sndmusic

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Project Evaluation (Monday, 25 May)

The project of “Uneven Design” did not go as planned. 

One of the objectives of this project was to feature seven tracks. However, “Uneven “Design only features six. This happened because of the loss of the artist's laptop and the amount of work put in the song “Joker”, which prevented the artist from finishing the seventh track of the album, “Alien”.

The album was supposed to be released digitally. However, the album will not be released as the quality of the songs is not the one the artist was looking for.

The project was supposed to see the collaboration of drum and bass producer and mastering engineer Daniel Goodier (“Spektiv”). However, because of personal reasons, this collaboration ended and saw the participation of techno dj, producer and mastering engineer Pierre Dowey (“Egosonic”) instead. Overall, the mastering of the album went well despite the mixes of the songs, except for “Joker”, were not finished.

The album did succeed in building a climactic story, dealing with different psychological and moral themes through a variety of musical genres, shifting from electronic music to techno. A lot of effort was put into building the gradual shift from instrumental music to techno and carefully sculpting the tone of the songs in order to express their main themes at best, making every track very different from each other. 

The project also saw the collaboration of graphic designer Angelica Palmisano, with whom a logo, an album cover and seven symbols have been realised. The graphic aspect of the project went beyond any of the artist’s expectations thanks to a fruitful collaboration with the graphic designer characterised by research, dialogue and the exchange of ideas.

This project also saw the collaboration of marketing intern Lavinia Calamai, which is the most important one to be born from this project, as it succeeded to put the artist in contact with relevant labels. 

Although “Uneven Design” will not be released as an album, this project led to the agreement with Oxytech Recording, which sees the release of “Joker” and two more songs that have yet to be composed under the form of the “Uneven Design EP”, with their sub label Oxytech Limited in September/ October 2020.

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“Joker” Release Plan, Meeting with Marketing Intern & Label Agreement for future EP (Wednesday, 20 May)

As the majority of the tracks are not of the desired quality due to the artist’s laptop theft, “Uneven Design” will not be released. However, there is the intention to release the track “Joker” as a single. The idea has been discussed with the project’s mastering engineer Pierre Dowey, who recommended the name of marketing intern Lavinia Calamai as the person to facilitate the process of looking for labels. After a message asking for labels suitable for “Joker”, Lavinia replied with a google sheet with multiple labels to contact. 

Since the whole process is entirely new to the artist’s experience, research has been carried out in order to structure a correct email to send to the labels, including a Youtube video from producer “R3SPAWN”, an article from “Open Mic UK” and “Hypebot”. An email with a private Soundcloud link was sent to the entire list of labels given by the marketing intern. 

There have been four replies in total: two positive and two negative. The two positive replies came from Oxytech Recordings and Trapez, both requesting more material in order to have two or three tracks to release. 

While Trapez has not yet replied after the second exchange, Oxytech Recordings agreed to wait for more material to be sent and release it in September/October with their sub label Oxytech Limited.

References

Hypebot (2017). 5 Steps For Sending The Perfect Demo. Retrieved from https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2017/02/5-steps-for-sending-a-perfect-demo-submission.html

Open Mic UK (2019). How to Approach a Record Label: 19 Tips + Email Writing Hacks. Retrieved from https://www.openmicuk.co.uk/advice/approaching-a-record-label/

R3ESPAWN (2019, 25 January). HOW TO WRITE A PROPER EMAIL TO A LABEL? - R3SPAWNED TUTORIALS #047 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=121&v=TqFf0FdXls8&feature=emb_title

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“Alien” & Mastering (Wednesday, 13 May)

The composition of the track “Alien” is going very slowly. The song, which is to reprise the 80s esthetiques to express the concept of alienation, is inspired by the soundtrack of the 2011 film “Drive”. The film features a synth wave soundtrack composed by the songs “Nightcall”, by Kavinski, and “A Real Hero”, by College & Electric Youth, whose main features have been borrowed for the composition of “Alien”. 

