Week 13 - Catch Up

• Practical 1 - Audio Arts - Studio Tour (FATTRAX) [1]

I turned up a little late to this class not entirely sure how to get to the studio. When I arrived he was talking about how his mixer worked. I then emphasised my bad start to the day by knocking over David's nice warm coffee (I hope it wasn't expensive peculated coffee). Luckily it didn't spill all over his hardware modules. He then went on to show us the rest of the studio. I found it very interesting when he explained the materials used to construct his studio. After hearing (or not hearing rather) his studio, I could finally see where he was coming from when he always talked about his studio being a lot deader that Studio 1. He correctly pointed out that you could also hear a lot more detail in a mix because of the well designed studio. He then showed us his vocal booth and instrumental room. We later proceeded to listen to some of his mixes and he explained how they were produced. Finally we finished off the day 1 hour overtime with a dash of laughter and tears.

I am very excited at the prospect of being taught by Ashley Klose next semester, but at the same time it would be sad not to continue learning from David Grice. At the expense of other lessons, I would gladly take on more Tech subjects. I hope for the sake of future tech students that he will return to teach them for years to come.

• Practical 2 - Creative Computing - Supercollider (10) [2]

This week we looked at 'Mix.ar', and different applications of Array. Should be fun to use them in my major.

• Music Technology Forum - Workshop - Workshop on Steve Reich, Pink Floyd, and Tristram Cary [3]

Steve Reich – “Electric Counterpoint”.

This piece was performed on electric guitar by Pat Metheny. I’ve like all Reich works I’ve come across, and this was no exception. I particularly liked the guitar chord swells towards the end.

Tristram Cary – “Soft Walls”

This piece was written on the Sinclavier. I only wish the Sinclavier was still with EMU as I would have loved to have a play with this thing. This piece sounded very much like AM synthesis, and at times reminded me of organs or brass. Although I wasn’t overly impressed with the piece, I did think it was a sonic journey worth listening to.

Pink Floyd – “Interstellar Overdrive”

The piece started off like a normal rock song, but then morphed into this strange alien-like sound scape with this very cool high note guitar loop near the beginning. Like with “Soft Walls”, this was also a musical journey. Whilst listening to this piece I was thinking that to path the future, one must study the past.

Steve Reich – “Different Trains”

Played by the Kronos Quartet, this piece also featured vocal samples of train song, which sounded much unlike that of bird song. I'm not sure when Steve Reich wrote “City Life”, but the compositional style of this piece was very much akin to that of “City Life”. I found that I could absorb and learn a lot more from this piece than I could the others. I guess this is because I understand and speak the language of Reich much more fluently. I really liked it how he matched the rhythm of the instrumental part with the rhythm of the voice.

Tristram Cary – “Steam Music”

I realised I hadn’t actually taken any notes for this piece. The lack of notes implies that I probably didn’t think much of this piece.

• References

[1] Grice, David. 2006. Tour of Fattrax Studio. Fattra, 6 June.

[2] Haines, Christian. 2006. Lecture on Supercollider. University of Adelaide, 8 June.

[3] Harris, David. 2006. Workshop on Steve Reich, Pink Floyd, and Tristram Cary. University of Adelaide, 8 June.