Drone Archeology Each of Drone Archeology's constantly evolving drones are based on original sounds and acoustic palettes and have completely unique characteristics. These tones are the result of computer resynthesis with a series of proprietary computer programs. Each drone is rich yet is completely absent of noise. Contemporary and original in nature and scope, Drone Archeology is a powerful tool in the hands of the contemporary and avant garde composer/musician, as well as being an invaluable resource for film composers creating soundtracks, soundbeds and sound design. Used as foundation material, they can be processed and transformed in any number of ways to assist you in developing your own particular sound. Drone Archeology offers the musician and/or composer a selection of 99 completely unique tones that are steady in pitch but have constant movement so that they are never the same from one moment to the next. Every drone is between 32 and 64 seconds of original material with no built in loops. Drone Archaeology is the first audio CD to include a listing of the original stereo loop points. This gives the user CD ROM features in an audio CD platform. The detailed information on how to find the loop points means that Mac and PC users can extract and loop the drones from the same CD. Details in the manual enables a maximization of the amount of audio on Drone Archeology without the inevitable loss of space that a mixed mode CD ROM would have. As well there is a 114 page manual which is included free with every CD contains a new harmonic classification system, insight into the structure of these complex tones, and other useful technical information.
Film Composers In order to aid multimedia and film production people the drones have been classified into seven categories. These are; Nature, Science, Drama, Industry, Voice, Bell and Drones. The drones were designed to have "focused spectrums". In other words to occupy a measured amount of the sonic space in the stereo field. Even though they are extremely rich and evocative tones, they do not dominate or overpower the overall sound by leaving little room for any other group of sound to coexist.Using any of these drones in dense sonic passages will not obscure the rest of sonic detail present.
C4=middle C which is 261.6 Hertz Drones 1 Inner Strength Eb1 2 Announcement G1 3 Deep Harmonic Wave E1 4 Nighttime in India G2 5 Solemn Procession D1 6 Funeral Pyre D1 7 Rolling Hills D3 8 Tampura Drone D3 9 Ancient Ruins D2 10 Hollow Ground E1 Nature Drones 11 Heat Waves D1 12 Turbulence G1 13 Tropical Moisture A0 14 Sand Dunes D2 15 Descending Particles D3 16 Rolling Thunder Bass E1 17 Mystical Arctic Wind G1 18 Unstable Ground G1 19 Brilliant Colours D3 20 Earthquake Rumblings D1 21 Tropical Rainforest A0 22 Earth Vents E1 23 Mountain Winds B2 24 Oceanside Cliffs G1 25 Underwater Movement E1 26 Earth Rumblings D1 Science Drones 27 Human Alienation C4 28 Intense Laser Light C2 29 Swirling Movement D1 30 NASA Solar Wind D1 31 NASA Solar Warnings E1
32 Gravitational Forces F2 33 Radiation C2 34 Biological Transformation B2 35 Massive Fusion Reaction E0 36 Extreme Cold A2 37 Cosmos G1 38 Spaceships Passing Eb3 39 Asteroid Movements D3 40 Fast Moving Particles C2 41 Starship Approaching C2 42 Aurora Borealis C2 43 Ultra High Temperatures C4 44 Cosmic Rays C2 Drama Drones 45 Danger from Below E1 46 Rebirth C2 47 Almost Resolved E1 48 Painful Memories G1 49 Depression E1 50 Dreams E1 51 Confusion E1 52 At Peace E1 53 Tension E1 54 Bittersweet Resolution E1 55 Glimmer of Hope E1 56 Wasteland E0 57 Close to Drastic Measure G2 58 Madness G2 59 Anguish G2 60 Day after the Conflict A1 Industry Drones 61 Power A0 62 Drilling through Rock A0 63 Drilling through Metal C2 64 Laser Drilling E1 65 Underwater Engine G2