The song presents an arpeggiated synth on a 4/4 drum beat, while the chorus features the repetition of a nostalgic light hearted melody, meant to “alienate” the listener, and express the character’s suffering. Although the structure of the track is now there, the songs are being sent to the mastering engineer for the mastering process, and “Alien” is far from being at that stage. Therefore, the song will not make it on the album.

https://soundcloud.com/spynextdoormusic/alien/s-Ma7hYW2ZXlL?fbclid=IwAR3taifbtG0x3dXVOZQ4rcQJEA2iy03YL7GgVZpfjIwSLgSTaQx9zkrmQ80

The six songs have been sent to the mastering engineer and references were given as well to facilitate the process. Issues are being encountered because of the quality of the songs, especially “Attraction” and “Loss Trigger”. Since the tracks’ volume levels are not the ones desired and the mixes do not have a lot of headroom, the mastering process is becoming challenging.

References

College & Electric Youth (2011, 27 May).  A Real Hero (Drive Original Movie Soundtrack) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DSVDcw6iW8 

Kavinsky (2011, 21 September). Nightcall (Drive Original Movie Soundtrack) (Official Audio) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_3Dpw-BRY

Refn, N. W. (2011). Drive. Film District

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“Joker” Drop Composition and Album Cover Title Refinement (Wednesday, 6 May)

The track “Joker” is now finished. In order to capture the desire of destruction characterising the nihilistic philosophy (Pratt, 2020; Khatib, 2012), the drop and the final part of the song were composed with the aim to sound like a march, with the character embracing his psychological state and seeking for destruction.

The progression and the drop of the song, leading to the achievement of its length (6.25), were guided by works of Boris Brejcha, being “Night Owl” the most influential one, and Deadmau5’s “FALL”. These tracks were carefully analysed, especially focusing on the introduction of new sounds during the progression, and how to progressively take instruments away and bring the song to an end.

The cover of the album is now finished. It was decided with the graphic designer to use the “SND” logo font for the album cover title. The SND letters were inverted taking inspiration from the Nine Inch Nails logo. 

However, in order to give more depth to the title, it was decided to slowly degrade the black ‘inside’ of the letters into white. This was also done as a hint to the concept of the album, which is mind degradation, and the musical content as well, shifting from instrumental and score music to techno.

References Pratt, A. (2020). Nihilism. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.iep.utm.edu/nihilism/

Boris Brejcha (2016, 24 February). Night Owl [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj30bOn_kE4

Deadmau5 (2019, 28 November). FALL [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYeCYLpaVO8

Khatib, S. (2012). Nihilism, Destruction, Negativity. Walter Benjamin and the ‘Organization of Pessimism’. Retrieved from https://anthropologicalmaterialism.hypotheses.org/1722

Nine Inch Nails (2005). With Teeth. Nothing, Interscope.

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Mastering Agreement, Symbols Refinement, Album Cover Development  & “Joker” Single Release Discussion (Wednesday, 29 April)

Although “Uneven Design” won’t be released because of the loss of the artist’s laptop, arrangements are being made with Bristol based DJ, producer and mastering engineer Egosonic (part of the “Apex” collective) for the mastering process. Egosonic has been contacted via email and has agreed to take part in the project.

While the composition of “Alien” is still at early stages, “Joker” is now almost finished and it will potentially be released as a single. Conversations with Egosonic are being made in order to find a promoter who could recommend the right labels to send the track. A facebook page of “spynextdoor” has been created and the symbol of the track “Joker” has been shared as a form of tease. 

A bandcamp page has been created as well for the potential release of the single “Joker”.

The symbols of the tracks Loss Trigger and Scorpio have been refined, respectively with a more modern looking gun, and a different tale of the scorpion.

While the design of the cover art is ready, the artist and the graphic designer are discussing what the album’s title font should look like. The graphic designer sent some first ideas. 

