SIGHUP's drones for beginners

[Klemperer]

I've never heard anything drone-like out of you, Georg (hint, hint).

Nor did I . But as guys will add to the EnergyXT-FAQ too in the future, I'll spare time and make more music now . Hope I can use some audio recorded with my MIGHTY MIC (you remember ) So let's see

[shamann]

So let's see

I may hold you to that!

[Klemperer]

So let's see

I may hold you to that!

I even had an excuse : in the "drink while you may"-experiment over at Spe3d's auditorium a friend and me took a violin-bow and scratched over toys, and as we recorded (drunk) we used it for a bass-guitar and a semi-acoustic (not plugged into an amp). Don't exactly know what this has to do with drones, but in the other thread dystonia (I think) said sth about a cello-bow, so I could always say "I already did that" . Or something...

Apart from this, you may hold me to that! I even plan to run a little own website to post sth in half a year or so. But my girlfriend always says I should start a CD for kids, and our sounds may not reaaaaaally fit into that

[dburgan]

Ahhhh a fellow Audiomulcher! It's indeed a great tool for ambient, particularly dark ambient.

The only thing I'll add to your excellent tutorial is to remember: ambient has no rules. There is no one way to make an ambient piece. Feel free to experiment and try weird stuff. Some of the best music comes out of strange experiments.

One other comment: be careful using the words 'drone' and 'ambient' interchangeably. There are a lot of forms of ambient that don't involve drone work. Drone is (mostly) a subgenre of ambient - but bear in mind there are some drone folks who would take offense at being labeled ambient at all. Drone sometimes does stray into free jazz or even metal genres ... is that ambient? I dunno, but it's cool.

[dystonia_ek]

Drone music is much older than any contemporary genre. In Western music alone it goes back more than a millennium, in other parts of the world (India, for example) probably much farther.

[shamann]

Indeed, my first references to drones are always bagpipes, hurdygurdys and chanting. They were my first introduction to the concept.

I've always wanted to have a hurdygurdy, truth be told. Once my son is older and less destructive (or at least less naively destructive) I'll likely get one.

For me the concept of the drone is simply endless sound that fills, both as it applies to other sounds and as it applies to a religious/existential approach. I've dabbled in studying Zen over the years, and that's always stuck with me, particularly its teachings of the circular whole, the epic in the microscopic, the plentiful void, etc.

Ambient to me means mainly two things: hearing music that you don't hear, and bringing music out of the abstract of the score and incorporating it on to our experience of corporeal space. Similar to theatre and performance experiements of the last hundred years, breaking down the invisible barrier. Ambient to me acknowledges that music doesn't exist as a separate entity from our physical selves. In that sense, for example, dystonia's stuff is an ambient experience for me. Some other things that get dubbed ambient are not, as I find they emphasize the hermetic experience too much.

[dburgan]

In Australia, aboriginal drone music probably goes back tens of thousands of years ... but to me didgeridoo music is ambient ...

[MadPsyance]

Indeed, my first references to drones are always bagpipes, hurdygurdys and chanting. They were my first introduction to the concept.

I've always wanted to have a hurdygurdy, truth be told. Once my son is older and less destructive (or at least less naively destructive) I'll likely get one.

For me the concept of the drone is simply endless sound that fills, both as it applies to other sounds and as it applies to a religious/existential approach. I've dabbled in studying Zen over the years, and that's always stuck with me, particularly its teachings of the circular whole, the epic in the microscopic, the plentiful void, etc.

Ambient to me means mainly two things: hearing music that you don't hear, and bringing music out of the abstract of the score and incorporating it on to our experience of corporeal space. Similar to theatre and performance experiements of the last hundred years, breaking down the invisible barrier. Ambient to me acknowledges that music doesn't exist as a separate entity from our physical selves. In that sense, for example, dystonia's stuff is an ambient experience for me. Some other things that get dubbed ambient are not, as I find they emphasize the hermetic experience too much.

Funny you should mention that...because when I was listening to your examples, the first thing that sprung to mind was the binaural beats that I used to listen to. They just kinda droned on and on...but just one note going on forever is like a blank canvas where whole melodies and even songs can jump out at me. So thats what drones and ambience is to me...hearing music where there is none.
Very inspiring.

[shamann]

Funny you should mention that...because when I was listening to your examples, the first thing that sprung to mind was the binaural beats that I used to listen to. They just kinda droned on and on...but just one note going on forever is like a blank canvas where whole melodies and even songs can jump out at me. So thats what drones and ambience is to me...hearing music where there is none.
Very inspiring.

Aye. Well said, that.

[oluf]

Thanks for sharing this Steve. Nice to have some insight into your techniques. I really enjoy your SIGHUP material, especially SIGHUP 1.1 - I can listen to that track for hours over and over again - I never seem to tire of it.

[shamann]

Thanks for sharing this Steve. Nice to have some insight into your techniques. I really enjoy your SIGHUP material, especially SIGHUP 1.1 - I can listen to that track for hours over and over again - I never seem to tire of it.

Stop it, you're too kind.

That track's funny because it has a sort of lulling effect, always makes me a little sleepy. It's like the musical equivalent to low blood sugar.

I could see how if you put it on repeat, very quickly you'd be physically unable to turn it off even if you wanted to.

[Barnadine]

And a wee bump for people (like me) who missed it the first time.

[Ameyah Audio]

hi there,

found your little tutorial really helpful to get an idea for a basic drone.
keep up the good work.

[manducator]

Wow, thanks for this little tutorial. Stuff like this makes kvraudio a great place!