66 Motor under a Platform C2 67 Cutting through Metal C2 68 Welding Eb3 69 Cutting through Wood C3 70 Outboard Motor A1 71 Primal Engine C1 72 Submarine Engine C2 73 Pouring Liquid Steel C2 Voice Drones 74 Strong Voice ah E1 75 Strong Voice ee E1 76 Strong Voice mm E1 77 Strong Voice no E1 78 Strong Voice oo E1 79 Spirit Voice ah C2 80 Spirit Voice ee C2 81 Spirit Voice mm C2 82 Spirit Voice no C2 83 Spirit Voice oo C2 84 Full Voice ah G1 85 Distant Voice ah G1 86 Solid Voice ah A1 87 Solid Voice ee A1 88 Solid Voice mm A1 89 Solid Voice no A1 90 Solid Voice oo A1 91 Close Voice ah D2 92 Close Voice ee D2 93 Close Voice mm D2 94 Close Voice no D2 95 Close Voice oo D2 96 Meditation ah C2 Bell Drones 97 Gong Whispers Gb2 98 Meandering Bells E2 99 Tibetan Tranquillity C1
Digital Audio Workstation User The drones on Drone Archeology were designed for DAW users to quickly and efficiently create soundtracks, soundbed and sound design. The manual describes how to find the loop points which means that Mac and PC users can extract and loop the drones from the same CD. The details in the manual enable a maximization of the amount of audio on Drone Archeology without the inevitable loss of space that a mixed mode CD ROM would have.There are two looping techniques described that give users alternative strategies to find the loop points. DAW users can efficiently use these drones without additional music hardware. Since drones often do not change pitch in a passage of music a DAW user simply uses the standard pitch shifting function available on most Digital Audio Programs and Sound Editing Software to select the desired pitch and transform the drone to the desired pitch without ever needing a sampler. This enables musicians who do not have a sampler but who do have digital audio to use the drones from Drone Archeology.
Create Loops without Looping A user can simply sample the entire track and move it into a computer based digital sequencer or a sampler. Insert loop points at the absolute beginning and end of the selected drone. Chorus the stereo track on another track (DAW) or use another voice (sampler) but add a delay of between 2-5 seconds on the chorused track. The resulting drone will not have the cyclical fade in/out because the chorused track and original track fade in/out do not occur at the same time. This technique works because the drones have special "low distortion fade in and fade out envelopes" , and also have spectrums which combine without the normal flanging sound heard on many chorused tracks.
Detailed Documentation is included with Drone Archeology Numerical Sound has developed a new Harmonic Classification System which is explained in Drone Archeology’s User's Manual. This system offers musicians and composers some insight into the structure of these complex tones. Energy per Band in Decibels
The 9 band spectrum gives the user an intuitive and quantitative measurement of the properties of every drone on this CD. The 9 Band spectrum can be used to determine which bass band effectively reproduces on a range of commercially available speaker sizes (Page 2 in the manual).
The 9 band spectrum can be used as an orchestrator's assistant in determining where each drone’s acoustic Low Mid Hi Low Mid Hi Low Mid Hi energy is located (bass, midrange or treble). These charts Bass Midrange Treble allow the user to quickly select a drone with a particular quality or find other drones with similar or different characteristics quickly and accurately. This is important if the user is adding other instruments over the drone.
Sound Graphs included for each drone The manual includes unique analogue VU meter type graphs for the left and right channels. This VU meter representation gives the user an accurate audio roadmap of how the drone actually evolves over time. It also enables a user to quickly target a particular passage in a drone. This fast search capacity is an important asset in commercial applications.
Track 1 Drone Name: Inner Strength Pitch Eb1 Description: A bass drone with upper bass and lower midrange emphasis. Left Channel Amplitude Envelope in Decibels
Time in Seconds Right Channel Amplitude Envelope in Decibels
for further information contact Numerical Sound PO Box 1275,Station K,Toronto,Ontario, Canada M4P 3E5 email: ernest@total.net web site: www.numericalsound.com phone 416.444.6644 fax 416.444.7045