On Automated Panning

(This feature is available and most recording software- including cheap-ass cubase)

*Automated panning can be used in a variety of ways in any genre of music; here are some suggestions.

-movement: 1.small incidental sounds are more interesting when they glide across the stereo spectrum. 2.any percussive parts gain life if they don't remain in a stagnant position (try imagining a group of percussionists pretending to be a marching band, dancing around between your ears. pick a random panning pattern for the "leader" and then follow it with other instruments). 3.this can save multi-tracking time as well -move notes back and forth between the left and right ear to emulate call and response.
-texture: subtle panning can add texture to solid/non percussive sounds. gently, steadily panning a sound between the "right center" and "hard right" has an impact on how it sits within the mix and creates a constantly changing texture.
-transition: try group panning to interesting-ify transitions between parts in songs. for example: move the verse off to the right as the chorus enters from the left. new parts could also shove their way in with some resistance from a current part. foreshadowing? (see "applying literary concepts to song design" -to be added later)

Cut-Out Box

This is a super-simple thing to make but i like it:

1. choose a "box"-- a pringles can, a take-out container, etc.

2. take 2 input jacks (the things that you plug guitar cords into) and wire them together (so that the similar looking parts of each are connected with wire and solder.

3. solder an additional wire to the "hot" side of one and the "cold" (maybe-or maybe the ground?? [i dont know electronics very well])

4. when you touch these two wires together, it creates a "short" and the sound cuts out

5. you can contol the amount that a signal cuts out by how complete the contact is between the two wires--so play with the way that they touch to make different degrees of disturbance.

*this works well coming from an organ or any solid sound -breaking it apart and making it more unstable/more interesting

**you can also wire a "switch" or "button" between the two wires to create a solid and more controlled cut.

Stereo Sound Box

Wood is good; or an old metal lunchbox.

Attach a contact mic to two opposing sides of the box- glue, tape, anything - at some level of permanence or professionalism.

Use the box to transport whatever and then plug the 2 mics into some sort of stereo amplifier/mixer

The mics react to very small touches/poundings on the wood/metal thanks to the material's resonant quality.

The stereo amplification gives this amplified space a real feeling of depth, and movement within this space is projected well through the speakers.

*for added impact, buy some 50ft guitar cords and separate your amps on opposite ends of your block or building*

Songs for Birds

1. Record voice with computer digital sound equipment.
2. Be sure to pay special attention to equalizers (waveform shape).
3. With voice, sculpt digital sound waves into birdlike shapes and conifers (en though they're already there anyway.

*additional voice game- 1. Record a voice track
2. Have your fiance/boyhfriend/friend/mom try to reproduce the sound without hearing it, but only by looking at the digital waveform.
3. Then it is your turn

Resonator Box

A home-made sturdy wooden box (12"x14"x12") with a speaker bolted face down on the bottom. The speaker produces a lowlow tone -either constantly or rhythmically. at the top of the box is a series of light gauge guitar strings, strung across the length, tunes tight with "lute" style tuning pegs (the kind of small, square peg you would find in an auto-harp or hammer dulcimer). the strings are tuned however -to a scale, randomly, to a melody. Halfway down the box, across the center, a small board is mounted; and a small electric motor is mounted atop the board. Attached to this motor is a 8" metal rod, extending upwards, with a guitar pickup attached to the top. when the motor is engaged, the rod spins, and so the guitar pickup rotates in a circle just above the strings. This allows a rotary effect and ensures that all strings will be amplified. The speed of the motor is adjustable, and possibly MIDI-synched to the song's tempo. The speaker vibrates, the box vibrates, and so the strings vibrate. The guitar pickup "picks up" this vibration and sends the resulting tones to an amplifier.
*As a variation, the speaker can be omitted and the box can be placed atop a bass cabinet so that as a low bass note is played, the box reacts.

Submerged Stereo

Put a stereo microphone into a condom.

Submerge in bathtub.

Drop small coins (dimes, pennies) in around the microphone.

Precipitation Compositions

precipitation compositions (submitted by K.F.)

video tape a small section of the ground (maybe 3 square feet) during rain/snow. snow would be best.

mentally, or visually with string or paint or chalk or something, assign pieces of the monitored ground to different notes on a scale. after video taping for however long you wish the composition to be, sit down and watch each piece of the ground you taped individually and play the assigned note for that piece every time a raindrop or snowflake hits.

snow would be easier since the flakes are slower and easier to watch.

Manhattan smells like a fart

Everyone seems to take advantage of the anonymity of living in Manhattan and constantly being around different people by farting all of the time. Giant crowds of business people smell like constantly renewed huge fart. This shit would never fly in the small workplaces of the midwest.

