Soundcloud Test

this is my first song! I played around with a lot of different instruments, completely different musical ideas, before I suddenly found the "Please Rise for Jimi Hendrix" guitar sound and really liked the feedback-y wail. 

To do: add dynamics

Jimi's Pledge - STS349Mob Assignment 1

I added a humanizer to vary the dynamics, and pitched some of the backing tracks down so they don't interfere with the main melody. This is a re-upload done in class, I wasn't sure why the first upload wasn't visible to the public

Assignment 1 Revised

I took this from the following interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFM3rn4ldo

The primary instrument was created by manipulating the attack and adding sustain to the clip of Feynman saying the word "adds." I felt that was the theme of the clip and most important lesson from the interview: that science adds beauty to the world, it doesn't subtract.

The composition was inspired by lofi hiphop, which frequently samples interview, old movies, and TV shows, especially those that get contemplative or philosophical. In that classic lofi spirit, I added a vinyl crackle and lots of reverb on the quotes, with a simplistic backing track. I was able to program changes in velocity on the track as well, to make it feel more dynamic. I think I could improve this significantly by manipulating his voice further to create a drum kit, which would round out the track and tie up some issues with the rhythm as well.

Feynman is also sort of a patron saint for scientists, especially physicists, and the it ended up sounding a bit like Feynman's nutty friend remembering fondly and sadly one of Father Feynman's sermons on science

Assignment 2 - feynman's friend alone in a dim pulpit

Experimented with ping-pong delay and the Clint West kit. The droning instrument in the back was created by trimming and adding sustain/delay to the Tom Metaton High instrument in the kit. Fading the instrument in and out of the track by automating volume control had some interesting interactions with the delay - it seems as though the instrument was pressed multiple times, but in fact it is one continuous MIDI note.

Assignment 3 - beats

This session was a release of the last few weeks' frustration, sadness, and anxiety into a triumphant exclamation. It's almost a cacophony - everything is as loud and haphazard as possible, like a defiant 9 year old running around and yelling at the sky. I layered piano, a string quartet, and a silk horns synth - going for as many sounds as possible. I considered adding a wailing electric guitar but I decided to draw the line there.

I used the Novation Launchpad to improvise this jam session. I started with the beat track, then while it was playing I switched to using the Launchpad as a MIDI controller for the basic piano harmony. I repeated the process for different instruments - improvising chords and trying to pick out notes that "sounded right."

This was fun, and something I needed.

STS349 Assignment 5 - a juvenile eruption

This was a great ambient track to work off of. I added a drumbeat and an additional quiet lead.

Assignment 6 - Jacob Haynie Sci-fi Dream Remix

I removed the vocals with the webapp PhonicMind to create a backbeat, added a synth, and a nasal mod. I wrestled with the rhythm of the backbeat and trying to make it sync up with the rest of the clips and the rest of the track, because I wanted to compose in Session View with the Launchpad. I eventually gave up after an hour of trying to play with seg. BPMs and audio editing etc. and decided to use a "hybrid" of the Arrangement and Session view - playing clips into the Session view and dragging and dropping them into the Arragement view, where they are unbound by the "loop" and do not require precise beat syncing.

Assignment 7

This piece was inspired by the 2011 movie Margin Call, set on the brink of the '08 recession in which a large banking company discovers before everyone else that the market is about to crash. The decision is made to unload all of their worthless assets by lying about their value, and in doing so they precipitate the fall of the economy. Much of the film is spent in conference rooms in the early morning before the crash, deliberating and planning as the shadow of the oncoming disaster looms. I wanted to capture that sense of unease and foreboding, which has returned during the pandemic - both because of the disease but also again due to the economy. 

Who's that ringing the phone?

Parth