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Salzburg Preview 1 (Paul Hefner - Mr.Softie's Revenge)

a little afternoon improv on a cold and rainy day . . .

Dreary Afternoon

This is the audio from my recent Youtube post. Here's that link should you want to see these sounds performed https://youtu.be/CRFPFt1-obI

Sonic Snippets

I am noodling around on this track.  I was experimenting (and continue to experiment) with Audified AmpLion Free, a cabinet modeling plugin, and I am slowly making practical sense of something I've known for a long time.  Clara's unique theremin sound that we hear in recordings is not just the sound of her instrument.  There's a combination of devices that make up her recorded theremin tone. The Lev-built theremin's tone was/is an important starting point, but the characteristics of her custom speaker, tube amplification, microphones, and technical choices of the recording engineers all played a part in the 'sound' that makes up her theremin's voice as we now hear it...

I do not want to replicate that sound, but I noticed when I was experimenting with some of the plugin settings, that some uniques effects would happen that remind me of Clara's sound...   

My tone's low register doesn't really sound anything like her sound, but I noticed the upper register, when making fast note transistions exhibited vocal characteristics similar to Clara when she made a fast wide interval leap.  The other thing that sticks out to me is the vibrato (when oscillation depth and speed are consistent, mine is not super great yet), the vibrato, especially in Clara's recorded sound exhibited more of an amplitude oscillating, than it did pitch oscillating. This helped lend to her unique sound, IMO.

We know that the oscillation is (and can only be) produced from the pitch hand on the theremin, but when the sound is amplified by certain kind of speaker/tube/mic combination and the sound is recorded in a particular way, there is this crazy pscho-acoustic side-effect that makes the listener perceive the vibrato as more of an airy breath-like amplitude oscillation.  It's the same airiness and effect we associate with humans singing vibrato.

My hypothesis is that the oscillation sounds airy and yields the sensation of compressions on our ear-drums because our human ears are detecting phase shifting of the upper harmonics of the tone... If the tone has more brilliance in it to begin with, then this effect is more noticable.  This is also why theremin tones that are more sinusoidal in wave-shape sound so lifeless , even when vibrato is added... also, the pitch oscillation of the vibrato is noticed before the amplitude oscillation in those pure sine-wave-like tones.  

This hypothesis could also explain why listening to a direct recording  theremin tone is the most dead-sounding lifeless thing  you'll ever hear...  I think  that understanding (in a practical sense) how all the compontents fit together and influence the final sound is the golden key to creating a human-like theremin tone...   Or at least a more interesting one.


A called this Some Clara-Like Flare, not because I think sound like Clara, but because my technique somewhat makes the Clara-Like Flare pop out of the sound.  If you can't play with similar note transition efficiency, then you can give up comparing your sound to Clara's...  Also, intonation is important, but I guess anyone listening to this probably understands thats the hard rule of theremin playing.  play in tune or else!

Some Clara-like Flare

3 In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning

A set of three lyrical etudes, in response to Chopin's "Trois Etudes Posthumous."

I. "Labyrinth"
II. "Vigil"
III. "Curtain"

Dalit Warshaw, piano

FAREWELLS for solo piano (2016)

This sound is a single live performance on the Continuum. The sound uses a summed delay feedback circuit that is heard through two separate filter banks, creating a tonal pitch base even when the delay line changes up.

3 In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning

Rob Schwimmer

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