Tuesday 30 October Class - Looping

Today in class we listened to Come Out by Steve Reich.  It was composed using an audio recording of an interview with one of the youths involved in the Harlem riot of 1964.  It is heavily glitch based, with the words 'come out to show them' repeated over and over, eventually overlapping with the other playbacks of it, leading to various layers of a single voice.  It, like most things we hear in this class, was 'interesting'.

The song is just composed of the same line 'Come out to show them' looped over and over again, but every time it's repeated, another repeat is added a little bit later, until it all completely overlaps, to the point where it just sounds like noise at the end.  This is a prime example of process music.

We have been asked to start thinking about what we want to do for our final project, but still have no idea what to do.

A Recap - What we've been doing in classes

The Public Performance Technology class is an interesting one.  Interesting in the way that it is different from most of the other practical performance modules I've taken.

Whereas other performance based classes rely on technical ability and knowledge and implementation of theory, this one is more like a maths class.  Or a physics class.  Science;  Any kind of class that made me think too hard in high school - something I have forgotten how to do having being primarily focused on playing the keyboard and moving my fingers for the past three years.  In order to make the music, I have to remember numbers, learn functions, study, and revise.   Basically, making my brain think in a way it hasn't been accustomed to thinking for in years.

Let me explain.

The class is about mixing technology with music.  Using electronics and machinery, mixed with a programme known as MaxMSP, we can make music throg--you know what, I'll just link videos to show you what I mean in future posts.  For now, let me explain Max.

MaxMSP [http://cycling74.com/products/max/] is an audio/visual programme that relies on using a certain level of computing code to create music.  It's difficult to explain, but I'll do the best I can.  I am still very much learning how to use it.  

In simpleton terms, you create circuits - similar to those seen in a physics class - on a computer.  Using various commands and numerical values, you can send MIDI signals, effecting velocity and pitch with various tools and buttons and I have no idea what I'm talking about.  The past few weeks in class have been spent both seeing examples of music performance technology in action (using old, turned inside out electrical toys, or the Kinect hardware from the Xbox 360, etc) and working through the Max MSP tutorials, in what is currently seeming like a vain effort to get to grips with the rather completed programme (for us mere music students, that is).  

I have only just begun to get into the nitty gritty of the programme, having went over the basics of it.  Future blogs will focus on a combination of interesting examples of technology in example, and my (probably vague) attempts to explain how Max MSP works.  By the end of the year, the plan is that my final blog post will contrast from this one in every way, and I'll be typing, explaining and performing like a musical Einstein.