in several usable sounds distinguishable from the longer, droning chunk beds—a percussive, which I elongated by 11 measures, a ‘bleep’|‘blip’|‘bloop’, which I elongated by 4 measures, and a wind sound, which I elongated to 11 measures and then shortened yet again to 4 measures. I used these sounds to punctuate the chordal changes—the Bb-minor, the Db-diminished, and the F-major chords.

Even the reverb settings were dialed in to represent the infrastructure of the US, what with rectangular room spaces (skyscrapers) and reflective surfaces representative of concrete.

After the Disquiet Junto deadline had passed, I took up the project again added a multitude of synth lines, Rhodes-ey piano licks, and muted percussion tracks. I topped the piece off with subtle throat-singing samples from FreeSound.org:

storm#16.wav: http://www.freesound.org/people/djgriffin/sounds/22023/
tibetan chant 3.wav: http://www.freesound.org/people/djgriffin/sounds/15363/ "

~ Michael

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"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 "

~ Marc Weidenbaum

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Infrastructure

Buy on iTunes! ...

"Infrastructure" (based on [disquiet0114-60Hz])

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: guitar, synthesizers, and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded April 7 to 19, 2014.
sm6 [ARIA(A)].

This piece was initially inspired by a disquiet junto [https://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/] assignment [http://disquiet.com/2014/04/03/disquiet0118-internetroomtone/] that called for participants to create a work that “answer[s]” the question “What is the room tone of the Internet?” It was assigned for the span of April 4th through 7th, 2014, and I honestly had difficulty answering the question in sound. The sheer thought of such an undertaking—both conceptually and aesthetically—boggled my mind. Thus, I did not put forth my rough sonic draft.

However, in the spirit of the disquiet junto, and because this piece was sparked by its prompt, I hereby offer forth my process.

I imported a heavily effected sample of a 56k dial-up modem into my DAW, cut it down to a small section, time-expanded it, and looped it to meet 103.52 BPM—a tempo that was its closest match. I then added synth flourishes that seemed to match its resultant periodic tonic. Intuitional aesthetics guided me in adding additional motifs in the bass and treble registers. An old, out-of-tune, dirty, nylon-stringed acoustic guitar was added at the end, intentionally spaced to seem as if wandering.

I arrived upon the title having ‘learned’ that the internet moves along at .6 to .7 the speed of light: the average is .65; the speed of light is ‘c’.

More on this 118th Disquiet Junto project — “What is the room tone of the Internet?” — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/04/03/disquiet0118-internetroomtone/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/?p=16588

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Image associated with this Junto project used via a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/2af9A

point65c

"point65c" (based on [disquiet0118-internetroomtone])

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizer, recordings, and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded ca. July 29 to August 11, 2014.
sm4lev [2023 REMASTER] [eM 01] [24WAV].

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"The disquiet junto assignment: “try to record one minute of sound that would suggest to the listener the pleasing experience of air conditioning — of the air being cooled on a hot summer day.”

My process: Rather than record my air conditioner—a window unit fixed in the room across the hall from my recording studio, I decided to piece together and layer self-made and found recordings of gadgets and appliances until the conglomerate of sound approximated an air conditioner’s soothing hum, and comforting drip.

I utilised recordings of a back-rubbing gadget and my dishwasher as my most prominent recorded layers, then found a royalty-free sample of ‘wind in pines,’ and layered that in with them, mixing it to near-inaudibility. I then dialed in a VCF-controlled synth-wind—a white, percussive noise with a slight sustain—on my Korg M1, and welded that against sections of the extant piece.

Believing that I had sonically approximated an air conditioning unit, just for color, I subsequently sought an undulating and airy pad to suggest two repeating notes—F and C, F and C. The result is “Balm.”

[P.S.: I may elect to add to it later prior to the project's deadline.]"

~ Michael

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"More on this 135th Disquiet Junto project — “Record the sonic equivalent of air conditioning” — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/07/31/disquiet0135-soundofsummer/

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 "

~ Marc Weidenbaum

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Balm

"Balm" [disquiet0135-soundofsummer] [2023 REMASTER] - Michael Ash Sharbaugh

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: synthesizers and found sounds
Composed and Recorded ca. December 5 to 7, 2014.
sm1.

For this Disquiet Junto assignment, I was charged with the task of “record[ing] a short sound intended to be set on repeat.” Desirous of making use of the maximum time allotted for the assignment, I opted to make the ‘sound’ [loop] exactly nine seconds long. In order to bring a nine-second piece of 4/4 rhythm to a seamless, repeatable, and loopable four-bar close, it necessitated that the piece’s tempo be set to approximately 106.60 beats per minute.

To this rhythmic pace, I time-stretched and heavily effected an obscure one-bar sample containing honky-tonk piano, twangy guitar, and lazy drums that I have had for many years, and whose source escapes me. I then proceeded to layer three synthesizer parts beside the time-stretched sample, mindful to augment and complement the odd, ‘non-scalar harmonics’ hinted at within the original sample. Each of these parts was run through a distinct variation of a singular, deep, swelling reverb preset. Finally, a heavy, throbbing overdriven bass was added to push the piece along.

Seamlessly looping heavily delayed and reverberated sound sources proved very difficult; due to pre-delays, the sound usually begins ‘dry’ and ends ‘wet.’ Therefore, I actually recorded double the length—eight bars—of each track just in order to capture the resultant wet sound present by the beginning of the fifth bar. I then deleted the first four bars of each track and only used the fifth through eighth bars, shifting them to the beginning of each track.

More on this 153rd Disquiet Junto project—“record a short sound intended to be set on repeat”—at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/12/04/disquiet0153-groovelock/

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/

Image associated with this project by Stuart R Brown:

http://flic.kr/p/mFQC3



"A Deepening Swell" [disquiet0153-groovelock]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizers and found sounds
Shriek Productions: bass guitar [loop]
Composed and Recorded ca. January 26 to 30, 2015.
sm4 [LANDRmed].

"A Diamond at Midnight" was inspired by a Disquiet Junto assignment put forth on January 22, 2015 [disquiet0160-oneminutepastmidnight]. This assignment called for the composer to make a sound recording of wherever they were as of midnight on the night chosen. At midnight, I was just beginning this piece, so I recorded it live on a hand-held digital recorder, imported it into my DAW, and then merged it with the version that already existed in the digital domain; hence, there is the noise of my studio's fan in the piece's introduction.

The reason I did not introduce this piece into the Disquiet Junto was that I had already added additional music to it, which was against the rules for that assignment. Thus, I continued working on it for two nights, adding two fabulous bassline loops from Shriek Productions. The URL to their sample library is included below.

I wish to thank Shriek Productions for infusing this piece with 'groove.'

http://www.soundsnap.com/user-name/shriek_productions

A Diamond after Midnight

Buy on BandCamp!

"A Diamond after Midnight" (based on [disquiet0160-oneminutepastmidnight])

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: drum programming, synthesizers, and found sounds
Composed and Recorded ca. February 19 to 20, 2015.
sm5 [1-11][LANDRlo].

I needed some musical exercise—if even for a few hours and a miniscule piece, so I welcomed this week’s Disquiet Junto challenge. I was to “create music that emerges from the sound of fireworks.”

I first located, paid for, and downloaded a field recording from this URL: http://www.soundsnap.com/efx_ext_big_fireworks_06_b . I wanted a field recording with many wails and shrieks. That is what I got.

I let the first five seconds of the field recording play out, and then made the first ‘bang’ of the field recording the onset of bar three. In order to do this, I needed to alter the tempo of my DAW’s project to 104.56 BPM. The piece continues at this tempo.

After editing and timing some added percussive fireworks explosions to accentuate the rhythm, I added Indian percussion instruments and a heavily chorused piano, as well as some organ, tambourine, and plucked string sounds. Two harp arpeggios are ‘in there’ for good measure.

This is quite a simple piece—but a diversion for five hours or so.

More on this 164th Disquiet Junto project — “Create music that emerges from the sound of fireworks” — at:

http://disquiet.com/2015/02/19/disquiet0164-juntofireworks/

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/

Banshiva

"Banshiva" [disquiet0164-juntofireworks]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: synthesizers
Composed and Recorded ca. March 20 to 23, 2015.
sm4 [ARIA(D)].

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"In an attempt to accept this week's Disquiet Junto assignment — 'create an original, multi-part piece with a single audio source,' I chose a prerecorded track of a single atmospheric pad to form an aural bed of sound. I then time-compressed it greatly, so I could use it for a droney, low-end, 'percussive' background and, also, as fodder for a higher-frequency, foreground melody. I recorded these three tracks together, but was disappointed with their resultant complexity; thus, I abandoned hopes of entering it into this week's Disquiet Junto 0168 -- 'Three of a Kind,' -- project, and began to add parts using various synthesizers.

The resultant piece, 'Dwaal I,' is spacious and hazy, and named after an informal word of South African origin, 'dwaal,' which means 'a dreamy, absent-minded, or befuddled state.'"

~ Michael

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"More on this 168th Disquiet Junto project — 'Create an original, multi-part piece with a single audio source' — at:

http://disquiet.com/2015/03/19/disquiet0168-threeofakind/

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/ "

~ Marc Weidenbaum

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Dwaal I

>> DOWNLOAD <<

"Dwaal I" (based on [disquiet0168-threeofakind])

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh: keyboards, synthesizers, drum machine, and found sound
Composed and Recorded ca. June 12 to 15, 2015.
sm5 [ARIA(D)].

Having read this week’s Disquiet Junto assignment—“use the Russian nesting dolls [Matryoshka] as a model for a musical composition,” I knew instantly that I wanted to build a theme using a collection of notes that approximated a Russian folk scale on my ‘Western’ instruments; I, also, knew that I would compose a theme that I would repeat six times throughout the piece—once for each nested doll, as called for in the assignment guidelines.

I initially chose a C-sharp harmonic minor scale, but had inadvertently come across a field recording of a ‘Russian canary’ [ http://www.soundsnap.com/search/audio/russian+canary/score ] and was smitten by its musicality. I thought, “why not form a central melody that mimics the canary’s thematic trill and add melodic layers to compliment it—the canary is Russian, after all.” Needless to say, the canary’s call was not in a C-sharp harmonic minor scale, but feigned an altered F-sharp; thus, I utilized that scale as the basis of the piece.

I imported the canary call into my DAW, edited out its ‘thematic section,’ and repeated it six times. Its tempo came to 92.4 BPM. I then molded a bass register piano line around the bird’s call that mimicked its melodic shape, and added sonic seasoning to it—contrapuntal notes and pitch-bent, portamento figures using my arsenal of Korg and ensoniq synthesizers. I punctuated the track twice with a muted clave rhythm and made sure the canary theme repeated six times—once for each of the nesting dolls.

More on this 180th Disquiet Junto project — “Use the Russian nesting dolls as a model for a musical composition” — at:

http://disquiet.com/2015/06/11/disquiet0180-matryoshkamusic/

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/


Matryoshka Music

Matryoska Music

"Matryoshka Music" [disquiet0180-matryoshkamusic]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: guitar, synthesizers, and 'found sound[s]'
Composed and Recorded ca. June 18 to 21, 2015.
sm7 [ARIA (D)].

Upon receiving this week’s Disquiet Junto assignment—“imagine your favorite instrument is dreaming while it sleeps — what does it sound like?” I instinctively thought of yawning, and imagined to which tone that would equate in electronic instruments. In Indo-Iranian languages, such as Sanskrit, the vocalization, “a-o-m,” or ‘om,’ would be the natural sound that comes from the throat and mouth upon its opening and closing—with voicing, of course.

Accordingly, I made the base tone of my composition to note, C3, as it seems to be the central key upon which samples and subsequent synthesis are built—and the note which my keyboards and synthesizers would ‘utter’ were they to yawn with their fictitious ‘mouths.’

I widened my perception of what an “instrument” can be: rather than focusing on one discrete sound-making unit in my studio, I envisioned the entire studio as my ‘instrument,’ and, thus, utilized it to its fullest in composing this piece. I played and recorded nearly each instrument I own at the predetermined C3 note and built a composition [in the key of C harmonic minor] upon that. I usually weave found sounds into my compositions, so I included a submarine’s sonar ping [http://www.soundsnap.com/submarine_sonar_ping_military_single_military_blastwavefx_09678] to accentuate the piano and percolating synth parts in the background.

I named the piece after my studio—Intro/Ergo, and added the present tense Latin verb, 'sum,' to reflect my studio's state of 'beingness,' as it is to be represented in this piece.

