sounds like some crazy science laboratory

Strings and voices, amongst the clouds.
--
More on this 603rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Animated Suspension (The Assignment: Record a piece of music that suggests something floating in air), at: https://disquiet.com/0603/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0603-animated-suspension/

aloft (disquiet0603)

This was my contribution for Disquiet Junto Project 0618: Burying the Lede

Here’s a copy of my post on the Disquiet Junto 0618 discussion thread:

Having lived and worked most of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area, I selected a descriptive New York Times article from March 1, 1970, about the colorful salt evaporation ponds located in South San Francisco Bay "Coast Salt Flats: New Ecological Battlefield". The article examines the battle between industry, developers, and conservationists. 50+ years after the article was published, some of the wetlands have been restored, but the conflict still continues.

I recorded from Chrome's Read Aloud text-to-speech reader to a Tascam DR-100MKIII. I then processed the audio four times using Calsynth Monsoon (Clouds clone) with different settings, and placed them on four tracks in Ableton Live. From there, I added reverb/delay effects, as well as a track with sliced samples of the original unprocessed audio using Ableton's Simpler. Created additional tracks using Slate+Ash Choreographs, Sugar Bytes Aparillo, Jogging House Sonic Beds Vol. 1, PaulXStretch, and AudioThing Noises.

Although I no longer live in Northern California, it was cool to create a piece that links to an area that’s part of my history. This turned out to have more of a darker vibe than I would have liked, but in the end, I enjoyed putting this together and am good with the result. 
 
More on this 618th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Burying the Lede (The Assignment: Turn old news into new music), at: Disquiet Junto Project 0618: Burying the Lede – Disquiet
About the Disquiet Junto: Disquiet Junto F.A.Q. – Disquiet 1
Subscribe to project announcements: Disquiet Junto by Marc Weidenbaum (Disquiet.com)
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co 2: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0618-burying-the-lede/

Even On Clear Days [disquiet0618]

I made a beat with Poly 2 and added some sort of bassline. Then I had the idea to sort of turn this into a live recording, so I slapped a snippet of a show by DJ Gruff on it. DJ Gruff, one of the pioneers of Italian hip hop, is also on the cover drawing. Much love to DJ Gruff - and to YOU too!

More on this 619th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Beat Accrual (The Assignment: Rebuild a complicated rhythm from scratch), at: https://disquiet.com/0619/

About the Disquiet Junto: Disquiet Junto F.A.Q. – Disquiet

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0619-beat-accrual/

Disquiet0619 - Gruffetti

Disquiet Junto Project 0620: Beat Accrual Accrual
The Assignment: Turn someone’s slow-build beat into a finished track.

I decided to build on Going Modular's "Disquieting Polyrhythm" because of the haunting, repetitive synth and dramatic build of the piece. It's a soundscape that I've been living in now for days. I only made one alteration which was to short it a bit in the last two thirds. https://soundcloud.com/goingmodular

I also really wanted to see if I could combine that with yet another junto from last week just to be cheeky about the assignment. Lee Evans' "Euclidian Dub" worked quite well with this, bringing it in just at the end of the song, making this slow, driving, building piece extra climactic and almost dancy in the end. (https://soundcloud.com/hippieswearingmuzzles/euclidean-dub-disquiet0619)

I haven't been able to write lyrics for a long time but this really sparked it for me and I was able to jot out some words that relate to a lot that's on my mind - the Israel-Hamas war, a complicated relationship with an ill and possibly dying father, being almost 40 and still not knowing if I'll get to be a mother or "just" an artist or both...all the things! It felt cathartic to express some of that. (AND pretty vulnerable).

I love creating choirs in my music. I also loved the idea of once again building from something simpler to something more complex so I had the backing choir slowly emerge while the lead vocal gradually got more crunchy. I added a subby bass partway through and strings to mimic the melody of the synth and bring it out more for the climax. 

Oh! And it was raining when I recorded and I just needed that sound in there.

Thank you so much to Going Modular and Lee Evans for your creations!

More on this 620th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Beat Accrual Accrual (The Assignment: Turn someone’s slow-build beat into a finished track), at: https://disquiet.com/0620/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0620-beat-accrual-accrual/

stone soup (w Going Modular and Lee Evans) (disquiet0620)

I chose a few short tracks originally used as effects-fodder (not exactly discarded but pinched from other sources then distorted beyond recognition) and subjected them to various plugins found in Audacity – reversing, stretching, tempo-fiddling, distortion, reverb, delay, pitch alteration and tone enhancement. This was done without first auditing the selections, just to make the results a bit more problematic. No step was reversed, no sound discarded.

I then tried to make sense of what I’d done – tell a story, perhaps…

Turned out marginally better than I expected.

----------------------------------------------
The Assignment: Use recently discarded material to make something new.

Step 1: At the end of the calendar year, people often participate in holidays that result in lots of leftover food. Think about the leftovers — discarded tracks, or MIDI files, or ideas — that result from your music-making process.

Step 2: Scrounge around on your hard drive and recording equipment, and in your memory, to access the sort of creative leftovers that came to mind in Step 1.

