Creative Music Technology
MULTIMEDIA PROJECT 2022 Monday 24 October Second-year QCGU BMus Creative Music Technology students perform 5 original audio-visual compositions with computer-controlled lighting, all using node-based visual programming language Touch Designer (TD). In between each composition, a series of 1-minute audio-visual sketches created by students of Multimedia Project 2020, 2021, and 2022 are randomised in TD, all content is created using TD.
All Rise by Oscar Tooms and Ainsley Shiri This audio-visual work titled All Rise is set in an artificial, rendered world, and follows an origami character on a journey through various different hyper-realistic landscapes. The design and aesthetic of each landscape was intended to match that of the music, attempting to bring the story to life. With various visual elements slowly evolving over time, and some highly reactive to the music, All Rise is sure to keep the viewers eyes glue to the screen. The music complements the visuals by seamlessly transitioning through 4 different compositions. Each piece of music is significantly different from the others and they are crafted together in a way that dynamically keeps the story moving forward, while not feeling disconnected from one another. In the beginning the music takes influence from artists such as Tyler the Creator and Flying Lotus, where you will find heavy 808’s and hip-hop drums contrasted by string symphonies and pretty synth melodies. As it progresses and the energy lifts, the music turns to electronic/dance music, similar to the likes of Hudson Mohawke and Rustie. Here you will find dirty synth lines, loud drums and heavy bass lines, supported by soft piano and intricate percussion, before reverting back to hip hop. The main origami character in the visual component of this work was inspired by the works of Akira Yoshizawa, also known as the father of Origami. His work not only helped inspire the construction of the character but also how to create movement in something made of various 2D components and bring it to life. The 3D rendered world that the visuals are set in were heavily inspired by Baauers audio-visual work titled PLANETS MAD. Here the influence came from his ability to create such unique and intriguing artificial landscapes. Many of the rendered elements you will see, we have based off real world objects, but have been created in a digital world and been intentionally morphed and edited to extremes that may make them appear unfamiliar and are intended to keep you guessing what it is you are looking at. Vortex Delirium by Jack Meimaris and Jasper Hodgson Featuring a mix of music from the dance halls of Jamaica to the Rowdy pubs of Ireland, Jasper Hodgson and Jack Meimaris are bringing listeners around the globe with their multimedia performance, Vortex Delirium. The performance is separated into three distinct parts which can be recognised by the change in visuals, and pace. These three sections are all glued together through the use of seamless transitions, and a more gradual change in style and instrumentation. The first part is an original dub-techno song composed by Jasper, inspired by artists like Masis. Jasper also
takes inspiration from modern middle eastern pop music, with the use of his microtonal synth lead. This gritty dub mix is paired with visuals showing a series of orbs that warp and pulse along to the booming drums. These visuals are also manipulated live. As audio parameters such as hipass filters are tweaked in ableton, visual parameters such as lighting, position, and movement of the orb change. Following that, is a “steppas” style reggae song, characterised by its faster electronic beat and deep pumping bass. Some notable inspirations for this song are Alpha & Omega and Jah Works. This song was originally composed and recorded with a melodica playing the lead melody, but this performance will feature Jack playing the lead on his accordion. Accompanied by a trippy Doctor Who inspired vortex that is set to match some of the live dub mixing that occurs on the instrumental, this tune is sure to transport the listener to another dimension. The final section was arranged by Jack and it combines two tunes, Superfly by Kevin O’Neil, and White Butterfly by Aileen Reed. Jack has put a modern electronic spin on these more traditional songs. By replacing bodhrans with house drums, and grand pianos with synth keys, this groovy arrangement will turn any local Irish pub into a nightclub. This part of the performance will see the viewers zooming through a maze of colour changing 3D shapes, accompanied by a spectactular light show which emphasises the song’s bassline. The accordion combined with the dazzling visuals should be enough to get everyone's feet tapping, just make sure you don't miss the Bluey reference! Bluey theme composed by Joff Bush HOWKAP by Liam Brown and James Engwirda WARNING: This performance contains flashing lights and imagery which may not be suitable for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised. Liam and James’ HOWKAP aims to encapsulate the growth and decay of an organism over time within a synthetic environment. Inspired by artists such as Flume, Eprom, and Death Grips, three motives are utilised to direct the performance both visually and musically: life, growth, and decay. Life is the pulsating heartbeat that is represented through the use of rhythm and beat throughout the performance reflected in both the music and imagery. Growth is represented in the piece through the use of developing textures and timbres that gradually evolve as the performance progresses. Finally, decay becomes more prevalent as the piece continues to develop with layers of out of place sounds, glitches, noise and non-musical elements. The culmination of these elements continue to reflect the ideology and motives of life, growth, and decay. This performance embarks the audience on a journey that reflects the grandeur of a passing moment and a different perspective and interpretation of the fragility of life. This performance utilises specific musical elements to audibly describe and demonstrate the emotions and messages portrayed throughout the piece. The use of structure is incredibly important to the story-telling of our concept as there is a clear start, progression and end to the musical journey. This is represented through ambient and atmospheric sections that evolve slowly over the period of the piece that each time they are visited grow more depth and nuance to signify the concept of life and growth. The use of timbre, rhythm and tonality are key elements in defining the concept of decay in our performance. This is demonstrated through various hard hitting and ambitious drops that centre around the use of syncopated rhythms, heavy and distorted digital synthesis and also incorporating a variety of recurring musical phrases to continue to signify the eventual decay of the music. This will all lead to a moment where all the music gets torn apart by various glitch effects.