[As of June 21, 2015, I have added additional instrumentation to this piece—guitar.]

More on this 181st Disquiet Junto project (“Imagine your favorite instrument is dreaming while it sleeps — what does it sound like?”) at:

http://disquiet.com/2015/06/18/disquiet0181-instrumentaldream/

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/

Intro Ergo Sum

>>> DOWNLOAD <<<

"Intro Ergo Sum" [disquiet0181-instrumentaldream]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: samples and recordings, sample and recording manipulation
Composed and Recorded ca. July 20, 2018.
sm5.

"'Akvo' (Esperanto for 'water') is an experimental musical work inspired by the words of Marc Weidenbaum: 'Record a piece of music in tribute to Terry Riley’s 'In C' using only samples of water sounds.' It took two-and-a-half hours to compose.

...

Water--still and silent in its natural, undisturbed state--requires gravity and an object or substrate to commingle with in order to unleash its signature sound; hence, all of My 'water samples' were the captured sounds of water interacting with an object [a concrete pavement, a two-gallon tin bucket, My rounded mouth], or along a substrate [a stream bed].

(Fortunately, it has been raining often for the last week in My southeastern-North American locale. I was able to depend on it to afford Me fresh sounds for this experimental, musical piece; rain arrived, yet again, today!)

The stream that runs behind My home provided Me the sampled fodder for the sustained, yet undulating, pad that appears early on in this one-minute and five-second piece. The stream sample, originally forty-seven seconds long, was time-expanded to about a minute's duration, and then 'juiced' of its harmonic content using various software plug-ins [various choruses].

Against that background, I inserted a sample of water droplets landing in a two-gallon tin bucket with about two inches of water already in it.

Then, I grabbed a bottle of filtered water from my refrigerator, took a generous swig, and captured My mouth making popping noises. I time-expanded the result, and ran it through a panning phaser plug-in.

A loud water droplet with an extremely 'hollow' sonic character provided Me with the base from which to synthesize the melodic notes for the arpeggio that appears twenty-eight seconds into the piece.

I timed all of the resultant rhythms and musical elements instinctually, albeit to coincide with sonic cues already present and suggested within the 'stream' and 'bucket' samples.

Three of the four tracks were all run through three instances of an identical reverb plug-in; each, however, were treated uniquely when it came to setting decay time, equalization, and pre-delay, as to suggest depth and positioning in the stereo field."

~ Michael Ash Sharbaugh

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"More on this 342nd weekly Disquiet Junto project ("In Sea" / The Assignment: Record a piece of music in tribute to Terry Riley’s In C using only samples of water sounds) at:

https://disquiet.com/0342/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0342-in-sea/ "

~ Marc Weidenbaum

Akvo

"Akvo" [disquiet0342]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizers and sequencer programming, drums and drum machine programming, and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded ca. February 21, 2019.
sm3 [2023 REMASTER] [DOLBY Thunder at 23p] [__AIF].

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"As per 'Copernican,' Jonathon Keats' and Marc Weidenbaum's disquiet junto [ https://soundcloud.com/disquiet ] experimental assignment this week, "record a piece of music intended for an alien species," I opted to not spend a lot of time on the project; I opted for two to three hours, thereby removing Myself from 'romancing,' 'massaging,' and 'logisticizing' this work into a 'Western-Earth-music,' dead-end corner, thereby dismissing the call of the assignment.

I -- in My most experimental mindsets -- have always explored the time constituent of musics; that is, I have always been interested and mystified by hearing the harmonic structures, rhythms, and secret surprises that await one when music is slowed down on a tape-based recording and, albeit with sonic artifacts, time-expanded grossly.

It's inspiring to hear what lay just 'in-between the cracks' of a familiar, or unfamiliar, recording; hence, I began by creating a random short phrase of 'music' from a synth, layering it, and time-expanding it by 230%.

From there, I just flowed: I added, and subtracted, and judged, and hated on over 60% of what I laid down; it was either too 'Earth-musical,' or expected, or ubiquitous, Earth-music-wise. [LOL!!!]

I wanted to imagine, and record, what a sentient and aesthetic, alien species would consider an orchestral-trap piece of music.

As for the technical aspects of the process, I exaggerated EQ boosts and cuts, imagining that aliens' hearing apparatus might be unique from ours; I veered away from Earthly musical scales, and even-numbered time-signatures.

