selections

From noise to signal. Disquiet Junto Feb 2015. To Claude and Alex. Disquiet Junto Project 0158: Syllable Gumbo.

The piece is based on a quotation by Claude Shannon, "information is the resolution of uncertainty". Employing a software algorithm, the voices recite random groups of the letters from the quote (the noise) and gradually assemble the letters into the complete quotation (the signal), representing the movement from chaos to order or from noise to signal.


The Resolution Of Uncertainty 021615

Disquiet Junto Project 0182: Diverge Converge
Do a rendition of Ethan Hein’s laptop orchestra score by yourself.

I’ve been reading the Andrew Hodges biography of Alan Turing which includes descriptions of the Turing Bombe, an electro-mechanical logic machine conceived by Turing at Bletchley Park, England to help crack the German Enigma code during World War II. When operating it was described as sounding like a battery of knitting needles.

I started with a simple square wave and played with the frequency to imitate the sound of logic signals. Passed this through a modulation effect and improvised with the settings using liberal amounts of feedback and regeneration. Created with Thor on an iPad. 

There is a second, over-the-top version on my Soundcloud page.

More on this 182nd Disquiet Junto project (“Do a rendition of Ethan Hein’s laptop orchestra score by yourself”) at:
http://disquiet.com/2015/06/25/disquiet0182-divergeconverge/

The piece is based on Ethan Hein’s score, more on which here:
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/brahmss-third-racket/

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

Image by Antoine Taveneaux from Wikimedia Commons


The Turing Bombe [disquiet0182-divergeconverge]

Short Waves [disquiet0185-memorymusic]

When I was 10 years old I turned on my father’s shortwave radio. It opened up a whole new world. I spent many nights as a kid listening to broadcasts from around the world imagining what those places were like. 

I created a collage of shortwave broadcast station IDs and interval signals that I’ve listened to for years, some of which no longer exist.

This was a fun project. It brought back a lot of memories. 

Thanks to the following online audio sources: 

The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive
YouTube: BBC World Service idents over the years by shriramvenu
Freesound: kwahmah_02; AlienXXX Radio Cairo; kb7clx Radio España
IntervalSignals.net
W5AM site for picture of Hammarlund HQ-180 receiver. 

Disquiet Junto Project 0185: Memory Music
Step 1: Remember a key moment in your life. It could be anything at any age.

Step 2: Conjure the sound of that moment in your mind, how you remember it, how you have come to remember it.

Step 3: Recreate that sound and feeling through sound design and music.

More on this 185th Disquiet Junto project (“Summon up a memory, and then summarize it in sound”) at:
http://disquiet.com/2015/07/16/disquiet0185-memorymusic/

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


Short Waves [disquiet0185-memorymusic]

Disquiet Junto Project 0187: Three Strands
Shift between three renditions of the same melody.

I created a melody or motive based on the notes, D, G, and F-sharp.

Track 1 is a combination of a long, streaming FM sound and a sweeping resonant filter that highlights each of the notes. 

Track 2 is made up of short, fast sounds created by playing three sine waves (D, G, and F-sharp) in Borderlands.

The third track is a subtle, ambient pad played in Garageband. 

I manipulated the levels of the three tracks using the envelope tool in Audacity (some of the sounds play for long periods at low levels). 

Created with Thor, Garageband, and Borderlands. Assembled and manipulated in Audacity. 

More on this 187th Disquiet Junto project (“Shift between three renditions of the same melody”) at:
http://disquiet.com/2015/07/30/disquiet0187-threestrands/

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

Creative Commons license granted. 

Image associated with this project by Brian Hefele, used courtesy of a Creative Commons license: https://flic.kr/p/aD2Ehg


Three Strands

Missed Connections, Version B

Disquiet Junto Project 0190: Missed Connections
Set two disjointed loops atop each other, and then add sonic glue.

For version B I used these 2 loops from project 0189:

Tate Carson, Cistern
Steve Ashby, August 15, 2015

I added a third track with sounds created in Reaktor. 
Edited in Audacity. 

