#creativeaudio

Concept + Context - Creative Audio

Research - Creative Audio

Practice - Creative Audio

Experimenting and Feedback - Creative Audio

Experimental I

Experimental II - Part One

Experimental II - Part Two

Recording - Creative Audio

Soundbites - Creative Audio

Continuing through - Creative Audio

Editing - Creative Audio

Day Drinking or Experimenting - Creative Audio

More Inspiration - Creative Audio

Preparing for Feedback - Creative Audio

Making Cover Art - Creative Audio

Cover Art - Creative Audio

Ahead of schedule - Creative Audio

Finish Line - Creative Audio

Creative Audio 2020:

Genre(s): Alternative/Lo-Fi

Concept idea: A mini EP album containing ideally three tracks which produces a juxtaposed form of sounds. I wanted to try to formulate work that is both calming and energising at the same time. Something like a mix of emotions, or symbolising confusion - if there were lyrics I would definitely consider rather slow, sad or significant expressions in the songs. 

The past few weeks, generating ideas for a song was tough but I made a few tracks that needed heaps of tweaking. Although I am inexperienced in this field, learning how to utilise some basic features in Audio editing apps has connected me, in a way, to my favourite artists, as I sort of have an understanding of how they produce and lay out their work.

For one, I have always loved sad songs - or very slowed and out-of-zone type beats. I like to find slowed + reverb versions to songs. I find it relaxing and it keeps me in a steady place of thought for a while.  

Most inspirational Artists:

Billie Eilish - I find that I relate to this artist in many ways. From connection to her music as well as her personality and being around the same age, I see that a lot of her music and agendas correlate with some issues in our generation. Her debut album “Don’t smile at me” was something I could heavily relate to 3 years ago as dealing with a lot and not feeling I can talk to anybody, this album was always sitting in my playlist, and I was ready to indulge into an emotional mind field almost at any point. I also think she really set a standard for our generation and pioneered a new era in music. The song that not only went viral, but also caught my attention was Ocean Eyes (2016) because it was one of the very calming and go-to songs. 

Troye Sivan - Although I don’t identify as a LGBT person, growing up in my early teens I was feeling down a lot of the time. I would often listen to his music because it was soothing but every time I’d listen to one his Blue Neighbourhood (Debut Album, 2015) it always felt like I was listening to it for the first time again. One of his best techniques, in my opinion, is how he uses suspense in his songs and a sense of unpredictability especially in FOOLS in the “Blue Neighbourhood” album(2015).

Tyler, the Creator - I really love his sense of music style. He does not care about criticism and produces what he wants, when he wants - I love his aggression in his music with also a reflecting sense of vulnerability, especially portrayed in EARFQUAKE from the “IGOR” album (2019). I grew up (from age 12…) watching OFWGKTA and I loved the rebellious sensation they give off. 

7:AMP: Que (7:AMP) is a very very underrated artist. Listening to his music on sound cloud at first was a bit overwhelming with the unusual composition. I am used to a certain structure of a song - a catchy beat and repetition. His music often embodies a sense of unpredictability - the elements he uses is so messy and unsteady to the point where it is kind of soothing. I can’t explain it but it kind of gives me something to look forward to as the sounds used in his songs are usually unexpected and that’s what makes it unique. Prada don Dada, Boonana and Baby ball are some of his best I reckon.

Cover Art research:

These are cover art pieces I always enjoyed observing or inspire what I want to make…

These album covers are of the following artists in chronological order:

Don’t smile at Me - Billie Eilish (2017)

Blue Neighbourhood - Troye Sivan (2015)

IGOR - Tyler Okonma (2019)

Thank u, next - Ariana Grande (2018)

BLOOM - Troye Sivan (2018)

Prada don Dada - 7:AMP (2018)

Lovely - Khalid & Billie Eilish (2017)

1999 a Charli XCX x Troye Sivan (2018)

Wings - BTS (2016)

Techniques:

I have always had an admiration for rather simplistic artwork or cover art. Album or single art covers are something I observe to try and break down the artist or their intentions. I consider the colours, layout and style highly effective in portraying a proper image of what an artist will want to convey. 

Symbolism is always interesting in art, as you have to interpret or comprehend it in different ways, either how the artist intends to show it or how you relate to it in your own way. 

Colours: Either using soft and opaque colours OR bright and vibrant colours, I don’t feel as though they would work together efficiently, in my opinion…

Minimalism: Having a simple image or design is always elegant, when using the right colours and techniques I think. I do like negative space in my work and a clean finish. 

