mijn tweede kwartaalrapport, voor gratis op Bandcamp.
Jos Smolders - Modular Works 2014Q2 Hieronder de liner notes, die als download bij de download wordt gevoegd
Enjoy!
NOTES
These works have been produced from February to late June 2014.
Triptych for Herbert Eimert
I have been listening and studying the old masters of electronic and electroacoustic music. Herbert Eimert produced a record “Einführung In Die Elektronische Musik” in 1963 where he explained about his sound and composition theories. His definition of sound in terms of Ton, Klang, Tongemisch, etcetera were the basis for a study. I recorded 3 bells and analyzed the frequencies that constituted the bell sound and their respective volumes. These frequencies were reproduced with the Cyclebox module. Later these recordings were edited by various means (mainly filtering and waveshaping and juxtaposed with the original bell recording. Each part drifts further away from the basic frequencies and gets more excited and distorted. All in accordance with Eimert’s theories.
Act 3, Scenes 4 to 7b
This is the first composition with a complex structure. Here, no longer the modular system defines the outcome of the work but the I had preconceived structure which has been moulded somewhat but in the end is quite close to what I had in mind at the start. It feels like a story and in that sense to me links it to my admiration of Pierre Henry (although it doesn’t deserve to even stand in his shade).
Reflections
These works have started early on. Actually they were for the best part composed in Q1 but they weren’t finished when I released that set. The idea was that I chose four works from four of my favourite 20th century painters and used those works as starting point. The idea for this was (unknowingly) brought up by Roland Kuit and his interpretations of Mondrian’s work. I used two approaches: one by looking at what happens on the surface of the painting and secondly by what I feel when looking at it. Of course the technical challenge was to find out how I could extract that from the knobs and sliders of the modular system.
Here are links to high resolution images of the paintings and other documentation:
Umberto Boccioni - The Street Enters The House - 1911 > hi res
Franz Kline - Orange Outline - 1955 > hi res
Barnett Newman - Vir Heroicus Sublimis - 1950-15 > hi res
Francis Bacon - Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X - 1953 > hi res
These four reflections have been mastered by the great Richard Scott whose works are an inspiration for me. Thanks, Richard!!
websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901
We all love radio and especially the undefined chatter, rattles, noise, squeeks that seem to come from afar. It may be 1,000 kilometers away but could as well come from a distant star. I discovered the web address and spent hours mesmerized by what I found. Long story short: I couldn’t resist recording this and editing the material through my modular (especially the Makenoise Phonogene, the Grendell Formant Filter and the Audio Damage FreqShift).
CH-47
This is an hour lasting drone built with a Cylonix Cyclebox VCO, a Synthesis Technology Morphing Terrarium and a Makenoise STO, driven by the pulses of the Makenoise Maths. Inspiration is the sound of the Chinook helicopter. There is a military airbase near my home town where they are stationed. This work is completely electronic except where it’s quite obviously not. Actually the radio chatter that is interleaved into the modular chopper noise is caught through the wires of my stereo system. Somehow it sometimes picks this up. I never can discern the words literally but I assume it’s “them”. It’s a nuisance but now it come to good use. Although the original version lasts an hour (in accordance with the drone doctrine) the Bandcamp limitation of a maximum file size of 600mb’s forced me to cut the piece in two.
Final words
This is the second in a series of quarterly reports on my works with a modular synthesizer system. I only started buying modular after being stuck in a writer’s block for 4 years. The physical aspects and the flexibility of the system of the Eurorack reinvigorated my well of creativity.
This quarter has been more productive and louder than I had expected. Next one I intend to be more quiet, starting from silence and then build up. We’ll see.
Thank you
Wouter Jaspers (for pushing me towards modular)
Rchard Scott (for excellent mastering work)
Kasper van Hoek (for providing the original Eimert tracks)
JS , July 2014
Jos Smolders - Modular Works 2014Q2 Hieronder de liner notes, die als download bij de download wordt gevoegd
Enjoy!
NOTES
These works have been produced from February to late June 2014.
Triptych for Herbert Eimert
I have been listening and studying the old masters of electronic and electroacoustic music. Herbert Eimert produced a record “Einführung In Die Elektronische Musik” in 1963 where he explained about his sound and composition theories. His definition of sound in terms of Ton, Klang, Tongemisch, etcetera were the basis for a study. I recorded 3 bells and analyzed the frequencies that constituted the bell sound and their respective volumes. These frequencies were reproduced with the Cyclebox module. Later these recordings were edited by various means (mainly filtering and waveshaping and juxtaposed with the original bell recording. Each part drifts further away from the basic frequencies and gets more excited and distorted. All in accordance with Eimert’s theories.
Act 3, Scenes 4 to 7b
This is the first composition with a complex structure. Here, no longer the modular system defines the outcome of the work but the I had preconceived structure which has been moulded somewhat but in the end is quite close to what I had in mind at the start. It feels like a story and in that sense to me links it to my admiration of Pierre Henry (although it doesn’t deserve to even stand in his shade).
Reflections
These works have started early on. Actually they were for the best part composed in Q1 but they weren’t finished when I released that set. The idea was that I chose four works from four of my favourite 20th century painters and used those works as starting point. The idea for this was (unknowingly) brought up by Roland Kuit and his interpretations of Mondrian’s work. I used two approaches: one by looking at what happens on the surface of the painting and secondly by what I feel when looking at it. Of course the technical challenge was to find out how I could extract that from the knobs and sliders of the modular system.
Here are links to high resolution images of the paintings and other documentation:
Umberto Boccioni - The Street Enters The House - 1911 > hi res
Franz Kline - Orange Outline - 1955 > hi res
Barnett Newman - Vir Heroicus Sublimis - 1950-15 > hi res
Francis Bacon - Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X - 1953 > hi res
These four reflections have been mastered by the great Richard Scott whose works are an inspiration for me. Thanks, Richard!!
websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901
We all love radio and especially the undefined chatter, rattles, noise, squeeks that seem to come from afar. It may be 1,000 kilometers away but could as well come from a distant star. I discovered the web address and spent hours mesmerized by what I found. Long story short: I couldn’t resist recording this and editing the material through my modular (especially the Makenoise Phonogene, the Grendell Formant Filter and the Audio Damage FreqShift).
CH-47
This is an hour lasting drone built with a Cylonix Cyclebox VCO, a Synthesis Technology Morphing Terrarium and a Makenoise STO, driven by the pulses of the Makenoise Maths. Inspiration is the sound of the Chinook helicopter. There is a military airbase near my home town where they are stationed. This work is completely electronic except where it’s quite obviously not. Actually the radio chatter that is interleaved into the modular chopper noise is caught through the wires of my stereo system. Somehow it sometimes picks this up. I never can discern the words literally but I assume it’s “them”. It’s a nuisance but now it come to good use. Although the original version lasts an hour (in accordance with the drone doctrine) the Bandcamp limitation of a maximum file size of 600mb’s forced me to cut the piece in two.
Final words
This is the second in a series of quarterly reports on my works with a modular synthesizer system. I only started buying modular after being stuck in a writer’s block for 4 years. The physical aspects and the flexibility of the system of the Eurorack reinvigorated my well of creativity.
This quarter has been more productive and louder than I had expected. Next one I intend to be more quiet, starting from silence and then build up. We’ll see.
Thank you
Wouter Jaspers (for pushing me towards modular)
Rchard Scott (for excellent mastering work)
Kasper van Hoek (for providing the original Eimert tracks)
JS , July 2014
