john-keener

[john-keener]

Process Documentation:

For this track, I used the Roli Noise App and Figure within GarageBand on my iPhone. In addition, I incorporated a sample I had on hand of myself tapping a wine glass, to which I added all of the echo. The drums and melody in the A section came from the Noise App. For the B section, I added some synth material from the Figure app, which I then edited down in GarageBand. Finally, I messed around with GarageBand’s FX, making particular use of the filter, the volume effects and the repeat function. I would usually try to make it longer but upon listening to what I had, I liked the way it ended and decided to keep it short which incidentally seems to work well with the punny title I came up with (I know, I’m a terrible person. I’m sorry)

[john-keener]

Remix combining material by Juliana Duenas, Maya Maloney-Hupert, and Dylan Wiggons

Process Documentation:

For this remix, I used Live, which I recently got the intro version of. This is the first full track I’ve made with it. The concept from the beginning was to take one person’s track, toy with it, use it as a foundation, then load some altered sounds from other tracks into a drum rack and essentially arrange the song in real time, given that Ableton’s software is meant roughly for that purpose. Originally, I intended to use a Push I’m borrowing but given the lack of time I’ve had at home, I ended up just using my portable MIDI keyboard to trigger the drum rack sounds.

I chose a clip from Juliana’s song, “Golden Hour” as the foundation along with a beat that I programmed in a 909 kit. I transposed Juliana’s clip up an octave, used a low pass filter, and crushed it with compression

For the drum rack sounds, I used one short sound from Juliana’s track which I used in one pad and then reversed in another. I used a couple short sounds from Maya’s track - the page flip she recorded and the background voice in a different sample, which I used in a way that makes me think of Steve Reich. Each of these I assigned to a pad in a relatively recognizable form - with minimal processing - and then also in less recognizable variations. I also took a short snippet from Dillon’s song, which is completely unrecognizable. Finally I took a couple sounds from Live’s library, namely a sub and a synth.

Overall, I’m very happy with the individual components of the song although I’d like to experiment more with how I use them. Namely, I’d be interested in step sequencing some of the sounds in the drum rack and maybe adding another track or two with some additional layers in them. Nonetheless the song is a pretty decent proof of concept/prototype for my intentions.

[john-keener]

Sample Genealogy

This 1991 song, “Safe From Harm,” by Massive Attack:

Samples Billy Cobham’s 1973 Fusion Classic, “Stratus” (below). It uses the bassline throughout the song. It sounds like it’s slightly slowed down and although the drums are there, they’re also layered with other drum sounds.

Jeff Beck also has a wicked cover of “Stratus” with Vinnie Colaiuta and Tal Wilkenfeld:

More recently and less foundationally, Pretty Lights’s ‘Understand Me Now’:

Uses quotational samples of Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

[john-keener]

Sampling Ethics

Evaluating sampling in terms of ethics makes more sense than morals precisely because whether use of a sample is right or wrong depends wholly on the context and nature of a specific case. Therefore, generalizing will be somewhat difficult, but I will make an attempt.

Now, the question here is about sampling without permission which narrows things down a bit and which, I suspect will lead some to fairly conclusive ‘No’s. I can imagine the arguments for this viewpoint - someone puts the time, effort, and money into developing a craft and then documenting it. It seems to follow that they should have ownership over the result, including the ability to decide who uses their product and how. I can sympathize with this, and to some degree I agree. In theory, if an “artist” does nothing but take a long sample of a recording, changes little or nothing about, adds little or nothing to it, combines it with little or nothing, and presents it as their own work, especially without permission, that’s not creative - they’ve done nothing original or significant. Indeed they might more accurately be called plagiarizers than artists.

That said, I would also hesitate to call this plagiarized “work” an instance of sampling. The term ‘sampling’ inherently implies taking a bit or a piece of something, which in and of itself requires the changing of it by taking it out of its original artistic form and context. Furthermore, if one then changes the sample, adds things to it, combines it with other things, this could reasonably - at least in some cases - be called a creative act. 

