Recent interview with me at freemusicarchive.org on Creative Commons, Disquiet Junto, and more • Projects: Instagr/am/bient + LX(RMX): Lisbon Remixed • Key Topics: #sound-art, #classical, #generative • How to Submit for Review • Elsewhere: Twitter (Disquiet + Junto), SoundCloud (Disquiet + Junto).

Listening to art. Playing with audio. Sounding out technology. Composing in code.

tag: junto

Disquiet Junto Project 0072: Domestic Score

The Assignment: Make a domestic score from sounds recorded in your own home.

[ May 16, 2013 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

20130516-doorbell

Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.

This assignment was made in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, May 16, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, May 20, as the deadline.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0072: Domestic Score

This week’s project is based on field recordings of wherever it is that you live. The goal is to produce a relaxing score to your domestic life by employing noises that intrude on that life.

Step 1: Make a recording of your doorbell, or whatever noise it is that someone would make when announcing their arrival at your residence. If you don’t have a functioning doorbell, then, for example, record the sound of a knock on your door.

Step 2: Record between one and three additional sounds that intrude on your life: your phone’s ring, perhaps, or the alarm on your microwave oven.

Step 3: You will now have between one and four sounds recorded. Using those sounds as source material, compose a new, original piece of music that could easily be described as gentle or meditative. You can transform them as much as you choose, but each should in some way still be evident and recognizable in the mix. You cannot add any other sounds to the project.

Deadline: Monday, May 20, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your track should have a duration of between two and six minutes.

Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.

Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0072-domesticscore” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:

More on this 72nd Disquiet Junto project, which involves making a domestic score from sounds recorded in your own home, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/16/disquiet0072-domesticscore/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Image found via wikimedia.org.

[ Also tagged , / / Leave a comment ]

Disquiet Junto Project 0071: Wind Music

The Assignment: Create an original score to the trailer to Christine Knowlton's film about blind sailors.

[ May 9, 2013 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.

This week’s Disquiet Junto project is our first to employ video. It’s long been on my mind to do a video project, in which the participants would provide a score to pre-existing footage. I am sure this won’t be the last.

This assignment was made in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, May 9, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, May 13, as the deadline.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0071: Wind Music

This week’s project is straightforward. It is an exercise in scoring for video. The video is one minute and four seconds long. It is the trailer to a film now in development. The title of the film is Sense the Wind and the director is Christine Knowlton. The subject of the film is blind sailors. The fact that film is about people for whom hearing is especially important made it very attractive. The director is excited to hear, and see, what we come up with. As her @SenseTheWind Twitter feed states of the film: “Blind sailors race across open water, learning not to fear what they cannot see — on boats or on land.”

The source video is here. It has all the audio, but no music:

http://vimeo.com/65429113

Rules: The only restriction is that you should not employ any copyright-protected audio (i.e., source material), because the intent is for the director to select one of the tracks, potentially, to serve as the backing music for the trailer. And yes, you may certainly employ audio from the trailer as source material for your music.

Considerations: When working on this project, it is encouraged that you map out the trailer in advance of scoring, and take into consideration emotional/narrative beats, and the way its momentum builds.

Video Upload: If you have time, please also add your finished music to the trailer and upload the video to Vimeo (or another service of your choosing). Given the time involved, should you chose to upload the video, there is no firm deadline, though it would be nice if you could get it done by Wednesday, May 15, two days after the music is due.

Deadline: Monday, May 13, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your track will be equal to or less than the length of the trailer, which is four seconds over one minute.

Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.

Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0071-windmusic” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:

I give the director permission to use my music in the trailer for the film Sense the Wind for promotional purposes.

More on this 71st Disquiet Junto project, which involves creating a backing score for the trailer to the film Sense the Wind, about competitive blind sailing, directed by Christine Knowlton, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/09/disquiet0071-windmusic/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

More on the film at

http://www.sensethewind.com/

[ Also tagged , , / / Leave a comment ]

Disquiet Junto Project 0070: 2 Tones, 3 Beats

The Assignment: Create a single piece of music from two tones and three beats.