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Symbols’ Allegory Development Pt. 3 (Wednesday, 22 April)

The symbol of the track “Alien” is being worked on. The idea for this symbol is to express Laing’s psychological connotation of the concept of alienation, which is one’s loss of identity. The symbol will express the depersonalisation of the character by representing the protagonist faced with a darker double of himself. The initial symbol’s version saw an actual face portraying the protagonist. However, once again, this representation of the character was too direct and did not give enough space for interpretation. Therefore, it was agreed with the graphic designer to opt for a more subtle representation. Finally, it was decided to use a sphere. The sphere was chosen for its symbolism of perfection in nature which, in this case, symbolizes the human mind, while its darker counterpart symbolizes the mind’s corruption to the state of alienation. 

The symbol of the track “Values” is being worked on. The song deals with the protagonist’s innocence and his internal struggle to follow the moral values he was taught. The initial idea for this symbol was to represent a target dart within the protagonist’s eye in order to express his internal struggle regarding the pursuit of noble values. However, the meaning of the song is darker, dealing with the incapacity of the character to follow the moral values he was taught. Therefore, in order to express the character’s moral duality, it was decided that the balance would be the symbol of this song.

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Symbols’ Allegory Development Pt. 2 (Wednesday, 15 April)

It has been agreed with the graphic designer that the songs “Thrill” and “Joker” will share the same main idea for the realisation of both symbols in order to add an effect of continuity that strengthens the story. The song “Thrill” sees the protagonist’s arrival into the city and his excitement for what is to come, while “Joker” deals with the protagonist’s embracement of a nihilistic philosophy (which sees the complete lack of faith and values and the denial of the meaning of life). Therefore, the symbol of “Thrill” will see a figure (the protagonist) standing in front of a city’s skyline, hinting at the protagonist’s discovery of a new world and his excitement for the endless possibilities it can offer him, whereas the symbol of “Joker” will see the city’s skyline replaced by a void space, hinting at the protagonist’s nihilistic philosophy and psychological abandonment.

The initial design saw a figure that was way too humanised. Therefore, a request was made to the graphic designer to make the figure look more symbolic, rather than an actual human being, and to take inspiration from the cover of Muse “The Resistance”.

The symbol of “Loss Trigger” is being worked on and the figure of the gun has been added to the artwork. Although it is an improvement from the previous version, some final details are still being discussed with the graphic designer.

References

Muse (2009). The Resistance. Helium-3, Warner Bros.

[sndmusic]

Symbols’ Allegory Development (Wednesday, 8 April)

As already explained, the symbols will be an allegory of the meaning behind the tracks.

Since the song “Attraction” deals with a theme of desire and physical attraction, the symbol will feature the silhouette of two people kissing, focusing on their lips. In order to play with the song’s title, the song will also feature two magnets attracting each other, in order to play with the human and physical connotation of the noun “attraction”. 

The symbol of the song “Loss Trigger” is still in early development. However, since the track deals with the theme of anxiety and panic attacks, it will feature the image of a human brain. As discussed with the graphic designer, in order to play with the song’s title and visually express the feeling of a panic attack, it would be interesting to change the symbol’s design into a gun firing on a brain.

The symbol of the song “Scorpio” will definitely be the most straightforward one. As previously mentioned, the song’s main theme is betrayal, which is expressed through the theme of a scorpion. 

Since the song plays with the image of a scorpion stinging its prey, a request was made to the graphic designer to change the tail of the scorpion as if it was about to attack.

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Challenges (Wednesday, 1 April)

While the compositions of the track “Joker” is half way through, the composition of the song “Alien” is at very early stages. Due to the spread of COVID-19 and the ongoing lockdown, it is becoming particularly difficult to find interesting and creative ideas to be implemented in the project. 

Following a peer review of one of the tracks of the album, “Loss Trigger”, there was the intention to tweak some frequencies on the hi hat section as it was considered to have too much hi end. There was also the intention to add some more sounds with the aim to furtherly express the theme of anxiety. However, these changes cannot be made due to the recent loss of the artist’s laptop. For the same reason, a lot of plugins have been lost as well, which is considerably slowing down the composition process of the new tracks too.

