Archive for the Ambient category
Grant
November 22, 2015
Day 88: Sunday 22 Nov 2015
Nigel Keeps A Weather Eye Out:
Ambient.
Yes Nigel returns. My ongoing project of doing many things with one project in Fugue Machine. Today I used 80 bpm and began by clothing Nigel in one of favourite Addictive Synth presets. Then I loaded up Poseidon and searched for some sounds that I thought would work; I did this by hitting the random button until I was happy with something, recording it with Nigel in AudioShare or within Poseidon for 5 minutes or so, then moving on. When I had 7 files to choose from I loaded them all into Auria and had a play. In the end I used the Addictive Synth sound as the basis and brought the others in and out for extra colour, form, and texture.
The Video:
One photo of a bridge through the fog taken with ProCamera on my iPhone, loaded into Pinnacle Studio and very slowly panned. The titles were done in Procreate and Phonto. When assembled I ran it through CinemaFXV.
Grant
November 16, 2015
Day 82: Monday 16 Nov 2015
It’s A Modern Condition:
Two movements; one a Beatscape, the other Ambient.
I began in AnalogKit with Nick Lau’s DrumXT, I added a beat from Patterning, a bassline from Addictive Synth, a crash sound also from Addictive Synth, and a drone from Poseidon.
A big thank you to Trudi for her review 😉
“A track in two movements. Opposites. Depicting the dichotomy of the human condition in the 21st Century; mired in the urban decay that the modern (post)industrial lifestyle spawns, we nevertheless yearn for a peace and tranquility that, alas, is available to few.” Trudi McBoody, Station FCKU Art Attack.
Grant
November 7, 2015
Day 73: Saturday 6 Nov 2015
Programmed To..
An Ambient Soundscape. (I think)
Sunrizer, Dedalus, Emo Chorus, FLUX:FX, Konpressor, Auria, TC11, Xenon, AudioShare, Xynthsesizr, Argon, AUFX:Space, AUFX:Dub, ApeDelay.
You know it’s been a hard day when you just get a list of apps.
I’m tired…Goodnight World.
Grant
November 6, 2015
Day 72: Friday 6 Nov 2015
Nigel Hasn’t the Foggiest Idea:
Ambient.
Todays Nigel is closely related to Day 69’s post, which included 3 tracks with different patches from Waldorfs Nave at 300bpm.
Today I have experimented with combining different speeds. 4 different Nave patches: 1 at 60bpm, 1 at 120bpm, and two at 240bpm. Plus I have also experimented with adding a simple drumbeat, from DM1 at 60bpm. They were all recorded into AudioShare and then added to Auria for arranging etc. Nigel (if you haven’t been following the series) is a pattern in Fugue Machine.
I think this is my favourite Nigel so far.
The Video:
Two days ago it was foggy at 7am when I walked the dog and it remained foggy all day. Something I’m just not used to; after a year in Norway I still find the weather very exotic.
I took these photos and movies as we drove up the valley to home about 4pm. I thought they would suit this music. Filmed on my iPhone in ProCamera and complied in Pinnacle Studio.
Peace Out.
Grant
November 4, 2015
Day 70: Weds 4 Nov 2015
Nigel At Night:
The return of Nigel. An Ambient piece.
Yes I’m working with Nigel again today (for those who don’t know Nigel is a pattern in Fugue Machine which I am subjecting to varied treatments), I have been working at 60bpm but today I pushed it to 300bpm which is Fugues fastest speed. Surprisingly it’s still a slow gentle piece, at least with these sounds.
I use Waldorfs Nave synth today, three different patches recorded into AudioShare, that I then blended in Auria.
The Video:
Photographs taken on my iPhone of Drammen at night and simply blended in Pinnacle Studio.
Grant
November 2, 2015
Musing on Stuff and Supplementary Post
I often make more than one track in a day, sometimes they are exploring different apps or different approaches. But often I think they must reflect my mood because they end up in the same place, or at least feeling like they belong together.
Todays post (Day 67) was a very minimal ambient piece made entirely with one patch in one synth and just played. Very much as I might play a guitar, no switching apps or collaging, just two notes interacting.
Which brings me to a thing that I have been musing about.
