Drift
Solitary Sound
'to be carried slowly by a current of air or water'
With this project, I have expanded and broadened conceptual ideas that were new to me and did not allow myself to be held back by technical restraints. I wanted to move away from my habitual composing patterns, including using drums as a way of giving the piece rhythm, using blocks of four-chords as a starting pattern and composing within a set genre. After being heavily influenced by Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno, I explored the more contemporary side of ambient music to see what I could produce in my work. I started working in a fragmented approach with small melodic moments of different styles. I did not feel this worked for me, so I switched to a more holistic approach which gave me more freedom to play with textures and repetitions of melodic moments, using them to their full potential rather than cutting them too early. My inspiration came from other composers and their approach to structure and repetition such as Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno in the genre of experimental, ambient music
I wanted to create a piece of music that did not rely on drums to feel rhythmic. A composer that uses percussion in a way that sounds unique is Jon Hopkins. Hopkins’ piece ‘Immunity’ (fig. 1) uses unique percussive sounds that create emotive textures and help generate a picture for the listener. He uses a set of slow ‘metallic’ sounds, sometimes reversed and often occurring off-beat, giving the piece a sense of movement. Hopkins’ percussive sound (around 01:17) sounds like rain falling onto a roof. I wanted to go down a similar route to Hopkins while stamping my own compositional identities onto my piece. I decided to create a rhythmic pattern out of a single sound source. I took the sound of a light switch being turned on (fig. 2), placed it through a granulator, added reverb and small amounts of delay, then time-stretched it across multiple tracks – each one varying by minimal fractions (fig. 3). By placing it through a granulator, it split the sounds into tiny grains (ranging from 1-50) allowing for variations of rhythm, frequency and speed. The sound produced created a calming environment; like raindrops falling onto a roof of corrugated iron, very similar to Hopkins. By adding reverb, I gave the sound a sense of space and the delay added to the movement of the ‘rain’.
(fig. 1) 'Immunity' - Jon Hopkins
(fig. 2) Light Switch Original Sound
(fig. 3) Light Switch Edited
‘Immunity’ uses an additive process when working with form and texture - the piece gradually moves into a busy soundscape then back to an empty one. Hopkins layers various sounds throughout the piece to increase the texture. By removing each layer separately, he can move into a soundscape that feels empty. I wanted to incorporate this type of process within my piece. By starting with a blank texture of a pad containing slow tremolo movements, I slowly moved into a fuller piece. I developed sounds through automation and macro controls allowing the piece to increase and decrease in size. Upon reaching the peak of the track, (around 07:30), I wanted my composition to feel smaller and less active gradually. I did this by removing specific layers until the very end where I brought back ideas from the introduction to round the piece off. For me, additive process was the most effective approach as it meant I could keep adding to the textures and then, once I felt the piece could not increase much more, I took sounds away.
With more of an experimental/ambient soundscape in mind, Brian Eno had a significant influence on my thought process. The track ‘Soft Dawn’ (00:00-02:16), from the album Textures (fig. 4), consists of long sustained ambient chords occasionally backed up with a bell. The use of echoing bells in ‘Soft Dawn’ inspired me to do the same. I took a monophonic bell sound (fig. 5) and placed it through a granulator. I added a large 9s reverb unit, tremolos and time-stretching to create a strong sense of confusion as the bells land on different beats (fig. 6). Although ‘Soft Dawn’ might not be as rhythmic as my piece, it certainly has the characteristics and tone that I wanted to recreate within my track. Throughout ‘Soft Dawn’, Eno quietly uses a saw wave to add texture to the drone which then becomes more prominent around 01:50. By introducing this sound, it acts as a counter; an idea that I decided to use at the start of my piece as the effects of the different elements try to counter each other.
(fig. 4) 'Soft Dawn' - Brian Eno, from Textures
(fig. 5) Bell Sound Original
(fig. 6) Bell Granulation
Although technically classed as ‘Future Bass’, ODESZA's piece 'Bloom' inspired me with its experimental sound world; taking vocal chops, bells and gamelan material to provide the piece with an ethnic overtone. He uses a modulated pad (fig. 7) to give the piece a sense of rhythm. I tried to recreate his pad synth on NI Massive (fig. 8 + 9) which I used sparsely throughout my piece.
Throughout my project, I wanted to explore ideas that I have not used in past pieces such as granulation, Cecilia and impulse responses and not be held back by technical restraints. After feeling the introduction was weaker compared to the rest of the piece, I added more elements such as bitcrusher, a different pad with a counter tremolo and a faint, yet recognisable, melody to add impact. When mixing, I noticed there was not much regarding the low end into mid. The lack of bass was not a conscious decision, but it did give the moment at 07:30 more impact. I decided to increase the low end on my pads but took care not to detract from this effect.
Researching ambient music was crucial to writing my piece as it introduced me to structures to explore, sound characteristics for layering and provided ideas regarding process and execution. After examining shared characteristics between the works of ambient artists, such as Eno and Hopkins, it influenced me to go down a similar route through sound design. Instead of just creating rough and grainy sounds, I chose to be selective with my own sound design and create warm rich pads leading to a more peaceful atmosphere. I intend to use processes such as granulation and impulse response more in the future as the possibilities are endless – one small change on a granulator can lead to an entirely different sound.
(fig. 7) 'Bloom' - ODESZA, from In Return
(fig. 8) 'Bloom' Inspired Pad
(fig. 9) Massive Plug-In of ODESZA inspired pad