January 2012
4 posts
Back.
I think it’s fair to say I’ve been gone for a while, what with having a dissertation to write and post uni survival to think about. So after a small bout of homelessness and a large bout of pennilessness I’m back on the musical wagon!
My time away from Spire Craines wasn’t completely fruitless however, Ive worked a lot with Christopher Barn and together we’ve written...
November 2010
2 posts
September 2010
5 posts
R U N T H I S T O W N // R E M I X
Run...
Drop // Rough Mix by Spire Craines
N E W T R...
August 2010
1 post
June 2010
2 posts
May 2010
11 posts
Production and Recording // Task 5 // Full...
For this task, I chose to rework my cover of Neurosis’ A Sun That Never Sets that I’d done for the Band Demo task. In the brief it stated that we were allowed to use any software to process and reshape the audio. This was a prospect that I found very exciting. I had felt I’d let myself down by going into task 4 with a lower standard of preparation than I am willing to accept from myself. Of course...
Production and Recording // Task 4 // Band Demo
0604962: Band Recording
This was a task that I found particularly troublesome. Since so many people need to use the recording facilities right through the year, it is difficult to obtain a substantial amount time, while simultaneously organizing your “band” to show up on the date that you’ve booked to record.
With these problems aside however, I was looking forward to this task. I liked the idea...
Production and Recording // Task 3 // Stereo Mic...
For this task, I chose to record Kevin Garrod on acoustic guitar and Sam Hale on violin. I believe these instruments to have a rich and - especially in the case of the violin - an enveloping quality. These are instruments with the ability to fill a room with sound, if that is what the musician is aiming for.
For Kevin’s takes, I used AB, Mid Side and XY. Before I began the recording, I fully...
3 tags
Acousmatics // 14
This is my last acousmatic entry. This module has been a brilliant learning experience. I was incredibly excited at the prospect of having a brief as free and limitless as this one. I’ve said since the beginning that I felt that this was a genre of music with the capability to expand in many different directions and I’ve really enjoyed trying my hand at it.
I think one of the main...
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A C O U S M A T I C S / / 1 3 / / E A...
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Acousmatics // 12 // Notes on Piece 2
For this piece I wanted to explore the idea of narrative in music. The piece needed to tell a story purely through sound.
My first thought was to include a character in the piece, portrayed only by the noises of their movement and speech. The audience would follow this character through the world that the story is set in.
In the criteria it states that there must be a contrast between the first...
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ACOUSMATICS // 11 // PIECE 2
Here is the finished...
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A C O U S M A T I C S / / 1 0 / / D E...
April 2010
5 posts
3 tags
Acousmatics // 9 // Modes of Listening cont.
In relation to this, Natasha Barrett states:
”Common experience tells us that it is nearly impossible to ignore referential information. Our perceptual mechanism has been biologically conditioned to explain causation and find meaning. Developing an entire musical language based on Mode 3 (reduced listening) is therefore unrealistic.” - Barret, Trends in Electroacoustic Music
I...
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Acousmatics // 8 // Schaeffer's Modes of Listening
In 1966, Pierre Schaeffer published a text in which he attempted to categorize all sound producing objects into a set of criteria. These were based on the object’s size, shape, harmonic timbre etc. He then goes on to categorize what he believed to be four ways in which people listen to and interpret sound/music.
These four modes are as follows:
One: Information Gathering (Ecouter):
The...
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Acousmatics // 7 // Diffusing Fantomas
We had our last session on the 26th March. As it was the last one before the holdiay, there was nothing to show. This was good in a lot of ways as it gave me a chance to diffuse Fantomas’ album Suspended Animation. I had been thinking about it for a week or two, and really wanted to hear how those insane noises would react to being bounced around the room.
It was a lot of fun, but very...
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Acousmatics // 6
To create the piece, I used a mixture of software; Max MSP and Ixi Quarks to mangle the original recordings and Logic to sequence and further manipulate the audio. Once I had a narrative structure, I knew what I wanted the original sounds to do and how I wanted them to transform. An example of this is when the rain changes texture and shape. I decided that this is how I would like the piece to...
March 2010
6 posts
4 tags
Acousmatics // 5
Here’s my first acousmatic...
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LIVE AT THE PORTLAND ARMS 16/03/10
I am supporting Liam Lever on the 16th March at
The Portland Arms, Cambridge // CB4 3BA
If you come, you can have my first born.
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WatchF R I G H T E N E D T H A T H O N E S T Y I S N ’ T E N O U G H
Here’s a soundtrack I wrote a couple of years ago for the short film ‘”Frighted That Honesty Isn’t Enough” / I Couldn’t Help Wondering’ by Ciaran Wood.
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Acousmatics // 4 // Tetractys
As mentioned in earlier blogs, the term acousmatic came from the method of listening adopted by the Pythagoreans (the followers of Pythagoras’ teachings). The Tetractys was their symbol of worship.
The Tetractys is a triangular symbol consisting of ten dots. To the Pythagoreans, the symbol had several meanings: The four elements (represented by the bottom most row), the ten dots (a number...
5 tags
A c o u s m a t i c s / / 3
Here’s a...
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Acousmatics // 2 // Diffusion
Because of the nature of acousmatic music, live performances were essentially an impossibility due to the restraints of the technology through the 1930’s. As a result, it developed it’s own form of performance know as diffusion.
Diffusion is the movement of sound through a space depicted by an array of speakers that surround the audience. The movement of the prerecorded material is...
February 2010
9 posts
1 tag
6 tags
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Acousmatics // 1
The word ‘acousmatic’ dates back to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who is believed to have tutored his students (known as Akousmatikoi) from behind a screen. The thought behind this was that his students would be able to concentrate more acutely on what is actually being said if there was no visual stimulus to go with it.
The term acousmatic music was coined by Pierre Schaeffer....
WatchJ O U R N A L - S I N G J L E E
This is my most recent soundtrack for Sing Lee’s film ‘Journal’.I recorded most of the sounds used in it myself. All the squelchytransformation sounds were made from birds outside my old house. If you want to see it and hear what sing has to say about it, go here:
http://carnivaloflunacy.blogspot.com/2010/02/journal-w-spire-craines.html
One.
This is my first Tumblr blog. These first couple of entries will be bits and pieces from my last blog, Hope you like it!