disquiet

This is a recording of the last minutes of a concert I gave in Köln in July 2013.

This is solo music for trombone and algorithms in a setup I call the meta-trombone.  The meta-trombone is performance system in which the notes performed on the trombone are both musical material and control signals to modify live recordings of the trombone performance.

Instructions for this Disquiet Junto project follow:
There are three steps to this project, and each step is equally important:

Step 1: Upload a track. Please do not post a track that has previously appeared in the Disquiet Junto.

Step 2: When filling in the various informational fields, be sure to write in some length 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.

Step 3: As tracks are added by other musicians, be sure to comment on at least two or three of them. The more people who participate, the stronger the feedback and conversation will be.

More on this 95th Disquiet Junto project, in which musicians post recent tracks with the express purpose of getting constructive feedback, at:

disquiet.com/2013/10/24/disquie…95-discussamongst/



Late Night Pasta [disquiet0095-discussamongst]

I wrote three short texts that begin with the phrase “This morning I had a sense that …” and recorded them.  I mixed them together with some slowed-down trombone playing.  I tried to channel a bit of William S. Burroughs and failed miserably...

Background: This week’s project originated as part of the Oulipo Sound Workshop that was included in the Subtle Channels series of events held in San Francisco earlier this month (November 2013). The three-hour workshop provided an opportunity to explore the role that Oulipo literary constraints play in the restricted rules of the weekly Disquiet Junto projects. There were four projects that day, including a listening exercise, a word-based one based similar to last week’s Junto project, and a subtractive one along the lines of the 7th Disquiet Junto project from back in February 2012. The fourth was a simpler version of this week’s Junto.

More on this 98th Disquiet Junto project, in which three original spoken texts are combined into one track, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/11/14/disquiet0098-wovenaudiobio/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

welcome to the next level [disquiet0098-wovenaudiobio]

I created a phasing piece in the style of Steve Reich with the notes E, G and D.  The sound source was a pulse wave created with an emulation of the Commodore 64's SID chip (using Plogues Chipsounds softsynth).  I could've used one of my C64 as the sound source, but my studio is a mess and this was the path of least resistance.

The project instructions were as follow: Record a piece of music with an 8-bit flavor. It should begin with a replication of that same three-note Xbox One pattern (E G D), repeated several times, and then veer off into whatever direction you desire. As the track goes along, feel free to add common video game sounds like explosions, karate chops, crowd noises, engines revving and so forth. Try to keep the whole thing under 90 seconds.

More on this 99th Disquiet Junto project (Compose an 8-bit melody based on the "E G D" startup sound of the Xbox One) at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/11/21/disquiet0099-EthenGthenD/

Background: This project was informed by a post on Kotaku.com by Kirk Hamilton:

http://goo.gl/OpjWSg

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto

8-bit Phase [disquiet0099-EthenGthenD]

I took an icicle that formed on my house and recorded some sounds it made rattling around in a glass jug.  I isolated a couple samples and used Plogue's Sforzando for playback.  I generated the midi messages that triggered the sampler with Common Music 3.8.  I pitch-shifted the samples and repeated the process four times.  I mixed the resulting four versions together to include progressively more voices.

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/

Photo associated with this project found via Creative Commons at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaukay/384109969

Icicle Shuffle [disquiet0105-ice2014]

This composition was made for Disquiet Junto Project 148: Peripheral Listening

The Assignment: Make music inspired by and suitable for listening to while reading William Gibson’s novel The Peripheral.

I selected the following sentence from the book as a starting point:
Chapter 6 (“Patchers”): “The square filled with a low moaning, the island’s hallmark soundscape.”

I interpreted the humming sound described in the sentence as the electrical ambiance that would surround "patchers".  I used the following two sounds exclusively:
https://www.freesound.org/people/jameswrowles/sounds/248217/
https://www.freesound.org/people/EdEditz/sounds/165562/

I accounted for the "island" part of the quote by using island rhythms played by two groups of three instruments.  Each instrument of the first group play clave rhythm out of phase with each other.  The instrument of the second group play cinquillo rhythm out of phase with each other.

humming with the wiring [disquiet0148-peripherallistening]

Short loop made with my meta-trombone: http://no-insects.blogspot.ca/2014/10/meta-trombone-on-ios.html

Background:
Disquiet Junto Project 0153: Groove Lock
The Assignment: Record a short sound intended to be set on repeat.

SoundCloud recently introduced the ability for a track to be looped on the website. That is, the listener can hit a button (details at disquiet.com/QVvCF) and the track will play over and over. This week’s project will make use of that feature. This week’s project will also, I should note, inform next week’s project. But you can do next week’s without doing this week’s, and vice-versa.

Step 1: Record a short, original piece of music/sound of between roughly 3 and 9 seconds intended to be set on repeat.

Step 2: Upload the finished track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 3: Listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Length: Your finished work should be between roughly 3 and 9 seconds long.

Bleep bop [disquiet0153-groovelock]

Disquiet Junto Project 0168: Three of a Kind
Create an original, multi-part piece with a single audio source.

Step 1: You will be making a single track with three different parallel lines. It might be easiest to think of them as melody, rhythm, and an ambient foundational bed, but you might also do three counterposed rhythms, or a drone of three varying ambient beds. It’s up to you.

Step 2: Select a single source of audio. Perhaps it’s a segment of pre-existing track, or a single note on a favorite instrument, or a short recording of you humming or breathing.

Step 3: Transform that single source of audio to produce each of the three separate lines you plotted in Step 1.

Step 4: Record the track with those three lines running simultaneously.

Step 5: Upload your track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 6: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

whistling roaring sound going past my head  [disquiet0168-threeofakind]

Disquiet Junto Project 0249: 80 Phases

Wish the minimalist composer Steve Reich a happy birthday.

Project Steps:

Step 1: October 3 marked the 80th birthday of composer Steve Reich. Prepare to record a tribute to him.

Step 2: Select a short segment of sound or music that can be looped and, per Reich’s own technique, “phased.” Fortunately, the song “Happy Birthday” has entered the public domain. Consider using it.

Step 3: Take the segment from Step 2 and play it on repeat, layering the loop with slightly different timing to create a phasing effect. Play around with this, editing the loops until you have some successful or interesting sounds/accidents.

Step 4: Add some extra sounds or textures if you think the piece needs it.

Happy birthday Steve [disquiet0249 - 80 Phases]

I started by recording the word "intergouvernementalisations" which is the longest French word, according to Wikipedia. I isolated 5 short sounds (less than 10 ms) to create a hi-hat, a snare, a bas drum, a bass and a lead sound.

I also fed the recording of the whole word into the Paul stretcher to make an ambiant background. 

I used Expert Sleepers Crossfade Loop Synth to playback my short sounds as it has some interesting features to tweak playback.

Prompted by Project 279 of the Disquiet Junto:

Disquiet Junto Project 0279: Word Interiorities
Dissect the sonic properties of a single spoken word.

Step 1: We’ll be composing short explorations of sound by taking apart the recording of a single spoken word, excavating it for its components, and then exposing them through various techniques, such as repetition, elongation, and contrast. The first step is to choose your word. You can choose your own, or you can follow these chance instructions, which require a single dice. First, roll the dice once. That number tells you which of the six chapters in Luciano Berio’s book Remembering the Future contains your word. Then roll the dice three times; the combined values of those three rolls (e.g., a roll of 3 and a roll of 4 and a roll of 2 yields 9) is how many words to count into the chapter to find your word. You should be able to access a digital copy of the book via Google Books at this URL:

https://goo.gl/hQ1kc0

If the first page of a chapter isn’t available, then simply begin counting from the first available page of the chapter. You can also see if your local library has a copy — or maybe there’s already one on your bookshelf.

Or just choose your own word (preferably one that is family-friendly), or use the chance operation with another book.

Step 2: You don’t need to know much if anything about the composer Berio to do this project. However, it may be helpful to know that he has said that phonemes were more important than syllables when composing for lyrics.

Step 3: Record a short piece of sound/music exploring your selected word, using the ideas described in Step 1 and Step 2, and/or any other approaches you wish to employ.

intergouvernementalisations

Intergouvernementalisations [disquiet0279]

Modular miniature 005 [disquiet0327 - Time Zoned]

The playback of the three songs was routed to 4 pitch shifters and then to four different tracks on the Mobius looper.  Small sound clips were sampled into the looper to create a rhythmic loop.  The playback was also sent to a sampler to create an instrumental voice.  "Tape speed" was abused to create further interest.

--- background ---

This Disquiet Junto project was done as a celebration of the efforts of the Three Legs Duck netlabel, and to support its employment of licenses that allow for derivative works. This track is comprised of three pieces of music, all originally released on Three Legs Duck: “Unloop Hullaballoo” off The Fleet’s Lit Up by Alex Charles and Richard Sanderson, “Etude” off Emosphere by !Kung, and “04:54AM” off Four AM at Dusk Jérôme Poirier. More on the Three Legs Duck netlabel, and the original versions of these tracks, at http://threelegsduck.weebly.com/.

More on this 48th Disquiet Junto project at:

http://disquiet.com/2012/11/29/disquiet0048-libertederive/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/info/

Three legged remix [disquiet0048-libertederive]

Background
This week’s project is a sound journal, an audio history of the past year. You will select a different audio element to represent each of the past 12 months of 2012. You will then select one five-second segment from each of these audio elements. Then you will stitch these dozen five-second segments together in chronological order to form one single one-minute track. There should be no overlap or gap between segments; they should simply proceed from one to the next.

These audio elements will most likely be of music that you have yourself composed and recorded, but they might also consist of phone messages, field recordings, or other source material. These items should be somehow personal in nature, suitable to the autobiographical intention of the project; they should preferably of your own making, and not drawn from third-party sources.

