Archive for May, 2016
Grant
May 11, 2016
Day 257: Weds 11 May 2016
Cast Off/Cast Away:
I began with Patterning today, recording to AudioShare with ApeFilter and FLUX:FX, building the beat up with the effects until I was happy with it; jamming as I went until eventually I got the arrangement I needed. I then loaded that into Auria where I recorded a bass drum only version to another track (effected with Caramel), and another bass drum only version (effected with FLUX:FX). I panned them both left and right and mixed them low enough to just provide a little edge.
Next came the guitars; three tracks recorded via BiasFX with different settings. And the bass; two tracks also via BiasFX. I had no plan here and no idea what I wanted but I found the end result pleasing so I have left it as it is.
To finish off I ran the final mix through TwistedWave to slow it by 70% which began to really sound like the sounds in my head and my gut.
Grant
May 10, 2016
Day 256: Tuesday 10 May 2016
Trudi Muses #1 (Clementine):
Today is a bit of an experiment for me in a couple of ways.
Firstly I began by playing with Blocs Wave which I bought as soon as it came out but had never gotten around to using before, in fact I could’t even remember what sort of app it was so I began by watching a few vids before I plunged in.
If you don’t know; Blocs Wave is a looper app by Novation who also brought us LaunchPad which I have used a few times in this blog. Now I’m not really a huge user of looper apps like these, especially using the inbuilt loops or the in-app-purchase sound packs, mainly because it’s hard to feel something is yours if it’s made up exclusively of other peoples loops. I do it from time to time though. Both LaunchPad and Blocs Wave allow you to import your own loops into them and Blocs Wave allows you to record as you are playing, and that is where they both get very interesting to me. But for today, as I had my first feel around with the app, I did use the built in loops, and I must say I had a ball. I love the way this app works and I can imagine many ways of using it in the future.
I loaded loops at random until I got a combination that I liked then recorded a jam into AudioShare with Dedalus and FLUX:FX in the effects chain. Then I started from scratch and did it again. Next, and this was really to assuage my guilt about using pre-made loops and to make it sound a little more like me, I put them into TwistedWave and slowed them by 80%.
Now I had two loops with the same key and BPM but with different feels because of the different drum and percussion loops used, so I decided to load then into Auria and see if they made sense together (I suspected that they would). I arranged them by going backwards and forwards between them as I felt fit, and though I liked the results I felt there was more lurking within this track.
The next step was to include a simple beat from Patterning to tie everything together.
The final element I added was the words and this is where the second experiment came in.
If you are a regular ‘Tracker’ you will know that when I add words I sometimes speak or ‘sing’ them myself and I sometimes use the Female UK English voice in iSpeech TTS. In fact I’ve used her so much that I call her Trudi and have developed a character and ongoing back story for her. Well she put in an appearance today but instead of reading a lyric or poem I gave her part of a musing that I have been writing, a little autobiographical rambling on my childhood and road to music making. I wasn’t sure if this would work, and though I’ve had it mind for a while I’ve kept putting it off, but today was the day.
Anyway I’m really happy with the results and I hope that you enjoy.
Grant
May 9, 2016
Day 255: Monday 9 May 2016
Misted:
I’m finding it very difficult to allocate time for track making at the moment. I can grab small amounts; 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, a half hour, an hour at best. But this just isn’t enough to really dig into the music and make discoveries and pull something interesting out. I find that a 2 or 2-and-a-half hour block of time is the bare minimum for the creativity to have a chance to get firing, and preferably another similar sized block of time following a small break, and preferably a third a little later.
But even though I can’t dive deep (please excuse the mixed metaphors) on these busy days, I can always visit iMaschine or Alchemy and quickly get something. In fact I find it amazing just how quickly I can get results by playing around with these two apps.
I’m sure that other apps are every bit as good for this quick throwing together of stuff. But I haven’t had the time to explore them all properly: BeatHawk, Gadget, and iMPC Pro come immediately to mind out of the ones that I own.