Now, in terms of having or not having permission, this issue comes down to the extent of recognizability when compared with the sampled-from work, as well as to the purpose of the creation. Is it a commercial use? Is it a purely creative one? How about an educational one? Regardless of the extent of creative reinterpretation, can a listener still easily identify the sample’s source upon listening? Also, who is the listener? Or has the sample’s source been so obscured by the size and re-working of the sample that no one could tell from where it came? All of these questions, and more that I’m probably ignoring, need to be asked and answered to judge whether the use of a sample should require permission from the source owner.

[john-keener]

Process Documentation:

For the self-remix assignment, I chose to remix this song. Last month in class, I used the opportunity to record in Dolan to put down some drum takes along with the original mix (sans cajon). Having had zero time to prepare for that session, I basically went in and jammed to my own track. I was happy with some of my ideas but not with any full takes so used the audio as raw materials for composition purposes. For this remix I used a few things from that session. The intro is a combination of takes overlaid with one another, including one that consists of a hi-hat part that I use during the choruses in the rest of the song. Both verses here are the second verse from one of the drum takes. For the chorus, instead of using a live performance, I bounced one snare drum hit along with the other instruments happening at that precise moment (bass synth, Erhu) and loaded it into a sampler, I then used a midi keyboard to make this sample function as both bass and snare drum part depending which pitch I played. The transition between the verse and the chorus was awkward so I tried to blend them using an echo effect along with a sci-fi kit sound which I moved from where it originally happened in the first mix. In general, I did a fair amount of rearranging of parts. I also chose a different electric guitar sound for the ending and sequenced the part down chromatically to make it extra dark and dramatic. I included the cajon still but added some heavy delay, tripled the track, panned it left, right, and center, and placed it low in the mix, I think to greater effect than in the original. I ultimately did not include the original melodic line that happened through the Glassy FM lead synth, although before deciding to completely get rid of it, I toyed with simplifying it/playing it through a different virtual instrument. 

[john-keener]

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/0LBz07gAdgUukYvpFyW87y?si=_brqSGlkSquhNOncOAkQKA)

Production Analysis:

Sounds identified on listening, in order. Many are likely doubled (or tripled, or quadrupled, etc):

Stick Clicks

Hayley Williams, with reverb and compression to the point of subtle distortion/Acoustic Drums (Carefully Mic’ed, EQ’ed, & Compressed)/Distorted Electric Guitar

Electric Bass Guitar, surely EQed and compressed

Electronic drums - mixed low and panned to the right starting at around 0:25

Echo on vocal track at 0:28

Extra guitar part at 0:37

Vocal doubling & harmony at the chorus

Probably a good deal of guitar doubling as well

Some sort of electronic effect starting at about 0:49 - Would guess that this is some sort of recorded EQ sweep paired with reverb

A clip of sound (not sure the source) used percussively at 1:35

Many of the same features for the rest of the song

[john-keener]

Real, Hyperreal, and Surreal Sounding Recordings

Real

That’s What Angels Can Do by The Wood Brothers (although it’s really just Oliver Wood in this case)

https://open.spotify.com/track/3F4aWtvtuDxReBm6gck72F?si=rRweQgGIRZuMkYf-q_9jBg

It doesn’t get much more “real” than an acoustic guitar, voice, and the sound of a fountain or shower (or whatever water is running in the background). It’s realistic because the sounds are easily identifiable and it doesn’t seem extensively produced - usually background noise is avoided in a studio. It’s basically just a sound captured by a mic, maybe two, probably a decent one, but probably not fussily placed. It sounds good but not like you wouldn’t be likely to hear a similar sonic profile outside of a recording.

Hyperreal

Gravity by John Mayer

https://open.spotify.com/track/3SktMqZmo3M9zbB7oKMIF7?si=1GRYGuTnSVa9EH_Fw6YK9Q

Gravity is definitely played by “real” instruments in the studio, but they’re likely carefully selected and amplified instruments recorded with carefully selected and painstakingly placed mics in a room that sounds really good, and then treated with EQ, reverb, and compression in post. The result is easily recognizable sounds but ones which are markedly distinct from (and many would say better than) anything you would ever get from anything other than a professionally studio-recorded, mixed, and mastered track. 

