cc - sem 01 2007 assignment

Composition in the style of Musique Concrete

Edward Kelly

3' 00

This piece was created in regard to the aesthetic of presenting pre-recorded sounds in an unrelated abstract manner, thereby recontextualising them into a new pattern.
From this presentation a piece of sound art is created.

The material was deliberately a minimal choice of source sounds. There were four; a vocal sample, a drum sample, an accoustic guitar sample, and a paper sound sample.
These sounds were imported into various editing software, and therein manipulated using cutting/pasting, pitch shifting, time compression/expansion, equalisation, delay, volume and panning information.

This was a deliberate choice to emulate (to an extent) working with physical tape through the limitation of processing techniques.

The piece is a linear transition through sound variation and sources. Generally sounds are introduced, repeated, moved and manipulated, then they are superseded by the introduction of new sounds.

It has no set rhythym or tempo other than the length of the sounds used in a repeating manner. These sounds are generally effected in a way that there is little perfect repetition, creating movement and flow.

download: Score.pdf, Composition in the style of Musique Concrete.mp3

Music Concrete : A technique wherein natural sounds - such as a voice, an instrument, or the ticking of a clock - are recorded and then subjected to modification by means of altered playback speed, reversed tape direction, fragmentation and splicing of the tape, creation of a tape loop, echo effect, and other timbral manipulations.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072852607/student_view0/part6/chapter28/key_terms.html

... (known to some as Musique Abstraite, literally, Abstract Music) as the sounds are recorded first then built into a tune as opposed to a tune being written then given to players to turn into sound. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_concrete