Today’s track is from iMaschine. Assembled across 3 blocks of time through the day; 2 blocks of maybe 10 then 20 minutes to make the beat. Then another 20 minute block to jam it into AudioShare and assemble the pieces in Auria for extra arranging and adding a touch of Dedalus.
Of course improvements and refinements could be made but there is a pleasure to this quick way of working.
I hope the results can give pleasure too.
Peace out.
Grant
May 8, 2016
Day 254: Sunday 8 May 2016
In The Box:
Hello trackers, today I have done a quick and cheerful Ambient piece using Gadget an app that I have used only a few times and haven’t really got to know yet. Nonetheless I quickly got something that I liked out of it which I jammed into AudioShare. Actually I did two versions one long and one short but I used the shorter one because I didn’t want to try your patience.
I loaded it into Auria added a BeatMaker 2 snippet that I had lying around and an electric piano jam from Module that I likewise had lying around awaiting it’s moment in the sun.
I had more plans for this piece but it just seemed finished at this point so I left it here.
Grant
May 7, 2016
Day 253: Saturday 7 May 2016
Filibuster:
A few days ago I began this track playing my Bass along to a simple Patterning beat in Auria, I used ToneStack to make the bass sound but I had trouble with it so I put the track aside and moved on.
Today I re-approached it.
I still couldn’t get ToneStack to work nor BiasFX; I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I often have trouble with these apps. Anyway I resorted to a combination of FLUX:FX and Caramel to approximate the distorted Bass sound that I was after. I also made a variation of the Patterning beat by recording it into AudioShare with a variety of FLUX:FX settings then loaded that back into Auria and used the bits that fit best.
Next I copied the Bass onto a new track, pitch shifted it up two octaves and effected it with Emo Chorus. Then I copied that and effected it with Swoopster and panned both.
Finally I added a Sparkle file that I made this morning using an iMashine file as source and a TC-11 file as target. I don’t pretend to know what that means or how Sparkle works (I am manual allergic after all), I just play around until I get stuff that I like. Anyway I thought that the random abstractness of this track would work well and it did 🙂
Peace Out Hip Chicks and Dudes and remember ‘do no harm but take no shit’.
Grant
May 6, 2016
Day 252: Friday 6 May 2016
Maschine A Day #7:
Part of an ongoing series, this is today’s iMaschine project jammed into AudioShare.
Grant
May 5, 2016
Day 251: Thursday 5 May 2016
Faithless:
A Soundscape today using a long list of apps, here they are in order: LaunchPad, Dedalus, AudioShare, TwistedWave, Borderlands Granular, TwistedWave, AudioShare, ApeDelay, ApeFilter, Dedalus, Auria, AudioShare, SoundScaper.
As you can see there is often a lot of going backwards and forwards between apps over the course of a track. It also spanned over a month because it began on the 5th of April and was finished off today.
Grant
May 5, 2016
Supplementary Post 5 May 2016
PopFix Simple Edit:
A simpler and I think better version of the track that I posted on Day 230. I made it on the same day but chose the other track. I’ve changed my mind so here it is if you’re interested 🙂
Grant
May 4, 2016
Day 250: Weds 4 May 2016
Having A Nice Day…:
This posting daily thing is feeling a bit tough at the moment… I’m lacking inspiration and excitement.
I’ve also got no closer to working out what I want to do. There are so many elements in music and so many ways to make music that it can become overwhelming and confusing. I was hoping that this exercise would afford me some clarity but I find myself as confused and lost as ever.
Anyway, this an Abstract Soundscape (almost a Noisescape). Which I must admit is one off the ways of working, and conceiving sound, that I find most satisfying.
I used Patterning, FLUX:FX, TC-11 and Tera Synth for the sounds. AudioShare and Auria for the recording and arranging.
Grant
May 3, 2016
Day 249: Tuesday 3 May 2016
Frosted Taters:
An iMaschine jam with a little AUFX:Dub for good measure.