Surreal

KJZ by Photek

https://open.spotify.com/track/2aI2uHQLSXiWHxSmMpgSLe?si=rpxIE3IKReyPbvAvzhIjNQ

I’m inclined to make a distinction between live instruments and acoustic instruments (under which assumption my selection and discussion of Gravity functions) and eschew the label “real” completely. Why shouldn’t we call a computer a “real” instrument? Like the resulting work or not, people have been making music with them for decades now. However, if I have to associate “real” with one of the two previous terms, I might as well stick with convention and longevity and pair the term with acoustic instruments. If I am to call something unreal or surreal, KJZ is a good candidate, as the sounds, even ones that are clearly sampled from acoustic sources, are used in ways that are only possible through heavy processing and editing.

[john-keener]

(John Keener)

#SoundCloud #music #John Keener

[john-keener]

(John Keener)

For an assignment to make a song with one or more found sound(s)

Process Documentation:

For this track I used a sample I took at the Shuttle Train a couple years ago and another one taken by Sophie Huisken, apparently at Union Square. I cut them up, used some reverb, fades, volume automation, and (obviously) looped them. For the other instruments, I used a kick and snare from the Battery plugin, which I adjusted the reverb and level on, and a couple different synths from the Alchemy plugin, including the bass synth which I doubled and panned +/- 30.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the result save for one or two things I might tweak. However, due to time constraints and my decision to focus on quality (by my judgement) over quantity, it is only an intro and A section.

#SoundCloud #music #John Keener

[john-keener]

Written using only MIDI as required by an assignment for Music Technology Practicum

Process Documentation:

This is an original song I wrote. I used one loop from the Logic X library - the ‘Deep Electric Piano 01′ loop, which I played through the Glassy FM Lead synth instead of the original electric piano sound - and the rest of the MIDI I recorded in myself using either musical typing or an Akai LPK-25 controller. I made a few edits to the MIDI in the piano roll but this was a minimal part of my process. I used the arpeggiator on the controller for the Marimba in the Bridge. I used a combination of built in Logic sounds - Hard Rock Guitar, Cajon, Erhu, Marimba, Pulse Bass and the aforementioned lead - and effects and some from the Native Instruments collection - namely the ‘Widen’ sound from Massive and Battery’s Analog Sci-Fi Kit.

I am somewhat satisfied with the track but I do still consider it unfinished, not least of which because I purposefully left drums out (other than the Cajon loop that I recorded and used to create some continuity) with the intention of later recording my playing on kit along to it.

[john-keener]

A groovy pizza indeed! I took the trap ‘Special’ and messed with it until it the preset pattern was pretty much no more. I would still call it ‘trap’ though.

[john-keener]

Loop Song Peer Review.

In this post I will be reviewing the loop song found here.

Overall I thought this loop song was pretty dope! I really like how the drum ostinato would kind of trip over itself. The form was pretty clear and there was something a little different even when sections would return to keep it interesting. I liked how the different parts got a little bit more disjointed/disturbed toward the end to match the unsettled drum pattern that was present thorough out, until the very end where that drum part cut out, as if the protagonist of this tune’s tale was finally in the clear. I think it would’ve been cool for some of those disjointed/disturbed ideas to interject here and there is the begging section to kind of make it a little more off-putting. I really liked that idea of things being a bit off and I think it would be cool if that theme was leaned into a bit more, really have the listener feeling uncomfortable. Loop songs are PERFECT for perpetuating that vibe, because what’s creepier than a broken record playing the same thing over and over again?

Other than that I thought that this tune was very well done and well mixed. My only real critique - or rather a suggestion if further edits are to be made - is to really commit to that unsettling, maybe creepy, vibe and keep the listener even high on their toes!

[john-keener]

Loop Song Peer Review

https://soundcloud.com/chang-liu-170976564/shake-shake

I have been assigned to review/critique the loop project at the above link.

Here’s the positive: 

There’s some potential here as there are a bunch of interesting sounding loops selected in this project.

What needs work: 

First and foremost, the song is rather disjunct. I played it for my fiancé and she also commented that it lacked cohesion. The use of more repetition would be the first step towards fixing this issue. Making sure that the loops are at a consistent tempo with one another and that they transition smoothly from one to the next would be the next crucial fix here. I would recommend lengthening sections/having a clearer form, doing a bit more multi-track layering, and being careful to use effective levels for each loop. From there, the composer could experiment with different editing and mixing techniques. It seems like the composer selected a lot of different loops when they could have stretched fewer ideas a lot farther to greater results. 

