Grant
February 8, 2016
Day 166: Monday 8 Feb 2016
Sunday Slowly Sinking Again:
A Beatscape. One of those where I try to blend elements regardless of beats-per-minute etc, but where I approach the elements as a collage.
I have several folders in AudioShare where I get bits and pieces, various elements that I have used or may use. Today I raided my ‘Beats’ folder, taking several elements that I thought would work together and put them into Auria for arrangement.
The elements came from ElasticDrums, DM1, Figure, FLUX:FX, and PhaseRings. There may be some effects apps used, I’m no longer sure.
Stay tuned for some more developments 🙂
Grant
February 7, 2016
Day 165: Sunday 7 Feb 2016
Sooner Or Later (Pessimism Edit):
An Ambient Beatscape with Spoken Word.
This began with Arpeggist and Addictive Synth. Once I had something I liked, I loaded Addictive into Auria along with Poseidon and TF7, designed matching sounds in each synth, and recorded them all playing the slow sparse arpeggio. I also copied two of the synths to new tracks. applied some distortion with Muckraker, and panned them.
The beat is from Patterning, I knew I wanted something simple with only a few variations.
Next I loaded up MitoSynth for the ghostly slow lead sound (I don’t often use presets, preferring to make my own, but this suited the track so well).
I pasted the lyrics to iSpeech TTS, slowed them in Twistedwave and added some AltiSpace in AudioShare; but when I added them to the track I was unhappy with them so they got relegated to backing vocals.
The final touch was me reading the lyrics straight into Auria with reverb and delay from the inbuilt effects.
Grant
February 6, 2016
Day 164: Saturday 6 Feb 2016
Sometimes Softly:
A Soundscape utilising a field recording.
Sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes it’s not, sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s soft. Sometimes it takes many apps, sometimes only a few, or even just one.
I am having a crisis of confidence and a loss of faith. I no longer feel my measly efforts are worthwhile. I don’t know what to do next. I am paralysed by doubt.
This is not an unusual place for me to be, I recognise these surroundings, I know them well.
Keep moving, that’s the key.
What makes music, what makes a track, what makes a song?
The recording was made with Røde Rec on my iPhone; footsteps in snow, cars driving by, an engine running, a dog barking, wind. And something else; I don’t know what. Collaged in Auria.
Grant
February 6, 2016
Day 163: Friday 5 Feb 2016
When One Door…:
Is it a Beatscape? A Soundscape? Ambient? Or something else? You tell me (probably fictional) listeners 🙂
Auria, Patterning, AudioShare, TwistedWave, BeatMaker 2, Dedalus, AUFX:Dub, Emo Chorus, Altispace, Sector, Korg Module…four bottles of stout and a homemade pizza.
Grant
February 4, 2016
Day 162: Thursday 4 Feb 2016
The Abyss Talks Back:
An Ambient Beatscape.
I began today by making a beat in ElasticDrums which I recorded into Auria. Then I loaded up Patterning and made a matching but slightly different beat which I recorded into several tracks using different drum kits. An arpeggio from Poseidon provided the occasional bass, and the ambience is from Ondes and Addictive Synth played together from Ondes and slowed by TwistedWave, and an Absynth jam that I imported from my MacBook and treated with Dedalus and AUFX:Space before time stretching it in Auria.
Grant
February 3, 2016
Day 161: Weds 3 Feb 2016
Encryption/Decryption:
A Beatscape, sparse and slow. Just like I like them.
I loaded three tracks into Auria; two midi tracks for Poseidon and Addictive Synth, and one audio track for my MicroBrute. I played both apps from the Poseidon keyboard while I played the abstract sounds from the MicroBrute. The midi was then copied to another track and given an acoustic piano sound.
Next I bounced the Poseidon and Addictive Synth tracks to audio and loaded another midi track for each. I chose new sounds for them and jammed them in.
Arrangement ensued.
Grant
February 2, 2016
Day 160: Tuesday 2 Feb 2016
My Dreams Have Been Dark Of Late:
A Beatscape.
Today’s drums began in iMPC Pro, were slowed and lowered in TwistedWave, effected with Dedalus and AUFX:Space, and then slowed again.
The background was made in Grain Science using a recording of my voice made with the AudioShare and AltiSpace combination.
They were collaged in Auria with two old recordings made with my iPhone years ago: one of my office chair creaking, and one of my fretless Fender Jazz.
Grant
February 1, 2016
Day 159: Monday 1 Feb 2016
Ruefully:
A disturbed ambient piece.
I did a jam last week using my Axiom Pro keyboard to play Korg’s Module app with an Electric Piano sound. I ran that through Sector, trimmed out a promising piece, looped it, and then slowed it. All using TwistedWave and AudioShare.
Today I took that into Auria and timestretched it limps and stumbles along, almost languidly. Then I added two Addictive Synth tracks; just jamming along after I add chosen some sounds from my own collection.
Listening to it now, it reminds me of seaweed near the shore, being pushed and pulled by the waves.
Grant
January 31, 2016
Day 158: Sunday 31 Jan 2016
Meditations On A Moonscape:
A Soundscape. Slow, sparse, with lots of space.
I feel myself being pulled in two directions at the moment; one is like this simple and sparse with silence and space as a central feature, the other is busy and crowded with different instruments and sounds. I need to allow myself time to explore both tendencies.
This track is related to yesterday’s because I began with one of my Poseidon jams which I fed into Borderlands Granular and did a 7 minute jam; it went through 3 distinct phases so I split it into 3 files. The third and most sparse is what you hear here. I loaded it into Auria and time stretched it and added reverb. My intention was to use this as the beginning of a more complex piece but it just really worked as is. The only other thing I did was to use an uneffected version on another track at a lower volume, this added a subtle clarity to the sound while leaving the reverb to work its magic.
I hope you enjoy.
Grant
January 30, 2016
Day 157: Saturday 30 Jan 2016
Once Upon A Time:
I’m not sure how to classify today’s track, some sort of electronica, that’s the best I can do. Any suggestions anyone?
It’s a whimsical piece anyway, fun, slightly silly.
Only three apps were used to make this; it all takes place within Auria, the beat is from Patterning, and all the other sounds are from Poseidon which is fast becoming one of my favourite synths.
I began with the bell-like tinkling arpeggio and built up from there adding sounds and arranging as I went.