Project proposals
Molly Norris
This is the musical "problem" that I'm going to try and solve.
I am originally from Northern California and I moved to Boston for my
undergraduate work. I left my family, friends, everything I knew to move
there. I created a whole new life there, new friends, new way of
thinking,
new love. I recently moved back here...back home, but away from the life
that I adored. Although this place is amazing and I am happy to be
"home",
there is still a piece of me that is in Boston. I feel as if my identitiy
is
once again in question. My piece will be about the conflict I feel about
being here: happy to be home and yet still yearning to be the person I
was in
Boston. This is the problem that I would like to try and solve musically.
There are several sound samples that I would like to include in my piece.
-Laughter: specifically the laughter and sounds of my family. I would
like to
record Thanksgiving dinner specifically.
-Sounds of Water: The ocean, a fountain, the shower. Any type of runnning
water. I feel this symbolizes my bicoastal affiliation.
-Overtone/Harmonic Singing: I would like to incorporate this "wordless"
singing because it gives the feeling of bodylessness and I feel that the
experieince of constantly moving has left me feeling bodylessness in a
way.
-There is a poem I would like to incorporate a poem by Charles Bukowski:
"The important thing is the obvious thing that no one is
saying."
The piece will start out simply with the sound of water trickling and the
poem being read by different people in my family and with the sounds of
family in the background. Gradually, the order of the words of the poem
will
be changed so it becomes unintelligble from its original form. The sounds
of
the water will get louder and the harminic singing will take over the
background from the family sounds. The tempo the words are read at will
increase and the sounds of the water will increase until it sounds like a
huge river raging. At this point the words will be completely gone and
the
only sounds will be noise. Then silence for a few seconds...and the soft
sounds of someone whispering...until you finally hear the poem in the
correct
order again.
Joel Miller
Project Proposal for "The 'Vine"
I would like to work on a piece I've had shelved for a couple of years.
The intent of the piece is to explore the sonic environment of a cafe, in
this case "The Crepevine" in San Francisco's Inner Sunset. I used to visit
the cafe regularly and was quite impressed with the soundscape. During
regular business hours, I walked around the cafe with a Sony Pro Walkman
and a condenser mic, recording the general cafe atmosphere. After hours, I
connected contact mics to a coffee grinder, an espresso machine, and
various pieces of dish ware. I left off creating sample loops in the
following categories: "EEEE", "SHHH", "MMMM", "GRRR", "Percussion", and
"Other".
So... I'd like to pick up where I left off and create a composition using
this source material. In general, I try not to get too carried away with
effects processing. I favor using different mic techniques, pitch
shifting, bandpass filtering, and sample reversal for sound manipulation.
Before I describe the concept, let me just say, it probably relates more to
science fiction than music. Conceptually, I view the sound manipulations
as changing the attributes of the listener, not the sound - i.e. what would
the event sound like if the listener had a different trajectory through
space-time, different perceptual organs, and/or different cognitive
processing? I'm not a purist, though. I will use other forms of sound
manipulation if it aids the piece. In regards to composition, I lean
towards industrial/sound-art pieces which tend to be very repetitious,
droning, and rhythmic.
Equipment: Sony Pro Walkman, stereo condenser mic, stereo contact mic,
Sound Forge, and Cakewalk Pro Audio.
Michael Schultz
For the composition project, I would like to take a two or three shapes
and use them for every aspect of the composition:
I. large scale structure
A. densities of texture/numbers of simultaneous instruments
B. overall registral shape
C. rhythmic quantization value
II. intemediate structure
A. contours of melodic lines
i. discrete pitches fit to some scale
ii. continuous pitches
a. portamento
b. relative detunings of simultaneous pitches
B. phrase dynamics
C. evolution of timbre
III. small scale structure/instrument construction
A. periodic waveforms (instead of sine waves)
B. frequency spectrum (for more complex waveforms built up from A.)
C. adsr-type amplitude envelopes
D. amplitude modulation
An alternative possibility is a piece for pvc-tube and synth-tube. There
are a multitude of sounds than can be made by tapping, rolling,
scratching, blowing, ..., the tube.
Nathan Schuett
I would like my final project to investigate computer rhythm. For me,
rhythm is a necessary part of music. Music doesn't have to be a slave
to rhythm, but I feel there should be at least a few portions of every
piece where rhythm is a major part of the experience. I know that
rhythmical patterns are tough to produce on the computer, but that's what
I would like to focus on. I am also intrigued by competing rhythms. For
example, in Professor Chafe's "Transect", I was fascinated whenever the
pipe-sounds converged in rhythm. I would like to ask him how he produced
those exact sounds and then expand upon them for my piece.
