Constructed Sound Critique- 03/29/10

Kelsey: sounds like an obnoxious old elevator going up and down with a weird demonic spirit riding in it. Perhaps the beeping is the sound of the passing floor. Reminds me of the Tower of Terror, especially with the broken up, repetitive elevator music. Makes me feel uneasy, which is what I think she was going for. Nice consistency.

Ryan: couldn't relate he space of the elevator or the hallway with this track. I feel like there is too much experimentation with this sound that it just ends up sounding random. Perhaps I misunderstood the intent with the way the class was divided into groups to listen to the sound.

Emily: Classic and R&B remix. Very Hectic. Like a broken record, both old school, classic and new school, hip-hop. I get a sense of imbalance and chaos. Momentary soundtrack to two individuals crazy lifestyles from different eras. Played off of last fragmented sound piece and took it to a different level.

Will: Neighborhood/Classroom. The narration of what is in an individuals head. Every new "moment" in the track justifies or touches base on the previous "moment".

Joel: Also very similar to previous fragmented sound project. Took a cliche, scary sound, and made it even creepier, which I didn't think was possible. The location (hallway) that the sound was heard in added to that effect as well. Very humorous too with the "Im alive" line. Great job.

Gaby: Can tell that you used sound from previous Betty Boop song, but more distorted, which was an even better choice! Has that child-like, murder story, "I'm gonna getcha", feel to it.

Leslie: Firecracker-like noises is was stood out to be the most. Was consistently inconsistent. Some silence, but not calm silence. Random noises. Don't let the sun explode! HaHa. Loved it!

KT: Reminds me of someone in mourning. Feels like a scene from Shutter Island, when the kids were killed in the lake. A peaceful tune to tell a sad story. Tastefully squeamish for me. I like this very much, maybe because I just saw the movie.

Audacity lesson-Constructed Sound Project

• import audio at 44100
• order- split stereo track
• order-make stereo track- brings both back together
• can create key frames through out to adjust audio
• bottom scale controls left and right sound
• can create sound and export to right, and another one for left. import both separately and then export together
• effect-apply effect-delay time ....
• high pass and low pass filter can cut frequency on various levels
• when finished-export as WAV-listen and check project

What has blown my mind lately!

This is a bit of a long video, but so worth watching. This is where we are at with progression in medical science. Its AMAZING!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!

Fragmented Sound Critique

Olga: 1. Voices dominate the music in the background. Yet there is a part where the music is able to be heard and appreciated as well. I liked it a lot because the various voices overlapped nicely with great repetition and seemed to be preaching the same thing. 2. Nice subtle ringing towards the end pulling the sweet bird sounds into the chaos.

Will: The two sound pieces go together. Very catchy and repetitive in one, very hip and trendy beat box in the other. I feel like less voices make first work strong. I like the warfare idea as well. Very nice job!

Kirstin Critical Essay- Joe Wright

• Directed movies like : Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, The Soloist, and more.

Focusing and critiquing three scenes from Pride and Prejudice 2005:

1. Woman, Elizabeth, walking through sunny country and town reading and admiring surroundings. Black bird plays every time this character enters a scene. Wright only used natural lighting for this film along with natural sound. So if you hear piano, someone is playing piano near by, and same with nature.
2. (Scene 11) Great display of dramatic cuts. Elizabeth is standing on cliff with wind blowing dress and hair. Uses all real on site settings, no green screen. Then scene switches to family under a tree eating lunch. Shows great scenery. Shows free deer running in contrast with tamed horses strapped to a carriage.
3. (Beginning of very last scene) Sunrise scene. Shows Elizabeth watching man walk through field totally in love. Scene only shot once in 15 minutes because of the quick sunrise. Interesting angles with background sun lighting.

Leslie Critical Essay- William Wegman

Analyzing "Treat Bottle" 1972:

Most known for his works with his dog Manray. In this video, Wegman places bottle on ground, with doggie treat inside. Dog struggles to get it out, sliding the bottle around the room. Dog finally picks up bottle with mouth but places it back on the floor. Still hasn't gotten the treat. Finally the bottle breaks and dog finally gets treat. The narrative is somewhat suspenseful and persuades the audience to cheer for the dog. The environment and space that Wegman creates leaves us unable to help the dog yet we continue to watch the video. The contrast of the white walls and cement floor allows the audience to focus mainly on the dog and his task.

The fact that we see Wegman in the beginning of the video when he unscrews the bottle cap, it is easy to find it to be cruel that he is there watching the dog struggle to get the treat and then risk being cut from the broken glass. Represents human orders of hierarchy. Video brings out much emotion in audience. I really enjoyed this video.

(watch middle of the video)

Fragmented Sound Critique

Emily: 1. hip hop bop feeling, very busy in the background. underlaying voices are a nice mix, but they soon become apart of the noise. easy to detect a repetition and chaos in the bop sound. 2. more classical music/rmb style. also a lot of repetition. can definitely sense repetition. I like this one more because there is a better sense of rhythm.

