Forum | Week 8 | My Favourite Things III

David "Dirty Harry" Harris was back in the driver's seat this week, and steered the bumbling cohort of disenchanted musicians (also known as Mus-Tech Students) towards the insanity of David Lynch. I have seen very little of David Lynch's films, but apparently Eraserhead was a good place to start. Well, so I was told, however I found myself developing a rather shocking headache throughout the movie. I know it's kind-of the point, but I found all of the scenes in which the conversations travel at snail's pace so incredibly, incredibly boring. Silence is only funny for so long, then it just gets old.

From a sound-design aspect, the film was very interesting, but the tedium of the on-screen action (using the term loosely), particularly in the first half hour, was often too overwhelming to maintain my interest in any aspect of the film.


David Harris. "Music Technology Forum - Semester 2, Week 8 - My Favourite Things III." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 18/09/2008.

Forum | Week 7 | Student Presentations II

This week I had to bail on forum due to an over-active teaching practicum, a disease which I apparently contracted when I first started University. According to other student's blogs, it was student presentations. When I found out what Doug's MaxMSP project last semester was (a chord progression generator), I had a brainwave of what to do for my own presentation - my failed projects. I'll start with my Auto-Piano MaxMSP thingy I made semester 1 last year, then finish off with my craptabulous Rainforest generator I created last semester in SuperCollusion.

Can't wait!

1. Stephen Whittington. "Music Technology Forum - Week 7 - 2nd and 3rd Year Presentations." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 11/09/2008.

Audio Arts | Week 6 | Presentations

This week we presented the work that we had done thus far on our Film Sound project. I was the only one who didn't have something synced to the movie already, mainly because I didn't realise we needed to this early on. I played the musical ideas I have had on the piano, and informed the class of my plans to make the music sound as old as the film, meaning bad quality and inconsistencies. To be honest I believe this will be more difficult than just recording straight piano, as I am having to record to an aesthetic. The new Zoom portable recorders will no doubt come in handy when sourcing an old piano.

John and Dave are taking a more traditional approach to the sound design, using symphonic instruments and/or pounding bass-driven beats. Jake's approach is quite compelling, using mostly ambient sounds interspersed with pulsing rhythms. Luke has approached the project with a theme of 'aggravation', whereby the audience is made to feel uncomfortable at convenient parts of the film. I really hope this works out, as I would love the see (and feel) the results.

Luke Harrald. "Audio Arts 3: Semester 2, Week 6. Student Presentations." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 2/09/2008.

Forum | Week 6 | Electronic Music Organisation (EMO)

Baby crying competitions - Welcome To China!

This week several lucky students had the chance to present their collected Indian Aesthetic sounds that they spent all yesterday evening working on, and the rest of the class had to Guess The Emotion™. Most notable was Freddie's, where he explained how studies have proven that infant humans are able to communicate emotions through different types of crying. While he was playing the well-researched sounds, I, as most of the other people in the room, attempted to 'understand' what the baby wanted, based purely on the way it was crying. It was not until after all the samples were played that Freddie informed us that we were supposed to be writing how the cry made US feel, not what we thought the baby was feeling. I love a good twist at the end of a boring movie!

Mrmmrr mmmrrmr uhhmmmrrr

Forum | Week 5 | My Favourite Things II

This week Stephen Whittington (1) played us a selection of works from Negative Land. Since 1980, Negativland have been creating records, CDs, video, books, radio and live performance using 'appropriated' sound, image and text. Mixing original materials and original music with things taken from corporately owned mass culture and the world around them, Negativland re-arranges these found bits and pieces to make them say and suggest things that they never intended to.(2) The outcome of this seems far too 80s for my liking, and also has a little too much of a 'cool to hate' vibe. While I can tell a lot of effort went into the creation of their new DVD Our Favourite Things, ultimately I did not enjoy it. Perhaps this is due to my inability to accept pop art as a respectable creative field, but in the end I just did not enjoy the sound or the visuals or the combination of the two.

1. Stephen Whittington. "Music Technology Forum - Week 5 - My Favourite Things II." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 28/08/2008.

2. Negativland biography, http://www.negativland.com/index.php?opt=bio&subopt=neglandbio

Forum | Week 4 | Classical Indian Aesthetics

Here are some of my interpretations of Indian Emotions in a musical/auditory context.
HASYA (HAPPINESS/JOY/COMIC)
Major tonality
Consonance
Bouncy rhythm
Laughter

ADBHUTA (WONDER/REVERENCE)
Augmented chords
Elongated notes
High pitched notes

VEERA (COURAGE/HEROIC)
Resolution
Major tonality
Loud
Trumpets/horns

KARUNA (COMPASSION/LOVE/EROTIC)
Slow tempo
Saxophone
Sparse instrumentation
Kiss sound (etc.)
 
KRODHA (ANGER/FURIOUS)
Loud volume
Clustered pitches
Dissonance
Short note length
Yelling/shouting

BHIBASTA (DISGUST/LOATHING)
Uneven rhythmic patterns
Minor tonality

BHAYANAKA (FEAR/TERROR)
Fast/accelerating tempo
Quick succession of notes
Dissonance
Screaming

SHOKA (SORROW)
Minor tonality
Slow tempo
Melodic
Elongated notes
Crying

SHANTA (SERENITY/TRANQUILITY)
Erhu
Sparse notation
Minimal rhythm