In an effort to incorporate elements into my project that we have learned and expanded on in class, I utilised MIDI, tape recording, synthesis, and live tracking in order to construct the instrumentation of my composition for element 2 of the Creative Sound Projects module.

The use of MIDI for the project was to orchestrate a collection of live string sounds to contribute to the environment of the piece. I initially planned on finding an inexpensive violin or cello and altering the pitch in post to create different instruments to play the different parts I envisioned, but I could not find any in my price range. I instead used the LUNA shape instrument library to gather the sounds I wanted, specifically live chamber strings in order to play the improvised parts. Using an Arturia key step 25 roller and sequencer I was able to use velocity and pitch control in the live tracking. The name of the result is ‘Scene from the Cottage No. 1’.

I also wrote a simple duet meant for clarinet and guitar, played and recorded live by my friend Ela Unlusoy and myself. The piece is dynamic but structured, and in order to replicate the sound of a phonograph from the very late 19th century or early 20th century I used an old cassette player and recorder to record us live, an inaccurate historical representation of what would have been in a cottage such as the one in the painting during its time. The result was saturated and slight pitched up from the original tuning, something that I found both interesting and full of character.

I also recorded an acoustic guitar track with a shore sm 57 in order to add slight dissonance and a sense of live to the structured compositions throughout the piece. This was the most direct tracking I did, it both being live, and using eq that feels standard for general acoustic guitar. I get the feeling of the presence of myself playing in the pleasant cacophony of sounds in the composition. This in turn reflects the person that might have been living in the cottage during this time. Alongside the guitar, in order to add another layer of character in the track, I recorded my Yamaha p-125a keyboard with my Sony cassette player and recorder as well. The p-125a has a great sample library that is specific to this series of piano by Yamaha, and is not a digital library. However, in order to grab a certain warmth I was looking for I recording the improvised part with on to cassette as well, using the same eq and process I sued with the guitar and clarinet duet. I needed to cut a good amount of the low end and I added some extra high end, highlighting the hiss in the tape, because it reminded of the beach, adding more character to the field recordings I am using, discussed in the previous blog post.

Finally, I wanted to expand on my perspective of synthesis and using various controls on an analog synth, so I decided to track my Moog Sub25 for this composition as well. I was very grateful to have purchased this amazing instrument used last summer, however, despite me utilising it all of the time I had a very small understanding of the depth and possibility in this instrument. After the second and third lectures in Creative Projects Element 2, on synthesis, I felt a bit more familiar with synth controls, dynamics, and meaning. I used a low drone, filled with white noise and pitch modulation in order to create and artificial nature sound. The settings I designed are highlighted in an image below.

These are images highlighting my process.

I have started to arrange the collection of field recordings and compositions I have recorded and written in order to construct the environment of my interpretation of Monet’s ‘Fisherman’s cottage on the Cliffs of Varengeville’.

I spent this past Wednesday in Greenwich park, collecting sounds that reminded me of the painting, alongside the notes I took of the initial environment before doing a sound walk. Finding groups of birds were the most inspiring, and I went to the thames to record the sound of waves and rocks against the water. The only challenge I faced was finding a sound the represented wind. It wasn’t that windy on the day I went out to record so there were no leaves or trees making any noise. However, after experimentation at home later that night I found the dragging a cloth towel over the carpet in my bedroom and recording the faint sound in stereo with a Zoom H6 created a very convincing sound that can be used as a wave on the beach or gust of wind through a group of plants.

In order to contribute music to the composition I have written two pieces, one titled ‘Scene from the Cottage No. 1’ and ‘Scene from the Cottage No. 2’. One utilises midi instrumentation in order to replicate a live string ensemble, and one is a live recording of my roommate Ela and I doing a fairly simple guitar and clarinet duet. This is supposed to represent a faint recording played on a simple phonograph in the cottage depicted in the original painting. Upon layering the compositions with the arrangement I created with the field recordings I found a new sense of depth that feels as if it were a pivotal or developmental scene in a film.

The challenge I found in mixing live environmental sounds together was the abundant low end; having recorded the birds at a high gain. In cutting the low end from all the clips I edited and arranged together, I found a certain lack of depth to the environment presented. In adding foley, the article wind I recorded with the face towel, I was able to layer in what was necessary to complete the environment I wanted to create.

In an effort to illustrate the sounds I associate to certain still images and environments I am composing a score and soundscape to reflect the environment of Claude Monet’s piece ‘Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs of Varengeville’.

This is a photograph of the painting I am basing my composition on.

This past week in order to incorporate what we learned about MIDI, in Creative Sound Projects, I arranged a piece using an instrument library I have in a software called LUNA. Strings were the main instrument used in this introductory cue. I used an Arturia keystep MIDI controller to improvise the various string parts, controlling velocity and modulation qualities live when recording. It is supposed to introduce the environment of the scene, following the initial presentation of the soundscape I am going to create.

Following the initial arrangement and tracking, I exported the instrument tracks as WAV files and imported into ProTools, the main DAW I use in my practice.

I am titling this series ‘A Score for a Painting’, No. 1 being this project. My practice is currently centred around composition for image, focusing on sound design and scoring for film, however, I am attempting to incorporate this mindset into other mediums as well.