Step 3: Make a new track primarily using the resources that surfaced in Step 2. You can, of course, add new material. And be sure to reheat sufficiently.

More on this 621st weekly Disquiet Junto project, The Leftovers (The Assignment: Use recently discarded material to make something new), at: https://disquiet.com/0621/

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

Re-psychle (disquiet0621)

Disquiet Junto Project 0621: The Leftovers
The Assignment: Use recently discarded material to make something new.

I startet with a folder that is in fact named "Resterampe" (German for something between "residual ramp", "junkyard" and "dollar store"; or so…) and in which I put interesting stems that I want to reuse some day.

I hammered together a Lyra 8 recording, a modular synth rhythm, some wooden and metal noise recordings. I added some freshly recorded melody and accompanying noises of a plastic bag of paper handkerchiefs.

Originally it was very minimal, but somehow it became overfreighted. I didn't change that, because it somehow fits the title.

-

More on this 621st weekly Disquiet Junto project, The Leftovers (The Assignment: Use recently discarded material to make something new), at: https://disquiet.com/0621/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0621-the-leftovers/

Bandcamp

Resterampe [disquiet0621]

An electronic composition, sounds created in Pure Data.

More on this 622nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Know the Shadow (The Assignment: Use recently discarded material to make something new), at: https://disquiet.com/0622/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0622-know-the-shadow/

March of Shadows (disquiet0622)

I rolled a dice, the number was one. Next, I chose AI as my „instrument“.

The guys at Output (known for their lovely VSTs) are heavily invested into AI generated music. You write a prompt, and the engine come back with a whole sample pack in the style you asked for, and not just some stems.

While most music AI isn’t very convincing, I really started to like what they threw back at me. It was more versatile and musical than the other tools I’ve tried so far. Not everything is on point, but they’re plenty of „happy little accidents“, so you get a lot of useful material. And it’s currently for free. And no, I’m not affiliated with them in any way.

So I gave the engine a single prompt „Disturbing experimental session in the style of Mingus, 34 BPM, with chainsaws, bass, distorted guitar and metal objects.“ I used only the samples the AI engine provided without re-pitching, tweaking or even tuning them. Also, no effects were used.

***

Disquiet Junto Project 0630: Creative Sufficiency

The Assignment: Count your tools in advance of employing them.

This project was proposed by Alex (aka XHG) from Switzerland, who also drew the cover image.

Step 1: The first thing to do is to set a limit. Specifically, you will determine — in advance — how many pieces of equipment or software you will need to produce and record a satisfactory piece of music. Think through what you want to record and what it might take.

Step 2: Now, decide upon a suitable number of items. It is suggested to count DAWs or AU-hosts and each used plugin individually (e.g., the iOS/iPadOS app AUM plus 3 Audio Units = 4 items). In advance of recording, count each piece of equipment and/or software you intend to use for recording. Come up with a total number.

Step 3: Now, produce a piece of music using the amount of equipment you decided on in Step 2. You can use fewer pieces of equipment but no more.

Option: Add a short description to your track. Describe your thinking from Step 1, your equipment from Step 2, and perhaps your experience with the process.

(...)

More on this 630th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Creative Sufficiency — The Assignment: Count your tools in advance of employing them — at: https://disquiet.com/0630/

This project was proposed by Alex (aka XHG) from Switzerland, who also drew the cover image.

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0630-creative-sufficiency/

Mingus Chainsaw [disquiet0630]

More on this 630th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Creative Sufficiency — The Assignment: Count your tools in advance of employing them — at: https://disquiet.com/0630/

This project was proposed by Alex (aka XHG) from Switzerland, who also drew the cover image.

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0630-creative-sufficiency/

No Matter What Disquiet0630

Disquiet Junto Project 0635: ’Round the Bend
The Assignment: You’re in a duo, and your bandmate is a train.

This is a remix of a track by @horsthelmood based on a recording of a czech railway staff member serving food and drinks in a train. Thanks for providing the original track for remixing.

The image associated with this track is a photograph by Todd (Toaster) Elliott, who also provided the field recordings of the train. Thank you for that.

More on the 635th weekly Disquiet Junto project, ’Round the Bend — The Assignment: You’re in a duo, and your bandmate is a train — at https://disquiet.com/0635/

Train Mantra - HorsthelMood vs. Bot (disquiet0635)

The first thunder
Is likely to shake
The tiered doll stand.

Like Santoka and Seisensui, Kawahigashi Hekigoto (1873-1937) was an important advocate of the free verse haiku.

Besides being a writer and critic of haiku, Hekigoto was a literary scholar, noh dancer, art critic, calligrapher, social commentator, and mountain climber.

The first thunder (naviarhaiku0531)

Ambient electronica, Berlin School, Chillout & Kosmische Space Musik from Munich, Germany. ► Soundcloud is my musical diary - expect lightfooted drafts, soundchecks, playthings & misfits here. ► Go Bandcamp for finished pieces & more serious musical works.

Resterampe [disquiet0621]

Krakenkraft & Etherkraken

Recent comments

Magi©ian™ (Making music make a difference)

Related tracks