[ May 2, 2013 / Department: downstream / Comment: 1 ]

20130502-2tones3beats

Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.


This assignment was made in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, May 2, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, May 6, as the deadline.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0070: 2 Tones, 3 Beats

This week’s project is a minimalist enterprise. It is an attempt to probe the place where beats and tones merge.

Step 1: Determine the two notes (along the chromatic scale, from A to G#) that will be the focus of your recording. You can do this in one of two ways. It’s your choice which approach you employ. You can use a random-number generator, such as the one at http://goo.gl/1ZoEi, to provide an integer from 1 to 12. (You’ll need to do this twice; if you get the same number the second time, roll again — as it were — until you get a different number.) Or you can convert your own name into notes, using the first letter of your given name as one note and the first letter of your family name as the other note. To convert a letter higher than L, simply cycle through the scale again (i.e., L = G#, M = A, etc.). (And if your given and family names begin with the same letter, then continue through the letters in your family name until you come upon one that is different from the first letter of your given name.)

Step 2: Record those two notes separately. You can use a digital or analog instrument. It’s preferable that you use a different instrument for each of the two notes. Edit each recording so you have a version of it that is exactly one minute long (this might require some looping).

Step 3: Play back one of the notes and listen closely for its inherent pulse, to the shape of its waveform. Then layer a beat atop the note that matches the note’s pulse.

Step 4: Repeat the process in Step 3 for the other note.

Step 5: Combine the two tracks that resulted from Step 3 and Step 4 into a single track.

Step 6: Play back the combined, single track and listen closely for a pattern in the way that the waves and beats combine. Now record a third beat that highlights the pattern that you find most appealing or otherwise intriguing. This pattern might be a consistent rhythm, or it might be a series of select events.

Step 7: Combine the third beat with the track that resulted from Step 5 above. Your piece is now complete. Feel free to lightly edit it to allow for fade in and fade out. Do not add any other elements.

Deadline: Monday, May 6, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your track should have a duration of one minute.

Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.

Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0070-2tones3beats” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:

More on this 70th Disquiet Junto project, which involves creating a single piece of music from two tones and three beats, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/02/disquiet0070-2tones3beats/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

[ Also tagged / / Comment: 1 ]

Disquiet Junto Project 0069: The 4 Elements

The Assignment: Make music from field recordings of earth, water, air, and fire.

[ April 25, 2013 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

20130425-4elements

Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.

This assignment was made in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, April 25, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, April 29, as the deadline.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0069: The 4 Elements

This is a shared-sample project. Its theme is “The Four Elements.” The goal is to create a new piece of music by employing the following four source recordings, each of which is intended to represent one of the elements: earth, water, air, and fire. (Alternately, you can record your own source audio for any or all of the elements.) Your track should be be divided into four segments of roughly equal length, one for each element. Any two consecutive segments may overlap, but only briefly, up to three seconds. You can manipulate the source audio in any way you choose, but you cannot add any other source audio.

Earth: http://www.freesound.org/people/ABouch/sounds/174938/

Water: http://www.freesound.org/people/aesqe/sounds/39901/

Air: http://www.freesound.org/people/Bosk1/sounds/144083/

Fire: http://www.freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/3202/

Deadline: Monday, April 29, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your track should have a duration of between two minutes and five minutes.

Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.

Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0069-4elements” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information. Of course, edit/omit the source-audio text, should you decide to produce your own source recordings:

More on this 69th Disquiet Junto project, which involves creating a single piece of music from samples that represent each of the four elements, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/04/25/disquiet0069-4elements/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

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

All the source audio is from Freesound.org. The earth sample is by ABouch, the water by aesqe, the wind by Bosk1, and the fire by suonho:

Earth: http://www.freesound.org/people/ABouch/sounds/174938/

Water: http://www.freesound.org/people/aesqe/sounds/39901/

Wind: http://www.freesound.org/people/Bosk1/sounds/144083/

Fire: http://www.freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/3202/

Image via wikimedia.org

[ Also tagged , / / Leave a comment ]

Disquiet Junto F.A.Q.