Cover Art:

These are rough designs derived from one concept made today in class...

I like using a lot negative space as mentioned earlier. It is more aesthetically pleasing. This concept was just inspired by my fascination for outer-space, particular Saturn. I just like Saturn. To me, it depicts that there is much more out there, not just in the world, but in this entire universe - more than what we could ever imagine.

For the colours, I just thought that using contrasting colours in the first two as it would not be difficult to see. Third one, I wanted a softer, opaque base and a warm colour for the planet - not too harsh on the eyes... 

For the music, I haven’t quite got used to all the tools in Adobe Audition. Serato studio was fairly simple to make a basic tune but I much preferred to use a traditional looking programme. I’m still in the process of producing three tracks and still learning. Although, producing isn’t my forte, I get a lot of help from my brother who happens to work under Sony: Columbia records. I want to produce music similar to his although the genre of his songs aren’t officially a genre. Siren jams are popular amongst Polynesian, Micronesian and Latino communities, especially in Mexico. I wanted to attempt to make a different kind of sound without it just sounding like a bunch of random sounds - still working on it.

Playlists of interesting songs:

General: https://music.apple.com/nz/playlist/heat/pl.u-AkAmPlyU216Xbd4 

Project inspo: https://music.apple.com/nz/playlist/creative-audio-inspo/pl.u-RRbVvBVF35EVJlv 

Trap/Hip-hop: https://music.apple.com/nz/playlist/trap/pl.u-leyl0yeCjXqz7Kk 

Tranquillity: https://music.apple.com/nz/playlist/playlist/pl.u-vxy693XCzV9REqA 

The idea behind pulse is the fragile serenity in the rhythm of a heartbeat.

Reflection:

With different circumstances this project could have more time to grow. As it is, i did learn alot in terms of audio effects and have only scratched the surface of what’s possible. I’ve become much more confident in terms of using Ableton, but need more practice and experience producing music. More mini experimentation sessions could help to develop more sounds and techniques. 

More work on the project.

With inspiration low, the next best thing to do is to experiment. I’ve been throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

I’ve gotten more confident with the Auto Filter and Glue Compressor.

Work on my sound project is hitting a dead end.

Recent events have kept me distracted and uninspired, and no matter how hard I try nothing seems to be going right. I’m missing the spark that drove ‘Scene’. 

The basic outline and idea is there, but its still sorely lacking character and flavor.

I’ve experimented with all the things I’ve learnt from my research, but they don’t seem to fit together.

Maybe my mind isn’t in the right place.

Another tangent, this time into classical. For reasons of which I could write a book about, Air from the second movement in Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, has had a profound impact on my life. Simply put, it is now my earworm that I hear everyday.

This does become a bit of a problem when trying to produce music in Ableton that is of a different style altogether, as my brain will tend to drift into the classical.

So I thought it best to, just this once, submit to temptation and just recreate this piece in Ableton. As an extra challenge, I wanted to test my hearing so I’ve done this almost entirely by ear.

A bit of a technical note: I originally wanted to upload this through youtube but it keeps getting flagged (copyrights yay). Trying to get this through Tumblr proved tricky, at first the file was too large so I had to cut down the quality. Then it went through but got stuck in processing, so I removed audio from the background (I was listening to a performance for reference) and it finally got here. Crappy, but here.

Back on topic.

First off, it was imperative that I found a good sample/sound pack as the default Ableton has is either lacking or terribly synthetic. I found one rather easily from the Ableton website itself and began working. It took at least an hour to get my ear get into the swing of things but once that was sorted, things began to take shape.

Since the piece is slow and has few, easily identifiable, layers it was relatively easy to get notes into the MIDI. The real difficulty is trying to make it sound natural. Even with the best of samples/sound packs, there will be a telltale sign it was assembled rather than performed. The key difference is that humans are never perfectly on time, and instruments don’t always produce a clean and consistent sound. Specifically, violins sound differently depending on how the bow is held and which part of the bow is contacting the strings. Additionally, a violinist has to move the bow up and down which produces a very different sound.

So I have to go in and make it sound more natural, which is easier said then done.

Ableton does have a feature called ‘Velocity’, which simulates the behavior of a piano mechanism; a note struck on a piano is louder if the key is struck more forcefully. By changing the velocity, it changes the piece to sound a little more natural. The violins aren’t being played at full force nano-second perfect on time, which makes big difference.

Adding reverb helps a lot too, by creating a sense of space that simulates the performance happening in a real environment.