Archive for the Audio category
Grant
June 16, 2016
Day 293: Thursday 16 June 2016
Occasional Meanderings #1:
It’s been a while since I used my keyboard controllers and did a little electric piano stuff.
Not that I claim any real skills on the keys, but hey if I took anything from the punk/post-punk years it’s the idea that heart and passion and guts are more important than technical skills, you can accomplish a lot with a little. With luck.
You should certainly never let a lack of skills stop you moving, the skills will develop as you go if you give yourself a chance.
I began with Korg’s Module (my favourite iOS electric piano), I jammed it into Auria using the MicroBrute as a midi controller (the keys are small and it’s only 2 octaves but it will do in a pinch). Next I copied the audio to another two tracks, raising one by an octave and lowering the other by an octave, then panning them left and right and mixing them low, just to add a frisson of textural complexity.
I mixed this down to AudioShare and ran it through ApeFilter, reloaded it to Auria and mixed it in to add to the texture.
I had already cut out a few choice moments and added them to two different tracks with different echo effects, now I added a track with occasional hits that I had recorded with the MicroBrute earlier in the day (keep an ear out for more of these which I will be making to load into drum machines soon).
The final touch was the pièce de résistance which finally gave the track room to breathe and gave it life. I loaded it into my favourite Dedalus preset at 0.75 sample ratio.
Oh yeah, I like it slow. I always have a tendency to play too fast it seems 🙂
PS This is a nice example of how I like to work; a combination of jamming/improvisation and careful construction/collage. The balance between the two varying day by day and track by track.
Grant
June 15, 2016
Day 292: Weds 15 June 2016
It Doesn’t Phase Me:
A sort of Ambient piece today. I began with PhaseRings loaded in Auria and jammed 3 tracks with variations in sound and scales, but all within the one custom composition in PhaseRings. Then I loaded Phase84 and jammed 2 tracks of that with different sounds. Finally I mixed it down to AudioShare and ran it through Dedalus at 0.5 sample ratio.
Grant
June 14, 2016
Day 291: Tuesday 14 June 2016
In The Mood:
I seem to be in an strangely conflicted mood lately, veering wildly between very electronicy sounding dance/downtempo stuff and long abstract soundscape/ambient stuff. Today is of the latter variety, a nearly 16 minute three movement ambient piece.
The stars of today’s drama are Moodscaper for the first and third movements and Laplace for the second movement, supported by Auria, AudioShare, TwistedWave, Dedalus, ApeFilter, Crystalline, and FLUX:FX.
Grant
June 14, 2016
Day 290: Monday 13 June 2016
Floating Down The Tagus:
A gentle piece of electronica today, this has a 70’s almost Kraftwerk feel to my ear, powered by an arpeggiator line from iSem.
As iSem is a recreation of a 70’s Oberhiem synth perhaps it’s not that surprising that I should find such sounds in there 🙂
I recorded it into Auria and then added two sounds from Addictive Synth and a few well hidden Patterning moments (they don’t sound like a drum machine as I used my own drumkit made with my own samples).
Grant
June 12, 2016
Day 289: Sunday 12 June 2016
Dream Machinations Echoed:
A strangely chaotic little Electronic Beatscape today.
All the sounds are from DM2 processed through AudioShare, AUFX:Dub, Dedalus, ApeFilter, Dedalus again, Auria, Caramel, AudioShare again with Caramel and EmoChorus, and back to Auria.
It’s a good example of the backwards and forwards between apps that often occurs.
Grant
June 12, 2016
Day 288: Saturday 11 June 2016
Chain Me Unchain Me:
Another of my recent attempts to play with (and perhaps subvert) some of the more loop based, EDM type apps that are available to us. It’s a fun experiment if nothing else.
Today I used BlocsWave which is definitely one of the more sophisticated of these apps. I also used AudioShare, TwistedWave, Dedalus and DubFilter.
Grant
June 10, 2016
Day 287: Friday 10 June 2016
Exfoliate:
I don’t know how to classify today’s track. Is it DownTempo if it’s EDM slowed way down? Or does that genre name mean something more as well? I have no idea.
Anyway I began this in Auxy Music Studio which is somehow related to Auxy, that I have been using a bit this week. I don’t quite understand how they relate to each other but I discovered one version on my iPad and the other on my iPhone, so I thought I’d give this one a run.
They are both loop based apps aimed, I think, at EDM type stuff but I’m happy at the moment to play with that and see how I might be able to pull them in my direction.
So I made a little thing in the app, transferred the audio to AudioShare and treated it with Dedalus and ApeFilter, and also saved the midi versions. Opened them all in Auria where the midi versions where used to drive other internal sounds. I mixed and arranged these into a track which I then ran though Dedalus at a sample ratio of 0.75.
I hope that makes sense and that you enjoy the result.
Grant
June 9, 2016
Day 286: Thursday 9 June 2016
Rain Falling (On The Just & On The Unjust):
An Ambient Soundscape today.
Xynthesizr to AudioShare to TwistedWave to SilQ Equalizer to Dedalus to AUFX:Dub.
Grant
June 8, 2016
Day 285: Weds 8 June 2016
Languid Signal To Noise Ratio:
I’m presenting a Soundscape today.
If you’ve been following this journey with me you will remember that I began with many soundscapes but lately things have gone a different route. I’ve wanted to do a soundscape for days now but my attempts have been a little lame.
Today I nailed it 🙂
I began this in an inauspicious way (considering the final result) with Auxy which is geared towards a more EDM style (see yesterday). I did in fact make a piece that I liked very much in an Auxy style, then I rerecorded it at a much lower bpm and using only a few of the elements; into AudioShare with ApeFilter, Dedalus, and AUFX:Dub.
This I loaded into iDensity, into all 6 streams, and then played that into Dedalus at 0.25 Sampler Ratio in AudioShare with ApeFilter again.
It’s long… I guess it’s a big ask to think someone will listen to a 20 minute abstract track, especially in this short attention span world, but I personally think this piece needs to be that long so the listener can really enter the world I’m presenting and just BE in that world.
Anyway I hope you like it.
Grant
June 7, 2016
Day 284: Tuesday 7 June 2016
Too Many Cooks:
https://soundcloud.com/grant-horsnell/too-many-cooks
A little fun was had today, a beaty loopy electronica piece courtesy of Auxy on my iPhone.
It’s one of those fun little loop based apps that are made for EDM type stuff, which isn’t my usual fare and I did slow it to 90 bpm but I still got a pretty funky groove going on I think 😉
I made it at 100bpm and recorded it to AudioShare, transferred it to the iPad with iTunes sharing, slowed it to 90 with TwistedWave, back to AudioShare where I ran it through ApeFilter and Dedalus (I’m just obsessed with this combo at the moment), then finally I loaded both versions to Auria where I did a little mixing and rearranging.