Performed November 2015 at Science and Cocktails in Copenhagen (vimeo.com/141845796).

This started out as an experiment in developing new spectral transformations between pairs of sounds. One of the ideas was to Fourier transform loops of equal length, and slowly morph amplitude and phase independently. This yielded interesting results on selected pairs of sounds, but was completely useless on others. The whole thing was eventually discarded and replaced with a transformation that sounded interesting for almost all input: convolving loops with themselves. This self-convolution can be intuitively be described as multiplying every frequency component of a sound with itself, or 'squaring' the sound.

The approach was then: selected loops were resampled to have the same length, convolved with themselves, resulting in weird 'smeared' sounds. Human voices were vaguely recognizable as human, melodies were removed. Rhythms would generate new rhythms. Production quality and sound would be largely retained, which suggested picking loops from the same time period and genre to give a consistent sound.

The generated loops were mixed in Ableton Live.

Here is a list of loop sources - period and genre should be fairly obvious:

John Farnham: You're the Voice
Vangelis: Blade Runner - Main Titles
Tangerine Dream: 21st Century Common Man
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Lunar Bay
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Jean-Michel Jarre: Arpegiateur
Michael Jackson: Baby be Mine
Yes: Leave It
Kenny Loggins: Playing with the Boys
Michael Jackson: Pretty Young Thing
Michael Jackson: Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
Vangelis: Soil Festivities
Tears for Fears: Shout
Tangerine Dream: Force Majeure
Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor
Yes: Changes
Jan Hammer: Payback
Tears for Fears: Mothers Talk
Kitaro: Tenchi Souzoushin
Jan Hammer: Colombia
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Toto: Africa
Yes: Owner of a Lonely Heart


SciCock SelfConvolution

Copenhagen-based electronic music composer Jakob Schmid combines the harmonies and aesthetics of 70s and 80s new age music with deep basslines and beats of contemporary UK electronic music. The result is both melancholic and energetic.

Schmid has decades of experience in computer music, starting with using tracker software in the 80s, progressing towards creating his own experimental music software, including new types of synthesizers.

Schmid composed the music for multi-award-winning rhythm video game '140', a journey into a world of abstract shapes and beautiful harmonies, accompanied by pulsing beats at 140 BPM.

Popular tracks tagged #selfconvolution