It's been awhile since I last blogged. Many things had happened in life, shows happened, came and gone like it usually would, such promiscuity. Time moves on, every second that has ticked pass heralds the next moment becoming, meaningful only to its beholder. Anyway, Jen is back home from Aussie and we'll be meeting up soon. My girlfriend will be flying Taiwan this weekend and I'll be missing her so dearly. Anyhow, I wish she'll have a good trip and enjoy Taiwan!
Here's a new song I just did these couple of days:
Run-through of UNTITLED:01 on 11/04/2008 by TPD students... Do come support my students in their debut sound art performance. More info: HERE
NAFA TPD year two students' debut sound art performance... GENRE:Live Sound | Sampling | Acousmatics | Laptop | Sound Design
As part of this semester's module - "Sound Design & Conceptualization", this is the fruit of their process in devising a performance solely based on sounds. Be sure to share their first step into the world of sonic performance.
Performers: Aaron Chen, Lovynn Kan, Li Sini, Farina Sidik, June Wong, Jefferson Yap Performance Mentor: Darren Ng a.k.a. sonicbrat
18042008 | FRI | 8:00PM @ STUDIO THEATRE | NAFA Campus 3 151 Bencoolen Street FREE entrance and seating *Please note that photography or any other sort of recording mediums are not allowed during the show
Message from sonicbrat: "Do come support my students' production. They are a group of talented and passionate budding artists." Poster Designed By: Darren Ng
This is a video of the live sound exercise in class as part of the process for untitled:01
Introduced to me via Carledvin of Sweden... this is an innovative and "fresh" take on Musique Concrete ala Stomp... Simply amazing...
From the creators:
Worldwide one of a kind, the Vegetable Orchestra performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables. The utilization of various ever refined vegetable instruments creates a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe.
These are pictures taken whilst I compose and design for the play "Everything But The Brain" for Action Theatre. Now showing at the Esplanade Theatre. Here's the demo of three songs which I've picked out to upload (click on the title of the songs to listen):
EVER AFTER This track, by approach was really simple. I mic'ed up a Hungarian Zither (CITERA) using a contact microphone and it's being fed into the KORG Radias audio in. Using a vocoder preset, I have made it to trigger a synth note (D flat) with a moderate attack and a long release. So everytime I plug a note, it will trigger the synth note. The signal is also routed through it's internal effects with delay and reverb. Another contact microphone was employed to sample the Citera with a BOSS RC-20 and the playback is reversed... This track was recorded live with me improvising on the Citera. (I have no idea how to play it so I just did what I think sound right) You can find a picture of the Citera below...
BEDTIME STORIES A Plogue Bidule composition using a patch I've designed. The group has a couple of sequencers that triggers the risset bells and sine tones, which was passed through a rebuilder and some effects. Crytal Synths were employed for the generation of the glassy ambient. KORG Radias was used for a base drone...
EINSTEIN'S BRAIN An abstract of the 10 minute long piece. The piano was from KORG Triton ST88. An improvisation based on the scenic mood was recorded and then reversed and picthed down to underlay the original recording. Another Plogue Bidule patch was designed to sound scape subtley underneath this track...
DISCLAIMER: There are pictures of other synths which was employed for the composition and design of other songs and sounds but I did not include the demo here... It's sad to see the way they treated my music in production... director's call, so what to do :/
THE VOTING HAS STARTED! Yes, voting will run till this Tuesday 12pm our time here in Singapore. I have provided the voting link so if you like what you hear here, do vote for me :D. THANKS! Stiff competition!
Okies, so here are the entries I submitted into the Cyndustries BUG OFF! aleatoric music contest:
The theme of the contest is "WAR & PEACE"and we are suppose to use any kind of synthesis be it software or hardware based, digital or analogue. If you like it do go HERE to vote for me as your top three picks. Look for the titles. I will be really grateful! :P
NOTE: No looped samples were used and they are all original creations, played live, sequenced or programmed. No matter how aleatoric it is supposed to be, it can still fall under a familiar format of music. There are more aleatoric elements in mo12seCODE than d-DAY|h-HOUR. The random bleeps and glitches of the oscillating and filtering Sherman Filterbank II and also alot of "chance" music involved in this piece (eg. the transistor radio reacting with the MF105, etc). For d-DAY|h-HOUR, it's set to a more typical music track with the filtering algorithms random on the arpeggiating synths. Just because it says aleatorical doesn't mean it must sound weird and out of this world in my opinion. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This album was taken post of recording the tracks. Here's the description of each piece:
GEARS:KORG Triton ST88, KORG EM-1, KORG KP3, Sherman Filterbank II, MOOG MF105 Murf, MOOG Etherwave Theremin and ROLAND SH101.
DESCRIPTION: No software synthesis were used except for general effects during mixdown. Majority of the synthesis was from KORG Triton and composed on the fly. Drums were preprogrammed though on the EM1. The piano is from Triton and it was improvised on the spot. Not sequenced.
