Creative Music Technology INTERACTIVE MUSIC
Friday 26 May: Basil Jones Orchestral Hall
1710QCM Interactive Music is a first year Creative Music Technogy course that introduces concepts and practices of live technologies for music and sound. It includes working with hardware controllers, associated software systems, the basics of sampling and synthesis, and communications protocols such as MIDI and OSC. Interactive contexts include solo and ensemble performance. In 2023 the lectures have been taught by Dr John Ferguson and tutorials by Matt Sorensen.
1) “Techno Tap” by Christopher James and Matt Simmons
Our piece is named “Techno Tap” as our drum kit features a sound that sounds like a dripping tap. We both found this sound amusing it’s the first sound you hear. For this performance, we set out to create a work of two distinct sections, one an ethereal soundscape and the second section a technohouse hybrid. Our stylistic influences for this piece are Vangelis (more specifically his work on Bladerunner) and Aphex Twin for the soundscape section and a conglomeration of Daft Punk, Rüfüs Du Sol for the second “dancier” section. We also garnered inspiration for the overall “energy curve” of the piece from a certain Kenny Beats beat battle submission by Hellberg titled “The Choir.” When developing the musical changes, we aimed to create a unique and erratic harmonic landscape that juxtaposed the more cohesive timbral elements. This was particularly the case in the first section, connecting the mostly non-diatonic changes through chord extensions. Aesthetically, we were also interested in exploring two contrasting sections both timbrally and harmonically and we believe that we have achieved this to great effect.
In the process of creating our piece, Chris focused more on the technological elements and Matt focused more on the musical elements. At the beginning of this project, Matt was relatively experienced with the Novation Launchkey however the Ableton Push and Ableton’s inner workings were very much new to him and thus required a significant amount of experimenting and explaining from Chris to understand its purpose within an interactive musical performance.
Chris, being rather familiar with Ableton, helped develop most of the sounds heard in the performance. Throughout this performance, Chris is looping, manipulating, and playing sounds using the Push 2 as well as playing guitar and “singing”. Chris is recording almost every element of the performance live and is manipulating many timbral and textural elements through the Push.
As Matt engages with a lot of chord-based harmony in his compositions, he elected to provide the chordal backing and some lead lines using a synth pad for most of the sections. He is adjusting the timbre of the pad through the manipulation of the LFO that is mapped to a knob on the Launchkey. Matt is also using a chain selector to cycle between different synth sounds as well at one point using the pads to trigger clips.
We hope you enjoy the Techno Tap!
2) “H2O” by Hugh Barton, Gabriel Beier, Mason White
Gabe: For this performance, my contribution revolved around providing the group with melodies and drums loops that I created, which we integrated as samples throughout the presentation. Specifically, I created the main piano melody, originally a composition that we chopped up and rearranged, enabling its live performance. Additionally, in response to Mason’s guidance towards a drum and bass sound, I took the initiative to craft multiple drum breaks and fills, with the aim of elevating the overall engagement of our performance. While not all the drum breaks were utilized, I firmly believe that the selected drums allow Mason to maintain an intriguing performance. Furthermore, I extracted the vocals from Oklou’s Galore, which were then rearranged using vocal one shots. During the live performance, my responsibilities included managing the faders and knobs assigned to filters, delay, panning, and volume. I also play the first piano melody and drumbeat. This allowed me to engage in live recording and subsequently support Hugh and Mason with transitions and mixing.
Mason: I ended up contributing the most to the performance on the foundation side of things. I took the initial piano sample from Gabe and created the pad, synth bass, synth lead and the amen break to give the performance a "Liquid Drum n'Bass"style. Creating this foundation inspired us to further create differing sections and slice the piece up into sections to be able to interact with each element more easily. My role on stage is quite a mix but is to primarily play certain elements, such as the synth lead or bass and keep track of recording for the other members, allowing them to focus on playing. On top of that, I am also primarily in charge of the Ableton Push and am navigating through it to play certain one shots such as risers. Lastly, we chopped up a sample of drum breaks created by Gabe which I will be playing live. Because this sample is chopped, it allows me to create entirely unique drum breaks live and perform interesting rhythms.
Hugh: While Mason provided the melodic and rhythmic foundation for our liquid drum and bass track, and Gabriel sculpted the fundamental sounds of the track, I took to organising and structuring the session – adding to the melody or rhythm when I thought was necessary. Through the collaboration of Mason’s initial drum and bass idea and Gabriel’s samples, I was able to quickly sort the arrangement of the song whilst providing the main melody for the intro, a synth arpeggio that plays in the mid-section and some pluck chords to freshen the sound. Additionally, Gabriel and I coloured the instruments with reverbs, delays, and EQ filters to add some ear candy for the piece. On the night of the performance, I will be playing the pads, lead bassline, chops from a vocal sample and building the session live in Ableton.