The collaboration with the graphic designer is going well, although it is not going as fast as originally planned. In fact, the finding of simple symbols able to express the complex themes of the tracks is revealing itself particularly challenging. Furthermore, the graphic designer has also been encountering issues with her laptop, which is furtherly slowing down the visual aspect of the project. However, a lot of effort is being put in the process, and the confidence of success is high.

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“Joker”  Composition (Wednesday, 25 March)

Being the broad definition of nihilism the denial and negation of values and faith, the driving idea is to play with the sudden interruption of sounds, while maintaining a linear progressive structure. This is in order to play with the idea of nihilism and negation, while also playing with the listener’s expectation. In fact, the first part of the song features a slight build up that, instead of leading to a “drop”, regresses really quickly and introduces a new sound. The sound is a vocal saying the words “let’s”. The choice of this vocal was made because of its contrast with nihilism. “Let’s” implies action, while the nihilistic philosophy implies the absence of action, purpose and knowledge (Pratt, 2020). Therefore, in order to deny its meaning, the actual pronunciation was made barely audible through the modulation with distortion and reverb. 

In order to express the desire of destruction and chaos by which the nihilistic philosophy is characterised (Pratt, 2020), the general atmosphere of the track is menacing, and instead of using a classic 4/4 time signature, the song is characterised by a 3/4 pattern (the first used in the album) to hint at the twisted nature of the character. 

The first drop of the song features a saw synth patch realised with the Fab Filter One synthesiser and achieved through the analysis of tutorials made by Boris Brejcha.  The first drop also features an effect composed by a 1/8 dotted delay sent to a flanger which gives as a result a dotted rotating effect whose intent is to remind the warmth of fire, symbol of destruction, and main theme of nihilism.

To express the concept of nihilism and negation, both sounds are suddenly interrupted by a single hit of white noise, one after the other.

Overall, the composition of “Joker” is going well. However, some issues are being encountered with the stronger development of sounds able to express the concept of nihilism.

References

Pratt, A. (2020). Nihilism. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.iep.utm.edu/nihilism/

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“Joker” Development (Wednesday, 18 March

Some ideas for “Joker” are being developed, the last song of “Uneven Design”. Nihilism (the lack of values and faith) will be the main theme of the track. The track will be inspired by techno producer Boris Brejcha and is meant to embrace the techno genre as the result of the apex of the character’s downward psychological journey. Brejcha’s round sound will suit the conclusive tone of the album while leaving enough room for experimentation to express the theme of nihilism. Research is being carried out in order to know more about Boris Brejcha’ s production techniques, tricks, workflow and plugins. The producer suggests that the key for an efficient workflow is simplicity. He especially recommends the use of a very basic synth, FabFilter One (Brejcha, 2020); using the least amount of tracks as possible (Brejcha, 2020), automation on cutoff (Brejcha, 2015), and white noises (Brejcha, 2015). All these techniques are being used in order to achieve Brejcha’s specific tone.

Research on different current beliefs regarding nihilism are being carried out. Particular attention is being paid to the mereological aspect of nihilism. Mereology is the study of the “parts” of an object forming the object as a “whole”, and mereological nihilism is the negation of this kind of mechanism (Brenner, 2015). This is leading the composition of a linear structured techno song formed by the gradual addition of sounds. To express the concept of mereological nihilism, the elements forming the progression will suddenly be interrupted and replaced by much darker sounds. The track’s structure will be a 6-7 minutes progression, which is a standard length for the techno genre. However, this is a challenge for the artist who, in order to add more variety, is used to a verse-chorus-bridge sort of structure.

References

Brenner, A. (2015). Mereological Nihilism and Theoretical Unification. Analytic Philosophy, Vol. 56 No. 4, pp. 318–337.

