Unit 14 Task 4 - Texture of resources and acoustic environment in recordings
https://soundcloud.com/lloy2-908796191/yokloh-forested
I created this piece of music to demonstrate sonic and musical components. I imagine it playing in a game, maybe in a woods section. This is because the instrumentation and style is often associated in games with this kind of setting, especially instruments like the piccolo which leads the piece.
The piece is polyphonic, meaning multiple sounds are being played at once. These instruments are double bass, cellos, violins, (separately) string ensemble, tambourine, maracas, piccolo, bassoons, glockenspiel, and alto flutes. The use of polyphony gives a sense of life and character to the piece, as if multiple personalities reside within it, embodied by the different textures matching and contrasting; if it was monophonic the piece would sound lonelier. Furthermore, the more instruments are present in a piece, the more of a distinct identity the piece takes on as the different instruments interact in their acoustic environment.
This ensemble is quite standard, not especially experimental; an older version had an acoustic guitar that wasn't really working, which is the closest it came to being unusual in its setup with regard to the rest of the ensemble. All the instruments are acoustic and all are orchestral save for percussion. The use of an established, commonly-heard ensemble quickly communicates a certain idea through shared cultural knowledge; an orchestra is typically associated with grandness and importance. If you look at it from that perspective, it makes sense why orchestras are used for so many big productions; it immediately establishes a certain quality of importance, even in simple tracks like this one. Furthermore, it is a tried-and-tested group of sounds: the orchestra ensemble organically emerged over many centuries, evolving into the grand setup we see today; this is why there is such a variety of sounds whose textures all compliment each other within an orchestral ensemble.
The articulation of the cellos shifts between pizzicato (plucking) and staccato (quick drawing of the strings), while the bassoons do the same between legato (joining notes together with sustained timing) and staccato. Using multiple styles of articulation for one instrument would be economical in a recording setting (although this is a MIDI project) as it means less musicians must be hired, and it also allows a composer to achieve more without having to convolute a piece with too many different sounds.
It also thematically makes sense to use fewer instruments for more sounds as it means the piece can't grow disjointed; multiple articulations of a cello, for example, all technically have a lot of common ground in terms of texture due to the sounds coming from the same instrument. It is not homophonic though as these sounds vary, however there are multiple of some instruments such as the cellos to create harmonies or a sense of scale. Multiple of the same instrument becomes more than the sum of its parts as the sound of each one interact with each other in an acoustic environment, fundamentally altering the overall sound.
Acoustic Environment
All the textures are affected by the acoustic environment of this piece; Using a Space Designer I applied a reverb of 3 seconds to the master track to make it sound vaguely like it’s being played in a forest. Looking back, this effect might have been more pronounced with some unobtrusive forest ambience in the background and some more research into the specific effects such an acoustic environment would have on a recording.
Due to the reverb setting, the non-musical sounds of some instruments are accentuated (an effect that in this case I quite like). For instance, the sound of the double bass being plucked is more audible than it would be otherwise; this is because the high amount of unfiltered reverb is drawing out every sound being made for a period of time, calling attention to each detail. The woodwind instruments have a believable presence within the piece that wasn’t there before I applied the high amount of reverb, which again is due to their impact lasting longer on each note. The glockenspiel sounds less harsh than it did before as all the notes now blend smoothly into one another. I also think the mid frequencies overall are more emphasised in this setup, especially on the alto flutes and string ensemble that are in the middle section of the sound spectrum. This could have come off harsh but doesn't really because the string ensemble is fairly quiet and dulled.
The instruments for which reverb is most noticeable are the ones whose actual sound plays out for the shortest amount of time; for instance, the pizzicato cellos are quickly plucked leaving no sustain, making the reverb tail actually longer than the note itself. As there is a diversity of instruments of this type - from quick plucked parts to a legato string ensemble section - we get to hear the reverb setting nourish the different sounds to different effects, creating interest.