More on this 190th Disquiet Junto project (“Set two out-of-sync loops atop each other, and then add sonic glue”) at:
http://disquiet.com/2015/08/20/disquiet0190-missedconnections/

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

Creative Commons license granted. 

Image associated with this project by Theilr, and used thanks to a Creative Commons license:https://flic.kr/p/saiGo

Missed Connections, Ver B [disquiet0190-missedconnections]

A Changing, for Piano, Harmonica and FM Synth. 

Disquiet Junto Project 0191: Held Chord
One chord to rule them all — on several instruments.

I used a G-9th chord (G, A, D, and F sharp).

I played the chord on the strings of a piano, rubbing individual wound strings with  a plectrum, then played the notes on a harmonica. Both were time stretched. The third instrument is an FM synth on an iPad.

The three instruments slowly fade in and out. 

I added a soft piano part processed in Borderlands to impart a bit of motion. 

Edited in Audacity.

Creative Commons license granted.

Image associated with this project by Max Nathan, and used thanks to a Creative Commons license:https://flic.kr/p/3aL7nK

More on this 191st Disquiet Junto project (“One chord to rule them all — on several instruments”) at:
http://disquiet.com/2015/08/27/disquiet0191-heldchord/

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

A Changing, for Piano, Harmonica and FM Synth [disquiet0191-heldchord]

Disquiet Junto Project 0194: Clock Play
Record the sound of a clock and make something playful and sweet out of it.

A collage of clock sounds from freesound.org. 

Thanks to the following for their submissions to Freesound:
Rollo145, RSilveira_88, saphe, adeluc4, Sevin7, ecfike, opticalnoise, kangaroovindalo, NightVoice, ecfike, luis2004lima.

Creative Commons license granted.

More on this 194th Disquiet Junto project (“Record the sound of a clock and make something playful and sweet out of it”) at:
http://disquiet.com/2015/09/17/disquiet0194-clockplay/

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

Clock Play [disquiet0194-clockplay]

Disquiet Junto Project 0199: Space Crickets
Make a field recording of a field recording in a spaceship.

Space ambience with real and abstract sounds of nature. A central, transparent section reflects the isolation of space returning to nature as it is in the emptiness of space. 

Space ambience and abstract sounds of rain, wind, water, crickets and small animals created with Reaktor and Virtual ANS. Nature sounds from Freesound.org and Youtube, thanks to RSilveira_88, ceich93, RHumphries, acclivity, and K-Hawaii ASMR Nature-Relaxation.

Assembled and edited in Audacity. 

More on this 199th Disquiet Junto project (“Make a field recording of a field recording in a spaceship”) at:http://disquiet.com/2015/10/22/disquiet0199-spacecrickets/

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

Creative Commons license granted. 

Aniara [disquiet0199-spacecrickets]

Complex Signatures (Awakenings)[disquiet0213-complexsignatures]

Loosely based on the book “Contact” by Carl Sagan, Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching,  detects coherent signals using a radio telescope in the rainforest of Costa Rica ;)

Disquiet Junto Project 0213: Complex Signatures
The Assignment: Combine three field recordings from artist Charles Lindsay to explore and express notions of perceived techno-organic intelligence.

The 3 tracks were played in Samplr, pitch shifted and layered. Two of the sounds were processed with Spectral pitch shift. The tracks were loosely organized into 3 parts, A-B-A representing aspects of techno-organic intelligence (A' contains the retrograde of A).  The extended central section focuses on tiny, indistinct natural sounds.

The photo associated with this project is the cover of Charles Lindsay’s forthcoming book, Carbon, more on which here: http://minormattersbooks.com/collections/books/products/charles-lindsay-carbon

And here are details on a MASS MoCA exhibit he will be participating in. It begins May 28, 2016: http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=1045

More on this 213th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“The Assignment: Combine three field recordings from artist Charles Lindsay to explore and express notions of perceived techno-organic intelligence”) at:http://disquiet.com/2016/01/28/disquiet0213-complexsignatures/

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

Creative Commons license granted.