Cubase (2018, 25 May). Producing “Gravity" for Clubs and Live Shows | Boris Brejcha on Producing Minimal Techno [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FefV3K5o94

Cubase (2018, 25 May). Putting the Base of the Song Together | Boris Brejcha on Producing Minimal Techno [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_vOMnwKDI

Telekom Electronic Beats (2020, 17 March). Tech Talk: In the box with Boris Brejcha (Electronic Beats TV) [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBV0hKc-iOw&t=274s

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Symbols’ Development (Wednesday, 18 March)

A lot of time is being spent on the realisation of the album’s seven symbols with the graphic designer’s collaboration. Although the symbols were supposed to be part of the promotional side of the project, they will be used as the tracks’ covers, which will be accessible on the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Some cantos of “Inferno” from “Divine Comedy” are being read to gather some ideas for the symbols realisation. The choice of reading a few passages of this work is due to the parallelism between Dante’s journey and the one of the protagonist: as Dante is undertaking a journey in the afterlife in order to redeem and purify his soul, the protagonist’s one is being damned because of the moral choices he is taking and the excesses he is experiencing, leading him to a psychological descent.

Inspired by Dante’s use of allegory, which is the interpretation of a hidden meaning behind a poem or an image, these symbols will be composed by an image that will play with the titles of the songs and the actual meaning behind them.

The symbols’ colour will feature a dominance of red, following the style of the cover.

References

Alighieri, D. (1472) “Divine Comedy”.

[sndmusic]

Project Update, Cover Artwork & “Alien” Development (Wednesday, 11 March)

Due to the theft of the artist’s laptop, the project is now updated. “Uneven Design” will no longer be released, promoted or mastered by Daniel Goodier. The mastering will be done by the artist.

The cover artwork is being worked on. The colours will be different shades of red following its attribution to anxiety from the analysis of Munch’s “The Scream”. The main idea is to keep the visual quite abstract, following the imagery of Turner’s “Sun Setting Over a Lake”. However, it will follow the concept of mental degradation with a work on textures that is being refined with the graphic designer.

Research is being carried out regarding the psychological and political side of the concept of alienation, which is the main theme of the fifth track of the album, “Alien”. The research done so far suggests as central themes “social marginalisation” (Ndlovu, 2017) and “individual isolation” (Osin, 2017) within private and professional life (Çoban & Çağdaş Caz, 2019). This is leading the sonic conceptualisation of the song to a subtle reminiscence of the 80s sonic culture. The 80s have been chosen to express the political interpretation of the concept of alienation coined by Marx, as they are the symbol of futuristic and dystopian settings, considering for instance the film “Blade Runner” or the novel “1984” by George Orwell. The 80s will be integrated in the track by the musical influence of french techno producer Gesaffelstein, considering especially his EPs “Conspiracy Pt.2” and “Bromance #1”, chosen because of the predominant presence of industrial techno features inspired by that era. The track will also feature the use of gaps and pauses in order to express the themes of absence and distance previously identified through the analysis of social alienation coined by the psychoanalyst Laing.

References

Çoban, O., Yıldırım*, M., Caz, Ç. (2019). An Analysis of Professional Alienation in Academics. Universal Journal of Educational Research 7(2): 450-456, 2019 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2019.070217 

E.N. Osin (2017) The Category of Alienation in Educational Psychology, Russian Education & Society, 59:5-6, 256-273, DOI: 10.1080/10609393.2017.1408368.

Gesaffelstein (2011). Conspiracy Pt.2. Turbo Records.

Gesaffelstein (2011). Bromance #1. Bromance.

Ndlovu, S. (2017). RACIAL ALIENATION AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPPRESSION IN MZANSI13. Centre for Psychological Studies/Services.

Orwell, G. (1949). 1984. Secker & Warburg.

Scott, R. (1982). Blade Runner. Warner Bros.

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Logo Refinement, Visual Development & First Promotional Ideas (Wednesday, 4 March)

The SND logo is now finished. Although it has been completed for the established deadline (February 14), some issues have been encountered with the size of the letters SND as they appeared too small when put on social media pages. Being black the main colour of the logo, the white of the letters has been brightened and the letters have been made bigger. 

