Elysium
Elysium
Elysium is a piece that involves a live performance that is accompanied by pre-rendered ambient music. Initially, the principle of this project revolved around making a multi-channel reverse reverb/delay effect (as described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_echo) for the performer*. This task turned out to be incredibly hard to accomplish in the given amount of time for the performance at Bing.
Instead it has been decided to use conventional audio effects (delay, reverb, flanger and teensy bit of transparent distortion) to create a pleasing ambiance for the audience. The The performer will alternate between an acoustic and electric guitar throughout the perfomance where the instrument will be fed through a variety of effects pedals and live mic'd which will be in turn routed through a capable audio interface.
The ambient sounds accompanying the performer will be partially generated through SuperCollider. Third order ambisonics (sixteen channels) are the chosen strategy to spatialize the sound. The AmbiX plugin seems like a viable option for this purpose and the DAW chosen to be the helping hand throughout this process is Cockos Reaper. Triggers to control the movement of the piece are provided in the form of OSC messages though SuperCollider (currently, the implementation of this process is completely unknown).
This piece is imagined having a single act. This Act will be a solo performance.
Motivation
All the presentations in our Music 222 classes are mostly contemporary pieces which are definitely impressive from the point of view of innovative implementations of spatial sounds but I do not particularly enjoy them. I attribute this to my lack of any music training which in turn has me ask the question what the composer is REALLY trying to convey through their piece and this might make me sound like a bigot. However, I can at least partially understand emotions conveyed through "traditional" music, which has a definite tempo, rhythm, REAL acoustic instruments and all the bells and whistles surrounding that. So I decided to take upon myself (as a complete illiterate musician) to "compose" a "piece" which best expresses my understanding of how music should sound when spatialized around an audience.
Results
Current Progress
The primary composition for this Act has been completed. The acoustic guitar has been quadruple tracked with accompanying percussion generated though the Xpand2! plugin suite in Reaper. This composition exists as a stereo mix-down (not binaural) and can be heard here : https://soundcloud.com/thearpeggiator/mute
To Do
The following tasks are to be completed in the week building upto the performance:
- Multi-track recording of the basic acoustic guitar. Since we are aiming for 3rd order ambisonics, I expect to track the acoustic piece 8-10 more times and pan in accordingly using the AmbiX plugin in Reaper.
- Add more percussion to fill the holes created between the acoustic sections.
- Compose the live acoustic riffs to be played along with the pre-mixed 16 channel composition.
- Compose the live electric guitar solo for the conclusion of the song.
- Rahul Agnihotri => performer
