Archive for the Spoken Word category
Grant
October 31, 2015
Day 66: Saturday 31 Oct 2015
Disjointed:
A Beatscape with vocals.
I made a beat with Xenon a few weeks ago and left it. Today I revisited it and slowed it down in TwistedWave 🙂 Then I ran it through most of the effect apps I own, really just experimenting. In the end I used three different versions with Korvpressor, Flying Haggis, Master FX, and FLUX:FX. I loaded these into Auria and mixed them together adjusting volume and panning.
It was okay, but to be honest I felt I’d wasted a couple of hours.
I had a look through my Beats folder, the place I put interesting sounding drumbeats that I might use later, and found two that I liked and slowed them down. I decided to jam all three beats together regardless of their tempos etc and see what happens. So into Auria they went and I cut them up and arranged them as suited me.
I wrote some words on the theme ‘disjointed’ and gave them to iSpeech TTS which I loaded into AudioShare and applied some AUFX:Space and slowed it down, then added it to Auria and cut it up etc.
Finally I loaded Fieldscaper into a track in Auria and recorded some soundscape type background. Twice.
Peace out.
Grant
October 27, 2015
Day 62: Tuesday 27 Oct 2015
Many More Flowers:
It started as a Beatscape,.. I added a Soundscape,.. it’s got some spoken words… and a bassline. So I don’t know quite what it is.
A Beatscape made in Patterning and effected with Dedalus and FLUX:FX till it was distorted and stuttering. Then a Soundscape made from a file imported into Dedalus and effected with FLUX:FX using the same settings. Both imported into Auria. Then a bassline added from iSem, and some words recorded using the inbuilt iPad mic into AudioShare with AUFX:PeakQ, AltiSpace, and AUFX:Dub. Then I did a little arranging and a little chiselling away until it arrived at this state.
The Video:
Assorted flower pictures were imported into Pinnacle Studio, arranged, and then effected with CinemaFXV.
Peace out.
Grant
October 24, 2015
Day 59: Saturday 24 Oct 2015
Reprise: A Self Portrait In Three Parts:
Part One: Hermits Dilemma 0.00 – 5.31
Part Two: Procrastinate 5.31 – 9.29
Part Three: Nothing But The Bones 9.29 – 14.41
I got ambitious today, three tracks in one. I decided to present them in one track rather than as a playlist. Let me know which you think is better.
Two Soundscapes and a Beatscape with vocals.
It was a long and complicated journey, so today I’m just going to give you a list of the apps involved, because it’s late and I’m tired. I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have though 🙂
The apps in order of appearance were:
AudioShare, iKaossilator, Flux:FX, AUFX:Space, AUFX:Dub, Auria, Addictive Synth, Cyclops, Sector, TTS iSpeech, Figure, Dedalus, Fieldscape, Borderlands Granular, Turnado, AUFX:PeakQ, Caramel, and Grain Science.
The Video:
This music video is all about the music. So it’s very simple, mainly static on black; to let you concentrate on your ears, while at the same time keeping your eyes involved.
Pinnacle Studio and CinemaFXV were all that I used.
See you spoon and Peace Out.
Grant
October 19, 2015
Day 54: Monday 19 Oct 2015
The Lies Behind:
Beatscape with vocals.
Today I began with a drum jam from the 3rd of October… in Patterning… using a drum kit that I created; which I recorded into AudioShare with Dedalus and Caramel in the effect chain.
This drum kit has already featured twice, but this jam was particularly good; so good in fact that I could have happily presented it as is.
But I envisioned more.
So, at first I added a Soundscape that I had previously made in Dedalus, I added both files to Auria and rearranged them.
Then I recorded myself reading a lyric from a song I had written somewhere in the mid 90’s.
I then ran this file through Sector, Borderlands, and Turnado.
The two best results of these experiments were then fed back into Auria and arranged to best advantage.
I hope you like it.
The Video:
I made several jpegs of parts of the lyrics in iColorama, combined them in Pinnacle Studio and ran that through Glitch Machine twice and Generate once. I then imported those back into Pinnacle for arrangement.
Grant
October 8, 2015
Day 43: Thursday 8 Oct 2015
I Got Nothing:
A Beatscape with vocal.
