Music 220A Final: A Conversation among Programmed Musicians
Chuck Files and Audio Files
- Binauraul Mixer
- Stereo Recorder
- Score (Chuck)
- Regular Stereo Player (score without binaural)
- Guitar 1 (A Major)
- Guitar 2 (D Major)
- Guitar 3 (B minor)
- Guitar 4 (E dominant)
Binaural Mixdown
Final
Stereo Mix
Final
Description
My recording imitates a group of musicians in a room taking turns playing chords. The musicians are attempting to play one chord each, switch randomly and change rhythms each time. In reality, the sample for each guitar track starts at a different time each time that guitar plays, making for variation not only in the larger structures of the playing style, but also in the sample's tempo and its interaction with the perceived tempo of the entire piece.
Each guitar comes from a separate corner of the room. As each guitar produces a rhythm to establish the tonality, the next virtual player shakes it up.
Because the samples are played with different rhythms and tones, tracking the harmonic progression of the session is difficult, especially since the guitars are panned to speakers across the room from one another. In one cycle of the chord progression, the listener encounters tempo changes, rhythm changes, and tone changes, but each chord lasts the same amount of time in absolute terms. The piece is theoretically in rhythm, despite the chaos that comes out of the speakers.
The difference between the two score files is that one plays a binaural mix and one plays a mix in regular stereo for output in a stereo system rather than headphones.
Sources