0:00 - January
Robot-voice reading from Steve Murray's column in the National Post (Jan 26)
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/01/26/extremely-bad-advice-manchildhood/

0:05 - February
This was my new message for our voice mail

0:10 - March
Some weird effected trombone sounds I was working on at the time

0:15 - April
Playing Syd Barrett's wined and dined to my baby girl (you can hear her at the start of the clip)

0:20 - May
the longing for repetition, one of my contributions to CT-One Minute
http://www.ct-collective.com/index.cfm?page=music&albumid=48

0:25 - June
Game Music, sounds made with BreakOSC! my app for iOS
https://soundcloud.com/sylvain-poitras/game-music-5
http://breakosc.sylvainpoitras.com/

0:30 - July
This is part of the sampling assignment I made for a max course I took over the summer.
http://www.jeweltone16.org/SoundWithMaxMSP/

0:35 - August
Part of a test of my vocal live rig.
http://youtu.be/UvC9ZF8426Y
http://no-insects.blogspot.ca/2012/07/bring-map.html

0:40 - September
twice through the looking glass
This is part of my second contribution to CT-One Minute.  In September I learned that it had been selected for this years 60x60 Canadian mix.  
http://www.voxnovus.com/60x60/2012_Canada_Mix.htm

0:45 - October
Through the noise: part of a recording of a live performance in San Jose.  
http://no-insects.blogspot.ca/2012/07/meta-trombone-revisited.html
http://no-insects.blogspot.ca/2012/10/y2kx2-livelooping-festival.html
http://sylvainpoitras.bandcamp.com/album/meta-trombone-vol-1

0:50 - November
Part of Three legged remix, my contribution for project 48 of the Disquiet Junto
https://soundcloud.com/sylvain-poitras/three-legged-remix

0:55 - December
Part of La-Sib-Mi-Ré-Do-Sol-Fad-Lab-Réb-Mib-Si-Fa
my contribution to 12-12-12 album prjoect
https://soundcloud.com/sylvain-poitras/la-sib-mi-r-do-sol-fad-lab-r-b
www.facebook.com/events/111379159028679

As a man [disquiet0051-audiojournal]

Specifics:
Small segments of all three tracks were imported into Samplewiz on my iPhone.  I recorded three performances, one for each songs.  I then mixed them together to create a bit of a mess.


Background:
This Disquiet Junto project was done as a celebration of the efforts of the Bump Foot netlabel, and to support its employment of licenses that allow for derivative works. These Junto netlabel remix projects are intended to promote reworking as itself a means of music distribution. This track is comprised of three pieces of music, all originally released on Bump Foot: "Bongo" off the Aguas Tonicas album titled Los Desposeídos, "Broken Robots" off the Gridline album titled Red Music, and "The Cat in the Ocean" off the Pics Frunk album titled Low Voltage. More on the Bump Foot netlabel, and the original versions of these tracks, at http://www.bumpfoot.net/.

More on this 52nd Disquiet Junto project at:
http://disquiet.com/2012/12/27/disquiet0052-bumpcc/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/


a bit of a mess [disquiet0052-bumpcc]

Specifics:
Batman symbol ice rattling in a glass recorded with a piezo microphone.

The lead sound was made by isolating a single hit and slowing it down to get a note.  It was further enhanced with a little creative phasing and some pitch-shifting.  I imported it into Expert Sleeper's Crossfade Loop Synth and played a couple chords into an arpeggiator to trigger it.

A made a little beat with the some more ice cube sounds and also played that with crossfade loop synth as above. 

Added some delay and reverb, mixed and uploaded.   

Good times.

Background:
Please record the sound of an ice cube rattling in a glass, and make something of it.

More on this 53rd Disquiet Junto project at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/01/03/disquiet0053-ice2013/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Ice, Ice, Batman [disquiet0053-ice2013]

One track was chopped up and pitch-shifted to create the rhythm.  A small part of the second track was played back on a sampler.

Background:
This week's project involves a shared set of source material. The source audio is the free solo piano album 'Screws' by Nils Frahm. 
 
Frahm, who's based in Germany, posted the nine-track album of short solo works for free download while he was recuperating from busting one of his thumbs. He subsequently created a site to house all the remixed/reworked versions that admirers sent to him, as well as the videos and other responses that he received. 

For this project you will take two of the source tracks — "Do" and "Re" — and create a new track from them, in the process creating a work for two pianos. 

https://soundcloud.com/erasedtapes/nils-frahm-do
https://soundcloud.com/erasedtapes/nils-frahm-re

schroef [disquiet0055-twoscrews]

My interpretation of part of the map of the San Andreas Fault.  I mapped all the numbers to midi notes and tried to capture the overall downward movement of the map / graphical notation. Recorded with my meta-trombone:http://no-insects.blogspot.ca/search/label/meta-trombone

More on this 73rd Disquiet Junto project, which involves reading a map of the San Andreas Fault as if it were a graphic notation score, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/23/disquiet0073-faultynotation/

This project was conducted as part of a course of study led by Geoff Manaugh (BLDG BLOG). More on his research at:

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/san-andreas-architecture-for-fault.html

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

North Antelope Hills [disquiet0073-faultynotation]

A philosopher by training, Sylvain Poitras explores circularity and self-reference in the fields of video, comics and electroacoustic music: that he uses images, words or sounds, he primarily seeks to blur the boundaries between the object and its designation. Software designer and trombonist, it was only natural that he invented the "meta-trombone", a sophisticated processing system which curiously leads him to the origins of free jazz.