Creative Computing – Week 5 – Semester 2, 2008: “FFT (1)”
They're getting less inspiring I know... The difficulty with continuous controlling was still prevalent to a degree this week, but dumping code into a SynthDef seems to provide a solution of sorts. I did check out much of the Nick Collins help files that followed this week’s information, but there is something going on under the hood of those BBC classes that eludes me. It is as if they are technically creating a SynthDef-like environment for themselves in order to operate in a similar manner. I haven’t yet deciphered all the rules governing the use of continuous control arguments to objects outside of a SynthDef and find it is becoming a continuous annoyance.
FFT is not easy, and is made more difficult to control with the introduction of a code based approach. That being said, I have managed to create a simple synth and GUI control system that expands a little on the convolution example presented to us by Mr Haines this week. The expansion has occurred, I begrudgingly admit, in the LFSaw objects that are being convolved with the chosen sound file. I have opted for the controllable creation of a more interesting blend of signals to convolve with the sound file. This idea works well to get sub bass effects out of kick drum samples as the accompanying audio example will demonstrate.
Click here to link to online folder containing this weeks SC file and an MP3 example.
Reference:
Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing – Week 5 – Semester 2, 2008: FFT (1).” Lecture presented at tutorial room 408, level 4 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 28th of August 2008.
Labels: Creative Computing IIIB
Forum – Week 5 – Semester 2, 2008: “My Favorite Things (II)”
Politics in music is always a point of contention for me. On one hand I appreciate the potential for the medium and its message to reach a great many people, but I do wonder if it’s just preaching to the converted most of the time. That being said, Negative Land handles their agenda with a very original approach that seems less preachy and contrived than the lyrics of other politically motivated artists like Michael Franti and John Butler (Butler’s early attempts at songwriting made me whish he would take a hint from F. Zappa: “Shut up and play yer guitar!”).
However, for all its originality and punch, I feel no need to explore the music of Negative Land further. This type of extreme Concrete-esque manufacture strikes me as a novelty that wears off very quickly, no matter how clever the arrangement or serious the subject of satire. Also, I think my patience wears thin at the barrage of low quality audio that is forced upon the listener with music that engages in a lot of historic digging. Raising awareness of the past and having a will to prevent repetition of bad historical practices is a noble pursuit, but I feel there is little of reasonable fidelity to source from pre 1970, save for a few exceptions of course.
Reference:
Whittington, Stephen. “Forum – Week 5 – Semester 2, 2008: My Favorite Things (II).” Workshop presented in room 1004, level 10 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 28th of August 2008.
Labels: Forum IIIB
Audio Arts – Week 4 – Semester 2, 2008: “Foley Part 2”
The collection of sounds created by myself and Mr Delany are already proving invaluable. It’s nice to be working with a pre-defined cut of the film that will not change over time. However, recent outside experience indicates that this is not to be expected.
There is a real art to realising the ambience of a situation in which one would not normally consider the sonic backdrop. Since engaging with film sound I find myself picking at discrepancies in all forms of sound capture and representation. It’s alarming how little attention to detail is evident in many productions, with phasing voice overs sounding like they were recorded in a bathroom and footsteps on a wooden bridge depicting high heels on concrete, to name a couple of recent observations from commercial television.
I have focused mainly on trying to depict the ‘shuffling’ noises of both characters on screen in clip 2. This is easier said than done. While a shuffling noise is not so hard to create, syncing such a noise with perceptually infinite variety to on-screen action is another matter entirely. Next week things should be coming together more coherently.
Reference:
Harrald, Luke. “Audio Arts – Week 4 – Semester 2, 2008: Foley Part 2.” Lecture presented at EMU space and Studio 1, level 5 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 19th of August 2008.
Labels: Audio Arts IIIB
Creative Computing – Week 4 – Semester 2, 2008: “Splice and Dice”
There is much to be learned in this area it would seem. One thing I have not mastered is how to plug in some real time control. My GUI functions under the premise that one can load samples and make alterations to some BBC class parameters (stored in environment variables) and then execute the routine with the parameters most recently passed. It will not pass and react to new parameter alterations on the fly however.
Working within this restriction is not entirely uninspiring though, as alterations will often yield pleasant surprises, when the new code is executed. It also makes for some interesting layering of BBC classes that are all doing their own automated algorithmic thing with whatever they were given. I held a faint hope that updating environment variables would force whatever routine(s) that were accessing them in real-time to start working with the new values. It seems like the BBC objects create instances of everything they need at execution time and then ignore everything except Command-period while running. I will discuss this further next week.
