Good morning, good day, or good evening. This is my first post for this project and I would just like to do a few introductions: what I intend to create, how I will go about creating it and some of the steps along the way.
What I intend to create: The end goal
At the end of this project I would like to have a pleasant piece of music, written, recorded, mixed, and exported. Along with this musical piece I will have a visual or visualization that is custom made to accompany the piece.
How I will create this piece: Techniques and tools
The tools I will be using are a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), I have access to and experience with both Bitwig Studio and Ableton Live, numerous virtual instruments and plugins within said DAW. For the visuals I will be using a combination of generated components and possibly some filmed footage, either way I will be using DaVinci Resolve to edit my visual component, this is a great (and free) nonlinear editor for video. To generate visuals I will be experimenting with P5.js, a library created for JavaScript designed for creating and manipulating images or visuals.
In terms of techniques, I am very intrigued by some of the techniques used by Brian Eno (the artist credited with coining the term ‘Ambient Music’), specifically his use of asynchronous looping tape machines, this should be easy to replicate and experiment with digitally. Visually I am quite intrigued by the idea of integrating some of the systems exemplified in Daniel Shiffman’s book ‘The Nature of Code‘. These tutorials and example projects demonstrate beautiful ways of replicating apparently natural motion within a programmatic environment. I believe this can be linked to the software messages used for communicating with virtual instruments to great effect. One final technique to mention is that of Motion Extraction (embedded below), a video editing technique demonstrated by the Youtuber/film maker Posy. I am not currently sure if I will try the technique myself but I do find it compelling.
Steps to be taken: The first
There are already a few tasks I have laid out for myself within this project. The first being to identify a more specific musical goal. In the past I have tried a multitude of genres and structures, I believe picking a few, or if possible, one, to start with as a target will help my planning. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will involve some form of generative or programmatic music. As I begin stepping into some musical ideas, I will also be following along with The Nature of Code’s tutorials, through this I will find a path to follow with integrating my own idea for a natural system to demonstrate my music output.
Next time, I hope to have a couple of musical snippets to share, and maybe even a duplication of a coding system or two that I find particularly compelling. Attached to this post is an audio snippet and screenshot of a simple musical system I’ve been listening to while writing, I find listening to a generative system such as this in the background can be very instructive for deciding if there is any element I wish to change, somethings may stand out or be lacking over time.
