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Re: More flexible electronic music setup



Yes, listen to "Automobilr Noise" on The Blue Nile album, "A Walk Across the Rooftops". You'll here a ton of kitchen implements. Also, for it's time (1983), it was an album that sounded radically different than anything that had been recorded before. Truly an experience in the day.
rig

From: Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>
To: kay'lon rushing <k3zz21@gmail.com>
Cc: "Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight." <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: More flexible electronic music setup

Contrast is the key in getting more creative with your sounds.

Mixing up sampled acoustic instruments with synthesizers.
Mixing up sounds that had lot of processing and/or reverb with sounds that have no processing or reverb.
Using  sounds that have very, very short envelopes juxtaposed with sounds that are more ambient or long envelope
Change up your harmony.    Play tunes modally or scalarly and stay with the scale.......use more complex harmony...........
.use modulation.      Try mixing up quadratic, triadic and diadic harmony or juxtapose single melodic lines to create harmony.

By a really cheap sampler........NOT a good one and see what some of your own keyboard sounds sound like when you resample
at low band widths.

Bring in simple actual acoustic sounds........there are tons of minimalistic keyboards: melodicas, cheesy toy plastic organs, harmonicas,
really cheap toy keyboards, etc., etc.  that can bring really interest and subtlety to your midi sounds.
Use found sounds......objects from your kitchen and things that you can strike or blow from your local
hardware store or  "everything for a dollar" store.  No matter how simple it is,  it will give a cool vibe to an otherwise
fairly sterile midi keyboard environment.    it's the contrast that is key......neither group of sounds is better than the other.

Pick up an instrument that has a different paradigm than a keyboard (plucked string, bowed string, flute, reed, brass, percussion)
and learn how to play a very, very simple melody and record it on your track despite your ability to play the instrument well.
Try to get sounds out of every instrument you own that were NOT intended as being musical and use them
like percussion parts.

Sit down and make a mental note of the sounds you like and the sounds you dislike.
Purposefully try out some sounds you don't like in a minimal way and see what results.

Shake it up,  Kay'lon!    You are creative and ambitious.    Your system as it stands can make wonderful
music,  I assure you.

good luck,
Rick Walker


On 5/23/12 8:55 AM, kay'lon rushing wrote:
>
> How can I make my electronic music setup more sonicly flexible? I want more sounds to play with but i feel like my midi limits me. I basically use the same set of sounds all the time. As you can see in this video compared to the rest of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSkOjgYuMOA&feature=youtube_gdata_player <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSkOjgYuMOA&feature=youtube_gdata_player>
>
> any tips? I will be performing at my school lunch soon :p
>