As a part of Element 2 for Creative Sound Projects I am composing a score and soundscape to reflect on Monet’s painting “Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs of Varengeville”. The painting was introduced to me by my mom when I was young, and recently it was reintroduced to me when I received a book from a friend in Los Angeles on impressionists’ paintings from the late 19th century. To expand on my practice and combine mediums I am composing a sound work that is similar to the organisation and mix of a film score. Including foley, music, and environmental sounds I aim to form a physical and imaginative environment that represents the painting outside of the image. I also plan on painting a response as well based on my sonic interpretation.

In order to combine compositional elements I am currently working on around the piano I am handwriting a piece for the guitar and the clarinet for my friend and I to record live as a part of the work. Attached is what I have written so far. While it is relatively simple, working in transposing music across different instruments is a formative exercise for my practice. It is also contributing to the visual elements of my work as well. The piece’s working title is simply “Fisherman’s Cottage” however, I do plan on developing the title as well.

Here is the final mix and display of the cassette tape based sampling exercise I did around Mozarts “Symphony No. 40 in G minor”.

https://youtu.be/5zvWeJaM1lM

On Thursday May 4th I received a book in the mail on early to late impressionist paintings. My practice is focused on scoring to picture and for my assignment in element 2 I am currently planning on creating a sonic response and interpretation of an impressionist painting from the 19th century. The project would consist of gathering field recordings in environments similar to the painting, and composing a piece of music using instrumentation that conveys my perception of the image as well.

Parallel to creating a work that acts score for the piece, the composition would be organised and mixed as if it were for a film. Music mixed in with a soundscape. Nature, people, animals, and weather. I also hope to find or create instruments that feel period accurate to the original work, with a post-modern and personal interpretation imbedded into it as well.

Outside of the assignment brief I would also paint a reaction to my final composition. My first assignment for term 1 this year consisted of composing a piece that was symbolic of a self-portrait of my own mind. Following the final composition and mix I sat listening to the project while painting my interpretation of it. It felt very meditative and reflective to see how the piece spoke to me following the final work and as a part of my practice I would continue doing that with this reflective work as well.

In an effort to practice what we have been introduced to in the second block of Creative Sound Projects, I decided to sample a full symphony from Mozart and not only alter the piece itself through tape effects, but to also use this as a practice for improvisation and arrangement.

After recording the piece to tape using normal playback speed, 1.5x playback speed, and my slowing down and pausing the piece at improvised intervals, I arranged them alongside each other in a session in pro tools. I used the 1/8 inch out put on the cassette recorder to transfer the recording from the cassette to the DAW, and in protools I used automation to create volume swells and gradual panning across the tracks. Once I established an environment from the original samples, I improvised over the entire piece with an alto saxophone, a Moog Subsequent 25, and an acoustic guitar to create the illusion of three voices communicating to each other.

The piece is my first attempt to interpret sampling in my own practice. SAMPLE NO.1 (2023).

Expanding my perspective on sampling and the culture, possibilities, and textures around it is something that I am looking forward to in the second half of the Creative Sound Projects Module. While I have some insight on to the history and what I enjoy from sampling, I have not incorporated it into my practice yet.

Beginning with Pierre Schaffer and moving in through the 50s and 60s with music concrete tape looping made many appearances within the music I grew up with listening to. Artists usage include The Beatles in “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “I am the Walrus” as well as in Pink Floyd’s “Money” looping gardening tools to symbolise currency. However, through high school and now in university most of the music I listen to that utilises sampling stops in the year 1999, as The Beastie Boys and Sublime are a few of only the artists that I listen to who regularly use sampling as a medium for composition.

I plan on using what I learn in this module to incorporate traditional sampling and abelton live into my creative practice, focusing on music concrete and looping natural sounds.

The remainder of my work on the project was focused on analysing my piece and elaborating the contexts and motifs relevant to me and my practice. “Forever, the only complaint” is the title of the piece and is related to a work by Jimi Hendrix, one of the few musicians responsible for changing the trajectory of the electric guitar in the late 1960s. His work and playing style has always inspired me and other musicians I admire, which is why I chose to implement him conceptually into this work.

In mixing the final work I came to realise how spatial the piece was in its own nature, without feeling the need to create more artificial space then already present with the analog effects I had used on the instruments while tracking. Noticing this is what changed the direction of the piece from an experimentation in non melodic composition to a demonstration of the voice in a sonic environment. The characteristics and personality of different sounds, including texture, emotion, and arrangement are what stand out to me as key components of a space, when represented sonically.

Developing this perspective in my piece contributed to the motif of the collective, stepping out of and expanding our own comfort zones. The collaborative effort of the class was monitored through an instagram message group chat, and for the next project I would suggest we hold in person meetings and workshops together instead. Overall I felt that the project was an individual effort, using the guidelines established as a group only in the description of my work rather than its conception. However, it still had an effect on the result and how I choose to project this piece in my written final reflection.

My piece is representative of a classical movement. The progression begins with a C major 7 chord played in a closed voicing, which is to have the smallest interval between the notes of the chord. In expanding on my relatively classical approach to this project, I wrote out the movement on a piece of paper and wrote it at 60bpm to match the desired time I wanted the project to be, exactly 5 minutes. From there I recording the progression on a main guitar track and recorded the leave on my second track. The bass drone sound and the kick drum added to the piece structurally and sonically tied the various guitar parts together.

Despite the structurally musical approach to my composition, I wanted to guide the piece into a more spatial and environmental direction. The goal was for the listener, including myself, to get lost in the piece itself and have it preform as more of an ambient and ambiguous score for a space, either physical or imaginary.

Including the obscure guitar sounds elevated the work even closer to that direction, and represented the expanded idea of a voice within my piece.