Minimal Textured Sound Scapes - Anyone making them?

Nightrider · Post by **Nightrider** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:17 am

I've been making what I call textured sound scapes. Basically comprised of little to no rhythm and all made from field recordings. I tend to manipulate the sound source more than just layering on a heap of effects.

Anyone else working on similar stuff??

Here some sampple of mine;
http://www.users.on.net/~nightrider/Osaka_Subway.mp3
http://www.users.on.net/~nightrider/Woof.mp3
http://www.users.on.net/~nightrider/Fly.mp3

Any feedback is welcome

Semirk · Post by **Semirk** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:02 am

Hey,

I've had a listen to Osaka Subway, will listen to the other two tomorrow as have not had a chance yet. It's definitely a very interesting concewpt on music, not one i've come across before but it's great to hear new and original ideas.

Its good stuff, definitely takes you on a journey. My main interest though is on how you made it and what went into making it. Could you provide me with a bit of info on the please?

Nightrider · Post by **Nightrider** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:27 am

The tracks provided above are extracts from live recordings with only some minor mastering of volume levels are the initial recording. I am using Ableton Live. I start with a bunch of field recordings ranging from just a solid 8 mintue recording of an area or something more direct like my mother saying something or my dog barking.

I take these into live and manipulate them. It ranges from loop to loop and some never even work so I'll disregard them. I often turn on complex, textured or repithch warping and slow them up by 50%-75%. I use a small amount of reverb or simple/grain delay, basically I play with them changing the tempo and octave and sometimes I can get a loop I'm happy with quickly but sometimes it can take a while. I build up a set of 10-20 loopf for a 30 minute set.

Using a Behringer BCR2000 I fade loops in and out at varied speeds and also control their position within a loop with the midi controller. Every time I play a series of loop it's always different with little to no automation used, just my handing. I also have one of the encoder knobs set to the master tempo ranging from 60bpm to 100bpm. I generally have a bunch of non-audio voice samples available that have a simple delay added that I use from time to time.

I work in themes depending on where the basis of the sounds have come from. I tend to think about them more as soundscapes than music, areas that are made of sound.

Any other questions?

forcesupreme · Post by **forcesupreme** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:39 pm

Sounds cool. Creeping dark sounds. I like it! Would be perfect for a short film or something... Reminds me a bit of some old Zombie movies, George Romero style

I do have one soundscape track:
http://bitpress.nl/~peter/docs/mp3/nano ... age001.m3u

But i did'nt record all samples myself. I've edited existing samples for this one. Used alot of ringmodulation and bitcrushers...

Nightrider · Post by **Nightrider** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:09 pm

I recently finished this track.

Any constructive feedback would be appreciated.

http://www.users.on.net/~nightrider/Textures2.mp3

the enthusiast · Post by **the enthusiast** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:55 am

funny this topic came up. actually my main musical project is devoted to minimal soundscapes and the like. enjoy:

www.myspace.com/northerncanada

cheers.
dec.

mini bop · Post by **mini bop** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:53 am

yeah dope stuff.. sounds like ufonaute.

...this stuff gets pretty popular over in japan and china yeah???

the enthusiast · Post by **the enthusiast** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:44 pm

mini bop wrote:yeah dope stuff.. sounds like ufonaute.

...this stuff gets pretty popular over in japan and china yeah???

oh yeah, japan for sure. new york is also a hot spot for this kinda music. check out www.12k.com for the best out there.

cheers.