The performance was not influenced by a specific song or artist. Initially, we were uncertain about the style or genre to pursue and simply shared music with each other. However, everything changed when Mason crafted a Drum n’ Bass demo, which we eagerly embraced. Our primary aesthetic goal revolved around keeping the audience engaged, particularly due to the repetitive nature of Drum n’ Bass. To accomplish this, we introduced and removed multiple melodies, employed audio effects to build tension, and included moments of resolution. Our intention was to showcase our grasp of music technology and create a composition that challenges our ability to perform live. It’s important to note that none of us had significant experience in live music performance. Additionally, we utilized a MacBook, Novation Launchkey, Ableton Push Kit, and a small external mixer, allowing each group member to have their own instrument that they could become familiar with.
3) “Celestial” by Luke Barbour and Oscar Richardson
The purpose behind our composition ‘Celestial,’ was to create a piece suitable for performance that embodies a distinct aesthetic, evoking a science fiction ambience comparable to the vastness of outer space, taking inspiration from early sci-fi films and DnB producer SubFocus. ‘Celestial’ intertwines elements from atmospheric, ambient EDM genres and fundamental elements from the drum and bass genre, such as thick, abrasive basses with sophisticated sound design used as a main focal point in the mix and the use of drum programming that resembles a breakbeat drum pattern. Luke was the composer of this piece and designed the bass synths using Ableton native synthesiser, Wavetable, among other Ableton stock plugins.
This piece features a drum and bass drop after a calming section of ambient EDM to create contrast and tension. To further improve the alternative nature of the piece, Oscar suggested adding a live audio element to the heavily electronic-influenced composition, playing spacey, reverb-laden guitar melodies over the A-section. This choice was influenced by psychedelic funk bands such as Lettuce, resembling the start of songs like ‘Phyllis.’ Additionally, while Oscar is playing the guitar, Luke will be stacking effects and changing the timbre of the guitar as Oscar improvises. So as not to limit Oscar's contributions to live instrumentation and to free up some of Luke's many hands, Oscar will also control hi-hat and percussive pitch manipulation and panning upon the B-section, utilising the Ableton Push 2. Oscar will also perform the initial drum loop on the Push, leading to further interactivity and audience engagement.
During the performance, Luke’s role is to navigate through Ableton in conjunction with controlling various audio effects such as lowpass filters, highpass filters, volume and LFOs to ensure each scene in Ableton runs smoothly and is well organised for the audience. To control these modulations, Luke is using the Korg NanoKontrol for audio effects by mapping each effect to different faders and mapping the drum pads on the MIDI keyboard to change scenes in Ableton Live.
4) “Corrupted Momentum” by Daniel Celegato, Lachlan Myatt, Jorja Scott
“Corrupted Momentum” is an East Coast/Subtractive Synthesis inspired piece referencing the likes of Phil Collins and Confidence Man. Much of the synth design techniques used in this piece including, the utilisation of a sawtooth waveform as a framework of our synth design, the application of filters and saturation as well as Low-frequency Oscillators which resonates with Collins’ discography. The nostalgic 90s vibe of Confidence man motivated us to create a less traditional “four on the floor” groove rather a more syncopated funk style rhythm. The composers also wanted to include some contrast in style by including our own take on J Dilla’s signature “wonky drums” in the second section.
It aims to project the journey that we have undertaken during our first trimester of university. The different sections reflect different points in our journey, first being open minded and excited then the challenges we faced and finally overcoming those challenges and experiencing an anticipation of the future. The improvised elements in this piece are there to show that the creative decisions that we have made during our journey have been instinctive and have helped us develop as musicians. We also endeavoured to take advantage of our musical skills while creating the
performance while also extending our abilities and promoting an emotional response. Each of our roles vary however we are working together to generate a cohesion between each musical element.
Daniel is responsible for the navigation of Ableton as well as playing the keyboard and controlling effects of the sounds he produces. In each section of the piece, he plays a different instrument created individually using stock plugins most of which is improvised. To navigate these instruments and allow the Ableton Push and keyboard to be played at the same time without interrupting each other the instruments are automated via chain-selector. While playing he also manipulates the individual sounds using effect which are mapped to the knobs of the keyboard using MIDI-Mapping.
During the performance Lachlan records the main ostinato of the first section live on an electric bass which is then looped and enhanced using effects. He also does some improvisation later in the piece which is recorded and looped in the same. His secondary role is to manipulate the effects of the entire song and create the transitions between sections so that there is coherence, and each scene moves effortlessly to the next which is fundamental for the success of the performance. The effects include reverb and delay, drum specific effects and auto filters which create the swell before the change of section. These effects are MIDI-Mapped onto a Nano Controller using faders and knobs.
Jorja is in control of the Ableton Push in the performance, she also provides vocals and assists Daniel in the operation of Ableton on the laptop. Her vocals are used at the beginning for the creation of a pad used in Daniel’s instrument chain. She is also responsible for the recording and quantising of instruments including what the other members of her group are playing. Most of the parts Jorja plays in the song are harmonic or integrated to add texture to the arrangement whereas Daniel’s parts are more melody based and Lachlan controls how they all sound as a unit.
We hope you enjoy listening to what we’ve created!
5) “Idle Vapourings” by Harry Maynard, Solomon Smith, William Wilson
The intention with this song, titled Idle Vapourings, was to compose a piece for performance, with a strong aesthetic aim to bring a unique, science fiction sound from a dystopian world. We were heavily inspired by Arctic Monkeys’ Sculptures of Anything Goes and Arcade Fire’s My Body Is a Cage, which worked to provide a strong musical foundation to develop upon. These songs are driven by repetitive structures, featuring synth, synth bass and drum lines, with intricate, articulate lyrical content flowing over. Aesthetically, Stranger Things, composed by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, TVA Theme by Natalie Holt, as well as American Sports by Arctic Monkeys (and the album it’s from: Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino) influenced the harmony section extensively. These pieces present an abstract, out-of-this-world sound within their instrumentation, as well as the tonality and textures created by such instruments. Reinforcing this sci-fi aesthetic in Idle Vaporings was especially the lyrics, written by Harry. Lyrical inspiration was derived from the movie Bladerunner, and the book it was based off; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? as well as New Zealand parliament, where the main line of the song “idle vapourings of a mind diseased” was considered ‘unparliamentary language’ as of the 1940s. The abstract wording within this line further gravitated the song to an otherworldly and dystopian sound, connecting both lyrical and musical content together.
Harry composed much of the song using Ableton’s native synthesiser, Wavetable, and utilised envelopes and low frequency oscillators (LFOs) to modulate subtleties such as pitch and timbre within the synth. Redux and Saturation effect plug-ins were applied across various instruments, sending a wash of colour over the piece with a futuristic yet nostalgic sound. Furthermore, the lead synth and vocals received delay, giving a more spacious, expansive feeling to them likened to the expanse of space. With help from Will, many of these effect plug-ins were mapped onto all the faders, dials (bells and whistles too) of the Novation LaunchKey and the Korg nanoKontrol. This enabled each performer to manipulate an aspect of their part, and in combination with other automation processes, otherwise static parts of the piece became livelier and more dynamic.
The LaunchKey was halved in two, allowing Will to play bass, and Solomon to play synth on the same keyboard. With a minimalistic bass line, this enabled Will to focus on technical aspects of the piece, with the ability to live mix and control other effects for bass and drums. We hope you can hear throughout the performance Solomon playing the lead synth and utilising the Redux and Delay plug-ins mapped on the LaunchKey to great effect.
Despite the group having no prior experience with Ableton, or live performance outside of this course, the strong aesthetic aims and influences provided a reliable basis for ideas to be conjured, and we hope the work in developing the song in this soundscape through instrumentation, timbres and a whole lot of effects is well worth the listen.
6)“Open Your Heart” by Lina Castellino, Kayden Clarke, Alicia Dark
When composing this piece, we discussed how best to play to our strengths and take our audience on a journey. Our composition tells the story of a person putting their heart on the line despite knowing their feelings won't be reciprocated, and we believed the most effective way to reflect that would be to move through our roots in Hip Hop and into a Metal and Trap inspired breakdown. Within our introduction, we made use of textural synthesizers to create a loose, open, and ethereal debut before snapping into our first main section. This section features a prominent and heavily swung organ sample that holds a strong tonal centre. This was incredibly important for this section, with samples, live-looped harmonies, and a melody also being layered for texture and ambience.
The following section is all about momentum. Tracked bass, live guitar, structured lyrics, and synthesizers are slowly layered. Kayden uses Musical Interface Digital Instrument (MIDI) mappings to manipulate a low-pass filter and shifter on Alicia’s vocal loops. As this section progresses, mappings are also used by Alicia to manipulate phase, reverb, and delay on Lina’s vocals, as well as reverb and distortion on Kayden’s guitar. This segment’s heavily affected live elements are particularly inspired by songs such as ‘Glorybox’ by Portishead and Future Island’s remix of ‘Black Out Days’ by Phantogram.
We then move into a bridge which is very sparse, featuring synths, Lo-fi drums, and a heavily reverbed guitar solo by Kayden. We also make use of MIDI mappings in this segment to slowly distort the guitar and lead us into the final breakdown.
The final breakdown features Lina on samples, Kayden on guitar, and Alicia on mappings. In this epic conclusion, we hope you hear inspiration being pulled from Polyphia’s ‘Playing God’, and
even Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’. One might not think a Phrygian breakdown belongs in a Hip-Hop track, but we’re here to prove you wrong.
Piecing this performance together demanded the best from all of us. Kayden wrote and recorded the bass parts and stepped into the role of lead guitarist. Lina, stepping up as our lead singer, was challenged as a songwriter to create a melody and lyrics that not only sounded authentic but would fit sonically amongst numerous samples and sections. Alicia focussed primarily on sample collection and manipulation and polished her live MIDI mapping skills to support her band members. When watching our performance, we hope you see cohesiveness, range, and versatility, not only within the music but within its players. We hope you see three young artists who encapsulate what it means to be a digital musician today, and mostly importantly, we hope you bang your heads!
7) “Untitled” by Kaleb Blackwell, Joshua Wiggins, Louis van Winden
For this performance each of us in the group decided to begin with a concept of a genre that we liked and then see where it takes us from there. We decided on trying to create trap EDM style performance that could utilise each of our skills and stretch us to come up with concepts that we hadn’t thought to use before. A definite influence on the piece was Marc Rebillet in particular his performance at cochlea and his usage of vocal samples to really drive the song and give it a real unique quality. This is what lead us to coming up with vocal lines that we could record and pitch down to bring a unique and original sound that we could build the performance and each different section around. We each took on a different role to bring this performance to life and make sure that the concept that we came up with could be translated effectively. Josh used his knowledge of playing keys and creating different sounds to bring a live more trap element to the song. He created the sound in which the lead plays and wrote the solo sections for the keys line. This helped us to have a melodic section that felt like it suited the genre and gave use something to create the beat around. He also created the parts of the lead that blends the sections together and gives the performance a connection that follows the whole way through. Louis created and recorded all the lyric vocal samples and ensured that each one could fit individually within the performance and worked with the performance. He also created some of the high hat and kick patterns that are played throughout various sections ensuring that the sounds were what we were going for within the performance. He made sure that our drums hit hard and had a darker feel throughout the heavier fuller sections. Louis is also in charge of running the block and the novation controller to play live different vocal samples as well as some pre created drum racks live and brings in the risers to help our drop work the way it needs to. Kaleb created the rest of the drums and worked in collaboration with Louis on ensuring that the vocal samples were pitched correctly and recorded some of the vocal samples that sit as part of the rhythm in the background. He also worked on ensuring that each different section of the song flowed correctly and were timed properly to ensure that the performance would sound cohesive and like a song. He also added multiple synth melodies in the back of the drums to complement the drums and the lead synth but also give a lighter feel to the dark sounding drums. He will oversee the Ableton Push controlling when the track change and flow as well as some of the filters and effects on different tracks that the performance goes.
8) “You Need Beautiful” by Doveny Hoey, Max Fowler-Roy, Nicholas Rosetti-ClearyIn our initial brainstorming session, we chose to arrange an original by Doveny called "You Need Beautiful", for vocals, electric bass, and both pre-programmed and live-recorded keys and drums. Our aim was to contrast the alt-pop R&B stylings of Doveny’s song, with a dark atmospheric intro, to also incorporate a drum-n-bass breakdown. We defined a rough form, as follows: Atmospheric, dark Intro - calm, demure vocal sections - drum & bass inspired break down section - another calm vocal section.
Our arrangement of the original song expanded the form to include several new “instrumental” sections. These sections, where the vocals pause, are fleshed out with denser programming and more involved live elements. Ableton parameter-automation allows us to transition between sections using timbral, textural, and rhythmic changes. Pre-recording some of the keyboard parts in ableton reduces Doveny’s workload in performance, allowing them to control ableton parameters and focus on their vocals.
In the introduction, the metrical pulse is intentionally obscured. From the limited rhythmic information, one’s ear may infer that beat one is in a different place to the “true” first beat. The confusion of the pulse is disorienting and generates tension. When the bass notes & drums enter, beat one becomes clear, resolving this tension. This technique is used in some modern jazz fusion, such as Jo Lawry’s “Ready, Aim, Fire”, or Snarky Puppy’s “Lingus”. Many of the sounds and parts used were designed around specific areas of the frequency spectrum. Contributing more or less to the brilliant, bright highs, or the impactful lows was important to balance, in order to convey points that needed a greater sense of gravity, or to contrast between different sections of the song. For example, the bass guitar is tuned down a major third into C standard tuning, and the electric piano is often doubled with a wavetable patch that adds high-end noise and colour. Some of the drum sounds were made by Max from processed samples of sticks, broken glass and stones - making a harsh grainy kit. The song’s lyrics feature metaphors that compare human emotional experiences to artificial materials. This inspired one of our key concepts - processing the voice to make it sound more artificial, as if sung by a robot, or played back through a novelty greeting card. The ending, using shifting decay parameters to make the vocal increasingly more abstract, is similar in effect to how Porter Robinson processes the synthesised vocaloid vocals into a sawtooth wave at the end of “Goodbye To A World”.