Complex Signatures (Awakenings)[disquiet0213-complexsignatures]

Disquiet Junto Project 0221: Morning Music
The Assignment: Compose something — quiet, peaceful, refreshing — you’d want to wake up to.

Took a bit of the opening music from NPR’s Morning Edition. Time stretched various amounts, layered and edited, bit of Borderlands added to create a dreamy soundscape. 

Thanks to BJ Leiderman for the Morning Edition theme music.

I posted a second, extended  version on my other Soundcloud page at:
https://soundcloud.com/project-dirigent/my-morning-edition-extended-version-for-radio-and-very-large-orchestra-disquiet0221-morningmusic

The photo associated with this project is by Alf Eaton, used thanks to a Creative Commons license: https://flic.kr/p/8NUM/

More on this 221st weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Compose something — quiet, peaceful, refreshing — you’d want to wake up to”) at: http://disquiet.com/0221/

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

Creative Commons license granted. 


Dreamscape [disquiet0221-morningmusic]

Disquiet Junto Project 0222: Bounded Foundation
The Assignment: Compose a piece for contemporary dance — with a “soft top” and a “shifting bottom.”

This track grew out of the project ‘Breath Dance’ and is based largely on samples of my voice. 

For the top level I recorded a variety of utterances and played short slices with Borderlands and Samplr creating cloud-like, granular clusters.  In Samplr I used the Bow tool to create very short slices of sound moving them around quickly. 

I included some of the original voice samples (played in Samplr) and distributed them throughout the track. They sound haunting, like ghosts inhabiting the piece.

The shifting bottom and some of the longer sustained pitches were created with samples of a pitch pipe played in Samplr using the Bow and Tape+Scratch tools. 

It ended up sounding very dark and mysterious. There is a vague, recurring semi-tone interval (minor sixth) that gives it a haunting quality. 

More on this 222nd weekly Disquiet Junto project (Compose a piece for contemporary dance — with a “soft top” and a “shifting bottom”) at: http://disquiet.com/0222/

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

Creative Commons license granted.

The image associated with this project is by Tom Gill and is used thanks to a Creative Commons license: https://flic.kr/p/qX8pyN


Bounded Foundation [disquiet0222-boundedfoundation]

Disquiet Junto Project 0226: Bucky Ball
Compose music for a fictional greatest-hits collection of the electronic music of R. Buckminster Fuller.

This is an early tape piece created by Fuller in the 1950s; a collage of electronic sounds and musique concrete from the period when he was influenced most by Cage and Stockhausen. There are moments that are reminiscent of Oram, Babbitt and Varese. 

The title “Pentagonal Transmigration” is a Fullerism referring to the movement along the edges of intersecting polygons. Specifically, the movement from one adjoining vertex to another. 

Analysis:
Fuller based the structure of the piece on the idea of interconnected polygons where sounds follow the movement between adjoining vertices. Each vertex is associated with a unique sound. Movement from one vertex to another causes a short segment of sound to be heard. 

[Created from excerpts of classic electronic music pieces of the era. Composers include: Cage, Stockhausen, Varese, Ussachevsky, Messiaen, Babbitt, Barron (Louise and Bebe), Maxfield, Oram and Xenakis. A total of 20 sounds are played in a Pure Data patch that follows the path of adjoining vertices in a 20-fullerene. This was done twice, the second time following a different path. Edited in Audacity.]

Creative Commons license granted.

More on this 226th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Compose music for a fictional greatest-hits collection of the electronic music of R. Buckminster Fuller”) at: http://disquiet.com/0226/

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


Pentagonal Transmigration [disquiet0226]

Disquiet Junto Project 0238: Magnifying Contact
The Assignment: Record a piece of music, emphasizing the sounds of production over the music itself.

Open the case, assemble the instrument, check the reed, wind up the metronome...

