Week 13 - Spiel, Pilfer and Cary Controversy

As the semester comes to a close, and assignments close in all around me, I stop to ponder the times I’ve had. Then I keep going with my assignments.

Dirty Harry was in fine form today- I am curious if these LP’s that he brings in are in fact his own. Steve Reich “Electric Counterpoint” (1987) was the first meal served, and was quite enjoyable. I have asked several people to explain counterpoint to me, and every answer is different, as is every piece of music that considers itself counterpoint. There is a ‘bubblegum punk’ band called “Fall Out Boy”, who supposedly use counterpoint in their songs. Their songs sound like crap. Anyway, Pat Methany played guitar for this piece. Good on him.

Next was Tristram Cary “Soft Walls” (1980), which was a vast sound scape of mediocre beeps. I’m sure in 1980 it was ‘radical’, but I wasn’t even born yet. “Ooh, but he’s a guy from our uni.” So what, I can’t have an opinion? I could do something like that today in 2 hours max. I know, 1980 etc., my point is if I composed a piece of music, I would want technology to move on, in affect making my work obsolete, and I wouldn’t expect any future person to find it relevant to their time. Very little of this ‘abstract electronica’ is timeless, as evolution is an integral part of the genre. Each piece is merely a stepping stone to the next, and while we can appreciatively look at the footprints left behind with a retrospective tear in our eye, it doesn’t change the fact that it rarely sounds good today. For those “But in 1980 is was really difficult” people: we need to keep a fresh mind, one capable of accepting and utilising new technologies, and not weighed down with “In MY day we had to use a blade and reel-to-reel tape, and we had to do it while walking barefoot on broken glass in -4C rain.” I’ll book your nursing home for you.

I haven't had much sleep…

Always a fan of Pink Floyd, “Interstellar Overdrive” (1966) was their first experimental song. This is quite noticeable, as the ‘experimental’ part, including an organ and various synthesisers, are huddled in amongst Floydian guitars, as if they are too scared to be in the song alone. To quote Dirty Harry: “They were the earliest band to go strange.” Steve Reich popped in for another visit, this time with “After the War” (1988). I have consistently enjoyed any piece played by the Kronos Quartet, and this was no exception. The strings mimicked voices that simulate a speaker on a train, and turned the everyday speech into a musical motif. With each new vocal excerpt or train sound, the strings would follow suit, with enjoyable consequences. Finally, we listened to Tristram Cary’s “Steam Music” (1978). Ironic that after my spiel about ‘ignoring the old days’, Tristram manages to rip off Pierre Schaeffer’s pioneering composition “Etude aux Chemins de Fer" (Railroad Study).

Audio Arts(2) revolved around psychophysical mixing. Some great tips were imparted, especially delay tricks using panning, and ‘windowing’, which I have already started applying to my project.

Creative computing (3) involved using a noise gate in ProTools and routing a signal through the side-chain input.(4) I’m sure this will be of great use to me in the future, perhaps when I do my creative computing major project, but for now I am content with remaining confused about it.

Spiel and pilfer are cool words, aren’t they?

1. David Harris. “Music Technology Workshop: Listening Session.” Lecture presented at Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 8/06/2006.

2. Christian Haines. “Audio Arts: Psychophysical Mixing.” Practical class presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 6/06/2006.

3. Christian Haines. “Creative Computing: ProTools Gates.” Practical class presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 8/06/2006.

4. John Delaney, “Music Technology Journal - Week 13” Intangent http://intangent.blogspot.com (accessed 8/6/06)

A final cheers to John “Kitchen Aid” Delaney. Your blogs throughout this semester have been a great source to pilfer references, as well as general reminders of what we did in CC and AA. Thanks everyone for your comments, except for you Bach, you old geezer.

Dear Blogger,

Thanks for nothing. You made blogging more difficult than licking your own elbow. I hope you've had fun letting me upload pictures then not giving me the html text.

Ben xxx