Passage Part I

sillines for Christmas using a markov algorimic patch i wrote to fiddle with the well known carol :)

Jingle Markov

I was commissioned by Bangor Music Festival to compose a piece of electroacoustic music for their February 2018 festival. The theme of the event this year is space and I am happy to say that the work shares a stage with Birmingham Ensemble for Electroacoustic Research (BEER). BEER worked in collaboration with the Art@CMS project at CERN in Switzerland, using real-time sonification of data streams from the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most complex particle accelerator.

This is something which it is foolish to compete against; that, and the fact that I literally have Scott Wilson (of BEER)’s book on coding in Supercollider sat on my desk. Thus I chose to take a different tack and rather than approach it from an analytical and scientific angle I went for something closer to home.

A lot of what is in the popular imagination about space and space travel is precisely that, imagination. From the Barron’s Forbidden Planet through to the electronic squelch of radio communication a lot of what we think of as space related is a very human construct. What fascinates me is how much of what we believe sounds as if it comes from outer space or under the sea (or for that matter any environment out of our direct experience) is actually a result of dubbing and sound design in the media. As a culture we have bought into the idea of rockets rumbling as they go past, even though there may be almost nothing in the void of space to transmit the sound and the glockenspiel twinkle of stars is almost as real as the piano wire scrape of the Tardis. This provides a fantastic palate of subverted fantasy with which to create and explore a rich and varied sound world. Apart from the use of two pieces of NASA archive; launch and countdown, the rest of the sounds used I have recorded and shaped myself.

Great delight was taken in recreating a few iconic ‘other worldly’ sound objects and effects along the way, 50 pence pieces were rubbed down piano strings to provide the basis for a tardis noise before looping and adding spring reverb. Humming strip lights were close mic-ed to create light-sabres, and some generative coding brought about drone progressions similar to the opening of Star Trek. These and many other sounds were used as the raw materials of the piece and then developed as the different timbre interact and evolve. The result is an acousmatic work utilizing a wide variety of sounds from analogue synthesis through to simple dislocation and out to generative algorithms creating an apparently extra-terrestrial environment in which our earthbound ears and minds can roam.

Space To Think stereo mix down

We live in a world dominated by information technology and a culture of mass multimedia communication. Some would argue that this is a bad thing, citing the effects of violent images on impressionable minds, and the intrusion of the media into the lives of not just those that it views as subject material, but all of us by way of mass broadcast. Alternatively such ease of access to information and ideas can be a massive power for good, helping to avert (or at the least alleviate the symptoms of) war, famine and act as a massive catalyst for social change. ..En masse is an exploration of these extremes drawing in part from a variety of audio based media and is an attempt to throw a spot light on one of the key social issues of our time. Although intrinsically electroacoustic the use of these resources and the need for them to remain perceivable at times presents something of a departure from the acousmatic style of composition most often associated with the genre. Many other traits from this remain however such as the gestural use of sound and the use of transformation combined with the juxtaposition of sonorities to name but a few...Most of us like to grumble about the media, some are positively hostile, others see potential for good, whilst some of a more thoughtful inclination would put forward ideas of alienation and social decline. We are all party to this phenomena, we watch it, we fund it and we are ultimately responsible for it. Ultimately in a free society what we hear, see and retell is of our own choosing.
Quotations sourced from terrestrial television and radio broadcasts Oct 2005 - Feb 2006 .

Complied works

En Masse

Turbo draws on three separate sound sources namely two Formula One cars which raced when I was young, the Lotus 97T and the Ferrari 412 T2, as well as a Scalextric set. These three sources form the basis of the track with the remaining sounds derived from them or synthesised from first principals.

The engines of that era sounded very different. It was a less regulated time, before the advent of widespread electronics, the introduction of hybrid engines or the level of concern about petrochemicals and their environmental impact. While there have been many changes for the better over the last thirty years in F1, the sound of the grid is not one of them.

