Tiny Layers, Meta Landscapes (#disquiet0217-formsong) by Nate Trier

I've been too busy for the Disquiet projects lately and missing them a lot, so this project seemed like a perfect way to catch up because I could do three weeks' worth of projects at once!

To make the rhythm track as described in disquiet project #125, I made five "tiny" sounds (basically thinking of sounds I could make in the early morning that wouldn't bother anybody): rustling tissue paper, scissors cutting paper, etc.)

I put the samples into Ableton and used follow actions to make the sounds generate spontaneous rhythms. I picked the ones that were, abstractly speaking, funkiest, and placed them to follow each other (we are definitely not in 4/4 time!)

To make the thin tones as described in Disquiet Junto project #216, I reached for the thinnest sounds I know - the very highest notes on my accordion played incredibly quietly. I muted the rhythm track and played long tones that followed the visual layout of the drum track. I used half-steps to try to generate some beating, but I was playing so quietly that the second tone didn't necessarily sound as soon as I pressed its key. Ok, happy accidents!

Then I structured it into intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-outro. In true pop fashion, I added a little extra ear candy for the second verse (used Ableton's "audio-to-MIDI" function on the accordion and then picked a VST instrument with a similarly thin timbre). I also added some very light processing to the rhythm track for the bridge.

The picture is my cat, right after he knocked over my accordion case, which knocked over a metal folding chair, which fell onto the door and closed it just as he was trying to flee through the doorway, which caused him to jump in terror and land on the printer, which...anyway, this was where he was cowering as I finished this track. Not his best night. Maybe being internet-famous will cheer him up.

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More on this 217th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Take an existing assemblage of rhythm and tone and turn it into verse/chorus/verse”) at:

http://disquiet.com/0217/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

The image associated with this project is from the Flickr account tanakawho, used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/4fh7Ly

By Marc Weidenbaum