Acousmatic Composition- from the novice perspectiv

This week I have worked at re-structuring my piece. As a classically trained musician and composition student I’m used to working with various forms/structures- and considering the sounds I have used for this piece are all recordings of the violin, I thought it would be interesting to sequence this piece in ‘Sonata form.’EXPOSITION (1st subject, 2nd subject) – DEVELOPMENT – RECAPITULATION

Because I have to identify ‘two subjects’ in the exposition, I divided my sounds into two catagories: Softer/sustained sounds and harsher/punchier sounds. (Classifying my ‘noises’ like Russolo did!)
The two catagories of sound became the first and second subjects, which during the development I combine- creating a new texture. In order to develop the sounds further I manipulated the original samples differently, which ultimately gave me different colours and timbres to work with. The piece finishes with an abbrieved recapitulation of the first and second subjects in their original forms. I’ve uploaded my piece to divshare- so please share your thoughts/ideas! 7280318-6ac

In this weeks lecture several colleague’s work had already been mixed in surround. It was interesting to hear final or ‘near’ final products, and to see whether or not we as the audience understood their narrative. (Julio himself describing this as ‘programme music.’) Unfortunately because of lack of time I wasn’t able to play my piece, but i’m glad to have already had feedback from Julio earlier in the week.

I spent some time in room Julio set up in 5.1 surround sound, and began to automate my piece in surround. Although I panned some of the tracks, there was a problem in which the monitors produced click/pop when in Logic… regardless of anything playing. This was resolved when exiting the software, but repeated itself whenever I opened Logic. I have emailed Julio and spoke to CMT students to get their advice/ to see whether they’ve had any issues! Hopefully I’ll be able to go back and finish the automation tomorrow .

Since my last post I have edited the violin samples which I recorded, and have sequenced them in logic. I shuffled cards with numbers corrolating to the samples and drew them one after the other. This determined the compositional structure of the piece- akin to the chance music of Cage.

On Monday morning Ruth, Heather and I had the chance to work with the mixer in Helmore- to play our pieces to Julio, as well as learn how to prepare our compositions in surround. It was a good opportunity to hear how my piece through the 8 channel system, and my colleages enjoyed the ‘ambient sounds’ that I had used. Julio also commented on my sounds, but he disagreed with my reasoning for the structure of my piece. My first composition follows a much more conventional structure, so I wanted to experiment a little- however on reflection I understand that this leaves the piece without any direction.

I’ve uploaded my piece, so please have a listen and comment! Steve.

my piece

So after better informing myself about the acousmatic repertoire- I decided to base my second composition on a model already ‘out there’ so to speak. Although I really like Xenakis’ compositional style- I am also intrigued by the huge impact Cage had on 20th Century music, in particular reference to this composition: ‘William’s Mix.’ (1951) I found it interesting to note that this was Cage’s first surround mix for tape. The score in it’s entirety is 192 pages long, and divided into two systems of 8 lines. The score determines the exact splicing ’shapes’ required for the magnetic tape. 600 recordings are needed to realise this composition, which are in turn divided into six categories- the problem with this is that a lot of the recordings are in no way related..

For this composition I have recorded various techniques available on the violin. Instead of collecting ‘groups’ of sounds, I will have eights samples, with varied versions of each.. in a sense compensating the various sound groupings. I have designed my own graphic score to detail how I will sequence the piece. Gladly- I wont be splicing anything by hand . I hope to use some of the techniques I have used earlier in my experiments such as the use of IXI software, EXS24 sampler and the other plug-ins available in Logic.

I have already started sampling the sounds, but was at first apprehensive- as naturally a lot of them produced audible pitches.. I was concerned because a lot of the ‘acousmatic’ music we have listened to tends to avoid this fundamentally, however as Julio pointed out there are various schools of Acousmatic Music.. and defining it is essentially a subjective thing! So i’m hoping to mix sounds we might instinctively associate with the violin with those that.. we wouldn’t, necessarily!

I did make the mistake of leaving my sounds on the ‘communal’ macs, which were deleted a day after.. So I did have to re-record them all, however it’s not a major issue! (I need to convert the AIF samples so that I can upload them to my blog) But will scan in my plan too . Peace.