I did, however, realize (or, rather, assume ... [mistake?!]) that an alien species would experience the dimension of time similarly to us humans.

I named the piece after a favourite electronic music pioneer, Milton Babbitt, whom I met after His performance at Swarthmore University in the state of Pennsylvania, United States of America, in the early '90s.

Here is the result: "Babbitt ['Copernican']" ..."

~ Michael

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"More on this 373rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Copernican Music / The Assignment: Record a piece of music intended for an alien species — at:

https://disquiet.com/0373/

This week’s project was made as a proposition by the artist Jonathon Keats.

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0373-copernican-music/

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

The image associated with this project is from one of Keats’ own instruments related to his Copernican artwork, a gravitational radio. Photo credit: Dora Tsui. "

~ Marc Weidenbaum

Babbitt (Copernican)

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"Babbitt ['Copernican']" [ disquiet0373 ] [2023 REMASTER] - Michael Ash Sharbaugh

(Sharbaugh [and 'Others'])
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded ca. 2013 to July 26, 2020.
sm5 [2023 REMASTER] [24WAV] [eM 02].

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"During this tenuously denormalized environment that we, as humans, face currently amid the COVID-19 epidemic, most musicians [and non-musicians] are discovering ample time on their hands that can be utilized for creative, sonic endeavors; hence, for this week's disquiet junto, I imagined, as Marc Weidenbaum's prompt had stated, '[an] idea of looking ahead -- of projecting  what the world will be like in six months -- what [our] world will [sound] like six months from today, [and] make some music that reflects what you imagined,' and set out to produce a soundscape that might become representational of 'some manner of composing' by musicians and non-musicians, alike, briefly, ahead in the future.

To that end, I struck off into this project intending to be pure audience to the piece; that is, I desired to build a soundscape that was, for nearly all purposes, beyond my control, and was extant without my ever inputing a single note -- nor sound -- by 'playing' ANY conventional musical tools nor instruments.

'Six months from now,' I had imagined, 'the world's aural archive will have grown in its number of works created by non-musicians without the utilization of ANY conventional, musical instruments -- save a computer (for retrieving, and mixing, pre-composed sound files).'

But, of course, when composing and mixing a project in a DAW, egotistical control and inward aesthetic ever-prevails in my case; therefore, I had chosen to select -- and edit -- several HUGE beds of sound, layer them side-by-side, and judge the manners in which they collided, overlapped, and existed together (i.e., using manually-generated volume fades, on-board processing and effects, and panning techniques within the DAW, itself).

I chose the pre-recorded online file archive provided by the website, freesound.org, as my 'nest-egg' of potential 'sound options': I kept entering the search terms, 'space' and 'a-note' -- as in 'the musical tone, 'A' -- into the search field over a period of five hours, and auditioned, chose, imported, and melded-together, seven [7] distinct sound files that were ten- to ninety-minutes in temporal length -- as might a 'non-musician' [!?] might have done -- and mixed them together, all the while, of course, consciously manipulating them according to my unique, individualized aesthetic concerning 'what sounds good' (i.e., manipulating volume fades, effects, and panning parameters).

This musical bed of sound is the result: 'In the Orbit of a Victorian Fireplace.'"

~ Michael (July 26, 2020)

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"More on this 447th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Listen Ahead (The Assignment: Make some music for the near future), at:

https://disquiet.com/0447/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0447-listen-ahead/

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

~ Marc Weidenbaum (ca. 2020)

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The soundfiles contained in this composition can be found below.

"factoryplace" by Omar Alvarado
https://freesound.org/people/Omar%20Alvarado/sounds/474157/

"Alien Soundscape - Long" by Speedenza
https://freesound.org/people/Speedenza/sounds/198532/

"mix mfo3b7 113" by ERH
https://freesound.org/people/ERH/sounds/138436/

"Spaceship Ambience" by revolt2563
https://freesound.org/people/revolt2563/sounds/443499/

"Glass Aquaphone Drone 2" by be-steele
https://freesound.org/people/be-steele/sounds/322990/

"A Spaceship Fly-by" by InspectorJ
https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/397948/

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In the Orbit of a Victorian Fireplace

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"In the Orbit of a Victorian Fireplace" [disquiet0447] [2023 REMASTER] - Michael Ash Sharbaugh

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: prepared piano, synthesizer, and electronic percussion
Composed and Recorded ca. May 3, 2013.
DJ 2013MAY02 sm2 [16bit][LANDRlo].