There has also been a fruitful discussion with graphic designer Angelica Palmisano regarding the visual development of the album. The discussion led to the idea of the realisation of seven symbols, one for each track, capturing the main theme of each song while following the logo’s visual style and the album’s cover. 

Not only this would be an effective way to make both the album’s concept and story much clearer, but it would also considerably improve the promotional aspect of the project by giving more variety to the visual content with which it will be advertised, especially online. Each symbol will appear as the track’s artwork on Soundcloud and Youtube and on other promotional videos. 

The development of these symbols is an idea loosely inspired by the artistic work featured in “Drones”, Muse’s 2015 concept album about the brainwashing of a character and his path to rebellion. Every track features an artwork realised by Matt Mahurin illustrating both the main theme of the song and the character’s stage in the story. 

Mahurin, M. (2015). Defector. Drones.

Mahurin, M. (2015). Aftermath. Drones.

The initial idea for the promotion of the album involves the print of stickers with the SND logo and the symbols from the tracks that will be spreaded in strategic areas of Bristol city centre. 

This kind of promotion purely based on visual impact is inspired by Aphex Twin’s “Syro” (2014) promotion campaign, which saw a blimp with the artist’s logo flying over London (FACT, 2014).

References

Aphex Twin (2014). Syro. Warp

FACT. An Aphex Twin blimp is flying over London. (2014). Retrieved March 4, 2020, from https://www.factmag.com/2014/08/16/an-aphex-twin-blimp-is-flying-over-london/

Mahurin, M. (2015). Aftermath. Drones.

Mahurin, M. (2015). Defector. Drones.

Muse (2015). Drones. Warner Bros., Helium-3

[sndmusic]

Cover Artwork Ideas & Development (Saturday, 29 February)

Some ideas for the cover of “Uneven Design” are being gathered with the help of graphic designer Angelica Palmisano. Angelica has been sent the abstract and the initial idea, which is to keep a minimalistic approach and visually translate both the mental degradation of the character and the sonic degradation of the music into a colour fading from one to the other. Some covers have been sent as a guideline as well.

However, research is being carried out analysing the work of artists affected by mental illness in order to find an aesthetic and a suitable colour palette able to capture the nature of the album.

Particular attention is being put on the artistic work of Vincent Van Gogh, especially on “The Starry Night Over the Rhone” (1888) and “Wheatfield with Crows” (1890) because of their symmetry and the deep emotional content due to the use of colour. 

Van Gogh, V. (1888). The Starry Night Over the Rhone. Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Van Gogh, V. (1890). Wheatfield with Crows. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

“The Scream” (1893) by Edvard Munch is being considered as well for the extensive use of red, symbolising the anxiety disorder by which the artist was affected (Sooke, 2016), which is also one of the themes of the album. 

The use of red as the main colour for the artwork is in fact the strongest possibility so far also because of its connotation of sin, indicating the moral corruption of the character leading him to his psychological descent.

Munch, E. (1893). The Scream. Munch Museum, Oslo.

The work of William Turner is going to be a central inspiration for the cover as well. The inspiring images in his paintings, often portraying natural and atmospheric elements through luminous atmospheres (Artble, 2020), represent very well the abstract aesthetic in mind for the album’s artwork. His main work taken in consideration is “Sun Setting Over a Lake” (1840).

Turner, W. (1840). Sun Setting Over a Lake. Tate Gallery, London.

References

Artble. Joseph Mallord William Turner. (2020). Retrieved February 27, 2020, from https://www.artble.com/artists/joseph_mallord_william_turner

BBC. What is the meaning of The Scream?. (2016). Retrieved February 28, 2020, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/story/20160303-what-is-the-meaning-of-the-scream

Foals (2019). Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1. Warner Bros., Trangressive

Munch, E. (1893). The Scream. Munch Museum, Oslo.

Muse (2012). The 2nd Law. Warner Bros., Helium-3

Turner, W. (1840). Sun Setting Over a Lake. Tate Gallery, London.