Bottom line:

It seems like the person who wrote this might have relatively little experience with using Digital Audio Workstations and loops, but there is a sense of exploration here that could be the seed from which some really interesting creative output could grow. I would encourage the composer to continue to explore using these creative tools, maybe by watching some tutorials on lynda.com (to which we have access through NYU) or YouTube in order to learn the technical side of things.

[john-keener]

(Ethan Hein)

Feedback from my professor via remix

#SoundCloud #music #Ethan Hein #pedagogical remix

[john-keener]

Loops Project!

Process Documentation

Loops:

Funky Electric Piano 09

Golden Age Beat

Wide Wobble Bass

Marching On Horn Accent 01

Academy All

Fireplace All

Tambourine 01

Tambourine 06

Mercury 6 Zero-G

Jazz Hustle Flute 04

I selected the loops fairly intuitively, sometimes with a general type of sound in mind and sometimes in the course of stumbling over something I liked, and sometimes a combination of the two such as with my last loop - the flute sample. Originally for that section I was thinking of some sort of soulful vocal riff but didn’t find anything in the Apple Loops library that I liked. As I widened the parameters of my search for something to put in that place in the song, I came upon Jazz Hustle Flute 04 and felt it clicked. The order I have them listed is the order they appear but also roughly the order that I added them. My general feeling is that the more you add to a song, the more difficult it is to find things that fit together, as the combinations selected in the beginning define the overall identity of the song - even if that combination is subjectively not to someone’s taste - and subsequent choices must enhance that identity without clashing with it.

Structurally, I used arrangement markers in Garageband to lay out the form early on in the process - probably after I had selected only the first two or three loops. From there it became a matter of how to make that form effective through layering, effects, levels, automation, chopping, transposing, etc. I didn’t change the form once it was set.

I definitely feel that composing with loops is a legitimate form of creativity. Whether or not a composition is creative or not depends more on the context under which it is created and considered, and, within that context, the level of consideration, transformation, and fusion undergone by the various elements of the composition, not on the origin of those elements. While I can understand that some people may have an attachment to more analog, performative, even exclusively acoustic media, I believe in the coexistence and the fusion of the analog and the digital, the acoustic and the electronic, the performative and the sampled. All of these media have something to add to creative music making and should be thought of as part of one toolkit rather than opposing paradigms.

#loops garageband creativity music

[john-keener]

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/1rqqCSm0Qe4I9rUvWncaom?si=ecchAxtvSc_yOelQ3tBBdg)

Form Analysis:

SectionStart TimeNumber of Measures I0:004 C0:118 V0:398 P0:594 C1:108 V1:344 B1:464 P1:578 C2:2016

[john-keener]

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/2clWBiCpqRUssQH8FiTldc?si=hDhVCX92Q5OwFoTeVSryAA)

So I don’t really spend a lot of thought on what music I find exceptionally terrible. Generally, my line of thinking is that what makes music good or not is extraordinarily dependent on context and perspective. Thus, while I might encounter something I don’t like, I don’t usually hold onto a negative reaction to it or make a note of what it is because it’s out there for a reason, serving some kind of purpose. I was tempted to share Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ but thought better of it because, although it might be considered poor in a broader societal-artistic context, it was made by a thirteen-year-old girl who was trying to have an enjoyable musical experience and who subsequently got bullied by everyone on the internet, without regard for her personhood. I’m sharing this instead as an example of something that is ‘exceptionally terrible,’ but I want to be clear that when I call it terrible, I don’t mean that it isn’t well made. It’s actually incredibly effective, brilliant even, at fulfilling its purpose as a lament for the victims of a terrible tragedy. In that sense it is terrible because it is so effectively about something terrible. However, from a purely practical perspective, this isn’t a piece that I ever put on for my own enjoyment because it is very, very, very dark. I appreciate it but I don’t like it (which, ultimately, is kind of the point, isn’t it?)

#exceptionallyterrible brilliantthough