Piano, voix, presque fini

I haven't been posting for a month now. That's rare, considering my posting history. There wasn't much news except that I have worked my nuts off during the final days of June. Then had a three week holiday in Italy (North). I recorded Italian Alps and a beehive. We stayed at the house of a guy who was a hobbyist beekeeper. So I recorded the incoming and outgoing traffic of a bee hive. Nice.

Then, when I came back I had another three days before going to work and I decided to try and finish the piano and voice series. And lo and behold!! I succeeded. As you can read in the previous posts with these tags I was already quite far. Still, relistening everything again (and again) I heard that the basis was alright but that some mixes needed touch ups and some parts could be deleted (I ripped out some 11 minutes) and some parts needed more space, et cetera. Some of the mixes weren't okay because the frequency balance was too extreme. So I corrected those.

I now define this series as finished. I have cut it into 11 tracks. Now I need to polish the final mix and see to it that the 24bit mix lands on a 16bit platform without too many glitches or loss of power. I have had brilliant 32bit compositions go dull when converted to 16bit. Thank god I can still learn things.

After that comes the coining of a good title. I want it to be connected to the early 20th century art movement Dada, the Cabaret Voltaire. Something in that region. I have been reading Hans Richter's book on Dada (Thames and Hudson) during the past months. That has given and is still giving me plenty of inspiration. Especially his descriptions of the Cabaret Voltaire and later soirees that were organised by the Dada movement have inspired me during the constitution of this series. Although the original text works were inspired by Gertrude Stein's poetry, the overall atmosphere is a psychologic interpretation (to speak with Pierre Henry) of the Dadaist congregations. Below a picture of Hugo Ball at a 1917 performance at the Cabaret Voltaire, most probably reciting the poem.

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One step forward, two steps back

Was for six hours inside the studio today, but there was too much distraction. As usual I started fumbling with the insulation once I thought I heard some noise. It's because I work with these extremely silent parts that hear the smallest noises. Today a mattress in my doorway worked wonders....

As I said before I am in the process of glueing everything together. I am now experimenting with the indoor field recordings which I use as buffers between the compositions but also as an overlay (or underlay, a bed) for the existing stuff (piano and voice).

And almost everytime I listen to stuff that was supposed to be finished (or maybe not) I hear things that need tweaking. I know that these moments will diminish but still, it's annoying. Today I worked for hours on a beast of a project that's so heavy I had to reboot twice when it iced my computer. I decided to work with rendered bundles or groups of tracks in a new project and take it from there. Okay, so I (again) took out a lot of piano notes, leaving more space for other things. The work is now more smooth, not so bumpy. As an example there are two samples:

[ this one ] is the original, with lots of heavy notes
[ this one ] is the new version.

On the side: I'm reading the new Brian Eno biography. Give you details later. It's quite a detailed, but difficult read.

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silent composition

Tried fruitlessly to compose 'presque rien'. An inhouse field recording with imaginary inhabitants. Terribly difficult. The stuff is supposed to be barely audible so I have to compose at very low volume. It's actually quite different from composing with your speakers really open. I have two of those landscapes here for your download/listening.

I started out with a basic recording of my living room. Recorded with the OKM mics (for binaural sound) together with the Rode (for extra detail). I then created a 3d reverb sound (in Reaper) and positioned other sounds 'in' the space.

In itself it's not bad, but when I tried two pieces to hear how they fitted in with the piano and voice pieces it simply didn't work. So, I have to go back to the drawing board. On the one hand the silent pieces need to be more silent. On the other hand, ....well, it needs to be 'music', doesn't it?

[ trial 1 ]
[ trial 2 ]

In these pieces the positioning of the different parts is still crude, just like the volume balances, and so on. It's really rough material.
Okay, so I'll try something different next time.

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new horizon... or fata morgana?

Slowly a new structure is emerging in my head...... I decided that the current setup is too dense for most. 90% of the listeners will not make it to the end in one go. There are too many notes, sounds, changes, dynamical changes, transients, pans....

.......................... .... .... .. ... . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I will construct a new series of (indoor) field recordings which will serve as empty rooms for the compositions that are already finished. They will allow the listener to take a rest. Smoke a cig and drink coffee. Chat a little with the friends that are also present at the table. In other words: enhance the cafe atmosphere.