Click here to link to online folder containing SC code and an audio file of this weeks result.
Reference:
Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing – Week 4 – Semester 2, 2008: Splice and Dice.” Lecture presented at tutorial room 408, level 4 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 21st of August 2008.
Labels: Creative Computing IIIB
Forum – Week 4 – Semester 2, 2008: “Composition Workshop”
‘Hasya’ In the purest sense of the word: “a joy that comes from within for no apparent reason.”
Sonic analogies this meaning conjures:
1. Sustained root position major chord in the mid-range with root note doubled in the bass.
2. A happy dog trying to talk.
3. A perfect pinch harmonic from an overdriven electric guitar.
4. Laughing children.
5. A crowd roars for the winning goal (whatever that may be).
‘Adbhuta’
“The feeling of wonder stemming from recognition of one’s own ignorance.”
Sonic analogies:
1. An augmented 7th chord of any kind.
2. A carefully controlled explosion – recognition creates an explosion of new ideas.
3. Sweep of white noise increasing in volume – fresh mindset allows new ideas to wash in.
‘Veera’
“Fearlessness and self-assurance with complete control over one’s ego.”
Sonic analogies:
1. Chunky overdriven electric guitar power chords.
2. Simply harmonised orchestral strings playing 5ths apart in staccato.
3. Cheesy Hollywood cinema brass music ala ‘Superman.’
4. Cheetah taking down a gazelle.
‘Karuna’
Interesting, the Karuna rasa is described as ‘sadness’ on www.rasas.info. I guess this could fall under the heading of ‘compassion’ but love/erotic?
Sonic analogies:
1. Slow, gentle romantic piano music in a minor key.
2. Slow, gentle romantic piano music in a major key.
3. Sombre major or minor chords.
4. Gentle ocean shoreline waves and bird song.
‘Krodha’
Another discrepancy with the findings of my research but anger and fury are easy to convey in my opinion – see below.
Sonic analogies:
1. Screaming death-metal vocals.
2. Machine gun fire.
3. Violent uncontrolled explosion.
4. Hacking and pounding into flesh with breaking bones and squibbing blood splats.
‘Bhibasta’
A demonic and useless emotion that leads to depression: “disgust and loathing” (of oneself and/or others.
Sonic analogies:
1. Vomiting.
2. Atonal screeching of anything.
‘Bhayanaka’
Fear is the product of ignorance, apparently. So next time you’re stuck in a dark alley being knifed, just remember – only an ignorant fool would allow themselves an indulgent dose of fear at this point.
Sonic analogies (in this case it’s the sound of my perception of fear – not the sound of ignorance, whatever that may be (Pauline Hanson perhaps?)):
1. Cold heavy bricks scraping one another.
2. Howling icy wind.
3. Booming thunder.
4. Sombre Russian male choir singing very low and sustaining forever.
‘Shoka’
Sorrow or more specifically “grief”.
Sonic analogies:
1. Russian folk music.
2. Metallica’s “Fade to black”.
3. Exhausted weeping.
4. Chromaticism and excessive rubato in a minor key.
‘Shanta’
“Peace man.”
Sonic analogies:
1. The pentatonic scale.
2. A sustained 5th chord in perfect tune.
3. Bird-wings flapping in slow motion.
4. Gentle wind rustling long grass.
Reference:
Whittington, Stephen. “Forum – Week 4 – Semester 2, 2008: Composition Workshop.” Workshop presented at EMU Space, level 5 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 21st of August 2008.
Labels: Forum IIIB
Audio Arts – Week 3 – Semester 2, 2008: “Foley Creation Part 1”
John Delany and I teamed up for this initial Foley creation exercise. The resulting captures were superior, I believe, to anything I could have manufactured in the same time frame working alone. Below is the basic rundown of asset creation.
Using “Nosferatu” Clip 2, Scene 1:
1.
Scratchy sound of feather writing:
Idea: Record various pens, pencils and other devices writing on paper and other surfaces.
Successful execution.
2.
Scrunching of paper:
Idea: Record scrunching of actual paper or plastic.
Successful execution.
3.
Shuffling of clothes and bag:
Idea: Record various clothing materials / blankets being rubbed together.
Successful execution.
4.
Creaking chair and floorboards:
Idea: Record an old wooden chair or table being pressured to force creaks.
