following a prompt 

Step 1: Think about stereo for a moment.

Step 2: Now think about it a bit more — specifically, think less about using stereo as a means to give a sense of a physical space to a recording, and more about using stereo as a compositional tool.

Step 3: Record a piece of music in which you engage with stereo based on the ideas you formulated in Step 1 and Step 2.

disquiet0549 Far Edge Of The World

Track made for the Disquiet project 0549 Sidelines.

Anomia (disquiet0549)

the concept for this work is to take two abstract rhythmic sections both panned hard left & right each with their own rhythm and tones but together, when combined creating something "other"

sounds are effected drumracks in ableton on the left with field recordings of me bashing stuff in the garden on the right

Some randomized autopan is applied to give the pieces movement in the mix

More on this 549th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Sidelines (The Assignment: Get intentional with stereo) – at: https://disquiet.com/0549/ 1

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0549-sidelines/

July 7th [disquiet0549]

disquiet0549 - Sideleines Pinball
I created several guitar tracks using an Epiphone Les Paul Junior chained into a Zoom Bass Pedal B1 using the A8 patch, chained to a room 506II Bass Pedal using the A4 patch, fed into a Mac Pro into GarageBand. First track using the Cascade Experimental Guitar patch with a TC Electric AEON String Sustainer. Second track using the Echo Studio, Track 3 again using the Cascade, hard-panned left, 4th track Cascade hard-panned right, 5th track using Condensator hard-panned left, 6th track using GarageBand keyboard Reversal of Fortune hard-panned right, 7th track using Star Arp synth layer hard-panned left, 8th track using Enchanted Soundscape hard-panned right. It was great fun creating this. I attempted to follow the guide notes to create a stereo soundscape and try for the effect of being inside an ethereal pinball machine. I hope you enjoy the ride!

Disquiet0549 Sidelines Pinball

More on this 549th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Sidelines (The Assignment: Get intentional with stereo) – at: https://disquiet.com/0549/ 1

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0549-sidelines/

PolyRhythmic Phase I

Disquiet Junto | Sidelines | Polyrhythmic Phase I - disquiet0549

4 voices hard panned on L and R.
An old exercise on counterpoint from my student years (this was a Fugue really) , first time I take this from ink and paper to sound and the speakers.
Recorded 4 voices on piano
Voices I + III on the left
Voices II + IV on the right
Recorded Friday July 8th in the morning.

4 pianos, reverbs and delays for the glitchy background track (the actual piano tracks on a wet FX bus)

Stereo Counterpoint (disquiet0549)

A live electronic sequence created in Pure Data, with 12 sounds or instruments ranged at various points from far left to far right in the stereo spectrum.

More on this 549th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Sidelines (The Assignment: Get intentional with stereo) – at: https://disquiet.com/0549/ 1

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/ 1

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0549-sidelines/

Left, Right & Centre (disquiet0549)

This is a response to the 0549'th Disquiet Junto challenge - this time, prompting the composer to thing about stereo, and how it can influence like a compositional tool. 

This piece is put together with many experiments of pan'ing, rhythmical and otherwise, through different LFO's, copy of tracks, rhythmical gating of synth VST's and effects - and this is what I ended up with. I wonder, if anyone else can hear, how the concept of stereo influenced this piece?

Tools used include Valhalla SuperMassive, MaxForLive LFO and LFO Cluster, Sinevibes Switch and U-He's DIva for synth lead and SpitFires "Hammer" for percussion. 

More on this 549th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Sidelines (The Assignment: Get intentional with stereo) – at: https://disquiet.com/0549/ 1

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/ 1

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0549-sidelines/

disquiet0549 - Be Ips

In his excellent book The New Analog, Damon Krukowski suggests that listening to a quadraphonic recording is a simulacrum of the geocentric model proposed by Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy in 150 (CE). Ptolemaic cosmology assumed that the Earth was a stationary object situated at the center of the universe, and that other heavenly bodies traveled uniformly in a perfectly circular motion around it.

A different stereophonic geometry can be observed in “gandy dancers,” a nickname given to African American railroad workers in the 1920’s. Their job was to maintain and repair miles of railways in the segregated US south: replacing rotted cross-ties, refilling ballast, locking pieces of track into place, and straightening and leveling the lines to ensure safe train passage. The workers were known for their synchronized, graceful ballet that required strength and agility. 

An important aspect of railway work was the transport and installation of heavy steel rails lining both sides of the track, a process called “dogging” in which a lead workman served as the “caller” or “call man.” The caller would sing a four-beat song to mark time, and the rest of the crew would follow in rhythm, working shoulder-to-shoulder in pairs. As they tamped the ballast under ties raised with square-ended picks, the workers engaged in call-and-response to ensure that all tasks were executed safely and correctly. 

For this week’s project, Suss Müsik took inspiration from a 1939 field recording* of Zora Neale Hurston singing a traditional railroad “spiking” tune. A pair of percussion “lines” represent two sides of railroad track, each treated with glitched stereo delay in opposite left-right channels. A synthesized melody accompanies the lyric, which was passed down from a Jacksonville caller named Max Ford. The hammers heard in the original were intended to replicate the sound of spikes being driven into cross-ties, and they’re faithfully included here with bidirectional panning.

The piece is titled Gandy Dancing and is presented in honor of those who risked physical safety to produce not only infrastructure, but also a rich cultural legacy. May we celebrate their voices heard softly in the thick southern humidity, the kudzu creeping slowly onto the railway edges. 

Learn more about gandy dancers from this fascinating Folkstreams documentary: https://www.folkstreams.net/films/gandy-dancers.
More on this 549th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Sidelines (The Assignment: Get intentional with stereo) — at: https://disquiet.com/0549/

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0549-sidelines/

*Citation: Kennedy, Stetson, Herbert Halpert, Zora Neale Hurston, Herbert Halpert, and Zora Neale Hurston. Dat Old Black Gal. Jacksonville, Florida, 1939. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000005/.

Gandy Dancing [Disquiet0549]

More on this 549th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Sidelines (The Assignment: Get intentional with stereo) – at: https://disquiet.com/0549/ 

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0549-sidelines/

Anticipation Of Loss (disquiet0549)

Messing with the Minibrute 2S running through an Octatrack.

MiniBrute 2S Jam

Curious mathematician, musician, and homesteader

MiniBrute 2S Jam

Bee Kind