Ive always been intrigued at anime and other forms of japanese art, and was especially interested when i watched “Akira” thhat foccused on humans relationship with technology and power. The black and white film Tetsuo: The iron man is heavily linked to the main antagonist of Akira “Tetsuo”.
Iron mans soundtrack is an industrial cyberpunk take on the future using metallic klangs and video game synth sounds to audibly document the main characters decent into a deformed machine. I found it interesting seeing in 1989 japan, and how the recent event that preceded these film, WW2 and Hiroshima, has left a taste in the peoples mouth that thing bring into their art . And gradual decent into a mutant robot that cant control its power is a reflection of japan during its fascistic times and how too much power can corrupt anything.
When we were in class and Milo was talking about how sound can alter your perception of time and place my mind immediately wandered to anime/80s dytopian movies and the more fiction/ escapist side of sound design.
THX 1138
When looking at this proto-star wars film by George Lucas that had a very acclectic soundtrack using nostalic and futuristic sounds, even though it was based in the future, including bits of jazz in somescenes and then ambient drone in another. This juxterpostion was said to allow the composer Lao Schifin to specifically cater each piece to each scene. However in a Soundtrack.Net article said
“While the vast array of music styles allows Schifrin to address each scene’s needs very specifically, what ultimately happens is that the film’s soundtrack as a whole feels incoherent. When one listens to the soundtrack in total, he or she will have no sense of the overall film. There are so many styles and moods present that the soundtrack has no unity.”
But in the contrary i feel that a jumbled mix of tastes and polarising sound is the soundscape of the future, that is polluted with so many ideas that live alongside one another simultaneously. It out of that polarity that we are unified by.
Cedrick is a berlin based composer, musician, mastering engineer, author, radio host, concert organiser, independent researcher and label manager (at Syrphe) who operates in the field of noise, electronic and experimental music since 1989. His compositions and installations vary from sound art and electroacoustic to noise to industrial to more conventional “dance” music such as electronica or acid and so on.
I found Cedrick really intriguing as he started in the kind of scenes that i’m interested in; industrial, punk, goth ect. And found it interesting when he was taking about the “decolonisation of culture” and how that accessibility to culture is a privilege in itself. I found it interesting that he wanted to find music that is typically Western in pockets of the world where you wouldn’t think of it being there. He was taking about Yugoslavia, which is where my mums from, and its intrigued me to delve deeper into its goth/post-punk history.
He was saying that undiscovered cultures/scenes almost have a benefit to being so anonymous is that they can observe and document Western culture ad absorb ad be influenced by said work, but the rest of the world has no idea of the small scenes existence, almost like a one way mirror. This allows more detached cultures to create that kind of music but from a detached perspective from the reality of privilege in the west and therefore may come up with their own style and finding solutions to being limited.
When I was a teenager and young adult, in Belgium, I often asked myself why I was one of the very few ‘brown’ persons in the punk, goth, industrial, experimental, EBM, noise scenes and it quickly pushed me to try to find out what was happening in non-western European and North American countries. Back then, in the 1980s and early 1990s, even accessing alternative music from eastern Europe, apart of a few Yugoslav, Soviet, Polish or Czechoslovak artists, was not an easy task, so no need to tell how difficult it was to find music from far away places, even from Australia or New Zealand.
I also believe in decolonisation of the arts and culture in general (and I don’t only speak about the results of western colonisation) and am a strong supporter of networks and cultural exchanges in all directions, and as much as possible, to refer to Deleuze and Guattari, rhizomatic networks and collaborations, we all have to learn from each other, even when some may have a greater knowledge in a certain domain than others; treating the other person as an equal, providing the other person the same opportunities than any western artist would be able to access, no matter what their genre, philosophical and cultural background are.
What does the term MIDI stand for? How is MIDI data different from the data stored on an audio file? (See “MIDI basics” beginning on page 134.)
How many channels of MIDI information can be sent over single MIDI cable? (See “MIDI basics” beginning on page 134.)
What two types of tracks does Pro Tools provide for working with MIDI data? What is the difference between the two track types? (See “MIDI in Pro Tools” beginning on page 135.)
How many ticks are there in a quarter note in Pro Tools? (See “Tick-based operation” beginning on page 136.)
Describe three ways to set the Main Time Scale to Bars|Beats. (See “setting the time base ruler and main timescale” beginning on page 137.)
What is the default meter in Pro Tools? How do you go about changing the meter? (See “setting the base meter” beginning on page 138.)
What is the default tempo in Pro Tools? (See “setting the base tempo” beginning on page 139.)
