Live Takes: Warble Chords
This week’s Live Takes recording was taken from a sample I made last week of some warbling chords. The Korg Minilogue XD played a phrase of arpeggiated rotating notes from my Squarp Pyramid, with a synth patch that focuses on chorus effects, pitch affecting LFOs and highly sustained ADSR envelopes. Being inspired by the minute and a half long sample, I decided I needed to do more with it.
This morning, I sat down and processed the audio to make it something more. This musique concrete style work features the sample layered 3 times. I stretched and slowed the original sample out over roughly 3 minutes, and placed it at the beginning of the track. I copied that stretch and reversed it, layering it almost directly underneath. There is a nice fade in from it being reversed, that gives enough break, to hear the 2 layers separately, as well as together. The original, unaffected layer was placed at the end of the work, as a fade out and motif of sorts. I added an electric piano bass line that helps fill out the lower end of the frequency spectrum.
The outcome is a very surreal work. The chorus filled layers intermingle and fill each other out in a way, that separately they could not. There is a sense of uneasiness, as the full track length is long, at 4 minutes, 20 seconds. The slow reveal creates a forced sense of the sublime. For a moment, it takes you to a complete other world of the work. The audience is taken into the voided for a moment or two. The higher frequency warbles, move through the mid frequency ones, creating depth that was not possible on its own. The bass line not only fills out, but grounds the experience somewhat, and does not overstay its welcome.
The video I placed with it, was a slowed down, stretched out original video recording of the first sample, that has had its colours graded to hyper states. This helps reinforce the unreal nature of the work. The viewer can see me make the sounds, but they are disconnected.
The end takes it to a new level of trippy. The transcendence takes hold, with the newfound speed of the original sample and the ending, beginning of the other layers, happening simultaneously. There is an understanding of its place, by the original layer coming in at the end, and slowly fading out. The viewer is left to reflect and consider the experience.
This audio manipulation sort of Live Takes is a part of my new style. I am still working on a piece in one sitting, to a different outcome. I can go to new places and experience new works. I hope you have enjoyed the experience.
