Music

and other such things

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Live Event MD6316 Evaluation

All in all, I believe that the final performance overall was a success. There was a minor technical hiccup at the start of our performance, but as soon as we cleared it up and was able to get the sound from the laptop/Ableton Live to come through to the PA we set off and the rest I felt went smooth and without any issues.

The stat of this module we were not sure how we were to perform, what we were to perform and it was more of throwing around ideas to try and sow the seed that would eventually grow into what our final performance was. The first R&D video demonstrates the backbone of what our performance was going to be. We wanted to perform together, all contributing our own parts that when all done at once, would be a seamless and enjoyable performance. 

Things started out as Bart controlling scenes and essentially the timeline of the songs and when they were to change from one to the other. Cat being the vocalist will also be in charge of her own vocal effects via a chaos pad, and I would be in charge of the dub sound effects and filters.

This further developed to add visual effects and a rap verse to my responsibilities, while Bart would help with the audio effects while I did this verse.

We chose to do the performance how we did, mainly because Bart and myself are more technically minded and I also am not a fan of performing really, so we wanted to try and develop our performance around what we are good at. Cat being a singer had no problem being on stage but for Bart and myself, we needed to at least look like we were not just standing around being the sound guys on stage but rather make it more performative. So the dress code with masks and all in white came along, which then also triggered the idea of using the white dress code as a way of integrating visuals into the performance where we would essentially be the screen onto which the visuals would project. This particular part of the performance I don't think worked as well as we intended because of the background not being black enough to absorb the light from the projectors. If the backdrop was more of a true black or vanta black sprayed screen or surface of some kind, then this would have been more effective and the visuals would have projected on us only and not the back as well (something to develop further in the future).

What I thought worked well was the way we were laid out on stage, with Bart and I on the sides facing inwards, we were able to see each other, Cat, and also access all of the hardware we were using at any time to correct any problems that may have occurred and also to make any changes which we felt needed to happen sonically. I also thought that our little encore section of the performance went well even though I felt that we were not all as prepared for it as we wanted to be as it was more of a last minute addition (also something to develop on in the future).

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We have now finished putting together all of the elements of what we want our performance to incorporate and this video is a test run of all the elements together. Basically, a run through of what the final performance will be.

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Performance songs have been agreed on and practice run through... also testing out the visuals to accompany the music and add to the performance, the visuals are from a software called 'RemixVideo' and we intend to use the plugin version of it within Ableton Live.

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1st day putting together/forming an Idea for the performance.

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The Visual work in this video is by 'blender' open source initiative, I am using the visuals to practice making scores and Foley/Sound design for the purpose of a University assignment. 

I originally intended to collaborate with fellow peers on the film course but found it incredibly challenging to do so. I feel that perhaps if the timing of assessment hand-ins had been reversed, then it may have been easier to collaborate. This is because the film industry has the general tendency to forget about sound until the last minute so I would have been able to work to their deadline. However, assessments had not been planned this way, so I had to improvise. I initially filmed a lot of footage intending to make a mini Skateboarding/culture/art/music documentary-style video, but to do that and create the music as well would have made my assessment hand in even later than what it is now. So I had to resort to plan C, utilising a video under a creative commons licence made by an open source initiative/platform. 

Absolutely everything you hear in this video I have orchestrated. I used the visual only, and the audio has been entirely re-scored, utilising multiple techniques such as Foley and sound designing. I also used samples from https://freesound.org/ when I didn’t have the right materials around me to foley.

I really tried to focus on how to best represent what was on screen musically for example, by the use of panpipes and taiko drums in the mountainous intro scene to express the spiritual, proud and robust connotations that mountains embody. Trying all the time to empathise emotionally to what is showing and trying to find the right techniques and sounds that I thought reflects these moments. Technically I also tried to accurately portray the sound effects by foley most of the time but also by using automation to try and control the dynamics of the audio in junction with how it was to be perceived by a listener, trying to maximise immersion as much as possible.

I hope you enjoy and leave some comments on what you think. 

The original Video is called 'Spring', and you can find it using this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhWc3... 