Ryan: 1. I like the slow beginning, makes me excited for what is to come. abrupt stop is interesting. very musical, wish there were more variations of sounds or voices. couldn't tell if it was chaotic, representing environment, or repetition. 2. this I can definitely tell that there is a bigger sense of repetition. I like this one a lot!!! I feel as if the audio is being addressed to me. I felt involved. was busy, but it worked.

Joel: 1. techno beat is catchy but cliche. good choice to have a sudden break up so that it catches the audience off guard and pulls them in. not boring. good use of repetition. 2. this was also a cliche horror movie sound. it could have been better if it was more of a story, maybe have creepy sound at first and transition to an even more annoying/awesome sound.

Kelsey: 1. sudden out burst of sound is refreshing. sounds like a sports announcer on crack, but in a good way. this piece is full of energy. great use of repetition. 2. slower start is a nice contrast to the first sound bit. trippy. makes me imagine someone in a dream like state of mind after being tortured.

Leslie: 1. great sense of repetition. humorous with the use of content. 2. the sound of harsh rain is irritating rather than soothing, but in a good way, because the random thunder like sound catches me off guard and its not boring. :]

Nicole: 1. Very repetitive. I found it humorous because it reminded me of the obsession people have with the Twitter networking site. The last random twitter at the end was a perfect addition to the humor. 2. very chaotic. i feel like its a preacher in a church giving a sermon with the chorus in the background.

Jim (dork): 1. I like the combination of religious chants and a preacher as the dominant voice. good use of repetition. surprisingly has a melody and rhythm to it. 2. my baby jabberwocky! beware! yes, loved it. the topic itself is a beastly thing to think about, and i got chills listening to all of the voices saying to the poem. i like how they started off saying different lines in the poem and then ended up on the same one.

Kirstin: 1. techno extreme. nice repetition. 2. quite relaxing with beach wave sounds. faint haunted feeling.

KT: 1. I get an old movie type opera scene with this. Maybe the old Heidi movie? simplistic bliss 2. absolutely and distinctly chaotic. i love the erie, high pitched sounds.

Gaby: 1. Cutie patootie Betty Boop REMIX!! Catchy with great repetition. Simple and strong at the same time. 2. Erie, slow, morphing sounds. Dazed-like hypnosis feel. I like the distortion of voices at the end with the fade out.

Sara: 1. nice repetition. rhythmic. i like the overlay of "saw you in a dream" with the busy noise in the back. 2. Also rythmic. Dream-like, banjo playing, good time memories! exaggerated sound, of spanish and two different cultures.

Constructed Sound Project Idea

Im actually excited about this project. Its an extension of the fragmented sound project but we have to create an environment. Im excited because I find sound so much more powerful when I can close my eyes and imagine being in a different location. As far as what Im going to do personally, Im not sure yet, but I'll keep you up to date.

Stockhausen Reading: Moment Forming & Momente

In this reading, Stockhausen explains his thought process as well as his tips for Momente, a composition he started in 1961, and for our own moment forming ideas. To begin with, relating to music, when sounds occupy a particular region, or maintain an average speed, etc.-a moment is happening. A moment is made up of constant characters, and when they change, a new moment begins. If they change slowly, the new moment occurs as the old one continues. There are 3 groups of moments that sum up a work: 1. M-moments, where melody predominates, with an emphasis on heterophony (articulating sound-events around a line) 2. K-moments, sound quality characterized by everything that functions as components of a complex sound. 3. D: duration, principals of measured duration of different lengths gives rise to silence and polyphony. What's interesting is that once something is cut, the pieces can be separated & superimposed which produces polyphony. Having illustrated the groups as much as possible, one can now build up a great deal of different generations of inter-relating moments, and can control how much they have in common.

There are also I-moments to be combined with the groups which are very vague, static, directionless moments. You can imagine how the combos can be created from the various elements. The strongest moment is the one which takes and gives the least. The weakest is the one you can hardly recognize for itself. The internal structure of a moment also applies to the material selected and the notion reflects the internal relationships.

The part I found most engaging was when Stockhausen mentioned that he gives his male choir members a list of seven nonsense syllables and every member chooses a specified number to vocalize during a given number of seconds while the solo soprano sings, whenever they feel like it. This ushers to a controlled randomness of distribution of those syllables in time and order. So the outcome is random for both the conductor and the audience.

Fragmented Sound-Idea

Im going to try to mix up the ideas people have about different languages: French and German. Most people think that the German language is harsh and ugly, and French is the language of love. In an abstract way, Im going to make a nice sounding audio bit with use of repetition for German, and a hectic annoying one for French.

DVD Studio

• click advance setting
• Class needs to create DVD with menu and one track
• drag movie file into asset section
• control-click-first play
• click & drag movie into track
• movie shows up in menu window
• in shapes, drag over simple button into menu
• drag video track into button
• highlight & click button & check motion in bottom right window
• simulate DVD
• track-end jump- menus-menu one-simulate
• remote ctrl-menu button-back to menu
• stick in DVD-burn