Technology Journal Week 13 Submission

Workshop with David Harris.

Steve Reich



Electric Counterpoint 1987

Movement 2. -Fast
Pat Matheny on guitar



This was a minimalist piece with constant repeating of a theme that other instruments and sounds were layered and in turn de-layered on top of. The harmony in the piece was really quite incredible. This style of piece gave the guitar a unique timbre in how it sat amongst the other sounds.

Movement 3. -After the War.

Was written for recorded quartet, live quartet, recorded train calls (voice,) and recorded train whistles. It was quite incredible piece. It had several sections and at the end of each section, one or more of the instruments in the quartet would introduce a different theme over the top of the end of the last section. It seemed slightly out of place when introduced but when it moved into the next section properly it was a powerful transition. I really liked the piece, the recorded sounds of trains and voice were done very well so as they didn't clutter the piece.

Tristram Cary



Soft Walls 1986



Written on a Synclavier synthesiser. It made use of many different sounds and 'pads.' I liked the way it would have many sections going and then introduce a certain sound that would lead the music into a different section of the piece; much in the same way that the instruments in the quartet of Steve Reich's 'after the war' did. Overall it sounded more like a study then an actual piece of music though.

Steam Music

Comprising solely of train noises overlayed on top of each other, you would first assume that this piece would be very monotonous. Instead it is incredibly haunting and compelling. It almost sounds as though it is in an oriental scale. The piece becomes more active as more and more sounds are meshed together and the volume increases until it fades away again at the end of the piece to the original skeleton of the piece.

Pink Floyd
'Interstellar Overdrive' From 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn 1966



David Harris described this piece as there first experimentations into 'weird' music. It begins sounding like typical rock, but quickly descends into a chaotic amalgamation of 'musical sounds.' There is a brief moment where it returns to 'normality' before ending once again in controlled 'chaos.' The piece is basically a controlled deconstruction of the music. I liked it but felt it went on a bit to long at points. I think it's one of those pieces you need to listen to in the right mood, which I wasn't.

Audio Arts

"Psycho Physical Mixing"

This class was especially enlightening. Although some concepts I had covered in C4, it was good to have a re-fresh and the whole concept was expanded upon in much greater detail. The use of amplitude, frequency, panning and FX to give body to a mix and give instruments and sounds there own space was the topic of the lesson this week.

Creative Computing

De-referencing sound from its source and the concepts and 'how to' was the focus of the lesson this week. The techniques presented particularly using one sound to 'play' another were awesome and I think I'm going to find them invaluable for the 'Musique concrete' assignment and indeed for many other pieces I work on in the future.






Picture References(In order of appearance)

#1 unknown. "Steve Reich." Steve Reich Website. 2006. http://www.stevereich.com/ (8 June 2006).

#2 Amazon.com. "Different Trains/Electronic counterpoint/Kronos Quartet/Pat Matheny." Amazon music catalogue. 2006 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005IYU/002-9078028-8563211?v=glance&n=5174 (8 June 2006).

#3 Tristram, Cary. "Tristram Cary." Tristram Cary homepage. 2006. http://users.senet.com.au/~trisc/ (8 June 2006).

#4 Warren, Burt. "Soundings." Tall Poppies Records. 2006. http://members.iinet.net.au/~tallpoppies@iinet.net.au/index.cgi?tp=cd&val=139 (8 June 2006).