“Plod” is the first out of three fixed media compositions comprising a project entitled "jammed" and released as an album in December 2022 with the support of the Performing Arts Fund NL. The sound sources of the composition come from three recorded performances of a score for improvising musicians (cello, electric guitar, prepared piano, flute), especially composed for the occasion. The score was organised in such a way to create a framework for the musicians and conductor to… “jam” (hence the project title), by using a number of restrictions/rules which resulted in a “controllable” improvisation of spontaneously performed sonic events. “Plod” is characterised by an interplay between a collage-like or percussive sonic environment which switches places or collides spontaneously with several focus points with a steadier sonic character. The notions of “studio improvisation” or “studio as an instrument” are heavily explored by implementing a more improvisational way of working with the devices and the sound material throughout the compositional phase. A number of studio techniques used in experimental rock of the late 1960s and early 1970s like collage-making, abrupt splicing, sound on sound recording, creative editing/mixing/EQing etc are extensively explored. Most of the sound structures were created by designing and performing analogue voltage control patches and/or transforming material by using tape machines. Other materials were processed using digital granulation/randomisation effects.

Jammed

Plod (2022)

Recording of an improvisational performance by Panagiotis Kanellopoulos (Mandolin) and Yannis Patoukas (El. Guitar) inside a church during the "Syros Sound Meetings" Workshop (June 2013) in Greece.

Webpage: http://syrosmeetings.org/about

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SyrosSoundMeetings?fref=ts

Mandolin/ El. Guitar 4

Mandolin/ El. Guitar 3

Concrete 1

Concrete 2

"Pressure Chunks" is a collection of tracks taken from a long (70 min) free improvisation session recorded live at BEA7 studio in the Institute of Sonology (The Hague, Netherlands).
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Aidan Gross - Modular Synthesizer
Yannis Patoukas - Electric guitar & live processing

Pressure Chunks II

On 18 March 2019 a rather unusual recording session took place utilising three studios of the Institute of Sonology (Royal Conservatory of the Hague). Two four-piece improvising ensembles were placed in studios BEA 7 and BEA 6 with their signals being sent to studio BEA 5. The third studio (BEA 5) functioned as the “control room” where I was responsible for recording and mixing in real-time. Instead of just letting them improvise freely, I decided to create a score for conducted improvisation in which some aspects were left open to the choices of the performers and conductors. Each of the ensembles had no idea of what the other was playing during the recording session. This setup allowed me to create a fixed structure where some of its internal characteristics would be shaped in real-time and thus be different every time the score would be performed. The material and the structural ideas deriving from this “improvisation” between the three studios were eventually used to compose these two pieces.
				
Part I: Colliding Takes
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After assessing the material, the different recorded performances of the ensembles were approached as “building blocks” for composition. For Colliding Takes, I used a “montage” technique where some of these blocks were remixed, slightly transformed and recombined to create a new imaginary recorded performance - a new composition. Some sections of the piece were constructed by merging parts which were performed at different moments, while other sections comprised what the two isolated ensembles had played in real-time during the recording session. It is important to mention that the way I worked for this piece was heavily influenced by the early experiments in the field of pop, rock or jazz music where a piece could be created by combining recorded performances in the post-production process.   
   
Part II: Tape Ornaments
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Being fascinated by the ways in which some experimental rock musicians were using the recording studio as a tool for composition during the late 1960s, my intention for this piece was to explore creatively certain production techniques which were used in the field of experimental rock. Using again material from the recording session with the ensembles, I followed an improvisational way of working in the analogue studio to realise my musical ideas. Techniques like playback speed alteration, sound-on-sound recording, creation of virtual space, creative editing and abrupt splicing were extensively explored.

Studio Manoeuvres pt2: Tape Ornaments (2019)

Studio Manoeuvres pt1: Colliding Takes (2019)

Yannis Patoukas studied musicology (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2014) and electroacoustic music composition (Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire of the Hague, 2019). He is currently a research associate and guest teacher at the Institute of Sonology, and PhD candidate in ACPA - Leiden University. In his music, he explores the different creative possibilities found at the intersections between experimental rock music of the 1960s and 1970s and electroacoustic music; with regard to studio practices and production techniques. When inside a recording studio, he usually follows a more improvisational workflow; welcoming mistakes, trusting random or open processes and always making the most of the physicality of any device in the vicinity. He is attracted by the “technical limitations” found in analogue technology and enjoys the performability of tape machines, mixing desks and voltage-controlled modular systems alongside other devices or instruments.

https://yannispatoukas.bandcamp.com/follow_me

Yannis Patoukas

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