Steven Riley
I want to study the effects of random walks on sound quality. What I
aim to do in my final project is to take a patch such as a pluck tone and
put four notes into a relatively stable initial configuration, such as a
major chord or in octaves. Then I will apply random walks to certain
perameters: pitch, amplitude, and duration. So ideally what will happen
is from second to second, the configuration of the four notes changes
slightly and interesting chord/melodic changes occur.
Michelle Daniels
For my final project, I'd like to write something inspired by Pierre
Henry's musique concrete. I received a package from home today,
containing lots of bubble wrap, and I was reminded of how bubble wrap
can make lots of interesting and even rhythmic sounds. I would like to
sample some bubbles popping, one at a time as well as many at a time in
sort of clusters and use those sounds as the basis of my composition. I
might synthesize something that sounds like air leaving a bubble in
scheme and SND, and use that as well. I would also definitely manipulate
the bubble sounds to change the pitch and duration. As for the
compositional frame, I'm not sure yet how this piece is going to evolve,
but I'm envisioning it starting as an exploration of what can be done
with a bubble, rather slow and deliberate, and then finishing with an
ending reminiscent of the Conlon Nancarrow piece we listened to, with
bubbles popping everywhere faster and faster into one big explosion.
Chris Gignoux
We have looked at two different models of instruments, the clarinet and
plucked string. However, another instrument can be modeled using a
modified impulse signal: the drum. I propose to use scheme to modify the
plucked string code into that of a drum. I will then create snare, tom,
bass drum, and cymbal sounds and use them to create a drum track to a
song, combined with sounds recorded in the studio and put together in
SND. There I can add filters and other effects using scheme.
This project will allow for total control over the drum sounds, to make
them as "booming" or muted as is necessary, as well as give control over
pitch in an attempt to give these drums more of a feel than the average
synthesized drums. Also, using SND gives the ability to do more than
stereo which will give spacial freedom I haven't worked in before.
Michael Gurevich
My composition will attempt to apply some non-conventional concepts to
conventional musical objects, in order to create a perceptual experience
other than that to which a listener may be accustomed. This experience
will be more fluid and imprecise in terms of pitch and rhythm, but will
consist of a limited repertoire of generally unified material. Musical
objects will retain their own space and character throughout, and though
they relate to the surrounding objects, will assert their own
independence. This independence, however, will transform to anonymity as
the individual objects multiply and are subsumed by a gradually forming
sonic collective. The underlying principles are twofold. First, it is a
process that will meet its downfall in its uncontrolled expansion, a
constructive destruction. Secondly, the construction itself is composed
of material that, while unified, is also quite fluid in its
inter-relationships, yielding a structure that is sturdy, but flexible.
The objects in question will be essentially unique, short, pitched
events that will occupy a constrained physical space. These objects will
enter in pairs, occupying initially the same space pitch-wise, timbrally,
spatially, and rhythmically. These pairs will be pulled apart in terms of
pitch and space, but will remain unified in their rhythmic occurrence.
This gradual pulling apart will create a more fluid perception of pitch
than listeners are accustomed to. Rhythmic interaction has yet to be
determined (whether the objects will assert rhythmic independence as
well), but will in any case be approximate. Instances of each object will
recur at a quasi-regular rate, the deviation of which will likely be
determined probabilistically. In the same way that a slow, continuous
pitch detuning will necessitate a shift in the fundamental perception of
pitches, an approximate rhythmic structure will create an altered
perception in the temporal domain.
The exact nature of the sound objects is yet to be determined, but it
could be collected, synthesized, or some hybrid, and will certainly be
variable through the course of the piece. The sounds of excited tubes
and similar models as used in previous experiments could in fact provide
appropriate sonic material. In such a case, the initial conglomerate
could be a spectral cross-synthesis of the two, and in their pulling
apart, each could regain its full sonic character.
A number of interesting possibilities exist for determining the overall
process of construction of this large sound structure. As mentioned
previously, the individual changes each sound object undergoes,
especially in terms of rhythm and its rate of change, could be generated
probabilistically. The introduction of new objects and their
multiplication has a certain biological connotation, in which case a
genetic or evolutionary algorithm could be an interesting determination
of the progress of the overall structure. Similarly, the
over-construction of the large-scale structure has chaotic implications,
which would be another consideration in determining this progression.