It’s been a very busy easter break for me in terms of assignments/composition/performance. Whilst being at home for the most part I have made the most of my time by listening to various composers who have influenced the world of Sound Art- and in some cases bridged the gap between Sound Art and Music. I have also been reading a lot- the most significant notes i’ve made are as follows;

AudioCulture offers a collection of very informative essays/articles which detail the explorations of composers, artists and music theorists during the early-mid 20th century. The introduction opens with the question ‘What is music?’ (the same way in which Julio started the acousmatic module at the beginning of the semester!) In the early 1900’s Russolo said that the traditional orchestra was no longer ‘capable of capturing the imagination of a culture immersed in noise‘ -Russolo (an italian musician and painter) was an innovator of what we now call the ‘futurist movement.’ He created the ‘Intonarumori’ or (noise instruments) which had mechanical like timbres, which he incorporated into his machine based compositions.

The Art of Noises- written by Russolo is another article with in this book which explores the Futurist Movement and it’s principles. Russolo says that ‘Ancient life was all silence. In the 19th century with the invention of machines, noise was born.’ I find it interesting that Russolo himself refers to these sounds as ‘noise‘ rather than music… He argues that ‘Musical sound is too limited in its variety of timbres’ making fun of western classical music – ‘Do you know of a more ridiculous sight than that of twenty men striving to redouble the mewling of a violin?.’
Reading Russolo- I do sense a kind of humour in his thinking. I feel that rather than believe this was the next stage for musical evolution, he himself knew that it would never be commercially accepted as ‘Music’ … therefore refers to it as ‘noise.’ He even goes as far as to classify his Six families of noise- much like the families we group orchestral instruments into!

I also found Pierre Schaeffer’s essays on ‘Acousmatics’ prevalent to the class… (no way!??). The founder of Musique Concrete which as a style/genre doesn’t discriminate traditional sound elements from ‘noise’ or other sounds which are otherwise considered non-traditional. The focus is instead on the sound as the central compositional tool. Essentially it is music made up of sounds of the real world which relied on  the most crucial development for 20th century music, in the ability to record sounds with the tape-recorder. Schaeffer was attracted by Edmund Husseri’s idea of ‘Phenomenology’ which disregarded the traditional philosophical distinctions between the ’subject’ and the ‘object’ the actual reality describing the experience without any reference to the source of the subjective mode.
I listened to Shaeffer’s collaboration with Pierre Henry- Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul (1950) which demonstrates Schaeffer’s Musique Concrete. Shaeffer had three concepts; The Sound Object (identifying an event of sound as a single ‘object.’ , Reduced Listening (consideration of the sound itself- not the source) , Primacy of Ear (the aural experience the only focus of attention.)

Futurism and Musique Concrete obviously had a profound influence on a generation of composers/musicans- noticeably John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen- who themselves pushed the boundaries further in terms of acousmatic, electronica and essentially acousmatic music.
I listened to Stockhousen’s piece ‘Gesang Der Junglinge’ (1956) which mixed electronically produced sounds with recordings of a boys singing voice. The piece itself is for four channels which allows for live spacialization- early acousmatic music as we know it!
It seems that whilst the technology to record and manipulate live sounds was getting better and better, as was the ability to generate wholly new electronically produced sounds- as heard in the music of Louis and Bebe Barron on the soundtrack to the Forbidden Planet- (the sounds which seem to have been emulated in sci-fi pictures ever since!)

I have also been listening to a lot of music by Lannis Xenakis- recommended to me by my violin teacher Mifune Tsuji who not only knew him, but who leads the ‘Xenakis ensemble.’ As well as writing a lot of music for orchestra,voice and chamber ensembles- Xenakis worked with tape. The piece La legende d’er for seven channels has a very wide soundworld and mixes subtle electronic sounds with versatile acoustic sounds.Xenakis took the title from the myth of Er as recounted in Plato’s ‘Republic.’ I found it interesting to note that Xenakis (as an architect) constructed ‘Le Diatope’

This building contained 400 mirrors and various lasers- which accompanied by the composition itself/spacialised transcends the intended affect by the composer! What I liked most about this piece was the gradual build of tension, the clear ABA structure and dense feel. Although my first composition aimed to transform road-side sounds, my next piece will concentrate on a more specific sound world- hopefully emulating Xenakis! (But i’ll save talking about that for my next blog =) .

So I have been working on the thematic structure of my first piece.. Before I had visualised juxtaposing two sounds worlds (nature/man) however, have decided to focus on the ‘machine.’ I want to show how the idea of the ‘machine’ and more appropriately, technology has taken over humanity. (Making slight reference to Russolo’s futurist movement!)
The sounds I have been experimenting with exploit the natural rhythmical features produced by cars, motor-bikes and other traffic. The samples used in my composition though sound more like machines used in industrial factories.
The structure of my composition is a simple A-B-A which essentially introduces the initial motif, goes away from that idea before returning. I hope that the piece will be successful, but need to work on sequencing it first!

So this week I have been working hard on sequencing my first acousmatic composition, as well as collecting new sounds for my second composition. Spending a lot of time in Logic has helped me to re-aquaint myself with the software, so now i’m feeling much more confident about the interface i’m using. I’ve also finally mastered how to sample my sounds in the EXS24, combining these manipulated sounds with standard plugins and the Ixi Quartz software has really opened a much wider sound world- with endless possibilities with this composition. The problem with this is the composition can end up being without direction/random/meaningless. This was highlighted in a discussion we had in class on ‘form’ and followed up in Julio’s blog. As a traditional composition student- I have applied techniques I would use when writing acoustically to how I am sequencing this piece. I open with single sounds, allowing the audience to familiarise themselves with the timbres/textures available in the piece, I give the sounds some space before moving into a ‘contrapuntal’ section- using these sounds simultaneously, but building up to a bigger climax with new sounds. After the climax, we hear the sounds earlier used which gradually fade out to bring a cohesive end to the piece.

The link to the piece is: http://www.divshare.com/download/6906782-1b6

So with the help of some patient friends I have been experimenting with the different features available in logic, in particular the Exs24 sequencer!! (that and a few other effects that are available.) I collected various vocal samples from my good friends, and sequenced them in Logic- to help me get back up to scratch with the software.

The first piece literally used one sample.. I’m lucky to have a very ‘happy’ housemate, who I knew would eventually provide me with a colourful laugh, and so set a microphone up in my room and invited her into my room.. without saying anything and just staring blankly at her- she ended up in hysterics.

I took a short segment of the recording and sequenced it in logic using various panning, reverbs, distortion, reversing and sampling effects.Have a listen here:7186466-12e

This next piece uses similar effects, but is based on the text ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t’ from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The Piece is in an A-B-A like structure, divided into ‘madness’ and ‘method.’ The sounds used are a combination of voices using processes and amplified ‘bangs’ on surfaces. I think the piece itself works quite well, although it’s an early start- I think it would work well in a multi-channel diffusion. I’ve uploaded it to here: 7267708-401

All in all this has helped me to feel more confident using the software, so I can start to sequence my final compositions.

For the past two weeks i’ve been working hard to re-aquaint myself with logic, and am *just about* coming to terms with Logic v.8! Alongside this, I have been using the IXI quarxs software to manipulate the raw sounds I collected. I’ve made several attempts to sequence these sounds, but have decided to work on a definitive structure- so that on completion, my piece will best represent the underlying theme.

I have had problems using the exs24 sampler, as my sounds aren’t playing back, however I’ve planned to meet up with a CMT student to try and resolve this within the next few days. I have included some of the manipulated sounds I’m now working with althought this is just the beginning. I plan on listening to more of the available repertoire this week, as well as working on the overall structure of my piece. IXI experiment

So for the past couple of weeks i’ve been doing a lot of listening, reading and drafting of initial ideas for my own piece of sound art.
One of the most appealing composer’s i’ve listened to has been Trevor Wishart, two important collections i’ve listened to being the vox cycle and voiceprints. What I find most interesting about Wishart’s work is the way he is able to manipulate both acoustic and electronically generated sounds so that they combine in an unusual fusion, creating whole new sound dimensions.

After listening to the piece ‘Two Women’ from the Voiceprints collection, I have decided that having a concept; be it structural, thematic or narrative- is important for the audience to have a cohesive understanding of the piece. I have decided to continue with my earlier concept of combining sounds from nature and sounds from ‘man’ , and have started manipulating records I have made in Cubase. (but i’m sure i’ll have to get onto logic sooner or later..)

In Julio’s podcast he spoke about how to go about chosing material- which has helped me to distinguish the two catagories I have already outlined. By combining these sounds, and manipulating them I hope to create some interest timbres/sound worlds- as well as deliver the overall concept of the piece to the audience.

All for now, peace.