I began today’s track with a recording of my voice into the iPads built in mike. I then loaded that file into Sector and recorded it twice through different projects. I liked both and thought I’d try to layer them, so into Auria it was; they worked well together but needed more…
I have been going through my AudioShare files with a view to organise them in some sort of useable way, as well as make space on my iPad; an important and constant concern…
And…as I sat back and considered this piece, I remembered a file from April that I had recorded using iKaossilator, Dedalus, and Soundscaper…
So, I imported that into the Auria project, did a little rearranging and cropping, and voila!
The Video:
Pinnacle Studio, Generate. PicFrame, CinemaFXV.
PS Musing…
I am aware that a formula is developing here; and that the videos sometimes match well with the music and sometimes..less well.
Time constraints are a factor here, but I hope to meld the two together more consistently.
Grant
October 1, 2015
Day 36: Thursday 1 Oct 2015
Discombobulation:
Another Arpeggist attempt.
Arpeggist driving Addictive Synth and Cube Synth, with some Soundscaper, Diode-108, and iSpeech TTS thrown in for good measure.
The Video:
Some texture photos taken with my iPhone, plus some text from Phonto, compiled in Pinnacle Studio, run through CinemaFXV for texture.
Grant
September 30, 2015
Day 35: Weds 30 Sept 2015
A Little Piece Of Me:
Whoa. I think I accidentally made an EDM track! Well that’s what messing with with arpeggiators will do for you 😉
Yes this was day two of playing around with Arpeggist by Virsyn. As I said yesterday I’ve avoided arpeggiators and sequencers; partly because I’ve struggled to make them work in the past, and partly because I want to avoid the electronic music cliques associated with them.
Oh well.
Today I used Arpeggist to drive Addictive Synth and Cube Synth; I had no problems getting them to work together (perhaps because they are all Virsyn apps). I did run into trouble when I tried to expand things, but lets worry about that another day.
I did several jams playing with different arps and sounds in each synth. Then I took two segments that I loved and opened them in Launchpad, I added two inbuilt drum loops and jammed up a storm 🙂
Then it was into Auria so I could layer the vocals. I wrote a quick lyric and added it.
(perhaps this is the moment to say that though I’m happy with this piece, it very much feels like a rough sketch: the lyrics will get better, I can record the vocals better, and things feel a little muddy so I’m sure some time spent with EQ’s etc will benefit this track. Never mind, rough sketches are valuable too.)
Then I noticed that it was a little fast, it felt rushed,. So I went to TwistedWave and slowed it about 10%.
The Video:
Artwork from iColorama and PicFrame was modified by Pinnacle Studio and CinemaFXV, then Glitched with Glitch Wizard. That was run through CinemaFXV a few times for different looks, compiled with Pinnacle Studio along with some more artwork, and given the CinemaFXV treatment one last time.
Grant
September 27, 2015
Day 31: Saturday 26 Sept 2015
Before The Devil Knows:
A Soundscape today.
Dedalus and Soundscaper feature heavily; but I also used Borderlands Granular, TwistedWave, ToneStack, AltiSpace, AUFX:Dub, and Elastic Drums. Oh yes, and I spoke some lines and played a beer glass with a pen 🙂
The Video:
I have a folder of textures that I have created over the years, I took one of those and interspersed it with text in Pinnacle Studio. Then I process the completed movie with CinemaFXV.
Grant
September 22, 2015
Day 27: Tuesday 22 Sept 2015
The World Is Breathing:
An Ambient Beatscape today. With me reading a poem at the end 🙂
I found an old beat that I recorded in Feb, I don’t know what app I used. I cut out a small segment that I liked and looped it with Dedalus effecting it. Then I slowed it in TwistedWave (that old trick again).
I loaded that into Auria and jammed a baseline from iFretless Bass. Only a small segment of that was successful, so i cut that out and arranged it (and bits of it) along the timeline.
Next I jammed four different sounds from Addictive Synth. Did some rearranging. Then recorded myself reading an old poem that seemed to fit the mood.
Grant
September 19, 2015
Day 24: Saturday 19 Sept 2015
Miscommunication:
I’m not sure how to describe or genre this one. But I’m very happy with it.
Patterning, iMashine, Muckraker, FLUX:FX, iSpeech TTS, AUFX:Space, iSem, TwistedWave, AudioShare, Auria.