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Doubts, doubts, doubts

Ow! I have fallen into doubt frenzy. Is this really it? Shouldn't I skip this work? It's too loud. No, that's not it. Not enough rest, it's too hasty. Take this out? No, layer it. Wait, cut it up and mess it around? No, revert.

In general I think the work is too dense, now. But how to solve that? Extend pauses? ...... ............ ...... ..... ....... ............ .............. .......................................

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Almost forgotten voice work

Yesterday I was again running a check on the pianovox work, which is really coming to an end now. Looking for a few snippets to insert here and there I came along a directory that I hadn't hear for quite a while. I listened and remembered why I had abandoned it. It was beautiful sound material but it lasted too long and I couldn't find a twist to make up for that.

But yesterday I did see that solution! I rendered a few tracks and started playing with the highs and lows. Then I added a recording of the original played in the studio twice. One with a bad mic and another one with feedback added. Then I had material enough to finish it up. A late night and an early morning session later I have the impression that it's finished.

Listen to the entire mix [ here ]

I will add this work to the mix of the whole piano and voice material. I now have mixes of all of the piano and voice works in one reaper setup. Listening again and again and changing bits and overlaying parts I am blending it all into a coherent work. I have been in doubt for months about this project. Man! Several people who heard the piano works thought they were not up to standards... which can make you doubt your own judgment. But it's all starting to come together now: the idea of a avant garde jazz pub, with lots of smoke and drinks and people reciting and mumbling and a piano player somewhere in the distance (and sometimes right inside your ear!)

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Another go at the pianovox/S.A.T.I.E. project.

I have relistened after 2 months or so. It's near complete. Just one piano part needed more attention. The 3rd one (3.7). There are too many piano notes. So I cut back a lot and mixed them back into the crowd that can be heard as well.

I have mixed voice and piano parts and cross-referenced here and there. It's becoming more coherent now: one sonic vocabulary. Later this week there will be more soundsamples of 3.8 (the follow up to 3.7) and first impressions on the final mix.

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On to the next phase

Well, I have gotten through all of the compositions of voice and piano once again and decided what can stay and what is to be abandoned (50%, mainly of the vocal works). I am currently rendering all of the (provisional) master mixes so that I can assemble them into one whole. There's some administration involved here. I have timed the parts that are to be incorporated so that I have an idea of the total body. Currently it's 50 minutes of material: 2/3 is piano related, the other part poetry.

The next phase will involve mainly deciding upon the order and what material I need to make to collage it all together. Most times this leads to new insights and thus more adaptation of the existing material. Other work is bringing all works in the right volume balance, working out small details (ticks, clicks, etc), polishing the sound, and create a perfect master mix. And I have been working on this for some 12 months already.... But I'm glad that I have been able to get a grip on the stuff again.

I still need to find a common denominator for all of this. When I started I had a smokey pub in mind where drunken poets recited their latest drivel, sometimes accompanied by weird piano playing. As a sort of physical metaphor to connect these two main soundsources. At the moment I'm open to other suggestions (by myself), though.

Other good news is that it looks like I've found myself a publisher for all this. I can't tell you what label it is, because it's not a signed deal yet. Later.

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Back to the beginning

Wow! I had a really interesting afternoon, yesterday. I was working on piano no.2 which was already in its ninth state (2.9). I listened for the nth time when I realized that it had become just too intricate. The structure had become dull and even, without any highlights. I made a bolt decision and decided to go back almost to the very beginning: version 2.2. I took a different turn by not working out and detailing further but cut away that part that I had a bad feeling about anyway. One part of the composition was based on a sample of Alexander Goehr's [ Nonomiya ]. Although the sample was alright, I didn't like that I blatantly used it, without any work from myself. So I skipped that whole thing. In its place there now is a piece of the vocal works. So now the structure is quite clear: A B A B which might become A B A C B to make it more interesting. It's not finished.

Anyway.

I also attacked the piano part which I had been struggling with all those months. I rendered it and took it into Audiomulch and used some granular discoloration (GRM). Then I placed it back into the structure. Below are two samples: one of the original piano part and one of its current state.

[ 2.2 original ]
[ 2.2 new ] (2.10)

This was certainly a lesson for me. Kill your darlings, once again.

