Week 1

• Practical 1 - Audio Arts - What is Sound Design [1]

For our first tute this year we examine the words "Sound", and "Design", and discussed how Sound Design fit into the Bauhaus model of ‘form follows function’. I talked to an architecture student about this and he said they talked form and function in just about every one of his lessons. Although all too familiar to him, it was interesting for me to view design in this new light. During my life I've had many discussions with my engineer brother about form and function, and this tute definitely put a few things into perspective. Homework for this week was to do a San's analysis of this short excerpt from Vertov's 'Man with the movie camera'. You can download the excel file of it here

• Practical 2 - Creative Computing - Scheduling [2]

This week we were required to come up with a piece using 3 independent clocks. This week I learnt the techniques I was trying so hard to achieve with Pbinds last semester in my Major. I also finally got my head around what functions and methods are this week.



Here is my code:

// Week 1 Scheduling
// Wirt's Leg

(
SynthDef(\WirtsLeg,
{
// Arguments
arg  note = 60,
amp = 0.3,
out  = 0,
pan  = 0.0
;

// Variables
var  freq,
gen,
env
;

// Frequency
freq   =  note.midicps;

// Envelope
env   =  EnvGen.ar(
 envelope:  Env(
     levels: [0,0.7,1,0], // Amplitude
     times: [0.001, 0.01, 0.01]), // Duration
 levelScale:  amp,
 doneAction: 2
 );

// Gen
gen   = SinOsc.ar(
 freq: freq *2,
 mul: amp
 );

//Output
Out.ar(
bus:   out,
channelsArray: Pan2.ar(
 in:  gen * env,
 pos: Rand(-1.0,1.0)
 )
);
}).load(s);

// Tomb

SynthDef(\Tomb,
{
// Arguments
arg  note = 60,
amp = 0.3,
out  = 0,
pan  = 0.0
;

// Variables
var  freq,
gen,
env
;

// Frequency
freq   =  note.midicps;

// Envelope
env   =  EnvGen.ar(
 envelope:  Env(
     levels: [0,0.7,1,0], // Amplitude
     times: [0.001, 0.01, 0.01]), // Duration
 levelScale:  amp,
 doneAction: 2
 );

// Gen
gen   = SinOsc.ar(
 freq: freq *2,
 mul: amp
 );

//Output
Out.ar(
bus:   out,
channelsArray: Pan2.ar(
 in:  gen * env,
 pos: Rand(-0.4,0.4)
 )
);
}).load(s);

// Cube

SynthDef(\Cube,
{
// Arguments
arg  freq  = 60,
amp = 0.3,
out  = 0,
pan  = 0.0
;

// Variables
var  gen,
env
;

// Envelope
env   =  EnvGen.ar(
 envelope:  Env(
     levels: [0,0.7,1,0], // Amplitude
     times: [2, 3, 5]), // Duration
 levelScale:  amp,
 doneAction: 2
 );

// Gen
gen   = SinOsc.ar(
 freq: freq,
 mul: amp
 );

//Output
Out.ar(
bus:   out,
channelsArray: Pan2.ar(
 in:  gen * env,
 pos: Rand(-1.0,1.0)
 )
);
}).load(s);
)

// Sequencer

(
a = TempoClock(2);
b = TempoClock(0.5);
c = TempoClock(1);

a.schedAbs(
0.0,
{
arg cnt;
cnt.postln;
Synth(\WirtsLeg, [
\note, rrand(20,40),
\amp, 0.3.rand2
]);
1 // Resolution
});

b.schedAbs(
0.0,
{
arg cnt;
cnt.postln;
Synth(\Tomb, [
\note, rrand(80,85),
\amp, 0.3.rand2
]);
1 // Resolution
});

c.schedAbs(
0.0,
{
arg cnt;
cnt.postln;
Synth(\Cube, [
\freq, rrand(100, 400)]);
1.1 // Resolution
});

b.schedAbs(15, { b.tempo = rrand(1.5, 2.5); nil });

b.schedAbs(140, { a.tempo = 40;
Synth(\Tomb, [
\note, rrand(30, 34)]);
1 });

b.schedAbs(160, { b.clear; });

c.schedAbs(11, {c.tempo = 0.1; nil });

c.schedAbs(14.3, {c.tempo = 1; nil});

c.schedAbs(25.3, {c.tempo = 0.1; nil});

c.schedAbs(29.7, {c.clear; });

a.schedAbs(30, { a.tempo = 7; nil });

a.schedAbs(250, { Synth(\WirtsLeg, [
\note, rrand(20, 90)]); 1 });

a.sched(500, { a.clear; });
)

• Music Technology Forum - Presentation - Martin Armiger: The Problem with Film Music [3]

Before Martin arrived, Stephen gave out some sheets of paper detailing the relevance of a score, analysis, and program note. Whilst I don’t have a lot to say about last two, I don’t think it’s worth the time producing a score. I don’t want to go into detail because I don’t have 800 words to talk about it. Although there are valid reasons why a score is worthwhile, I think they are generally becoming (or already are) outdated. Moving right along…

Martin Armiger took the stand today and talked about the “problem with film music”. I also went to his 6 hour workshop at Flinders Uni so I may talk about things he mentioned at the workshop too. A lot of the presentation wasn’t specifically about the problems, but more so about film music and his experiences writing it. The two points he mentioned that made the biggest impact on me were 1) expressing emotion through music, and 2) learning through doing. His point with 1) was that to create film music, you must be able to become musically emotional. After thinking about this it has made me realise that my inability to do this in a particular way has a lot to do with my discontent as a composer over the last couple of years. The second point simply illustrated to me the different styles of teaching found at a university and a school such as AFTRS. He finished of with some AFTRS promotion, and told us about the possible courses that may run in Adelaide next year. After seeing the recent AFTRS film screening at the Mercury cinema, I am definitely considering an audition for here or Sydney.

• References

[1] Haines, Christian. 2006. Practical on Sound Design. University of Adelaide, 25 July.

[2] Haines, Christian. 2006. Lecture on Supercollider . University of Adelaide, 27 July.

[3] Armiger, Martin. 2006. Presentation on "The problem with Film Music". University of Adelaide, 27 July.