How much or how little is needed for a track? How simple can it be? How do we tell when something is finished? When it doesn’t need any more? Would spending more time on these things improve them? Is perfection necessary or just annoying and counter productive? Perhaps these are two different states of being?
These are some of the questions that I am probing with my ‘Year Of Posting’. But as yet I have no answers.
Your comments and ideas would be appreciated.
As an example I include a playlist of all yesterdays tracks. The first three are all made with one patch in CubeSynth and definitely belong together as minimalist pieces. The fourth went through a more complicated journey; CrystalSynthXT, Dedalus, FLUX:FX, TwistedWave, and Borderlands Granular (more like my usual mode of working though without the trip to Auria for collaging), and yet somehow it feels like it belongs here.
Anyway Peace out peeps.
Grant
November 1, 2015
Day 67: Sunday 1 Nov 2015
Whole Tone:
A very minimal Ambient piece today.
A bass patch with overtones of Steel Drum or Hang Drum perhaps, that I made in CubeSynth. It seemed to call for slow minimal treatment so here is a jam using just two notes a whole tone apart, occasionally switching the octave.
One synth, one patch, two notes.
Sometimes you don’t need a lot.
Peace Out.
Grant
October 28, 2015
Day 63: Weds 28 Oct 2015
Haunted:
A Soundscape.
I began today by playing PhaseRings which I loaded into Auria, then added 3 drones from FM4. I wanted a percussive part so I loaded up Sunrizer, effected it with Flying Haggis and Emo Chorus, and cut out a bit. Next I took a recording from the other day done in Grain Science and cut out some interesting parts. Then I loaded up Thor and jammed a bit; Thor didn’t play nice with Auria (crackling and audio cut outs) so I loaded it into AudioShare and did some improvising, ran it through ApeDelay and Dedalus, slowed it down in TwistedWave, then trimmed out 4 hits. Finally I added a touch of MitoSynth.
Lots of collaging today, which you may have noticed I love doing 🙂
A big thank you to Jacob Haq from The Sound Test Room whose free patches for FM4, Sunrizer, and Thor were used today:
http://thesoundtestroom.com/32-sunrizer-spirit-presets/
http://thesoundtestroom.com/64-fm4-grit-presets/
http://thesoundtestroom.com/haq-attaq-71-64-bells-thor/
And also to Gareth J Farmer whose blip and bleep file was the basis of the Grain Science parts.
The Video:
I filmed while walking around Drammen a few months back with an 8mm app. I loaded some of those clips into Pinnacle Studio, I thought they had a similar atmosphere to the music.
Grant
October 26, 2015
Day 61: Monday 26 Oct 2015
Abandoned to the Wind (and to the Rain):
An Ambient Soundscape.
I began the day by playing with Geo Synth, another app that I’ve had for a while but never really used. So I spent half an hour or so acquainting myself with it, and came up with this slightly exotic slightly orchestral sounding thing. I loaded that into Auria and improvised a baseline using iFretless Bass. Next I opened Addictive Synth and made some abstract sounding patches which I recorded onto two tracks. Then I moved to Grain Science were I used two patches that I made during the week on two more tracks.
The Video:
Water splashing into a fountain, filmed a few months back. I ran it twice through CinemaFXV for a total of 6 filters. Then once more to get a negative version. Then I loaded both versions into Pinnacle Studio for arrangement, titles etc.
Only 7 apps today 🙂
Minimal.
Grant
October 25, 2015
Day 60: Sunday 25 Oct 2015
Sunday Alchemy:
An Ambient Soundscape.
If in doubt play with Alchemy. I’ve had a mixed day today; iPulsaret, iDensity, Dedalus, TwistedWave, the AUFX suite…whenever I thought I was on to something I got a big fat zero. Finally, after hours, I had a piece that I felt was an okay Soundscape. Then I took a break and had a play with Alchemy, still don’t know it very well, just had a bit of a mess around…wham! Within half an hour I had a good piece. Combined it with my ok soundscape, and voila. Sunday Alchemy.
The Video:
I used a video I made last week and didn’t use. I think I used Generate on that. Opened it in Pinnacle Studio and slowed it down, ran to through CinemaFXV to make it Black & White, and to up the contrast.