Project Proposal
This piece, aided by the Max/MSP program, and its infinite possibilities, will be based on processing guitar through the use of effects and looping, plus ambient soundscaping and drum loops.
Personnel
Joel Fuller, Daniel Wood (performers); Jordan Cayanan, Jye Golab (assistants)
Equipment
Two laptops (provided by uni)
Avid Mbox
Guitar (Danelectro 12-string), guitar lead
Logitech Playstation controller
Structure/Graphical Notation
Below is a basic summary of our piece. I will begin with my 12-string guitar part looping over and over for 1:30, while Joel will control the effects on the guitar (flanger, chorus, echo, ring modulator). The effects will be controlled through a Logitech Playstation controller The primary influence on the guitar effects and overall sound will be the dream-pop band the Cocteau Twins, particularly their songs Cico Buff (Blue Bell Knoll, 1988, track 6) and Heaven or Las Vegas (Heaven or Las Vegas, 1990, track 5), with their use of effects to modify relatively simple guitar melodies, giving them an ethereal, dreamlike quality. At around 0:30, Joel will introduce a series of ambient sounds (wav. files sourced from his own recordings); these will also be triggered by the Logitech controller. At the halfway point of the piece, the dreamlike, ambient texture will give way to a brief chaotic section, marked by a more ‘unsettling’ use of effects, dissonance, and harsher wav. samples. After 30 seconds the chaotic and unsettling sounds will all be killed off suddenly, leading into more ambient sounds from Joel, and a drum and organ loop from me. The patch for this will possibly be triggered by an iPad (or another device), and may rely on a probability sequence (similar to a patch demonstrated by Ian Stevenson in the first lecture for Machine Musicianship, 2014). The probability aspect will serve to keep the rhythm and harmony unpredictable. The loop will accompany the ambient sounds to create a haunting atmosphere, before gradually slowing to a stop to conclude the piece.
Progress
Weeks 1-7 have been spent completing online tests and Max/MSP tutorials and attending weekly lectures and tutorials, along with experimentation with patches, effects, researching, and finally being tutored by a graduate of the Bachelor of Music course.
The following week involved discussion in preparation for our piece, and further experimentation.
Over the next few weeks (8-10) we hope to get basic versions of our patches working before finalising these around week 10 and beginning weekly rehearsals until the performance workshop (week 13). Feedback and further trialling will hopefully lead to an accomplished performance in week 17.
Patch Example
Here is a very basic live looping patch I have been working on. It is based on one downloaded from the cycling74.com, edited to fit my needs.In it, the large toggle object (top right) is used to make a brief recording which is then continuously looped until manually stopped (seen in the large buffer display), while more sounds can be played over the top. Here is a brief recording of my 12-string guitar (using a prominent flanger effect, which we hope to emulate in our performance) making use of this patch’s looping:
(Apologies for the poor sound quality, my laptop is not equipped for recording sound.)
paisleyandeyeliner 