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Fair Use Copyright Engagement Piece

The art world demands appropriation to evolve and create new pieces that the audience have not seen or heard before. If artists don’t draw inspiration and influence from past works, we will run out of concepts and mediums. However, where do we draw the line between inspiration and copying?

My piece, Hypnopompic, blurs the line between reality and the unconscious, it uses various samples of sound effects found from YouTube and draws inspiration from an installation by Chiharu Shiota called Conscious Sleep. Initially I had a vision to create an atmospheric piece that incorporated cinematic samples of suspense, which I would acquire from excerpts and YouTube samples. When downloading, and using the samples I would cut, paste and manipulate each one to the point where it no longer sounded like the original YouTube video. This is in accordance with the ‘Fair Use’ act, which states that to reduce the risks of Copyright, manipulate the sample to make it unrecognizable and bury it within the mix. As well as this, I ‘chopped’ and changed the samples, ‘mashing’ them together to make sure I did not copy a substantial amount of the original work.

In terms of my subject matter and concept, it wasn’t until I listened back to the piece when I was almost finished that I was reminded of Shiota’s installation, drawing inspiration from her work and appropriating the concepts to give them new meaning. My work can be used as an example to define the line between inspiration and copying, whilst I complied with the Fair Use act, I also made sure not to copy Shiota’s work exactly, which was made easy due to it being a completely different medium.

Alan Lamb

Drones and drone music are the basis of all music and soundtracks. They form the undertone of songs and are the starting place for all harmonisation. It is that vital to music that an entire genre is exists around drones. Alan Lamb encompasses the purpose of drones within his works, particularly his piece Night Passage and Primal Image. Evoking feelings of uncanny, disturbance and the unconscious.

The use of different textured drones, and different pitch allows Lamb to build up tension and suspense within the piece. This is vital to the direction in which the piece goes. In order to tell a story within a sound piece, we use various layers of different sounds that harmonize or sometimes even clash together. However, with drones, this is harder to do as a drone doesn’t allow for rapid pitch change. Lamb overcomes this by using drones that waver at different tempos, whilst still maintaining a constant pitch and/or an elongated pitch bend. This allows lamb to achieve the same movement in a piece that rapid pitch change, in a song, would.

It is obvious that drone music allows a sense of ambiguity when it comes to subject matter, however, reflective of artworks, this allows the audience to bring their own context, feelings and emotion to discover what the piece means to them. Therefore, we can see how Lamb uses drone to manipulate his audience and challenge them to rethink what they know about traditional concepts of music and consider the potential of drone.

Negativland

The form of sampling allows artists to change and manipulate previously recorded works in order to convey a different meaning and evoke a different reaction from their audience. Negativland takes advantage of the sampling technique and manipulates various forms of audio recording, such as popular songs and interviews to mock, mimic and comment on popular views and ideas of their time.

Negativland came under much scrutiny due to their use of sampling, however, much like artists who appropriate great artworks, they became more famous for this. After having done sampling, it is obvious that specific outcomes can be achieved quite easily, thus allowing for reflection on values and themes, easier than creating a piece from scratch. However, despite the ‘shortcut’ of sampling, it is still very much possible to create confronting and moving pieces, like Negativland’s Christianity is Stupid.

Ignoring the inevitable and obvious legal issues that arise with sampling, Negativland epitomises appropriation within the art world. Music and sound, alike art itself, evolve and develop through appropriation. If it weren’t for this, we would never discover new sounds or ideas. It is important, as creative practitioners that we continue to appropriate and develop existing concepts and mediums in order to expand upon the ever-growing repertoire of art. Not only does Negativland demonstrate and embody this, but it is only through the sampling within their work that allows them to challenge the audience to consider the constant appropriation within the art world and reflect on the evolution of concepts and mediums.

Major Sound Project

Reflection

I have decided to call my piece ‘Hypnopompic’, this defines the state of sleep after you just wake up, it is the in between of being conscious and unconscious. I feel as though my piece reflects this really well.

The use of a gong to initiate that sense of meditated sleep, and the soft drones mimic the drowsiness of waking. Then as the tension starts to build and the pitch begins to rise, the listener is forced into a state of consciousness. The distorted pitch bends evoking a feeling of unwillingness to acknowledge reality. Finally, the bass drops and the listener is overwhelmed with sirens, inviting them to manipulate the piece using their own context. These sirens being a metaphor for the struggles of daily life, whether that be mental or physical illness, economic or social issues or just a resistance to reality.

https://soundcloud.com/user-53668252/hypnopompic

Major Sound Project

Final Entry

One thing I really liked from Version 2 was the deep bass gong at the start of the piece. It evoked a sense of meditation and relaxation that I think will place the listener into an aware state, whilst coaxing them into a relaxed sense of mind.

The sound i chose to fill the gap between the two sections, was the rising cinematic drone from Version 1. This blended and meshed really well with the rest of the piece and added to the build up.

Earlier, when i was looking for string sounds i had found a rising pitch string drone that i had added in the space where there is now a synth drone build up. However, when i found the synth build up i had put the strings on mute. During a playback i had accidentally un-muted this section only to find that it worked really well in the background of what i now had. In fact I feel as though its what the piece needed.

Finally, to resolve the ending, I decided to add in an air raid siren sound effect. The decision for this was influenced by a sound effect i had added in the build up that almost mimicked the siren by using a pitch modulation bend. I added the siren in after the second bass drop at the end. The piece then ends with the fading out of the siren.

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Comparison:

Version 1 is a more atmospheric piece that combines various drone sounds together to build tension and suspense. It has an overall sense of mystery and allows the listener to manipulate it and place it wherever they want within the world.

Version 2 places the listener in the piece, using the breathing sound effect in the middle of the piece. This version is more of a cinematic sound accompaniment, which I feel doesn’t evolve very much. However, it uses a couple of extra sound effects that I really like

Conclusion:

I will use Version 1 as my base and will add some of the sound effects that i really think added to the atmosphere of Version 2. Hopefully this will allow the piece to sound more full and complete, and help me to create the missing last 30 seconds that will resolve the piece.

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Now knowing where I want to go with my piece, I put together all the samplings and create two alternate versions of my Major sound piece. This way I will be able compare the two and chop and change each one to create the perfect result

Major Sound Project

Entry 3

Coming back to it today, after a week break, I realised that an actual setting within the world is not really what I want to create. Having missed the session where we peer reflected on each others work, I find I am at a disadvantage in terms of not knowing audience reaction to my piece. I have decided that i want to create an atmosphere of feeling, something ambiguous that the listener is able to bring their own feelings in order to place it within the world. So i deleted the door sound effects.

After listening to a couple more examples of suspenseful sound recordings, it became evident that strings are used to build tension within pieces. From my musical knowledge, i know that in particular vibrato strings are used heavily within film music to create and build tension. However, it was difficult to find the exact string sound effect that i wanted, so i opted for a synth build up sound that i feel ties the two ends of my sound piece together.

Major Sound Piece

Entry 2

From my Loops Library, I first chose to use 2 Synth drones, a high pitched drone and then a harmonising lower drone. After listening to various samples on youtube it is obvious that these sort of drones form the basis of every single suspenseful cinematic sound recording that exists (definitely need to look back on this later and see how I can stray away from the cliche’s).

Next, I looked through my loops to find a sample that was going to resolve the suspense that I want to create. I came across a bass drop/drum beat sample that allowed the suspense to resolve, whilst still allowing the tension to build up. I loved this because it meant that I can stick it in around the 1:30 min mark to allude toward the end of the piece, whilst still leading with the suspense. However, I felt the sample wasn’t sudden or emphasised enough, so I added a simple sub bass drop underneath to emphasise that first drop.

As I was heading towards an almost horror like suspenseful setting, I decided to emphasise this more and place the sound in an actual place using a creak of a door and then it slamming.

Major Sound Piece

Entry 1

After playing around with the field recordings and the sampling over the last two weeks I realised my interest lies between the two. With a background in Music, sampling is something i’m very used to and was able to do quite easily. My aim for the Major is to push the boundary between music and sound recording and create an atmospheric piece rather than an actual setting.

After downloading a selection of samples from youtube and creating a library of loops, I plan to cut and manipulate each one to create a piece that leads the listener on a journey of suspense, anxious to hear what is next

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Day 3 - Sampling

To demonstrate the constant sampling and adapting within the music world, we were to download a version of Happy Birthday and mash it up until it was no longer what is recognised as Happy Birthday. Drawing inspiration from the Hardstyle genre of music (note the distortion/feedback caused by the equalization) I remixed Happy Birthday using ‘dirty’ (referring to the distortion of bass/beat) bass drops and beats.

#Sampling #Hardstyle #bass #drop #happybirthday #remix

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Day 2 - Field Work

Going outside into the field, sitting for 120 seconds and notating the sounds that were heard. I sat down in the middle of the garden and focused on my surroundings as people walked by, nature chirped and man went about their daily jobs. Then going back and recording each individual sound one on one. After a repertoire of sounds were obtained, I went back into the studio and recreated the space I had immersed myself in.

#field recording #120 seconds #sound

Day 1 - Drone Sounds

After constructing 4 wires attached to a sound box, we recorded various drone sounds by vibrating the wires. Then going out into the field and recording more drone sounds allowed us to familiarise ourselves with what drone sounds are and how to manipulate them within a work.

#sound #drones #sound box #wires

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