In picking my two notes, I sat in my studio chair and blindly reached over to the keyboard of my synthesizer twice. The first time I reached I touched a G key; the second time, I struck two keys—an A and an A#|B. I had three notes. Thus, I kept the G [392 Hz], and then summed the frequencies in Hertz of the A and the A#|B and divided the result by two, which gave me 453.08 Hz for my second note. Since 453.08 Hz is not part of the usual Western tempered scale, I tuned my synthesizer to the frequency using a signal generator.

I recorded the first note—a G on a prepared piano—and butted it right up to the beginning of my ‘sequence.’ I then wanted to fill the minute, so I time-expanded it by over 600 percent—to exactly the end of the minute. I then copied it and pasted it to a location at around 30 seconds into the piece.

The second note was recorded from a synthesizer—a Korg DW-8000. As soon as the sequence began, I started playing a patch tuned to 453.08 Hz. I held down the note until 58 seconds had elapsed, leaving room for the reverb tail to fill the remaining two seconds.

I combined the notes as directed into one stereo track, leaving the prepared piano dry and adding reverb to the Korg synthesizer.

Careful to be sensitive to the piano’s subtle beats, I listened back to the prepared piano track and added my favorite drum sound—a 909 kick tuned all the way down. I then added a reverse tambourine to punctuate the kick drum, putting it through a random panning plug-in effect, “Orbit.” Next, I solo-ed the DW-8000 drone. The beats in the tone were plainly apparent, enabling me to easily add a bongo played with a drumstick to match them. I added the same reverb to this bongo as was used for the DW-8000 drone. I then bounced the percussion tracks down to one stereo track.

All drums and percussion were added in real time without the use of a sequencer.

I summed the two recorded stems, feeding them through a limiter. This is the result.


More on this 70th Disquiet Junto project, which involves creating a single piece of music from two tones and three beats, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/02/disquiet0070-2tones3beats/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

"Afternoon in the Woods" [disquiet0070-2tones3beats]

(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: pianos, synthesizers, drums and drum machine programming, sequencer programming, and 'found sounds'
Composed and Recorded ca. January 18, 2021.
sm6 [16WAV].

Today, having had the studio [MY studio] available to Me, I diverted My attention away from a dobro piece I was working on with a Friend, Gil Borguez, and decided to set out to create something brand new.

I always know the Marc Weidenbaum's [and Everyone's] disquiet junto project will furnish some ideas, should I wish to participate; thus, I checked My email, and discovered this week's assignment, "Jam Time [part 1]," and just, simply, 'got to work.'

The notes and three-chord-structure of "Monk's Placid Pillow," I realized earlier -- but after the fact -- somewhat loosely parallels, and carries the rudimentary chord structure, of My Friend, Gil's dobro song, "Cry." I can't be blamed, really, because Gil's song is all I've been working on for days -- it's fixed in My darned psyche!

Cautiously, and desiring to not 'finish' the piece, I ceased My work upon it, and submit it here for the consideration of Others. I uploaded a 16-bit, 44.1kHz WAV file to SoundCloud for Others to download, but can provide a higher-quality, 32-bit floating point version, if anyone desires one.

More on this 472nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Jam Time (1 of 3) / The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete — at:

https://disquiet.com/0472/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0472-jam-time/

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

Image associated with this project is by Meg Jones, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/mDRT9

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

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"Monk's Placid Pillow" contains a Creative Commons Attribution license from 'looper' Cold Womb Descent [ https://freesound.org/people/ColdWombDescent/ ]. The sample is called "CWD_F_accidental beat," and can be found at ...

https://freesound.org/people/ColdWombDescent/sounds/511975/

"'Monk's Placid Pillow' [part 1 of 3]" (disquiet 0472 - 'Jam Time' [1 of 3])

(Ledwidge | Sharbaugh)
Chris Ledwidge [ https://soundcloud.com/chrisledwidge ]: (real) piano and recording production
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizers and recording production
Composed and Recorded ca. January 2021.
Disquiet 0473 [2 Of 3] [L - R Separated Mix] sm2.

