hcroxim Stills

Here are some stills taken from the video for the track hcroxim. The first is from 0:26:2262. The second is 1:2:4721.

© Salvatore Mercatante 2009

Videos Soon.

AUTOGFTK

Production

If you can produce without knowing your producing, then you are truly producing. If you are able to do this, then what you compose will be a pure as possible, untainted by outside disturbances or influences. 

AUTOGFTK

Idea(s)

Here is something I have been thinking about concerning creativity and idea generation. As well as my creative process from a strictly mental and preliminary stage. I believe it also holds true for any procedural attempt at forming ideas; whether it be in music, science, visual art, mathematics, etc:

I do not come up with these ideas, I receive them. And they come from wherever; from the way someone walks next to me, from how coffee tastes on a given morning, or from how a person gazes at you from across the room. Sometimes it's overwhelming and you don't know what to do because it's all just too much for your mind to grasp. That is when you choose to either block it all out and throw it away, or take it and run. Create what is already trying to be created but through your own eyes. That is where your originality comes through; not in the initial stage of developing ideas and/or idioms. The thing is that everyone has it (this ability), but some just don't know what to do with it or how to channel it. And that is where innovators and artists come from. Nothing truly original can ever be created. One the greats, John Lennon, said something (and for the life of me, I can't find the actual quote) along the lines of 'It's not who you copy, it's how well you copy them.' This is perhaps an extremely blunt version of what I am trying to say. What I am referring to is in no sense "copying," but it is a good point. This concept can be completely subconscious, and you may never notice it but it's there. 

When I am working on a project, sometimes the origin of the idea is conjured from a direct influence; something like a song I just heard, or a movie I just watched (something thats intention is to bring forth some kind of emotional response). That process has a defined source-point or epicenter. But there are other instances where I just sit down in front of my computer, open up Digital Performer or Ableton Live and things just happen. Sometimes it feels like the track is writing itself and music just pours out onto the screen. How does that happen? The inspiration had to of come from some external source, but what that source is is intangible. How can one know what they're doing, but at the same time have no idea what is going on? This borders on Zen philosophies. 

I know everything about what I am doing, and nothing at the same time. 

Listen.

AUTOGFTK

The Past (pt. 1)

Since this blog was created very late in the game, I figure I should give the readers a post about the past. What drove me to do what I am doing, and what I did to put everything together to get to the point I am current at.

The process can be broken down into several sub-processes, which can be further subdivided and so on. We'll start with the musical compositions:

They were created from 2007-2008 for an album I was working on entitled 'conde.' I was interested in the study of beat structure, and the album was basically an product of that study. I attempted to deconstruct beat patterns in a way that would be relatively stimulating to the listener, as well as teach them what I learned. It is difficult to put exactly what I was thinking into words, for the study was not done on paper but internally. Each track embarks on a different journey into beat making, and it is more apparent in some than it is in others. As you pile layers of sound (i.e. percussion, synthesizers, bass, etc.) on top of each other, the track becomes less about the beat and more about the overall arrangement. 

While writing the album, it became apparent to me that sound design was another major player that I had to work with. So when listening to certain tracks, you can hear that sound synthesis became more of a factor. You get to this point where you realize that you can't just use the factory presets and the automated filter sweeps that the soft-synths give you. Sure, they sound great and that's why they're put into the programs sound library, but in order to fully make a track your own you must AT LEAST tinker with settings. This was foreign to me, and that is where Jim McElwaine came into the picture.

In taking multiple independent studies on different types of synthesizing with Jim through the years, I have become more well-versed in speaking my mind through sound. Everything from Frequency Modulation Synthesis (FM - see DX7), to Additive Synthesis, to Granular Synthesis was studied; all tools to help create sounds that have essentially never been heard by the human ear before. It sounds very adventurous and epic, and to be completely honest with you, it is. These sounds and timbres can not be recreated with the usage of conventional acoustic/electric instruments (guitars, orchestral instruments, pianos, brass, etc.). That is the sort of thing that drew me to the field of 'electronic music' (for lack of a better umbrella term) in the first place. 

It is a science and an art in itself. 

Conjure noises that can only be heard in yourself and show them to the world.

...

AUTOGFTK

This is the same shape at a different time (0:54:1726) and from a different angle.

© Salvatore Mercatante 2009

Video will be coming soon.