Jude's blog

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Creative Sound Project 2

Exploring David Byrne’s Production

David Byrne is one of the biggest musical pioneers of the 20th century and personal favourites of mine, His work contains a fascinating blend of avant-garde experimentation, world music influence and popular music tropes. One of his most notable aspects of his work is collaboration, working with musical legends such as Brian Eno, Adrian Belew, St’ Vincent, Brian McOmber. Byrne strives in environments like these where ideas are freely and frequently exchanged.

The nature of his collaboration often leads to unexpected sonic textures and complex rhythms through Byrnes love for drum programming. One oof his favourite machines to use is the LinnDrum which is one of the earliest digital drum machines. This machine was pivotal in shaping the rhythmic foundations of Talking Heads’ 5th album: Speaking in Toungues. Its precise, punchy beats gave us tracks such as ‘Burning Down the House’ its signature groove. Unlike traditional drum kits, the LinnDrum allowed Byrne to create highly controlled, repeatable patterns that were central to the albums danceable feel. The recording of the album was characterized by a modular, piecemeal (one thing at a time) approach. Instead of recording the live band, he built it layer by layer, with each instrument being recorded separately. This allowed him and the rest of the band to focus on each element’s precise sound and arrangement.

Byrne has always been known for using non-musical sounds in his recordings. For example, the track ‘I Get Wild / Wild Gravity’ features ambient and percussive field recordings he made outside of the studio which helps add a layer of unpredictability and realism to the track. Speaking in Toungues is a masterful album which balances avant-garde experimentation with general accessibility. The band utilized the latest technology at the time, embraced modular recording processes and infused the sound with global rhythmic influences and unconventional sounds. Resulting in an album that would define a brand new direction for the band but also majorly influencing the foundations of 80s pop music.

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Creative Sound Project 2

Creative Output and Production Journal

Throughout this year I have made set a goal to start releasing my music and sound experiments. Over 4 years, I’ve accumulated my favourite pieces and released them to the public on SoundCloud. This marked a big step for my personal development as I have always struggled with my output, and have always wanted to archive my music across my life so that I can look back at them in a few years and take note on my development as a musician.

A lot of these tracks were recorded for college projects and others for my own purpose and I think they each contrast in sonic arrangement and genres. Further goals include releasing my first album, a collective of compositions and songs written and produced by me and my friends to highlight each others musical vision and talents. Over the years I’ve accumulated enough equipment to make this possible and I intend on producing it using a 4-track and recording it straight to a cassette. Whether I push for an official release is still up for consideration as I want to dedicate my fullest attention to developing my skills and having something to show for it. Here are a few notable tracks I produced. Eventually I hope to take my tracks to film and tv and possibly theatre, but I feel I still have a ways to go before understanding enough of what’s required in the industry.

Techniques that I have learned through producing these have informed my creative process when producing sound compositions, especially when it comes to arrangement of field recordings and how to creatively process the audio and create a visual story with the pieces.

This track takes influence from talking heads and incorporates a line up of live bongos, cow bell arrangement, drum machines, synths, bass and guitar.

I recorded this track in a windmill in Diss using a prepared piano with nails and pints stuck between the strings, accompanied by a low growling acoustic guitar, drum machine, guitar and orchestral arrangements.

I produced this track digitally using mellotron samples, chaotic modulating brass sections and old archival 1050s radio.

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Creative Sound Project 2

Post-Apocalyptic Fashion Show

In April I was asked to make music for my friend’s fashion project for her degree project. This was my first introduction to producing music for a brief outside of my assignments, so it felt a lot more difficult for me to settle with ideas, as they were for someone else. The concept behind the show was based around post-apocalyptic utilitarian fashion. Regarding the brief, I wasn’t given many definite rules to follow and unfortunately the video for the runway wouldn’t be completed until after the tracks were finished. This meant I had no visual reference for any of the tracks.

Some of the key notes from the brief were to include broken drum beats, sirens, glitching effects an overall to create a constant ambience for the models to walk to. Here are the final pieces I ended up deciding to use:

For this track I focused on the synth bass as a leading point of the track. To create this sound I used a Korg Monologue synth as it has an amazing sequencer which allows me to hold notes while modulating the sound with the inbuilt EQ and filter modules. The accompanying ambience and sounds were made using a virtual copy of a Buchla Music Easel and a virtual CMI from Arturia Analogue Lab 4.

I decided to use my physical equipment for this track, such as a Korg Volca Beats drum machine, my bass, Korg Monologue and also my guitar for use of the Ebow. This was the first track I began to develop for this project so I hadn’t quite figured out what sound I was looking to achieve. In order to stray away from simplicity and repeating previous methods, most of the recordings only required one take. I’m still surprised at the outcome as it sounds and feels very DIY but accomplishes the broken and glitchy prompts I was asked for when planning. The resulting effects on the drums were achieved using the built in delay function on the Volca and the occasional live triggering of the kit.

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Global Sonic Cultures

‘Idioteque’

Idiotque is the 8th track off of Radiohead’s 4th studio album ‘Kid A’. The song is based around a synthesizer sample which Jonny Greenwood sourced from Paul Lansky’s 1973 piece ‘Milde Und Liese’ (Mild And Easy). Through the use of audio processing, Greenwood re-pitched the chords down a semitone from the original. This is set to a mechanised, syncopated percussion groove produced by Greenwood using an Analogue System Modular RS 8000.

Paul Lansky was an innovator and pioneer of computer synthesis (later abandoning the genre around 2004). The title of the piece is related to a chord often know as the ‘Tristan chord’ because of its similarities to the Richard Wagner opera ‘Tristan Und Isolde’. Lansky had ‘borrowed’ the sequence himself, repurposing it from the opening bars of Wagner’s work. Use of another sample from the same compilation required Greenwood to seek clearance from American composer Arthur Krieger due to use of samples from Krieger’s ‘Short Piece’. This approach was treated similarly to Creep, adding an extended compositional credit to the track. Lansky has been particularly complimentary towards Radiohead’s use of his work.

The lyrics are constructed using David Byrne’s cut-up method and features familiar phrases “Women and children first”, Take the money and run”, and pop culture references from the time. The title Idioteque is a play on ‘idiotic’ and refers to someone whose obsessed with technology.

Between 1:08 and 1:12 are used in Idioteque.
Chords start at 0:43 – 0:56

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thekingofgear (2014) The King of Gear ;, Tumblr. Available at: https://thekingofgear.com/post/106540893930/i-was-trying-to-cover-idioteque-as-close-as

Allen, W. (2021). Radiohead. every album, every song.

Hyden, S. (2020). This isn’t Happening. Radiohead’s Kid A and the beginning of the 21st century.

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Creative Sound Project 2

Composition Preparations

For this project, I wanted to capture sonic experiences while touring across Europe and to somehow create an emotional relation to each characteristic of my track. In my previous projects, I branched out of my comfort zone when it came to producing and arranging by using unfamiliar methods (to me), such as, live radio manipulation and modulation and synthesis. This time around, I want to use familiar techniques and methods that I have learnt over the past year.

Due to the extensive nature of touring, I’m unable to take lots of equipment with me. Because of this, I’m only able to bring my Zoom h1n Field recorder, my laptop and an assortment of pedals (for live shows). As this is my first international tour, I’m looking forward to indulging in other cultures and capturing the essence of visiting new places by taking note of sonic differences in each country. I have already prepared a folder of foley samples and some field recordings that might come in handy when it comes to arranging the track. These include recordings I took using a Zoom H5 field recorder, a hydrophone and a contact microphone. I’m really looking forward for the inevitable culture shock of being in Europe for the first time but I’m most excited to hear what these places sound like!

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Global Sonic Cultures

‘A Wolf At The Door (It Girl. Rag Doll)’

Closing out Radiohead’s 6th studio album ‘Hail To The Thief’, this track is based around an arpeggio figure. The song is in the key of D minor and is comprised of guitars and keyboards playing in unison throughout the track. For the majority of the track, Thom Yorke approaches the vocals in a lower range than normal and delivers them somewhat as a rap.

The melody was originally a sweet and sincere affair which Jonny Greenwood composed on the acoustic guitar. A contrasting, softer section (from 1:23) allows for a more reflective feeling before a crescendo tears down its intent and is taken back into its original intensity. A further drop in dynamics (around 2:51) brings the track into its conclusion, with Thom finally reaching his falsetto.

This song has a powerful live feeling to it: the drums most notably, with drummer Phil Selway playing stretched out and powerful fills. The lyrics match the powerful delivery with some of the more violent imagery being projected into our minds. “I keep the wolf from the door, but he calls me up, calls me on the phone. Tells me all the ways that he’s gonna mess me up. Steal all my children if I don’t pay the ransom… and ill never see them again if I Squeal to the cops.”

Yorke wrote the lyrics during a period when he felt he was going insane. The band almost cut the song from the album but eventually decided to conclude the 6th album with it.

The band stay true to the studio version during live sets.

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Global Sonic Cultures

‘Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box’

This song is electronica, composed around sequenced drums and sampled percussive grooves; deriving from kitchen utensils (which provides the initial eastern-like timbres) and even samples of sheep bleats (weak and wavering cry of a sheep). The vocals are delivered in a passive manner which are emphasised by a robotic auto-tune effect.

Originally titled ‘Po Pad’, the now set in stone title suggests the imagery of a damaged car, referring back to Yorke’s previous obsession with ‘Stupid Car’ or ‘Killer Cars’. This fascination with automobiles strives from a near death experience Yorke faced when being involved in a car crash early on in his career. This of course is notable for being the backstory behind Ok Computer’s opening track, Airbag. During a special Later With Jools Holland BBC show in London, Thom Yorke dedicated the song to everyone who had travelled to the venue via London’s Westway (dual carriage way), which confirms the intent of the reference.

The vocal hook “I’m a reasonable man, get off my case” distressed Yorke’s overwhelming discomfort following the bands breakthrough success with Ok Computer during 1997/1998. There is also a sense of misplaced expectation, alluding back to the theme of ‘Let Down’.

For live purposes, the song is reimagined as a rockier piece, focused around bassist Colin Greenwood’s fuzzy alternate from the original electric keys theme.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hyden, S. (2020) This Isn’t Happening. Radiohead’s Kid A and the beginning of the 21st century.

Allen, W. (2021) Radiohead. Every album, every song.

Categories
Global Sonic Cultures

Bjork’s Biophilia

Bjork’s Biophilia app is a multimedia project that combines music, science and interactive technology. The app is built from a collection of songs from the conjoint Album which are each accompanied by a unique interactive experience. Users can manipulate elements of the tracks, visuals and animations, allowing for a personalised and immersive listening experience. Additionally, the app includes educational features that delve into various scientific concepts, such as genetics, cosmology and ecology.

Biophilia had a significant impact in the age of the smartphone and tablet by pushing boundaries of music consumption and interactive experiences, it blurred the lines between traditional album releases and multimedia as a whole, setting a precedent for artists to explore new and innovative formats for distributing there music in the modern age.

Categories
Global Sonic Cultures

Polyfauna

Polyfauna is an experimental collaboration between Radiohead, Nigel Godrich, Stanley Donwood and Universal Everything. The free app was developed and born out of stems from Radiohead’s 2011 album The King Of Limbs and Donwood’s sketchbooks from around that era.

Set to a lunar calendar (based on monthly cycles of the moon’s phases), this mysterious and immersive experience is brought to life through touch and offers a unique set of experiences each time it’s used. Inviting the user into an expansive world of primitive life, weather, sunsets, mountains and forests, Polyfauna comes from an interest in early computer experiments and the imagined creatures of our subconscious. It’s inspired by everything from the atmospheric landscape paintings of Peter Doig and J.M.W. Turner to the computational life forms of Karl Sims.

Polyfauna is regarded as a pioneering collision between digital art and the world of apps, the collaboration sees the creation of abstracted, expanded and exploded versions of audio and visual work by the band. Use of the iPad gyroscope allowed for use of augmented reality, allowing the user to explore vast digital environments from the comfort of their home.

Categories
Global Sonic Cultures

Sonic Case Study Plan – Radiohead’s Kid Amnesia Exhibition

A critical contextualisation and analysis of a sonic case study of your choosing

How does the augmented reality environment enhance the experience of the music?

HEADINGS:

INTRODUCTION

  • include research question
  • definition of ‘augmented reality environment’
  • 1st technological breakthrough in multi-media and music for mass audience was the music video (MTV)
  • 21st century – experiments with augmented reality environment – music meets apps (smartphone and tablets)
  • WHAT?
  • HOW?
  • mention Bjork’s multimedia album Biophilia (2011)

MAIN BODY OF ESSAY:

BACKGROUND

  • include info on how collaboration began. Reference online articles etc.

THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE:

Paragraph on:

  • WHAT – describe how the music is woven through the immersive experience – does each visual environment link to one song at a time? etc
  • audience experience – immersive (new technology meets music) – quotes from audiences? See Reddit forums for quotes – you can describe 2D and VR
  • critical analysis – critique – is it successful? Does is succeed in what is sets out to do? Include quotes from reviews (reference correctly)

CONCLUSION