Van Gogh, V. (1888). The Starry Night Over the Rhone. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Van Gogh, V. (1890). Wheatfield with Crows. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

[sndmusic]

The Making of “Scorpio” (Thursday, 20 February)

The making of “Scorpio”, the third song of the album, is in progress. The theme of the track will be the end of a relationship caused by a betrayal. Betrayal will be allegorically expressed through the image of a scorpion, inspired by the fable of “The Frog And The Scorpion”. The track will be emotional and the sound will be inspired by “100th Window” by Massive Attack, which presents a very “cold” atmosphere that can very well express the theme of the song. Research is being carried out to learn about scorpions’ nature and implement those ideas in the track. 

“Scorpions are opportunistic predators that will tackle just about anything small enough for them to overpower” (OPCS, 2013). 

The structure of the song works as a crescendo to emphasise the scorpion’s methodology before attacking his prey, while his adaptability (OPCS, 2013) is expressed through the introduction of new textures throughout the track. 

A lot of effort has been put to convey the image of the scorpion sting after a careful analysis of its prey. This has been achieved through a slow build up with distortion, emphasising the danger leading to the sting, realised with kick, snare and a sharp sounding synth hitting at the same time. 

The insidious nature of the animal has been portrayed through the lead synth of the track that gradually opens up using a high pass filter, while automation on panning has been used to convey the image of the scorpion’s legs. Scorpions’ relation with light (Ninoshka M. Rivera Roldan & Douglas D. Gaffin, 2018) has also been sonically implemented playing with a bright sounding synth realised with Dexed.

References

Massive Attack (2003). 100th Window. Virgin records

Ninoshka, M. R. R., Douglas D. G. (2018). New, sensitive behavioral assay shows scorpions are attracted to multiple wavelengths of light. Journal of Arachnology 46:432–437

OPCS. (2013). Scorpions behaviour. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from

https://ohotypest.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/scorpions-behaviour/

[sndmusic]

Sound Design of “Values” (Friday, 14 February)

“Values” will be the track opening the album and it is conceived as a score. The arrangement consists in a progression of sounds embodying the main themes of the track: the protagonist’s innocence, his internal moral struggle and the value of home. 

The theme of home will be portrayed by a progression of major and minor chords (D- Bm-G), as the intervals between these chords lead to a “natural” resolution of the progression.

A sound to portray the protagonist’s moral struggle is being worked on. In order to gather ideas for the achievement of this effect, research is being carried out focusing on films that feature controversial characters with a story arc that leads to the end of the protagonist. The choice fell on films such as “Taxi Driver”, “Mean Streets” and “Joker”, while a detailed analysis was carried out on the soundtracks from  “A Clockwork Orange” and the Italian TV series “Gomorrah” (with particular attention to the song “Doomed To Live”, by Mokadelic) as they share with “Uneven Design” some themes and the mixture of instrumental and electronic music.

(Work in progress of the patch realised with Podolski and Ace amplifier)

The theme of innocence is being worked on analysing the work of Aphex Twin, especially on tracks such as “Flim” and “IZ-US” for their spontaneous sweet and childish nature.

(Work in progress of the patch, realised with Twin 2 and 4Front Piano)

Some mixing problems are being encountered because of the high resonance of these sounds. A session with the project’s mastering engineer has arranged the mixing issues encountered in both “Values” and “Thrill”.

References

Aphex Twin (2019, 28 March). Flim [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-3bpuiBg0

Aphex Twin (2019, 28 March). IZ-US [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu54fqundYU

Kubrick, S. (1971). A Clockwork Orange. Warner Bros.

Mokadelic (2014, 31 July). Doomed To Live [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl5F9AFXQ-M

Phillips, T. (2019). Joker. Warner Bros. Pictures

Saviano, R. (2014). Gomorrah. Sky Vision

Scorsese, M. (1973). Mean Streets. Warner Bros.

Scorsese, M. (1976). Taxi Driver. Columbia Pictures