You can also learn how to animate with Blender Cloud if you are interested: https://cloud.blender.org/p/spring 

Also a link to where you can obtain this 'blender' application: https://www.blender.org/

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Visit Original Link

The sounds in this track are layered by function and these functions can be attributed to specific triggers from a game to signify something like picking up health or jumping. There are only Six layers in this example:

1. Melody

2. Counter Melody

3. Beat (for rhythm and pace)

4. Death sound

5. Jump Sound

6. Stair climb and coin collection

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Visit Original Link

Just a few more sounds to add to the collection. Having a sound Library is not only useful but also crucial for those working in the sound design industry. The art of Foley is a fascinating topic. Being able to record sounds in ‘post’ to more accurately tell a narrative is impressive, especially because Foley recordings tend to make things sound more real when in actual fact it is a cleverly designed facade.

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Visit Original Link

An example of how the ‘Braaam’ technique can also be applied musically in the form of a chord, which can act in place of the typical foghorn-esque sound.

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This is an example of how the ‘Braaam’ sound (made famous by ‘Zimmer’) can be used to highlight thriller or action movies and makes for impressive tension building.

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 9

Project Evaluation

The project performance went very well in my opinion, the setup prior to the performance took a lot longer than anticipated as we had to troubleshoot all aspects of our setup to find only one small thing not set correctly (which turned out to be the way Ableton Live was recognising the midi keyboard being used) to then correct it and have things working smoothly. We had initially set a maximum of thirty minutes for the technical setup and because of this, had to extend to almost an hour including the troubleshooting.

Although our set up looks very simple, the internal routing of both computers to achieve a real-time and syncronised audio communication between them is what made this project very complex and ambitious.

As the main purpose of this project was to see how blind communication through musical cues at a distance would work, as well as to propose how we would develop this into individual units that could be placed around town as an art installation, we did not want to practice a rehearsed musical performance per say, rather intended it to be totally improvised, and to some degree random to reinforce the idea that if the installation was to happen, people with no musical background could still access this and enjoy it. This, however, did not seem to engage our fellow peers and so we did feel that maybe it would have been better if we intended it to be seen as a musical performance, this, on the other hand, would have substituted the idea that people of no musical background could access this for the sake of entertaining our fellow peers at the time, which I feel would have been damaging to the purpose of project.

Perhaps a way around this would have been to maybe display the musical scale we agreed on at the time (C minor) and to then ask our fellow peers if the wished to come up and have a play and see if they too could try and have a blind musical communication with another from the other unit.

All in all, I believe that Bart and I were able to accurately get our point across and also demonstrate how this kind of digitally networked system of units could and would work.

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 8

Process/Performance Statement

Because our performance will be looking into blind communication at a distance we will have one set up in the assessment area (film studio) and one set up at a different location (in the hallway outside).

We will just make a quick sound check before we begin to ensure our setups are in working order.

We will then proceed to play together using musical cues rather than physical or visual ones that band members would use when playing on the same stage together conventionally.

There will be no particular tempo set by the DAW, but rather a natural fluid tempo set by our interaction playing together.

We would like to expand this idea further in the future by building a few units based on Arduino computers, allowing to play as separate functional units that talk to one another at a distance. These will play only one scale and would make it easy for people to use. As a result, these units could be placed in different parts of the town centre as an art installation.

The point of this is that all units involved will be able to hear any of the inputs from all other units on the same network, therefore allowing for musical collaboration via a network in remote locations relative to one another.

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 7

Project proposal

project name

Musical Interaction at a Distance (AKA ‘MID’)

roles and responsibilities

who’s in your group and what are they doing?

Bartosz Lomsza: “We both will be essentially doing the same thing, only using different midi instruments and playing together cooperatively in Ableton Live using an ad-hock network and Live Link”

Daniel Orme: “ “

theme / stimulus

the rationale for your project

How two musicians (or more) at a distance can collaborate using blind communication in the form of musical cues using digital mediums and midi for its near latency free properties and ease of manipulation and functionality.

networking means

in what way is this a networked performance?

We are literally using an online network as well as a network of people (just us two for this assessment but could be many more) to collaborate and make music together from remote locations.

sonic aesthetic

what sounds will we hear, how will you play them,

and what relationship do they have with your rationale?

It will be ‘Asynchronous’ in nature, utilising two synths both linked to two independent delays. Each will have their own instrument they can play and delay that they independently can effect. We will be using only one scale that we have already agreed on prior to the performance.

technical requirements

what do you need and where are you getting it from?

