Synth Study - Polarize
Synthesis - Ableton - Drum Species
Preliminaries:
Polarize is a short experimental work that stretches beyond what I usually compose in terms of style. This short synth study combines the use of synthesis, audio editing and drum species that all work with the modal harmonies.
Four Tet use an effective variation of a Hip-Hop drum species where the 16th beats provide harmony and rhythm. This gives the music propulsion that is effective, given the static harmonic movement (imitating glitch). This piece in particular has a simple yet subtle additive and subtractive process that is highly effective and a technique that I have transferred into my work.
Lindsey Stirling is a performer who uses electronics and drum-species to accompany the electric violin. The choreographed dance moves fit well with the house drum beat and although Polarise isn't a major section of my portfolio - this does gives some ideas for future work where I can merge these drum species to fit in with choreographed dance such as with students from GSA.
Throughout this study, I use a modified version of the hip-hop drum species alongside a wide range of rigs found in Guitar Rig 6 and Kontakt. Outlined below are the rigs I used and an explanation of what they do to the output.
Analog Sequencer - An analog sequencer consists of potentiometers and a pulse generator which steps through each of the potentiometers before cycling back to the beginning. In Guitar Rig 1 there are 16 of these potentiometers/steps that are tuned to provide a repetitive rhythmic motif that can be heard between 0:44 - 1:25.
Gater - A Gater controls the volume of an audio signal. In particular, it attenuates signals that register below the threshold volume in comparison to a compressor that attenuates above a threshold.
Bite - Bite is a bitcrusher and sample rate reducer that imitates the sounds of the early digital era, especially useful to fit in with the style of the study.
Dirt - Dirt is a distortion stompbox that is a variant of overdrive.
Here is an example of synthesis that is used in the pads sound - heard at 0:30 and in the ending passage. The combination of Ambient Haven (with low frequency oscillators producing square waves at random amplitudes) and Ambient Dub (with a suitable amount of noise added) creates a pad sound that is slightly noisy but blends well with the reverb from the violin.
Reflection:
The short study has provided opportunity to explore a new set of genres. They are out of my comfort zone, but I plan to explore how I can combine synthesis and drum species into classical works so that I can expand my compositional practice in future modules.
(449 words)