Assignment 3 - Mini Concrete

Part 1

• Record a variety of sounds with either the Zoom H4n or your own device/phone (email me if you want to use the Zoom H4N). Microphones can reveal lots of unexpected sounds, so try as many sources as possible and see what happens. If it doesn't sound good, it's fine, you can just delete it! Remember, this is a creative recording assignment, so don't hesitate to try weird sound sources, and keep in mind that the recorder can move around.

Follow these guidelines:

• If using your phone, since it's not possible to listen as you're recording, try to listen to what you've recorded right after recording it. If it's no very interesting, try again, but change the phone's position or how the object is making sound.

• If using the Zoom H4N, make sure the LOUDEST parts of what you're recording reach -12dB to -6dB. In other words, your recordings should never "clip" or "peak". Furthermore, use the headphones to monitor what you're doing and let your ears guide you in the recording process.

If you need a refresher on how to use the Zoom, see this guide:
Zoom H4n recorder setup.


Please, NO TOILET SOUNDS. I've heard enough.





Part 2

Compose a 60sec composition using ONLY clips from the sounds you recorded with the portable recorders or your phones. The piece should be seen as an exploration of sound and sonic textures; here, you're trying to find the hidden musical qualities in everyday sounds. Your piece can feel ambient or drone-like, and/or have rhythmic aspects. However, note that you CANNOT edit to the grid (as you did with the EDM piece). Follow these guidelines:


• Bring all your recordings into Logic and edit them to remove all the unnecessary or uninteresting parts, and try organize your resulting audio in some way (i.e., all percussive sounds together, all sustained together, all sounds from a given area, etc.; press option-c to reveal the color palette and color code your sounds).

• You can use all editing options that we've seen in class, including reversing, time stretching, and pitch shifting, freeze reverb, etc.

• You can use all available plug-ins in Logic (including ones that only you own). Explore! That said, there are many plug-ins and it's easy to get overwhelmed, so I recommend you start by using the plug-ins we've seen in class. You can start with a preset, but it MUST be modified.

Here's a list of the plugins I've showed so far:
EQ->Channel EQ
Delay->Delay Designer
Delay-> Echo
Modulation->Ringshifter
Modulation->Tremolo
Reverb->Chromaverb
Reverb->Space Designer
Multi Effects->Phat FX
Multi Effects->Remix FX

• You MUST use automation for panning, volume, and reverb, to create a sense of space (left-right, near to far).


A considerations while you compose:

• Think about different approaches to putting sounds together: layering (i.e., simply placing sounds "on top" of one another), action/reaction (i.e., starting/stoping a sustained sound with the attack of another sound), looping (i.e., creating a patterns and repeating them).

• Think about texture broadly: monophonic (i.e., one sound at a time), free polyphony (i.e., multiple unrelated sounds at the same time), imitation (i.e., similar sounds starting a different times), heterophony (i.e., similar yet slightly different sounds at the same time), micro-polyphony (i.e., many similar sounds with small variations starting at different times).

• Think about tension; how do you build up tension and then release it. Think about how tension can be applied to various musical parameters: rhythm (i.e., simple pulse vs complex), dynamics (i.e., quiet vs loud), harmony/spectrum (i.e., sine tone vs inharmonic spectrums).



Also, be prepared to show your work and talk about it in class. Be also prepared to play some of the sound files you recorded.


Evaluation

Your mini-acousmatic composition, worth 15% of your final grade, will be evaluated as follows:

/3 quality of recordings (no noise, good levels, good sound)
/3 use of panning, volume, reverb, and EQ to create a sense of space
/3 interesting use of processing
/3 quality of the mix (no clipping, good use of EQ, no exaggerated EQ boosting)
/3 overall quality of edits and composition
Total
/15

As mentioned in the first class and on the syllabus, work submitted late will be penalized 50%.