Final Composition

1. The name of my piece is Cruisin'(4:15)

2. This song is supposed to be something to play while relaxing with friends or “cruisin'” in your car. I also wanted it to reflect more of what I would listen to on my own time.  I attempted to rewire my Live and use Reason instead because that is the program I am more familiar with and would allow me to create a better project.  I recorded it into Live but I’m not sure if I did it right.  I started with a small loop and went from there. In Reason, I used strings from the combinator and I labeled them as chord string (because I played a chord on the keyboard) and scale string (I played a scale on the keyboard). I used the Jazz guitar from the combinator and the saxophone from the combinator as well.  All of the percussion was done with the redrum machine.  I used an M-Audio Keyboard with drum pads (used to make the percussion parts) in order to make all the components of the piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t use any of my found sounds because the folder containing them is MIA.  So I had to rely heavily on sound banks.  I didn’t really put any effects on the sounds except for using the features provided in the combinator to enhance the sound bank sounds (mainly delay,brightness and compression) but instead I tried to focus on not making the piece get too monotonous because that was something I struggled with this semester.

3.  As far as originality is concerned all of the sounds used were from the sound banks provided I didn’t really use any samples than those.  It was influenced by the nice weather and summer being close by almost like a Will Smith “Summertime” type of feel to it. For me i’d say its about an 8 out of 10 because I enlisted some outside help (like todd suggested).

4.

5. http://www.rpi.edu/~farmem

(Final song)

Country Roots

1. Country Roots (5:20)

2. This song what directed at capturing the feeling of my country roots if you will. I chose a lick from a favorite song of my because I don’t play steel guitar yet. I was hoping to write some lyrics to it, but by the end my beat and composition was to intense to write words to in time. I used an auto filter on the melody at times to chill things out. I filled an instrument pack with favorite found sounds and finely tuned each. I made a different versions of the melody and subsequently a different beats to go with those. And then I was able to mix them up here and there, and find what relationships worked best.

I used arrangement view to compose mainly everything. I find its great to modify MIDI beats that I’ve created more easily in this visual timeline.

3. Country Lick Used: Country Comfort – Keith Urban
Everything else was “found sounds”.

Even though I only used one other source other than my own, I only give myself a 7 out of 10 because my use of the lick was extensive.

4. 

5. Country Roots          (http://www.blohr.com/public1/FinalCompilation1.mp3)

Justin_Cassel_ Final

1.       The Edge (5:04)

2.       The Edge is a Funk/Rock composition created in Ableton Live.  For the piece I began with a drum sample from Stevie Wonder’s song superstition.  From there I took a song I had created on guitar and recrded a bass and guitar track.  From there I chopped these tracks into the different individual parts that I wanted and placed them in time to the drums.  From there I created the basic parts of the song so that trumpet and saxophone could be recorded.  I created the parts for saxophone and trumpet and then recorded them.  After recording the horns separately I chopped up the parts and placed them in the song.  Once in place I began to layer the different parts of the chorus and verse with new guitar parts and other sounds.  From this basic structure I decided the drum feel needed to be changed.  I edited the drums to give them a more hip feel and then replaced them in the song.  After this I added some effects to the guitar for the chorus.  I then recorded the chorus lyrics and layered them.  From here I found a clip on You Tube of Brian Wilson speaking on the NBC nightly news.  I chopped this clip and added some affects on it to give it an “airy” sound.  From here I began experimenting with lyrics for the verse.  I recorded them directly into Ableton but found the quality to not be as high as recording through a flash recorder.  I them played around with the verse words unitl I created some interesting mixtures of repeats.  It was during this I found the part for the pre-chorus that goes “I think I’m loosing control”.  After adding some delays, filters, eq eight, saturator, flanger chorus, eq three, crystal bass and other effect on different tracks I was near the net product.  To finish I arranged the different parts of the song so that they made sense in length and timing.

3.       This song is somewhat original with the combination of funk rock and electronic elements.  The main feel of the song is that of a traditional funk song and a rock song.  I think that it is original to comine these two feels as well as to write and created almost every element of the song myself.  It is clear for me to hear many of my influences in this song including Cake, Stevie Wonder, Jurassic 5, Beck as well as the songs I have heard others produce in class.  The drums are from Stevie Wonder’s Superstition and the opening and mid song talking is Brain Wilson from NBC’s Nightly News.  Jake Zerebynsky can also be heard on trumpet as well as Kyle from class on bass.  This song is my original composition and my own style.  I think I can see from it that I have a tendency to stick to melodic flashy parts as well as catchy lyrics for the chorus and interesting song structure.  At the same time I do stay true to different elements of my influences.

4. my music is having trouble uploading you can always listen to it on my web space www.rpi.edu/~cassej its called the edge

The type of paradise you can’t kiss.

