Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. – Victor Borge

Final Performance 

Lolatron

I decided to used Audio Visual to accompany my final composition.

Whilst i am interested in attempting to perform something like Lolatron live i was particularly interested in how laughter is often refereed to as contagious and seeing other people laugh often makes someone else laugh. So i decided to use AV and attempt to make it as interactive as possible.

I filmed many different peoples features (left eye, right eye, nose and mouth) whilst they were laughing. I then made a separate video for each feature using quick cuts, slow mo, sped up vid. I steered away from effects as i felt it wouldn’t work well for this piece and give it a tacky feel.

I then used Max MSP to cut up my screen into 12 different sections. In the top 3 i played back live footage of the audience watching the video/themselves laughing. I used a selected few of the remaining 9 screens to make a face shape using the vids of different features that i had made.

I got the reaction i wanted to receive from the performance, to make others laugh. A mixture of the song, vids and live feed helped to make the audience laugh either at what was on screen, themselves or what they were hearing.

Theres a lot of potential with this project and i hope to take it further after all laughter is the best medicine!

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities. ~Jean Houston

Laughter is the best medicine

So at the end of the process we had to set to work on putting together a final piece.

I decided to go along the beat concrete path as i enjoyed making everyday sounds into something else.

I also wanted to touch upon how sounds and music can be used therapeutically as this was something my interest was really growing in.

I began with the idea of creating 2 songs, one made from laughter the other from crying, and making the crying sounds sound happy and vice versa. However a initial problem came about, i wanted to use recordings i had collected from different people, you cant really go up to people and ask them to cry for you on the spot and then ask them if you can record it…

So i went decided to have 1 focus…. laughter.

My aim was to collect as many recordings of different peoples laughter as possible and create a from those samples beats and melody’s.

Again i recorded the samples using Pro Tools and a Mbox and then mixed my tracks in Logic. After many many many hours of tweeking and many sleepless nights having laughter blared into my ears this was the end product:

Enter: Lolatron

A lot of pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. Ian Anderson

Pop

So over the next 3 weeks we study the beauty that is Pop Music. We began by being put into groups and being randomly given a pop song to cover….we were given Spice Girls – Two Become One. Oh how i adored that song when i was young. This project was actually harder then first imagined the whole beauty of the Spice Girls was of course the image that came with them so to give it the full effect we decided to dress up me as Ginger (in keeping with the hair) wearing a England flag as i could find a union jack…beautiful. Marcus as posh with his long locks and a dress so short we could see his boxers. David as baby in a fetching pink dress and pigtails and Reece in some scaaaary makeup!

Unfortunately all evidence of this ever happening was miraculously lost….oops. However heres a copy of the original song to refresh your memory:

Next on agenda was to write and perform our very own pop song. After a week of writing what we had managed to do is a accidentally create a rather heavy Dub track with some pop lyrics so before we hit the studio we quickly re did he whole thing apart from the lyrics and hey presto heres what we came up with:

I play patterns. I’ll make up a pattern and just play it. Richard Manuel

Loops, Rows and Patterns.

For this project we were given a set structure to follow including exact timings, how many instruments to use etc. We also had to compose this using the Midi instruments on logic. Much like the work of Steve Reich.

I actually really enjoyed working with such set structure however this might have been because of my struggle with the Beat Concrete.

Heres what i came up with:

I guess I like to find the rhythm in things. -Tiko Kerr

Beat Concrete

Over the next 6 weeks of our course we would create a new piece each week using the techniques we had learnt so far during the course, to help us decide what sort of techniques we wanted to use for our final piece. Following on from our Music Concrete we were now required to create a beat using the same 10 concrete sounds we used in our music concrete pieces.

Whilst i managed to create a beat i struggle to create a melody line using my sounds.

Here is what i came up with:

I guess I like to find the rhythm in things. -Tiko Kerr

Beat Concrete

Over the next 6 weeks of our course we would create a new piece each week using the techniques we had learnt so far during the course, to help us decide what sort of techniques we wanted to use for our final piece. Following on from our Music Concrete we were now required to create a beat using the same 10 concrete sounds we used in our music concrete pieces.

Whilst i managed to create a beat i struggle to create a melody line using my sounds.

Here is what i came up with:

Beat Concrete by howsitgoingbob

Music is organised sound – Edgard Varèse

Music Concrete 

Our brief was to crete a 3-5 minute piece using only concrete sounds, this is, sounds we hear everyday, sounds that come from the things around us, not sounds that come from musical instruments or which are meant as music. We could use up to 10 sounds and the piece was not aloud a set structure. We could affect the sound as much as possible to try and crete new aspects of our sounds.

My 10 sounds:

Bin Lid

Bottles

Door Slam

Chair Scrapping

Tap Running

Small Bin being rattled

Kettle

Drinking

Draw

Crisp Packet

Here is my final out come:

I recorded the sounds using a M Box and Pro Tools and mixed using Logic.

Bin Lid –

·      Split track to use the best sounds created.

·      Rythmic sound created. Good to run through whole of track and hold            the piece together.

·      Effected with Chanel EQ punchy kick adds to rhythmic feel. Compression made the sounds louder and stands out throughout the piece ensuring the sound holds the piece together. Tremolo puts the rhythm slightly off beat adding to the disjointed feel of the track. Gives it a feel of something isn’t quite right. Reversed sound again adding to slightly off beat timing.

·      Pan sound left to right each time loud crash happens pan changes side again disjointing the piece and disorientating the listener.

·      Volume lowered at certain parts of the piece to emphasis certain other sounds but sound is never turned off therefore always there holding the piece together.

Bottles –

·      split track to get best sounds.

·      Creates another rhythm on top of bin lid almost train like as if going on a journey.

·      Effects used delay adds a chugging adding to train effect, Chanel EQ Rock kick drum setting used moved waves to add bassier sound taking away clinking of bottles slightly again adding to train effect, Groove shifter set to beat, 1/16 full swing and accent adding to delay and again train effect.

·      Sound used through certain parts of piece to add the effect that piece is moving along.

·      Overlapped some tracks to create the train effect moving faster, picking up speed of the piece.

Door Slam –

·      Cut track to just short door slam.

·      Effects used bit crusher adds grain to the sound takes down the resolution of sound. Creates an impact effect almost like a gunshot.

·      Reversed sound towards end of piece. Creates an effect of going backwards, back to the start of the track.

Chair Scrapping –

·      Split track and overlapped.

·      Effects used: Compression to enhance sounds as extremely quiet.  Pitch shift move around pitch creating eerie sound. Delay adding to eerie feeling of the track.

Tap running –

·      Effects used: Channel EQ setting backing vocals, bit crusher down sampling full to add a spacey empty effect, delay again to add space, pitch shifter to create eerie pitch changes, reverb set to large to again add effect off a big space, and compression to take sound up in the mix.

·      Faded sound in and placed reversed door slam into piece to add layers.

·      Took down mix of other sounds to create space in the track.

Small Bin –

·      Cut sound down to bin being spun around as creates a sound much like a penny being dropped.

·      Effects used distortion low tone drive and output 3 quarters of the way up to add a darker sound, Pitch shifter used track automation to gradually lower the semi tones to create the effect of the piece getting darker and scarier. Reversed at the end of track again to create the feeling of a full circle back where you started

Kettle –

·      Cut sound to when kettle is about to boil.

·      Effects used Channel EQ setting low cut, Delay again to add a rhythm much like a train, Ring Shift setting groove shadow again to add to delay creating train like effect, Tremolo again to add to train effect, pitch shift to change pitch creating a strange eerie feeling, Groove shift setting tonal 1/16 three quarter accent adding to delay, compression to take up sound in mix.

·      Moves piece along almost seems to speed piece up.

·      Fade in volume.

Drinking –

·      Panned left to right each time sound increases. Fades out.

·      Effects used: Channel EQ setting floor tom, Scanner vibrato to add delay like effect, Pitch shift create an eerie effect, Flanger to create a rise and fall, Compression to take the sound up in the mix.

Drawer –

·      Creates a rise and fall effect and almost make listener feel as if being taken to another world.

·      Effects used: Channel EQ, Delay to help create rise and fall effect, reverb to increase sound adding to taking the listener to another world, microphaser working with delay to add to rise and fall and to take the listener to another world.

Crisp Packet –

·      Effects used: Delay and Phaser to manipulate sounds, reverb making the sounds bigger, bit crusher to add grain to the sound and compression to take it up in the mix

·      Creates the effect of rain, ending the piece by washing it all away.

In this piece I feel that I have created a eerie journey manipulating my sounds to have an almost train like effect. These train like sounds take the listener to different parts of the journey for instance when the tap sound comes in this is spacious but still eerie allowing the listener time to think and appreciate the sounds around them. At first I didn’t know where this piece seemed to be going but I like that it became a piece that is based on a journey and it seems to do a full circle at the end when the sounds are reversed taking the listener back to the start.

I don’t care much about music. What I like is sounds. – Dizzy Gillespie

Pin Ball Instrument

The first module of CSM required me to build our own instruments. I wanted to build something new and interesting, something that had never been made before. I also wanted to build something that anyone could play and something that gave a fun experience to play.

I liked the idea of mixing games with music. Everyone likes to play games and everyone likes to play/listen to music. I wanted my instrument to be very hands on. Something you saw and automatically wanted to play regardless of your musical background.

The Final Outcome

My final product was rustic looked very much like a prototype. However it got across my idea which is what i aimed to do.

I accomplished what i had set out to do, everyone who saw the instrument, regardless of their musical ability, would want to play the instrument. And it was extremely interesting to watch as everyone viewed the instrument as a game, they wanted to see how many sounds they could make in one go.

If you were to ask someone who was not a musician to play the guitar their reaction would most likely be to refuse and recoil for fear of embarrassment. However with my instrument people would not think about their musical ability before play because it was simply irrelevant.

Anyone can be a musician because anyone can make sounds….

and in the words of Edgard Varese

‘Music is Organised Sound.’

Improvisation task:

A recording of a group of us improvising using our instruments we made, features: Marcus Williams and Louis Gray.