Actual recording was of the EMU space piano stool being pressured to create creaks and squeaks (This was hard work!).
5.
Minor shuffling of feet under table:
Idea: Record some feet or other objects dragging across various surfaces.
Not yet implemented.
Audio will be added here if required...
Reference:
Harrald, Luke. “Audio Arts – Week 3 – Semester 2, 2008: Foley Creation Part 1.” Lecture presented at EMU space, level 5 Schultz building, University of Adelaide,
12th of August 2008.
Labels: Audio Arts IIIB
Creative Computing – Week 3 – Semester 2, 2008: “Granular Synthesis (1)”
For our first foray into granular synthesis with SC I have decided to rework my week one GUI to fit the exercise – easier said than done. Despite being my more aesthetically pleasing GUI from SC to date, it was programmed most uneconomically and turned out to be a frustrating exercise due to many wasted hours of scrolling and searching through duplicated code. Nevertheless, I’m glad I went there as the interface lent itself to the basic premise of this approach very well. The multislider controllers sweep through the chosen sample as they are moved up and down, and as I kept the original y axis mapping of 0-1 to 4-0.25 from Christian’s patch they play at a faster rate on the left hand side and become slower as one moves to the right of the interface.
With some simple tweaking of the delay and reverb settings and trying out a variety of samples, I quickly became addicted to the sonic output of this device. There is something creepy and wonderful about butchering an audio file in this way that demands future exploration. Next week I may get a chance to implement the rest of the button/menu functions.
Click here to link to online folder containing SC.rtf file.
Reference:
Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing – Week 3 – Semester 2, 2008: Granular Synthesis (1).” Lecture presented at tutorial room 408, level 4 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 14th of August, 2008.
Labels: Creative Computing IIIB
Forum – Week 3 – Semester 2, 2008: “1st Year Presentations”
Get back you insolent classically trained robots of contempt!!
This session takes the number one spot as the ‘most badly organised forum’ of the last three years. In a campus of some 20,000 students, does one think it wise to hold a class in a room without a booking? Hmm.
Anyway, when things finally kicked off the music concrete and other project material presented was relatively diverse. I feel I’m way over the Concrete genre at this stage of the game, so I won’t attempt an informed opinion of any pieces on display today. I was particularly impressed with Josh’s score and Foley for the Toothbrush Moustache animation. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if the instrumentation was electronically generated. The mention of Spectrasonics took care of my disbelief at the quality – their sampling expertise is to be commended. The music composition itself was handled beautifully. It really served the image well.
Alex’s recording of ‘Behind These Walls’ was entertaining. It brought back memories of first year in which I recorded something vaguely similar. I think he did a better job with the vocals than I did at the time as they cut through the mix nicely.
Reference:
Whittington, Stephen. “Forum – Week 3 – Semester 2, 2008: 1st Year Presentations.” Workshop presented at EMU space, Level 5 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 14th of August 2008.
Labels: Forum IIIB
Creative Computing IIIB – Week 2 – Semester 2, 2008: “Graphical User Interfaces (2)”
I have opted to stick with the EZ range of sliders for this week, to discover more about their limitations – there are many. As you can see from the image, the EZRange slider is an ugly looking thing which cannot be altered for visual enhancement. That being said, it is nice to have such a practically useful tool on hand. It was particularly well suited to adjusting ‘mul’ and ‘add’ values for a SinOsc that was modulating the frequency of a Resonant LPF. If the SinOsc started feeding the RLPF large negative values I would be greeted with a 150 dB banshee shrieking through the headphones – painful stuff. Mapping the range slider to control these values helped to alleviate this to a large extent as the device does not allow the high value to be less than the low value. This means that the SinOsc values could never dip further into the negative range than the current low value’s negative equivalent at the most.
There was a bit of messing round with the layout before I worked out where to place the decorator message. I like the speed with which this system allows one to create an interface, but I think developing templates for fast creation with a more flexible foundation is the way of the future…
Click here to link to online folder containing SC.rtf file and audio example.
Reference:
Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing IIIB – Week 2 – Semester 2, 2008: Graphical User Interfaces (2).” Lecture presented at tutorial room 408, level 4 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 7th of August 2008.
