Posts tagged sampling

Andrew Spitz documents an attempt at time-lapse phonography over at his blog.

I wrote a program in Max/MSP to automize the whole process. Every 144 seconds, the software capture one frame from the webcam and a 100ms slice of sound, with a 5ms fade in and out to attempt ironing out the non-zero crossing clicks. Each new sound slice gets appended into a buffer containing the other sounds, which then gets exported and combined with the video.

(via sound + design)

Herbie Hancock shows off his Fairlight CMI to a gaggle of children including Tatyana Ali.

(via tbon)

Another marvelous hybrid instrument from Diego Stocco: the Bassoforte, constructed from the parts of a piano keyboard and an electric bass (among other things), and played with loops and great aplomb. I think it sounds kind of like a sick cover version of “Personal Jesus.”

(via Synthtopia)

Sun Boxes are an environment to enter and exit. It’s comprised of twenty speakers operating independently each powered by solar panels. There is a different guitar sample in each box all playing together making the composition. The guitar samples are all of different lengths so the whole piece keeps evolving. Participants are encouraged to walk amongst the speakers. It sounds different inside of the array. There is a different sense of space inside. Certain speakers will be closer and louder therefore the piece will sound different to different people in different positions throughout the array. Creating a unique experience for everyone. There are no batteries involved. The Sun Boxes are reliant on the sun. When the sun sets the music stops. The piece changes as the length of the day changes. Making the participants aware of the cycle of the day.

(via Super Bon!)

Digging in the Crates is a cool-looking project to explore sampling. Hard to get a good grip on exactly what’s going on from the video, but the projected interface on top of the vinyl record is an awesome idea.

(via Yamaha Research)

My main squeeze made this video for a class she’s taking on science documentary film. I like to think my pernicious influence had something to do with the choice to make it a little “sounds of the lab” composition.

(via Oscillator)

Introducing is a talented, Oxford-based nine-piece band with a very specific goal. Every show they perform is essentially the same. With the exception of slight variations in their encores, the set never changes. Their mission? To perform DJ Shadow’s first LP, “Endtroducing”, in its entirety, from start to finish.

This kind of stuff fascinates me. DJ Shadow’s record, of course, is created from samples (which may, in turn, have been created from other samples). This band wants to dive through all of those layers of sampling to the original instruments and then combine them together into one physical space. But, one major issue is that the “original instruments” are not the point of DJ Shadow’s album; he doesn’t use samples just because he can’t play instruments and they’re a useful way to collect stuff together. The feeling of the various samples, from the recording, mastering, and all that jazz, is not just in the instruments.

Also, I wonder what that laptop is doing in there. Do MacBooks finally count as “real” instruments now?

(via More Intelligent Life)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

31 plays

Lady Lux: Buckle My Shoe

from Baby Jamz: Nursery Rhymes, Vol. 1

This is a version of the classic nursery rhyme (1-2, buckle my shoe, etc.) from Baby Jamz, a collection of hip-hop songs for babies.

What I find most incredible about this song (and the album in general) is its commitment to the erotic urgency of club music. Maybe it’s like Pixar movies having jokes that just the adults understand—the erotic urgency is a bonus for grown-ups?

Like any good mainstream hip-hop act, Baby Jamz is not just a set of albums, but a lifestyle brand. To wit, the “Mix Master Music Chair”:

This chair, for the aspiring baby DJ, lets you play nursery rhymes and then trigger samples using those buttons on the arm. It appears to be the same deal as most baby electronic sound-makers, but refigured as a chair-shaped proto-MPC instead of a book that says “here’s the sound a cow makes” when you cram it in your little mouth. The nursery rhymes are sung by Baby Jamz entrepreneur and Beyoncé younger sister Solange Knowles, and they turn on automatically when you sit on the yellow music notes.

Enjoy the jamz.

Olivier Messiaen talks about birdsong in this short clip (from some source I don’t know). Hearing his vocal imitation of the bird, a recording of the bird itself, and then his representation of it on the piano is really wonderful. It’s like a short media studies essay on the various types of sound reproduction.

To hear more examples (and see comparisons of spectrograms and sheet music), see here.

To read more about the work these birdsongs were used in, Oiseaux Exotiques, and to see a video of a performance conducted by Pierre Boulez, see here.

(video via immanent discursivity)

No More Indeterminacy

If you like glitchy sounds but fear glitchy electronics, Sidsonic has come to the rescue with a sample set of “5 GB of pure Circuit Bend Soundmaterial.”

All samplesets are fully playable with three velocity zones. Common problems for Circuit Bending like pitch and tone fluctuations got eliminated, without curbing the typical sound and the unique experience only Circuit Bending can deliver.

Furthermore, hassles like hung up or burnt-out gear and the lack of reproducibility are avoided by the concept of a Virtual Instrument, so that the Circus Circuit Bending Library makes it possible to comfortably use the one-of-a-kind sound of Circuit Bending within professional productions for the first time.