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 30, 2015
Musing On Genres
But now that I’m using my iPad to make largely electronica music i.e. clearly synth and sampler based, I really feel the need to arrive at some definitions (if only in my own head), for the landscape of sound that I’m moving in.
And that is how I feel about music making, that each song or instrumental piece is a landscape that we are moving through.
So there is a landscape and a journey.
A landscape and a mood.
Which leads me to my personal take on genres; its not comprehensive and its open to change, and it probably doesn’t apply to anyone else, but it is how my head is working at the moment, as I think about and make music.
When I make these landscapes, these Soundscapes, there is often no identifiable sounds, no reference to real world instruments or objects, I think of these pieces or elements as Abstract much like abstract paintings (which I make).
Grant
September 29, 2015
Day 34: Tuesday 29 Sept 2015
Daleks Can Dance:
Not sure how to classify this one. Any ideas?
One of the areas missing in my musical explorations is the world of sequencers and arpeggiators. I just don’t seem to get on with them; or anything involving midi, or controlling one app with another. So today I thought I’d give it a go.
I fired up Arpeggist which I bought a few weeks ago but haven’t tried yet. I managed to set it up with Argon in AudioBus without a hitch as follows
I also added Caramel to the Argon channel, and run it all thru Dedalus.
Several jams and recordings and playing arounds ensued, bits of which I cut out and reassembled in Auria.
It didn’t turn out as I was expecting, but I went with the flow and followed where the music seemed to want to go.
The Video:
The same Modus Operandi as the last few videos. PicFrame, to Pinnacle Studio, to CinemaFXV, to PicFrame, to Pinnacle, to CinemaFXV. Oh, and Phonto for the Text.
Grant
September 28, 2015
Day 33: Monday 28 Sept 2015
Drum Meditation (YouTube Edit):
A Beatscape.
Today I created a simple beat in ElasticDrums, which I then jammed into AudioShare with Dedalus in the effect chain.
When I say I ‘jam’ a beat from one of the iPad drum synths, I mean that I create a landscape (or story) by muting and soloing the various parts, live as it record.
ElasticDrums has 6 drum parts; so I create a mixture of those six voices, spontaneously in one go. But it may take several attempts to get a good mix: and today it was my fourth jam that yielded good results. So good in fact that I felt I had arrived at a finished result; a complete Beatscape that told a story, took us on a journey, without need for any additions.
But it was here that my nerve failed me. How could I present a complete track that was just a drumbeat? Even though I was convinced that it was a finished piece?
So carry on I did, and indeed I could add stuff. But to tell you the truth I think I could do better, if I had the time. But it is ‘A Track A Day’…so here is todays track…I have added a bass jam with iFretless Bass, and one from Addictive Synth. Plus a high synth part, and a drone, both from Addictive Synth. But I do have the niggling feeling that I could push this further.
So here is the original ElasticDrums jam. Tell me what you think, is it better left alone? Is it better with additions? Can it be better yet?
The Video:
A series of pictures from iColorama, sequenced with Pinnacle Studio, run through PicFrame, back to Pinnacle etc etc.
Grant
September 27, 2015
Day 32: Sunday 27 Sept 2015
Trondheim:
A Soundscape.
I began with a jam I did with Thor using one of Jacob Haq’s wonderful bell presets. If you don’t already, I highly recommend that you get to The Soundtestroom and follow his awesome and fun series. The bell sounds are a give away, so here is a taster of his work: giving away 64 Bell presets. Highly, highly HIGHLY recommended.
So I took that jam and slowed it, and reversed it, and blended both versions in Auria. Then I added some Cyclop for extra soundscapy goodness. Next I visited my folder of Field recordings and added a heavily processed recording of children playing, and an unprocessed recording of a crowded cafe (in Trondheim, hence the name).
The Video:
A series of jpegs I made using PicFrame were added to Pinnacle Studio and sequenced in a few ways, these movies were then added back to PicFrame and the resulting movies were put back into Pinnacle before a final run through CinemaFXV.
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 25, 2015
Day 30: Friday 25 Sept 2015
Twisted:
Back to the Beatscapes.
Used Elastic Drums to create a beat, then cut out a small section, slowed it in TwistedWave, and looped it with AltiSpace. Then again with AltiSpace and AUFX:Dub. Then again with Altispace and Dedalus. Then again with Altispace, Dedalus and MuckRaker. I loaded them all into Auria for arranging and panning.
Next I added a file that I made by running the poem from Day 27 through Borderlands.
Then I jammed with a preset I made in Cyclop.
And a swelling pad I made in Addictive Synth.
The Video:
A series of images that I made using PicFrame and iColorama arranged in Pinnacle Studio.
Grant
September 24, 2015
Day 29: Thursday 24 Sept 2015
Dance Like Nobodies Watching:
I don’t know what genre to describe this as; it doesn’t fit into my scheme (which I guess means my scheme needs changing)
It’s made using only Addictive Synth for the sounds, and Auria for the arranging.
A rhythmic arpeggiated bass part plus two other synth parts; and I dance like a silly billy 🙂
The Video: Filmed with Imaengine, processed twice with CinenaFXV, all three versions put into PicFrame, finally finished in Pinnacle Studio.
Grant
September 23, 2015
Day 28: Weds 23 Sept 2015
Abstractions:
An Abstract Beatscape.
iMPC Pro for the drums recorded with Dedalus. I haven’t used iMPC Pro much and it seemed to glitch occasionally so I’m not sure if I’ll used it much. It’s got some great sounds tho.
It was a slow and almost abstract sounding beat, so I added two abstract sounding files I had prepared earlier: one from Borderlands Granular, and one from iDensity.
Video:
People have asked about the videos so I’ll start leaving notes about those too.
I made a series of pics in PicFrame, loaded those along with the song file into Pinnacle Studio (which is my main video app). Then it was just a case of arranging, adding some choice transitions here and there, adding the titles etc, and bob’s your proverbial.