Labels: Creative Computing IIIB
Forum – Week 2 – Semester 2, 2008: “My Favourite Things I”
And.. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...Terra Rapta was an interesting experience – I was looking forward to listening to it again, without the score to distract my ears, but this did not eventuate. I find score reading an annoying task with music at this level. I can’t read quickly enough to follow the score in any meaningful way so it doesn’t really do much for me. At the end of the day, if I were not planning to play the piece myself I’d rather just close my eyes and listen. I did this with the Schubert Quartet, as the scores were so small that sharing between three was a pointless task anyway. When will these lecturers discover the wonders of a laptop computer, Power-Point and a portable projector?
The Grainger quartet did a remarkable job with Harris’ piece (I’m not sure if it was them in the Schubert recording, but an equally fine performance if so). However, It’s difficult for me to listen to a small classical ensemble and not notice some effects that the musicians are attempting to achieve falling a little flat as a result of the limited medium for sound production that they are using. It’s less noticeable with a full orchestra, but modern electronic instruments are undoubtedly superior at achieving wide ranges of sonorities.
Reference:
Whittington, Stephen. "Forum – Week 2 – Semester 2, 2008: My Favourite Things I.” Workshop presented in room 1107, level 11 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 7th of August 2008.
Labels: Forum IIIB
Audio Arts IIIB – Week 2 – Sonic Analysis of Matrix Lobby Scene:
All this from only five minutes a day - take the abdoflexificationifier six week trial now!!!
Below is my list of sounds and musical effects as they approximately occur in the timeline of the scene.
FX/Foley/Dialogue (Music is included in same list but specifically ID’d):
- Footsteps
- Pile driver (constant rhythmic clunking – could be considered as music)
Music: Rhythmic cymbal
- Crunch of shoe leather
- Clunk of bag
- Whirr of scanning machine
- Beep of machine alarm
- Guard’s footsteps
- Guards voice
- Whoosh of opening jacket
- Guard’s vocal response
- Pile driver stops
Music: Stops
- Thud of hit to guard
- Guard’s cry of pain
- Machine gun fire, ricochets, and squibs
- Guard’s heavy breathing and call for backup
- Retreating footsteps
- Clicking of gun cock
- Machine alarm as Trinity enters
- Trinity’s footsteps
- Trinity’s gun cocked
- Trinity’s machine gunfire
- Pile driver returns
Music: Rhythmic cymbal
- Slow footsteps of Trinity and Neo
- Clack of guns cast aside
- Cock of Neo’s guns
- Many footsteps of entering guards
- Military snare roll
- Shuffling and many gun cocking noises
- Guard: “FREEZE!”
- Brief silence
- Whoosh of N & T ducking for cover
Music: Propellarheads ‘Spybreak’ begins
- Machine gun fire (Lots of) with ricochets, is ever-present from now on unless otherwise indicated.
- Exploding column chunk from bullet
- Many single pistol shots
- Constant sounds of exploding concrete chunks and falling rubble from damage
- Boomier shotgun blasts
- Different machine gun sound introduced to mix
- Trinity: “Hi ya!”
- Thuds from T’s kicks to guard
- Slow motion single shots from Neo’s guns
- Shells tinkling on the floor
- Kick thud and whoosh as trinity takes soldiers gun
- Boom as she shoots him in the back
- More slow motion gun shots from Neo
- Slow motion shots from guards with slow motion explosions also
Music: Cuts temporarily
- Click as Neo grabs a shotgun from the floor
- Whoosh as he flips into another hiding spot
Music: Track resumes
- More slow motion shooting and damage
- More shell tinkling
- Battle noise quiets temporarily (less guards alive to shoot now)
- Guard takes a shot at Neo (machine gun fire)
Music: Musical break (silence)
- Neo takes his turn to shoot at the guard on beat with the music and it resumes accordingly
- Much machine gun fire from Neo
Music: Fast breakdown
- Whoosh as Neo leaps into the air
- Thuds as he kicks the last standing guard in the chest and head
Music: Fades out rapidly
- Thud as Neo lands
- Clacks of gun falling
- Clicking of Trinity’s gun
- Footsteps
- Sliding of feet on floor
- Shuffling of bag
- Clack of dropped shotgun
- Footsteps of both as they move toward elevator
- Click of elevator and button
- Whirr of opening/closing doors
- Click as doors shut
- Ring of elevator bell (oddly placed)
- Reverberation of hall
- Reverberated crash of loose concrete falling to the floor
All sounds are treated with reverberation to give a realistic impression of their place in such a live acoustic environment.
