(Sharbaugh)
Michael Ash Sharbaugh [ https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh ]: synthesizers and found sounds
Composed and Recorded ca. May 7 to 8, 2016.
sm4 [LANDRlo].
Like many musicians, I have favorite chords; like many musical synthesists, I have several favorite synthesizer patches. For this Disquiet Junto assignment—“record a piece of music in which what changes is the treatment of the notes that comprise a single chord,” I chose to use some of my favorite patches. However, they were patches I do not use regularly, if at all.
I loosely and liberally took Marc’s meaning of “note” to mean the physical note of the keyboard or synthesizer—not the tone, or frequency, of the ‘note’ in question. I gracefully took advantage of his instructions; however, I did not alter the pitch maps of my synthesizers: the ‘notes’ are as they sounded “straight from the box” (synthesizer—a Korg M1). For clarity, I refer to Webster’s dictionary definition of the word, “note”—“a character which represents a sound”; thus, it refers to musical notation, or to a "sound"—a patch on a synthesizer, for instance—and not to a specific frequency.
I chose one of my two favorite chords—the B-Minor chord. I chose a patch that had a fabricated rhythm of 82 beats per minute—a ‘B’ note, in this case—and recorded it. I henceforth synced my following notes to that rhythm. I then recorded each of the other notes—a ‘D’ and a ‘F-sharp’—on separate tracks, using a plethora of patches I had always wanted to use, but never did. They were ‘morphing’ patches—ones that change and modulate over time. I was curious how they would sound together. I knew that the piece would inherently compose itself, especially if I augmented the morphing and timing with delays, reverb, filters, and EQ!
Well, it did not compose itself: I had to add effects, modulation, and volume fades to construct what you are hearing now—an altered ‘chord’ as per my aesthetics. I realize it’s not a ‘grand opus’; but it was a fun distraction for six hours. More on this 227th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Record a piece of music in which what changes is the treatment of the notes that comprise a single chord”) at:
http://disquiet.com/0227/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
http://disquiet.com/junto/
Join the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/
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http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:
http://disquiet.com/forums/
Image associated with this project adopted from a photo by Dan Barbus, used thanks to a Creative Commons license:
https://flic.kr/p/4mcFS8
