Showing posts with label music experiment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music experiment. Show all posts

Chapter 16 - Track Structure (part 1)

Track Structure Experiments

Finally, I catch up with myself :)

This is where I am writing as I do the things!
I am at the moment in the music structure, I have recorded the sounds, I have listened, I have made some decisions, and I will need to change:
1* Start of the track
2* Use more bass
3* Make more unrecorded sound movements with the Kaossilator

4* End of the Track

The reasons are:

1* The stars of the tracks are always the same way.
This is because I am working with no synchroniser.
First, I play the Improvised sound made in the Kaossilator, next
The Drums, next
The background, next
more sounds.
This is okay and probably will be the total structure of the track, but listening to 10 tracks that start and finish the same way can be too much. I think!


2* I listen to the tracks and they need bass... again, my girlfriend says no !
I will add more bass to the tracks and listen to how it sounds.

3* Make more unrecorded sound movements with the Kaossilator.
Some low parts in the track need to use more (spare) Sound FX, which helps to create movement in the track.


4* The end of the track, like the start, it's always the same way.


  The end of the track is the same, always.
Always start with the drums and finish with the drums.
At the end, I have to switch off
The background, next,
The FX and at the end,
The drums.

I can find different ways to finish the track; the structure will always have to be this way, but I can use other effects to cover the basic structure at the end.

* Track Structure
I start with a Kaossilator sound, and next come the drums. The sound looping with the drums will sound desynchronised at first, but after some time, looping together, they start to transform into a synchronised rhythm.
Next comes the background sound, which works exactly at the same tempo as the drum loop.
Here, the melody is created already from nothing, and I am just following the vibe by now:)

This makes all the difference because all the music produced is recorded just once and is never the same again, totally unpredictable. Although the sounds may be the same, the melody and effects are always played differently, creating a charming and mental ambient vibe to hear.
Yes, very nice  :)

BUT
Start the track with the drums, it's too violent!
For this reason, I start the track with the FX sound of the Kaossilator.
This even though the drums will come next and not synchronised with the sound played, but the drum loops + the FX, soon start to make sense in your head :) :) And at this moment, it is just a melody created with the FX and the drums.
After the first two sounds play together, I come in with the background sound. Then, after the background sound, I apply more sounds, change the rhythm, and so on.

Very fun :)

Intro


 WAVDJ (The Machine)


Hello.
I started this blog to document my experience with WAVDJ -VM-108.
This machine (as I like to call it) is discontinued from the market and not much information is found on the web.

This wavdj is a (Oregon Scientific) product and was released in 2001 as a console to make music with WAV files + .sty and .osm files.


It is a minimal machine to work with, but on the other hand, can be very fun to change things around, altering sounds and creating something different.
You can read more about WAVDJ  here:
Jornal Article

http://amplifiers.annonz.co.uk/amplifiers/wav-dj--74896

 http://www.trademe.co.nz/nz/auction-177550236.htm

http://www.positive1.com/reviews/toys/osci/dj/index.html

If you like to download the manuals, you can find them here:
http://safemanuals.com/user-guide-instructions-owner-manual/OREGON%20SCIENTIFIC/WAV%20DJ



Now... Why get a thing like this to make music?
I have two PCs at home, and one is dedicated to making music, as I work with Ableton music software. I have also used other music programs.
The problem I found (if it is a problem) with this software music program is the numerous options it provides, which can be beneficial, but can also be detrimental.
Sometimes, I get no feeling to make a musical track and I start to work automatically, as I get no vibe making music just by putting all the sounds together and clicking a button to synchronise beats or spending hours searching for a sound or making a sound.
It's good, it's professional, but sometimes really takes my vibe away !!
It's ok to do music with software, it's like playing a game where you have to put the images in the right places, but I much prefer to feel the music and play with the sounds :)
Yes, I can make the same in Ableton, but again, all is synchronised.

I am undertaking this project for fun, and I am not looking to make a professional career out of it. As a result, I am free to experiment and explore without the constraints of being tied to a specific music style.
We all have a shelf, don't we??
DADA DO ;)

So, here and there, some of the reasons I set up this machine and why....

1- I can set up specific sounds and know where they are when I press a button,
2- Is lots of  fun = work?
3- I can make something really different,
4- I will not need to click a mouse,
5- I can have just the sounds I made or need in each of the buttons of the machine,
6- I don't need to look at 1000 sounds to find a sound to make a track,
7- I can improvise with all the sounds,
8- Any track is a new creation and never the same.
9- It's all in real time ... live,
10- No synchronizers, just my fingers,
11- All the sounds are made individual and put together.
12- I can fade sounds in and out as the machine has a mixer with 6 channels,
13- I can improvise sounds or melodies with the keyboard instruments, while I can make some FX with the FX wheel, doing scratch and pitch bend,
14- I can regulate the BPMs in real time,
15- I can jam on a 6-pad drum,
16- PLUS.... I can add 992 sounds to the WAV effect buttons panel, which I'm using to store samples and sounds. On this wav effects part of the machine, I can have more than 1 hour of a sound or a sample in each button and it will keep playing.

This will take me a long time to set up, but it will be a 1 time job.
The main problem (for now) is that I cannot change the drum sounds... I can change the drum loops, but not the sounds of the drums. To make this, I will need .sty files or .osm files (still available with these ones... grrrr). If you know something about them, just let me know.

But what do I really want to do?
I want to create a Psychedelic, ambient, experimental music project with this machine, and I also want to incorporate a Kaossilator to add some spice to the music.
This machine and the Kaossilator are loop machines, which can create hypnotic ambient music capable of entering the mind and providing a truly psychedelic experience, as I have noticed.
For that same reason, I started this blog.

I am late on this intro and chapters as I started some weeks ago working on this machine, but I will update regularly and hope by the end, I can leave you some tracks for your experience.)

02/12/2009