CONCEPT: I was pondering about war and peace and thought they are pretty dichotomous. The existence of one entails the existence of another. The meaning of peace would not be possible without the precedence of war or vice versa. Inspired by this notion, d-DAY|h-HOUR depicts the attack that ends war... with that, peace entails, but at much cost. Like my other entry, this song was cut in a about 4 hours. Hope you'll enjoy it. Cheers...
GEARS: Alesis ION, KORG EM-1, KORG KP3, KORG Triton ST88, Sherman Filterbank II, MOOG MF105 Murf and a small handhelf transistor radio.
DESCRIPTION: Composed and mixed on the fly with general effects passed post. Again this was done in about 4 hours as well. Special Notes: The Sherman Filterbank II was used as a self oscillating modular instead of processing sounds... it was patched for feedbacking itself. The transistor radio was used for creating the sweeping sounds (like wind)... achieved by feeding through MF105. Reaktor 5 was used for some sound designs as well as a simple drum sequence. Most drum sounds from EM1. Gun sounds were designed on Triton.
CONCEPT: "Morse code is the only digital modulation mode designed to be easily read by humans without a computer, making it appropriate for sending automated digital data in voice channels, as well as making it ideal for emergency signaling..." This piece is a stipulation of morse codes being sent amongst artificial intelligence during wars in the future... Resulting in a cacophony of electronic communication. Inspired by visuals of actual morse codes, I've derived patterns from some to enter it as sequenced patterns, repeating them and countering them against each other... and the outcome is rather musical, naturally... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PHOTO DESCRIPTION
Well, these were taken during the session. The first few LED displays are from the Sherman Filterbank II. Playing around with movements and it's actually quite magical in my opinion. The rest are just straight forward gear slutting.
Quite crap actually. This is my first attempt at video-making, from the demo I cut from my previous post SyNtH MaNtRa II. Amateurish stuff. Visual highlights shots from KORG EM1 and KORG KP3. Here's the original video on Youtube
The song was cut from KORG EM1, KORG Prophecy, KORG KP3, BOSS VF-1 multi-effects processor and Moogerfooger MF105 MurF. For more shots of the session do visit HERE.
"Cocktail-Patry Effect is the ability of the human ear to perceive a distinctive sound out of a collage of sounds. The ability to filter out a single sound from a collective of sounds. Sounds which are masked by a myriad of noised can be perceivable by the human ear through the exercise of this effect."
Music Concept: Using the Cocktail Party Effect as a main driving concept, I composed a motive for the set. There are three tracks of micro-melodies playing the same motive at different tempos and in variations covering different frequency bands. Each track will take precedence at different times, sometimes clashing sometimes in sync. The four track is a shakuhachi-like synths that plays a distinctive melody at the beginning. The drum track is pre-programmed and sequenced prior the recording, acting as a base to mask micro-melodies to make them hardly perceivable, forcing one to engage the Cocktail Party Effect in order to make out the micro-melodies that weaved underneath the on-going drum track. With the ideology of Cocktail Party Effect, Synth Mantra II is a multi-tracked improvisation in the world of synths, filters and effects, melting the boundaries between analogue and digital as they fuse.
The song was composed, arranged and improvised on the fly less the sequenced drums. It's then mixed down minimally and with no effects added post. I did this track in about 2 hours so don't expect a professional mix. It's more for fun... my fun :P.
Technical Details: All the synths sounds are from the KORG Prophecy, through the Moogerfooger MF105 MurF that changes rate of LFO as well as envelope. The Drum, which was pre-programmed and sequenced, is from KORG EM1, through BOSS VF-1 multi-effects processor and then through KORG Koass Pad III running a Grain Filter. The drum sequence was first passed through VF-1 on a violin filter, which resulted in a clicky metallic percussive sound. This was sampled into 3 banks on the KP3 in different variations. These sounds can be heard at the beginning of the track as it's morphed by the grain filter on KP3. During the actual recording, the drums were passed through a stereo vocoder on the VF-1 and then into the KP3 for the graining.
Photo Details: The song was composed and played in the dark so that I indulge in the right mood. The LEDs really take on full effects in the dark so I took pictures of it after the recording and also with lights on later. The streaking LEDs happened when I took one accidentally because of unstable hands but it turned out pretty interesting. So I began to experiment and also changing camera mode. The result is some stunning LED displays.
UPDATES: Video is not available HERE. Or you can go direct to Youtube to view it. Don't expect too much :D.
What does this man do in the middle of the night when he can't sleep and boredom sinks in?
"He let a transistor radio speak to a Moogerfooger"
Listen: C o N v E r S a T i O n S An experimentation that took place when in need of a modular... For those who are not atuned to experimental music, this piece is hardly musical and may not be assessible to you or may seemed abstract...
