one minute past midnight

“Midnight Frames”

This is me learning about iOS apps by reworking audio recorded at midnight

April 20, 2016August 8, 2018 / By Marc Weidenbaum

This is a minute of sound recorded just past midnight and then subsequently reworked digitally:

The audio plays on three separate channels, the source tracks slightly out of sync, each channel being muted at random, with a little live, real-time human interaction on my part to nudge the listenability and sense of overall composition. That is, “human interaction” distinct from the human interaction involved in the process of setting up the whole random-mute system.

It’s an experiment in making something just using the iPad. The mixer is the iOS app AUM and the mute is being triggered in an iPad app called Xynthesizr. There is a bit of effects being implemented on the three channels. One is being lent an echoing depth, thanks to the Dahlia Delay app. One is getting lightly distorted, thanks to the Saffron Saturator app. And one is being lightly tweaked with some filters internal to the AUM app.

I have a lot to learn about all these apps. This began as me trying to get the AUM muting triggered by the Fugue Machine app, but that inter-app functionality evaded me for more than one channel. The Xynthesizr worked fairly smoothly, largely because someone introduced me to the MIDI Wrench app, which let me figure out the note values of what’s being emitted by Xynthesizr, so I could assign them directly to be interpreted as on/off signals by AUM. All of which said, I’m still fumbling about with the tools, finding my way. The image accompanying this track is a screenshot of the AUM app with the three channels in view:

File Apr 20, 9 27 53 AM

This is a reworking of a single minute of audio recorded by Forelight. The original track is titled “Midnight {disquiet0160-oneminutepastmidnight}.” It was part of the 160th weekly Disquiet Junto project. That 160th project was the first in an ongoing series, collectively titled One Minute Past Midnight, that explore nocturnal ambience.

The original source track by Forelight is at soundcloud.com/forelight.

More on the One Minute Past Midnight series here: oneminutepastmidnight.com.

Disquiet Junto Project 0211: Midnight Inside Out

â€¨The Assignment: Shift between the midnight sounds both within and beyond a physical structure, preferably your home.

January 14, 2016January 14, 2016 / By Marc Weidenbaum

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Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com and at disquiet.com/junto, 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. There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.

Tracks will be added to this playlist for the duration of the project:

This project was posted at noon, California time, on Thursday, January 14, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, January 18, 2016.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0211: Midnight Inside Out
”¨The Assignment: Shift between the midnight sounds both within and beyond a physical structure, preferably your home.

This project is the sixth in an ongoing occasional series that focuses on late-night ambience. Collectively these nocturnal endeavors are being called “One Minute Past Midnight.”No one’s work will be repurposed without their permission, and it’s appreciated if you post your track with a Creative Commons license that allows for non-commercial reuse, reworking, and sharing.

The steps for this project are as follows:

Step 1: You’ll be making a one-minute track of ambient, everyday sound. The best option is to make actual real-world field recordings, but certainly simulations (i.e., foley) and free resources (such as freesound.org and previous Junto projects) are fine. Just keep this in mind.

Step 2: Please develop two tracks of what the world sounds like at midnight. One track should be the sound inside a physical structure, preferably your home. The other track should be the world outside that same structure.

Step 3: Produce a track that moves back and forth between those two different sonic experiences at midnight. The transitions can be as you see fit. They can be realistic (e.g., opening and closing a door or window), and they can be fantastic (e.g., imagining being able to move freely through a wall).

Step 4: Upload your completed track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 5: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This project was posted at noon, California time, on Thursday, January 14, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, January 18, 2016.

Length: The track should be one minute long, exactly.

Upload: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, only upload one track for this project, and be sure to 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. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please in the title to your track include the term “disquiet0211-midnightinsideout.”Also use “disquiet0211-midnightinsideout”as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

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

More on this 211th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“The Assignment: Shift between the midnight sounds both within and beyond a physical structure, preferably your home”) at:

Disquiet Junto Project 0211: Midnight Inside Out

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

More on the One Minute Past Midnight series at:

http://oneminutepastmidnight.com/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

https://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Michel Banabila, a Junto member, used via Creative Commons license:

Disquiet Junto Project 0183: Stereo Midnight

Insert something that plays across the stereo spectrum in an after-dark field recording.

July 2, 2015July 3, 2015 / By Marc Weidenbaum

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Tracks will be added to this playlist for the duration of the project:

This assignment was made in the early afternoon, California time, on Thursday, July 2, 2015, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, July 6, 2015.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0183: Stereo Midnight
Insert something that plays across the stereo spectrum in an after-dark field recording.

This project is the fifth in an ongoing occasional series that focuses on late-night ambience. Collectively these nocturnal endeavors are being called “One Minute Past Midnight.”No one’s work will be repurposed without their permission, and it’s appreciated if you post your track with a Creative Commons license that allows for non-commercial reuse, reworking, and sharing.

The steps for this project are as follows:

Step 1: The primary goal of this project is to explore techniques to insinuate sound in a pre-existing field recording. First, select a track from one of the initial three projects in this series: #0160 from January 22, 2015, #0163 from February 12, 2015, and #0170 from April 2, 2015. All three of these previous projects involve field recordings made of the sound one minute past midnight:

https://disquiet.com/0160/
https://disquiet.com/0163/
https://disquiet.com/0170/

Step 2: When choosing, per Step 1, a pre-existing track, confirm that the track is available for creative reuse. Many should have a Creative Commons license stating such, and if you’re not sure just check with the responsible Junto participant.

Step 3: The goal is to insert a sound — whether realistic, like a plane or an animal, or fantastic, like a UFO — into the existing track so that it sounds like it is moving around in the stereo spectrum. Despite the inserted audio, the completed track should retain its inherent late-night ambience.

