3am - blej (potentially haunted)

[justin3am]

I accidentally recorded this last night, while working on something else.
https://soundcloud.com/justin3am/blej

The first few minutes I didn't realize that this track was armed, and recording, the patch was something that I was still in the process of sketching out but it sounded cool, so I kept rolling and messed around a bit. 20 minutes later, the patch was still doing cool stuff. I don't know, it has a kinda spooky halloween vibe. Maybe not ambient but certainly dark, in terms of frequency content.

[Frantz]

At first, it was like listening to static in between stations. Then some Forbidden Planet-like Krell attack sounds emerged. Later I got the impression of a guitar being tortured. Further on, it sounds like early Cabaret Voltaire. Quite industrial and ominous. Very cool.

[justin3am]

Thanks for listening! All of the sounds come from the modulated noise, in one way or another. I remembered watching a video where Alessandro Cortini talks about the noise generator in one of his Buchla systems (can't remember if it was 100 or 200) and how there were intermittent clicks which also affected the overall volume of the noise, presumably because of the way the clicks were eating up headroom in the the circuit.

Anyway, this track started as an attempt to emulate that, with a white noise generator and a random trigger generator. It grew quite a bit from there with samplers, resonators, filters and delays, all feeding each other and cross modulating.

[pekbro]

Felt like I was missing a bucket of popcorn for that one. Great stuff

[ChameleonMusic]

if you could get the narrative of a horror movie filmed to sync with this it would be terrifying...

Listened on cans late at night in a dark room...the story evolved 'before my eyes'!

[justin3am]

Thanks for listening, folks!
I don't really aim for a cinematic sound. I don't have much skill for scoring but I do kind of aim to for an implied narrative, even when I'm improvising.

I was really taken by some recent scores. The OSTs for Arrival and Annihilation (in particular, the sound design side) and also the work of Hildur Guðnadóttir. I have always found it fascinating how sounds which are bare some familiarity can be much more unsettling that sounds which are completely alien/unidentifiable.

[core]

Nice one

[justin3am]

It's good to hear from you! Thanks for listening.

[wavephonic]

hey this was very interesting to listen to, yes a very haunting effect, a sort of reverse attack, when parts opened up into a sort of synthesized percussion was very cool, there are things buried in there that make you listen intently

and also the work of Hildur Guðnadóttir.

and thankyou for this reference, it did not hit me that she scored "the joker" after searching her out I found her totally delightful to listen to and I enjoyed her speaking on her inspiration no matter how unconventional it may be, and the fact she works in cubase made me think differently about how I can use the program going forward.

[Paladin on a Horse]

Sorry, listened to this earlier this evening and then forgot to comment - left the tab open and just noticed.

I found it very interesting, but didn't really understand it - maybe I need to branch out even more in my listening?

[justin3am]

hey this was very interesting to listen to, yes a very haunting effect, a sort of reverse attack, when parts opened up into a sort of synthesized percussion was very cool, there are things buried in there that make you listen intently

Thanks! I frequently use modules which have an end of cycle trigger output, which can be used to trigger a sound when another sound has ended. Some envelopes have a trigger output for the end of the attack stage as well. Using the end of one event to trigger the next even kinda implies a rhythm even when events are being triggered more or less at random.

I found it very interesting, but didn't really understand it - maybe I need to branch out even more in my listening?

I think that's okay. I take interesting as a compliment.
I'm not sure if there is much to understand. When I work on this kind of thing I'm trying to convey a mood, rather than make some kind of statement. It's just fun to mess with sound.

If you are interested in other stuff, which could perhaps give context for this kind of thing, seek out music from KVR member vurt. Also Coil, Nurse With Wound, SPK, maybe Merzbow. At least those are examples of artists who inspired me to do stuff like this.

[Paladin on a Horse]

hey this was very interesting to listen to, yes a very haunting effect, a sort of reverse attack, when parts opened up into a sort of synthesized percussion was very cool, there are things buried in there that make you listen intently

Thanks! I frequently use modules which have an end of cycle trigger output, which can be used to trigger a sound when another sound has ended. Some envelopes have a trigger output for the end of the attack stage as well. Using the end of one event to trigger the next even kinda implies a rhythm even when events are being triggered more or less at random.

I found it very interesting, but didn't really understand it - maybe I need to branch out even more in my listening?

I think that's okay. I take interesting as a compliment.
I'm not sure if there is much to understand. When I work on this kind of thing I'm trying to convey a mood, rather than make some kind of statement. It's just fun to mess with sound.

If you are interested in other stuff, which could perhaps give context for this kind of thing, seek out music from KVR member vurt. Also Coil, Nurse With Wound, SPK, maybe Merzbow. At least those are examples of artists who inspired me to do stuff like this.

I will give those others a whirl - thank you.

[vurt]

well, that was bloody awesome!!!
like searching through shortwave radio, finding moments.

as well as the more synthy noise stuff you mention, had me thinking of a guy called thomas koner at first. then i got lost in it and a green haze

and a name check in that list

[justin3am]

Thanks for listening.
I don't think I would have started exploring these kinds of sounds if it weren't for folks like you, shamann, whyterabbyt, sickle, voidoid, robojam, vesper75, and others. It's very meditative for me, when I'm too distracted to think about structured music or work for clients.

I will check out Thomas Koner.

[vurt]

Thanks for listening.
I don't think I would have started exploring these kinds of sounds if it weren't for folks like you, shamann, whyterabbyt, sickle, voidoid, robojam, vesper75, and others. It's very meditative for me, when I'm too distracted to think about structured music or work for clients.

I will check out Thomas Koner.

well if ive inspired anything, never mind something this good, then im a happy old man

i think for me, it was growing up with all the classic sci fi films and tv. plus the radiophonic crew did a lot of non sci fi stuff too, so ive heard weird sounds all my life.

years of guitar playing lead me doen a more structured/chords n stuff type thing for years, then vsts came along, and synths where more attainable.

the rest was inevitable.