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This disquiet junto 0473 [part 2 of 3] track, "The Wolf's Baleen," was inspired by the disquiet junto 0472 [part 1 of 3] recording by Chris Ludwidge [https://soundcloud.com/chrisledwidge ] called "No. 34 in Am" [ https://soundcloud.com/chrisledwidge/no-34-in-am-disquiet0472 ].

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"I was so overwhelmed by the work by composer, Chris Ludwidge, and his disquiet junto 0472 piece, "No. 34 in Am," that I promptly downloaded it and got to work for this week's Disquiet Junto assignment, 'Placebo Effect."

I had but three hours to compose my piece, "The Wolf's Baleen," and knew I would have to fly into it. What struck me about the floating fragments of Chris' piece was how much it reminded me of some of Brian Eno's piano fragments and treatments on "Ambient #1: Music for Airports"; thus, I set out instinctively to complement Chris' tinklings on the piano: I first learned his piano figures, mimicked them, and based emphatic stylings upon certain notes (namely the B-flat note), adding treatments, such as a rhythmic delay and erratic reverberation changes.

I would write more, but my time has run out at the studio.

Thanks, Chris!"

~ Michael

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More on this 473rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Placebo Effect (1 of 3) / The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio that others will complete — at:

https://disquiet.com/0473/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0473-placebo-effect/

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

Image associated with this project is by Israel Avila, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/5bFGMU

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

The Wolf's Baleen

"The Wolf's Baleen" - Michael Ash Sharbaugh and Chris Ledwidge [disquiet0473 - part 2 of 3]

POP | SPACEROCK | VAPORTRAP | TRIP-HOP
AMBIENT | EXPERIMENTAL

the PERSON, the SOUND : Since 1985, Philadelphia-born Michael has composed and released hundreds of audio recordings, and published dozens of [erotic] poems.

His 'sonic-sojourn' began suddenly when he was just a teen -- feet splashing rhythmically through puddles leftover by a seaside rainstorm. Having just parted ways with the then-love-of-his-life, Michael composed his first ballad [and first song] ever -- "Tina." He rushed to his beach-side home to record his visceral 'awakening' on a tiny micro-cassette recorder, and vowed -- from that day on -- to create art for the rest of his life.

He began zealously amassing used music equipment, and had built a modest home recording studio by age seventeen, all the while crafting simple pop, ambient, and experimental works that HE had wanted to listen to -- that HE had wanted to hear, affectionately emulating the works of his then-idols, Duran Duran and Brian Eno.

Now, decades later, he has relocated to a small village outside Atlanta, Georgia, and continues to voraciously attend to his dream as a young, heartbroken boy -- to create and release music that he, himself, wants to hear.

Although no longer sequestered to pop and ambient musics, Michael's signature sound has merged the two, having integrated the R&B, hiphop, and psychedelia he has grown to love as a older gent -- having absorbed the edgy rhythms and dreamy soul of the southern United States (Atlanta and Miami).

Michael still puts forth ample amounts af ambient musics, but his recent 'sound' hovers elsewhere -- somewhere amidst the genres of vaportrap, spacerock, and trip-hop.

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the INFLUENCES : Duran Duran, The Weeknd, Blondie, Depeche Mode, Billy Idol + Steve Stevens, Stone Temple Pilots, Dead Can Dance, Siouxsie & The Banshees, This Mortal Coil, Air, Naked Eyes, Tears for Fears, Alice in Chains, John Barry, Leslie Bricusse, The Chameleons [UK], Brian Eno, The Cocteau Twins, ABBA, The Bee Gees, Claude Debussy, Frederick Chopin, Guillaume de Machaut, Early Music, Renaissance music, Baroque music, and Joe Meek.

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#duranduran #theweeknd #blondie #depechemode #billyidol #stevestevens #deadcandance #siouxsieandthebanshees #air #tearsforfears #johnbarry #lesliebricusse #claudedebussy #mauriceravel #frederickchopin #eriksatie #brianeno #thecocteautwins #abba #beegees #joemeek #chameleons #octoberproject #patbenatar #haroldbudd #lindseybuckingham #nakedeyes #aha #ceefarrow #omd #thismortalcoil #stonetemplepilots #aliceinchains #baroque #renaissance #earlymusic #theweeknd #skeler