#dancing snow

~Touch Meme- 010.   kiss them .~

Composition: Dancing Snow

This was part of one of my exams. The task was to use modern techniques and the program Pd (Pure Data) to create contemporary works. This piece uses lots of sampling, granular and FM synthesis, recording techniques, amongst other things. A bit more experimental than what I'm used to, but this was really fun to make! The ideas started coming together while I was on a walk in the Ardennes, during the holidays. I was walking through a forest and decided to record some sounds with my iPod. The very first sound you hear is actually just the rustling of some leaves. Recording with the iPod gave me the possibility to try out different mic positions, creating an interesting stereo effect. 

One of the next sounds is a small stream of water, which was quite fascinating to me, as it was flowing through a stone tube. This almost created some kind of overtones. I just had to have that sound and transform it!

Another prominent component of this composition is choir samples. I recently worked together with some fellow students to perform a couple fragments from a new work of mine. I cut out a few chords and used granular synthesis to extract textures from it, almost like making it into a synth pad. You can hear it the most clearly around 2:25 [the original sample is just a 1- or 2-second clip].

Apart from that, I just played around with panning, space design, added some digital instruments, let my imagination do its thing!

When I first got this assignment, I didn’t think I’d be making something like this. But this opened me up to a lot of new possibilities and a different side of creating sounds. It was great to experiment and really just go by sound, rather than classical structures, harmonies and counterpoint. It makes you listen and think in a different way.

(Written by Adam)

My 11/12 season has come to a close but it will go down as one of the most memorable I've had in a long time. 

It started out a bit slow for me; Baker got hammered early on but I was unable to partake in the Thanksgiving feast and by the time I had moved in to my house in December someone had turned the faucet off.  December was a bit dry but Japanuary 2.0 delivered enough pow to make up for it.  

February was also a bit slow but March was near epic, with 260 inches of pow falling over the course of the month. 

And then came April, which was a mix of pow laps on the Arm followed by spring skiing in the sunshine, Metalmücil concerts and recording sessions, and then just like that came a quick flight from the drippy Northwest to the South Pacific to start my whale-chasing summer.

Big thanks for a successful season go to Grant Gunderson, K.C. Deane, Bill Ross/Dancing Snow, Mt. Baker Ski Area, and my bandmates in Metalmücil.

Along with support from these guys! 

See you next season!