What physical connections can you use to connect a MIDI controller to your system for recording on a MIDI or Instrument track? (See “connecting a MIDI device” beginning on page 141.)
Give some examples of virtual instrument plug-ins that are installed as standard components of Pro Tools. On which track types are virtual instruments plug-ins typically placed? (To see “using virtual instruments” beginning on page 145.)
How many parts can be included in an Xpand!2 patch? How can each part be turned on/off? (See “Working with Xpand!2” beginning on page 146.)
What kind of virtual instrument is Boom? What does the Boom Matrix Display show? (See “working with boom” beginning on page 147.)
What track views are available for MIDI data in the Edit window? Which view allows you to scroll up or down to see notes of different pictures? (See “viewing MIDI data on MIDI-compatible tracks” beginning on page 151.)
What track types can display data in MIDI Editor windows? (See “MIDI added to window views” beginning on page 153.)
What is the Notation Display Enable button used for in the MIDI Editor window? (See “MIDI editor window views” beginning on page 153.)
The central principal of the modernist exhibition space of the white cube came to be understood as a neutral space, where works are displayed in a setting allegedly allows optimal concentration on their perception. Sealed windows’ artificial illumination, and walls painted white create a “clean” & “artificial” environment in which the artworks are not subject to time and space and kept disconnected from the world outside of it.” (Irene Noy: Touching sound art: In west Germany)
“Wherever we are, we are surrounded by invisible waves, which can be received everywhere and anywhere and can be made sonorous and vivid.”
Artisits: Luigi Russolo, Man Ray, Christina Kubisch, Bernhard Leitner.
Ideas: The symbiotic relationship between our senses (especially sight and hearing) also us to trick and distort the toots that we use to analyse and examine the world around us, which in turn plays with the idea of consciousness and if everything we perceive is our brain ordering reality to its own assumptions of of what we deep “real”
What icon is used for the Zoomer tool in the Edit window? How can you use this tool to quickly zoom out, filling the Edit window with the longest track in the session? (See “Zoomer Tool” beginning on page 52.) Magnifying glass. Double click to see ALL (fn+f5 to use Zoomer)
Which Edit tool is represented by a hand icon? What is this tool used for? (See “Grabber Tool” beginning on page 54.) Grabber Tool. It is commonly used for arranging clips. You can use the grabber tool to select an entire clip with a single mouse click you can also use the gravity movie clip along the timeline, within its current track into movie clips between tracks (fn+f8 to use Grabber)
Which tool is active when the Trim, Selector, and Grabber icons are all selected (highlighted in blue) in the Edit window toolbar? (See “Smart Tool” beginning on page 55.) The Smart Tool
What are the four Edit modes in Pro Tools? How can you switch between them? (See “Edit Modes” beginning on page 56.) Shuffle (fn+f1). Slip (fn+f2). Spot (fn+f3). Grid (fn+f4)
Why should you use caution when editing synchronized material in Shuffle mode? When is Shuffle mode useful? Movements and edits made on shuffle mode will cause timing changes for the media on affected tracks. This mode should be used with caution when editing material that is synchronised to other tracks or are aligned to a timing reference or tempo. It’s useful as a way to make clips line up next to each other without overlapping or leaving silence between them. This can be convenient when you need to shorten a line of dialogue by removing a pause, cough repeated word, or similar unwanted material.
How does editing a clip in Slip mode affect the timing of other clips on the track? (See “Slip Mode” beginning on page 56.) In Slip mode, you can move, trim, cut, or paste clips freely within a track without affecting the placement of other clips on the track. All selections, clip movements and edit operations at unconstrained
When is it helpful to work in Spot mode? When it is helpful to work in Grid mode? (See “Spot Mode” and “Grid Mode” beginning on page 57.) Spot mode lets you move and trim clips using precise locations or durations specified in a dialogue box.In Grid mode selections, clip movements, and trim operations are constrained by the grid, i.e. it is useful for quantising material.
What are some ways to set the Main Time Scale in Pro Tools? (See “Main Time Scale” beginning on page 59.) VIEW > MAIN COUNTER. Main TimeScale pop-up menu
What are the two types of Rulers available in Pro Tools? What is the difference between them? (See “Ruler Display Options” beginning on page 60.) Timebase rulers and Conductor rulers. Timebase rulers measure time in various ways (they include Bars| Beats, Minutes: seconds, samples, timecode, timecode 2, Feet+Frames). Conductor rulers contain events that map out locations, characteristics and changes within a session (these include Markers, Tempo, Meter, Key, Chords)
What are some ways to hide Rulers that you do not need displayed in a session? (See “Hiding Rulers” beginning on page 61.) VIEW > RULERS. Opt+click directly on a Ruler’s name in the Timeline display area.