Using extremely high, low and very quiet sounds to affect listeners

The human ear can only detect a certain range of frequencies. This is the range that all of our music is composed in. But the use of notes that lie above and below the range of human hearing can have a subtle impact on the listener. Even though we cannot hear the sounds, our bodies can nonetheless detect them.
How can this be used?
We can use these outer frequencies to create sub-layers of harmony and dissonance within compositions. A mega-low bass note can reinforce a strong chord within a progression and conversely, a low or high not that does not agree with a chord can create greater subtle tension and unease through a section.

Similarly; there is an endless amount of subtle variation that can be achieved through the use of multiple layers of sound mixed to points of variable inaudibility in songs. These elements could be melodic, rhythmic or non-musical and through careful combination can enhance the flow and feel of recorded music.

Some hints on building contact mics

1. make sure to buy "piezo transducers" and not "buzzers" at radioshaq. the transducers have good wires attached to the disc and soldering wires to the disc is the hardest part.
2. buy the "female" end of the plug and attach that to the wires from your disc. all of the wire that i've tried to attach to contact mics has sucked. if you buy the female plug you can just hook up any of your decent cords to it.
3. pay the extra few dollars and get heat shrink tubing. you hold it over the stove(on low) for a second or 2 and it shrinks to insulate and secure your connections.

Using a graphic equalizer as an instrument

-you can use an eq pedal or any stereo eq unit to create a variable feedback loop.
-you just need a line splitter. (this is like a 1/4" plug that divides into 2 of the same -radioshaq $4)
-plug 1.line splitter into output of eq
2.plug one end of the split into an amp
3.plug the other end into the input of the eq
-start with the master level all the way down. as you increase this, you can change the tone/drive of your feedback.
-play with the sliders to make a variety of obnoxious noise

**you can omit the line splitter and just plug the output into the input but then the feedback will only be imagined/implied. but i have no doubt that it nonetheless exists.**

Build your own MIDI electronic drum kit or bass pedals (theoretically)

** this is all untested in real life**

Materials:
-12 contact mics with 1/4" cords ($30)
-MIDI drum brain with 10-12 trigger inputs (around $65 used on ebay, there is a new Alesis one for $150)
-MIDI to USB cable
-old organ bass pedals (free from trash)

-This may seem expensive but if you know how much the pro things cost its not. All you have to do is connect all of this.
-You can build your own contact mics from Piezo transducers (usually bought in the form on "peizo buzzer" at Radioshaq.

Applications:
1. Janky electronic drums.
-simply tape a contact mic to any surface that you want to be a "drum"
-it's better if the surfaces arent in direct contact because then you dont run into stick hits activating more than one drum.
-you can use boxes or funriture or whatever.
-then just assign a drum sound to each trigger (there may be preset sounds depending on the drum brain you buy) and jam.
-there wont be any velocity sensitivity but you will be able to play drums on anything

2. Sampler
-you could arrange things similarily to the "drum set" but use a computer or other sampler to assign sounds/actions to each "pad"
-you can spread these pads out on the floor or whatever to make "sound art" or several people could use them in a "band" to trigger samples.

3. Bass Pedals
-if you got some old bass pedals from an organ, you could attach a contact mic to an octave's worth of notes and assign (via sampler or sampler program) a sub not to each, and play them polyphonically as bass pedals or sampler pedals .
-as a cost example, this will cost around $150 and do about 50% of what the $500 roland bass pedals are used for.

Using ipods to write melody

-Record short intervals of various pitches in a variety of timbres
-import them into a playlist on an ipod
-set the playmode to random and let the ipod choose the progression of notes.
*i've used this to execute random subbass melodies in live performance, but it is applicable in a variety of ways.
**other digital devices can of course be used (minidisc, cd player etc.) but ipod seems to do it's random transition the fastest and smoothest.

Tape loops/Helium balloons

-Several tape decks are attached to the ceiling.
-Tape loops extent from each and are threaded around reels somehow that hang below
-Each loop contains a sample of a piece of music (the pieces coincide as far as key but in no other particular way.
-the reals hanging below the tape decks are attach to bunches of helium balloons. how many? a lot probably.
-the balloons can support the weight of the reel when the project is started.
*In order for a tape loop to play properly, there must be a proper amount of slack. if there is too much, it doesnt work, as it is with too much tension.
-the balloons will slowly lose their strength and one at a time, or together, each loop will reach the correct tension to play.
-after some time, the balloon with lose too much strength and no longer be able to hold the weight of the reel and the tape loop will break.
-all loops will eventually break and the project will end.