Got out my bassoon and recorded the first thing that came out. I wanted to start the piece with the sound of the bassoon fading into a dreamy texture. I captured a few notes and stretched them to make a long A minor drone to go under other sounds.  The minor second (e to f-natural) ended up sounding really dark and mysterious. Layered the notes and faded them in and out using the envelope tool in Audacity. 

I went back and recorded a bunch of key clicks and instrument noises and stretched them a bit to blur the sound. They came out sounding like gasps! Added an intro and ending.

This turned out sounding really different from my original plan but I went with it. A bassoon in need of exorcism. Use headphones for maximum heavy breathing. 

Recorded on a Zoom H5. Edited in Audacity. 

Thanks to carroll27 on Freesound.org for the metronome sound. 

Creative Commons license granted. 

More on this 238th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Record a piece of music, emphasizing the sounds of production over the music itself” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0238/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/


The Performance, "Strumento Infestato" for bassoon and processed sounds [disquiet0238]

Black Rain [Gomel 1986]
Submitted to Naviar Records/Clouded Lands Gomel 1986 project.
 
Artillery shells carrying silver iodide explode over Gomel seeding clouds to precipitate radiation from the atmosphere before it drifts towards Moscow. It was described as black rain. Alerts and news bulletins follow. The final voice is Gorbachov's announcement of the disaster. 

You Tube news compilation excerpts were from NewsFromUkraine.  Distant artillery sounds thanks to: Aegersum on Freesound.org.

Black Rain [Gomel 1986]

"Disquiet 300" for Piano, Wind chime, and Oboe Obbligato [disquiet0300] 
For the Disquiet Junto 300th project.

Disquiet Junto Project 0300: The 300th Project
3 chords x 100 seconds

Three note chord: B-flat, F and G, strummed and plucked inside a piano, played on a wind chime and again on the keys of the piano. Piano and wind chime were looped in Samplr. Oboe obbligato improvised over the tracks. The piano is used twice but the sounds are completely different. 

More on this 300th weekly Disquiet Junto project (3 chords x 100 seconds) at:
https://disquiet.com/300/

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

"Disquiet 300" for Piano, Wind Chime, and Oboe Obbligato [disquiet0300]

Thin Snow Scatters On the Wind (naviarhaiku256)

Naviar Haiku 256

Thin snow scatters on
the wind, melting as it falls
Cries for help for light 

Robert Hayden (1913-1980) published his first book of poems, Heart-Shape in the Dust, in 1940.

Even though he was interested in African American history and often expressed his concerns about race in his writing, he didn’t want to be identified as a black poet. William Meredith wrote about him: “Hayden declared himself, at considerable cost in popularity, an American poet rather than a black poet, when for a time there was posited an unreconcilable difference between the two roles. There is scarcely a line of his which is not identifiable as an experience of black America, but he would not relinquish the title of American writer for any narrower identity.”

Thin Snow Scatters On The Wind (naviarhaiku256)

Naviar Haiku 257
Daybreak (abstract)
daybreak;
from the middle of the rain
a skylark song

haiku by Uejima Onitsura https://terebess.hu/english/haiku/ryokan.html
picture by Aaron Burden https://unsplash.com/@aaronburden

Daybreak (abstract) (naviarhaiku257)

Disquiet Junto Project 0362: Operational Surrealism
The Assignment: Make a piece of music informed by a key text from the art movement.

The Sewing Machine and the Umbrella for Piano and Percussion disquiet0362

Naviar Haiku 269

Before the crossroads
not a stir across the land
a sunrise moment

The sounds I hear when standing before the crossroads: the gentle movement of air, soft sounds nearby, the memory of sounds, my movements, the ringing in my ears, the sound of my thoughts, a distant freight train, the sound of a bird soaring, the sound of my imagination, distant ambiance, my breath and heartbeat, the sound of light in the sky. 

Haiku and image by Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Before The Crossroads (nariarhaiku 269)

Particles of Me for Mallets and Strings (naviarhaiku270)

snowing
through the blizzard
particles of me

haiku by Alan Summers www.callofthepage.org
picture by Ian Battaglia https://unsplash.com/@ianjbattaglia