Visually, there are three main elements that mirror the motives that direct the performance. Life is demonstrated by a red ball (a seed), where its actions follow that of the music. This element is designed to dance and to be filled with life. Growth is shown in various ways. Early on, it is demonstrated by a flower that cradles and supports the red ball. Later on however, timelapse footage of flowers blooming is used during atmospheric sections to allow the audience to take a moment to appreciate growth and life while the textures of the music evolve. Finally, imagery of a flower will be manipulated to extreme extents to visualise the decay (or in this case, destruction) of life. These glitched visuals will be manipulated further alongside the various glitch effects mentioned earlier. Vividly by Remi Raymond and Cameron Bryer Vividly is an original piece of music exploiting the possibilities of cross-genre creativity, in correspondence with colour schematic visuals for a truly sensory experience. A massive driver behind the creation of our performance is audience engagement, and within this, providing a clear link between the visuals and the sound for a truly immersive experience. Artists FKJ, Composerly and Tom Misch were clear inspirers throughout the music-making process, with FKJ & Tom Miche’s use of Ableton Live to play and loop instrumentals in real time. The Track ‘Losing my Way’ Performed by Tom Misch and FKJ, clearly exploits this realm of making-music, with both musicians working off one another to create a performance in real time, through the use of music technology. Furthermore, through a combination of Jazz and Electronic production the performance will push through pre-conceived barriers to create a new musical fusion, using hybrid-acoustic instruments including Bass, Guitar, Keyboard and Sampled Drums. Through this, we will create a sonically engaging performance with visuals to flow throughout the piece, gluing the different components of the together. A key track of influence in this regard is ‘Man Behind The Slaughter’ (Electro Swing Version) by Composerily, which has a clear use of genre fusion and compatibility with elements of Jazz music (including harmony, and melody) fused with elements of electronic music (Percussion, Sound timbres and textures). Compositionally, Ableton Live will be used to loop the song but cohesively link to the visuals that are rendered through touch designer. We will take advantage of looping techniques, building the song to a climax and then create differences in sound textures by removing and adding layers. Ultimately, this is what keeps the audience engaged - not only are we looping in real time, but within this we will further be creating the structure of the song simultaneously. Visually, our aesthetic will emotionally represent the music to create a full immersive experience, and we will utilise a range of colour schemes to portray the fluid structure of the music. Furthermore, will build visual elements upon one another to generate a full image that can be altered with the music, working in-hand with one another to create music and visuals simultaneously. Building on this, our visual aesthetic will metaphorically mirror a chameleon, which changes colour in reaction to the environment of surrounding. Our piece of music will ultimately mirror this, fluidly changing colour schemes and textures in correspondence with different emotions, sections, and sonically clear moments within the music. Flume’s ‘Hi This Is Flume’ [Mixtape Visualiser] illustrates our ocular intent, and in particular (at 31:16 min/sec) the implementation of colour and shapes. Additionally, Flume’s ‘Rushing Back (feat. Vera Blue)’ visuals create contrasting colour schemes and flowing particles to mirror the sonic atmosphere. The use
of flowing particles in this clearly inspired our visual intent, along with the utilisation of changing colour palettes. Ultimately, our music and visuals within the performance will be used as a simultaneous vehicle to convey the emotion of sound within our performance. We hope you enjoy. Somnambulant by Michael Webb and Brendan Cardiff Michael and Brendan’s audio-visual experience, Somnambulant, couples hallucinogenic visual structures and architectures with hypnotic rhythms in an attempt to immerse the listener within a novel aesthetic environment. Taking homage from psychedelic culture, Michael and Brendan’s composition invites its audience into an artistic situation in which the senses are insighted to a point of numbing sensation. Synergising visuals and music, Somnambulant centres around the consistent presentation of rhythmic motifs articulated by instruments typical of techno idioms, including kick, snare and hihat. Although, significant consideration has been undergone in order to sculpt the timbre of these instruments to fit the broader aesthetic agenda of the composition. Technically, Michael and Brendan’s performance operates through the simple, yet effective, interaction between Ableton and Touch Designer, with the former sending MIDI data to Touch Designer. This data is mapped to certain parameters, creating an explicit visual cue that indexes the dialogue between the two programs, i.e. the sound and the visuals. Formally and dynamically, the composition takes the listener through several peaks and troughs, with each section occupying its own formal weight and significance. This structure and form affords significant room for improvisation, as there are merely five distinct sections, during which both Michael and Brendan have freedom and scope to develop the performance as they so choose. These sections consist of a fade in and development, an initial climax, a second developmental section, a final climax, and finally a fade out. Dynamic changes within these sections are afforded through the use of a Novation Launchkey MIDI controller, with various sonic parameters available for control and manipulation. More specifically, considered attention was paid to carving out the spectral and spatial makeup of the composition, with both being controlled live through various processes including equalisation and reverberation sends. Michael’s role in the performance centre around composing the visuals, with the aim to create glitchy and wavy audio spectrum type imagery that gave the viewer a psychedelic feel. He took inspiration from various electronic gigs he had attended in the past, not particularly from the visuals themself but more so on how the visuals made him feel at the time. Michael aims to give the audience a similarly relaxing feeling through the visuality of the performance. Brendan’s role in the composition was centred mainly around the musical composition, taking inspiration from techno artists such as Ame and Ben Bohmer, as well as from the minimalistic and systematic approaches of audio-visual artists Ryoji Ikeda and Alva Noto. Utilising the breadth of instruments and samples available in Ableton Live, Brendan employed these sound sources and arranged the composition via MIDI sequencing, all triggered and manipulated live via the Novation Launchkey MIDI controller. Focusing on timbral simplicity, Brendan’s sound design allows the piece’s form and dynamic development to take the listener through their intended aesthetic journey.