This piece will be implemented in the Max/MSP environment using a mixture
of strictly event-based data-processing components and audio
signal-generating and processing elements not unlike those in PD or SND.
MSP provides for a real-time environment, in which the stochastic aspects
will piece can result in unique performances. It will likely use an
8-speaker arrangement in order to give enough spatial resolution for the
sound objects to be heard independently.
The version submitted for the purposes of this course will likely be a
functioning preliminary study of the work in progress, seeing as such a
work will necessitate quite a lot of refinement before producing a final
version.
Tim Stonehocker
Structural principle:
I intend to compose a piece which explores the possibilities of "zooming" in
and out of music sounds. Much like the visual effects where one zooms into
a picture far enough that another picture is seen, I will explore the
potentials of changing the playback rate of a sound by a few orders of
magnitude over time. Various additional techniques will be used to enhance
the sensation of "zooming" in or out, such as incorperating Shepherd tones
the sensation of "zooming" in or out, such as incorperating Shepherd tones
and changing spacial cues such as reverb in real time.
Techniques:
I will zoom in to sounds which at some level have been sampled from the real
world, although I will likely modify them to creating the desired illusions.
Shepherd tones will obviously be generated synthetically, as will the
reverb.
Of course, I'm still not sure where this idea will lead me, but I'm looking
forward to exploring it.
Sandeep Ghael
I am interested in exploring the sounds created by digital forms of
distortion. I would like to compose my piece by combining these
digitally distorted soundsources with more traditional sound processing
techinques (reverb, modulation, filtering) to created an interesting
juxtaposition. The sounds, when untreated, will be clearly digital.
But can signal processing and other synthesis techniques disguise their
origins?
Sound sources:
Digital Clipping
Aliasing
Sample rate degradation
Quantization noise
Digital Transients (clicks)
The sound sources will be created with snd, pd and matlab.
Editing will also be accomplished with snd.
Sequencing:
The composition will be sequenced with a digital multitracking
system (like Logic Pro Audio).
Michael Prados
Being a musician and an engineer, I am interested in the oft observed
musical qualities exhibited by machines. Machines are known to
produce sounds which resembled percussion, bowed instruments,
brass, and even the human voice. I propose to take samples
of these sounds, from a machine shop (where mechanical parts are
hewn from raw materials.) These sounds, upon manipulation of pitch
and other aspects, will be the raw materials from which a composition
exploiting their unique qualities shall be constructed. I will likely
work with Steven Riley on this project, synergizing his compositional
paradigm with this sound paradigm.
Kirstin Cummings
a reading of e.e. cummings' "little balloon man". i could fiddle with
the sound for background and for the voice. i guess that would make it
sort of a spoken word piece...
Erich R. Eminhizer
I'm going to try and make a bagpipe-esque medley using the sounds from
various alarm clocks. I would borrow a bunch of alarm clocks and record
the sound, that make some goofy surreal alarm clock/bagpipe
composition. If creating a true authentic bagpipe melody is too difficult,
then I will just create a composition for an alarm clock orchestra, meaning
"a bunch of alarm clock sounds", with maybe some other stuff thrown in on a
whim.
Steve Perella
For my project proposal, I'm thinking of mixing together mostly
recorded sound and then apply filters, resampling, etc... I'm thinking
about centering the composition around a message that I have saved on my
answering machine that consists of both a question and the answer. I
might distort the answer portion so it is unitelligible and then gradually
make it undestandable while the question slowly becomes completely
distorted. And I'll have other sounds mixed in as well for a little
variety.
Daniel Walling
These are the possibilities I'd like to experiment with, and incorporate
those that work: A. Just and Pythagorean tuning systems. What is the
effect of switching between them sequentially? Of combining them
simultaneously in different registers? Or the same resgister, different
timbres? B. Along a similar vein I would like to experiment with sinusoid
harmonic series, specifically using frequency ratios of either mathematical
or statistical series to define the frequencies and / or amplitudes of
overtones. What if those same series were derived from, or simultaneously
controlling other aspects of the music? C. I would like to experiment with
spatialization, particularly creating unnatural reverberation and echo
environments, ie what if the reverb was that of a cylindrical chamber whose
radius and sound reflectivity oscillated? Or a space with the impulse
response of a rotating steam tunnel? D. I would also be interested in
experimenting with my digeridoo, applying its varying frequency
characteristic to other sounds.
Keatly Thor Haldeman
I am going to create a musical piece using a small, probably
unmusical, sample and use different filters on it. By doing this, I
will create a piece not by use of many different samples, as I usually
do, but by massive manipulation of a single sound byte.