Response to the 500th Disquiet Junto assignment "Play a tune by yourself and as if by two people whom you invent". For this, the two people I "created" were two alternative versions of myself, who differ from me in the sense of having made different decisions at pivotal moments in my/our youth and thus evolved to have different creative approaches/philosophies. 

N1 (my actual self) started this assignment by recording myself improvising on the darbuka (a goblet-shaped drum I've recently starting learning) for approximately 6 minutes, focusing on the idea of "being authentically myself to the best of my current abilities with this instrument". 

N1 then selected about 2.5 minutes of the recording, copied/layered the track twice, adding a variety of effects to each layer including surround and convolution reverb, flanger, bass, and phaser, and keeping the original speed intact (as this felt necessary in the sense of "authenticity"/purity).

N2 took the track N1 exported and listened to her concerns about maintaining the original speed, but determined that it was not at all "less authentic" to alter it. Armed with confidence, she made 2 new tracks, at 125% and 150% speed respectively. She kept the first half of the 125% track, the second half of the 150% track, then made 3 copies/layers of the 150% track, and added a variety of additional effects including delay, phaser, pitch shifter, noise reduction, distortion, de-reverb and a lot of flanger to the assorted layers. 

N3 agreed with N2 about speed alteration and went further to assert that adding new content wouldn't compromise whatever "authenticity" or "purity" N1 was trying to get at. She then selected one of the 3 tracks from N1's composition and slowed it down to 85%, selected an excerpt from it, and layered it with audio recordings of herself reading passages from The Ardour Manual, alongside an ambient/slightly dramatic track from freesound.org. Numerous effects were added to these layers, including more phaser and a variety of delays/echoes to the speaking track.

All three Ns then brought our tracks together into the track posted here (in order, N1-N3), collectively reflecting on how we all enjoyed exploring how the darbuka can sound through various effects/filters, and how the evolution of the rhythm and the contrasting layers accurately reflected many aspects of our mental processes/"ways of being/seeing in the world". 

Equipment: Zoom H4N, 43 cm copper metal Gawharet El Fan Darbuka, 2 hands, 3 minds, edited in Adobe Premiere (but onward soon to Ardour!)

Works cited/sampled (make sure to credit these if you re-use any portion of the track where they appear, 04:12-06:31): 
1.) suonho // erh-p1-2o2bb12-14-alien-sounds-floating-fortress-rwrk// from freesound // CC BY: https://freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/58769/# 
2.) The Ardour Manual (https://manual.ardour.org/toc/)

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- More on this 500th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Humming to Your Selves (The Assignment: Play a tune by yourself and as if by two people whom you invent) — at: https://disquiet.com/0500/
- 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-0500-humming-to-your-selves/

A Separate Window disquiet0500

In response to Disquiet Junto Project 0502: Global Swarming
The Assignment: Create a swarm of imaginary insects.

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Conceptual Process: The title comes from the protagonist of Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) - Gregor Samsa, who awoke one morning to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin" "insect" "cockroach"... a variety of English translations for the original "Ungeheueres Ungeziefer" which is difficult to translate (and the translation of which has been heavily discussed, here's a nice overview if you're not already familiar: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-translating-kafkas-the-metamorphosis). I have a lot of empathy for Gregor which extends to empathy for insects in general whereby I try to resist the instinct to be disturbed by them - so I initially set off on this trying to make a "swarm" from the Juntonian insect bank that was not disturbing or frightening, and was instead either empathetic or like a cool bug party that I'd like to join. After about 5 minutes of editing, the bug party became a cacophony and then whittled down into something slightly more disturbing, or at least intense in a way that is uncomfortable at several points. I couldn't escape the notion of an encounter with a swarm of insects, however unique and beautifully imaginary they are, being disturbing, unnerving, uncomfortable. So I went with it, trying to make something where the listener (and protagonist in the story of this swarm) might be disturbed a few times as the swarm gets closer and swells around them, but is ultimately left in a state of some relief, and curiosity once the swarm decides to move on. Because doesn't the swarm sound a bit like mechanical insects, potentially like a swarm of man-made insect-drones that could be surveilling millions of dimensions of your physical and mental existence? What do they want? What are they looking for? But at least they didn't investigate for long and decide to keep moving - but what data did they capture, or might they have captured something more, or other, than data...?

Technical Process: Selected the insects listed below. Made 4 different test tracks with several loops of each insect, and various effects on each layer of each insect. Played with the balance so it sounds a bit like they are coming from one side, enveloping you in a few swells, then move along to the other side and off into the distance. Then layered the 4 tests tracks on top of each other. 