Frequently asked questions about the communal music-making group

[ April 25, 2013 / Department: field notes / Leave a comment ]

This was last updated on 2013.04.25. New and edited information is marked with a delta symbol (Δ).

Q: What is the Disquiet Junto?
A: The Disquiet Junto is a group based on Soundcloud.com where musicians respond to weekly, fast-turnaround assignments to compose, record, and share new music. The idea is to use restraints as a springboard for creativity.

ΔQ: How long has the group been around?
A: The first Junto project began on the first Thursday of January 2012, and the series has continued weekly since then.

ΔQ: Is there a list of all the projects?
A: Yes. Here: “Disquiet Junto Project List.”

ΔQ: Is there an email list for announcements?
A: Yes. To subscribe and unsubscribe, go to: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto.

ΔQ: How does the group work?
A: A project is announced each Thursday — usually in the afternoon or early evening, California time — and it is due the following Monday by 11:59pm (that’s 11:59pm wherever you happen to be). You upload your track to your Soundcloud account. Then you associate it with the Junto group. And you include the appropriate tag with the track, as delineated in the project’s instructions, and include that tag in the name of the track (the tag is the word “Disquiet” followed by a four-digit number followed by a hyphen followed by a keyword, such as “Disquiet0003-glass” — again, the number and keyword are provided as part of the assignment). Be sure to click the “Add to group” button below your track’s waveform, and select the Disquiet Junto group.

ΔQ: Why isn’t my track showing up in the Junto group?
A: Read the previous question and follow those directions. If that doesn’t work, get in touch with the group’s founder and moderator, Marc Weidenbaum, at marc@disquiet.com.

Q: Should I provide any additional information?
A: Yes, please. Please include with your uploaded track some description of both (1) the compositional approach you had undertaken, as well as (2) the equipment and process you employed to achieve it.

Q: Do I need to participate every week?
A: Gosh no. There is no intent to pressure anyone to do any more than they have time for.

Q: Do I need to do this alone?
A: These can be group projects, certainly. You needn’t work by yourself, though that appears to be the most common approach by Junto members. (And there will be some projects in which collaboration is actively required.)

Q: What is a “junto”?
A: The word comes from the name of a society that Benjamin Franklin formed in Philadelphia during the early 1700s as “a structured forum of mutual improvement.”

Q: What is “electronic music”?
A: Anything you want it to be. Drones, beats, drones with beats, abstract, melodic, tuneful, discordant, phonographic, synthesized. Go for it.

Q: Does my track have to be “ambient”?
A: No, not by any means. That mode, broadly defined, will likely be a not uncommon approach for participants, but it won’t be the only one.

Q: Is there any restriction on length?
A: Not necessarily. It depends on the project. Some will stipulate length. Others won’t.

Q: Do I have to set my track to be downloadable?
A: You don’t have to, but it would be appreciated. Also, some assignments may involve remixing previous project entries, and if your track isn’t downloadable, it won’t be easily remix-able.

Q: Can I post more than one track for a project?
A: No, please. Just focus your efforts on one track. (That said, there may be occasional Junto projects for which you will be asked to do more than one track, but that will be part of a specific assignment.)

ΔQ: How can I communicate with other Junto people off of Soundcloud?
There’s a lot of Junto activity on Twitter. There is also a discussion tab at the group’s Soundcloud page. There will likely be a forum added to Disquiet.com in the near future.

Q: Are those really the only questions?
A: So far.

Q: What if I have more questions?
A: Get in touch with Disquiet Junto founder Marc Weidenbaum, at marc@disquiet.com.

[ Tag: / Leave a comment ]