Following the expansion of my project into the ideas and role of the voice in a musical context, I continued my recordings using the guitar as the sole instrument for my piece. My goal is to create an environment that feels organic despite being composed from electronic components. The guitar has been the focal point of my creative practice for years now and I am working towards expanding the utilisation of the instrument into new areas outside of typical music, for example sound design and composition for film.

For the project I have composed and recorded a chord progression in the key of C, and used guitars to structure the basic layout of the piece. The rhythm and low end is played using single note drones on a Moog Subsequent 25 and the kick drum is from a Roland TR-08 drum machine. Following the basic tracking, I experimented with a plethora of clean and distorted guitar sounds for the ambience, rhythm, and lead parts of the piece. Some examples of the tonal qualities I used for the piece include clean dry tones from my amp and a chorus pedal for the main closed chord shapes, modulated delay feedback that has rhythm generated from a tremolo pedal for ambience throughout the piece, fuzz and delay combination with a glass slide to play one of the lead lines in the middle of the piece, and chromatic drones played on the whole of the neck randomly throughout the piece to contribute to the spatialisation of the piece.

While it is still untitled the growth of the piece has been inspiring to me and is growing into a world of its own, that represents the expansion of my own practice and overall interest in sound in general.

After discussing various themes and ideas surrounding the collective project in class today, I have developed new ideas to help finalise my project. I have recently been enticed with the idea of the voice, creating representations of various emotions and tones relating to the concept of the voice with an electric guitar. Expanding on this idea I want to add an element of the voice to my project, but by using and manipulating non musical objects; rocks, metal rods, and other items.

Two works that stood out to me which both utilised organic objects in order to create a film score include the films “Arrival” and “The Lighthouse”. Both composer teams, highlighted by Jóhann Jóhannsson and Mark Korven used objects such as rocks to convey spaceship movement and a violin bow over a metal rod for perceived tension between characters. Studying these practices in the world of sound design stood out to me as key sources of inspiration for this project.

Starting my composition I have arranged and recorded a chord progression in the key of C. This is the step I began prior to mixing in different senses of space as well as creating a lead voice for the project. Moving around the C major 7 chord I formed the progression to act in an unbalanced circular motion. I recorded the piece after writing it out for referencing and transposing purposes.

The chord structure was recorded with an electric guitar through a reverb pedal with a modulated shimmer effect. This was solely for character to act as inspiration. For the rhythm aspect of the composition, I modified the kick drum on a tr-808 drum machine reissue. This is to provide space and simplicity through structure. The atmosphere so far is being created from a low octave setting on a Moog Subsequent 25 synthesiser, to create or start to create a sense of location for the piece.

Moving forward I plan to go out of my comfort zone by creating an obscure and powerful lead instrument the is symbolic of an eery film score. Recently two films that have stood out to me for their sound design and arrangements are “Arrival” by Jóhann Jóhannsson and “The Lighthouse” by Mark Korven. The utilisation of rocks, metal rods, and other items as sound objects for these films is brilliant and I am striving to incorporate this sense of ingenuity into my piece, layered over the simple atmosphere I have already formed.

This is the current rendition of my piece

Within my contribution to the Creative Sound Projects Collective I am delving into ideas around improvisation and spatialisation. In relation to those ideas, I am composing a piece that is reflective of perception through experimentation and general sound design. Utilising both improvisation and a structured sense of artificial space I am striving to create a piece that combines the abstractness of the use of western notes and notation with the naturally physical sense of space.

My interest in sound is related to both sound design and composition for film. While the meaning that lies in support of the sound object changes between context, the primary purpose of sound in film is to help tell the story. This includes both giving context to feeling and action from characters, scenery, and the interpretation of events. This piece will not only explore sonic spatialisation, it will also explore emotional and physical spatialisation, despite being attempted without a motif or specific story.

Expansion prior to the start of the initial composition will include analysis of sound works, films, and environments. The environments will include both personal and public spaces, instruments, and weather.

While the idea is broad, I hope to utilise this as an exercise in expanding my own practice in sound and storytelling, as well in working as a collective with the class.