Friday, January 30, 2009

Signal Damage, part 2

I ended up using Garage Band for most of the work, but used SoundHack to transform some recorded sound into several bloops and bleeps that became my rhythm tracks, and Audacity to generate a sort of distorted chime sound (in a couple pitches). Against this, I recorded the sound of gurgling water in one of the aquariums in my office, and applied some filters, then played improvised on my cello for three tracks, and sent that through quite a few filters to make un-cello-like sounds (but still mostly pitched). I then recorded myself speaking (distorted to the point you can't tell what I'm saying). To top it all off, I made use of a MIDI keyboard to add some ethereal background. Ten tracks in all. I must say, computers make it extremely easy to make (really bad) music.
Signal Damage

Signal damage

There's a construction sign at the intersection of Balaine and Farmer's Loop that simply says "Signal Damage" (obviously referring to the street light), and every time I read it, I think of how that term might apply to music/sound. Since the first assignment is involving creating a composition using hackup up audio signals, I've decided to title my piece "Signal Damage". Now I just need to apply the title to create a piece...