I didn't do much except passing the signal of a mini transistor radio with it's static noise running, through the MoogerFooger MF105 Murf... added some random patchings behind the Murf, routing "rate" to "envelop" and at times "mix". The rest is just knobbing, fading, sweeping the radio frequency band and stuffs. No effects or any EQ'ing added. What you hear is what MF105 did to the signal input. Pretty straight forward stuff...
The results? Ambient windy droney stuffs with spurts of crackly cranky random music and voices... Pretty interesting sounds. Musique Concrete?
Here's the newest improvisation using mainly only Zebranalogic stuffs. Keeping it here for longevity. Do visit THIS POST for a detailed discription of the improvisation as well as photos of the set...
"...All is metamorphosis in life, from plants to animals and man, yes, even in the latter," Goethe wrote to Sulpiz Boisseree in 1815... Utilizing emptiness releases the intensity of the introspective experience - "Architecture of Silence" by Tadao Ando. This track was inspired by a research email sent my way via a friend. Visit THIS POST for a detailed description of the process...
Ran an old mini transistor radio into a Moogerfooger MF105 MurF; did some patchings here and there and knobbed through the session with the frequecy band of the radio swept. Recorded one take with no effects or EQ added post or during. For more muck shots do visit HERE.
Using the ideology of Cocktail Party Effect, Synth Mantra II is a multi-tracked improvisation in the world of synths, filters and effects, melting the boundaries between analogue and digital as they fuse. For more pictures of the the session do visit HERE
TRACK VII: W.K.W Dream[reject] (Click title below at download table) Ok, so what happen when someone who doesn't know how to play the guitar and picked up an electric guitar for the first time and wanted to cut a track for an upcoming production? THIS. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basically, my idea is to cut tracks spontaneously, no multi-tracking, no post editing (except for boosting levels and general reverb)... everything was done live and recorded in one take. All kbobbings, filtering, manipulations and stuffs are all done intuitively... all based on impulses.
So these are tracks from those entries. If you have already heard them before then feel free to ignore this post :)
Right, so I am supposed to be working on the Museum project... but seeing my gears lying around and being neglected, I decided to spend some fun time with them, to make up for my negligence :P... There's a recording of the improvisation attached... hope you like it...
Here's the demo of the improv session: SynthMantra I
NOTICE:I have solved the hickup in links, thanks to Matrixsynth who suggested Twango. So all links work now! :) ... I have uploaded the music on my music page anyway, do visit, TRACK I: InNeReAr Apologies to all who were frustrated trying to load it...
Here's a basic run down of the set up for this improvisation session: Roland RS-09; Roland SH101; Sherman Filterbank II; Moogerfooger MF105; Zebranalogic VCF; Casio SA-5; and a Yamaha mixer; rather simple set up... SO, the RS09 left o/p runs through Sherman Filterbank II (SFB) and right o/p runs to mono channel on mixer; Send through Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; it's Headphone outs to MF105 i/p... The MF105 LFO patched to evelope, and left o/p to mono channel on mixer; send thru Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; and the right o/p to (SFB)... The ZebraVCF was sent to mono channel on mixer and Aux 1 (pre) sent randomly during improvisation; SFB was sent to stereo channel on mixer, sent through Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; SH101 was sent to mono channel on mixer, Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; Casio SA-5 o/p to Roland RS09 i/p; ... (I will not explain why and also how the SFB was being patched).
Right, so it's hit record and never looked back... fun improvisation for me. No multi-tracking, just stereo out to my recorder. All sweeping ambient and quirk squirking filter is sherman and MF105, and the ringing pulses and bird-like sounds were the effects of Zebra VCF, RS09 plays the organ & string tones and filtered nuts by filterbank and Zebra and MF105; Same thing for the bellish notes from Casio SA-5... Note to mention is the use of a Tibetan Singing Bowl, using a Rode NT3 condenser, the mic channel was sent to ZebraVCF slightly thru Aux 1 (pre) as well. The recording was done one take, no stopping and post editing done except to master the final volume and also pass a slight reverb through the entire track... track is AS IS. Some of the filtering may hurt your ears if you are not atuned to such music... All knobbing and manipulations of efx and filters done live...
Again, not a great track, but loads of fun for me :) More like having fun with analogue stuffs to see what I can churn out in real time, filtering, cross filtering and keeping as anlogue as I can (well arguments of SFB as not purely analogue still stands)... but anyway, I am just sharing the outcome of my noodling fun...
UPDATES: If you follow the patchings, you will realize everthing passes through the ZebraVCF... it's a wicked gear everyone should own. There's loads more on ZEBRANALOGIC, do visit to look it up! Everything is affordable and fairly priced. Looks great, sounds amazing and works wicked... If you do order, give the man some time... he is hand making, hand crafting the art out... and I believe he has many orders internationally. So wait it out... it's worth it! :)