In terms of a 'real' acoustic environment; these sounds were obtained from Logic's own library and various online sources. This is quick and convenient as opposed to recording all the instruments. I imagine these sounds were recorded in a studio setting, but probably in a dead room so as to allow the producer to apply reverb at their own discretion. This meant that when I applied the Space Designer, all sounds were affected equally rather than some already having some reverb present that would conflict with the added reverb. If the sounds had had considerably different acoustic environments to begin with then I would have had to develop an adjusted reverb for each sound to achieve consistency which would have taken up a lot of computing power (averted with the setup I used, utilising buses).
There is also a lot of space in the stereo spread for everything to breathe without much masking, even in spite of the high reverb, which allows the listener to make out each different sound. For instance, bassoons are far to the right while double bass is far to the left; these instruments operate on similar low frequencies painting a somewhat similar tone colour (although other characteristics distinguish them such as one being plucked and the other being blown), so it made sense to separate them spatially.
The double bass is a good sound for this kind of music because it lays down a low-frequency foundation for everything to grow on and sounds quite fun. The bass strings don’t serve the piece as much as they sound quite thin and I think the notes they’re playing don’t work for a legato setting as they're quite quick. Tambourine and maracas are a more lighthearted and subtle way to keep the song moving with percussion compared to, say, a kick-and-snare setup— this is matched by pizzicato strings jauntily voicing odd-sounding seventh intervals of chords. Piccolo and bassoon complement each other very well by having similar timbre (being part of the same woodwind family) yet opposite registers; the bassoon is also thicker while the piccolo is lighter, further creating a complimentary contrast. The short-lived string ensemble parts exist to create development; they come in to shower an otherwise jumpy piece with long chords that fill out a large frequency range.
This ensemble is quite standard, not especially experimental; an older version had an acoustic guitar that wasn't really working, which is the closest it came to being unusual in its setup with regard to the rest of the ensemble. All the instruments are acoustic and all are orchestral save for percussion. The use of an established, commonly-heard ensemble quickly communicates a certain idea through shared cultural knowledge; an orchestra is typically associated with grandness and importance. If you look at it from that perspective, it makes sense why orchestras are used for so many big productions; it immediately establishes a certain quality of importance, even in simple tracks like this one. Furthermore, it is a tried-and-tested group of sounds: the orchestra ensemble organically emerged over many centuries, evolving into the grand setup we see today; this is why there is such a variety of sounds whose textures all compliment each other within an orchestral ensemble.
The articulation of the cellos shifts between pizzicato (plucking) and staccato (quick drawing of the strings), while the bassoons do the same between legato (joining notes together with sustained timing) and staccato. Using multiple styles of articulation for one instrument would be economical in a recording setting (although this is a MIDI project) as it means less musicians must be hired, and it also allows a composer to achieve more without having to convolute a piece with too many different sounds.
It also thematically makes sense to use fewer instruments for more sounds as it means the piece can't grow disjointed; multiple articulations of a cello, for example, all technically have a lot of common ground in terms of texture due to the sounds coming from the same instrument. It is not homophonic though as these sounds vary, however there are multiple of some instruments such as the cellos to create harmonies or a sense of scale. Multiple of the same instrument becomes more than the sum of its parts as the sound of each one interact with each other in an acoustic environment, fundamentally altering the overall sound.
Acoustic Environment
All the textures are affected by the acoustic environment of this piece; Using a Space Designer I applied a reverb of 3 seconds to the master track to make it sound vaguely like it’s being played in a forest. Looking back, this effect might have been more pronounced with some unobtrusive forest ambience in the background and some more research into the specific effects such an acoustic environment would have on a recording.
Due to the reverb setting, the non-musical sounds of some instruments are accentuated (an effect that in this case I quite like). For instance, the sound of the double bass being plucked is more audible than it would be otherwise; this is because the high amount of unfiltered reverb is drawing out every sound being made for a period of time, calling attention to each detail. The woodwind instruments have a believable presence within the piece that wasn’t there before I applied the high amount of reverb, which again is due to their impact lasting longer on each note. The glockenspiel sounds less harsh than it did before as all the notes now blend smoothly into one another. I also think the mid frequencies overall are more emphasised in this setup, especially on the alto flutes and string ensemble that are in the middle section of the sound spectrum. This could have come off harsh but doesn't really because the string ensemble is fairly quiet and dulled.
