Forum Name: Cuckoo
Artist Name: Dale J Perkins

track Name: Dark Bird

Overview
Dark Bird is one of three works that explore the paralinguistic qualities of the human voice (the others being Swan Song and Cuckoo-borough). It is an experimental piece of electronica that integrates electroacoustic sonic transformations, glitch-based artefacts, chronometric rhythm, human beat boxing and raw emotion that is derived through the paralinguistic qualities of the voice. The majority of the sonic materials were taken from the voice of Maria Jardardottir (www.maria_jardardottir.com) who specialises in experimental vocal improvisation (exceptions are the bass pedal drone and harmonic support materials near the beginning and end of the piece. These were created from filtered white noise using filter maps). Dark Bird primarily focuses on the characteristics of the voice that relate to the externalisation of ‘misery’, ‘suffering’ and ‘unhappiness’. However, no words are used from any established language. However, from a semantic point-of-view they are likely to be perceived as emphatic. Further to this, chronometric rhythms are derived from the vocal materials to drive the piece forward. The piece was conceived and composed in 5.1-surround sound and the centre channel acts as the stage for the main, largely untreated, vocal materials to address the audience. Dark Bird makes use of technical processes such as spectral freezing, the creation and application of bespoke filter banks, wave-cycle distortion techniques and gated rhythms, along with spectral morphing procedures designed by the composer using tools accessible through the ‘Composers’ Desktop Project’ software (CDP). Other procedures have been accessed through a variety of real and non-real time applications that are unique and innovative in their design and approach to sonic transformation and manipulation. The majority of Dark Bird has been produced with the ‘CDP’ software and the ‘Sound Loom’ graphic interface (designed by Trevor Wishart).

Compositional Materials
The aesthetic decision-making process regarding the types of sonic materials used, largely dictated the development of Dark Bird. Materials were selected because of their sonic qualities and paralinguistic1 features. Materials were generated by an experimental vocal improviser and were recorded under the direction of the composer in a multi-track recording studio environment. The initial materials were produced through improvisations based on text score that described emotions and the potential expressions of emotions. The resulting improvised materials were rich in gestural and paralinguistic features.

Technique and Methodology

Transformation

Dark Bird was created in a computer environment through the governance of sonic parameters along with the ability to organise and structure materials at different levels of the composition process. The intervention and alteration of sonic gesture on individual sound sources was an important aspect for Dark Bird. This may be seen as working on the microscopic elements, in which a number of sound transformations contribute to achieving an expressive unit of sound (for example the opening vocal transformation). The opening makes use of an expressive unit that includes pitch and amplitude being altered independently over time through ‘dynamically’2 variable frequency and amplitude modulation processes. This methodology was applied to an extended vocal motif that was increased in length by freezing the material at an appropriate point in time for a fixed duration. Spectral freezing was also applied to other vocal motifs to produce extended phrases that terminate in ‘hung’ gestures. All sound manipulation techniques for such transformations were carried out in the Composer’s Desktop Project software environment by building instruments made of individual processes (for example, frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, FFT analysis and spectral manipulation). I describe this form of transformation as ‘dynamic’ since the musical phrase in question evolves over time in a continuous and subtle way to lead a listener from a source point that has been established to a goal point.

Tonal and Harmonic Support

Dark Bird makes use of tonal centres. In order to reinforce such centres, white noise sources were filtered with filter-bank maps that were designed in the ‘CDP’ environment using high ‘Q’ settings and applying harmonics to the frequency centres. This generated materials that are essentially striated pitch materials produced from dense materials with extreme spectral tessitura.

Chronometric Organisation

Dark Bird uses strategies for rhythmic organisation. The main repetitive percussive element was initially derived through the analysis of a vocal motif’s constituent rhythmic elements. These were detected using a ‘grain’ manipulation programme with user-defined parameters that can be set to locate repetitious elements within recordings of the voice (for example, rolled ‘r’ sounds). The selected result was split into its constant elements using Digital Performer’s3 beat detection engine and were equalised to bring out their salient qualities (for example sibilance, attacks etc…) before being reassembled at a selected tempo. In addition, vocal fragments were spectrally frozen to create continuous pitches. Pattern gates were then applied to create pitched rhythms in a 5.1 setting.

Glitch Elements

The micro glitch events were created with a combination of an audio gate side chain facility and ‘bit crusher’ (from the ‘PSP Nitro’ plug-in). Short, randomised fragments of audio were used to trigger (using the side chain input) an audio gate, which was applied to spectrally frozen vocal materials. In addition, the ‘bit crusher’ was automated to ‘dynamically’ move between bit depths over time. This was coupled with a threshold parameter so that the ‘bit crusher only worked intermittently. The results were equalised at different settings with a low-pass filter that had a high resonance setting.

Surround Sound

Dark Bird was conceived and composed in 5.1-surround sound. While the left, right and surround monitors articulate that majority of sound materials, the centre monitor is primarily used to articulate the largely unprocessed vocal improvisations. Here the audience is directly addressed by the main vocal that is arguably emphatic and demands attention from the audience. Thus, the centre speaker acts as a stage to present its message through non-lexical paralinguistic states.

Glossary

* Composers’ Desktop Project (Command led suite of programmes for sound manipulation and composition).

* Dynamic (a continually evolving audio process).

* Expressive Unit (potentially a phrase or extended transformation that has been created from manipulating its sonic parameters).

* Paralinguistic (Paralanguage – non-lexical component of communication by speech).

* Spectral Freezing (to freeze a sound at a moment in time).

* Sound Loom (Graphic Interface designed by Trevor Wishart for the Composers’ Desktop Project).

End Notes

1 The non-lexical elements of speech.
2 In this instance ‘dynamically’ refers to a continually changing process that can be perceived by the listener.
3 Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU).