In this week’s class we’ve been learning the last automation techniques over Ableton and with the use of them I created another piece, this time the composition for practical purposes was a bit more commercial, with some breakbeat and synths and similarities with different classic genres of dance music.

At the end of the lesson, we also performed an exercise about film scoring, and we scored two scenes of two different films. The first one was a very old film, and the exercise consisted on 3 different takes, with a setup of plugins quickly arranged and then we performed some sounds “on the go”, on top of the silent scenes. The second one was “You Were Never Really Here” with Joaquin Phoenix, for which I’m going to add here the last take, and although it’s very different from the real sound I was quite happy with the result.

As suggested, this week I borrowed from the kit room a Korg Volca synth to experiment with and practice different techniques. My choice this time was the Volca Kick, which also comes with a Korg NTS-1 mini synth.

I tried different configurations with them, but in the end I sequenced the NTS-1 via USB MIDI with Ableton, and sent clock sync to the Volca Kick. These two devices work really well together and it was very fun to jam with them both, here I added a short clip with a little beat I created during the experimentation.

In this lesson we’ve learnt different techniques in terms of automation and modulation with Ableton. With these procedures we are able to automate different parameter from each section and these modulations will be repeated continuously on each loop.

This is the little composition that I made using various envelope modulations on volume, frequency, pan and other parameters. I also recorded some MIDI sequences with the Complete 25 keyboard and arranged a percussion kit, this is a very experimental track and was composed only for practical purposes.

This week we had an introductory lesson to spatial sound looking at binaural, stereo, reverb, delay and granular techniques using different apps and software. Then we moved to the performance lab where we’ve been listening to different pieces on quadraphonic sound whose were really interesting.

Here I have created a piece which combines a tape recording with different plugins provided to experiment with the use of spatial sound: dearVR Micro, Circular Doppler and ML Distance. Due to uploading conditions the video is still in mono but I have also uploaded the Ableton audio version which is is stereo and the spatial effects can be better appreciated.

This is a little composition created on class, it features mainly some exercises for MIDI automation, using the Komplete 25 keyboard. It features a couple of synth pads throughout the track and also an arpeggio. It has been done relatively quickly and thinking on training purposes so there is a very experimental sound as a whole.

We have also been watching in class some Ableton Live techniques and a walkthrough around different synthesis methods.

On todays’s class we’ve been learning about synthesis and also playing in group some of the synths on the synth room. We have learnt about the basics of synthesis as: oscillators, envelopes, filters, wave shape, pulse width and much more. We started this practical study with the Moog Mother-32 and after we went to the Korg MS-20 mini, both of them great analog semi-modular synthesisers with classic synthesis methods and countless patching capabilities.

After that we started to play some other synths, I started with the Korg Minologue, this is an amazing polyphonic analog synth with a great sound and capabilities. Then I was lucky to be playing the ARP Odyssey, this desktop synth is a vintage classic and it recreates very interesting textures through plenty of modulations. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to record any of these experimentations but the experience was very enjoyable.

Finally, we were exploring the Korg Volcas a bit, I chose the voice Kick, which surprisingly came with the Korg NTS-1 as well, and I was able to try some sync capabilities as well as some compositions.

1. Develop one of the pieces begun in today’s session to be played in next week’s session.  
2. Add the piece, or a part of it, to your blog. Add some annotation to this. 
3. Reflect on notes taken in today’s session.  Consider what aspects of the session may be useful in your personal practice.

As an exercise in relation to sound objects and sampling, we have taken some audio recorders and been recording sounds around the college with whose later on we’ve made a sound composition in Ableton.

This is the result of the audio piece:

It is a very experimental piece of sound design where I’ve manipulated the recorded sounds in order to recreate a mysterious atmosphere. The recordings have been retouched in terms of pitch, envelope and length; and there are also been added several effects like reverb or dynamics.

During the class I enjoyed the explanations about Musique Concrète. I’m really interested in using tape techniques within my sound practice, I already use cassette tape to experiment with and I’ve particularly enjoyed the explanations about reel tape cuts, I hope to explore this field more in depth in the next lessons.