Step 4: Upload your completed track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 5: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This assignment was made in the early afternoon, California time, on Thursday, July 2, 2015, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, July 6, 2015.

Length: The length of your finished piece should be one minute.

Upload: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, only upload one track for this assignment, and 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. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0183-stereomidnight”in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

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

More on this 183rd Disquiet Junto project (“Insert something that plays across the stereo spectrum in an after-dark field recording”) at:

Disquiet Junto Project 0183: Stereo Midnight

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

More on the One Minute Past Midnight series at:

http://oneminutepastmidnight.com/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

https://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Blake Danger Bentley used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

Disquiet Junto Project 0171: Oblicardo

Rework a pre-existing field recording in response to an Oblique Strategies card.

April 9, 2015April 11, 2015 / By Marc Weidenbaum

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Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com and at Disquiet.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.

Tracks will be added to this set for the duration of the project:

This assignment was made in the late afternoon, California time, on Thursday, April 9, 2015, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, April 13, 2015.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0171: Oblicardo
Rework a pre-existing field recording in response to an Oblique Strategies card.

I hadn’t intended to do another “One Minute Past Midnight” project so soon after the previous one, but this week’s project was inspired by the recent and very interesting Cities and Memory: Oblique Strategies project (https://disquiet.com/iuAWF), in which more than 60 musicians and artists from almost 20 countries around the world took the classic card set by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt as their guide. The koan-like instructions of the Oblique Strategies set were a huge influence on the original planning for the Disquiet Junto series, and so it’s odd that it’s taken 171 weeks to finally address it directly with this homage.

This project is the fourth in an ongoing occasional series that focus on late-night ambience. Collectively these nocturnal endeavors are being called “One Minute Past Midnight.”No one’s work will be repurposed without their permission, and it’s appreciated if you post your track with a Creative Commons license that allows for non-commercial reuse, reworking, and sharing.

The steps for this project are as follows:

Step 1: The primary goal of this project is to explore the inspiration provided by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies cards. First published commercially in 1975, and revised iteratively since then, the set consists of numerous gnomic instructions that are alternately direct and, well, oblique. If you are unfamiliar with the cards, you might want to read up on them a little.

Step 2. You’ll be reworking a pre-existing audio track based on the instructions inherent in a specific Oblique Strategies card. Select a track from one of the three previous projects in this series, #0160 from January 22, 2015, #0163 from February 12, 2015, and #0170 from April 2, 2015. All three of these previous projects involve field recordings made of the sound one minute past midnight:

https://disquiet.com/0160/
https://disquiet.com/0163/
https://disquiet.com/0170/

Step 3: When choosing, per Step 2, a pre-existing track, confirm the track is available for creative reuse. Many should have a Creative Commons license stating such, and if you’re not sure just check with the responsible Junto participant.

Step 4: Select the Oblique Strategies card that will serve as your guide. If you have a deck, then pull one card randomly from it. If you don’t have a deck, then use an online tool, such as the website oblicard.com. When you go to oblicard.com you will immediately see the card that has been assigned to you.

Step 5: Rework the track from Step 2 in response to the instructions inherent in the card from Step 4.

Step 6: Upload your track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This assignment was made in the evening, California time, on Thursday, April 9, 2015, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, April 13, 2015.

Length: The length of your finished work should be one minute.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0171-oblicardo”in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

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

More on this 171st Disquiet Junto project — “Rework a pre-existing field recording in response to an Oblique Strategies card”— at:

Disquiet Junto Project 0171: Oblicardo

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

More on the One Minute Past Midnight series at:

http://oneminutepastmidnight.com/

More on the Oblique Strategies series at:

http://oblicard.com/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

https://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Rusty Sheriff, used via Creative Commons license:

Disquiet Junto Project 0170: A Glitch in the Night

Create a one-minute track that takes the project title as its guiding aesthetic.

April 2, 2015April 5, 2015 / By Marc Weidenbaum

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Tracks will be added to this set for the duration of the project:

This assignment was made in the evening, California time, on Thursday, April 2, 2015, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, April 6, 2015.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0170: A Glitch in the Night
Create a one-minute track that takes the project title as its guiding aesthetic.

This project is the third in an ongoing occasional series that focus on late-night ambience. Collectively these nocturnal endeavors are being called “One Minute Past Midnight.”No one’s work will be repurposed without their permission, and it’s appreciated if you post your track with a Creative Commons license that allows for non-commercial reuse, reworking, and sharing.

The steps for this project are as follows:

Step 1: The primary goal of this project is to make a one-minute track. That track should, in your imagination, fit the description “A Glitch in the Night.”

Step 2: You may create an entirely original work that fits the brief project outline in Step 1. Or, you might choose to rework audio from one of two previous projects in this series, #0160 from January 22, 2015, and #0163 from February 12, 2015, both of which involve field recordings made of the sound one minute past midnight:

https://disquiet.com/0160/
https://disquiet.com/0163/

Step 3: If you choose, per Step 2, to use pre-existing material, locate segments that are especially quiet and meditative — and confirm that they are available for creative reuse. Many should have a Creative Commons license stating such, and if you’re not sure just check with the responsible Junto participant.

Step 4: Upload your track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 5: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This assignment was made in the evening, California time, on Thursday, April 2, 2015, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, April 6, 2015.

Length: The length of your finished work should be roughly between one and four minutes.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0170-midnightglitch”in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

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

More on this 170th Disquiet Junto project — “Create a one-minute track that takes the project title, ‘A Glitch in the Night,’ as its guiding aesthetic”— at:

Disquiet Junto Project 0170: A Glitch in the Night

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

More on the One Minute Past Midnight series at:

http://oneminutepastmidnight.com/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

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

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

https://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this project by Javier Morales, used via Creative Commons license: