Erik Satie: Vexations, score and music (excerpt).
Terry Riley: In C (1964)
Original recording (instrumental ensemble)
Another version (chamber ensemble)
Musical score here.
Steve Reich: Come Out
Brian Eno: Music For Airports (Ambient 1)
Alvin Lucier: I am sitting in a room
(Optional) In Bb (YouTube crowdsourced video/music project)
We ran out of time during section, and it’s too large to directly upload to this blog, so here’s my piece for Project One:
Perhaps ‘Sturm und Drang’ might be a bit much, but I think the thunderstorm sounds justify the dramatic title. Also, I couldn’t think of anything else, so there.
I got the following tracks from Trifonic: vocals, “ambiance”, synth strings, bass, kick, and guitar. I found recording of a thunderstorm on the sound library–thank you, Dave Welsh! I found a track called “breath” that featured two raspy breaths in quick succession. I used those as a sort of heartbeat at the start and end of the piece. I don’t know whose track that is, but thank you, and feel free to comment on this post and take credit; that track was really cool, so you definitely deserve it.
There’s also a pulsating drone throughout. I used drumsticks and chopsticks and recorded myself running the sticks across the keyboards (the one for the iMac, the Yamaha keyboard and the MIDI input device). That track was originally supposed to be rain, but I put resonators on it (Valhalla and Rome, I think), and really liked the sound, so I removed the percussive attacks and made it unrecognizable by adding more reverb. I really like reverb. And resonators. Resonators are cool.
Let me know what you think!
Recording audio directly into Ableton Live’s DAW is simple, requiring only an audio track and the specification of the input channel. This recording method has advantages over an editor, such as Audacity, in that it allows the selection of arbitrary input channels and easily facilitates the layered synchronization of new material onto old.
1) Create an audio track in Live
2) In the new track’s input/output section, select the audio input channel you wish to record from.
3) Arm the record for this new track (WARNING: if the input is a microphone, make sure the speakers are turned down, monitoring only through headphones).
4) Arm the master record (circle, top-level “transport” control) and hit “play” (triangle)
1) Using the cable supplied in each studio (1/8″ to split 1/4″, red and white), connect your laptop output to the front “Hi-Z 1 and 2” inputs on the Apogee Ensemble (top-most silver device under the computer).
2) In either Audacity or Live, set monitoring to “On” or arm record for channels 1 & 2 — in Audacity, 1& 2 are the default; in Live you must specify the track input, as shown here:
Tutorial on “Recording Audio” (as needed): https://www.ableton.com/en/articles/recording-audio/
3 (May be needed)) Open the “Apogee Maestro” software (in /Applications if not shown as a purple “A” icon in the Macintosh dock). In the software’s “Input” tab, under channels 1 & 2 (left-most channels), set the input from “Mic” to either “Inst” (instrument) or “+4”, depending on what is listed.
A Sneak Preview of the New Documentary
Elektro Moskva
Introduced by Trevor Pinch (Science & Technology Studies, Cornell)
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:15pm
Willard Straight Theatre
The film features rare archival footage, including the last 1993 interview with famed inventor Leon Theremin.
Watch a trailer at: elektromoskva.com
Directed by Dominik Spritzendorfer & Elena Tikhonova
Welcome to the weird and definitely wired world of avant garde rock musicians, DIY circuit benders, vodka-swilling dealers and urban archaeologists/collectors, all fascinated with obsolete Soviet-era electronic synthesizers that were the by-product of the KGB and Soviet military, created in the off-hours by scientist/inventors cobbling together spare transistors and wires. In Russian and English with English subtitles. Cosponsored with Science & Technology Studies and The History Center of Tompkins County.
1 hr 29 min
More at cinema.cornell.edu
This assignment is, as announced in lecture, in two parts.
1. Choose a song or piece of music you know (or think you know!) well. Analyze the song in terms of its form and progression in time, listening carefully to how its inner details might aid in this progression. What do you think makes the music tick? What makes it move forward? What are the instruments and/or sounds and how do they develop? Are there small details, momentary or otherwise unnoticed, that you thing are important?
The result should be a diagram, in letters or symbols, of the form of the music plus a brief verbal description. This need not be any more than a few paragraphs to a full page, describing what you perceive to be the driving factors in the music.
2. A short re-mix using the materials provided below, taken from CCMixter.com. This should not be a time-consuming exercise as many of the raw materials will work nicely with one another without effort, but consider the relationships not only of simultaneity but also in time. Think about the form as a compositional strategy: how could/should the music unfold?
Turn in the resulting WAV or AIFF audio file along with a brief description of your re-mix. Did you follow or attempt to follow a particular form? Or was the result serendipitous? If so, can you make some brief observations about the result?
Here are the links to download content:
The original artist page on CCMixter is here.
These materials are available under a Creative Commons “Attribution / Non-commercial” license, meaning:
You are free to: “share”—-copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and “adapt”–remix, transform, and build upon the material. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
Hi all,
Are assignments due any specific time on Thursdays, or just anytime before Friday?
Also, this may be a stupid question but how do you access work you saved on the Sound drive in one studio, from a different studio?
thanks,
Mary
Sorry for the short notice. See everyone on Thursday!
Taylan Cihan, in performance
UPDATE: With profound sadness, I relay that Taylan Cihan, whose research and development at CEMC is featured below, has passed away–October 8th 2014. His instruments remain at the Center and are planned to be used as part of SoundLab, a DIY electronics initiative at Cornell that Taylan himself was, at the time of his death, working to implement.
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Composition graduate student Tayan Cihan (DMA anticipated 2015) has developed a series of instruments at CEMC, primarily for his own use in live performances with the Cornell Avant Garde Ensemble (CAGE) and elsewhere. Each contributes to a continuously developing modular performance system, operating individually or generating layers within a collective. Below is a gallery of several of these instruments, created 0ver the last several years at CEMC.
Each instruments represents hundreds of hours of design and implementation, ranging from purely electronic circuitry through Arduino-based (open hardware) digital/analog hybrid devices, and onto integrated analog-digital mechanisms where computer and analog hardware are sharing, listening, and modifying on another. His endeavor with these devices is technical, practical, sonic, and aesthetic.
Further devices, complete instrument details, schematics, design rationale, sounds, video, and software code (where applicable) can be found on Taylan’s personal website.
Ladyfest Cornell – April 11, 2015 at the Schwartz Center
This year marks the first ever Ladyfest Cornell, a one day festival of performance, activism, music, and film that will feature original works by women and LGBTQ Cornell students. We are currently seeking proposals from interested students. For more information and the proposal form, please visit:
http://ladyfestcornell.wordpress.com
Proposals are due October 15th. Questions can be emailed to Annie Lewandowski, Lecturer in Music.