Reference:
Harrald, Luke. “Audio Arts IIIB – Week 2 – Sonic Analysis of Matrix Lobby Scene.” Lecture presented at EMU Space, Level 5 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 5th of August 2008.
Labels: Audio Arts IIIB
Creative Computing - Week 1 - Semester 2, 2008: Graphical User Interface (1)
My program interface is modelling one I whish to implement in the near future. It will control real time automated manipulation and generation of MIDI data for the purpose of easily manufacturing musically relevant accompanying rhythm, melody and harmony, for a given skeletal music structure. The main use for the program will be in live performance, where it will provide variety via different interpretations of a core structure every time a MIDI file is played through its filtration system. These interpretations can be as subtle or as outrageous as the performer likes by making adjustments to MIDI filter parameters through a simple interface.
The program should be equally useful as a mutation device for its own sake that can be utilised as an instrument in itself, which expresses ideas via varying levels of MIDI data rearranging on the fly. The scale names array in the scale reference pop up menu is something I created for a purpose built class in the holidays - I didn't write it all out this week.
I found this task very addictive. There is something deeply satisfying about writing and manipulating text based code and having your efforts rewarded visually…I see some long nights ahead.
Click here to link to online folder containing SC file.
Reference:
Haines, Christian. "Creative Computing - Week 1 - Semester 2, 2008: Graphical User Interface (1)." Lecture presented at Tutorial room 408, level 4, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 31st of July 2008.
Labels: Creative Computing IIIB
Forum – Week 1 – Semester 2, 2008: Listening in the Age of Technology.
This was an interesting opener to the semester, more so than the discussion on blogging that dominated the same timeslot in March. The subject seemed to stir views on my own experience of music, and how they have changed since I first began engaging in music making. The most dominant of thoughts provoked is the question of why I feel more connected to playing, writing and listening to my own music than that of others. It’s not that I don’t like other people’s music, or that I consider mine in anyway superior. I think it is just a matter of knowing exactly where my music has come from and understanding the decisions that led to its construction on an intimate level that others could not possibly share.
One of my shortcomings as a musician/composer is that I have partially developed an inability to ‘zoom out’ from a piece of music and appreciate the whole – as opposed to its individual parts. My brain just seems to begin dissecting on autopilot, denying me the experience that many others may appreciate. If there is an invention I would like to see emerge from the age of technology, it is one that can help me to overcome this and reap the full benefits of both sides of musical awareness.
Reference:
Whittington, Stephen. “Forum – Week 1 – Semester 2, 2008: Listening in the Age of Technology.” Workshop presented at EMU Space, Level 5, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 31st of July 2008.
Labels: Forum IIIB
Audio Arts – Week 1 – Semester 2, 2008: Narrative and Sound Points for Nosferatu Clip.
Using clip #2:Below I have given a brief summary of the points in the first three scenes of the clip that I feel are noteworthy of either Foley or accompanying score attention. I chose clip #2 as I feel it has more interesting action to work with.
Scene 1:
- Introduction music to text on screen.
Scene 2:
- Sound of feather writing.
- Shuffling of clothes / hand in pocket.
- Crinkling of paper.
- Shuffling of bag / stuffing in crumpled up paper.
- Semi ominous music to represent buyer’s potentially bad decision.
Scene 3:
- Shuffling in bag.
- Opening of book.
- Sharp scary musical stab to give impact of frightening text content.
- Clock chiming.
- Bag falling on floor.
- Clothes / feet shuffling as man turns to face door.
- Foot steps: inside as man walks toward door and more ominous outside room from Dracula.
- Creak of opening door.
- Screaming strings for image of Dracula.
- Slamming of door.
- Frantic breathing.
- Running footsteps.
- Waterfall / River outside plus howling wind.
- Footsteps as man slowly creeps toward bed.
- Rustling of sheets as he gets in.
- Door creaking then flying open.
- More terrifying music, but not yet at a crescendo.
- Frantic Breathing.
- Sharp turn of head.
- Musical sharp stab at 1st scene of Dracula in doorway.
- Ominous footsteps as he moves closer.
- Music becomes more frantic.
- Rustle of sheet as man puts head under.
- Pause in music as Dracula stops moving.
Reference:
Harrald, Luke. “Audio Arts – Week 1 – Semester 2, 2008.” Lecture presented at the Audio Lab, Level 4, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 29th of July 2008.
Labels: Audio Arts IIIB
They're getting less inspiring I know...