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V.O.X. no.3

Okay, so here's two shots of the vocal series. I refer to all of the other messages with the vox tag for further explanation.

download [ 2.1 ]
download [ 3.2 ]

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S . A . T . I . E. No. 3

Been working on a veiled piano piece, the third in row. I thought I'd have you people have a bite. It's Xmas, so why not? The piano part has been more or less stable for 6 months now. I have been doodling with the volume levels and such. The biggest addition is the 'veil' that has been cast over it. It's a three layer recording of people visiting a museum.

Listen to version 3.6b through [ this link ].

For once I wanted people to react to it, but it seems I can't get that option working. I will be working on this and other works for the next few days. I will also upload a snack of the vocal series.

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S . A . T . I . E

Been working on two piano pieces today. Number 1, which is now at its 11th version and number 2, of which there are now 9 versions.

Thinking about the criticism that the earlier versions received I have been working on ways to get rid of that. And all the time keeping my personal artistic scope intact. This morning I started working on acoustic 'veils' with which I can 'cover' certain parts without immediately hiding them or cutting them out. This has led to a few interesting experiments which still have to be drilled down deeper.

So, what happened? I started with number 1.10 and covered that up with an acoustic veil. First trying that with a synth sound but soon that failed (too synthy) and so I started preparing veils that are made from granulated parts out of the original composition. I am not quite satisfied with it but it looks promising. I now have to experiment with cutting out parts of the 'veil' or bringing up double layers.

Number 2 is treated differently: the original piano sounds have been broken down so badly (with GRM tools) that they are barely recognizable (although still there). I have added some interplay with always rewarding dfx reverb.

And thirdly I have prepared a veil that consists of acoustic recordings that I made during my trip to Morocco. I haven't applied it to any of the other compositions yet, but I will. Later. First I will make a trip to Paris, this weekend.

I read a review about a Satie recital in the newspaper today which patly described his music as lateral, pointless and anti romantic (all positive criticism, by the way). In a sense, this can be said of my piano pieces as well and so currently the project has been baptized as a 21st century SATIE project. Naturally there's a lot that can be argued against it, but what the hell. I'm the artist, I can be anything I want. N'est-ce pas?

Salut!!

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Studio days coming up

I will be working in the studio more in the next few weeks. Of course. I will more spare time and that will for a large part be spent creating and finishing musical pieces. I will keep everyone updated on these pages. I think I will also publish a work that until now was very rare: "Maybe A thousand Buddhas..." which was composed as a sound component to an exhibition. Keep coming back.

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Working again

After a long while I have started working on my music again. I have felt unable to do anything for months. I just couldn't care, somehow. Perhaps that's why I focused so much on equipment. Working with Roel got me going again. Now I am working on the vocal pieces again and have started cooperations with other people (read elsewhere).

I'll keep you updated, of course. The vocal parts are undergoing revision. Well, not all of them. But the largest construction is undergoing major changes.

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Reconsidering compositions

Am listening to works that have been maturing for the past months. The piano tracks have been left alone since March 2008. To hear the provisional result, listen to [ this soundsample ]. These are my notes:
"Difficult, this one. Didn't listen the exact mix because some of the vst's are not set up on this laptop. I think I will delete the piano's that sound from 0:00 to 1:15. Until the harmonics start. IDEA: perhaps remain the 'ball roll' and mix that with text? Problem area from 2:20 to 2:35. Keep piano from 4:00? I don't think so. The motive that is played at the beginning is elaborated nicely but after I remove that early part the listener will not understand. I have to think of something nifty."

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More dynamics

Listening to the total structure in Audition I saw/ heard that the piece is too flat. I like my compositions to be bumpy rides. And this is too much confusion. Different styles, different angles. But all at a rather quiet volume. Well, no harm done. This conclusion points me into a much needed direction. It really does mean, destroying what I have done so far and rebuilding it again.....

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Coop between Reaper and Audition ?

Yesterday's thoughts have turned everything upside down. I first thought I could work serially. Just start with the beginning of the text and then work my work down to the end, but it's gonna happen.

Today I started a new construction with small parts of the text, recited by every contributor and that inspired me to a completely new setup. The downside of that is that I have to dive deeper into REAPER and start with blocks, where each block is like a piece of Lego. Hmmm... we'll work that out.