This track features several varieties of the following insects from the schwärmeliche Junto-Menagerie, and includes no other sounds:

- Clint B - bromdihydorchlorphenylbenzodiazepine fuzz locust
- ausgesuchtestenohren - swarm behaviour
- bbob drake - organCrickets_forMusikfestivalSchwärme 0494 

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More on this 502nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Global Swarming (The Assignment: Create a swarm of imaginary insects) — at: https://disquiet.com/0502/

Thanks to Tobias Reber and Musikfestival Bern for collaboration on this project. More on the festival at:

https://www.musikfestivalbern.ch/
https://www.instagram.com/musikfestival_bern
https://www.facebook.com/musikfestivalbern

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-0502-global-swarming/

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

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

https://flic.kr/p/aePCyj

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

Für Gregor_disquiet0502

A response to Disquiet Junto 0503: Sing Song (The Assignment: Record a song using only your voice transformed beyond recognition)

Process notes:
0.) Wished to explore the sounds of the human voice making sounds that are not language (either because they are "broken" language, i.e., attempts to utter words by someone not fluent in that language [and a way to playfully practice as a learner of said language], or because they are "just sounds" being uttered, in particular sounds uttered to mimic sounds of instruments, especially dreamy synths).

1.)Recorded my voice: trying to sing a couple songs I love, in languages I am currently learning[1]; and singing along to some groovy instrumental music[2] through making a variety of sounds in my throat. 

2.) Processed that material into a 10 layer track where a lot of effects rendered my voice unrecognizable as such and generated an eerie ethereal mood. 

3.) Listened to the track produced in step 2, and recorded myself singing along to it, again through a variety of throat sounds. 

4.) Mixed and processed track from step 3 with material from steps 1 and 2, until it became evocative of the sound and feeling of taking a journey in a time machine (Ajamasin) that is a bit rickety and you are worried about making it through to the other side, whenever that is going to be (or is, was...) This felt like an appropriate conclusion and a fun premise to imagine!

Footnotes:
[1] These songs were: شيّد قصورك (Erect Your Forts) by Sheikh Imam and Ahmed Fouad Negm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWR9r7Keef0); and Võrgutaja neiu / Suisa sulasele (Seducer girl / Why did you choose a farmhand?); sung by Maarja Oras and choir / Kati Soon and choir (https://folklore.ee/regilaul/lugu/4.7-vorgutaja-neiu-karula)
[2] Elu Märgid by Misha Panfilov (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdAM3Z2Z3os)
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More on this 503rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Sing Song (The Assignment: Record a song using only your voice transformed beyond recognition) — at: https://disquiet.com/0503/

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-0503-sing-song/

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

Ajamasin_disquiet0503

A spirited reading from an English translation of the Estonian folktale "Helde puuraiuja (The Tender-Hearted Wood-Cutter)," written by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (published around 1866). The recorded reading is accompanied by a dramatic score using loops created by Rasputin, Nutnuxy, JFTG, FertySapiosBeatzzz (via Looperman.com). 

The tale that is read is a mix from English translations from two collections: 
1.) Fairy Tales from Baltic Shores: Folk-Lore Stories from Estonia. Translated by Eugenie Mutt, 1930.
2.) The Piper:  A selection of Estonian Fairy Tales. Translated by Aino Jogi, Eugenie Mutt, Amanda Kritt, Kaja Toomel, 1987. 

The word 'Vanaisa' (Old Father*) that appears in this recitation was retained in the translation in "Fairy Tales from Baltic Shores," while in "The Piper" it was translated to 'God.' 

The track image comes from the tale's accompanying illustration by Jaan Tammsaar in "The Piper:  A selection of Estonian Fairy Tales."

*In this context, the word functions as a name and refers to a diety in the indigenous Estonian faith; in other contexts the word means 'grandfather'.

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Created in response to the Disquiet Junto's 576th weekly project, Casual Resolution (The Assignment: Get a musical New Year’s resolution out of the way), at: https://disquiet.com/0576/

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-0576-casual-resolution/

Helde puuraiuja (The Tender-Hearted Wood-Cutter)

"... he now knew what no other mortal had ever yet known, and had seen that which human eyes had never before beheld..."

A reading from "The Secrets of the Night" with a score composed of the music, sound fx, loops, and field recordings listed below. The text read is a slightly edited version of the English translation published in the collection "The Secrets of the Night and other Esthonian Tales," translated by F. Ethel Hynam (published by Elliot Stock, 1899). 

A cautionary tale involving those Earthly secrets concealed from humans for our own good, the individual source tale for this translation is not clear, though it is attributed to Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald in the Epilogue of "Old Estonian Fairy Tales" (published by Tallinn Perioodika, 1985), which includes an English translation of a similar version of this tale by Kreutzwald titled "The Bathing Nymphs". 

The story is one that recurs in several other Estonian literary folk tales that center around Murueide Tütred, the Daughters of Murueit, nymph-like entities who dance in the forest, daughters of the spirit of forest and earth who are connected to the land of the dead.

