pareidoliaudio

[pareidoliaudio]

Working on some engraving in Lilypond. There are far too many hacks and superfluous, redundant items to warrant this code being elegant by any means, but the end result is close to where I want it to be. Next up: How much of the electronics should be indicated (if at all)?

#cloudcomplex

[pareidoliaudio]

Using odd divisions to generate a sort-of danceable beat. Definitely Alva Noto inspired, the “beep” sound (for lack of a better name) is actually an EQ’d sample of plugging my 3.5 mm jack into/out of my computer. Dig that classic ‘90s sound!

#cloudcomplex

[pareidoliaudio]

Climactic, glitchy-beat sketch. Roving, rotating piano chords with light delay + granular + reverb effect will ring over this. 

#cloudcomplex

[pareidoliaudio]

A working draft of the first 3+ minutes. What I was working so hard as ending material might actually be a nice moment in the middle: I like reintroducing the speaking following the cadential feel of the end of her song. Tons of work to be done on the speaking part: I’m not happy with EQ, it needs way, way more cutting/chopping/plundering, panning is always on my mind, and I’m really fighting the room noise in the recording, which always gets so exposed if I’m not supporting it with some sort of drone. What will be really interesting to see is how this piece closes, but I suppose the text will help dictate that for me. 

#Dear Friends #sketch

[pareidoliaudio]

Further sculpting/editing/revising the ending material. Nixed the “tread softly” sample after several attempts to get it to “fit.” Still using it as harmonic support for the last line when she sings “anger.” Also worked on earlier material (more glitchy/noisy) to shift focus from the reverberant/ethereal sound world that this creates. 

#Dear Friends #sketch

[pareidoliaudio]

Still sculpting the last material, focusing more attention to EQ details on Sister Kahn’s voice. Still feels oversaturated with reverb, but it might make a nice arcing narrative from the gritty, glitch-like textures that open the piece. Not committed yet on the last sample either: Although with some work I can still make it fit, I’m liking the last “tread softly” as a final statement. 

#Dear Friends #sketch

[pareidoliaudio]

Sketching out ending material and am pretty happy with this song sung by Sister Chan Khong of Plum Village in 1994. Might be a bit heavy on the reverb, but I wanted some blend with the music box and sine wave drones. I like the raw, lo-fi quality of the recording and it was a pretty straightforward accompaniment: Just stick with the pitches in Eb major. 

#Dear Friends #sketch

[pareidoliaudio]

Reworked opening gesture so that it is more well-paced and has a clear onset of energy. More supporting materials added and tried to create a “thread” of sorts, with granular sounds (a piano sample) getting washed by reverb, into a sine wave (at the same pitch), leading to a singing bowl, which then introduces the voice. 

#Dear Friends #audio #sketch

[pareidoliaudio]

Lately I’ve been enjoying a sort-of “scrapbook” technique, where I scour my trove of old improvisations, audio sketches, etc., and use them in new pieces. Reminds me a bit of the viola solo toward the end of Rothko Chapel, where Feldman uses a melody written in his teenage years. This excerpt -- for a new piece -- has samples from my dissertation, improvisations on Joan of Arc, and old RTcmix glitch tests from grad school. 

I tried to meld everything with a pedal tone that increases in its wave-shaped output and returns back to a low sine wave. 

#Dear Friends #sketch #audio

[pareidoliaudio]

Gestures are composed in RTcmix and supporting material is derived from synth improvisations. Balancing the need to further craft this material and ensure that there is textural room for the live performers (piano, vibraphone, aux percussion, saxophone, singing bowls).

#meditationroom

[pareidoliaudio]

Harmonic scheme with timings

#meditationroom #draft

[pareidoliaudio]

Turning to a set of directions for Meditation Room. Notational ideas never seemed to fit what I was really after and moreover, I want to really dig into long-form improvisation with a few of my colleagues for this.

#meditationroom #draft

[pareidoliaudio]

Portraits were first created in Jitter and then overlaid in Pages.

#duo #album #max/msp

[pareidoliaudio]

Apple Pages turned out to be all that was needed for the album cover. Really like the look of Avenir Next (Ultra Light) lately.

#duo #album

[pareidoliaudio]

Putting finishing touches on album with Bobby this week. Almost four hours of material whittled down into a single, continuous 30+ minute mix. 

#duo #album

[pareidoliaudio]

#meditationroom #RTcmix

[pareidoliaudio]

Notation has hit a dead end for a while now. The further I get into this piece, the more it seems that the bread and breadth of it lies in the long, ambient audio track and I want to be sure that performers are free to interact with the audio (and resulting mood/sound world) without too much restriction. 

Is a single page of text the answer? I like the idea that I could keep things pretty vague and allow them to breathe along with the work, so to speak. My instinct says that things need to be notated (and I’m not sure why that is) but more and more this piece seems to move in a direction that yearns for freedom from the performers. 

Looking back on some class notes, I remember learning that Cage got into a period (starting around 0′00″) where composition became whatever it was that he was doing and that sometimes scores (like Variation V) came about AFTER the performance. Something about this is reassuring (as is often the case when I hear that Cage or others wrestled with these problems in the past) and gives me confidence to at least try a vague, text-based score. 

#meditationroom #journal