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.

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AUTOGFTK