Score composed using the following; all of which are modified slightly from the original:

Via freesound.org:
ustym_petrovych: synth-dreamy-glitter-textures-1a (CC BY 4.0)
szegvari: alone-walk-in-field (CC 0)
gogogonzoflow: spooky-radar (CC 0)
LS: sparkles (CC BY 3.0)
inspectorj: calm-synthesizer-a (CC BY 4.0)
djlprojects: Video Game SFX Positive Action Long Tail (CC BY 4.0)
mirkosukovic: cursed-woods (CC BY 4.0)
waxsocks: celestial-melody (CC 0)
gregorquendel: piano-fairy-tale-intro (CC BY NC 4.0)
unseenschema: darksolace (CC BY NC 3.0)
bigvegie: deepdark (CC 0)
andy19: snake-pit (CC 0)
setuniman: waiting-k38m22 (CC BY NC 4.0)
lharman94: arpeggiator-end-credits (CC 0)
ulrichwehner: horror-stinger-13_killing-machine (CC BY 4.0)
kostas17: magic-spell (CC BY 3.0)
julianmateo: magic-spell-sorcery-enchant-appear-ghost (CC 0)
ecfike: the-hourglass (CC 0)
ZHRØ: fantasy-tune (CC BY 4.0)
lost_dream: reveal (CC BY 4.0)
offthesky: miasmah-i (CC BY 4.0)
logicmoon: midnight-mirage (CC 0)
logicmoon: 120_analog-theme (CC 0)
gertraut_hecher: harp-arpeggio-fairy-tunes (CC BY NC 4.0)
ERH: strings-sbh-nmr-b2-37-aece (CC BY NC 4.0)
szegvari: forest-jungle-nature-dark-atmo (CC 0)
speedenza: overly-dramatic-drone-2 (CC BY NC 4.0)
themoviemacher: shadowmaker-crypt (CC 0)
szegvari: night-in-street-atmo-orchestral-sad-mood (CC 0)
zagi2: succubus-intro (CC BY NC 4.0)
setuniman: hinkypunk-1o81 (CC BY NC 4.0)
inspectorj: calm-synthesizer-b (CC BY 4.0)
setuniman: arc-of-suspense-1r54c (CC BY NC 4.0)
setuniman: numb-1u67d (CC BY NC 4.0)
setuniman: in-those-days-1r16 (CC BY NC 4.0)
inspectorJ: Wind Chime, Gamelan Gong, A (CC BY 4.0)

Via looperman.com:
arcticstvr: fairy-tale-gone-by 
BL50: running-vintage-piano
rasputin: space-droplets-2
sconthetrack: tension-prod
d0nc89: east-asian-guitar-emotional-sad-samurai
mileslucre: on-edge
HxdiBlue: LOYALTY - PEACEFUL
ynrrivers: Feid Reggaeton Type Loop - CXRXNE

Track image: "Murueide tütarde tants" (Dance of the Daughters of Murueit); by Aleksander Suumann (1960)

Special thanks: HPK for translation and research

The Secrets Of The Night

Created for disquiet0457 System Alert. More on this project/prompt here: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0457-system-alert/36824

As the offspring of two computer programmers, I've often thought of operating systems as a metaphor for a person's psyche. I interpreted this prompt via the name of the OS and by imagining system sounds for an OS that cultivates the peace, serenity, and contemplation I find in haikus and really all thoughtfully composed poetry/writing that invites introspection and acceptance of the multiplicity of meaning, which led me to thoughts of space travel and the idea of an OS that helps humanity to work together toward the collective effort of space travel for purposes of exploration and discovery in the absence of conquest, competition, and ego. All using samples from freesound.org (listed below), with some effects. The soundscape thus includes a mixture of gentle sounds, space ship sounds, and sounds reminiscent of related technologies with some linguistic/conceptual connection (e.g., a camera click for a mouse event).

And a haiku for this track:

windows are restored
events minimize the keys
notification

Samples used (all via freesound.org):

inspectorj // ui-confirmation-alert-b3 // CC BY
jagadamba // ceramic-bell-02 // CC BY
tomlija // taking-the-elevator // CC BY
cunningar0807 // harp-glissando-up //CC 0
inspectorj // ui-confirmation-alert-d1 // CC BY
loofa // gong3 // CC BY NC
korground // error-sound // CC BY
taira-komori // angel-chorus4 // CC BY
acclivity // glug1 // CC BY NC
acollier123 // flute-g-low-short // CC BY
nil333 // button-click-sound-or-ping-pong-ball-sound // CC 0
tim-kahn // transport // CC BY
snapper4298 // camera-click-nikon // CC BY
phonosupf // harp-metal // CC 0
mickthemicguy // space-door-slide-close // CC 0
original-sound // whoosh-simple-low // CC BY
fordps3 // sci-fi-door // CC BY
altemark // triangle // CC BY
benboncan // jet-whoosh // CC BY
chriddof // zoom-up-1-quicker-delay // CC 0

Image used for this track: 
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center // Stargazing From the International Space Station // CC BY NC

Haiku Operations for Outer Space and Inner Space disquiet0457

Artist, aspiring folklorist, and student of the Disquiet Junto, from the other side of the meta-narrative.

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