Stellar Floor Text

I've got a new piece at <http://x31eq.com/music/>. See what
you think.

Graham

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., graham@m... wrote:
> I've got a new piece at <http://x31eq.com/music/>. See what
> you think.

Graham!

Very cool, G. I like this the best of anything you've done. The drum/bass thing, even if it is a loop or even if it is a sequence, has a lumpy kind of groove to it, unlike most anything else I've heard. It kind of kills me how you're working with all that distortion, and you're doing it with the high-end Kyma system!!! That's not a hack on you, because you've taken a pretty different approach than all the samples on the Kyma site.

One thing I wonder about, because I've noticed this before in your work: there seems to be very little in the way of upper-frequency material in your recordings, say, like high guitar sounds, or high and bright percussive sounds/textures. I don't know if this is a purposeful or aesthetic slant of yours, and you may really be going for a mid-rangy, grunge-like sound. But that loping rhythmic feel might be enhanced by some crispy little touchs.

On the other hand, maybe it would ruin the effect. You're the composer/performer, *you* make the call! :)

Thanks for posting that one, and don't hesitate to share any details about just how you went about creating the recording/piece...

Cheers,
Jon

In-Reply-To: <ae4a5i+3lmk@...>
jonszanto wrote:

> Very cool, G. I like this the best of anything you've done. The
> drum/bass thing, even if it is a loop or even if it is a sequence, has
> a lumpy kind of groove to it, unlike most anything else I've heard. It
> kind of kills me how you're working with all that distortion, and
> you're doing it with the high-end Kyma system!!! That's not a hack on
> you, because you've taken a pretty different approach than all the
> samples on the Kyma site.

I do think this is the best thing I've done, but there's plenty of room
for improvement. It has the same monolithic feel as ffb, which is good up
to a point but I need to work out how to free it up without weakening it.

The drum part is a loop from the sequencer, with MIDI-recorded processing.
It's recorded to a file so the other parts can play along with it. It
sounds great on its own, which made it daunting to find other parts to add
to it. The rhythm is a dumbed down version of the Pygmy technique
described on that French page. It's a 4 beat rhythm with lengths
2-3-3-3. It sounds great, has forward momentum, and should be fine to
dance to. It's also bloody difficult to play in time with, so everything
is drawn in.

Distortion's great with Kyma because I can control all the parameters from
MIDI, and get exactly what I want. It's also easy on the processors. I
designed the effect myself and I prefer it to the more complex
amp-emulation examples. I linked to my guitar effects from the Kyma forum
some time back, and there have been a few downloads but nobody's said
anything.

> One thing I wonder about, because I've noticed this before in your
> work: there seems to be very little in the way of upper-frequency
> material in your recordings, say, like high guitar sounds, or high and
> bright percussive sounds/textures. I don't know if this is a purposeful
> or aesthetic slant of yours, and you may really be going for a
> mid-rangy, grunge-like sound. But that loping rhythmic feel might be
> enhanced by some crispy little touchs.

I think, on repeated listens, it's a bit bass heavy and I'll re-EQ it
sometime. The noise-percussion sounds and the distortion are putting high
frequencies in there. I prefer not to get in their way. The "crisp"
sound is exactly what I like about them. You lose some of that with the
MP3. I did actually turn down the extreme treble in the post processing,
but the spectrum readout on WinAmp shows there's plenty left.

> On the other hand, maybe it would ruin the effect. You're the
> composer/performer, *you* make the call! :)

I like the texture of this example, especially if it's turned loud enough.
It also works well on my cheaper speakers which lose some of the bass.

> Thanks for posting that one, and don't hesitate to share any details
> about just how you went about creating the recording/piece...

I've mentioned things above. It's all generated on Kyma. The drum kit is
built from noise generators and samples taken from my djembe. Not that
you hear much of them, but I'll be using them again. The synth sounds are
the new "IOC" synthesis, where you specify points for a waveform and the
interpolation. They then go through the usual analog-emulation filters.
I worked out the tunes on paper, with an eye to decimal counterpoint, and
keyed them in using my ZTar with a full decimal keyboard layout. Then
moved them around in the sequencer to fit the rhythm. A lot of the time I
was thinking in 4/4 and hoping it came out right. I do need a proper
multitrack recording package. Apparently Pro Tools is the way to go.

I even added a bit of Eugenio Reverb to the whole mix so you can hear how
good that is 8-)

Graham