Which Pro Tools windows provide access to MIDI controls, such as Wait for Note, Metronome, and MIDI Merge? (See “MIDI Control Features” beginning on page 62.) The MIDI Control section in the Edit and Transport windows
What is the purpose of the Metronome button in the MIDI Controls area? What kind of track must be added to a session for the Metronome button to work? (See “Metronome” beginning on page 62.) The metronome button is used in conjunction with a click track and controls whether or not the click will be audible. When the Metronome button is active, a metronome click will sound during playback and recording, as specified by the settings in the Click/Countoff options dialog box (SET-UP > Click/ Countoff).Metronome playback requires a click track on the click source to be configured for your session.
What are the two states or modes available for controlling the current session tempo? How can you switch between these modes? (See “Tempo Ruler Enable” beginning on page 63.) Tempo Map Mode and Manual Tempo Mode
What is displayed by the Tempo field in the MIDI Controls area? What are some ways to set the session tempo using this field? (See “Tempo Field” beginning on page 64.) The session’s current tempo based on the play selection. In manual tempo mode (or when the session tempo has not yet been defined) you can enter a BPM value directly into this field. In addition when the tempo field is selected, you can tap in a tempo from a midi controller or from the computer keyboard using the T key
1. Name and describe five types of production tasks that ProTools can be used for.
Audio Processing
Midi Editing
Score Sitation
2. What’s the frequency range of human hearing?
20hz 20khz (20 cycles per second)
3. What does the frequency of a sound wave affect in terms of how we perceive the sound? How is frequency measured?
Frequency affects the pitch of a sound, the higher the rate the higher the higher the pitch. Frequency is Measured in Hertz (old school version: cycles per second)
4. What does the amplitude of the sound wave affect? How is amplitude measured?
Amplitude affects the Loudness and gain of a sound wave. Measured in Amps
5. How does the sample rate of a system relate to the frequency of audio it can capture? What is the name of the law that specifies the relationship between sample rate and audio frequency?
Sample rate should be twice the rate of audio as the one its trying to capture, relates to the number of samples of audio playing per second. The law is called the format.
6. How does the bit depth relate to the dynamic range of audio it can capture. How can you estimate the dynamic range of a system?
The bit dept is the maximum dynamic range range between the lowest and highest sounds. Also greater accuracy of the amplitude of a sample. Take bit depth but multiply it by 6.
7. What are some common digital connections available on Pro Tools audio interfaces? What type of connector jack does each use?
RCA, XLR, S/PDIF
8. Name some audio interfaces that are compatible with standard Pro Tools software.
Any audio interface with core audio(Mac) and AISO (Windows)
Focusright Scarlett,
9. Name some Avid audio interfaces that are compatible with Pro Tools | Ultimate software.
We were discussing what we thought “Sound Arts” was, it was interesting to see how some people were saying that only humans can make art. Me and my partner were talking about how its about the perceiver as well as the creator. Because once you have created said thing it is only art when someone with self aware consciousness interacts with it. A lot of the time a piece of art will be created with a specific meaning but once put into the hand of the many its meaning is distorted to fit the narrative of the interpreter, E.g. a lot of leftist punk/revolutionary songs have been played at Fascist rallies, and i doubt that Rage Against the Machine would’ve been happy seeing their songs used for the opposite what they believe.
On a similar note if a bird is chirping and singing a beautiful melody, is that bird aware that what it is singing is so beautiful, or is beauty only imbued to the birdsong by a human observer that has made him feel a certain way. Art doesn’t always need to be intentional as some accidents or just documentation of a sound without and processing can be as much art as something that was intentionally created. There is a device that you can hook up to mushrooms and trees that records their electromagnetic waves and converts them into midi/or voltage signals that can be used to trigger and instrument or make its own sound. Recording the mushrooms waves you means you have no control over what the mushroom will do so you are more of a backseat driver to natures perfect randomness and by documenting that you are shining a light an otherwise hidden world.
On the other hand juxtaposed to natural is A.I, my parter said showed be a video that Artificial Intelligence can produce art, it posed so many question in my head. Does the A.I know it’s making art or is it just replicating what it’s seen. And does A.I have the ability to feel art or is it just trying to replicate the reaction that it sees from others.
For my project i want to use synthetic and natural sounds and juxtapose the contrast between serene natural sounds and the industrial background noise of everyday life. The sound track for TUTSUO IRON MAN i am going to dissect and analyse the use of industrial sounds.
