I am very happy with my sound composition for this unit, as I feel it is a unique concept with interesting sonic nuances. The mixing and mastering helped strengthen the impact and heighten certain frequencies in my opinion.
My mixing approach was very simple. I am used to mixing together dense tracks and carving out frequencies so all the elements can sit nicely together, however in this instance my approach was more subtle as I concentrated on panning, volume automation and compression as the key components to bring the piece to life. I wanted the track to feel more and more like it was forging a life of its own as it developed, and I think fairly simple but bold mixing decisions such as panning the entire master hard left then hard right to emphasise certain moments of fracture and instability really help to create a sense of immersion and the feeling of the drum break frantically crashing through different realms.
The mastering again was simple, as I applied a mid/side EQ and some light compression to glue everything together. Two limiters with different thresholds and lookahead times boosted the loudness of the track whilst keeping a good balance between the organic sonic palette and intensely chromatic quality of a lot of the digital processing.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to create a scene of a producer and the computer struggling and fighting over a breakbeat. I felt that this would be an interesting way of representing my overarching theme in my research, my essay and ultimately this entire unit. I am usually more calculated and methodical with my practical work, developing and refining it over time, however for this composition my creative spark was more of a burst that was sustained over a two day period. I feel that this is because I have done so much research and have such a clear mind in terms of what I’m writing about, so the composition as a result was quite vivid in my head.
I started by importing the stems that I had recorded of my friend playing the drums, and I cut out the best bits, focusing the tempo on around 160bpm. I then compressed the samples quite heavily, bringing out the interesting tonality and timbres that the recordings had. At the same time I made sure not to over do the compression as I was aware that with further processing the sound could lose its character.
I began to structure a sketch of how I wanted the piece to develop. My intention was to have the piece start like a rehearsal with the drummer warming up, which was aimed at highlighting the human element of the composition. Immediately after the short intro I processed a kick sample I cut out from the recording and distorted it, as well as layering a reverb and delay send that I bounced out to separate tracks as audio to enhance the texture of the sound.
From there, I chopped up and reversed a snare fill to lead in to the whole drum break releasing and driving the track forward; the break then begins to morph into a more abstract and unpredictable rhythm, diverging from the initial linear direction it was previously going in. I used Pitch Hack, Valhalla’s Frequency Modulator and Space Modulator, and panning to transform the breakbeat, eventually disrupting it altogether in an overwhelming frequency sweep. The rates, frequencies and dry/wet knobs on the plugins were mostly automated live, which I just recorded in. The breakbeat then comes back in but with adjustments to the frequency and rates of the pitch hack and frequency modulation, making the sound more submerged and less definitive. I felt this approach resulted in a convincing sonic image of a human (recognisable) sound and a computer (abstract) sound blending into each other.
The video link below highlights the development and modulations of the sounds in a clearer way:
I put the break through Ableton’s granulator II VST, modulating the grain size, spray and file position live on my MIDI controller. This retained the human element of the sound of the drums but added a spectral, ghostlike presence of the sounds floating through the stereo field, as if they are being sucked in by the computer. The track then hits a crescendo, culminating in distorted remnants of the breakbeat taking centre stage. I processed these samples on the plugin Izotope Trash, manually altering the waveshape of the distortion and adding noise presets, filters and drive to render the breaks almost totally unrecognisable. At this point in the track, I was aiming for the sense of the computer completely consuming the break, hinting at the unapologetic force of technology. The track comes to a close with miniscule, distorted chops of the breaks slowly gaining momentum through a delay send.
I recently had a one to one tutorial with one of my tutors, Adam, who advised me to refine my ideas a bit more in terms of my essay. He also pointed me in the direction of some very interesting sources to draw inspiration from for my sound piece, which I have noted in my notebook page below.
Moving forward into my research project for third year, I began to realise during the tutorial that I have done a lot of research for this current project, more than I probably needed to. However, the benefit of this is that I am now able to narrow down a focus for this essay, which I have decided will be on the connection of cyberpunk and drum ‘n’ bass, because I feel I have the most source material on cybernetics and science fiction within drum ‘n’ bass, which I feel confident in writing about. I will also be able to use much of my research to inform my dissertation essay, where I am keen to expand on the subject matter I have been diving into for the contemporary issues in sound art unit.