We will need one Mac desktop with Ableton live 9 provided by the uni with a pair of speakers and external audio interface as well as a midi keyboard of some kind provided by the uni,

We will have a MacBook Pro provided by us, however, we will also need another pair of speakers, audio interface and midi keyboard for this unit also provided by the uni.

In total, we will need from the uni: 2 audio interfaces, 2 midi keyboards and 2 pairs of speakers as well as 1 Mac desktop with Ableton Live 9.

initial rehearsal schedule

when are you meeting and for how long?

9am meeting at Uni

Ensuring all hardware is set up as needed

Ensuring that the software and network is set up and working as intended

Final checks and sound checks

Should take maximum 30 minutes altogether.

Duration of performance

Approximately 5 minutes long

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 6

Simultaneous Performance in Remote Locations

Bart and I wanted to do something using this kind of approach to musical and digital networking for our assessment. To achieve this we had set up an adhock network and already planned how we would perform musically to create a piece. We used Ableton Live and its ‘Link’ function to connect both our computers over the adhock network and also over Ableton Live. We also had the same Ableton Live session template and this allowed us to hear the same instruments each other were playing.

We wanted to use midi data this way as the latency is practically null and void allowing for real-time collaboration at a distance.

The Link below is to the musical piece we created using this method:

https://soundcloud.com/gooddaddyb/st6-simutanies-performance-in-diferent-locations/s-y5kZo

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 5

Collaborative Software

Here Bart and I made use of internet browsers as the collaborative software of choice because the main purpose of the internet is collaboration, to begin with.

We use only two of the many internet browsers sound toys that are easily accessible and usable and also even though not all of them may be designed to collaborate with directly, there are always ways around this... These workarounds could be utilising other Internet-based software such as messenger or skype. 

Here are the two sites we used to make the musical collaboration:

https://typatone.com/

https://patatap.com/

The following video is the result of us collaborating together using the internet browser software and sharing the same speakers:

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 4

Alternative Stimulus for Music

For this task, Bart and I went for a walk around the park campus pond and took note of the different sounds we heard... 

We could hear the wind the trees, the song of birds, the sounds of our footsteps, the water of the pond when we threw a pebble into it, the snapping of twigs and ambient daytime life in the park in general.

We both then went on to draw sound maps of our own.

Mine:

Bart’s

After which, we both decided to use my sound map as the stimulus for creating a piece of music. 

This is the music we created:

https://soundcloud.com/gooddaddyb/dub-st-4-walking-thru-the-park/s-w69I7

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 3

Social Media Strategies

This task is an extension of task 2 as they are very closely related. 

Bart and I were thinking of how social media is used for musical performance already and how we could adapt this to work as an audience participated performance. We thought of Facebook Live as it is already quite popular for performances, but we have not yet seen people interacting with the performance in terms of participation of said performance from the audience.

We wanted to know if it could be done, and how we could do it in a way that would be simple and fun for the audience to do so... So we came up with the emoji system in conjunction with an Ableton Live session. We broke the session into scenes which we could trigger at any moments notice. The emoji system works like this:

Scene 1 - thumbs up emoji

Scene 2 - heart emoji

Scene 3 - laughing face emoji

Scene 4 - shocked face emoji

Scene 5 - crying face emoji

Scene 6 - angry face emoji

We were then ready for the Facebook Live audience participated performance and so we set it all up ready to go with the following description:

“Live house session played by you! Decide what part of the song is played by sending different like emojis 😁 You as the audience determine where we go... Send as many like emojis as you want and let's see how messed up we can make it 😉”

This was to ensure that people dropping into our live feed we clear as to what the purpose and objectives were, as well as a way to get them interested and to participate.

this proved to be very successful as there were enough people participating to have the emoji’s make it almost like playing ‘Guitar Hero’, but not too many where it would have made it impossible to follow along to the stream of incoming emoji’s.

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MD5319 Semester 2 - Networks & Communities: Task 2

Audience Participation

The video above is a screen capture of the Audience Participated Facebook Live performance saved on my page after the event took place. As it is not the original live feed video, none of the emoji’s that we could see popping up on the screen as we were recording is there, but as the video shows, we were receiving a mix of different emoji’s as that was the purpose. So we didn’t get angry faces because the event was not liked, rather, we asked for them to send all the different ones on purpose. When we could see them on the live feed we would trigger the appropriate scene represented by the same emoji.