The instruments for which reverb is most noticeable are the ones whose actual sound plays out for the shortest amount of time; for instance, the pizzicato cellos are quickly plucked leaving no sustain, making the reverb tail actually longer than the note itself. As there is a diversity of instruments of this type - from quick plucked parts to a legato string ensemble section - we get to hear the reverb setting nourish the different sounds to different effects, creating interest.
In terms of a 'real' acoustic environment; these sounds were obtained from Logic's own library and various online sources. This is quick and convenient as opposed to recording all the instruments. I imagine these sounds were recorded in a studio setting, but probably in a dead room so as to allow the producer to apply reverb at their own discretion. This meant that when I applied the Space Designer, all sounds were affected equally rather than some already having some reverb present that would conflict with the added reverb. If the sounds had had considerably different acoustic environments to begin with then I would have had to develop an adjusted reverb for each sound to achieve consistency which would have taken up a lot of computing power (averted with the setup I used, utilising buses).
There is also a lot of space in the stereo spread for everything to breathe without much masking, even in spite of the high reverb, which allows the listener to make out each different sound. For instance, bassoons are far to the right while double bass is far to the left; these instruments operate on similar low frequencies painting a somewhat similar tone colour (although other characteristics distinguish them such as one being plucked and the other being blown), so it made sense to separate them spatially.
The double bass is a good sound for this kind of music because it lays down a low-frequency foundation for everything to grow on and sounds quite fun. The bass strings don’t serve the piece as much as they sound quite thin and I think the notes they’re playing don’t work for a legato setting as they're quite quick. Tambourine and maracas are a more lighthearted and subtle way to keep the song moving with percussion compared to, say, a kick-and-snare setup— this is matched by pizzicato strings jauntily voicing odd-sounding seventh intervals of chords. Piccolo and bassoon complement each other very well by having similar timbre (being part of the same woodwind family) yet opposite registers; the bassoon is also thicker while the piccolo is lighter, further creating a complimentary contrast. The short-lived string ensemble parts exist to create development; they come in to shower an otherwise jumpy piece with long chords that fill out a large frequency range.
None of the notes played are incorrect, but that was an easy feat as the piece was produced with MIDI so I could quantise my playing. The piece being produced this way also means things like microphone setup and so on need not be considered as I can trust the instrument samples I'm using are already professional (evident in the clear sound). Timing meanwhile is generally fine but I couldn’t figure out how to get some sections of the bassoon part to be in time with the rest of the piece. I think I mixed the piece quite well; in spite of high master reverb, everything is very audible due to decent volume mixing, stereo mixing and EQ mixing. There isn’t any noise but again that’s because this was created with MIDI.
The pizzicato cello backing is played more loudly in the 'bridge' section at 1:41, done by turning up the velocity; this use of dynamic contrast (combined with the introduction of a new chord in an otherwise relatively repetitive piece) serves to distinguish this section from the rest of the track, creating a clear centrepiece (sort of like a chorus) to 'look forward to' as the piece revolves around its loop. A subtle humanising effect is applied to the piece as a whole in order to attain naturalistic shading throughout; this is achieved by slightly randomising the velocity and timing of each note. This means the piece can be quantised without sacrificing too much authenticity, as otherwise it would sound robotic which doesn't fit the acoustic instruments and themes of nature.
The pizzicato cello backing is played more loudly in the 'bridge' section at 1:41, done by turning up the velocity; this use of dynamic contrast (combined with the introduction of a new chord in an otherwise relatively repetitive piece) serves to distinguish this section from the rest of the track, creating a clear centrepiece (sort of like a chorus) to 'look forward to' as the piece revolves around its loop. A subtle humanising effect is applied to the piece as a whole in order to attain naturalistic shading throughout; this is achieved by slightly randomising the velocity and timing of each note. This means the piece can be quantised without sacrificing too much authenticity, as otherwise it would sound robotic which doesn't fit the acoustic instruments and themes of nature.
Comments
Post a Comment