Furthermore, my decision to focus on cyberpunk and drum ‘n’ bass allows me to hone in on the intertwinement of humans and technology, which has sparked the idea in my head to create a sound piece that revolves around a narrative of a producer (me) and a computer fighting over a sample. I think it is a playful idea that I can have fun with, and it retains the focus of my essay which keeps a consistent flow between my academic and practical work. I feel I am harnessing the method that I learned in Mark’s lecture of allowing the essay and sound piece to conversate with one another, pushing and pulling each other in different directions. It feels more liberating and less stressful having this fluid mentality towards my work.
I listened to the Horacio Vaggione piece titled ‘Variations’, which is similar to Trevor Wishart’s ‘Imago’ in that it takes a single sample and manipulates it in extensive and creative ways to construct a composition that works.
I have also been listening to a lot of Squarepusher recently, and have been massively inspired by his willingness to disregard the logical trajectory of a drum break. I intend to reflect this approach in my work.
At this point in the project, and the course in fact, I am beginning to get a strong idea of what I would like to do post university. My research into drum ‘n’ bass has begun to expand into ‘intelligent dance music’ (I hate that term but I’ll use it for now), and my practice outside of university work is starting to fuse together concepts I have been introduced to throughout the course, new techniques I have learned and influences I have accumulated all through my own lens.
Alongside this contemporary issues in sound art project, I have been working on an EP titled ‘VOLTAGE_CTRL’, that encapsulates the ideas of human entanglement with technology that I have been focusing so much on in my research. I wanted to challenge myself and transcend the new perspectives I have gained into a cohesive and narratively consistent body of work aside from my sound piece and essay. The EP has been released, and I held a listening party at my first ever live performance which was at The George Tavern pub in Whitechapel. I played the EP at the end of my set before it released at midnight that night, which was great because it helped me flesh out my vision and bring a performative aspect to the project.
The project fuses many genres together, such as drum ‘n’ bass, UK dubstep, ambient, techno and hip-hop, and paints a clear sonic picture of where I am currently at in my sonic practice. The more I study sound arts, the more I am understanding and developing ways I can merge it with my music. My goals are becoming clearer now – producing scores and dance music, mix engineering and live performance are very prominent in my practice, and these are all things I am trying to contextualise within the world of sound arts.
Following my decision to base my sound piece around recorded drum breaks and heavily manipulating them in Ableton, I called my friend Felix who is an amazing drummer. My intention was to record him playing drum breaks at different tempos, firstly to get original material that I can process and chop up in my DAW, and secondly to experience the recording process of drumming which I haven’t yet experienced.
It was amazing to be in the room, as I didn’t actually do much in the way of setting up because he already had his microphone configuration sorted and logic up and running. I had noted a few songs that I wanted him to reference or drum along to, with the intention of forcing him to be inventive and play some interesting rhythms. I felt that having a variety of grooves would help me to stimulate and structure my ideas better when it comes to my own composition.
Here are the references I showed him to play along to:
And here is a video of the process plus the stems of the recordings:
In a recent lecture with Mark we focused on reflecting on our own personal journeys in sound, and how that can affect our work both currently and in general. Identifying the aesthetic that my sound piece will have is important, because projecting my own vision as accurately as possible makes it easier for me to produce the work and not worry about catering to the audience. Trusting that the audience will be captivated and invested by the sound editing decisions/style I make is a great step towards fleshing out a consistent track identity.
What I also found inspiring in the discussion we had after the lecture was the potential for the essay and sound work to have a conversation, where they push and pull back at each other creating an intertwining connection between the two. As much as my essay research informs my practical outcome, so too does the sonic experimentation influence the identity of the essay and give me the ability to strengthen my own voice within the context of what I’m writing about.
This is a point I want to continue reminding myself of and include this method in my daily work for this project.