1.”The type of paradise that can’t kiss.” (5:03)

2. So I took a basic drum loop idea and based my piece on that. The first loop was an electronic one, used mainly for background noise, I composed it myself, and added some reverb to it. The second drum loop was one I made myself using the instrument rack in live. I also had compression, and saturation on it. The next thing I did was add bass. My bass was recorded live, with effects added afterwards, including a filter, compressor, and saturater. As I added each of my bass tracks I found ways to elaborate my drum tracks, along with the bass line as well. After I had this foundation set up I went in and added synth lines and a vocal track. The vocals were from a poem I found online, the subject was especially interesting because It described a paradise with a beautiful woman that couldn’t get any better except for the catch. The beautiful woman could not be loved, if you were to “kiss her lips, then the garden of paradise would sink into the earth forever, and to you it would be lost”. That line pretty much sums up the message the poem was trying to get across. So I cut it up and used it.

3. As for originality, my sounds were all produced by me, either through a midi instrument or through my bass. The only found sound I used was the recording of Lori Lubeski reading poetry. The original audio sample can be found at http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Segue-BPC.html . I took inspiration from a group called Portishead that I’ve listened to recently. They have a similar emphasis on a driving bass, with minimal involvement of other instruments.

4.Screen shots: I took advantage of the arrangement view in live on this project. It really helped me see what I was working with. They can be found on my web space, http://rpinfo.rpi.edu/~deweek2/

5. My sound files can be found on the web space as well. Titled “The kind of paradise you can’t kiss.”

ryan jenkins

RYAN JENKINS

1. Shoe Stepper (4:41)

2. For samples i used very little, which is a big deal for me because i almost solely use sampling and cutting when composing most hip-hop/dance/house music. The samples i did use were the tried and true drum tracks that frequent baltimore club music. Drum loops from “it takes two to make a thing go right”, along with other obscure drum tracks taken from a locked groove battle record i recorded into my computer and edited within ableton. For built in instruments, i used the studio Montreal drumkit to begin with, and then also used a second impulse drumkit that i stacked with the basic 808, and then another with a 909 drumkit. i used those for my open/closed hats along with my claps and some snare hits.

i used automation for alot of panning, along with some filtering effects over my bass line. I also used it alot for vinyl distortion, Phaser, Chorus, and Flanger. I used a midi footpedal for all of my recording to make it easier to initiate my record starts and stops. Since i recorded/played all the instruments myelf it made it much easier to setup ableton with an easy controller than to try and use my hands. i also used a trigger finger midi controller to trigger my drums and record them as well.

The architecture of my piece follows exactly the backbone of house music, 32 beat intros, breakups of that, and heavy repeats and stacking frequencies. Im a DJ, and i try to make music for that purpose. Some parts may sound boring, but when used in the right situation and with complimenting tracks, it sounds pretty killer. i played it at a gig the other week and i was really happy with how well it went over.

3. my main influence here was “the Teenagers”. a duo that creates heavy dance music, but all with recorded instruments that follow the typical rock band setup. Ive played un punk bands most of my life and always find myself composing easier on guitar or with something analog then trying to make sounds with my computer. This really inspired me to take the punk rock/indy aspect of my musical experience, and blend it with DJing. The resulting track is not necessarily original in regards to composition or effects or structure or anything like that, but it is very original for me and something that i have never done before. I also think its original and interesting because im backing up grunge bassline with baltimore club breakbaeats, something that i didnt think would work but does. to be original while sampling is difficult, but as a DJ i think i can relate to it quite a bit. I always justified it by saying that you can play two tracks that arent your own, that are completely and entirely somebody elses work, but combining them in a way that creates a new song out of those two, is the real art of DJing. You dont necessarily listen to the songs being played, you listen to the new sounds that are getting created by the two melding together.

4. screenshots.

5. I have been insanely busy with the TNO afterparty and my other finals, so i wasnt able to recreate my entire piece in 5 like todd had suggested. i do have a small bounce though of me working within the framework of my original piece with some parts in 5 though just so people can hear what kind of effect it had. i Didnt do everything in 5, because im not really into how that sounds. But i do like having some things in 5, and others in 4, and watching how they wobble and line up.

Shoe Stepper

my webspace is having issues, will upload the one in 5 soon.

SCV

Here is a video of the song “Electric Wheelchair”; it’s a drum corps cadence played by Santa Clara Vanguard. You can hear a version of my drum loop at around 0:57.

Where does your drum loop come from?

rewiring reason into ableton

theres a video of how to do it.

Hey All, I’ll be there early today…

For anyone who’d like some extra support using Live, or extra listening time or roadmapping help, anything except cooking or fashion advice, I’ll be there a little early today, probably an hour.  If you plan to come see me, please text me at 9175766166, or twitter me at digifiddler. If I know you’re coming, then I’ll make much more of an effort to be there.  If no one lets me know, then I’ll probably go get my RPI ID instead, lol.

looking forward to seeing you.

Todd

No Class Today!!!!!!!!!!

See you guys tomorrow!  All best,  Todd

The Golden Mean

 An Exhaustive  look at The Golden Section is worth the look, Fibonacci and more.