While working with the audio to create something musical rather than a historical document several things jumped out at me. Firstly it is amazing how melodic these vehicles are. From the chord of D and A created by snapshot sample of a car in the distance to the almost choir-like textures created by zooming right in on only a very narrow set of frequencies it really should not have been a surprise how ‘tuned’ race cars are. Secondly, the sounds are highly cyclical, but in an evolving way which can be exploited to find not only glitchy textures but also built on and augmented.

As well as drawing on the sounds of the turbo engine the idea of a turbo spiral extends into the structure of the work. There are four main sections to the music which repeat and develop with increasing rapidity. If you travelled around a spiral at a constant speed you would find a new section of music every ninety degrees. As the spiral tightens the sections become shorter, leading to a whirling inexorability in the final stages.

This idea of structural acceleration extends to a Ferrari engine sound heard throughout the work. It starts very low and slow; five-thousandths of its original speed and then gradually ramping up to become audible, first as a bassy rumble before transforming into glitchy background antics before flying past at full speed at the end.

Creating this piece has been an interesting challenge; trying to balance something which is intellectually rigorous (e.g. the golden-spiral mapping and computing), along with creating something which is engaging to listen to. I have tried to convey something of the excitement and nostalgia the source sounds bring to me, but also that tranquil space that you find in split seconds of extreme focus, the loudness and brutality of the spectacle, and hopefully something beautiful.

Turbo

Stuck in, during the Covid 19 outbreak; last night I jammed on modular synth with two friends over the web, but tonight they both have stuff going on in their own families and lives. The server was running and recording - this is what came out as a brief sketch, all live and in a single take. It's kind of nice. and fits with the odd vibe of now, then and the future.
Take care all.

Minimal Sketch for a Mad Time (after Reich)

Made this in a couple of hours this afternoon during lock-down; looking forward when this is all over and things like our actions now leave us in a kinder better time.

"Komorebi is an untranslatable Japanese word, which eloquently captures the effect of sunlight streaming through the leaves of the trees. The shadow created on the ground, or even in our curtains, describes this everyday beauty.

It is the interplay of the aesthetics between the shadows and the leaves, and the shape of nature’s wisest earthly existence –  trees.

To equate the powerful beauty projected by this word with 'sunbeam' or 'sunshine' would be an injustice to nature’s landscape – our magnificent perpetual muse."

Komorebi

This was rescued by me from an old reel to reel for Joe from stuff he had in his loft from way back when. No one was sure how to get at it but luckily I managed to briefly misappropriate a Revox for a few hours from a nearby University's Ethnomusicology archive. 

Sung and played by Tom Patey and the text can be read in Tom's book "One Man's Mountains: Essays and Verses". Other voices on the tape are Val Brown and (possibly) "RustyBailey. 

I read the news of Joe's passing today. It seemed appropriate to post this.

"So long hand-jam Joe" rest in peace my friend.

Menai Hall

The Legend Of Joe Brown: Tom Patey

1 Hour Challenge

Composed Ed Wright based on orchestral recordings.

Con chords low bit rate MP3 version

Ed Wright was born in Buckinghamshire, England 1980. He finished his  PhD in music with Andrew Lewis at Bangor University, in July 2010. His work is mainly focused toward the electro-acoustic end of the musical spectrum, although he writes for and plays real instruments as well. He performs on violin, viola and voice, as well as laptop: and works with a number of school/student groups promoting performance of both older and more modern music. Recent highlights include a ‘mention’ in the Prix Bourges for his piece Con-chords, a number of commissions including a 3 day sound installation piece in the dark solitary confinement cell of Ruthin gaol, airplay on BBC Radio 1 and S4C television, and a gig in an old gunpowder factory. Ed lives in North Wales (U.K.) with Emma, their daughter Alena (2 and half years old at the time of writing) Ben the dog and Bess the cat. Ed’s music is available on the Blipfonica label.

Ed Wright

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