Archive for the Tracks category
Grant
August 2, 2016
Day 340: Tuesday 2 August 2016
Relentless:
Another minimal piece.
This time a relentlessly simple (hence the title) beat from Patterning is overlaid with an equally simple electric piano bass line which is echoed by simple chord voicings. Korg’s Module is the piano app.
Grant
August 1, 2016
Day 339: Monday 1 August 2016
Eating A PreMade Loop Sandwich; Shitting Out Gold:
Sorry about the cheeky title 🙂
I do on occasion post a track that comes from a loop type app where all I’m basically doing is arranging pre-made loops. Now some people object to this on the grounds that it’s not fully your’s, and I agree. I am most proud of and I strive to achieve tracks that are fully representative of my vision (that sounds pretentious) and my life. However…I’m not of a purist disposition, I enjoy playing with these apps and especially if I can give it my spin, make it feel like it belongs in my oeuvre, then I have no problem joining in and seeing what I do.
Anyway I did that today with an app I just heard about Remixlive. It comes with some free sound packs and then you can buy more as IAPs as well as an IAP to import your own loops where of course the objections I covered earlier cease to apply. However I have yet to delve into the IAPs and just used the free Dubstep sound set here. I jammed this arrangement, exported it to AudioShare then to Dedalus where I ran it at 0.70 sampler ratio which slowed the 140 bpm to 98 (more in my zone) and also lowers the pitch and stretches the samples. Finally back in AudioShare I treated it with AUFX:Dub to give the regularly occuring snare delay.
I must say that despite the fact that I had nothing to do with the making of the sounds or the loops I feel that I have made this my own. On top of the fact that I had a great time making it.
I guess I’m saying that even though I have the skills to make everything from scratch, I don’t feel that I have to that all the time. Music, like life, exists on a spectrum (in fact it’s a multidimensional spectrum) and I see no reason to artificially limit my participation.
Rant over. I hope you enjoy the sounds 🙂
Grant
July 31, 2016
Day 338: Sunday 31 July 2106
Barabbas:
A slightly off beat and abstract track today made in Gadget but using primarily my own samples loaded in to Abu Dhabi and Bilbao. Only the electric piano is from other Gadgets; I made that with a combination of two Montreals and two Darwins. No other apps were used, just Gadget.
The video was made with Fluid FX, Pinnacle Pro, and CinemaFXV.
Grant
July 30, 2016
Day 337: Saturday 30 July 2016
Gently Does It:
Sweet and gentle, minimal and restful, simple and warm, like the sun on your skin as you sip an Earl Grey in your backyard on a summer morning.
iSEM into FLUX:FX in AudioShare, this is simply an arpeggio with slight adjustments to the VCF frequency from time to time. Originally intended as a background, I loved it as is and decided it could stand as a track in it’s own right. Minimal simplicity is really attracting me at the moment.
Grant
July 29, 2016
Day 336: Friday 29 July 2016
Falling Slowly Into Dawn:
Temple drums heard through the mist. The forest damp; cold. Dawn emerging, reluctant.
There you go Tracklings, a free poem 🙂
Ambient and ethereal, this track was made with Addictive Synth and flavoured with Dedalus, AUFX:Dub, and AUFX:Space in AudioShare.
Grant
July 28, 2016
Day 335: Thursday 28 July 2016
Felicitations:
A video for a change!
This Ambient track meanders along like a walk through a vague forest; meanwhile the walls between the self and the other fade, becoming indistinct, amorphous…inviting osmosis.
Apps used: Noatiki 2, AudioShare, ApeFilter, Dedalus, Caramel, TwistedWave, Auria, Patterning. Also Pinnacle Pro and CinemaFXV for the visuals.
Grant
July 27, 2016
Day 334: Weds 27 June 2016
Get Out Of Here!:
My friend Nick Lau introduced me to Skram. It’s a new free app for making, in his words, Mindless Electronica. I love that description!
It’s another of those simple and rather limited but fun apps that I enjoy using from time to time. I also enjoy trying to work within and around their idiosyncrasies and limitations to try and make something that sounds like it’s mine and not just the product of the app. Not that I feel I’ve achieved that here; this is the very first thing I’ve made with the app the very first time I opened it. I’m posting it simply because it was fun to make and I hope will be fun to listen to, imperfect jam though it is.
Nick’s music is amazing by the way, he is one my favourite discoveries of the last year, and can be found here:Â https://thedeadsociety.bandcamp.com/ and if you want to explore a more noise based approach here:Â https://n0isedive.bandcamp.com/
I ran the jam through the old AudioShare/ApeFilter/Dedalus secret sauce trick to finish it off.
Peace Out tracklings.
Grant
July 26, 2016
Day 333: Tuesday 26 July 2016
Mousterian Renaissance:
A slow, sparse, and minimal (so what else is new) conversation between an electric piano and a beat. Each part evolves slowly as they listen to each other over a cappuccino in a quiet middle paleolithic cafe.
Nothing but Gadget was used and no animals were harmed in the production of this track.
Grant
July 25, 2016
Day 332: Monday 25 July 2016
The Antihero Relaxes By The Fire After A Hard Day Antiheroing:
The electric piano is emerging as my favourite sound lately. It began featuring as an element in several tracks and is slowly becoming the main compositional and sound factor. I’ve always favoured it and it occasionally has featured in this blog before but the current fascination has surprised me; arising of it’s own accord from within the daily process, and perhaps therefore from my subconscious.
One of the reasons for maintaining a daily practise is to allow room for just such happenings, so I’m joyfully embracing the moment despite the fact that my keyboard skills are limited.
Gadget was the one and only app used here but I have now used my midi keyboard to play the piano part which leads to very different results from just using the touch screen.
Grant
July 25, 2016
Day 331: Sunday 24 July 2016
Searching For The Language Of Ultimate Clarity:
A Beatscape today; minimal, sparse, harsh, uncompromising.
The title is from Solshenitsyn’s In The First Circle which I am currently rereading in a new translation; it seems to me to encapsulate not only this track but my whole Beatscape concept where I am attempting to a) tell a story, b) describe a journey, c) present a picture, and/or d) evoke a feeling. All with the most minimal tools and with no, or at least very little, recourse to melody and harmony; relying instead on my favourite elements in music: rhythm, texture, and colour (timbre).
On a side note I often reread my favourite books (this is my 4th reading of this one) just as I re-watch favourite movies and TV shows and re-listen to favourite songs and albums and indeed re-visit favourite artworks in galleries or books. This surprises some people but I don’t understand why.
iElectribe provided the basis of this track assisted by AudioShare, ApeFilter, Dedalus, and AUFX:Dub.