More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

11 samples created from looping short sections taken from a pre-existing piece entitled 'Narrative' [ https://soundcloud.com/xiiixxi/narrative ]. The volume of each continuously sounding loop is auto-faded in and out using a pair of linked oscillators in addition to being shaped to bring each to the front once at least once throughout the duration of the piece.

Disquiet Junto | Chain of Layers - disquiet0696

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

portales de andros [disquiet0696]

Edited, mixed & mastered on 01 May 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA. 

Layered guitar synth

This piece evolved through three distinct passes with the last having three of its own:

1 - Almost every day, I record something. On April 13, I recorded about 20 minutes of guitar synth with a voice sound using a cheap SX guitar as the controller. I recorded with DAW effects but for this piece, I used the raw recording without effects. The synth has some built-in though.

2 - On May 1, I spread this recording across 15 tracks, stretching some to fit the same duration and adding leftover bits throughout. I panned them across the sound field. Though I created a wall of sound and did a rough mix, I felt this arrangement wasn't working for me.

3 - Inspired by fabric patterns and metal chains, I drew a subtractive volume automation on one track, moving down and diagonally, bouncing off the side and back until reaching the 15th track. I then drew another pattern at the beginning of the last track, moving up diagonally. As the piece took shape, I added a third pattern in untouched spots where it felt right. These patterns began precise but became organic—like a handmade garment rather than a machine-made one. The final run evoked an old painting shirt, and that's when I knew it was complete.

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, Aug 2019, Massapequa, NY, USA - at the time, an in-progress painting I called “Injury Or Suffocation.” 

©2019, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

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This original version of “Stepmother In Chains” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers. The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers.

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

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696

Stepmother In Chains (disquiet0696)

Disquiet Junto 0696's assignment was to record 10 to 15 layers of continuous sound and create a piece of music only by altering their relative presence over time.

I immediately thought of the story of how the iconic 1975 10cc song "I'm Not In Love" was created. The backing vocals are lush and rich and unearthly. (If you don't know the song, just listen to the first 30 seconds or so to get the gist). The story is that the band recorded themselves each singing a long, sustained note until they had 48 notes on individual 12' tape loops. For the final recording, the tape loops were played simultaneously and mixed into harmonies live on the console, essentially turning the mixer into a musical instrument. 

With this technique as inspiration, I recorded 7 tracks of ebow guitar, each playing a different note in the A harmonic minor scale. Ebow can make dynamics difficult but I managed some good textures I think. I hand-mixed each of the tracks to come in and out in sequence, creating a rising step pattern.

Then I bounced the seven guitar tracks to a single track. This track was duplicated and pitch shifted to create 4 tracks spanning 4 octaves. This essentially multiplied my original 7 tracks by 4 to give me 28 guitars. I applied volume automation to create a primitive Shepard scale out of the result.

Aside from a couple of acousmatic accents and a low-fi kick drum, every sound is from the guitar.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

What Became of Grandfather? (disquiet0696)

A chain of layered sequences with a mix of electronic and recorded sounds.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Chain of Events (disquiet0696)

Different layers of sounds created from synths, strings, birds, choirs, slowly transforming, evolving into a sunset drone by varying the mix between the layers.

A drone to immerse yourself into the sunset. 

This track was inspired by this week's Disquiet Junto project:

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

Sunset Duvet (Disquiet0696)

disquiet0696

sound art for disquiet0696.

More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696/

hendecad cascade (disquiet0696)

Thought I Heard My Name

a three sided record telling the story of a man driven to madness as he navigates a temporal loop of cosmic proportions

B6. By stars benign.

ETHEREAL AMBIENT SOUNDSCAPES INSPIRED BY GAME OF THRONES AND THE  LORD OF THE RINGS AND MANY OTHERS. RELAX, ENJOY AND DRIFT AWAY.

CTHULHU MYTHOS - THE PURPLE ROOM

Abstract Sound Structures, Musique Concrète & Live Electronics.
Experimental abstract animation videos.
It is my aim to create and/or edit my tracks & videos using free or open-source software only.
Influences include: J.S. Bach, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Giacinto Scelsi, Mauricio Kagel, Conlon Nancarrow, Christian Wolff, Harry Partch, Luc Ferrari, Morton Feldman, Cornelius Cardew, Bernard Parmegiani, Ana-Maria Avram, David Tudor, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, Renaissance Polyphony.
All my work is published under a Creative Commons licence & can be freely downloaded (as wav) or remixed.

Chain of Events (disquiet0696)

ray_cobley