EDIT one day later: worked it out. I will do renders of the several parts in the composition. Those renders I import into Audition so I can listen to the structure and shuffle with the various parts. If I then hear that a part needs some rework I return to REAPER and work that out. The final mix I will do in Reaper (of course). But for the time being, we're not there yet.

The change in workflow yielded immediate result, by the way. The part that I started with was something that itched. When listening to all of the parts I decided to cut the original intro away and insert another part that was originally a break from the vocoder piece. Much better.

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New addition to Chris's part

I have been working on the vocoder material. Problem I see is that this vocoder part is like a train on a track, or a stream. It can only go forward. That's not what i want. I want it to be like different 'rooms'. So I broke up the vocoder stream.

BANG! And silence.....

And tranquility, space for other things. What I placed inside that space are cut up parts of the opening sentence: "THIS - IS - HOW - IT - SHOULD - HAVE - BEEN". I grouped these words and the artists, with silence inbetween. Okay, so now things are back to spatiality. I can build up from that.

Next, I have rendered the three major parts that I now have built: Henning/Jos, Henning2, Chris. They need to become one construction, so it's good to step back and listen to the result so far.

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Christopher McFall in a hurry

Yesterday I received the recordings of Christopher. He provided a whispered version of the text. He doesn't articulate the words very precisely, so that it sounds as if he was in a hurry while recording. Actually that was okay with me. I just needed to put in some breaks. Today I finished a first sketch of what is to become the final part of the poem.

First stage
I placed the final 30 lines of the text in a track. I used reverb (Kjaerhus) to add some depth to the original track. I doubled it with a second track which I vocoded with a synth track (the origins of which I will not disclose here). I used reavocode to do this, a Reaper plugin. The combined tracks with the vocoder I then moved around in space using the Wavearts panorama plugin.

Second stage
Now was the time to cut up the original sequence in order to make way for a couple of 3rd party sounds. I recorded the final lines as well and used Henning's voice for a couple of words. Both mine and Henning's recordings were treated with GRM's frequencyshifter.

Third stage
Bringing everything to the right volume level. Pheew! That was a difficult one. The whole idea of the complete work is to present different voices within one unified acoustic space. The vocoder however, plus the hasty recital, presents a different 'image'. It becomes a 'stream'. It's more like a long hallway instead of a (large) room. So I had to break off the stream at certain points and intersect it with other voices.
Another issue was the volume and acoustical balance between the tracks, especially with the vocoder. And then get the 3rd party voices level with that. Well, I sort of figured it out. For now.

It's still a bit shaky. I think that I'm nearly there but it certainly needs some time to mature and then rearrange. So, we'll get back to this one. Fo sho!

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You will not I

This is a (part of a) composition that I am working on. It consists of some 100 words that are recited, first by Henning and then doubled by myself.

First stage
At first there was Henning's recording which I played through my monitor and re-recorded while moving the microphone in front of it. That way the original recording became sort randomly flawed. I did this in four goes and layered them.

Second stage
Then I recited the lines in as much as possible the same intonation and speed as Henning and layered two of those recordings over that. Because it's impossible to do this exactly another blend was mixed into the original.

Third stage
I rendered the mix and treated it with Smartelectronix Scrubber. This vst allows you to control the play of a file (needs to be 44khz/16bit/stereo, btw). It is the most versatile and controllable granulation plugin that I know. Certainly in the freeware world. The result that I wanted (and got) is that each word (or short sentence) sort of rolls in, has a more stable middle and then rolls out again. The anomalies that scrubber produces are a bonus in the mix, really. :)

Fourth stage
Back to Reaper and start a new mix. I blend the Scrubbermix with the original ones in order to emphasize the middle part of each word.

Fifth stage
I make a live recording in my studio, using binaural mics which I move through the room and the hallway leading to the studio. This live recording is layered into the mix to fill in the gaps between the words. Those gaps vary between 1 and 6 seconds. They are bassy and zoomy because of the Scrubber anomalies and the soft spatial recording is an interesting addition.

The piece is not yet finished because the development is too weak, so now I will start working on that. It is supposed to become part of a bigger whole where the whole poem is recited from start to beginning in a few phases. I'll keep you updated with further progression.

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